From Devon to South Australia
William Thomas Brown Bales was born in 1811 in Kenton, Devon, England. Kenton is a small village near Dawlish in the picturesque valley of the river Kenn, seven miles south-east of Exeter, the capital of Devon. It is probable that William’s family were well off as they had at least one maid, although it appears that they weren't too happy when William fell in love with that maid. They decided to send twenty-five year old William on a trip to the newly founded colony of South Australia. They may or may not have kept the maid!
William boarded the Tam O’Shanter which left London, England on 20 July 1836. The ship was chartered by Osmond Gilles, the Colonial Treasurer and commanded by Captain Whiteman Freeman.
The Tam O’Shanter arrived at Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, on 20 November, 1836. After a short stay in Kangaroo Island the ship then proceeded to Holdfast Bay to discharge its cargo. On the 18th December she tried to enter the Port River, only to run aground on a sandbar. Four days later she was re-floated and moved up to her landing place. The Tam O’Shanter was the eighth ship to arrive in South Australia and the first to arrive at Port Adelaide. |
The new arrivals set up camp in the sand dunes at Holdfast Bay (Glenelg) alongside the passengers from the earlier ships, while the survey team, led by Colonel William Light, searched for a suitable place for a capital city. Once the site for the new city had been selected and surveyed, the pioneers moved their camp to the banks of the River Torrens. The Tam O’Shanter had brought huts, timber and building materials. William Bales, being a builder and carpenter, possibly helped to erect the huts and shelters for the new city of Adelaide.
Although his journey to South Australia had been meant as a diversion due to his relationship with the family servant, William’s family intended that he return to Devon. But being of a somewhat obstinate disposition, William ignored all attempts by his family to communicate with him. He decided to stay in South Australia. It was only towards the end of his life that he showed any remorse at severing his family ties, saying that he had been unfair to his children by not claiming his inheritance.
The day to day business of the new colony was overseen by the Governor from Government House, a wattle and daub hut on North Terrace. The politicians of the day were a quarrelsome lot – nothing much has changed in over 170 years! Arguments between Governor Hindmarsh, Treasurer Gilles and Secretary Gouger were common. It all came to a head on 16 August 1837 and William Bales was right in the middle of it! |
Robert Gouger was not very impressed when the Governor decided to make Osmond Gilles a Magistrate. Gilles was known to have an irritable temperament. A war of words started between Gouger and Gilles which culminated in a public brawl. William Bales happened to be in a nearby store at the time and afterwards he was required to give evidence as to what he saw and heard. Ever the diplomat, and possibly with motives of a personal or business nature, he stated at the ensuing inquiry that he did not see anything and was unable to give any evidence to the contrary.
A lot of evidence was gathered from other witnesses however, as well as the individuals concerned, and on the 22 August 1837 Robert Gouger was suspended from his duties as Colonial Secretary by the Governor. |
But that wasn't the end of the story.
Gouger felt that he had been wronged and on 8 November 1837 he left for England to plead his case and clear his name. Upon his arrival in London in July 1838 he found that he had been re-instated and Governor Hindmarsh had been recalled. Gouger returned to South Australia in June 1839 and eventually took on the position vacated by his nemesis Osmond Gilles as Colonial Treasurer under the new Governor, George Gawler.
On 29 January 1838, William Thomas Brown Bales married Georgina Knapp, daughter of Thomas Alden Knapp and his wife Mary, at the Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide, South Australia.
Holy Trinity Church was built at the very foundation of the city of Adelaide in 1836. The Reverend Charles Beaumont Howard, the first Colonial Chaplain, who arrived on H.M.S Buffalo on 28th December 1836, was the first Rector. Its foundation stone was laid by Captain John Hindmarsh, South Australia’s first Governor, on 26th January 1838. A temporary Church was used until the stone building was completed in 1838. Georgina Knapp had arrived in South Australia on 20 October 1837. She had been employed as a servant to the wife of William Beavis Randell, a manger for the South Australian Company. |
William Bales had entered into a business partnership with a fellow carpenter, Robert Seaborne, in September 1837. Seaborne had also been a passenger on the Tam O’Shanter. However, this partnership does not seem to have lasted very long as by February 1838, William was operating his own business as a builder, joiner and undertaker from his premises in Waymouth Street, Adelaide, near Gilles Arcade.
