17 minute read
The Two Marthas
By Valda Cole OAM
This story has been adapted from a 2016 lecture for the Flinders District Historical Society. It relates the stories of Martha Baxter, who arrived in Port Phillip in 1838, and Martha King, who arrived in 1840. Both settled on the Mornington Peninsula. This lecture was subsequently published in the December 2023 edition of Victorian Historical Journal and is reprinted with the author's permission.
This is the story of Martha King and Martha Baxter, two of my favourite pioneer women. The sketches I have prepared may seem rather remote today, but that's how things were when these two women of endurance and enterprise lived on the Mornington Peninsula. My interest in history was sparked at an early age while sitting on quiet orchard headlands, at giant local picnics, and in our grandparents homes listening to colourful tales of the past.
Sometimes, in those days before tractors, our horses and ploughs unearthed stone axes – positive reminders of the Bunurong people and their lives here over the centuries. In the midst of his work Dad would often explain these to me and then place them back in the soil again. No wonder this developed my interest in history.
In the years leading to the formation in 1973 of the Shire of Hastings Historical Society I began some serious research in libraries and archives both here and overseas, inspired by a particular interest in our pastoral pioneer Martha Jane King who had been completely lost to history.
Mrs King was not one of the freehold settlers of the 1850s and 1860s – the families with whom I was associated – but a pioneer from an earlier era when large cattle stations existed. They operated across the Mornington Peninsula before freehold settlement.
When Martha King took over the 23-square mile "Bunguyan" station at Tyabb in 1845 she was a middle-aged widow. Her much younger neighbour, Martha Baxter, lived on the adjoining "Carrup Carrup" station held by her husband Captain Benjamin Baxter.
In listing our early women pioneers one naturally thinks first of Georgina McCrae, whose sketches and diaries enriched our peninsula history. Her husband leased "Wango" for nine years (or "Arthurs Seat", as she preferred to call it).
The two Marthas provide a different profile. They held sway in the central peninsula area for the entire pastoral age on two large cattle stations stretching from the outskirts of today's Frankston to the south of Hastings. King's "Bungunyan" and Baxter's "Carrup Carrup" were two of around a dozen such cattle stations on the peninsula. These were held under licence and leased from the government until such time as the land was surveyed into crown allotments for sale to freehold settlers.
I would like you to cast your minds back to 1839 and visualise the situation of the very first settlers who were grazing cattle beyond those boundaries. Imagine it: no food stores, no medical care, and no roads – only the winding bush tracks worn down over centuries by First Nations people who formed them. Amazingly, too, many of my peers have lived through half of that period If we find it difficult to comprehend the changes that have occurred in what is really a comparatively short time in the life of the Kulin people, imagine the bewilderment of the Bunurong people when bush huts appeared with cattle grazing around them!
The two Marthas were not, however, the first European women to feature in the peninsula's pastoral life. Well before they arrived, the mother of settler Edward Hobson took part in an 1839 Christmas dinner in his simple earth-floored hut near Dromana. Two of the guests were so keen to attend they travelled overnight in rain and hail from Koo-Wee-Rup. Complete with champagne, the Christmas celebration must have been a merry affair because it did not break up for a week and, even then, some of those in attendance boated up to the blossoming town of Melbourne to welcome in the New Year at the Melbourne Club where Benjamin Baxter was a foundation member.
Meanwhile another hut was about to take shape near Tuerong, where Aboriginal people were helping to cut sticks and bark for a dwelling for Willam Thomas, the new assistant protector of Aborigines. When his wife and children joined him, a great friendship developed between Mrs Thomas and an Aboriginal woman named Maria, who cared for her during a severe illness. When Susannah Thomas was transferred to Melbourne for medical treatment, Maria followed the dray sobbing lamentably.
At this time the Melbourne postmaster Ben Baxter was making quite an impact:
"The postmaster was an ex Officer of the 50th regiment, a smart, gay, good-looking fellow, more at home in the club room, on the racecourse or running private theatricals than in the Post Office hole, and the sorting and delivery business consequently, in the main, it devolved upon his wife, who was much more complaisant and civil-tongued to her window visitors than some of our young lady hands said to be now-a-days."
