Story of Vaucluse House

AND

Sir HENRY BROWNE HAYES.

CHARLES H. BERTIE,
Fellow Royal Australian Historical Society.
Author of " Old Sydney,' " Storks 0/ Old Sydney," " Story of
Old Qeorge Street," etc.

THIRD EDITION.

$ydn?ij.

1921.

PRJCE, ONE SHILLING.

An area of ,22 acres 3 roods 10 4-5th per., embra
cing Vaucluse House and gardens was resumed by
the Government of New South Wales in 1910^ and
proclaimed a public park on the 24th April, 1911.
The house and grounds are now vested in the follow
ing gentlemen as Trustees:1
,W. DUNCAN, Esq., President.
;T, M. SHAKESPEARE; Esq.
D. R. HALL, Esq.
L. W> ROBINSON, Esq.
E. S. SAUTELLE, Esq.
F. HAMBRIDGE, Esq.
' W. F. LEIGHTQN BAILEY, Esq.
, M. O'kEEFE, Secretary.'
This edition of Mr. Bertie 's paper is issued by th«
Vaucluse Park Trust with the object of supplying a
short account of thte historic house and grounds
under its charge. This paper deals principally with
Sir Henry Browne Hayes and the early history of the
house., To complete the history the Trustees have had
printed a pamphlet, which is obtainable for 1/-, deal-1
ing with William Oharle's Wentworth, the father of
constitutional Government in New ;, South Wales, who
. by his connectio|i with it has given Vaucluse House a
place of pride in our history. /

YA« '

VATJCLUSE ABOUT 1820.

Prom "Wallis' "Australian Views."

The Story of Vaucluse House and Sir
Henry Browne Hayes.

By CHARLES H. BERTIE,
Ji Paper read before the Australian Historical Society

aURING the years that Australia was the dumping ground
for England's human refuse, a number of picturesque
rascals drifted to these shores. The world dearly loves
a rascal if he have but the elements of mystery and
romance surrounding him, and I plead this excuse in intro
ducing to you one of these picturesque characters. As his story
is interwoven with one of our most historic houses, I have fur
ther justification for the introduction.
My story begins in the latter part of the eighteenth cen
tury on the banks of the river Lee in the pleasant city of Cork.
In this city lived a well respected gentleman, Sir Henry
Browne Hayes. His family had been long settled in Cork arid
had given rise to a current phrase, "as old as Atty Hayes'
goat, ' ' applied to one well advanced in years. The expression
originated from Sir Henry's father, Attiwell Hayes. The good
people of Cork, particularly the fair section, delighted them
selves in the middle of the eighteenth century with masquerade
balls, and Mr. Hayes was one of the most zealous participants
in these functions. On one occasion he "drove into the ball
room in a small state chariot to which was yoked a very fine
goat. This caused great consternation at the time, and was
afterwards the gossip of the city and country for many a long
day. The goat became a universal favourite, and was per
mitted to range about at large and lived, it is said, to quite a
partriarchal age. ' ' Hence the expression. As will be shown
the eccentricity of the father descended to the son.
Henry Browne Hayes was admitted freeman of Cork city
on November 12, 1782. In 1790 he was one of the sheriffs of
the city, and in that capacity waited on the Lord Lieutenant
on his arrival at Mitchelstown on October 20, to invite him to
dine with the Mayor and Corporation, and for this service
Hayes was knighted. 3

During my visit to the old country in 1913, I journeyed
to Cork with the express purpose of learning something more
of the early life of Sir Henry Browne Hayes. The most
important thing I secured, next to the opportunity of seeing
the city of Cork, and kissing the Blarney Stone, was the pro
mise of a copy of a paper on Sir Henry, recently read before
the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. Recently I
received through the kindness of a Cork friend a proof of the
article, and I find that a generous portion of the paper was
contributed by Mr. Morgan McMahon, of Sydney, N.S.W.,
himself a Corkonian. As Mr. McMahon has treated Sir Henry's
days in Cork in a far more competent manner than I am cap
able of, I make no apology for quoting him : — -
Of the Cork Bucks who flaunted it when the eighteenth century
was in its last quarter, none was more conspicuous than Sir Henry
Browne Hayes. He was a member of a family long settled in Munster
and of eminent respectability. He was connected with several of
the country gentry, though his immediate forbears would seem to have
been identified with commercial and industrial life in the city.
That involved, in the estimation of the Oorkonians of the period, no
loss of social caste. Cork of the eighteenth century might be con
sidered as a sort of Irish Venice in respect of the influence exercised
by its mercantile class. Their self-importance conceded not one jot
to the pretensions of the territorial magnates. It probably had more
substantial backing. It had the power of the purse. The father of
Sir Henry was one of those opulent citizens. The country squires
might claim to be "related to all the McCarthys, to the Nowlans and
Donovans likewise," but that did not lessen by a single iota the aspir
ations of the city magnates to be considered as good gentlemen as
the best of them. Indeed, there is reason to believe they actually
were. In manners and accomplishments they are described by com
petent witnesses as presenting a type superior to that prevalent at
the same period in most other commercial cities in the British Islands.
Many of them were travelled men. The city had old commercial
relations with the Continent. The younger representative of a mer
cantile house in the leading southern Irish seaport was often a resi
dent for some years in Trance and Spain, or in Portugal. If he had
anything of the natural gift of tongues he usually returned home
with a command of one or two foreign languages. This was the order
of which Sir Henry Browne Hayes was one when he was engaged in
a queer matrimonial speculation which qualified him for a free passage
to New South Wales in 1801, and for perpetual residence there.
Cork was a gay place, according to all accounts, when Sir Henry
Hayes was one of its prominent men. Corporate honors and privileges
were more prized than they were subsequntly when thrown open to
general competition. In the "Celtic capital of Ireland," as Cork has
since been called, there was not, all through the eighteenth century,
and for nearly the length of a generation into the nineteenth, a single
Celt who did not abjure his ancient creed, eligible for civic distinctions
of any kind. But they came early to Sir Henry Hayes, and in the nat
ural course. His was a Protestant family, and consequently worthy of
such gifts as the gods might send for distribution among orthodox sup
porters of Church and State.
The soul of the loyal knight was presumably in arms and eager
for the fray which the progress of the United Irish Association, and
4

VAUCLUSE HOUSE TO-DAY.
(The towers on the left have been add^d recently by the Vaucluse Park Trustees.)