On 28 May 1838 the Theatre Royal , Adelaide’s first Theatre, was opened. It was a makeshift affair above the Adelaide Tavern on Franklin Street but boasted of having nine dress boxes and a comfortable pit. The entertainment for the opening night consisted of two plays with a musical interlude in between. Performing a comic song during the interlude was none other than William Bales.
On 28 May 1838 the Theatre Royal , Adelaide’s first Theatre, was opened. It was a makeshift affair above the Adelaide Tavern on Franklin Street but boasted of having nine dress boxes and a comfortable pit. The entertainment for the opening night consisted of two plays with a musical interlude in between. Performing a comic song during the interlude was none other than William Bales.
On 25 October 1838, Mary Ann Maria Bales, the first child of William and Georgina Bales, was born in a tent in Gawler Place not far from Rundle Street, Adelaide. Mary Ann Bales was christened at Holy Trinity Church on 5 May 1839. At that time the Bales family lived on North Street, Adelaide. (This was possibly the corner of North Terrace and Gawler Place).
An Act for the regulation of liquor in South Australia was passed in June 1837, hotel licensing quickly followed. Due to the exorbitant cost of the license, many early hotels were often makeshift dwellings or private houses with one room set aside as a public bar. The population of South Australia by the end of 1838 numbered about 6000. The granting of publican’s licenses directly reflected the colony’s economic growth. Thirty-eight new licenses were granted in Adelaide in 1839.
William Bales entered into a partnership with Joseph Hele in 1839 as licensed victuallers (Beer and Wine Merchants) in Waymouth Street. (Town Acre 174) The site was subsequently occupied by the Union Inn which was licensed in 1845 and operated by the Herring family. |
William’s early foray into the hotel business may not have been too successful as by November 1840 the family had moved to the Adelaide Hills town of Mount Barker and William was working as a carpenter again. A son, George Frederick Bales, had been born at nearby Longford a few months earlier and the family returned to the Holy Trinity Church for his christening on 1 November 1840. Elizabeth Esther Bales was born at Aldgate, South Australia on 16 May 1843. The Bales family returned to Adelaide soon afterwards and lived on Rundle Street when Elizabeth Bales was christened at Holy Trinity Church on 16 November 1843.
Georgina Bales had suffered from ill-health for most of her life and unable to exert herself very much, she became an avid reader. The household chores often fell upon her eldest daughter Mary Ann. Georgina Bales died from dropsy on 3 May 1848 in Sturt, South Australia at age 27. Mary Ann Bales was only nine years old at the time and, with some help from her aunts, she took over many of the household tasks including caring for her eight year old brother, George and four year old sister Elizabeth. William Bales, at just 37 years of age, soon began looking for a new wife and a mother for his children. On 4 June 1849, at St John’s Church, Halifax Street, Adelaide, William married 45 year old widow Mary Garrett, nee Holwell. The family of William’s first wife must have approved of the marriage, as Georgina’s brother George Knapp and his wife-to-be Mary, were witnesses to the marriage.
On 26 December 1850, William Bales purchased a half an acre of land in the Hundred of Noarlunga from his stepson John Garrett. Four years later he sold this parcel of land to Thomas Ottway for £70, thereby making himself a profit of £40.
