Henderson’s

PATRICK & MARIA HENDERSON (Nee: Morton)

 

Patrick Heron Henderson born 30 July 1822 Kirkgunzeon Scotland, arrived in Australia (age 26) in the capacity of 'Religious Instructor' on board the convict ship "Hashemy". A week later, Patrick (who was also a qualified "Civil Engineer") applied for a position with the Colonial Government. In this he was successful and his first appointment as Assistant Surveyor was on the 1st August, 1849. It is curious now to read how very little was known of this country then, even the most fertile imagination fails to conjure up an adequate picture of life lived by the early settlers.   Of roads and fences there were none and separated by distance from all the advantages and privileges to which they were accustomed, these men were true pioneers who played a noble part in laying the foundations of future settlement.   

 

John James Galloway (also an Assistant Surveyor) surveyed Warialda this same year (1849) and over the next three years Patrick surveyed the Gwydir District and the SW rangers of the New England Plateau.   On the 6 June 1853 Patrick applied to the Surveyor General for the position of "Road Engineer", however the Surveyor General (Sir Thomas L. Mitchell) would not dispose of his services as a surveyor and we next find him surveying in the Cropper Creek area and the Moree District.   This same year (August 1953) the future township of Inverell had its beginning, when Colin and Rosanna Ross and their young daughter arrived from Glen Innes to start a store for the settlers who had moved into this district.   In 1855 a Post Office was established at the store of Colin Ross and this same year Patrick surveyed Bundarra, along the Gwydir River and Uralla.   It was also this year that Patrick purchased land at Glen Innes and this was where he later built his Flour Mill.

 

The following year (7.7.1856) Patrick married Maria Morton born 29 March 1939 Port Macquarie (youngest daughter of Lt. Morton). Three months after his marriage (21.9.1856) he received instructions from the Surveyor General's Office in Sydney to survey two sites (Byron Plains & Green Swamp) where it seemed likely a town would at some future time be required.   The Government preferred the first site and the people decidedly preferred the second site and so this became a matter of much dispute. The Green Swamp site won the day and the design that was originally prepared by Patrick and submitted as "A town at Green Swamp to be called Inverell" was approved on the 9 June 1858. Patrick meantime, had been appointed District Surveyor (1 June 1857) and continued his work surveying Arrawatta (on the McIntyre River), then the Dundee Village Site, the north road from Kempsey and many other areas in the northern region of New South Wales including Glen Innes, Armidale and Grafton.

 

In 1858 Patrick started operating his Flour Mill (the first in the Glen Innes township) - the Pioneer Mill, as it was called, was built in what is now known as the Mill Paddock. It was a stone Mill and then steam driven in the early 1860's.   First leased, however after Patrick severed his connection with the Lands Dept, he assumed control for many years. In 1869 Patrick was listed as second only to Phillip Francis Adams, the "Surveyor General" - however, by 1871 had resigned as "District Surveyor".   By this stage Patrick and Maria had six children (of whom they were very proud) and in a letter Maria had received from her mother (dated December 1864) in part read "I flatter myself you are now very happy having so many comforts around you, your sewing machine and your piano and a nice boat".

 

Between 1872-1879 he is listed as a licensed surveyor and indications are that he may have then divided his time between his interests at the "mill" and "surveying". The Government in 1883 resumed land at the Mill for Railway purposes, resulting in an arbitration case (evidence proving beyond the slightest doubt, that as a flour mill the property was absolutely ruined). In due course he was obliged to close down. Patrick then lived his life out in secluded retirement and died on the 24 August 1894. The funeral cortege was a very long one and was headed by the local brass band.  His wife Maria died in Sydney 17 June