James Goodwin was born on Norfolk Island around 1796.1 He was eleven years old when the family left the island for a new life in Van Diemen’s Land. Like a number of his relatives, James lived out his life on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River, in the Coal River Valley, which

...comprises those townships and areas which once constituted the Municipality of Richmond. Townships and districts include Richmond, Enfield, Rekuna (formerly Upper Tea Tree), Campania, Native Corners, Lowdina (formerly Lower Jerusalem and Woodlands), White Kangaroo Rivulet, Brown Mountain, Colebrook (formerly Jerusalem), Spring Hill Bottom, Yarlington, Brandy Bottom, Eldon (formerly Burn's Creek), Hollow Tree Bottom and Rhyndaston (formerly Flat Topped Hill)...2

James eventually settled in Jerusalem area, at the quaintly named Brandy Bottom, so named by the earliest settlers because of the illegally distilled brandy made and ingeniously hidden there by Isaac Isles, an ex-convict, and his sons, the Seven Wild Isles. Here is Isaac’s tale, related by one of his descendants:

Troopers would regularly inspect Isaac’s allotment. But all they found were the elderberry bushes from which came the wine that in turn became brandy. The brandy itself was gone, concealed in small earthen jars on a rope on the bed of the muddy Coal River that flowed past Isaac's tiny stone cottage. The story became the place name: Brandy Bottom. The elderberry bushes still grow …3

Here on the Eastern Shore, James’s short life was nevertheless an eventful one. Almost everyone who settled there had their own tale to tell of bushrangers, stock thieves or encounters with the local aborigines, and James was affected in some way by all three. The first bushrangers captured in Van Diemen’s Land, Lemon and Brown, were terrorising the residents of the Eastern Shore in the year James arrived in Van Diemen’s Land, [see Sophia Chilvers page] the next group to plunder and terrorise the district came not too long after. Michael Howe’s notorious gang rampaged across all of the settled areas of southern Van Diemen’s Land for years before they were finally subdued. Broughton gave a typically ascerbic account to Governor Macquarie of one incursion by Howe's gang in the Coal River district in the year 1816:

Soon after I came here, a Report came in that the Bush Rangers were at the Coal River; it was laughable to see the hurry scurry it caused, Soldiers running ready to break their Necks. Where to! Why to the Stores, to get rigged out with Blue Jackets and Shoes, and which by the by never answer but for one expedition; for the next, another supply is required. The whole place was in an uproar, and, as may be immagined, the Bush Rangers had information of our movements before the Soldiers were out of Town. Such is our System of Policy, not even Villainy is kept a secret, for there are some who boast of their iniquity and glory in their misdeeds. It is really lamentable to see so fine a Settlement as this so mismanaged; and I sincerely hope that the Report of a Lieut. Governor coming to relieve Colonel Davy is correct, though, when he is spoken to on the subject, He bawls out "Ponticherry." I am afraid I shall tire Your Excellency's patience with this dismal picture, but I assure you no description of mine is equal to convey to you an idea of the many improprieties which pass by with impunity. 4

James, his employers, Troy and Styne, and his future referee, George Gunning, had their own stories to tell of these unsettled years, and these men suffered huge stock losses to the bushrangers, and more often, sheep thieves, during the same period.

James Goodwin had worked for Richard Troy and James Styne as “a shepherd having the flock six years under his charge” by 1818, when he was around twenty-one years old. 5 He had worked for the pair almost from the day they arrived in V.D.L., so had first hand knowledge of their earlier clashes with Michael Howe and his gang. The Goodwin family had close links to Troy and Stynes, not just through James. Richard Troy's son Charles fathered two of Mary Ann Briscoe's children,and her daughter Emma is buried next to Richard Troy sen. in the Richmond Roman Catholic Burial ground. Mary Ann Briscoe was James Goodwin's niece, daughter of his sister Sarah. Charles Troy was also a witness to the wedding of another of Sarah Goodwin's daughters, Margaret Bunker.

Two of the first settlers in the Jerusalem area, Troy and Stynes were Irish convicts who had been sent as secondary offenders from Sydney in 1811 to complete their sentences in the Clarence Plains district. Partners in the crime of sheepstealing in N.S.W., it’s ironical that they became partners in the business of raising sheep and cattle in V.D.L. They were both granted land near Jerusalem when their sentences expired in 1811 as "reward for" their "industry."6 Within just a few years, they were among the largest landholders in the island, they held pastoral leases all through the midlands and east coast, and by 1817 ran vast flocks of sheep and large cattle herds on their holdings.

During their years in Van Diemen's Land, Troy and Stynes had been subjected to some of the ‘depradations’ suffered by many settlers on the Eastern Shore - they had lost a number of stock to sheep thieves and bushrangers, but their hands were tied by the legal system then in place when it came time to prosecute offenders: V.D.L. lacked a local higher court.

