William Lee and 'Larra's Lake' - Geoff Svenson

William Lee and ‘Larra’s Lake’

*Major Thomas Mitchell’s representation of* Lara’s (Larra’s) Lake as seen during his 1851 assessment of the Ophir Gold Field

When this research commenced there was a suggestion floating around that the William Lee who established the pastoral property named Larras Lake ¹ was the son of James Lee, a marine who arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. However, Dunn and Lambert ² have very clearly refuted this idea. Suffice it to say that William Lee was born on Norfolk Island, the son of convict parents – George Lee and Sarah Smith. The Victualling Book from Norfolk Island suggests that Sarah Smith, and her son William, may have left the island in 1796.

However, Dunn and Lambert have also found that both Sarah and William remained on the island after that time, the explanation being that Sarah acquired a new partner – William Pantonay – in 1796.

Pantonay, a reasonably successful convict settler, was quite able to support Sarah and William without assistance from the administration, for which reason Sarah was removed from the victualling lists. About the same time, William Lee took the name of his mother’s new partner and became known as William Pantonay Jnr. However. Sarah died on the island in 1804 and the following year (1805) William Lee, son of George Lee, now known as William Pantony Jnr, sailed on the Buffalo to Port Dalrymple (in Tasmania) with his step-father, William Pantony/Panton/Pantoney/Pantonay. ³ ⁴‘

As is also documented by Dunn and Lambert, the two Williams Pantony (William Pantony, Snr and William Pantony, Jnr) returned to Port Jackson in 1811 when William Jnr was about 17 years old. William Pantony Snr, was granted an absolute pardon in 1813 and by 1815 had a 40 acre land grant at Eastern Creek, in the general vicinity of Parramatta and James Larra’s Freemasons Arms. A year later, William Pantony, Jnr , “Born in the Colony”, was recommended by William Cox in his capacity as a magistrate at Windsor, as a “New Settler” suited to be the recipient of a 50-acre land grant ⁵.

According to other sources William Lee subsequently accompanied Cox in his duties when Cox was appointed Commandant of the new European outpost at Bathurst in 1815, but confirming the claim has been problematic. However, that Lee knew and was favourably regarded by Cox, and that Cox knew Larra quite well from their mutual association with the Parramatta Loyal Association is indisputable, as is the assertion that Cox became involved in assisting “orphaned” (abandoned) children in the Colony. The extent of his involvement prior to 1814 is not particularly clear, but there is strong evidence that he was so involved from at least 1814, a little before the time that “Larra’s Lake” received its name. This evidence comes from a combination of the 1814 records of a predecessor to the Benevolent Society of NSW and a book published in 1916, extracts from which are reproduced below…

*Endnote to the (initial annual) Report for 1814 of the NSW Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Benevolence (Predecessor to the Benevolent Society of NSW)*

While not absolutely unchallengeable, a statement made in Jas. Steele Early Days of Windsor New South Wales – Tyrrell’s Limited, Sydney 1916. [ made available online by Project Gutenberg, Australia] does tend to confirm that William Cox was involved with the “Branch Society” at Windsor…

“A full history of the Hawkesbury Benevolent Society will be found as an appendix to their report for 1856, compiled by the late Hon. Wm. Walker, M.L.C. From this we learn that the Society was formed at a meeting held on 31st December, 1818, and adjourned to 11th January, 1819, for the purpose of devising means of relieving the poor and indigent of the district. A previous society had been formed, known as the ‘Windsor Charitable Institution’, of which Mr. Robert Fits was secretary, but it was absorbed by the new effort, and the name changed after a few years to ‘The Hawkesbury Benevolent Society.’
Those present at the original meetings were—Rev. R. Cartwright, J.P., Wm. Cox, J.P., Dr. J. Mileham, J.P., hon. treas; Lieut. A. Bell, Capt. J. Brabyn, J.P., Thos. Pitt, John Jones, Hy. Baldwin, and Geo. Hall.
It was agreed to endow the society by forming a herd of cattle.”.

Also in 1816, William Pantony Snr and William Pantony Jnr received ‘on credit’ from the Government herd, one cow each, to be paid for in 18 months time, either by the provision of meat or wheat, or in money. The record of these transactions shows both father and son were then residents of the Richmond district – on the Hawksbury River, probably on William Pantony Snr’s Land Grant.

