John Thomas Maughan - Settler
Louth Park - Map 2
John Thomas Maughan arrived in Hobart as First Officer on the Westmoreland on 5th May 1821.
Passengers on the Westmoreland included Twenty nine year old William Harper with his wife Catherine and two children; saddler Samuel Marsden; settler John West and runaway John Bisbee.
Land Grant
He requested a grant of land in 1823. Location on the Map above is just below the Mitchell land.To His Excellency, Major General Sir Thomas Brisbane,
28th January 1823
Memorial of John Thomas Maughan.......
That Memorialist arrived in this colony in June 1821 as Chief Officer of the ship Westmoreland and has since acted in the same capacity on board the Marshall Wellington which ship is now about to sail for England, and Memorialist being anxious to quit a seafaring life and become a permanent settler in this colony most respectfully solicits your Excellency will make to him a grant of land suitable to the means Memorialist is in possession of to bring the same into cultivation,. Memorialist begs leave to state that those means will admit of his employing ten men off the stores and in terms of the present Government regulation. [1] In February 1823 he was granted 1000 acres in any part of the colony which had been surveyed and assigned four convicts to be victualled from the stores.
One thousand acres in the Parish of Maitland (exclusive of two hundred and thirty acres of water on the North side, hereby reserved); bounded on the East by Goldingham's farm, bearing South 52 chains and a continued South line of 80 chains; on the South by a line bearing West 80 chains; on the West by a line bearing North to Wallis' Creek and on the North by the Creek to the commencing South West corner.
On 15th January 1824 John Maughan informed the authorities that at the wish and request of other settlers on the Hunter River he had built a boat for the conveyance of goods and passengers. As his farm was situated two miles from the river, he had no store available to safely store goods on consignment and he requested a grant of land that would suit his purpose better
In Township No 20 there is a point of land forming part of section 6 and 12 adjoining the grant of Thomas McDougall on the North and bounded by the Hunter River on the West, South and East, which point of land is well calculated for the construction of the requisite buildings.[1]
He was informed in a letter dated 22 June 1824 that this land could not be spared.
Return to England
John Thomas Maughan returned to England in 1838.Edward Turner
In July 1840 allotments at Louth Park were advertised for auction: Thirty five magnificent allotments at Maitland, adapted either for commercial or suburban designs; and varying from one to ten acres each. These allotments superior to any which have been hitherto offered for sale, form part of the beautiful estate of Louth Park, the property of Edward Turner Esq., who has been induced to put them up to public competition in consequence of the numerous applications which have been made to him by individuals to purchase portions thereof. Every allotment has a frontage to Wallis' Creek, which is navigable for barges and lighters of the largest size, and forms the dividing line between East and West Maitland; it is tributary to the Hunter, and its water (which are always fresh) disembogue therein, a little below the Rose Inn. In addition to these invaluable and indispensable requisites, the whole of the allotments abut upon a road leading over two bridges to different parts of Maitland, namely, one into the centre of the town and the other to the west and passing the race course, the church, chapels, the auction company's rooms, the extensive steam mills adjacent and to the deep water forming the head of the navigation of the Hunter known as Port Maitland, and which is now in progress of survey previous to being formed into spacious wharfs for the accommodation of the Hunter River Steam Company's river packets where they can load and discharge their cargoes.The land is composed of the richest description of alluvial deposit which no pressure of aridity can ever affect and its fertility is equal if not superior to the celebrated South Hams in Devonshire. It presents a most beautiful appearance at this moment cleared and in the highest state of cultivation and free from any obstruction to the plough.
The Homestead was described in 1841 when it was offered for sale: Embracing a beautifully stone built spacious family residence, erected at immense expense of the most costly materials and replete with every convenient building, double Coach house, stabling for five Horses, Cart Shed, Harness room, Fowl House, Poultry Yard, twenty pigsties, together with Store room, Dairy, Cheese Room and other Buildings suitable for the occupation of the different mechanics and tradespeople employed on the Estate; a Trellissated vineyard, of two acres abounding with the choicest grapes, enclosed in a Garden covering five acres of well cultivated land, an Orchard of five acres stocked with peach trees and laid down with Lucerne which has always yielded an abundant crop.
Ownership of the land was in dispute in 1847. [2]
Death
John Thomas Maughan died on the 18th April 1864, at the Abbey, Great Grimbsy, Lincolnshire, England, aged 78.Notes and Links
1). Map of the estate of Louth Park near Maitland watermarked 1831.2). Convicts assigned to John Thomas Maughan
3). Below are photographs of The Homestead from the collection of Athol D'Ombrain at Cultural Collections, UON
The Homestead, Louth Park, owned by John Thomas Maughan photographs ca.1935
The Homestead, Louth Park
References
[1] Memorials to the Governor, 1810-25. Series 899, Fiche 3001-3162. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.[2] The Australian 18 May 1847
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