That 'now-a-days' was back in the early 1840s as documented by 'Garryowen', pen name of Edmund Finn, whose later book, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, recorded events between 1835 and 1852. Martha Baxter was not always compliant though, for she had a strong will of her own. When she saw that a ship was about to leave Melbourne for England, she sealed up the letter bag and dispatched it to London rather than forwarding it through Sydney, as was the usual practice. When Ben found out he was not too pleased and wanted to know who had given her permission. Her reply was that she did it on her own initiative. And so we gained our first direct mail to England.
Ben was prominent in Melbourne land purchases, including the site of today's St Vincent's Hospital. In fact, Gertrude Street, Collingwood, takes its name from one of the Baxter children. But, before long, the peninsula beckoned to the Baxters. Again, Bunurong people came forward, taking Ben first to "Coolart". But the Meyricks already had a hut there, so Baxter moved back up the peninsula and settled on "Carrup Carrup". When Charles La Trobe passed through in 1843, he noted that "Baxter has a comfortable hut on the edge of the forest." Because the first run holders simply paid licence fees, they were reluctant to build anything better than a hut in case they lost occupancy, as indeed Edward Hobson did!
Under Special Survey regulations introduced in Britain, people could purchase land there and then migrate with a certificate of title over any eight square miles of land they selected. It was tough luck for Hobson, who lost ownership of his hut with its foreshore frontage to Port Phillip. Soon after, he left for Gippsland – as did the Meyricks, fearing "Coolart" would be next.
Jamieson's Special Survey (1841), listed the first freehold land on the peninsula. That particular Jamieson is Hugh Jamieson, not
Robert Jamieson who took over early cattle runs at Cape Schanck and Lang Lang with Samuel Rawson, whose family contributed financially to the venture.
Time for land regulations! Long-term leases with the pre-emptive right to purchase the homestead block paved the way for betterclass homes. A shortage of surveyors saw station boundaries described by imprecise landmarks such as creeks or even marked tree stumps. Sometimes this caused overlaps. The "Carrup Carrup" and "Bunguyan" problem was settled amicably after the crown lands commissioner decided "Both were at fault".
Throughout the Port Philip District (as Victoria was known before 1851) around a thousand pastoral stations operated on crown land. In this story, "Bunguyan" has a special place. Of those early runs, around ten were originally occupied by women, with perhaps only three persevering until the land Survey period.
One of these early occupants was Martha Jane King, a pastoralist in her own right. Furthermore, Mrs Kings "Bunguyan" and Benjamin Baxter's "Carrup Carrup" were the only peninsula stations held throughout by the original leaseholder.
The two Marthas were strong, independent women. Both landed in Australia with their families but not with their husbands. Ben Baxter was an army officer, and he travelled to Sydney with a military contingent. His wife was on a different vessel and accompanied by their baby and a small daughter Maria (the future Mrs Sage of Sage's Cottage). When Mrs Baxter passed through Bass Strait, she probably did not give Melbourne a passing thought. How could she have imagined that its surveyor, 43-year-old Robert Hoddle, would one day marry another of her daughters – not yet born! On reaching Sydney, Martha expected to meet husband Benjamin, but alas his ship had been delayed. So she had to sort things out alone. Once in the colony, Benjamin soon saw better prospects in the Port Phillip District than in either Sydney or the army, and in 1838 the Baxters moved to Melbourne.
Little did Mrs King know that the recently retired young postmistress would one day be her neighbour on the peninsula, and that Fawkner would play pivotal role in her introduction to station life.
Despite being a widow in a strange country, Martha King Was determined to settle on the land. However, Depression and widespread bankruptcies in 1842 meant that it was not a good year to begin.