By the time the cows were issued William Cox was Commandment of the newly established colonial outpost at Bathurst, he having completed a road across the Blue Mountains under contract to the government on 14th January 1815. Three years later William Pantony Jnr., as William Lee ⁶, was promised one of the first land grants west of the Blue Mountains – during the latter part of Cox’s tenure as Commandant at Bathurst. That this grant had been promised was advised to the Colonial Secretary in a personally written note dated 9th May 1818 from the Governor, Lachlan Macquarie.

*Macquarie’s personal note advising the Colonial Secretary of land grants promised to ten new settlers at Bathurst – 1818.*

Lee’s 50 acre grant at Bathurst, the fourth on Macquarie’s list, was on the Sydney-side of the Macquarie River, opposite the new European settlement and is the land upon which he built his first house west of the mountains. The fate of William Cox’s 1816 recommendation that Pantony (Jnr) receive a grant has not been determined but it appears certain that the Bathurst grant represented that promised by Lachlan Macquarie in 1818, discussed later.

A critical event in the story of William Lee was the death of William Pantony, Snr. ⁷ in May 1819. Matthew Finnigan was put on trial for Pantonay Snr’s willful murder on 12th June that year and found guilty as charged by a jury of 12. However, the Sydney Gazette reported ⁸ that he was found guilty only of manslaughter, for which a sentence of 2 years imprisonment was imposed.

The reason for this apparent disregard for the official verdict is perhaps found in the circumstances and implications of Pantony Snr’s death. These were that he let a flock of sheep, over which he had charge, graze a crop of wheat owned by Matthew Finnigan. When Finnigan learned that Pantony was making no effort to stop the sheep he became enraged, set his dog upon the sheep and subsequently struck Pantony with a substantial timber pole that Pantony had already thrown at Finnigan’s dog… The blow dealt by Finnigan led to Pantony’s death…

Finnigan does not appear to have been one of the Irish rebels who had been transported without trial to New South Wales, nor does Pantony Snr appear to have been particularly interested one way or the other in their cause. However, it does seem there was very little love lost between the pair.

The evidence presented during Finnigan’s trial tended to suggest that Pantony’s failure to prevent the sheep from damaging Finnegan’s crop was intended to be a provocation. Nothing in particular – with the exception that Pantony Snr was lying on his back in the sun while his sheep were munching upon Finnigan’s crop – was put forward to support the possibility, but an undercurrent of hostility, probably based upon ethnic rivalries was certainly present. Given the general situation, had Finnegan been executed, the immediate outcome would likely have been a significant insurrection on the part of the numerous Irish rebels who remained in the Colony. Under these circumstances, Governor Macquarie appears to have intervened to ensure matters did not develop into even more trouble. William Pantony Jnr, under the name already used by Macquarie in his handwritten note mentioned above, relocated to the far side of the Blue Mountains. As the name change occurred twelve or so months before the murder of his step-father it cannot be an outcome of that event. Also unexplained is his apparently quite favourable treatment for some years after his relocation to Bathurst. ⁹

Now comes the interesting bit…

The papers documenting the trial of Matthew Finnegan include evidence given by one Maria Green who, given her approximate age and similar name was almost certainly Mary or Marianne Green , the Norfolk Island partner of John Harris, and mother of James Larra’s nieces, Elizabeth and Hannah. Even more interestingly, her evidence, initially recorded as that given by Marion Green, (see enlarged image below), confirms that at the time of Pantony Snr’s death, she was living in his house along with the two Williams’ Pantony. Thus we have a direct connection between James Larra and William Pantony Jnr/Lee that also establishes what happened to Mary Green after John Harris departed the Colony with her son in 1801.

Extract from evidence presented at trial of Matthew Finnegan, showing alteration of *Marion Green’s* name.