Crimes of less magnitude than murder, or burglary under aggravated circumstances, were punished in a summary manner. To prosecute [by going to Sydney] was to encounter ruin: the person despoiled, while pursuing the robber, lost the remnant of his property; and returning to his dwelling, found it wrecked and pillaged.7

Early in January, 1815, Troy and Stynes reluctantly assisted Francis Austin, a shepherd working for George Weston Gunning, after he and two others, Simon White and George Nelson, captured several members of Howe’s gang. (After his death in 1824, George Nelson’s widow, Ellen Murphy, married William Evans. When Ellen died in 1835, William then married Eliza Jane Briscoe, James Goodwin's niece.)

White and Nelson were also Gunning’s ‘servants’, and the three shared a hut on his land. Nelson left in the evening to look after their own property, and Austin and White remained to guard the bushrangers in Troy and Styne’s hut nearby, where they’d been taken to stay overnight. As time passed, White swapped his allegiance from the captors to the captured. He alternately cajoled, threatened, and taunted Austin with his employer’s probable reluctance to travel to Sydney over the loss of a few sheep. Finally White and two of the bushrangers, Richard McGuire and Hugh Burn, tried bribery, but still to no avail. Here’s part of Austin’s witness statement:

It was between 9 and 10 o'Clock at Night when they arrived at Stynes and Tray's House, who were in Bed; they got up on the Dogs making a Noise and let them in, and Tray lit a Candle for them and then went to bed; but, on being asked if they would assist them to guard the prisoners, they said that, as Deponent and Party had taken them, it was none of their business, and told them to take care of them themselves. Soon after a woman of the name of Margaret Jones, who came down here in the Kangaroo and who cohabits with Richard Tray, came into the Room and made a Bed for the Bushrangers to Sleep upon and then retired….[Later White said] .."Now, Austin, consider what you are doing; here are two of our Country Men among them, and, if they are taken down to the Town, they are as Dead as if a House should fall on them, and we don't know how soon it may be our own case; and Nelson and I have agreed to let them go; so don't have any Person's blood upon your hands to be called a Rogue among the Prisoners, your comrades, for the sake of 4 or 5 Lousy Sheep, for Mr. Gunning would not go to Sydney to prosecute them for all the Sheep he had..”…..[Later again].. White got up and called McGwyre [one of the bushrangers] to him; they went outside the Door. Deponent could not hear the conversation between them, but in about two or three minutes they returned and McGwyre and Burn [Another bushranger] came up to Deponent and offered him Five pounds, if he would lay down and go to Sleep, as White would loose their hands and let them go.. Shortly after this, Deponent asked White if he would assist him to take them up to their own house; this was about twelve o'Clock at night. …deponent insisted on their going, as he saw that White was disposed to let them escape, and that Stynes and Tray would not assist him. Before leaving the house, one of the Prisoners complained that his hands were tied too tight, and White immediately Slacked the Cord to ease him and also the hands of another. On the Road to their house, and not far from Stynes and Trays, Hugh Burn run to the left to gain the Hills. Dep't followed leaving the other two in charge of White; he had not run above Fifteen paces, when White called to him that the other two had also run… 8

It seems clear that Troy and Stynes didn’t want to become embroiled in conflict with Howe’s gang, when they refused to assist the trio guard their captive bushrangers: many settlers made deals to supply Howe's gang in return for immunity from stock theft. It appears Troy and Stynes had come to the same agreement with Howe, but their blackmailers didn't consider their support generous enough, as another part of Broughton's letter to Macquarie explains:

Nothing I think will point out more clearly the want of energy on the part of the Government of this Colony (if so it can be called) than that of suffering Six wretched Men to form themselves into a Banditti and rove about to the great annoyance of the honest and industrious Settler, for it is the honest and industrious, and such as are inimical to their lawless views, that are the marked objects. Poor Stanfield was the other day stripped of every thing he had, the value of which could not be replaced with £200. Staines and Troy, two Settlers, were also robbed about the same time, but 'tis currently reported that these two Men have been in the habit of receiving from the bush rangers, and that, having been disappointed in the Promises made by Staines and Troy, they took the liberty of Paying themselves: how true, or what foundation there may be for such a report I know not, but 'tis evident that these fellows are assisted by many of the Settlers; indeed I sometimes think they are encouraged by those, who wished to justify the necessity there was of establishing Marshal Law.9

When Troy and Stynes lost a ‘flock of upwards of 700’ sheep in James Goodwin’s care three years later, their attitude towards stock theft had hardened considerably. In 1817 the following notice appeared in the Hobart Town Gazette, and this time the partners took immediate action:

OFFENCES. - Some very considerable depredations on sheep have been lately committed. A flock of upwards of 700, belonging to Messrs. STINES and TROY of the Coal River, were driven off last week, and 120 of Mr. EDWARD LORD'S; and others have been missing. Some notorious characters in the neighbourhood of those flocks, who had been frequently charged with and and suspected of stealing sheep, were taken up on suspicion; and part of the flock of Messrs. Stines and Troy were traced and found in the posession of John Bentley, a settler at Clarence Plains.10

