Adam and John Amos, pioneer settlers Tasmania
The Amos family history, personified in the brothers Adam and John, is the classic tale of making good in a new land. But opportunity alone is not enough - also demanded are the courage to seize an opportunity, vision, dedication, management skills and the willingness to work. All qualities which, between them, the brothers must have held in abundance.
Adam and John were the eldest sons of James Amos and Helen (Nellie) Hoy who married at Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland in 1771.
The following account continues from the beginnings of family history in Scotland and describes the settlement of Van Diemen’s Land/Tasmania by brothers Adam and John in their quest for a better life in Australia.
Great Oyster Bay, Tasmania
Adam and John Amos set foot on Van Diemen’s Land at Hobart town on March 17th 1821. Upon their arrival fellow settler George Meredith and the Amos brothers presented their letters of recommendation to Governor William Sorell. Despite Meredith’s earlier preference for the west coast, the party was persuaded to investigate the east coast which Sorell was keen to see settled.
A survey already made of the area promised much, but of course the men had to make their own judgement.
An exploration party comprising Meredith, his son George, Adam [1], his eldest son James [1.1], Henry Rice and Watson (both of whom had explored the area in 1819) set off on April 5th 1821 in a hired whaleboat. Avoiding the dangerous and lengthy passage around Cape Raoul, they crossed East Bay Neck the following day, reaching Prosser's Bay on the afternoon of the 7th.
Sending Adam Amos in the company of a local shepherd to investigate the land ahead, Meredith surveyed the local bays and coastline by boat.
There being no sign of Adam over the next couple of days, land and shoreline searches by boat were organised but nothing other than the tracks of men and dogs was to be found. On the afternoon of the 11th Adam returned, having in the meantime journeyed as far as Little Swanport.
The following day the party rowed to Little Swanport River, and then sailed on to Oyster Bay, their eventual destination. Leaving Meredith on shore, Adam rowed on to the Swan River.
Amos properties circa 1970
Adam (1.3) m Susannah Lyne - May 1st 1839
A Place to Live.
It was in the region from Great Oyster Bay, up to and along the Swan River, that the men chose their various lands. Meredith chose 2000 acres between Salt Water Creek/Meredith River and the Wye; Adam selected 500 acres north of Meredith River; John opted for the north bank of the Wye for his 400 acres; and Meredith chose a further 1000 acres, now Spring Vale, north of the junction of the Cygnet with the Swan for his son Charles. But John’s original choice was not to be confirmed.
The return journey to Hobart Town was commenced on April 21st. There Meredith met with Governor Macquarie, to whom Lieut.-Governor Sorell reported, and as a result was able to obtain further grants for the four.
However Adam, deciding that there was insufficient suitable land available to extend his chosen grant located his thousand acres immediately north of the Spring Vale grant, about l0 miles (16km) from the coast. This he named Glen Gala Farm, the Swan River at his eastern border reminding him of Gala Water.
But this was still early days. In mid-September 1821 Adam [1], his son James [1.1], and John [2] and his son James [2.1] returned and established themselves on the land.
John built for Meredith a four-room cottage with walls of rammed turf and mud and a thatched roof, and for his own temporary accommodation (his own land not yet being officially allotted to him), a smaller hut a short distance away downstream. In the latter part of the same month Adam made exploratory excursions, alone or in the company of others, to the upper part of the river and the plains. On October 13th, Adam and his son James, together with a man named Stanfield, left to meet the flock of sheep being driven from Little Swanport. The party returned on the 15th with 830 sheep, having lost only 26 on the way - a remarkable result.
Ten months after setting foot in Tasmania, sufficient progress had been made for the families of the settlers to join their menfolk. A schooner, the Mayflower was chartered to bring them to the new settlement. On landing, they and their possessions were transported to their properties using bullock drays.
All shared the trials of those pioneering days. They were frequently harassed by natives hostile to foreign occupation and there was the ever-present threat of escaped convicts who had become bushrangers - an even greater danger when the men were dispersed over their properties, far from the homestead.
Adam was appointed in May 1822 to be the first District Constable of Swanport, acting also as coroner and pound keeper.
In 1823 Adam and John between them owned around 1,700 acres. Within 10 years these lands had increased through further grants to 6400 acres (over 2500ha) comprising the present-day Cranbrook, Glen Heriot, Gala (at one time known as The Mill, then Gala Mill) and Glen Gala. Melrose was the name given to a square mile of the 2000-acre grant made to Adam in 1828.
First Children of Australia. As could only be expected in the age of relatively large families, it wasn’t long before the new community celebrated the first births. On January 19th 1823 Hannah Amos gave birth to twin daughters, Lavinia [2.6] and Matilda [2.7]; Lavinia is recorded as the first white female born on the East Coast.