The death of her eldest daughter compounded Martha's grief and sense of dislocation. Better things were in store, however. The sought-after post of town clerk of Melbourne was gained by her eldest son, John. Through him Martha met well-known Melbourne pioneer John Pascoe Fawkner. Fawkner's father had lost much of his farm in the depression and needed someone to take over his dairy herd. This proved to be Martha's first step towards acquiring a cattle run. Fawkner struck a hard bargain. Here is just one paragraph from four-page legal document – all one can say in response is "poor woman".
"Martha J King agrees to take good care, and to break in the heifers when calving for the first time, also to pay attention to the calves and leave sufficient milk with the cows for their nourishment. [She| will keep a regular account of all births and deaths stating the sex of the increase, and the marks, colour etc., of the cow and calf and preserve the skin, and forward it to the said John Fawkner, in case of death."
That's right – her only return from maintaining the cattle run was the milk AFTER the calves were fed!
Yet this opportunity was just what Martha King needed for her family in that time of widespread unemployment and personal grief. Bravely, she travelled out to Berwick and built a primitive dwelling near her brother, who had migrated to give her support. There Martha and her family made butter and cheese, which they sold to travellers on the Western Port and Gippsland tracks.
Within two years Martha King and her family had accepted life in the bush, and in April 1844 Martha applied to the crown lands commissioner for a larger station. In the following year, she took out a licence for the 15,000-acre "Bunguyan" station and built a home on a hill to the north of today's Bunguyan Reserve in Tyabb. This overlooked lagoons at the junction of bush tracks linking Gippsland and Port Phillip, as well as Melbourne and "Coolart". Surrounding the homestead, she built good shedding, home paddocks and stock yards.
With few settlers around at the time, it is not surprising that family relationships became rather complicated. Two of the King boys married their cousins from Berwick, Martha's daughter married the station's overseer, and, to complete the picture, the overseer's brother married another of Martha's nieces.
Understandably, this took some sorting out!
Martha Jane King was remembered in her family as "a little woman with a strong personality". To that one might add that she was not at all timid in dealings with the commissioner of crown lands. With Martha at the helm of a strong family team, "Bunguyan" pushed ahead, particularly during the gold-rush years when it developed into a cattle station of note.
For many stations the rushes were a difficult time, with workers drawn by the lure of gold leaving in droves. Fortunately, "Bunguyan" had 20 or 30 men living in huts near Kings Creek who combined fishing and oyster dredging with casual employment as station hands.
And the discovery of gold created opportunities for those willing to take them up. Gold fever brought increased demands for food, transport and hardware. "Bunguyan" was well placed to produce meat, fish and bullock teams, and, through the extended King family, a hardware trade developed in Ballarat and Melbourne.
Using natural creeks and ten miles of bush fencing, the Kings divided the 23-square-mile station into separate segments for an efficient cattle-breeding operation. The choicest heifers were isolated on the 55-acre Sandstone Island where they were joined with selected bulls. Robust bull calves from the general herd were converted into steers and broken in for much-needed bullock teams. Stock for the beef market were driven to Ballarat via associated Henry family properties for topping off on the station of Ballarat butcher Jock Winter.
King family fortunes declined, however, in the face of the 1859 Depression and the government survey of the Parish of Tyabb, which divided Bunguyan into 100 crown allotments ready for sale to selectors. In failing health, 70-year-old Martha King left Western Port to spend her last months in Mornington with her daughter's family on their 50-acre property, Tanti Grange, where she died in August 1860 from exhaustion and the infirmities of age.
Because of the scattering of her family, and because she left Tyabb in her old age when the young selectors arrived, Martha King and her pioneering role escaped notice, and another family was about to be incorrectly recognised just when the Hastings Historical society was being formed! Pastoralist and freeholder settlers had passed "like ships in the night", scarcely aware of each other's existence.
Not so the Baxters. They remained in the Western Port area beyond the pastoral age and became part of the local community, making Mrs Baxter another of my favourite pioneer women. Volumes could be written about Ben: his army service; Melbourne activities; duties on the goldfields; and his role in racing and municipal circles. But, instead of focusing on Ben, I have chosen to look at Martha, his wife and deputy: the businesswoman; the homemaker; the mother and grandmother.
