Robert Towns
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Robert Towns (10 November 1794 – 11 April 1873) was a British
master mariner A master mariner is a licensed mariner who holds the highest grade of licensed seafarer qualification; namely, a master's license. A master mariner is therefore allowed to serve as the captain (nautical), master of a merchant ship for which natio ...
who settled in Australia as a businessman,
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 ...
merchant, colonist, shipowner, pastoralist, politician,
whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...
and civic leader. He was the founder of
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
,
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
and named it after himself. He is also known for his involvement in
blackbirding Blackbirding was the trade in indentured labourers from the Pacific in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often described as a form of slavery, despite the British Slavery Abolition Act 1833 banning slavery throughout the British Empire, ...
and labour exploitation of immigrant workers. After a career at sea as a master mariner based in Britain, Towns came to Australia in 1843 as the agent for London merchant Robert Brooks (MP). He also became a merchant in his own right in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
with involvement in the sandalwood and pelagic whaling trades. He was an importer of
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
and
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
, and an exporter of
wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
,
whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tear drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil used in the cavities of sperm whales, ...
,
cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
and other commodities. He became a pastoralist and pioneered the cultivation of cotton in Queensland, often employing
Kanakas Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and Blackbirding, involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British Empire, British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Queen ...
. The head office of Robert Towns & Company was in Sydney with branch offices in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
,
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
and Townsville. His far-flung trading connections saw him do business with merchants in
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,
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 ...
,
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(Sri Lanka), the
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(Indonesia), the
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,
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,
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, the
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(Vanuatu),
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and
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.


Biography


Early life

Robert Towns was born at
Longhorsley Longhorsley is a village in Northumberland, England about northwest of Morpeth, and about south of Alnwick. The A697 road passes through the village linking it with Morpeth, Wooler and Coldstream in Scotland. There are 8 "Streets" in Longhorsl ...
,
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
, England, on the Tenth of November 1794. He was educated at a village school and went to sea in 1809 as an apprentice on a
North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...
collier. He was a
mate Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection *** Mate choice in humans ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Pers ...
by the age of 17, and a
master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...
on a brig in the Mediterranean two years later. He made his first voyage to Australia as captain of ''Boa Vista'' in 1827. He was a regular trader to Australia by the time he arrived in command of the ''Brothers'' (325 tons) in August 1832. In 1838 he took command of for London shipowner, merchant and banker Robert Brooks. Towns was also part-owner of the vessel. During the
First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...
(1839-1842) he broke the British blockade of Canton and took aboard a cargo of tea "at the highest freight rates yet seen in British private trade." On his return to London he was asked to go to Australia to put in order the affairs of Brooks’ agent in Sydney, Ranulph Dacre.


New South Wales

Towns reached
Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...
in March 1843, and took charge of the Sydney agency of Robert Brooks & Co. He was joined by his wife and son the following year. He already had strong ties in Sydney. Apart from almost annual voyages to the colony in the preceding fifteen years, on 28 December 1833 he had married Sophia Wentworth, a sister of explorer and politician William Charles Wentworth, at
St Philip's Church, Sydney St Philip's Church, Sydney, is the oldest Anglican church parish in Australia. The church is located in the Sydney city centre between York Street, Clarence and Jamison Streets on a location known as Church Hill. It is one of two churches in t ...
; the couple honeymooned at her brother's estate at Toongabbie. In 1843 he established Robert Towns & Co., General Merchants, Ship and Commission Agents, at Sydney. An early investment was the purchase of the ''Elizabeth'' (174 tons) in 1843. She had been built in 1816 and the purchase of old vessels like her became a feature of his shipowning. In 1855 he took into the partnership (later Sir) Alexander Stuart. By 1857 the firm had made profits of £245,000. Much of this success relied on the ongoing business relationship with Robert Brooks. Brooks provided capital for joint ventures, made advances against Australian exports and provided general financial backing for Robert Towns & Co. The depressed colonial economy of the early 1840s, and his ready access to credit, allowed Towns to quickly become established as a leading figure in the shipping industry. He purchased eight vessels and also a well-located wharf at Millar's Point, Darling Harbour, that soon became known as Towns' Wharf. The vessels were put to work in the sandalwood trade, as pelagic whalers and as trading vessels. His standing in the Sydney commercial circles saw him invited to join the board of the
Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia. It was established in 1817 in Sydney. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches throughout Australia and New Zealand, expanding into Oceania ...
in 1850. Later in the decade, he became president of the bank. Towns entry into the sandalwood trade began with a stroke of good fortune. His vessel ''Elizabeth'' returned to Sydney on 29 June 1845 from Tanna with 100 tons of sandalwood. It was sent to China where it arrived at a time of high prices of almost £50 a ton for a commodity the gathering of which by the natives at Eromanga had been paid for with old hoop-iron, axes and assorted ironmongery. Later in the 1840s he began to establish trading posts on the islands of the Pacific to gather sandalwood, beche-de-mer and coconut oil for collection by his island trading vessels. Trading posts were established at
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
(in 1847), the Isle of Pines (1848) and at
Aneityum Aneityum (also known as Anatom or Keamu) is the southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the province of Tafea. Geography Aneityum is the southernmost island of Vanuatu (not counting the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are disputed with New Caledo ...
(1853). The commodities collected there he sometimes shipped to China on his own vessels. On the return journey they would bring consignments of tea, rice and sugar from ports in Asia. Some of these cargoes, particularly during the gold rush years, were highly profitable.