They were followed on May 10th 1824 by John [2.8], and on December 29th 1828 Adam [2.9] was born.
The fledgling community having already suffered from unreliable lines of supply, Adam determined to indulge in a little ‘vertical integration’, asking John to draw up plans for a gristing mill. Timber was being cut for the first mill in June 1823, and in 1824 it was in operation, fed by waters from a dam constructed on the Swan and led 400m to the mill wheel.
Trials & Tribulation - Glen Gala. Adam's first house had been destroyed by fire in 1828. In January 1858 the 'Glen Gala' homestead and most other buildings were again destroyed by fire. The mill also fell victim, but had been superseded in 1842 by the brick-built Gala Mill; realising that the mill at Glen Gala was too small, James [1.1] had built a larger one downstream from his house.
Gala Mill and stable circa late 1960's
A new house was erected on the same site. The Glen Gala family temporarily occupied Craigie, the house built for James [2.1], son of John and Hannah, and took up occupation in the new brick house at the end of May 1860.
Glen Gala circa 1880’s
This house is still occupied; while it was originally Adam's home, it now belongs to John's descendants.
The granary and stables survived the fire but the latter was burnt down in 1940; the sheepshed, built in 1830, is still used.
Trials & Tribulation - Cranbrook. Almost directly opposite Gala, on the opposite bank of the Swan, lies Cranbrook, the 1000-acre grant taken up by John in 1827.
His had been a rather longer progression to the area. Because he had had comparatively little capital prior to arrival, George Meredith had persuaded him to enter into an agreement dated 3rd March 1821 whereby Meredith would gain initial possession of any grants made to John. After eight years of John’s management of this grant, and for his considerable carpentry and wheelwright skills, Meredith agreed to hand over 100 acres of this grant to John as a free gift.
The original grant of 400 acres on the north bank of the Wye, separated only by the river from some of Meredith’s own land, held great attraction to the latter when he was able to expand his holdings, and it was not long before he claimed it for himself.
John’s original grant of 400 acres was doubled, and he was granted an additional 200 acres as compensation for having suffered a degree of mis-administration on the part of the Colonial Office, so this was the opportunity for him to establish Cranbrook. Cranbrook House, built by John for his family in the period 1830-33, his second residence since arriving in the country, was named by Hannah after a village in England. Possibly in Kent although it is unclear as to the exact reason behind the naming.
Cranbrook House circa 1890
Because the first Post Office was operated from the property for many years, the name became synonymous with that of the area.
But John’s ownership of the property was still not assured - on the strength of the 1821 agreement, Meredith in 1838 contested Amos' right to the title deed. Government officials considered the action to be unfair, but under private arbitration a compromise was imposed - John would retain title, but an award made to Meredith required a large mortgage to be raised over the property.
A second house on the property, Craigie Knowe, was built after 1842 almost opposite Glen Gala and Gala homesteads near the Aborigine’s lookout stone site and for John’s eldest son James [2.1] and his wife Mary Ann. Although Cranbrook house was capacious enough and still only five years old at the time of James’ marriage, his bride Mary Ann found that sharing with his whole family did not appeal.
Mary Ann had inherited £500 from her uncle in the United Kingdom to buy a mourning ring for her deceased aunt, but she would sooner have a house built for herself and James.
They returned to the homestead, Cranbrook House, on the deaths of both Hannah and John and James’ consequential inheritance of the property.
Cranbrook House is still occupied, and the land, Cranbrook Estate, is still farmed by their direct descendants. The present-day Melrose came about when Cranbrook Estate was divided in 1960 between two brothers, James (Jim) Milford Amos and Donald Hardy Amos. James took the homestead block and Donald took Melrose.
Jim and Don Amos also sold Craigie Knowe house and a few acres after their father died and is now a commercial vineyard of the same name.
Melrose has since been sold out of the family and subdivided.
The Passing of an Era. It was not until almost 20 years after the first births in the new settlement that the first deaths occurred; Sarah Mary [1.3.1], the first child of Adam [1.3], son of Adam and Mary, and Susannah (Susan), died on March 4th 1842. Their second child, also a daughter and bearing the same name, drowned in the millrace on March 6th 1844 at the age of 2. The intervening March had seen Robert [1.8], the youngest son of Adam, die the day after falling from his horse and without having regained consciousness.
Adam Amos died on January 16th 1845, aged 71 years. He had suffered a stroke in Hobart so severe that he never walked again. After renting out Jutland in Newtown, he and Mary returned to Gala where he wanted to see out his final days. He was buried in the Amos cemetery.
Adam Amos headstone
Craigie Knowe
Mary survived him by nine years, and died at the age of 68.
John passed away on September 27th 1848, aged 72, his wife Hannah having predeceased him by nine months at the age of 68.