its avowal of republican sympathies, rendered imminent in the mid-
nineteens. Militia regiments were embodied by the Government, and
placed under the command of trustworthy officers. Cork, as the
largest county in Ireland, furnished its quota to these defenders of
"law and order." There was a county militia regiment and a city
one, respectively designated the North CoTk and South Cork. Sir Henry
Hayes had a captain's commission in the South Cork. Characteristic
traits of the man had been preserved in relation with his career as
a militia officer. He was semi-oriental in his notions as to how a
person of consequence in the tented field should be distinguished
from the common herd. The tent which was pitched for his' accomo
dation had a canopy of silk. Doubtless his uniform was worn with as
many extra adornments as the regulations would possibly per
mit of. At least as much may be inferred from some particulars given
as to his taste in private dress. Gentlemen then sported cocked hats.
One side was usually turned up, and displayed a rosette. Sir Henry
wore such a fashionable emblem on both sides of his hat. He had
a reputation for excessive hauti'ness, a characteristic which was to
bring him some chastening experiences by-and-bye in New South
Wales, when the fancy seized him to behave as though he were again
a perfectly free agent, and the dictionary contained no such word as
"convict." In Herbert's Irish Varieties quoted in the article men
tioned, pp. 82-3, it is stated that Sir Henry was one of a num
ber of amateur actors who played for the benefit of poor
widows in the Cork theatre, and, says a contemporary, he
"gave us splendid dinners at his country villa, which was a
world to see, the most perfect piece of ingenious design and
workmanship for elegant and comfortable retirement, that
could be seen in any part of the kingdom."
It is difficult to account for the foolish action which
earned Sir Henry his ' free passage to New South Wales.
Curran, in his address to the court at the knight's trial, lays
it down as a cool calculated piece of villany, but I am pre
pared to admit a little touch of eccentricity and possibly a
touch of romance, despite Sir Henry's forty years of age.
Miss Mary Pike, the daughter of a deceased banker of
Cork, was the heiress to a fortune of over £20,000. In 1797,
at the time in which our story begins, she was staying with
some friends, the Penroses, who lived on the north bank of
the Lee, a few miles from the city. Mr. Cooper Penrose's
property,, called "Wood-hill," was one of the show places of
Cork and visitors were admitted to the grounds. One day in
the month of July, 1797, Sir Henry Hayes was amongst the
visitors, and Mr. Penrose came out and conducted him round
the grounds. Sir Henry, so Curran maintains, spun out his
visit so long, that "Mr. Penrose was forced to ask' him to din
ner. During the mealMiss Pike sat at a side table, but we
have little doubt cast a demure glance now and then at the
dashing ' figure seated at the table.' Sir Henry is '• described
as 'the time as "straight made, rather fresn coloured, a little
5

pock-marked and brown hair, with remarkable whiskers,
about five feet seven inches high and about forty years old."
Sir Henry's visit (again we quote Curran) was "not induced
by the common motives that influence young men by any indi
vidual attachment to the mind or the person of the lady. It
will appear that his first approach to her was meanly and
perfidiously contrived, with the single purpose of identifying
her person, in order that he might feloniously steal it, as the
title deed of her estate. ' '
Miss Pike 's mother lived in Cork and was in bad health.
On July 22nd, 1797, "on a rainy night between 1 and 2 in the
morning, ' ' as Curran puts it, Miss Pike was aroused from her
bed and a note, apparently signed by the family physician, was
put into her hands. The note (which was afterwards found to
be a forgery) stated that Mrs. Pike was suddenly taken ill and
wished to see her daughter. The Penrose carriage was placed
at her service and in company with Miss Penrose and Mrs.
Ann Pike, Miss Pike set out for Cork. About half way to the
city the carriage was stopped by four or five men. One of
them was dressed in a great coat, and armed with pistols
and had the lower part of his face concealed by a Handkerchief
tied around it. Miss Pike was taken from the carriage, and
placed in a chaise, in which she found a woman, Sir Henry's
sister. The traces of Mr. Penrose 's carriage were then cut, and
Sir Henry Browne Hayes, for he was the masked and armed
gentleman, drove away to his house, called Mt. Vernon. Miss
Pike was carried up an avenue and into the house by Sir
Henry. Shortly after their arrival a man dressed as a priest,
accompanied by two women, entered, and the priest com
menced to read the marriage service, partly in English and
partly in French. Miss Pike did not allow the proceedings to
pass without a protest, for when Sir Henry forced a ring on her
finger, she drew it off and flung it away. And it was not until
the worthy knight drew a pistol and threatened to shoot
himself, (himself, mark you; he was a gallant if somewhat
hasty gentleman) that the service was allowed to continue,
not however, without frequent protestations. In playing the
wild gallant the impetuous knight was still careful not to set
the proprieties altogether at defiance. After vainly trying to
persuade her that the ritual, of which the man dressed as a
priest had been the celebrant, had actually made her his wife,
he left Miss Pike. She was not prevented from writing to her
friends, who promptly came to Mt. Vernon and rescued her.
Sir Henry should have lived a century before. In the reign
of Charles II. the Earl of Rochester abducted a Miss Meillon
under somewhat similar circumstances to those here related.
The Earl incurred His Majesty's displeasure and had to efface
himself for a time, but we find him some two years afterwards
6

leading the once reluctant lady to the altar. No tiuch pleas
ant fate awaited the impetuous knight of Cork. He was
forced to flee, was declared an outlaw and a reward of £1000
(of which 500 guineas came from the Pike family) offered for
his apprehension. Here we come to a strange part of the
story. In a short time Sir Henry was baek in Cork, and, des
pite the reward, he lived in public for nearly two years
almost in the heart of the city, and the pressure of public
opinion was so strong that Miss Pike fled to England. This
state of affairs continued for two years when Sir Henry wrote
to Miss Pike offering to stand his trial before a jury of his
country. One day he walked into the. shop of a Mr. Coghlan,
hairdresser and perfumer, who lived on the Grand Parade,
Cork. Mr. Coghlan was an old follower of the family, and
the thoughtful Sir Henry suggested that he might file the nec
essary information and claim the reward of £1000. Sir
Henry was arrested and Coghlan got his reward. Three red
brick houses built by Coghlan out of the money still stand on
the Grand Parade.
Sir Henry's trial was one of the sensations of the day.
The most formidable array of counsel was engaged for each
side. For the prosecution were J. P. Curran, Hoare, Goold,
Townsend, Burton, Waggett and Wilmott: the agent Richard
Martin. The prisoner's counsel were Quinn, Keller, • White,
Grady, Fitzgerald, Hitchcock, Franks and Dobbin: the agent,
Mr. Flemming. Sir Henry came into court attended by nu
merous and influential friends. There is a story told that as
Curran entered the court on the last day of the trial, an ad
miring fish- woman said to him: "Long life to you, counsellor,
and I hope you'll win the day." "If I do, I'm afraid you'll
lose the knight," was Curran 's answer. Judge Day presided
at the trial, and of him it is related that in 1799 he was pre
siding at the Limerick Assizes. The court sat until midnight
and the judge wished to continue the sitting throughout the
night, when a barrister sent him this ditty: —
Try men by night! my lord forbear,
Think what the wicked world would say,
Methinks I hear the rogues declare
That justice is not done by Day.
The court was adjourned.
Curran 's address to the jury was one of the finest efforts
of that very able man. Reading it now after a lapse of a hun
dred years, one is struck with the convincing logic and force
of his oration. Miss Pike's friends had endeavoured to have
the venue of the trial changed from Cork to Dublin, fearing
that the public sympathy exhibited towards Hayes would in
fluence the verdict. The application was refused, and the
7

