James Kelly (1791–1859) was an Australian mariner, explorer and port official.

Life

James Kelly was born on 24 December 1791 at

Parramatta, New South Wales Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. He was probably the son of James Kelly, a cook in the

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

''Queen'', and Catherine Devereaux, a convict transported for life from Dublin in the same ship. Kelly was first apprenticed as a seaman in 1804 and sailed in vessels engaged in the sealing and

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods. Sanda ...

trades as well as making a voyage to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In 1812, he was chief officer of the

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing ship, sailing vessel with a sail plan of three or more mast (sailing), masts, all of them square rig, square-rigged. Such a vessel is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged, with each mas ...

''Campbell Macquarie'' on a sealing voyage when the ship was wrecked on

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...

. He became the first Australian-born master mariner with voyages in the sealing industry and general trade between

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

and Sydney. In 1814, he was master of the '' Henrietta Packet'', a schooner owned by Thomas William Birch. carrying passengers and cargo between colonial ports. In December 1815, Kelly left Hobart in command of an expedition to circumnavigate Tasmania using the

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the s ...

''Elizabeth'' . The party made the official discovery of

Port Davey Port Davey is an embayment, oceanic inlet located in the South West Tasmania, south west region of Tasmania, Australia. Port Davey was named by explorer James Kelly (Australian explorer), James Kelly in honour of Thomas Davey (governor), Thomas ...

on the south west coast, and on 28 December of

Macquarie Harbour Macquarie Harbour is a shallow fjord in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately , and has an average depth of , with deeper places up to . It is navigable by shallow-draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by th ...

on the central west coast. Features within the harbour were named the

Gordon River The Gordon River is a major perennial river located in the central highlands, south-west, and western regions of Tasmania, Australia. Course and features The Gordon River rises below Mount Hobhouse in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers Nation ...

after the owner of the ''Elizabeth'' and Birchs Inlet after Kelly's employer and sponsor T. W. Birch. Birch was granted a monopoly to exploit

Huon Pine ''Lagarostrobos franklinii'' is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It is often known as the Huon pine or Macquarie pine, although it is actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pinacea ...

on the west coast as a reward. Birch gave a differing account to the commission of inquiry into the state of the colony in 1820. He said that Port Davey was discovered while on board the ''Henrietta Packet'' and that Kelly had discovered Macquarie Harbour after proceeding along in a boat from Port Davey. Kelly also gave evidence to the same commission, and did not mention any discoveries, or contradict the account of Birch. In November 1817, commanding Birch's ''Sophia'', Kelly sailed on a sealing venture to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and entered

Otago Harbour Otago Harbour is the harbor, natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour m ...

. With him was William Tucker who had settled in the area in 1815 and was returning. The harbour chief, Korako, would not ferry across Maori from Whareakeake, two miles north along the coast, where Tucker had established himself, and whose people now wished to receive their returning Pakeha's gifts. A few days later, when Kelly, Tucker and five others went in a long boat to Whareakeake they were at first received peaceably but then attacked. Tucker, Veto Viole and John Griffiths, Kelly's brother-in-law, were killed and eaten. Kelly returned to the ''Sophia'' still lying in the Otago Harbour and now distrusting Maori there attacked them destroying canoes and burning the "beautiful City of Otago", which he said had 600 houses. Whareakeake became known as "Murdering Beach". Kelly probably exaggerated his revenge but did kill some people and destroyed some property. Unknown to him he had walked into a pre-existing feud the precise cause of which only became known to historians with the discovery of a manuscript in 2003 which gave the long missing Maori side of the story. In May 1819, Governor Macquarie confirmed Kelly's appointment as pilot and harbourmaster at the Derwent River. In December 1821, as master of the ''Sophia'' he assisted in transporting convicts to the newly established penal station at Macquarie Harbour, and in 1825 he helped to set up the secondary penal station on

Maria Island Maria Island or wukaluwikiwayna in palawa kani is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is entirely occupied by the Maria Island National Park, which includes a marine area of o ...

. Business interests, mostly in whaling, banking and insurance, saw him resign from Government service in the late 1820s. Eight of the vessels he owned made 24 whaling voyages between 1824 and 1841. One of his sons also went whaling and was killed by a whale in 1842 aged 21. Kelly's wife died in 1831 and two sons died in 1841 and 1842, respectively. He was financially ruined by the economic depression of the early 1840s and spent most of the remainder of his life back in the employ of the port authorities. He died suddenly in Hobart on 20 April 1859, survived by only three of his ten children. Kelly's name is perpetuated by a number of geographical features including Kelly's Steps in

Battery Point Battery Point (; ) is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is immediately south of the central business district. It is in the Local Government Areas of Tasmania, local government area of City of Hobart. Battery Point is name ...

, Hobart,

Kelly Basin Kelly Basin is a bay on the south eastern side of Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast of Tasmania. It was named after James Kelly (Australian explorer), James Kelly an early explorer of the Tasmanian coastline. It was the l ...

at Macquarie Harbour, Kelly Island off

Forestier Peninsula The Forestier Peninsula is a peninsula located in south-east Tasmania, Australia, approximately by the Arthur Highway, south-east of Hobart. The peninsula is connected to mainland Tasmania at East Bay Neck, near the town of at its northern e ...

and Kelly Point on

Bruny Island Bruny Island is a coastal island of Tasmania, Australia, located at the mouths of the Derwent River and Huon River estuaries on Storm Bay on the Tasman Sea, south of Hobart. The island is separated from the mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux C ...

(later renamed Dennes Point).

Notes

References

* * * * Whitham, Charles. ''Western Tasmania: A Land of Riches and Beauty.'' :2003 edition – Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown. :1949 edition – Hobart: Davies Brothers. ;

ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononyomusly as Asin, is an Indian former actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Asin is a recipient of List of awards and nominations ...

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:1924 edition – Queenstown: Mount Lyell Tourist Association. ;

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* Lempriere, T.G., "Account of Macquarie Harbour", in ''Tasmanian Journal of natural Science of 1842–6'', pp. 39–46. * Entwisle, Peter, ''Taka: a Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784–1817'', Dunedin, NZ: Port Daniel Press, 2005. * ''

Hobart Town Gazette The ''Hobart Town Gazette'' was established in 1816 in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (known as Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the s ...

'' 28 March 1818. * '' Hobart Town Courier'' 12 April 1858.

Microform

* Kelly, James, 1791–1859. First discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour p. 160–181 "Royal Society of Tasmania : Papers and Proceedings, 1920. Issued separately 24th December, 1920" Microfiche. Canberra : National Library of Australia, 2004. Attended NCGS from 2000 to 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, James (Australian Explorer) Explorers of Australia 1791 births 1859 deaths Settlers of Australia Settlers of New Zealand Australian people of Irish descent Australian people in whaling Australian ship owners Sealers 19th-century Australian public servants 19th-century Australian businesspeople