Succession. On the death of Adam, the original Glen Gala property was divided into three. Gala (then called The Mill, later Gala Mill) went to his eldest son James [1.1]; Glen Heriot to his second son John [1.2]; and Glen Gala was inherited by his third son Adam [1.3]. James and Adam farmed in partnership until about 1850, when James took part and left Adam with the Glen Gala homestead and about 2000 acres. James had added to Gala with the purchase of Springvale, and possibly inherited 320 acres of Apsley Marshland from his father Adam, while Adam [1.3] had also purchased Brook Lodge.
Hence each of these properties had become quite substantial. Because John [1.2] had lost two sons in infancy, Glen Heriot was occupied by nephew Adam [1.1.1] following John’s death, and a few years later it was sold out of the family.
Gala Kirk.
It was around the time of Adam's death that Gala Kirk was built. In January 1840 a service had been conducted at the granary at Glen Gala. Subsequently regular services were conducted at Glen Gala and Gala Mill (Gala) and the homes of other settlers.
In October 1844 a public meeting was held where Adam of Glen Gala offered five acres of land valued at £40 from the Glen Gala estate for the purpose of building a place of worship for the Presbyterian Church.
John of Glen Heriot [1.2] proposed to the meeting that a building 45 feet in length by 24 feet in width and 16 feet in height, with a vestry and schoolroom annex, be constructed to accommodate about 200 worshippers.
James of Cranbrook [2.1], the treasurer, spent several weeks travelling around the island collecting funds to build the church, but even with a government grant of £84 from the Colonial Secretary to John Amos (Cranbrook) who was appointed contractor, there were insufficient funds to complete the work.
John of Cranbrook and his son James then took it upon themselves to complete the church spending most of a year doing so. In 1845 James and Mary‘s second son Alfred John [2.1.4] became the first child to be christened in the new church.
Gala Kirk
Alfred J Amos
Over the years Gala Kirk has served the community in a number of ways including regular services; use as a school from 1853-58, then again for a period from l864 catering to the needs of 34 children; a meeting place tor church goers and public meetings, a library depot and a polling booth for some of the earlier elections.
One of the most significant events was the Amos Centenary held March 17th 1921. On that day an impressive carved wooden tablet in memory of the first family pioneers, was installed. A record was made of the day’s proceedings and sealed until the year 2021.
Gala Kirk Centenary 1945, Gala Kirk in background
Glamorgan has the distinction of being the oldest Rural Municipality in Tasmania. The first council, elected February 29th I860 included John Amos of Glen Heriot, James Amos of Cranbrook and members of the Amos family had served as councillors for generations since. James was appointed to the committee supervising the building of council chambers and had charge of the construction of new police buildings at Bicheno. Two generations of Amos family held the office of council warden, Alfred John Amos for l5 years.
Amos’s contributed to the cost of first Swansea jetty and the May Shaw Memorial Hospital at Swansea was founded in 1939 with a donation of £500 from Howard Amos husband of May Shaw. A house was purchased and used as the Bush Nursing & Maternity Home & Hospital, eventually being handed over to government.
Mt. Amos on the Freycinet Peninsula is named after the family.
Mount Amos, part of the red granite ‘Hazards’ in Coles Bay
Swansea Jetty as it was in 2016
Brothers Adam & John Amos left a remarkable legacy. They established themselves in a new land, and through hard work, determination and perseverance, prospered. Adam had 8 children and 63 grandchildren, John had 9 children and 45 grandchildren. By the end of the 1870’s 341 forth generation children were born.
Family on the Move. Not all early descendants stayed in the district, opportunities for adequate socialisation in Tasmania were restrictive, there were opportunities elsewhere and a capacity to take advantage of those circumstances existed. For example the settlement of New Zealand, which commenced in 1840, the opening up of stock land in outback New South Wales, (Queensland declared a separate colony in 1859) and the discovery of gold in Victoria soon after Victoria was declared a separate colony in 1851. All of these were attractive lures for a family looking for new horizons to explore.
Today, Amos descendants still farm the land around the hamlet of Cranbrook, but by far the majority of Amos descendants now live beyond Tasmania.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
The Scottish, for the most part, had a naming pattern that can be seen in many families. The pattern generally went as follows:
The first son was named after the father’s father
The second son after the mother’s father
The third son after the father
The first daughter after the mother’s mother and so on.
The naming convention, particularly for early generations of the Amos family resulted in the reuse of given names, for example Adam, John and James.
To provide some clarity a coding system has been applied where Adam has been designated 1, his first child 1.1, second 1.2 and so on. John designated 2, first child 2.1, second 2.2 and so on. Coding has been applied to the Family Tree and associated photographs. Full coding of the first three generations of Amos in Australia is provided as a download. (See Family Tree)