adroit Curran actually managed by his references to the hon
our and fairness of the men of Cork to change this repulse
into a weapon of attack on the unfortunate knight. The trial
commenced on April 13, 1801. The ballad makers of the day
did not let such a fine opportunity pass and a number of
ballads were composed and sold on the streets. The best
known of these had the lines : —
Sir Henry kissed behind the bush,
Sir Henry kissed the quaker,
And if he did, and if he did,
I'm sure he didn't ate her.
This was sung to the old tune, "Merrily Danced the
Quaker," but in Notes and Queties April 12, 1884, it is
stated that the original air of the ballad was "Wilkes and Forty
Two." The epigram makers, too, were busy. Here is a sample of
their efforts : —
The fate of Sir Henry is sure a hard case,
Unable in Cork to exhibit his face,
Pursued by the brethren, proclaimed in the papers,
Though his mighty misdeeds were mere boyish capers;
Since Mercy, hight Goddess, re-visits these climes,
And rebels and traitors are pardon 'd their crimes,
Tho' different his guilt let them all share alike,
He was not United and gave up his Pike.
In an earlier number of Notes and Queries that of
August 11, 1877, it is stated that "those who are familiar with
the facts of the scandal believed that Miss Pike was not an
unwilling agent to her abduction. She was a singular person,
of an impressionable nature, rather homely in appearance and
had directly incurred her father's displeasure in falling in
love with a young Tipperary gentleman named Cleburne, who
was an assistant in the bank and a connection of the Pikes,
through the Cleburnes, of Moate Castle. A penniless scion
was not, however, to the taste of the old father, and by res
trictions in consequence of this and other love affairs, doubt
less paved the way to the abduction." A kinsman of Miss
Pike 's, in the issue I have first quoted, wrote strongly denying
the truth of these statements, and stating that one of Miss
Pike's rejected suitors was afterwards Mayor of Cork.
After an hour's deliberation, the jury found Sir Henry
guilty, but recommended him to mercy, and his appeal on in
sufficiency of evidence was referred to the twelve judges who
decided against Sir Henry, but the recommendation of mercy
was acceded to. Hayes was condemned to death on August
10, 1801, but the sentence was cummuted to transportation for
life on September 4th following. An account of the trial was
published in Cork in 1797 in a pamphlet of sixty pages.
8

THE COUKTYAED, VAUCLUSE HOUSE.
The ornamental tiles are from Pompeii.

EEMAINS OF CONVICTS' BAEEACKS.
Pulled down 1912. The crosses were not symbolical, they were openings
to admit air. The picture on the cover is the doorway
of this building.

The next view of our hero is on board the convict ship
Alias, bound for his new and distant home. Poor Sir
Henry finds that, although gold can soften many hard roads, a
man in the grip of the law is withal but a convict, and there
fore, guilty of direst treason in laying his hand on an officer,
but we will let the outraged gentleman tell his own story, an
office he is well qualified to fill: —
In order to secure myself a respeetful treatment and decent ac
commodation on board, I had paid a considerable sum to Captain
Brookes, commander of the ship appointed by the Government^ The
Transport Board had also by letter ordered Captain Brookes to re
ceive on board his ship a man named Jamieson. Would your lord
ship wish to know him? In figure he resembles a hackney chairman, in
behaviour a clown; illiterate beyond measure, stupid when sober, and
when drunk outrageous, While we lay at Rio this man in one
of his drunken fits quarrelled with Captain Brookes, and they actually
fought on the quarter-deck. Compassion for a moment superseding
contempt engaged me to join the company in separating them. Our
kindness procured us all, and me in particular, a volley of abuse in
terms hot calculated to escape notice. On the shore the next day, when
the fumes of his liquor were dissipated, I requested an apology, and
obtained satisfaction. The steps I then took were those universally ap
proved of. He went on board another ship, and I forgot him.
On my coming here I found him, by a previous arrival, installed
in the offices of acting chief surgeon and magistrate. God help the
laws! Hence I was detained on board, although exceedingly ill, a
fortnight after the ship was at anchor. Hence they deliberated
whether flogging, hard labour, or Norfolk Island (the "blackho-le of
Botany Bay") should be my portion; and most certainly I had fallen
a victim to their villany had not caution, my friend for this once
only, stepped in. They, therefore, gave me a kind of mock trial, for
insulting in the Brazils this colonial surgeon. The sentence passed on
me was six months' imprisonment in the common gaol. The con
sequence, additional ill-health and unavoidable dilapidation of > what
. effects I brought with me. My illness, however, made them fear I
' might escape their hands by death. They, therefore, after numberless
wrongs, insults, scoffs, and threats, liberated me at the end of five
months;, but, -as an additional inconvenience, sent me to Parramatta
under the penalty of transportation to Norfolk Island if I ventured
down to Sydney, where my property was deposited, a prey to the
ravages and plunder of every miscreant. This sentence, by extra ex
penses, thefts and other dilapidations of property, cost me at the least
£500. Naturally there were two sides to this episode, and Sur
geon Jamieson (who afterwards figured prominently in our
early history) has left on record his version: —
Any respect or attention by Mr. Brookes (captain of the Atlas
to the accommodation of the official servants of the Crown was en
tirely out of the question. A prisoner on board, and from whom he had
extorted three or four hundred guineas, was the only person who
had any pre-eminence with Mr. Brookes. This person messed with
him, enjoyed a part of the round-house, and the cabin allotted to the
passengers was in part stowed with his baggage. The striking contrast
in Mr. Brookes' conduct in relation to the prisoner alluded to
above and his deportment towards me was so singular and unpre-.
y

cedented that I cannot pass over it unnoticed. My bed-place where
I slept was rather on a contracted scale, and underneath were stowed
four casks of sugar which were usually required on deck twice a week
My cases were as constantly cast loose and in danger of being broke
to pieces.
Mr. Jamieson 's peace of mind and rest were so "eternally
disturbed" and his situation was rendered so "highly dis
agreeable" that he left the ship at Rio Janiero. The At icu
arrived in Sydney on July 6, 1802.
After Sir Henry's enforced sojourn in prison and at Par-
ramatta, he reappears at intervals in the historical records,
but always to the accompaniment of trouble. Being properly
qualified he determined to instal a Masonic lodge at Sydney.
Governor King refused permission; nevertheless a meeting
was held, at which Sir Henry presided. The meeting was
disturbed by constables, and everyone present arrested. The
magistrates acquitted everybody the next day but the unfor
tunate president, who was ordered off to the new settlement
in Van Dieman's Land for his pains, but Sir Henry appears
to have escaped this fate. Later on Governor King was ex
ceedingly troubled by fears of an Irish insurrection in the
colony, and placed Sir Henry on the list of suspects. Several
letters of the Governor contain allusions to the plot, and our
hero is classed amongst the leaders. King evidently waited
an opportunity to banish Sir Henry; and the opportunity arose
through a necklace. The story is told by one William Maum,
who describes himself as "an unfortunate young man, who
has now spent seven years in the most abject servitude and
wretched bondage, and who has never received an official sen
tence," in a letter from Norfolk Island to Viscount Castle-
reagh, under date May 26, 1806.
The cause of his having banished me to this island I shall briefly
relate to your Lordship. Governor King, having at the intercession of
Mrs. King (his lady) granted an unconditional pardon to Austen and
Meurant, the two notorious forgers on the Irish Bank of 1798, and
whose lives were saved on the express condition of their being trans
ported for life, incurred much censure for his conduct, as these men
were never in the employ of the Government since their arrival, nor
were they in any degree instrumental in contributing to the welfare of
the colony, and were solely employed in making jewellery, trinkets,
etc., for Mrs. King; Meurant, in particular, having made her a
present of a necklace to the value of £66/5/-. Their pardons excited
much general surprise, as their general behaviour could not entitle
them to such eminent distinction; and, some papers being written on
the subject, he attached the blame to Sir Hayes and me, in consequence
of our conversance with Irish affairs, and without enquiry ordered
us to this island. After we had remained here about a month he dis
patched the Buffalo to Norfolk (Island) with directions to Captain
Piper, administering the Government of this island (a gentleman
whose character stands unrivalled in New South Wales, as under his
administration a well conducted man is secure of protection, which
is not the case, I assure your Lordship, at any other part of the ter-
10

