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Ships, Shops and Cemeteries

'Groper' — possibly J.K. Hitchcock

A PAGE FROM THE PAST SHIPS, SHOPS AND CEMETERIES
I was much interested in reading in your last issue a letter from Mr. James Wenn, of South Bunbury, who came to this country with my father and grandfather in the ship Simon Taylor in the year 1842, both he and my father being then only eight years of age.
It is now nearly 50 years since I last saw Mr. Wenn, and I am glad to know that he is still on deck at the ripe old age of 89. Both my father and grandfather were over 80 years of age when they died, and the fact that so many of our first settlers reached such a patriarchal age goes to show that the hard work, long hours, and plain living which these old pioneers endured tended to prolong rather than to shorten their days.
The theory, therefore, that to go slow, work short hours, and spend all one's earnings in luxurious living conduces to longevity and will ensure the enjoyment of the old age pension for a protracted period is not borne out by experience. Mr. Wenn in his letter refers to the loss of the ship Eglington at Little Island, off the North Beach. but he is in error in regard to the name of the lady who lost her life in the attempt to land from the wreck.
It was Mrs. Bartram, not Miss Barton, and she was the wife, not the sister of Mr. William Bartram, of the old Fremantle firm of Carter and Bartram, which was established in the very early days.
She was coming from England to rejoin her husband, who was one of the founders of the firm, the name of which was afterwards altered to T. and H. Carter and Co. The old Alma-street cemetery, near the Fremantle Public Hospital, to which Mr. Wenn refers, is now a thing of the past, the remains interred therein having been removed some years ago to the new cemetery. Amongst the old tombstones then removed is one bearing the following inscription:
Sacred to the memory of Sarah, the beloved wife of William Bartram, who perished in an attempt to land from the wreck of the Eglington on September 5. 1852, aged 48 years. Also William Bartram, died May 23, 1874, aged 80 years.
At one time, the business of T. and H. Carter and Co. was the most-extensive in Fremantle, and was carried on in the old-fashioned but commodious premises which have just been demolished at the corner of William and Henderson streets.
After his sad bereavement, which cast a gloom over his remaining years, Mr. Bartram took but a passive interest in the affairs of the firm, leaving its entire control in the hands of his partner, the late Mr. Edward Newman, who, with the late Mr. W. D. Moore, was elected as one of Fremantle's two representatives in the first wholly elective Parliament, which was inaugurated in 1870.
On the death of Mr. Newman in 1872 (which resulted from being thrown from his horse) the business was carried on for many years by the late Mr. Barry Wood and Mr. E. Newman, jun., but was eventually wound up and ceased to be. Mr. Barry Wood was Fremantle's first mayor, but the lure of the city, (to which many of our business men of to-day have succumbed so far as private residence is concerned) attracted, him, and in 1888 he removed, to Perth, where he. established himself in business. He was elected to represent West Perth in Parliament, and was for some time Minister for Railways and Public Works.
My first recollections, of the firm of T. and H. Carter and Co. date back to 1868, and of the employes then on its staff I can recall the following names which wfll be familiar to old residents of Fremantle;—Office staff: B. C. Wood, Frank Pearse, Edward Newman, jun., and Brewster McKenzie, drapery manager, Philip Webster, grocery manager John Snook, assistants John Loane and John Jarvis, warehouseman, Roberts, and storeman, Foskett. Of these, the sole survivor is Mr. Edward Newman, one of Fremantle's municipal auditors, who, like the writer, is now within measurable distance of the allotted span of three score years and ten.
As to the old cannon found at Cottesloe Beach, whilst its discovery revives old memories its origin can only be a subject for speculation.
Other vessels besides the Eglington were wrecked in the vicinity, one being the barque Elizabeth, in the early 'sixties, and another a locally-owned schooner which traded to Singapore.
In the early days the China Seas were infested with pirates, and merchant ships trading in those waters invariably carried arms, so that it is quite possible the much-discussed cannon belonged to one of a number of vessels which came to grief when approaching the port of Fremantle in the days when the coast was not so well charted as now, and when navigation was done more or less by rule of thumb.

References and links

Sunday Times, 27 May 1923, page 3.

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This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 7 August, 2022 and hosted at freotopia.org/books/groper.html (it was last updated on 20 April, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.