HAWDON, Joseph (1813-1871)

pioneer

son of John Hawdon, was born at Walkerfield, Durham, England, in 1813. He arrived in Sydney in November 1834, and in 1836 with J. Gardiner made an overland journey to Melbourne with cattle, the first to come from New South Wales. He returned to Sydney but came to Melbourne again in 1837, and in August took up land near the present site of Dandenong. About the end of that year the newly-established South Australian settlement was threatened with famine, and Hawdon, who had returned to New South Wales, with Charles Bonney, drove 300 head of cattle from the Goulburn district to Adelaide, where they arrived on 3 April 1838. Sturt (q.v.) in an official report made in August 1838 said of this journey: "Messrs Hawdon and Bonney could not have taken a more direct line or shortened the journey more wisely". Hawdon also became the official mail contractor between Melbourne and Yass at the beginning of 1838. He made his headquarters at or near Melbourne for many years, and was one of the directors of the Pastoral and Agricultural Society when it was formed in 1840, and a member of the committee of the Victorian Horticultural Society which was inaugurated in November 1848. He had a property at Heidelberg and in August 1851 discovered a few grains of gold near the Yarra River. Going afterwards to New Zealand Hawdon took up land between Christchurch and Westland, and afterwards spent some years in England. He returned to New Zealand, was nominated to the New Zealand legislative council in 1866, and died at Christchurch on 12 April 1871. He married in 1842 Emma, daughter of W. Outhwaite. An elder brother, John Hawdon, born on 29 June 1801, came to Sydney in 1828 and held land in various parts of New South Wales. He was associated with his brother in overlanding and in connexion with mail contracts. He died on 28 October 1886.

Kenyon papers at P. L. [Public Library?] Melbourne; The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 3; J. Blacket, The Early History of South Australia, which quotes Hawdon's journal, this journal was also reprinted in the Murray Pioneer early in 1938; Mrs N. G. Sturt, Life of Charles Sturt; E. Finn, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, pp. 57, 427, 429, 800; J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates; G. H. Scholefield, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.