ritory, where the baleful influence of Governor King extends) to sep
arate Sir Henry and me by dispatching him to Port Dalrymple and
detaining me here, thus expecting that Sir Harry, if unconnected and
detached from me, could not afford Lord Hardwicke or Sir William
Grant the necessary information relative to this colony; but the winds
proving adverse, the Buffalo after encountering many storms, was
necessitated to put into Port Jackson without perfecting Governor
King's intentions relative to Sir Henry, whose sufferings are incredible.
But my story has been proceeding too fast. Let us now
consider Sir Henry in his relation to Vaucluse House.
Through the kindness of Mr. A. Barlow, I have been given
access to an interesting mass of manuscript, bearing on this
subject. - The first paper is dated November 24, 1801
(probably meant for 1803, as Hayes was not here in 1801),
and is headed "A list of garden flower and pot herb seeds
for Sir Henry B. Hayes." The list is too long to read in its
entirety, but it includes such items as :
Eight pottels early beans.
Eight pottels early peas.
One pound early York Cabbage.
One pound mustard.
One pound leek.
Half pound prickly spinnage.
Half pound green leaved endine.
Two pottels furze seed for hedges.
Then we come to pot herbs, in which are included : — ' ' Salsify,
speritt, hysop, 2oz. yellow hawkweed, 2oz. yellow lupin, melon
seeds, hyacinth roots, tulips, globe thistle," and then to make
the garden complete, we have the items "snails, hedgehogs."
Under the heading "Seeds of trees" we find:
One quart sweet briar.
One gallon oak.
One gallon ash.
One gallon beech.
One quart anonymous.
One quart laburnum.
When next you see the lordly beeches and oaks at Vau
cluse you can regard them as the survivors of those gallons of
seeds. The next paper is a receipt, dated April 18, 1803, from
Elizabeth Bradshaw to Sir Henry for the sum of £27/7/-, for
the purchase of a house "lately occupied by Robert Gillet,
situate in Chapel Row, Sydney, also a boat on the stock, now
on the premises lately occupied by me, and some timber on the
same premises."
Following this we have a document which I propose to
read to you as it comprises the title deeds, and the only deed
which Hayes had to his estate at Vaucluse.
11

'Shis is to certify that at the sale by auction of the Estate, Farms
and Houses of the late Captain THOMAS DENNETT, authorised by
Edward Hanmer PALMEB, Esq., Captain of the Honourable East
India Company's extra ship Bridgewater, by letter of Attorney from
Messrs. Prinseps and Saunders, the executors of the will of the said
captain THOMAS DENNETT, deceased, certain farms situate near
South Head, in this territory, were purchased by Sir HENRY
BROWNE HAYES who was duly declared the best bidder at the
price or sum of one hundred pounds, and the said Sir HENRY
BROWNE HAYES having given a set of Bills on his agent for the
sum of £93 stg., being the net balance, after deducting the charge for
commission, etc., on condition of his said agent receiving from the
said Messrs. Prinseps and Saunders a regular and due conveyance ef
the said Farms according to Law. The interest of the saidTarms is
therefore vested in the said Sir HENRY BROWNE HAYES, and by
virtue thereof he is entitled to remain in quiet and undisturbed pos
session of the SEfme. Given under my hand this 22nd day of August,
1803. S. LORD.
Signed in the presence of Licensed Auctioneer.
Robt. Rhodes.
Saml. Breakwell.
Some doubt seems to exist whether Hayes or a succeeding
tenant or owner named the estate Vaucluse, but there should
be no doubt, on this point. There are a number of advertise
ments in the Sydney Gazette (see issues January 29, 1804, July
21, 1805) over Hayes' signature in which he refers to his lands
as "Vaucluse." In a lease which was executed in 1804, Hayes
to Breakwell, it describes the lands as "formerly called or
known by the name of Laycock or Cardal's farms, now known
or distinguished by the name of Vaucluse." It was suggested
by the late G. B. Barton that Hayes took the name from Vau
cluse, a town in France to which Petrarch retreated in 1337.
Vaucluse comes from the Latin, Vallis Cfausa a closed up
valley. Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet I
have received information which makes me doubt this deriva
tion of the name. Prompted by Mr. A. Moore and aided by Mr.
Morgan McMahon, I have been in touch with some authorities
on old Cork, and find it is possible that the old home of the
Hayes at Cork was called Vaucluse. There is no definite auth
ority at present for the statement, but Mr. M. Holland, of Cork,
has kindly undertaken to make further inquiries into the
matter. Sir Henry appears to have built two houses at Vaucluse,
for amongst Mr. Barlow's collection I find a paper "Calcula
tions of the expenses of Vaucluse Farm, N.S.W." wherein the
first item is "Mason's work and materials for two houses —
one 27ft. by 20ft.; another 24ft. by 10ft., £300." At the same
time there is the item in the bill of "roofing the house," which
suggests that the houses were under the same roof. The docu
ment is a very interesting record of prices at the beginning of
the nineteenth century, and as such worthy of quotation: —
12

Calculations of the Expenses of Vaucluse Farm, N.S.W.: —
£ s. d.
Mason's work and material for 2 Houses, one 27ft. by 20ft.,
another 24ft. by 10ft  300 0 0
Plasterer 's work. Lime, etc.,  60 0 0
2000 Shingles. Bought of Mr. Lord  21 0 0
Joice, Rafters, Battons and Bullock Carriage 40 0 0
Sedar and- Norfolk pine boards, about 1600ft  63 0 0
Nails and Iron work  20 0 0
Carpenter's work. Roofing the House, making Saches, Doors,
Shutters, etc., Wages 15/- per day  180 0 0
Glazier's work. Glass, etc  20 0 0
Masons, Carpenters' and Labourers' wages, with materials
in building a Kitchen and Outhouse (24ft sq) . . . . 150 0 0
Building Sheep Shed, enclosing a large Stock Yard with
Paling, Posts, Bails, Nails and labour of men, and cattle 100 0 0
Purchased a number of trees and Asparagus beds for the
garden from Mr. Bloodsworth  150 0 0
Clearing 50 acres of land at £5 per acre from a woody state,
etc., for agricultural and other purposes, viz., falling heavy
trees, removing the roots, making ditches, hedges and other
enclosures  300 0 0
Planting several thousand fruit trees; trenching the garden
ground of 2 acres 3 feet deep all over, and enclosing the
same with a ditch and bank, 6ft deep and 5ft. wide .... 300 0 0
Expenses of Land Steward on the Estate, 9 years (1803 to
1812), at £50 per annum  450 0 0
Making a road in 1812 from the highway to the house,
4 mile  ¦.  20 0 0
£2174 0 0
Mr. Bloodsworth seems to have been the gardener of the
infant town of Sydney. I came across him in this capacity
when I was engaged on the history of the Orphan School,
which stood near the north-east corner of Bridge and George
Streets. The last item in the list fixes the date and the con
struction of the first road from the house to the old South
Head Road, as 1812, and the cost, half a mile for £20, would
make the borough engineer of to-day very envious.
Sir Henry purchased at the sale in 1803 what were known
as Laycock and Cardell 's farms. The former was 80 acres and
the latter 25 acres. Laycock 's grant is dated February 25,
1793, and Cardell's September 5, 1795. Laycock 's grant ran
approximately from Shark Point, then south-west, then along
the road in front of Vaucluse House to the waters of Parsley
Bay, near the head of the Bay. Cardell's grant occupied the
area between the present Palmerston Street and the water, but
did not extend to the waters of Parsley Bay. S. Breakwell, of
whom we shall hear later, in describing these farms, says:
"The farm that we lived on, the boundary commences at
Shark Bay and terminates at Parsley Bay, and the other farm
commences at the east most side of Parsley Bay and terminates
at the fig-tree in the bay where the signal soldier used to live
13

