Port Essington
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Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the
Cobourg Peninsula The Cobourg Peninsula is a peninsula located east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is deeply indented with coves and bays, covers a land area of about , and is virtually uninhabited with a population ranging from about 20 ...
in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remote series of ruins.


Settlement

In August 1618 Lenaert Jacobszoon, the captain of the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
vessel ''
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
'', marked the point on the entrance to what was later called Port Essington, on the Dutch charts as Kape Schildpad (Cape Turtle). In the early 19th century, the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
government became interested in establishing a settlement on Australia's northern coastline in order to facilitate trade with
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
. Port Essington was named on 23 April 1818 by
Phillip Parker King Phillip Parker King (13 December 1791 – 26 February 1856) was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts. Early life and education King was born on Norfolk Island, to Philip Gidley King and Anna Josepha King ''née'' Coo ...
in 'as a tribute of my respect for the memory of my lamented friend, Vice-Admiral Sir William Essington', who was in command of '' Triumph'' at the
battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was fought on 11 October 1797 between the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief, North Sea, North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Adam Duncan and a ...
in October 1797. Sir J.G.Bremer took possession of the mainland on 20 September 1824 and founded the short-lived colony. A local Aboriginal leader Medlone, also known as Jack Davis, acted as a messenger and manager for relations with the local Aboriginal people. In 1824 Port Essington was proposed as the first such settlement, but was later passed over in favour of
Fort Dundas Fort Dundas was a short-lived British settlement on Melville Island between 1824 and 1828 in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia. It was the first of four British settlement attempts in northern Australia before Goyder's survey an ...
on Melville Island and Fort Wellington at
Raffles Bay Raffles Bay is a bay on the northern coast of the Cobourg Peninsula of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is on the lands of the Iwaidja people. It was named in 1818 by explorer Phillip Parker King after Sir Thomas Sta ...
. In 1831, a small station was constructed in the area, on Wurango clan land, in the hope of using it as a stopping point for ships, but it was rarely used. When both Fort Dundas and Fort Wellington failed within several years, the Port Essington site was revisited. As a result, a settlement, officially named Victoria Settlement after the young
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
, but popularly known as Port Essington, was established by Sir J. Gordon Bremer in 1838 and surveyed by
Charles Tyers Captain Charles James Tyers RN FRSV (13 September 1806 – 20 September 1870) was a 19th-century Anglo-Australian surveyor and explorer, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands for Portland (1842–1843) and Gippsland (1844–1867). There are m ...
in 1839. It consisted of 24 houses and a hospital. A description of the harbour and settlement was communicated to the Royal Geographical Society, London, in 1839. On 24 August 1839 the only play ever staged in Port Essington was performed, the 1797 comedy in five acts ''Cheap Living'' by Frederick Reynolds."Victoria's secrets reveal death and noble failure"
by Mark Day, ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'' (30 October 2010). Accessed 9 April 2011
The set and costume design was by Owen Stanley (1811–1850). The play was performed again in 2010 with a grant from the
Government of the Northern Territory The Northern Territory Government is the executive branch of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory was formed in 1978 with the granting of self-government to the Territory. The Northern Territory is a territory of the Co ...
, with Tom Pauling,
Administrator of the Northern Territory The administrator of the Northern Territory is an official appointed by the governor-general of Australia to represent the Crown in right of the Northern Territory. They perform functions similar to those of a state governor. Strictly speaking ...
, acting as narrator in the play. While the British government intended to establish Port Essington as a major trading port, along the lines of Singapore, the new settlement suffered from the same adverse conditions that had previously plagued Fort Dundas and Fort Wellington. The settlement lacked resources and supplies and skilled labour. While some prefabricated buildings were brought from Sydney, many had to be built with what materials could be found in the area, and due to the unskilled nature of the builders, many of these were of poor quality. Disease was also rampant among the small population, and living conditions were poor. Consequently, it struggled to attract settlers, and the post was much-disliked by the troops stationed there.