She was also the great grandmother of Colonel Annie Sage, who was linked to many local families. My husband's mother, who was sixteen when Martha Baxter died, was a first cousin to Annie. Their mothers were sisters. As young girls they regularly visited Martha, who had many tales to tell. "Carrup Carrup" was managed by John Sage for around six years before the Baxters moved there with five daughters and one son. Within six years three more daughters were born there. The family's new life at "Carrup Carrup" contrasted sharply with the one they had enjoyed in Melbourne. Although Martha Baxter made the best of life at "Carrup Carrup" and was a courageous pioneer, she did advise Mrs Liardet, whose family had "Ballam Park", Frankston, not to return from a trip to England to this "everlasting bush".
This was not really surprising, considering that Martha Baxter pioneered alone for extended periods while Ben was absent as a goldfields commissioner travelling in central Victoria with a portable brass bed complete with canopy!
I sometimes wonder where that bed is now. It was auctioned in Melbourne by Joels in 1960 under instructions from the late Matron Annie Sage. I often Picture 46-year-old Ben in the hustle and bustle of the goldfields while his 38-year-old wife was alone with their nine children, the youngest in a cradle. What a task for a young woman left alone in the bush in the mud and slush of Baxter in the winter of 1852, and desperately short of footwear.
Imagine caring for a family of nine in those conditions, as well as running a farm and acting as a medico, not only to the children but to travellers who brought vague instructions from her husband, Amongst family records is an account of a daylight knock on Martha Baxter's door by a complete stranger covered with blood after having been attacked by a bushranger who took everything from him.
What manner of woman was this who reared children alone, supervised the cattle station of 15,000 acres during the absences of both her husband and manager, and doctored strangers who arrived unannounced at her door in daylight covered with blood? Well, seemingly, she took it all in her stride. In another letter Martha advised her husband of the death of Yalukit-willam leader, Little Benbow, and of differences among the Kulin peoples, who had a large number of strangers with them. No ulcers for Martha. She took life as it came.
The youngest Baxter child was only two when her elder sister Maria married 'Carrup Carrup" manager, John Edward Sage, and moved into Sage's Cottage. Following the Parish surveys and sale of crown land, the Baxters purchased 1,200 acres around the "Carrup Carrup" homestead. One block of 277 acres was bought by surveyor Robert Hoddle, who was eleven years older than Ben.
Following the death of Mrs Hoddle in 1862, he sought permission, not from Ben but from Martha, to marry their daughter, Blanche. One does not know how Martha reacted to his request, written on mourning paper and displayed for many years on the wall at Sage's Cottage when it operated as the Baxter Provender Restaurant.
Perhaps Blanche was indifferent to the proposal, or perhaps Martha was concerned at the age difference, or maybe Ben had something to say on the matter, because the second Mrs Hoddle was not Blanche but her sister!
Frances Baxter, then 21 years old, married 69-year-old Hoddle within twelve months of his proposing marriage with Blanche. There were four children of this marriage, the youngest being nine when Hoddle died aged 87. I love the story of how Mrs McCrae visited him in 1874 for his 80th birthday, and found him "busy with hammer and nails, building a playhouse for his children".
I sensed that same enthusiasm in Martha Baxter. When she noticed a report in The Argus that one of her grandsons had received a prize, she immediately wrote expressing the great pleasure of everyone at "Carrup Carrup".
Martha Baxter was in her 94th year when she died at Baxter in 1906. During her 68 years in Victoria, she had lived in Fawkner's and Batman's houses, and had seen Melbourne grow from a village to a city.
She experienced the fever of the gold rush and the excitement of the colony's separation from NSW. Husband Ben, who was active in sporting and municipal affairs on the peninsula, died in 1892 at the age of 87. Remarkably, Martha Baxter survived into the era of Federation. Few who lived in Melbourne in its founding days were privileged to be part of all the developments that took the settlement from what colonists saw as "wilderness" to adulthood.
This story of the peninsula's two Marthas helps us to understand how two women settler-colonists experienced aspects of that transition.