at the South Head. ' ' Breakwell himself owned sixty acres at
Rose Bay, which was known as Tivoli. Mr. W. H. Ifould,
Principal Librarian of the Public Library, in some interesting
notes he has compiled on Vaucluse, points out that Vaucluse
House is .actually not built on either of the grants that Hayes
purchased, but on a grant to F. McGlynn of forty acres. This
was granted on March 8, 1831. On January 2, 1829, McGlynn
agreed to sell this land to W. C. Wentworth as soon as he was
placed in possession of it, and the sale was duly carried out
on March 7, 1831. It might therefore be urged that Sir Henry
Browne Hayes' cottage was in a different position from that
of Vaucluse House of to-day, but from a careful study .of the
conditions it appears to me that portion of Hayes' cottage is
part of the present Vaucluse House. When one considers that
in the days of Sir Henry a few acres of land was neither here
not there, in fact, a lease which Hayes gave in 1804 gave the
acreage as 130 acres, whereas the total of the two grants was
only 105 acres, it is not surprising that he did not trouble
about bounds in what was a wild bush. Then in Wallis'
Austialian Views there is a picture of Vaucluse, published on
September 1, 1820, which shows the house in the position it
occupies to-day. So far as we have record with additions and
improvements the original house still remained in the year
1820. I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Huntington for an extract
from one of the newspapers of the year 1829, which clearly
unites Sir Henry's cottage and the present Vaucluse House.
"Mr. Wentworth," the extract runs, "intends either adding to
the snug cottage on his estate at Vaucluse (built many
years ago by Sir Henry Browne Hayes, uncle of the pres&t
proprietor of the Australian) or of erecting an entire new
mansion on that beautiful spot." The character of the man
sion of to-day demonstrates that Wentworth did not erect
an "entire new mansion," but added to the existing cot
tage. I have endeavoured to establish some relation between
the "two houses one 27ft. x 20ft, and the other 24ft. x 10ft.,"
which are mentioned in the calculations of the expenses of
Vaucluse Farm, and the present Vaucluse House, but without
any very satisfactory results. There are three rooms in the
front portion of the present Vaucluse House, which measure
12 x 15 ; 40 x 20 and 12 x 15. The one important point is that
the centre and largest room which would be the nucleus of the
house is 20ft. wide, which conforms to the 27 x 20 of the cal
culations. It is, however, 40 feet long. This original room,
however, must have been extended when the rooms behind the
12 x 15 rooms were added. At the present time the grate in
the long room is not in the centre of the wall, but would be
if the room were 27 feet long. In the picture I have referred
14

to as published in 1820 a house is shown which corresponds
to the centre room with one wing room. Possibly the other
house, 24 x 10, was a separate erection used by the workmen.
To the right of the house in the 1820 picture is a small house
which may be it. To the left of the picture is the sheep and
stock yard, referred to in the calculations. (See frontispiece.)"
In 1812, Sir Henry had to defend an action brought by
Robert Stewart Walker and Elizabeth, his wife, who claimed
under the will of Thomas Dennett, they were the lawful
owners of Vaucluse. Amongst Mr. Barlow's papers is a letter
from M. Robertson, as attorney for Hayes, to Mr. George
Charters, attorney for the Walkers, in which he says, "The
estate sold by auction for £100, was then a mere waste of land,
and until Sir Henry Hayes built a dwelling house upon it, and
cultivated a garden, it was of very little value." Sir Henry's
pleadings, under date July 6, 1812, are also in the collection.
The suit ended in favour of Hayes. There is also a reference
to a suit in 1812 by Elizabeth Rafferty, supposed to be derived
frgm Captain Dennett which Hayes successfuly resisted.
On December 31, 1804, Sir Henry leased Vaucluse to Sam
uel Breakwell for a term of seven years at a rental of £27 per
annum. I find also that on January 1, 1812, Hayes executed
another lease to Breakwell of Vaucluse for a term of 999 years
at a rental yearly of one peppercorn, but the first of these
leases was evidently only a device to help Sir Henry out of his
troubles. The second lease was a gift of the property to
Breakwell, probably as an expression of Hayes' gratitude to
the man who was a friend during those troublous years. In
after years in writing Hayes' nephew, Breakwell refers to
"My two farms at South Head where me and your uncle
lived." Hayes departed from New South Wales on December
4, 1812, and on the 1st of November of that year Breakwell
leased Vaucluse to Lieut-Governor Maurice Charles O'Con-
nell, for a term of four years, at a rental of £25 per annum. The
lease contained a clause that at the expiration of the lease
Breakwell would consent to exchange Vaucluse for 500 acres
of land "in some eligible and approved part of the territory."
From the correspondence that follows Breakwell appears to
have only received £50 from O'Connell. On December 18,
1818, he wrote to the Colonel, who was then in Ceylon, and
received an answer dated January 2, 1820 — that is two years
afterwards. O'Connell states that he spent about £1000 im
proving the place; that it was untenanted and unproductive
with the exception of one year since he left the colony, and
his agent has been at the expense of keeping a man there to
take care of the premises, he therefore declined to pay any more
rent. The letter continues, "You would do well (if you
can make out a title to the place), to re-occupy it." Various
15