Soon these two ‘notorious characters’, William Trimm and John Brown, were in custody, though not John Bentley. He remained free until he arrived in Sydney: possibly his free status, coupled with a hitherto unblemished record in V.D.L. were judged sufficient to allow him to travel as "innocent before proven guilty". By a strange coincidence, James Goodwin’s sister Elizabeth was employed by Bentley as a shepherdess, at just fourteen years of age. Bentley had been transported on the Neptune, which arrived in Sydney in 1790, and was living on Norfolk Island with the Goodwins as early as 1799, so James and Elizabeth had probably known him since they were young children. He left Norfolk Island on the Estramina six months after the Goodwins, on June 5, 1808, and received his first grant in V.D.L. in the name of Joseph Bentley, a mere block away from James and Elizabeth's family at Ralphs Bay: his title was formalised in 1813. 11 (See map on Van Diemen's Land page.) Trimm too had close connections to James and Elizabeth, as he had arrived in V.D.L. on the Calcutta with their brother-in-law, Benjamin Briscoe, who was married to their sister Sarah.

As important witnesses to the events surrounding the theft and disposal of Troy and Stynes' sheep, James and Elizabeth were sent, with eleven others, to Sydney, to serve as “evidences” in the trial of Trimm, Brown, and Elizabeth’s employer. They sailed on the Henrietta Packet in February, and it must have been a very uncomfortable journey for the young Goodwins, particularly Elizabeth. Though it was bad enough that two of the accused, Trimm and Brown, travelled with them, at least they were prisoners, and were held apart from the rest of the passengers. But John Bentley was listed as an ‘evidence’ on the journey, and this meant that Elizabeth’s master, the man she had known throughout her life and would give evidence against in Sydney, was free to share the voyage with her. The other witnesses who travelled with James and Elizabeth included Joseph Fenwick, Michael Lackey, Elizabeth Lamb, Phillip Luck, Patrick McCabe, and Thomas Welsh. James Goodwin's employer, James Styne, was also on board, and he travelled independently to observe the trial. No doubt he supported Elizabeth and James during the voyage, and he would have been sure to make Bentley rue the day he became involved in the theft of Troy and Stynes' sheep during the voyage as well. Richard Troy was left behind to ‘mind the shop', one of the great advantages of a partnership in those difficult early days. 12

The three men were all found guilty, and William Trimm, condemned to be executed in Hobart Town, travelled back on the Minerva. 13 John Bentley and John Brown had earlier been sent to Newcastle, sentenced to life and 14 years respectively. The ‘evidences’, including James and Elizabeth, as well as James Styne, had returned on the Henrietta Packet at the beginning of May.14 (See the biography of Elizabeth Goodwin for full details of the trial and its aftermath.)

The questions that arises from all of this are “Why?” and “How?” Why were sheep stolen in such quantity, and how could it happen in the first place? The answers lie in the way land was managed in the first two decades of V.D.L. settlement. Land-holders ran their stock “in the interior of the country and at a distance of 40 to 50 miles from the settlement…[with] a ticket of occupation describing in very general terms the tract of land he is to occupy.” An 1817 ticket of occupation granted to Troy and Stynes extended from Prosser’s Plains near present day Orford, to Oyster bay, showing just how extensive these runs were. 15

At the same time land owners developed a system to minimise stock-theft by handing over ownership of a portion of the flock to their shepherds and stock-keepers, usually a third of the natural increase, in lieu of wages. Shepherds like James Goodwin were able to build up large herds of sheep, carrying their own brands, and running with their employers’ herds. They sold their own meat and hides, as well as kangaroo skins, in exchange for such necessities as flour, tea, sugar, tobacco and rum. By the time the 1822 Land and Stock muster was held, James Goodwin owned 6 cattle and 100 sheep, by dint of the “Thirds System”, and this despite his need to cull stock to provide for his daily needs.16

The problem with the Thirds system came when sheep thieves like William Trimm, owners like Bentley, and sometimes their shepherds, attempted to increase their own profits, by adding stolen sheep to an owner’s herd. They managed this by altering the stolen sheeps’ brands and other physical features to those of their new “owners”, and once the sheep healed, there was no evidence of such thefts. This is probably why William Trimm was described as a “well known sheep thief” when his final downfall came..his numerous thefts were well-known but couldn’t be proven.

