The Merediths of Cambria
George Meredith and his family departed England for Van Diemen’s Land in November 1820. In the party was Mary, his new wife and former upper servant. Once in Van Diemen’s Land she not only had to establish and manage the property during George’s extended and frequent absences in Hobart, but also look after her step children who intensely disliked her. The first couple of years in a hut must have been cramped indeed, before moving into Belmont. It was here the family worked to build their new property of Cambria.
|
Cambria, as it is today, near Swansea. |
Mary Meredith must have been a very strong woman to manage a farm and family on her own whist her husband was away. Their home near Swansea was a treacherous expedition from Hobart. Over land it was a trek through dense forest. By boat, the more common way, it was a trip of several days frequently delayed by storms.
Added to this isolation was the fear of attack. One was by the notorious bushranger Matthew Brady. It seemed not to worry George, who did not return to aid his wife. Instead he was more concerned with his possessions once Brady was caught. ‘I have inquired about your watch, my eye glass ~ telescopes &c which Brady says are still in the Bush’ (G4/11:2/4/1826).A request from Mary provides comic relief from her situation; ‘...send us some Coloured Sewing Silks and Coloured cotton as the bushrangers took all our stock’ (NS123/13/29 c.1826). Yet the tone of her letters show her anxiety and vulnerability, not only because of the Bushrangers, but also the Aborigines:
‘ I most sincerely wish that you were returned, the natives are daily coming nearer & nearer to this place, and we have only one gun.. as they came by night to the Amoses I do not see why they should not come here’ (G.4/A: 6/3/1823).
Perhaps the most heart breaking event for the family was the fire in the storehouse at Cambria, that destroyed all their possessions from Wales. Stores, waiting for the new house to be finished, were ‘plentiful services of glass, china and delf, with quantities of wine, plate and handsome furniture’ (Meredith 1880 p.87)
Managing the household
Mary’s time as head of the household required much ingenuity and self reliance. Yet she still consulted her husband frequently in letters, saying ‘you will of course send me word as to what is to be done’ (NS123/13/5:26/12/1822).
The convicts saw her as vulnerable and she wrote frequently of her difficulties with the servants: ‘I need not tell you how much you are wanted at home to keep these idle people at their work’ (NS123/13/29 c.1826). George reminds her; ’In case any of our people incline to do wrong or are lazy you may let it be understood that I have authority now to send them to the settlement at Maria Island for punishment’ (NS123/1/14: n.d. )
Mary also had to care for a family who little loved her, and resented her position. Charles Meredith, the youngest step-child had been a sickly boy doted on by his mother. In this new, hostile country he and his siblings disliked being made to work by their stepmother.
'The rule under which he grew up was indeed an iron one. My heart aches to think of the trials and hardships he endured when a mere child… Any of the half-occupied men on his father’s establishment could have done (his) allotted duty’ (Meredith 1880, p.83).
Maybe Mary was hard on her young charges but she equally grieved the uncomfortable relationship which stemmed from the pressures of their new circumstances. She later consoled herself in a letter to George that relationships had improved.
‘… Sarah – she now consults me and asks my advice on almost every occasion, this is what she seldom ever used to do and I do not doubt but for the future we shall be a very happy and united family indeed My Dear Mr. M. it has never been my wish to be otherwise, although I am sorry to say the reverse has too often been the case.’ (NS123/13/5 c. 1823)
Class in Van Diemen’s Land
Even in the young Van Diemen’s Land, George would not risk embarrassment by taking the former servant and lover into society. Mary must have been heart broken, trapped on the East Coast whilst he enjoyed the gaieties of Hobart. Worse still, rather than encouraging her, George criticised her lack of education and unawareness of propriety. Her letters he described as ‘unimportant and your style too hasty & inaccurate without choice of words or brevity of expression’ (NS123/1/31: 9/12/1827) Whist he promised that ‘the time will arise and possibly ere long that you must take your proper rank & situation in Society and support it as the Mrs. Meredith will be expected to do’ (G4/7: 2/3/1823). It appears though the barriers for Mary were too great to overcome. She never appeared in Hobart to take her place along side her husband in society.
|
Cambria as sketched by Louisa Meredith |
The Meredith family papers are used with the cooperation of the University of Tasmania archives and the Archives of Tasmania. Thanks to Mr. Nick Burbury for allowing the photography of Cambria. Other photos from Rae Ellis V (1989) Louisa Anne Meredith, St David’s Park, Hobart
|