In 1854, William decided to enter the hotel business once again and was the first licensee at the Tea Tree Gully Inn when it was completed on 13 March 1854. Another hotel across the road, the Highercombe Hotel, was licensed just three months later despite William’s protests that “there was not enough business to support one house, much less two.” He was correct – within a year William Pearce, licensee of the Highercombe Hotel, was insolvent and William Bales had moved on to a more profitable location. |
William’s second marriage was to be short-lived as well. Mary Bales died suddenly at the Tea Tree Gully Inn on 8 March 1855, less than six years after she and William had married. She suffered from the same complaint as William’s first wife - dropsy - or more specifically heart disease. Shortly after Mary’s death, William left the Tea Tree Gully Inn. His three children were now teenagers, Mary Ann was 17, George was 15 years old and Elizabeth was almost 12 years old. William seems to have left no trace of his movements after 1855. Whether or not he took on another hotel is not known at this time. There is a possibility that he returned to his trade as a carpenter and builder.
Thirteen years after leaving the Tea Tree Gully Inn, William Thomas Brown Bales died of heart disease on 18 October 1868 near Anstey’s Hill, South Australia at the age of 57 years. Perhaps he had spent his final years living with his eldest daughter Mary Ann Newman at her family home at Anstey’s Hill.
Thirteen years after leaving the Tea Tree Gully Inn, William Thomas Brown Bales died of heart disease on 18 October 1868 near Anstey’s Hill, South Australia at the age of 57 years. Perhaps he had spent his final years living with his eldest daughter Mary Ann Newman at her family home at Anstey’s Hill.
Descendants of William Thomas Brown Bales
William Thomas Brown Bales was born in about 1811 in Kenton, Devon and died on 18 October 1868 at Anstey's Hill, South Australia at age 57 years. William married Georgina Knapp on 29 January 1838 in Adelaide, South Australia. Georgina was born in 1821 in Kenton, Devon and died on 3 May 1848 in Sturt, South Australia at age 27 years. They had three children: Mary Ann Maria, George Frederick and Elizabeth Hester. William next married Mary Garrett (nee Holwell) on 4 June 1849 in Adelaide, South Australia. Mary was born in about 1804 and died on 8 March 1855 in Tea Tree Gully, South Australia at age 51 years.
- Mary Ann Maria Bales was born on 25 October 1838 in Adelaide, South Australia and died on 17 June 1932 in Enfield, South Australia at age 93 years. Mary Ann married Charles Frederick Newman on 5 March 1857 in Adelaide, South Australia. Charles was born on 7 May 1834 in Prussia and died on 20 June 1899 in Houghton, South Australia at age 65 years. They had 17 children: Charles Lewis William, George Frederick Vincent, John William, Eliza Wilhelmina, Georgina Marguetha Eliza, Charlotte Eliza, Mary Ann Eliza, Alfred Henry Vincent, Henry William, Frederick Chrisopher, William Vincent, Albert William, Edward Walter, Mary Ann, Eliza Florence Annie, Eliza Martha and Henriette Mary Ann.
- George Frederick Bales was born on 25 September 1840 in Longford, South Australia and died on 8 January 1915 in Prospect, South Australia at age 74 years. George married Mary Jane Jones on 11 April 1866 in Mintaro, South Australia. Mary was born in about 1839 in Cymtoyddwr, Radnorshire, Wales and died on 2 February 1917 in Prospect, South Australia at age 78 years. They had 11 children: Georgina Laura, Florence Edith, Lena Annie, Agnes, William Frederick Wesley, Wilhelmina Blanche, Charlotte Maud, Frederick Austin, Mabel Rebecca Olive, an unnamed infant daughter and George Thomas.
- Elizabeth Esther (or Hester) Bales was born on 16 May 1843 in Aldgate, South Australia and died on 11 December 1889 at age 46 years. Elizabeth married William Henry Edwards on 15 June 1865 at Holy Trinity Church in Adelaide, South Australia. William was born on 22 April 1841 in Islington, London and died on 13 January 1927 at age 86 years. They had ten children: Mary Ann Maria, Elizabeth Georgenia, Harriet Amelia, Henry Charles, Charles Palmerston, Alfred John Millner, Ellen Edith, Charlote Eva, George Walter & Nellie Lavenia. At least three of the children died in infancy.