letters follow, on the subject of the rent, but the only satis
faction that Breakwell appears to have received was an order
from O'Connell, under date July 25, 1826, to his agent, Major
Druitt, in N.S.W., to deliver up Vaucluse to Breakwell or his
duly authorised agent. There is a reference in a letter that
Breakwell wrote on April 1, 1826, to Sir Henry Browne Hayes,
both then in Ireland, to. the fact that a Mr. Dennett had sent
out a power of attorney to New South Wales, claiming Vau
cluse as his property.
When O'Connell wrote to Breakwell, "if you can make
out a title to the place," he was placing his finger on a sore
spot. For some reason Hayes never received a conveyance of
the property from the executors of Captain Dennett; Break-
well says it was in consequence of the failure of these execu
tors, and the only title he had was the receipt from Simeon
Lord I have already quoted.
Some time in the twenties (he was here in 1826) Attwell
Edwin Hayes, a nephew of Sir Henry, came out to Sydney,
and on July 9, 1830, Breakwell signed a power of attorney
empowering Hayes to let and sell Vaucluse, and the estate of
Tivoli. But Breakwell never recovered Vaucluse. Mr. Palmer
or Major Druitt, as agent for Colonel O'Connell, leased the
estate to Captain Piper. Breakwell says, writing from Ireland,
that he had heard- that Piper., occupied one of his (Breakwell's)
farms. More conclusive evidence that Piper actually resided
at Vaucluse is furnished by a letter in the Mitchell Library
from W. C. Wentworth to Piper, under date May 30; 1828, in
which the former says that he has had the furniture which
Piper left at Vaucluse valued according to agreement, and
credits him with £40/12/- as its value.
We now arrive at a strange hiatus in the history of Vau
cluse. We know that Captain John Piper was in occupation
of the property, as a tenant, but the next stage is the convey
ance in fee simple of 105 acres, comprising Laycock 's and
Cardell's grants, on August 28, 1827, to W. C. Wentworth by
Piper for the sum of £1500. The property was purchased by
Wentworth at the sale of Piper's property by Mr. Paul in his
auction rooms in June of the year mentioned. How did Piper
obtain a title to the land is a question which I have not been
able to answer,- although I have had access to official searches
and documents. It seems as if Captain Piper, being in posses
sion and knowing that Breakwell possessed no title deeds, con
tinued to hold the land until he was bought out. Attwell
Hayes appears to have made some attempt to recover Vaucluse
for Breakwell, as we find in a Sydney paper of the 4th July,
1838, the following advertisement: "Vaucluse. In reference
to an advertisement signed E. A. Hayes, which appeared in the
Australian newspaper of July 29, the public are informed that
16

VAUCLUSE HOUSE AS W.C. WENTWOETH LEFT IT.
The portion in front incorporates the cottage erected by Sir H. B. HAYES,. The battlements and portion
at rear were erected by W. C. Wentworth.

the party whom Mr. Hayes represents has not the shadow of
of a title to any of the property advertised for sale by public
auction, by Mr. Polack, on July 9. W. C. Wentworth." The
front-page of the catalogue of the sale alluded to reads:—
"Splendid villa and marine
allotments
a catalogue of
particulars and conditions
of sale
Ninety-six
Allotments of land
part of the splendid estate of
Vaucluse,
also fifty-four allotments,
forming
The Village of Vaucluse,
The property of W. C. Wentworth, Esq.,
For sale by auction by A. Polack
at his rooms George street
On Monday the 9th day
of July, 1838,
at ten for eleven o'clock
precisely.
Printed by J. Tegg and Co.,
Atlas Office, George-street, Sydney."
"The Village of Vaucluse," referred to in this extract
comprised the grant of 25 acres to Robert Cardell. In the
>ydney Morning Hetald of September 17, 1853, Polack adver
tises the sale of Vaucluse land by Private contract.
With the advent of W. C. Wentworth Vaaicluse House
takes a place of dignity in the history of New South Wales.
The commanding figure of Wentworth walks in and out of its
doors, and where Wentworth walked history went with him.
As I have written elsewhere he was "A dominant man, his
personality obscures the age, and makes difficult a true focus.
Like all strong men his convictions were intense. He liked and
disliked well." His library at Vaucluse was at one and the
same time the storm centre and the birthplace of thoughts
that powerfully affected the life and destiny of Australia. His
greatest act, the conferring of a Constitution on New South
Wales was probably designed and polished in the silence of
this historic room. It is not, however, the intention of this
paper to deal with the life of Wentworth, so that it behoves
me to pass on. After Wentworth 's death in 1872, his remains
were brought from England and buried in a mausoleiajn on
the estate. The family continued to reside at Vaucluse until
March, 1883, after which Mr. James Hill became tenant and
died there. 17

In 1910-11 the Government resumed Vaucluse House, and
several parts of Laycock 's original grant, and these have now
been dedicated to the use of the public.
Let us now return to Sir Henry Browne Hayes. We left
him after his providential escape from a sojourn at Port
Dalrymple. The rebellion of the officers and inhabitants against the
tyranny of Governor Bligh, the successor of King, was too
good an opportunity to get into trouble for Sir Henry to miss.
And, needless to say, he sided with the wrong party. When
Governor King was in power Hayes was in opposition; now
that Governor Bligh is in custody Sir Henry is in harmony
with him. A too vigorous expression of his views followed,
and the stormy petrel found himself banished to Newcastle.
He was allowed to return in eight months, but some five
months later he states : —
That in the month of May (1809) last your memorialist had oc
casion to come to Sydney to consult a physician on the state of his
health, which was much impaired, and was walking peaceably in the
town when he was suddenly set upon by a party of armed men, who
said they were constables, and who proceeded with unheard violence
to drag your memorialist to the common jail; in committing which
outrage on the person of your memorialist they tore your memorial
ist's clothes, wounded and bruised him, and at length, without any war
rant a pretended authority bore off your memorialist, whom they had
thus overpowered, to prison, where your memorialist was that night
confined, and early next morning, in like forcible illegal manner was
sent off again to the Coal River (Newcastle) where, unfortunately
for your memorialist, Lieutenant Lawson (102nd Regiment), had got
into the command. That an the fourteenth day of July, 1809, your mem
orialist was sent for by Lieutenant Lawson, and while your mem
orialist — unconscious of having done any wrong or offended Lieutenant
Lawson — was proceeding to Government House there he was suddenly
interrupted by Lieutenant Lawson, who vociferously called out to some
of his people, and made use of the following words: — "Seize the villian
by the scruff of the neck and drag him to the guard house." That
your memorialist endeavoured by remonstrance to learn the cause of
this fresh outrage, but was prevented by the constant vociferation of
Lieutenant Lawson, who loudly called out that he would flay your
memorialist and put him to work on the shell-boat.
Sir Henry was imprisoned, the keys of his house de
manded, and upon his refusal to give them up his house was
broken into by Lawson and its contents "rifled, scattered,
wrecked, and exposed to general plunder." His private and
domestic papers were rifled, and he was refused their return.
Lawson excused himself for his burglarious behaviour on the
grounds that he had previously found (he does not say how
or where he found them, but we suppose it was upon Sir"
Henry's protesting person) certain writings of the knight,
liable to bring those in command and the then existing Govern
ment into ridicule and contempt. As they seem to have highly
18