Unfortunately for Trimm though, Stynes and the Goodwin siblings were alert enough to discover the stolen sheep before they had healed, and it was their evidence that condemned Trimm at his trial in Sydney. Elizabeth first stated that she saw “about 50 strange sheep, with their ears fresh cut, added to her [Bentley’s] flock”. James Styne then swore that “57 of these had had their original mark much defaced, but two of them were unaltered.” James Goodwin “also deposed to the alteration of the marks as sworn to…; which alterations were so inflicted as to be then only in a healing state”. 17

Six months after James returned from Sydney, he came into conflict of a different kind, when he had one of the first recorded encounters with two aboriginal Tasmanians who’d grown up in European households:

Two black natives, who have long been among the inhabitants, named James Tedbury and George Frederick, were charged with robbing Roger Gavin of several articles, and James Goodwin of a musket, at the Coal River; after which they escaped into the woods and were there apprehended, both armed. They were each sentenced to be transported to such part of the Territory as His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor may be pleased to direct, for the term of three years.18

In 1820, James Goodwin, a freeman had a brush with the law which could have seen him with a conviction of his own, if this was "our" James Goodwin. Since there is no convict record listing this offence to any James Goodwin, if seems the hefty ten pound fine was paid:

On Wednesday last an information was laid before the DEPUTY JUDGE ADVOCATE against James Goodwin, a freeman, for attempting to convey spirits into the county gaol; and being convicted of the same, he was directed to pay the mitigated penalty of ten pounds; or in default of payment, to be imprisoned for the space of 3 calendar months.19

Nothing more is heard of James until four years later, when, in November 1824, he applied for a grant of land. He stated in his application that he was a native of Norfolk Island, had arrived in V.D.L. on the Porpoise, and by hard labour and honest industry had acquired 60 head of cattle and 200 sheep. He went on to state that he was living at Coal River. Mr George W. Gunning, J.P., recommended him, saying he had known the applicant for many years.20

George Gunning had lived in the area from the time the Troy and Stynes farms were attacked by Howe's gang years earlier, and may have known James when he was Troy and Styne's shepherd.

James received his "primary" location of 100 acres in Ormaig parish, and the grant was acknowledged by Governor Arthur on February 4, 1825. Once he had fulfilled the conditions imposed when the initial location was given him, which usually required that a certain amount of land was cleared and fenced each year, and a residence built, he was granted full title on September 16, 1826. (See the second map on the Sarah Goodwin and Mark Bunker page: James Goodwin’s land is the land in the 200 Acre block in name of William Kearney near Colebrook, at the lower right-hand side of the map. It was on the opposite bank of the Kangaroo Rivulet to Mark Bunker's land.21

James married Maria Anna Clark on 1 February 1825 Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, in a Roman Catholic Ceremony which was recorded entirely in Latin:

In matrimonium conjuncti sunt Jacobus Goodwin et Maria Anna Clark (ille natus in insula “Norfolk”, haec in Hibernia nuperrimegul hic adventa). Bannis bis praemissis: tertia publication dispensala propler distantiani loci. Testibus: Columba Fitzpatrick, Eugenis Wade et Eleanor Quinn.22

Maria had arrived in the colony aboard the Deveron in the previous year....

Ship News. - Arrived on Friday evening last, the brig Deveron, Captain W. Wilson, from London, with passengers and merchandize. She sailed from England the 2d May, and having lost her foremast by lightning, put into St. Salvador to repair, which detained her five weeks.
Passengers per the brig "Deveron":- Edward Lord, Esq. of this Settlement, Mr. and Mrs. Godwin, Miss Mary Ann Hamilton, Mr. George Galbraith; E. P. Smith; Mr. J. W. Sampson, Mr. W. Nichol, Mr. Hugh Batey, Mr. R. Smith, Mr. W. Urquhart, Mr. Thomas Harris, Miss Mary Ann Clarke, Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree, Mr. Morley, Mr. Pritchard, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Black, Mr. Brett, Mr. Ironsides, Mr. Hawes, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Grey and Hampstede. 23

They settled into their sturdy stone cottage which James had built on their block on the Kangaroo Rivulet, where life for the young Maria must have seem worlds apart from the life she was wrenched away from in her native Ireland. Jerusalem was an isolated and sparsely settled district then and now, even though there was a lot of traffic through its valley to and fro the midlands. It lay in a natural corridor, and the road from Kangaroo Point and the Clarence Plains district leading to Launceston followed the valley floor, past their farm, and soon, the Bunker family's as well. Mark Bunker, James's brother-in-law, received his primary location there on January 1st, 1826. The next year it seems that James and Mary Ann had their only child, Matilda, who was baptised two years later. Matilda's later marriage registration certificate suggests that 1827 was her birth year.

Aboriginal attacks had increased markedly since Arthur was appointed Governor, as a direct result of his newly imposed policies, and once again, bushrangers roamed the Eastern Shore. This time it was the notorious Mathew Brady and his gang who committed numerous 'outrages' throughout the settlement and further afield. James Goodwin, the free settler, has sometimes been confused with two convicts of the same name who were living in Van Diemen’s Land in the 1820s, one of whom became a member of Brady's gang. But before this, a convict named James Goodwin had arrived aboard the Lord Hungerford, on 26 December 1821. This man achieved some notoriety as being one of the few who escaped successfully from Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour in 1827. The second convict of the same name arrived in Hobart Town 9 April 1825 aboard the Lady East, and it was this man who absconded from his master and joined up with the infamous bushranger Matthew Brady and his party.

