State Library of South Australia

Henry Hawson [B 7029] • Photograph

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Summary

[General description] Portrait of Henry Hawson in an oval frame. He wears the trimmed sidewhiskers and curls on the forehead fashionable at the time. [On back of photograph] 'Henry Hawson of Port Lincoln / Father of Captain Hawson and Frank Hawson / (See Cockburn's Pastoral Pioneers, vol 2, p. 152) / Copied from a miniature lent by Miss J. I. Smith, Rugby Street, Malvern'.

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Physical description

Photograph; 11.6 cm x 7.3 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1818

Collection

Part of Portrait Collection

Subject

Hawson, Henry, 1791-1849
Pioneers -- South Australia -- Port Lincoln

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

Duplicate copy at PRG 458/1/2/38.

The miniature is a copy painted from a portrait painted by a portrait painter of 12 Benton St, Liverpool [still owned by a Hawson descendant]. The painting is not dated but must have been painted before 1819 as the family by then resided in Newfoundland, Canada. The miniature itself though could either have been painted at the same time or at a later date. (Information provided by a descendant.).

Historical information

Henry Hawson, pioneer of Port Lincoln, was baptised on the 6th November 1791 at St Petrox, Dartmouth, the second son [of eight children] of Gregory Hawson, mariner, and Mary Tapley. Henry Hawson married on the 9th January 1814 at St Saviour, Dartmouth to Elizabeth Emlyn Cowell. The couple had 13 children; their eldest two born in Dartmouth, ten born in Newfoundland, Canada and the youngest born in Albany, Western Australia. Henry Hawson was a merchant banker and business agent in St Johns, Newfoundland, when he decided to emigrate to Australia. According to letters published in Australian newspapers such as 'The Colonist' (Sydney), Thursday 22 September 1836, he departed Newfoundland with his wife and 11 children on their steamship 'Abeona'. His second son, Edward Cowell Hawson, was left behind to tie up some business even though he was only 16. (By 1838 Edward was in Australia too.) According to the 'South Australian Gazette' of 20th April 1839 "Mr [Henry] Hawson has also commenced building upon Curtain Point, so the foundations of a town is already formed". According to Kenyon in 'The Story of South Australia: Its Discoverers and Founders', the Hawson family was the most historic on the Eyre Peninsula. Henry Hawson, wife and family, including eldest son Captain Henry Cowell Hawson and his family, finally arrived at Port Lincoln in 1839 on the schooner 'Abeon', firstly via Sydney, New South Wales, and then arriving at Port Adelaide in 1837. The 'Abeona' carried with her a large cargo of cedar wood which was used in the construction of their first home at Kirton Point, where they took up 6000 hectares including 'Polda' station, Little Swamp, and the 'Towalla' homestead within the site of Port Lincoln. Henry Hawson also acted as Harbor and Port Master. He died on the 25th July 1849 at Port Lincoln, SA, when the pony cart he was driving overturned upon him. He is buried there in the Pioneer Cemetery. [Information supplied by a descendant.].

Digitisation information

Date

04/10/2005

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

2,082 x 3,300 pixels (6.9 MP)

Size

6.89 MB

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