incensed Lieutenant Lawson, stimulating him to a little un
official house-breaking, these papers must have contained not
a little of the accumulated acrimony of a man much put-upon
by fate and himself.
One of the most interesting parts of Mr. Barlow's collec
tion is some letters which passed between Sir Henry and
Breakwell during one of the former's enforced sojourns at
Newcastle. The following letter with its side-lights upon the
Sydney of the Bligh-revolution days is particularly interest
ing:— LETTER— BREAKWELL TO HAYES. Vaucluse,
Monday, 16th May, 1808.
My dear friend,
I wrote you two letters by the Resource and one by Mr. Blax-
cell's Vipell (vessel) not having an opportunity of giving you a full
account of what as happened. By the latter Vipell (vessel) I will now
tell you what as come within my noledge, every day something new,
you have heard, I suppose of the Brig Harrington's departure with poor
Campbell's all and five thousand pounds in dollars of King, Johns and
Co. On Monday morning, the 16th, I went on board the Resource from
the farm where I heard from Craft that the Hai i inglnn went out in
the night and he supposed she had been taken by some prisoners.
I haveing some business in town about your letter and my friendship
for poor Campbell induced me to go in immediately to inform him,
however, he had heard it before my arrival. On my coming into the
camp the Lieut. Govr. sent for me to know if I saw the Vipell (ves
sel), and which way she was going. I told him and he was very
thankful. I then ask him for McKinney of the store he said I should
have him, if Kinsala was agreeable to part him. Kinsala had promised
before this I should have him and now wont let him come without I
give him twenty pounds per year and his provisions.
This evening a very curious business happened which I will give
you the particulars. I was riding down Pitt Row towards home I
met a girl Rosy White's daughter she lived formily with Mary Lewis
she ask me if I would give her a. ride. I ad never spoke to her
three times in my life I told I would if she would ride to the farm,
she said she woud, she then mounted the horse and I rode behind,
on the road by Vinegar Hill I met Capt. Campbell Simmons and a
party of soldiers returning from looking after the Harrington she. then
being out of sight, after passing them Simmons desired the soldiers
to call me back he askt me what I was agoing to do with- the girl.
I told him she was going to my farm to live with me, he then di
rected the soldiers to bring us back to town to answer for that girl.
I told him to be careful how he acted that if he took me in a prisoner
he should answer for this conduct, he told me not to give any inso
lence or he would commit me. I thought he was a magistrate since
then I hear he is not, this was about six o'clock he then sent us to
cells in the custody of five soldiers not to be examined wether I had
committed any crime, without asking me a question Mr. Blax-
cell sent for constables and dragd'me to jail and ordered I should be
put into a sell and the girl into another however Billy Davis put
me in a wose place for I was forced into the large Room amongst all
the common f ellons and there kept fifteen hours not being permitted
to speak to any one or were allowed to get a loaf of bread. The next
day I was taken to the Court with the rest of the prisoners and
19

treated with every indignity. Blaxcell and Lawson was the bench they
ask me a few questions and said there was nothing against me respec
ting the girl and may go about my business. But that Rascell Whittle ¦
wanted to swear that I was taken this girl to my farm on purpose of
making her escape in the Harrington when everybody knows that the
vessel was out of sight eight hours before I saw her, the Court would
not allow Whittle to swear but as an excuse for the illegal confine
ment they accused me of being concerned with Martin about three i
barrells of powder and they had a good look out after me they knew
every place I went to, the fact is they don't like me going to see Gore.
I told them this was poor redress for a free man and a British sub
ject and a freeholder in this colony after being imprisoned 15 hours and
treated like a common fellon without crime charge or even suspection,
I may go about my business and told them at the same time I was
well awaTe that they could get twenty men to swear my life away
for a smile from them so left the Court. I have been but four or five
times into town since my return and shall go less for they a going
great lengths they even went so far as to send after the Resource for
my letters, and said I was givin you some information about the
Hvrrinerton. but the Resource had sailed before the boat went down.
So much for my amoors. I sent by Mr. Blaxcell 's Vipell (vessel) 5
bottles of good Spirit and two mugs of Butter tell me how I am to
set about Kearns debt they seem determined to anniy me, I have not
sold any large Glass nor wont till I hear from you the sow I shall kill
about a fortnight the small pigs is-  here the letter abruptly ends.
We can sympathise with Mr. Breakwell on his 15 hours'
sojourn in "the large room amongst all the common felons."
There were two rooms in the gaol each 32 x 22 feet. The
average number of prisoners occupying each room throughout
the year was between 80 and 90, and on occasions there were
110 in each room, and as the gaoler said "they were then so
crowded that 25 in each room could not find space on the floor
to lie upon, although those who were lying down were packed
as closely as possible, with the heads of some between the legs
of others."
LETTER— HAYES TO BREAKWELL (FROM NEWCASTLE).
My dr Sam,
I landed Sunday evening from an open Boat, having left the ves
sel at sea, her not being able to weather has prevented her being
able to make the port till Tuesday evening, when she got in with dif
ficulty, after experiencing many risks, I was uncomfortable till her
arrival having nothing with me but the cloths on my back. I am now
living in the old mansion where I suppose I shall remain for three
or four weeks, take care of all letters that may arrive Lawson is civil
and I have no doubt will continue so as our objects are of a very
different nature, upon the whole he seems to be well inclined, my dis
position is not to hurt the feelings of any man, particularly when
I know they have run their glass out. You know from my late letters
what they are to expect, if I have any influence at a future day I
will save the life of poor Jim Laycock. Pack up all the books left
in the parlour, and destroy the white ants that I perceived commit
ting depradations in the China closet, go as little into the town as you
can possibly avoid, a dying horse kicks hard, let me hear from you
by every possible opportunity, and don't be uneasy if I don't write by
every vessel for reasons I will explain to you hereafter. Provisions
are not as plentiful here as I was thought to believe ' send me what
20

4 i*

/y yy «

PORTION OF LETTEE WRITTEN BY
SIE. H. B. HAYES.

you judge most necessary (some spirits). Pay Crump's order to Parsley
on the rocks, as he tells me it is them, I shall collect sufficient curi
osities before I return to compensate for this present annoyance as
the Fools suppose this trip is to me, if Lewis wishes to take advantage
of my being here, I will make him comfortable and we can return to
gether Remember me to Grant, send me some Bills to pay Kelly, Soap
and Candles. I send enclosed one of the keys of the small Trunk,
preserve your health and spirits.
God bless you. affectionately yours,
H. B. HAYES,
Batchelor's Hall,
10th May, 1809.
Sir Henry has immortalised himself by his method of rid
ding Vaucluse House of snakes. In his day the locality was
infested with snakes of every kind and hue. He endured their
attentions until they commenced to use his bed for their
slumbers ; then Sir Henry swore he would defeat them. Saint
Patrick had banished snakes from old Ireland and the smell of
the bog was death to" the reptiles, ergo, he would bring out
some of the dear old isle itself, and "circumvent" the vipers.
Sir Henry sent to a friend in Ireland; and casks filled with
bog began to arrive, until he had some 500 barrels
stored at Vaucluse. A trench six feet wide and two feet deep
was then dug right round the house, and on one bright day,
a 17th March, a gang of convicts, Irish to a man, filled the
trench with the soil.
When the men had finished, some of them begged a hand
ful of the precious soil. "Take it, and welcome," said Sir
Henry, "but I would rather have given you its weight in
gold." John Lang, who relates the incident in his volume of
stories {Botany Bay) concludes by saying: —
Strange to say, from that time forward, Sir Henry Hayes was not
visited by snakes. They, did not vacate the ground in the vicinity of
Vaucluse, but none were ever seen within the magic circle formed of
the Irish earth. Whether the charm is worn out, and whether the
Wentworths are invaded as was Sir Henry I know not. But this I know,
that Captain Piper, who held the appointment of naval officer in the
colony, to whom Vaucluse was subsequently granted and from whom
Mr. Wentworth purchased it, assured me that during the many years
he lived there with his family no venemous reptile had ever been killed
or observed within Hayes' enclosures, notwithstanding they were plenti
ful enough beyond it.
The curious part of the story is that so far as the impor
tation of the turf is concerned, it is probably true. I have a
copy of a letter under date July 29, 1898, from Mr. J. G. Bar
ron, of 18 Bridge Street, to Mr. G. B. Barton, in which he
writes : —
Dear Sir,
Your note to hand yesterday, and in reply may state that I re
member distinctly the late John Barlow showing my then partner
Captain Austin and myself the B/L of Irish turf you speak of as a
great curiosity. I do not remember the name of the vessel.
21