This bushranger probably just brushed past both his other namesakes within a very short period, working in the Coal River Valley in the same area as James Goodwin the settler, and during an incursion on 7 March 1826 having his bushranging comrade apprehended by the Lord Hungerford convict of the same name. 24

James Goodwin, the son of Andrew and Letitia Goodwin, was also finding life in the fledgling colony troublesome.

NOTICE. - WHEREAS, my wife Marianne Goodwin, absconded from her home, at my house at Jerusalem, on Saturday the 5th January instant: the public is hereby cautioned against giving her any trust or credit, on my account, as I will not be answerable for any debts she may contract after this notice, and whoever harbours or conceals her, after this time,will be prosecuted according to law.
JAMES GOODWIN., Wallaby Creek, Jerusalem, 14th Jan. 1828. 25

Soon after his wife left, most probably with their daughter Matilda, James suffered another loss, and offered

TWO POUNDS REWARD. - WHEREAS, three BULLOCKS, one brand J G , on the left side, one brown, one black, and the third black with a white streak on his back strayed or were driven away from my farm at Jerusalem, about four weeks ago. - The above reward will be given to whoever will be the mean of restoring the same to JAMES GOODWIN. - Jerusalem, 14th of February [1828].

Later that same year Mr Anstey of Oatlands wrote to the Lieutenant Governor, through Mr John Burnett Esq., suggesting that James Gooding (sic), a resident in the district for the past two years, be appointed Special Constable and pound keeper for the parish of Jerusalem, as the nearest pound was ten miles distant, owned by Mr Watts.26

James was appointed poundkeeper on this recommendation, and remained in this position until he became too ill to continue, not long before his early death in 1831.

On 28 February 1829 James made a submission for an additional grant of land of 100 acres adjoining his previous grant of 100 acres at Jerusalem Bottom. James stated that he had cleared twenty acres of his previous grant, had one hundred head of cattle, five hundred sheep, one horse, and five hundred bushels of wheat. The submission was approved on 2 June 1829.[AOT CSO VDL 1/57, No. 1198

Evidently Mary Ann and James had long resolved their marital problems, as they baptised their toddler Matilda together on 5 March 1829 in the newly built Roman Catholic Church in Richmond. The sponsor to her birth was one Peter Haikin.27

Not long after Matilda was born, another new arrival appeared in the district, James Drummond. He was to play a significant role in James Goodwin’s life over the next two years, as well as the lives of his sister Sarah, and her son, George Briscoe.

Drummond was granted “500 a. on the west side of the Wallaby creek, towards Jericho.” 28 which he named “Faun”, and shared the boundary of the land located to James Goodwin’s brother-in-law Mark Bunker. This was probably where James Goodwin’s nephew George Briscoe had built his hut in Jerusalem, while his mother attempted to sell her land at Orielton, a tedious process that was finally resolved more than a decade later. The Bunker and Drummond farms were miles to the north of James Goodwin’s property (on the southern side of Jerusalem township), quite close to the junction of the main road between Hobart Town and Launceston. The discovery of coal near the Bunker and Drummond land created quite a flurry in the district soon after, and James Goodwin would have shared in the excitement, given the fact that it was found so close to his brother-in-law’s location:

A person who has formerly been employed in the collieries in Staffordshire arrived in town in the course of this week, with some specimens of fine coal dug out of a ravine situate on the Wallaby creek, 3 or 4 miles from Jerusalem, 12 from Oatlands, and 17 or 18 from Richmond. Several competent judges have examined this coal and admit that it is of a very superior quality. It burns very clear, and is valuable for all domestic purposes. The mine itself is very large, and a cart may proceed to it on an easy road about a mile in length, reckoning from the main road between Oatlands and Jerusalem. The Wallaby creek is dry during the greater part of the year, and at other times empties itself into the Coal river. Persons who have resided for 10 or 12 years in the neighbourhood had not noticed this mine, although some of them had made diligent search for coal mines up the river, having often picked up pieces of coal down the river. In their researches, they followed the course of the river upwards, but it never struck them to examine the creeks, and thus this particular mine had escaped notice. Constable Hopkins, of the Oatlands Field Police, who was lately stationed at Drummond's hut at Jerusalem, in taking one of his daily rounds with another person of the name of Nowlan, accidentally came upon the Wallaby creek immediately opposite the coal mine, and on examination found the coal of a superior description. Hopkins lost no time in communicating the nature of his discovery to the proper authorities, and we understand that the Staffordshire man above alluded to, has brought with him to town a small bag of coal from this mine for the inspection of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor. It is situated in Hartington parish, Oatlands, its breadth fronting the creek is about 400 feet, its depth from the roof to the floor of the bed, or seam, many feet. 29

Last week, we learn, a party of the blacks was over-taken by Mr. Robertson's party in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. They had however placed themselves in a thick and almost impenetrable scrub, and it was necessary to wait until day in order to attempt their capture, and in the meantime unfortunately a gun in the hands of one of the party (not Mr. Robertson's own gun as stated in the columns of a contemporary) accidentally went off and gave the alarm, by which means the blacks escaped. 30