The series of occurrences mentioned above tend to suggest some pragmatic decisions were taken at the highest levels ¹⁰ in the aftermath of Matthew Finnegan’s reprieve. The most significant for our purposes , is that William Pantony Jnr, as William Lee, removed to Bathurst and became established there under his birth name. but that change of name had already been put into use, for reasons not yet found, some twelve months before…

By 1822 Lee held two land grants on the Sydney side of the Macquarie River at Bathurst- the 50 acres promised by Macquarie in 1818 and a second grant of 80 acres received when he married the Richmond inn-keeper’s daughter, Mary Dargin in March 1821. As a fellow inn-keeper Mary Dargin’s father was almost certainly known to James Larra, and it might be speculated that Larra had an involvement in the match. However, from this point on there is a long trail of William Lee’s land acquisitions.

Between 1822 and 1828 the acquisitions were leasehold, in much the same area as the Cox family holdings around Capertee and Mudgee, and there is a record of “a settler named William Lee” setting out from the Cox family estate on 30th November 1821, with one of William Cox’s sons ¹¹. On that occasion the purpose was to “inspect the country north and east of Bathurst”. However, once the Government Stock Stations along the Bell River (west of Bathurst) were abandoned, Lee very clearly concentrated on that area. Importantly, his acquisitions here were by purchase. That Lee purchased the land rather than obtaining leases in the way that most other aspiring landed gentry operated, suggests access to funding and the development of a conscious strategy. ¹² Here his strategy of purchase rather than lease ensured he held the highest title to the land, protecting his acquisitions from attempts by others to buy it ‘from under his feet’, and allowing Lee , and his descendants, to retain control over some of the best grazing country in the Central West of New South Wales.

In all, William Lee acquired by direct purchase from the Crown, 21,783 acres in the general vicinity of the former government stock station at Three Rivers on the Bell River at little downstream of Larras Lake Creek, and at Bathurst. Other blocks, amounting to about the same area of land, are said to have been acquired by purchase from earlier holders.

His largest individual acquisition from the Crown was of 2,430 acres (983 ha). This had been part of the former Government Stock Station promised to Lee and given in occupation to him when it was abandoned by Government in 1830. However, for reasons that are unclear, he did not receive title to the land until 1839. At that time he also received, by way of compensation, 1,000 acres nearer to his original grants at Bathurst. The 2,430 acres, when added to his numerous other purchases along the Bell River, brought the overall area of land he had purchased from Government in the vicinity of Larra’s Lake Creek to 19,967 Acres. To this could be added other holdings totalling 26,816 Acres, most of which were also west of the Blue Mountains. He named his property Larra’s Lake, the name he, together with William Cox and George William Evans, had probably suggested ¹³ for a pretty string of three or four lakes on the watercourse that formed one boundary of his land.

In 1833, after all his efforts to create the Larra’s Lake pastoral enterprise, Lee also purchased 53 acres fronting the Nepean River at Emu Plains. The background to this acquisition has not been evaluated but it might be speculated it represented a link to the times he had lived with his father on that river 17 or 18 years before. It might also have represented that 50 acres grant recommended by William Cox in 1816…

GOTO Conclusions – the Parish of Larra’s Lake >

1
which was not located in the Parish of Larras Lake
2
Cathy Dunn and Glen Lambert: James Lee – First Fleet Marine at www.australianhistoryresearch.info james-lee-first-fleet-marine
3
Thank you again Cathy Dunn and Glen Lambert
4
The different spellings of this surname are those identified during the present research.
5
NSW State Archives, Colonial Secretary’s Papers, [9/2652], p.27 | Start Date: 16/01/1816
6
The way in which this name transformation was achieved is unclear, but a consultation between William Cox and Governor Lachlan Macquarie may have been involved…
7
refer to NSW Colonial Secretary’s papers, NSW State Archives 4/1742], p.254
8
Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser, 19 June 1819, p3
9
The answer will perhaps be found somewhere in Governor Macquarie’s voluminous official papers, yet to be thoroughly reviewed. However, if, as is quite possible, the reason involves Pantonay jnr’s involvement with information passed to ‘the authorities’… It may never be found.
10
still to be researched, but almost certainly the Governor himself – Lachlan Macquarie
11
Richard Cox William Cox, Blue Mountains Roadbuilder Roseberg Publishing, 2012, p205
12
Nothing has yet been found to support the claim, but it is strongly suggested the strategy adopted reflects the influence of James Larra
13
For a detailed discussion of this claim please refer to the page entitled “The naming of Larras Lake Creek”