Whatever the potency of the Irish turf was in Sir Henry's
day, it has lost its savour to-day, as I understand snakes have
crossed the magic circle on more than one occasion.
Sir Henry was pardoned in 1812, and we have some pretty
stories woven round his pardon. In Notes and Queries Decem
ber 16, 1876, "J.M." Melbourne, writes: "The circumstances
under which his (Sir Henry's) pardon was obtained I have
heard related as follows: — At the time Sir Henry left Ireland
he was the father of several children. One of them, a girl,
went to live with some relatives in England, where she grew
up a beautiful and accomplished young lady. She happened
to be one of the guests at a fete given by the Prince Regent at
Carlton House. She attracted his special attention, and
profiting by the favourable impression her charms had made,
sought and obtained permission to personally present a peti
tion for her father's release, which the Prince was graciously
pleased to grant." In the issue of February 24, 1877, of the
same journal Dr. Richard Caulfield, of Cork, says: "There is
no doubt about the story of the interview between his (Sir
Henry's) daughter and the Prince Regent which was the cause
of her father's liberation." Some years ago in the defunct
Echo a writer on the suburbs of Sydney weaves a story round
this pardon which would do for a Stanley Weyman plot. There
is the beautiful woman, the Prince of Wales, a visit to Bou
logne, pistols and the heroine emerging triumphant, with her
brother's pardon.
It is an invidious task to turn the cold basilisk glare of
the Historical Records upon these pretty stories. I comfort
myself with the thought that I should have gone on believing
these romances if I had not come across a statement of facts
prepared by Mr. Hugh Wright, of our Mitchell Library, and
quoted in the paper read before the Cork Historical Society.
"On April 10, 1809," says Mr. Wright, "Bligh prepared a
pardon for Hayes, but as the usurpers of his Majesty's Govern
ment held in their power the Great Seal, to which Bligh had
not access, the pardon could not be issued.
"On August 16, 1811, writing from Durham Place, Lam
beth, to the Earl of Liverpool, Bligh stated the above fact, and
enclosed a copy of the proposed pardon, and mentioned that
'after Governor Macquarie's arrival I could not succeed in
getting this effected, being not formally reinstated according
to His Majesty's commands, and therefore I determined, after
all the public trials should be over, to earnestly solicit His
Majesty's Government to realise my intentions so justly regu
lated on all occasions. On this case, however, I most respect
fully solicit your lordship to allow this pardon to take effect,

that Sir Henry Browne Hayes may he restored to his liberty
and respectable family in this country.' (Now in Records un
published.) "The very next day, August 17, the Earl of Liverpool
wrote to Governor Macquarie, transmitting a copy of the above
letter, and continuing 'I have apprised you of this circum
stance in order that you may be enabled now to extend the
indulgence then intended to have been granted to this individ
ual by Admiral Bligh, in case his conduct, since the period
of Admiral Bligh 's suspension from the Government, should
have been such as to entitle you with a true regard to the ends
of justice, to remit the punishment to which he has been con
demned.' " (See Hisloiical Records, Vol 7.)
"Macquarie must have granted the pardon on the above
recommendation and authority, because Hayes sailed from
Sydney in the Isabella on December 4, 1812, and he could not
leave the colony in an open way without having been par
doned. After receiving the pardon, it may be assumed that it
would take him some time to put his affairs in order before he
could leave the colony without any intention of returning."
These facts do not even leave a loop-hole for that beauti
ful lady to creep in..
Sir Henry left Sydney on December 4, 1812, in the habella
in company with the celebrated General Joseph Holt. The ship
was wrecked at the Falkland Islands in February, 1813, but
without loss of life, and the pair eventually reached Dublin,
where their arrival is thus chronicled by Watty Cox in his
magazine for July, 1814 :
General Holt and Sir H. B. Hayes. These two eminent gentlemen
have arrived from Botany Bay. The General has commenced the trade
of publican in Kevin Street; the knight lives on his money at 35 Dawson
Street. It is singular enough that the two were transported for the
Pike business. Sir Henry was transported for stealing a Pike, and the
General for bestowing Pikes.
The last allusion is to the fact that in the Irish rebel
lion in 1798 General Holt's men were armed with pikes.
Sir Henry returned to Cork, and in the hish Book Lover
for June, 1913, the following pen portrait of him as seen at the
Cove of Cork after his return from New South Wales is quoted
from Ainsworth's Magazine, Vol. 7: "A portly person, wearing
striped trousers, and a blue coat with brass buttons, having a
rubicund face, charged with effrontery, and shaded by the
broad leaf of a straw sombrero."
The last reference to Sir Henry that I can find is in Irish
Recollections of Justin McCarthy (pp. 199-200), where Ee says:
"An article in the Irish Packet of February 6, 1904, signed by
John O'Mahoney, tells us that 'The last picture I know of Sir
23

Henry is seen through the memory of an old Cork lady. As a
girl, she often saw him sitting on fine days outside his quar
ters in Thomas Street. He was then a feeble old man, and
blind. He wore a rush hat and a blue coat, with white facings,
a remnant of dandy days. He would hail the passers by, and
ask them to lift his chair into the sun and lead him to sit
there. "It is so much colder nowadays to what it was when
I was sheriff," he would say.' "
Sir Henry died in May, 1832, aged 70 years. The Sydney
Gazette of January 1, 1833, quoted from the Cotk Constitution
of May, 1832, as follows:—
On Friday, at his residence, Grantham Hill, most sincerely and
universally regretted, Sir Henry Brown Hayes, knt., aged 70 years.
He sustained a very sincere illness for many months with pious re
signation;, he was a kind and indulgent parent, and a truly adherent
friend. The suavity and gentlemanly manner he possessed made him en
deared to every person who had the honour of his acquaintance.
In a note the* editor of the Sydney Gazette says :
Sir Henry Hayes was the father of Mrs. Burnett, the amiable and
highly accomplished lady of the Colonial Secretary at Van Dieinan's
Land, and uncle of Mr. Hayes, proprietor of the Australasian. Sir
Henry Hayes was buried in the family vault in the crypt of Christ
Church, Cork. His place of burial is in the west aisle, and over the
entrance is a square stone on which is inscribed "the burial place of
Attiwell Hayes, Esq., 1787."
Here we will leave him at rest at last. Sir Henry Browne
Hayes paid the full price for his indiscretion — eleven years of
degradation, in which he tried to play the three-in-one role of
knight, gentleman and convict. His path would have been
easier if he had not the impetuousness of the Irisnman, but he
had also the courage of that race, and the heavy hand of
officialdom was powerless to subdue him.
When I think of Sir Henry standing on board the Isabella
sailing out of Sydney Harbour, on his way to freedom, I can
imagine him in the frame of Henley's lines:
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced or cried aloud
Beneath the bludgeonings of fate
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

YAIE

D. S. Ford, Printers, 729 George-st., Sydney.
24

YALE

^TukivFajT}^

!SRA.rtt.^'