Guide to the Papers of Captain Charles Swanston (as filmed by the AJCP), 1891-1893, 1960
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Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- M445
- Creator:
- Swanston, Charles, Captain
- Extent:
- 4 items
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Available for reference.
Background
- Content Summary:
-
1. Two printed pamphlets: Statement of the Services of Capt. Charles Swanston, 33 p. (1891) and Rough Diary of a Journey from Scutari to Baghdad 1814 by Lieut. C. Swanston, 16 p. (1893).
2. Typescript essay 'The Swanston Family 1789-1960' by Major Gen. C.D. Moorhead (August 1960), containing the Swanston Family tree, a short biography of Charles Swanston and a history of the family of Charles Swanston's son-in-law, Edward Willis, of Koolomurt Station, Victoria.
3. Two photographs of Charles Swanston.
- Biographical / Historical:
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Charles Swanston (1789-1850) was born in Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland. He arrived in India in 1805 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Madras Army of the East India Company. He attended the Military Institute at Fort St George. In 1808 he was attached to a force under General Sir John Malcolm that was proceeding to Persia, but the expedition was abandoned. He took part in a campaign against the Rajah of Travancore and in 1810 was in the expedition that captured the French colony of Mauritius. Swanston carried out a military survey of Mauritius and produced a report on its defences. He returned to India in 1814 and was assigned to the Quarter-master General's Department. In 1817-1818 he was given command of the Poona Auxiliary Horse and took part in several actions in the Anglo-Mahratta War. In 1819 he received the brevet rank of captain in the Madras Army. In 1821 he became the military paymaster in Travancore and Tinnevelly, but his hopes of obtaining a more substantial promotion were disappointed.
In 1828 Swanston was given a year's leave. He and his family arrived in Hobart in June 1829. He brought 10,000 pounds with him and immediately acquired a number of properties, including a town house in Newtown. Swanston decided to settle in the colony and he returned briefly to India to give up his army appointment. In 1831 he acquired a fifth of the shares in the Derwent Bank and was appointed managing director. In addition, he was an import and export agent, investment agent and wool broker and he acted as an agent for firms in Madras, Calcutta, Canton, Manila and Mauritius. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1833 to 1848.
In 1835 Swanston was one of 15 leading Tasmanian colonists who formed the Port Phillip Association with the aim of acquiring land and forming a settlement at Port Phillip Bay. The Batman deeds were declared void by Governor Bourke and most members of the Association sold out to Swanston. One of the main streets in Melbourne was named after him in 1837. The name of the Port Phillip Association was changed to Derwent Company, before being dissolved in 1842. Swanston acquired land in the Geelong district and later he and his son-in-law, Edward Willis, held a number of pastoral properties in the Western District of Victoria. The Derwent bank had prospered in the 1830s under Swanston's management, but it struggled during the economic depression of the early 1840s. It went into liquidation in 1849, leaving him with substantial liabilities.
Edward Willis (1816-1895) arrived in Van Diemen's Land with his family in 1823. In 1837 he established a sheep station near Melbourne. In 1840 he married Catherine Swanston and in 1844 he formed a partnership with her father Charles Swanston. The Geelong firm of Willis and Swanston acquired Koolomurt Station in the Wimmera, which Willis developed into one of the finest merino studs in Victoria. Charles Lambert Swanston (d. 1897), the eldest son of Charles Swanston, sold out his share of Koolomurt to Willis in 1854.
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Available for Access.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
- Preferred citation:
-
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: