William Lawson, MLC (2 June 1774 – 16 June 1850) was a British soldier, explorer, land owner, grazier and politician. In 1800, he migrated to Sydney, New South Wales, and from 1819, he served as the commandant of the Bathurst, New South Wales region, and from 1843, he served as a member of the New South Wales Parliament.

In 1813, he pioneered the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by British colonists, along with Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth, and they discovered inland pastures that fuelled the colony's economic growth thereafter.

Early years

Lawson was born in Finchley, Middlesex, England. He was the son of John Lawson and his second wife Hannah Summers. His father owned a successful chandler business, and he was a descendant of the Scottish Lawson family of Cairnmuir House in the Pentland Hills of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Lawson was educated in London and trained as a surveyor. He decided to join the British Army and purchased a commission in the New South Wales Corps as an ensign for £300 in 1799. He received orders to transfer to Sydney, arriving there in November 1800.

Officer in the 'Rum Corps'

Norfolk Island

Shortly after his arrival in Sydney he was posted to work at the penal colony at Norfolk Island under Major Joseph Foveaux. At this time, a planned insurgency of Irish convicts and soldiers on the island was discovered with Foveaux hanging two alleged ring-leaders without trial and punishing others with 500 lashes. Lawson became trusted by Foveaux and was appointed to adjudicate in the island's military court. This court was accused of corrupt practices and in one high profile case which Lawson helped preside over, an appointee to a government position who Foveaux did not like was found guilty of incest.

In addition to his military duties on Norfolk Island, Lawson also acquired land and raised sheep. He also obtained a convict mistress named Sarah Leadbeater, who had been sentenced to 7 years transportation for stealing clothes. He developed a long term relationship with Sarah, eventually marrying her in 1812 and having eleven children with her.

Involvement in the Rum Rebellion

In 1806, Lawson returned to Sydney and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the New South Wales Corps. Here he became a close associate with the leading officers including Captain John Macarthur and Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston. These officers controlled a very profitable monopoly in the colony that centred on the trading on rum, and the New South Wales Corps was called the 'Rum Corps' as a result of this corrupt racketeering. Lawson became an integral part of this clique.

In January 1808, when Governor Bligh had John Macarthur arrested on charges of sedition against the colonial government, Lawson was one of six officers appointed to help oversee his trial. Colluding with Macarthur, Lawson and the other officers refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the presiding judge, took possession of the court documents and removed Macarthur from the custody of the court. When Bligh ordered Lawson and the other officers to halt their interference in the trial, they refused, resulting in Bligh charging them with treason. Macarthur, Johnston, Lawson and the other officers and soldiers of the 'Rum Corps' then proceeded to collaborate in a full armed mutiny against Governor Bligh known as the Rum Rebellion. This military coup resulted in the detainment and removal of Bligh from power, and the installation of a military junta headed by Macarthur and Johnston.

When Hayes was transferred to house-arrest at Vaucluse for health reasons, Lawson had him violently re-arrested and ordered the ransacking of his house for not meeting the conditions of his parole. Hayes was sent back to Newcastle and Lawson published a notice threatening 200 lashes to anyone who assisted Hayes.

Macquarie then had Lawson sent to England to act as a witness in the court-martial against Johnston for his leading role in the mutiny and treason against Governor Bligh. Lawson remained in England until 1812. In his first entry he writes:

<blockquote> Mr. Blaxland Wentworth and myself with four men and four Horses- Laden with Provisions etc- took our Departure on Tuesday the 11th May 1813. Crossed the Nepean River at Mr. Chapman's Farm Emu Island at four o'clock and proceeded SW. Two miles. Encamped at 5 o'clock at the foot of the first Ridge of Hills-.

Commandant of the Bathurst region

By 1819 Lawson was the most prominent stock-owner and land-holder in the newly colonised region westward of the mountains. Only a handful of other colonists had been allowed to take up land in this area around the government outpost of Bathurst. In that same year, Charles Throsby guided by local Aboriginal men had formed an easier trail to Bathurst from Sydney that approached from the south. Governor Macquarie recognised that more settlers would now travel to the region to take up land and a more formal administration would be required at Bathurst. He consequently made Lawson, who was still a lieutenant in the army, commandant for the Bathurst region in September 1819.

With the British increasingly taking land in the area, violence with the local resident Wiradjuri people became apparent. In 1819, four Aboriginal people were shot dead in the vicinity of Lawson's property, while one of Lawson's horses was speared. As commandant, Lawson was in command of all the troops stationed west of the Blue Mountains, but it appears these soldiers were not utilised at this stage of the conflict. He met with around 40 Aboriginal people gathered at Mudgee, writing that the area was some of the finest grazing land in the world. He also named the nearby Goulburn River.

Lawson later took up 5,000 acres of land to the northwest of Mudgee and formed another large property on the Talbragar River.

In July 1824, Lawson with 12 other major colonists around Bathurst signed a petition requesting a large military force to be sent out to subjugate the "natives". In August, Governor Thomas Brisbane obliged the settlers by announcing martial law in the Bathurst region and ordered Commandant Morisset to implement measures to control the situation. In September, Morisset organised a large military punitive expedition containing soldiers of the 40th Regiment and armed settlers, to sweep the area around Bathurst and Mudgee. Lawson provided the horses for the group and commanded one of the four divisions within the expedition. Officially there was no death toll recorded from this military campaign, but witness reports from the time and oral evidence indicate that multiple massacres of Aboriginal people were carried out. The Bathurst War ended later in 1824 with martial law being revoked and Wiradjuri leader Windradyne suing for peace.

His sons, William Junior and Nelson, also became extensive landholders. The Lawson family consolidated their squatting with the marrying of William Junior to Caroline Icely, the sister of wealthy squatter Thomas Icely. With the end of transportation of convicts to New South Wales in the 1840s, Lawson strongly advocated for the importation of cheap foreign coolie labour. In 1841 he obtained labourers from Chile but was prohibited from bringing "hill coolies" from India. Lawson also chaired meetings in support of the resumption of convict transportation and also employed imported Chinese coolies, who absconded due to poor rations and underpayment.

Political career

thumb|Portrait of William Lawson, ca. 1845, watercolour on ivory miniature

Lawson had become one of the highest-profile colonists and in 1843 he chose to enter politics, and he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council as the member for the County of Cumberland. He remained a member of parliament until 1848, rarely contributing to discussion but often voting in the interests of squatters.

He died at his estate, Veteran Hall in Prospect on 16 June 1850 and was buried at St Bartholomew's cemetery.

His son Nelson Lawson succeeded him in his seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council.

In 1963, Lawson was honoured, together with Blaxland and Wentworth, on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post depicting the Blue Mountains crossing.

References

Additional resources

  • Historical Records of New South Wales, vols 4–7
  • Historical Records of Australia, Series I, vols 3–8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16
  • H. Selkirk, ‘Discovery of Mudgee’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 8 (1922)
  • C. H. Bertie, ‘The Lawsons’, Home (Sydney), 1 January 1932
  • E. C. Lawson, Lawson of Veteran Hall (microfilm, State Library of New South Wales)
  • Bonwick transcripts, biography, vol 3 (State Library of New South Wales).
  • William Lawson crossing the Blue Mountains – State Library of NSW