Setbacks

Port Essington suffered a further setback when the settlement was demolished by a cyclone on 25 November 1839. The cyclone killed twelve people, drove the ship HMS ''Pelorus'' aground, and caused a 3.2 metre storm surge. The settlement was rebuilt afterwards, with some stone and brick buildings, due to the assistance of a brick maker who had been shipwrecked during the storm. Despite these setbacks, there was still widespread hope that Port Essington might be able to break the curse, as evidenced by
Ludwig Leichhardt Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (; 23 October 1813 – ), known as Ludwig Leichhardt, was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.Ken Eastwood,'Cold case: Leichhardt's disappearanc ...
's 1844/1845 expedition. The New South Wales government had hoped to establish a direct line of communication with Asia, India and the Pacific, and supported Leichhardt's journey, which successfully charted an overland route between
Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
(now Brisbane) and Port Essington. A detailed map of Ludwig Leichhardt's route in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington (1844 & 1845), from his Original Map, adjusted and drawn... by John Arrowsmith was ranked #8 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of
Queensland State Archives The Queensland State Archives is the lead agency for public recordkeeping in Queensland, Australia. It is the custodian of the largest and most significant documentary heritage collection about Queensland. Established in 1959, Queensland Stat ...
’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the
separation of Queensland The Separation of Queensland was an event in 1859 in which the land that forms the present-day state of Queensland in Australia was excised from the Colony of New South Wales and proclaimed as a separate crown colony. History European settlemen ...
from New South Wales. In 1844, a group of convicts, which included trained masons and quarry men among them, was stationed at Port Essington. They were able to build a hospital of some quality at a beacon. Another arrival in 1844, late in the year, were Lieutenant George Lambrick and his was Emma Lambrick who had sailed there on the convict ship ''Cadet;'' Emma Lambrick would soon be the first European woman to die there. In 1846 Father Angelo Confalonieri made a decision to found a Catholic mission nearby, in an attempt to convert the local population. He had some success, converting around 400 people, but he died of fever in 1848, and the mission died with him. Port Essington was still failing to attract settlers, and it was becoming increasingly clear both that the 1844 works had come too late, and that the settlement was unsustainable. Visiting the settlement in December 1848, soon before its closure, British scientist
Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...
wrote that Port Essington was "most wretched, the climate the most unhealthy, the human beings the most uncomfortable and houses in a condition most decayed and rotten".


Abandonment

Finally, in 1849, Port Essington was, like the two previous attempts, abandoned. The demise of the settlement saw the end of British attempts at occupying the north coast. There would be one further unsuccessful attempt, by the
Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...
and Frederick Henry Litchfield in 1864, at
Escape Cliffs Escape Cliffs is a place on the northern coast of the Northern Territory of Australia, on the western coast of the Cape Hotham peninsula, and the eastern shore of Adam Bay, near the mouth and estuary of the Adelaide River. It lies about 60&nb ...
(also known as Palmerston) near the mouth of the Adelaide River, before the first permanent settlement was established at Darwin (also initially known as Palmerston), in 1869. The ruins of Port Essington still exist today, and while access is difficult, it is possible to do so by several means. It is possible to fly in through tours that can be arranged in Darwin, or to travel to the area alone by four-wheel drive or boat – although, as the ruins lie on Aboriginal land, a permit must be obtained first. Cabins and some camping sites are available at Black Point Ranger Station. The Australian industrialist Essington Lewis was named after Port Essington.


References


Further reading

* ''Cobourg Peninsular historic sites: Gurig National Park''. Darwin, N.T. Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. 1999–2000. 7 volumes
v. 1. Cobourg Peninsular historic sites conservation plan – v. 2. Executive summary – v. 3. Raffles Bay heritage precinct – v. 4. Victoria Settlement heritage precinct – v. 5. Port Essington heritage precinct – v. 6. Cape Don Lighthouse complex – v. 7. Cobourg Peninsular historic sites original reference documentation
Record
at the
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
* Alan Powell, ''World's End: British military outposts in the ring fence around Australia'', Melbourne University Press, 2016. *Jim Allen, ''Port Essington: The historical archaeology of a north Australian nineteenth-century outpost,'' Sydney University Press in association with the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology, 2008; . A typescript of the 1969 thesis on which this book is based is available at th
Australian National University's Open Research Library
* Mark McKenna, ''From the Edge: Australia's lost histories'', Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2016. *


External links


Port Essington
NT Place Names Register Extract
Photographs in 2009 from Northern Territory LibraryBibliography from Northern Territory LibrarySearch for historic photos on Port Essington
{{Coord, 11, 21, 38, S, 132, 09, 12, E, display=title, type:adm1st_region:AU-NT Bodies of water of the Northern Territory History of the Northern Territory 1838 establishments in Australia 1849 disestablishments Cobourg Peninsula Abandoned settlements in the Northern Territory Inlets of Australia Ghost towns in the Northern Territory