Since our last, the forces have advanced past the Brown Mountain, having thoroughly scoured and beaten the bush round that difficult country from Jerusalem downwards to Brushy plains and Sorell. The late rains very much added to the fatigue and difficulty of the expedition, but the energies of the several parties seemed to rise with the obstacles they had to contend with, and one general spirit of cheerful and determined perseverance pervades the whole. In crossing some of the streams which had been swoln by the rains, especially the lower part of Prosser's river, not only much difficulty but no small danger was encountered, but we are happy to add that no accounts of any accident have in consequence reached us. In some places trees upon the bank were cut down so as to make them fall across the river over which the parties then passed. The horses were obliged to be swum across the rapid stream with much difficulty. The fatigue undergone by all the parties must indeed have been very great, and the spirit with which it has been met is most praiseworthy, and calls forth, as we learn, the rerepeated commendations of the Lieutenant Governor. His Excellency, indeed, who in his more extended movements must have encountered a large proportion of the toil and hardships of the campaign, in addition to the stretch of anxiety which must engross his mind upon the occasion, is well qualified by his personal experience duly to appreciate the services of his volunteer army. It was, we believe, the original intention by the advance of the lines, so to beat the bush and alarm the blacks as to induce them to fly before until they were driven to the peninsula. But the certainty which has since come to light of white men being amongst them, makes the chance very great of their making an effort to break through the line, when they become sensible that they are so closely hemmed in, and in consequence, we learn, His Excellency has resolved not to advance through the thick and difficult country, extending from the present position towards the Carlton, until all the available strength in the island has been brought up. A detachment of 25 of the military in consequence left town on Monday last, and another of fifty yesterday, and Capt. Donaldson's detachment from Launceston has been sent for and is expected to join the lines this evening. Thus reinforced, the parties will, it is to be hoped, be so close in the line as completely to guard against the possibility of the blacks passing through. From Sorell town extending in a curvilinear direction round to Prosser's bay, the whole extent of the line may be estimated, at something more than 30 miles. The right flank is directed by Capt.Wentworth, the centre by Major Douglas, and the left towards Prosser's bay by Lieut. Aubyn. This distance admits according to the number in the field of one individual to every 45 or 50 yards, but as the line advances and the curve is moved up to the straight line, and the wings become contracted between the Iron creek on the one side and the Sandspit on the other, this distance will be reduced to less than half. 31

We have received another letter, dated Jerusalem, complaining much of the repeated visits of the blacks who appeared to increase rather than diminish in number. They had robbed the huts of several persons, but happily the inmates had made their escape. The plough was in a great measure stopped in order to allow all the settlers that could to go in quest of them, and it was considered unsafe to leave a home unprotected, for in many instances the blacks had been found to be on the neighbouring heights watching their opportunity to come down and attack a house the minute it was left unprotected. We suspect however that some of those robberies about Jerusalem are perpetrated by others as well as the blacks. One robbery for instance was committed last week in the home of Mr. Burgess, when besides a quantity of flour, - a hunting watch, trowsers and a five pound bank-note were carried away while the inmates were asleep. A coroner's inquest sat on the body of the unfortunate man that was found killed last week.In these affecting cases, we think the coroner should be empowered always to see that the body be decently interred with the last solemn duties. The blacks seem te be aware that the remote neighbourhood of Jerusalem is not so populous nor so well defended by military as some other parts, and probably the government will see the propriety of stationing a reinforcement in that quarter. 32

The following Impoundment notice, innocuous as it seems, was the last time James Goodwin impounded any animals himself as District Poundkeeper for Jerusalem. It signalled the beginning of the end for him, when he appears to have been stricken with a debilitating and ultimately terminal illness.

IMPOUNDED. ON the 16th of May by Mr. James Duncan, 1 strawberry sided bull branded WP near ribs, off ribs, supposed DH. If this animal be not claimed and redeemed within the time allowed by law, it will be sold by me at the said Pound on the 16th day of June 1830, according to the provisions of the Impounding Act.
JAMES GOODING, Poundkeeper. 33

Soon after, James resigned as District Constable….

GOVERNMENT NOTICE, [No. 151.] Colonial Secretary's Office. Aug. 12, 1830. The Lieutenant Governor has been pleased to approve of the undermentioned alterations in the Police of the Territory:
Mr. James Gooding, to resign as Special Constable in Hartington parish, Upper Jerusalem. By His Excellency's Command, J. BURNETT. 34

