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William Lawson MLC was an explorer of New South Wales, Australia who co-discovered a passage inland through the Blue Mountains from the coastal plains about Sydney; a discovery crucial to the development of the colony. He was also a surveyor, soldier, land owner, squatter, politician and church leader.
William Lawson was born on 2nd June 1774 and baptised on 26 June 1774 at Finchley, Middlesex, England.[1][2] It is assumed that he trained as a surveyor in London before purchasing a commission for £300 ($12,000 in 2019) on 15th June 1799 as an Ensign in the New South Wales Corps (NSW Corps).
Lawson arrived in the penal colony of New South Wales in November 1800 aboard the Royal Admiral, when the third governor, Captain Phillip Gidley King RN, had just 'taken the helm'. He was posted to the penal settlement at Norfolk Island.
He was next posted to the Coal River (Newcastle) penal settlement in 1806, as a Lieutenant. This was about the time that Captain William Bligh RN assumed responsibility as governor of the colony. His postings appear to have screened Lawson from the worst of the 'Rum Corps' activities in Sydney and Parramatta; certainly, he was not supportive of their conduct and kept his distance from the 'trouble-makers'. In Sydney, he was appointed one of the magistrates of the John Macarthur trial on the eve of the rebellion, 26th January 1808. He was at that time the aide-de-camp to Major George Johnston. He returned to England in 1810 as a witness for Johnston in his forthcoming trial. Whilst in England he transferred to the Veterans' Corps, a unit made up of those members of the NSW Corps wishing to remain in New South Wales.
He had met the beautiful Sarah Leadbeater, a convict who arrived in in 1801 on a seven-year sentence and was free by servitude in 1806. They began a relationship at Norfolk Island that would see them married by Samuel Marsden on 23rd March 1812 in St John's Church of England, Parramatta.[3][4] They settled together at Veteran's Hall, Prospect, which would become a stately 40-room mansion in early colonial style. William and Sarah had twelve children.
In 1813 Lawson received the invitation of Gregory Blaxland to join an expedition with himself and William Wentworth to find a route across the Blue Mountains, by this stage he had become an established colonial officer and pastoralist in New South Wales with lands in Concord and Prospect.
William Lawson ,Gregory Blaxland and William Charles Wentworth commenced their exploration of the Blue Mountains on 11th May 1813. William Lawson kept a journal of the expedition entitled, "W Lawsons Narrative. Across Blue Mountains". In his first entry he wrote, "Mr. Blaxland Wentworth and myself with four men and four Horses- Laden with Provisions etc- took our Departure on Tuesday the 11th May 1813. Crossed the Nepean River at Mr. Chapman's Farm Emma Island at four oclock and proceeded SW. Two miles. Encamped at 5 o'clock at the foot of the first ridge of Hills-."[5]
On 31st May 1813, the party reached the most westerly point of their expedition, now known as Mount Blaxland. On this day, Lawson wrote, "This Country will, I have no doubt, be a great acquisition to this Colony and no difficulty in making a good Road to it, and take it in a Political point of View if in case of our Invasion it will be a safe Retreat for the Inhabitance with their Familys and that for this part of the Country is so formed by Nature that a few men would be able to defend the passes against a large body."
After the crossing of the Blue Mountains Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, were each given a grant of 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land by Governor Macquarie. Lawson selected his land along the Campbells River, near the Bathurst settlement. In 1823, he was appointed commandant at Bathurst, a position he held until his retirement from the army in 1824. While he was commandant he continued to make expeditions, and in 1821 with Constable Blackman discovered the Cudgegong River and further explored Mudgee the surrounding regions, discovering and naming the Goulburn River.
Lawson has been called Australia's first squatter.[6] He certainly held extensive landholdings, by grant, lease and occupation, including:
He imported merino rams and ewes from England, as well as Shorthorn cattle and blood horses. His horses were famous throughout the colony during the coaching days.
After Sarah died in 1830, Lawson remained mainly at Veteran's Hall, leaving his sons to manage the western properties and explore.
Lawson was a foundation member on 7th March 1817 of the Colonial Auxiliary Bible Society (later the British and Foreign Bible Society, and now The Bible Society) that has been such an integral part of the Christian church in Australia since. One of the first acts of the auxiliary was to establish a Scripture depository after the discovery that 'more than one-third of the dwellings, and nearly three-fifths of the inhabitants who can read, are without a Bible'. In the first two years, nearly 3,000 Scriptures were distributed.[7]
A generous supporter of the Presbyterian Church, Lawson took an active part in the establishment of both Scots Church, Sydney, in 1824 and Scots Church, Parramatta, in 1838.
In August 1838, William Lawson, Robert Crawford and Nelson Lawson, as trustees for a church to be built at prospect called for tenders; the contract being won by James Atkinson of Mulgoa, who was building three other churches at the same time: St Peter's at Richmond, St Mary Magdalene at St Mary's and St Thomas' at Mulgoa. The contract sum for the building was £1,250, half of which was raised by private subscription and half by the Colonial Treasury under the Church Act (1836). Whilst Henry Robertson has been credited with being the architect for the building, it is quite possible that William Lawson, a surveyor by training, was the designer. St Bartholomew's Church and Cemetery were consecrated in May 1841.
As a magistrate, Lawson entered freely into public life and on 10th October 1825 signed a letter approving trial by jury.
He later entered politics, becoming a member in the first partly-elected New South Wales Legislative Council from 1843 to 1848. He did not share the extreme views of his old exploration-mate, Wentworth and in 1845 opposed him on several occasions. He did not support the squatters in 1844, and opposed a reduction of the price of land in 1846.
He passed away, aged 76 years, at home at Veteran's Hall, Prospect on 16th June 1850. He was buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew.[8][2][9] He was survived by eight of his children. His property at Prospect eventually passed into the hands of the Metropolitan Water Board, and is now largely covered by the Prospect reservoir. The house itself was demolished in 1926.
Elizabeth Marion Robertson, in her research, could not find any evidence that William Lawson's parents were Scottish, nor that he trained as a surveyor in London. The wills of William Lawson's siblings, John Lawson junior 1787, James Lawson 1811, and his mother Hannah Lawson 1823 prove indisputably that William was part of this family.[10]
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