Coal River. - On Sunday the 7th Instant I was at Jerusalem about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I was in Mr. Drummond's hut, a man who is by trade a shoemaker, and resides about a quarter of a mile from Drummond’s came in and asked for the newspaper. He had been in the hut near half an hour, when on going to the door he [Drummond] said he heard a noise, he called to Jonas Prior to look, and Prior upon looking said "it is the Blacks." We all left the hut, proceeding in a direction for the hut which the man[Prior] had just left. About 20 yards before reaching it we found a woman, the wife of the shoemaker, lying down, who appeared to be very much beat about the head with waddies. She was cut very severely on the right shoulder with an axe, and a spear had entered under her left shoulder blade. We carried the woman up to Drummond's. On her coming to her senses, which was in about two hours after receiving the injury, she stated that she saw four natives advancing towards the door, she took up the musket thinking to frighten them away, when they rushed upon her and beat her in the manner above mentioned. The natives succeeded in robbing the hut, taking away six blanket, a musket, one loaf of bread and a bag of lime, and destroyed most of the man's wearing apparel. The woman states them to be all men, very tall, and stout made. Drummond's stock-keepers found the bag of lime, nearly half a mile from the hut they had robbed. When they took away the lime they must have thought it was flour. These are evidently the four blacks that have been prowling in the rear of the line for some time past. 35

By this time, it seems that James’s illness was progressing rapidly. Without his salary as district constable, it seems he was unable to hold on to all of his farm, and he was forced to surrender it to Joseph Molloy. He lost a house, along with half of his land, as well as stock agisted on the section of his farm rented to Andrew Tolmey. This must have been a terrible blow, coming a little over a year after he’d been granted this second block of 100 acres, to had brought the farm up to 200 acres all told.

Sheriff's Office, Dec. 2, 1830.
In the Supreme Court.
Molloy v. Gooding.
On Tuesday the 14th day of December 1830, at 1 o'clock, the Sheriff will cause to be put up for sale by Public Auction, at Mr. A. Tolmey's Brandy bottom, Jerusalem, ABOUT 300 Sheep running in the flock of Mr. A.Tolmey. Also, On Thursday the 16th inst, at 12 o'clock, at this office in Bathurst street, Hobart town,
A FARM of 100 acres, with a House, erected thereon, and part in cultivation, rented at present by Mr. A Tolmey, the property of defendant, unless this execution be previously satisfied.36

Andrew continued to help James as best he could, by taking over some of James’s duties as district poundkeeper, as did George Briscoe, his nephew, and James Drummond, George’s neighbour...

IMPOUNDED, AT the public pound Jerusalem, district of Richmond, by Mr. Tolmey, 37

But, sadly, it was all in vain, as it seems James could no longer perform his duties as Poundkeeper, even with his the help of his friends and nephew. Less than two weeks before James died, this notice appeared in the Hobart Town Gazette:

Proclamation dated 28th April, 1831 Replacement pound in Richmond. Police District of Richmond, Gilbert Robertson.
And I do further proclaim that the several pounds (or places lately named as Pounds,) at the places hereinafter respectively next mentioned, have ceased to be and are now no longer public pounds, but that tbe several pounds or places above-mentioned have been and are substituted for the same, (that is to say)
The pound now or lately kept by James Gooding, Richmond.38

James Goodwin was buried on 10 May 1831 in St. David's Burial Grounds in Hobart town. He was recorded as a farmer, and was only thirty-four years old when he died, with a young widow and toddler left behind. The funeral service was conducted by William Bedford, the second chaplain to the colony, after Knopwood’s retirement to the Eastern Shore.39

Soon after, an order for the erection of a new pound appeared in the newspaper. The Jerusalem public pound was moved from Brandy Bottom, on the Richmond side of Jerusalem, to James Drummond’s land, miles to the north along the road to Oatlands.

IMPOUNDED, AT the public pound, Jerusalem, by Thomas Birch, Constable Field police, June 30, 1831. –
By George Briscoe, June 7
1 grey steer, branded W off rump, 1 steer, black, branded OxL near rump,1 yearling steer, spotted, branded OxL near rump, 1 bull, black sides, white back and belly, no brand., 1 ginger steer, branded K near rump.
Damages claimed 1s. per head. If the above animals be not claimed or redeemed, within the time allowed by law, they will be sold by me at the said pound on Wednesday the Sixth day of July, 1831, according to the provisions of the Impounding Act.
J. DRUMMOND, Poundkeeper. 40

WHEREAS by the Act or Ordinance intitled, 'An Act to regulate the Impounding of Animals for trespass and for other purposes relating thereto, it is enacted that it shall be lawful for the Lieutenant Governor to erect and establish public pounds for the impounding of animals therein for trespass, and instead of such pounds or any of them to substitute others and appoint keepers of all such pounds, and any of such poundkeepers to displace as to him may seem meet. Now, therefore, I do by this my Proclamation, direct and proclaim that the several pounds or places commonly used as pounds at present erected, or which shall within one month from the date hereof be erected for the purpose of being used as public pounds at the places hereinafter respectively next mentioned, shall severally be public pounds for the impounding therein of animals for trespass, and the same are hereby by me severally erected and established as public pounds accordingly, and the persons respectively hereinafter mentioned as keepers of those pounds shall severally be, and they are hereby appointed keepers of such pounds respectively: that is to say- Names of Places above referred to. - On the farm of James Drummond, known as Faun's, at Upper Jerusalem, in the parish of Hartington, within the Police district of Richmond, James Drummond. Poundkeeper. 41

As yet, little is known of the fate of James Goodwin’s widow Ann Mary Ann Clarke, or his daughter, Matilda. We do know of the birth and baptism of an 'extra-marital' child named John, to a Mary Goodwin, who may have been James Goodwin’s widow. John was born three years after James died, on 1 August 1835. He was not baptised until four years later, in the Roman Catholic Church in Richmond, on 30 July 1839.

James had at least two grand-children that we’re aware of, though there may well be more. Mary Ann and James’s daughter Matilda gave birth to a daughter Margaret, who was baptised on 1 November 1842 in the same church as John Goodwin, who was probably her half-brother. Matilda’s daughter Margaret was recorded as “illegitimate”, and her father was a convict, Robert Green. Sponsors to her baptism were Margaret Leary and Charles Mulligan. 42 Robert Green sought permission to marry Matilda on 17 November 1845, but apparently permission was not given. 43

Green, Robert
Convict No: 28089
Voyage Ship: Layton (2)
Voyage No: 129
Arrival Date: 10 Dec 1835
Departure Date: 29 Aug 1835
Departure Port: Sheerness
Conduct Record: CON31/1/16
Appropriation List: CON27/1/2, CSO1/1/839 17773
Description List: CON18/1/13 p164, CON23/1/2

Details: Sentence details: Convicted at Chester Assizes for a term of 14 years. [Sentence] to be computed from 2 September 1835 being under sentence 1 month.
Vessel: Layton.
Date of Departure: 26 August 1835.44

The Layton left London 0n 15 August 1835, discharged her cargo of prisoners in Hobart on 15 December 1835 and proceeded on to Sydney when she disembarked a contingent of the 28th Rgt on 13 January 1836.

Two years later, on 10 May 1847, Matilda married Patrick McGinness in the Brighton district, as Matilda Gooden. Matilda gave her age as twenty, suggesting that she was born sometime in 1827. Patrick's age was given as thirty-three, so he was born around the year 1814.45

According to the Archives Office of Tasmania Colonial Family Links site, a son, named Patrick after his father, was born to Matilda and Patrick in 1847, but the little boy sadly died at the age of four in Hobart on 19 December 1851. 46 Nothing further has yet been located on Matilda's fate from that time on. A Margaret Green, possibly Matilda and Robert Green's daughter, married in Hobart Town in the 1860s. More to come...

• 1. BDM NSW: St. Phillip’s Baptisms, Reel 5001
• 2. http://www.users.bigpond.com/aogreen/default.html
• 3. Web page re. Brandy Bottom.
• 4. HRA Series I, Vol. III, Broughton to Macquarie 30 October 1816, Pps. 594, 595
• 5. SG 28 March 1818
• 6. CSO NSW Reel 6003, 4/3490A p.152
• 7. West, John: A History of Tasmania
• 8. HRA Series I, Volume III
• 9. HRA Series I, Volume III, Pps. 594, 595
• 10. HTG 20 December 1817
• 11. CSO NSW, Land grants in V.D.L., 1813. Fiche 3262, 4/438 p.5
• 12. AOT CSO VDL CUS 33/1/3 p.32.12
• 13. HTG 2 May, 1818
• 14. SG 4 April 1818 & HTG 9 May 1818
• 15. Boyce, James: Van Diemen’s Land
• 16. 1822 Land an Stock Muster
• 17. SG March 28 1818
• 18. HTG 14 November 1818
• 19. H.T.G. 19 August 1820
• 20. AOT CSO VDL 1/57 No. 1198
• 21. Thanks to Alex Green for this information
• 22. AOT Marriage Reg. 335/1825
• 23. See comment below "Mary Ann Clarke from Hibernia."
• 24. For details of the careers of both convicts named James Goodwin please see James Goodwin, Matthew Brady et al
• 25. HTG 19 January 1827
• 26. AOT CSO VDL 1/356, No. 8136
• 27. AOT "Copy of the original register made by Fr. J. C. Cullen, 1912", Roman Catholic BDMs in Richmond & AOT Baptism Reg. 1829/3099
• 28. HTC 26 December 1829
• 29. HTC 29 August 1829
• 30. HTC 5 September 1829
• 31. HTC 30 October 1829
• 32. HTC 8 May 1830
• 33. HTC 3 July 1830
• 34. HTC 14 August 1830
• 35. HTC 8 November 1830
• 36. HTC 11 December 1830
• 37. HTC 23 & 30 April 1831
• 38. HTC 30 April 1831
• 39. aOT Death Reg. xxx/1832
• 40. HTC 2 July 1831
• 41. HTC 13 August 1831
• 42. AOT "Copy of the original register made by Fr. J. C. Cullen, 1912", Roman Catholic BDMs in Richmond.
• 43. AOT Convict application to marry CON52/2 p74
• 44. Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 90, Class and Piece Number HO11/10, Page Number 126
• 45. Thanks to Betty Pilgrim for this information.
• 46. AOT Death Reg. 1139/1852