Search for cheap labour

Towns had trouble finding men to work in his various enterprises, as did other employers in New South Wales. A Coolie Immigration Society was established in Sydney in September 1842 to lobby the government to remove restrictions on importing labourers from India. The ship ''Orwell'' arrived in Sydney 23 March 1846 with 56 male and 13 female “
coolies Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th century by Europ ...
”, recruited for Robert Towns in Calcutta, supposedly to work as “domestic servants”. On the voyage out they had to work the pumps of the leaky ship day and night. They were given insufficient food and little warm clothing and all of them became unwell and one died soon after arrival. In Sydney the men were put to work on Towns wharf but they stopped work after a few days. They said their food was inadequate and the terms of their employment had never been made clear to them. Three hundred Chinese labourers were landed from Towns' ship ''Royal Saxon'' in 1853 to help meet the labour shortage caused by the
Australian Gold Rushes During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in History of Australia, Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the Colo ...
but he found it difficult to place them with other employers. Towns was the leading figure in the trade and had brought in 2,400 Chinese by 1854 as well as 86 Indian workers. He tried to import Chinese and Indian labourers to work on his cotton plantation in Queensland but was frustrated by British government emigration agents in India and Hong Kong. He then looked to bring in indentured labourers or illegal slaves from the Pacific Islands. The South Sea islanders who served as seamen on Towns' sandalwood vessels and pelagic whaling ships performed well and may have prompted him to import large numbers of them into Australia to work on his pastoral properties and cotton plantation in Queensland. Towns worked with recruiters to bring the islanders to Australia, including Henry Ross Lewin, a notorious blackbirders of
South Sea Islander South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...
labour. Unscrupulous methods and kidnapping were commonly used to get labourers aboard their ships. Allegations of crimes such as kidnap and slavery were frequently levelled at Towns during this period, who responded with the publication of a pamphlet outlining the instructions he gave to Ross-Lewin in regards to recruitment of the labourers. This pamphlet was later criticised for possibly being written after voyage and for the conditions specified for the labourers not being met in that shelter was not provided, wages not paid and the Islanders not returned home.


Whaling from Sydney

Towns was a major figure in
whaling in Australia Whaling in Australian waters began in 1791 when five of the 11 ships in the Third Fleet (Australia), Third Fleet landed their passengers and freight at Sydney Cove and then left Port Jackson to engage in whaling and seal hunting off the coast of ...
during the mid 19th century. He thought the close proximity of Port Jackson to the whaling grounds of the western Pacific made it a "legitimate" enterprise for maritime entrepreneurs based in Sydney. The "lottery aspect" of the industry he felt could be eliminated with a sufficient number of vessels and so he tried to have a fleet of a dozen deep-sea whalers operating at any one time. All told he owned, or part-owned, 24 Sydney whaling vessels at various times. These made 127 voyages from Port Jackson between 1841 and 1878. This was in spite of the fact he arrived late on the scene, the industry having peaked in the 1830s. His strategy was to purchase old and inexpensive vessels and crew them with South Sea islanders who were more tractable and prepared to work on the "lay" or share system of payment. He chose experienced and capable masters to command these vessels and keep them at sea in the face of the manifold difficulties routinely experienced on their long and demanding voyages. It was sometimes hard to get insurance for his aged vessels, eight of which were lost at sea. Crews were difficult to find at times, especially during the gold rush period in the 1850s, forcing him to send his ships to Hobart or the South Sea islands for men. In spite of the challenges, and the disapproval of his business partners, he persisted through into the 1860s and 1870s when, almost single-handed, he kept the whaling trade alive from Sydney. He was flexible in the way he used his vessels. He would get his returning whalers to call at Pacific island trading stations to pick up casks of
coconut oil Coconut oil (or coconut fat) is an edible oil derived from the kernels, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat below around , and a clear thin liquid oil at higher temperatures. Unrefined varieties have a disti ...
, trepang of tortoise-shell. At other times he took some ships out of whaling altogether and sent them on trading voyages.


Civic leader

Towns was a member of the initial
New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...
from 22 May 1856 to 10 May 1861 (a 5-year appointment, terminated by his resignation in support of the council president) and then re-appointed for life on 23 June 1863, terminating at his death on 11 April 1873. Although he did not take a leading part in politics, his advice was much sought in matters affecting business. He was a member and president of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Pilot Board, on the committee of the Sydney Bethel Union and one of the founding councillors of the Sydney Sailors' Home. At the opening of the latter institution in 1865 Towns claimed to be the, “father of the tars in the colony, having commenced his career in 1809.” He was also a supporter and promoter of trans-Pacific steam navigation. He lived from 1864 to 1873 in Cranbrook House on New South Head Road in Rose Bay, Sydney.


Queensland

A world-wide shortage of cotton, due to blockades of Confederate ports during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, prompted the Queensland government to encourage the cultivation of cotton in the sub-tropical climate of the colony. Robert Towns was the first to take up this opportunity and brought in indentured Pacific Island labourers to work on his cotton plantation of Townsvale near Brisbane in 1863. Towns actively promoted this remedy to the labour shortage in rural Queensland in a pamphlet published in 1864. One of Towns' vessels, the ''Don Juan'' under the command of Captain Grueber and labour recruiter Henry Ross Lewin, brought 73
South Sea Islanders South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...
to the port of
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
in August 1863. Towns specifically wanted adolescent males recruited and, although Towns denied the accusations, kidnapping was reportedly employed in obtaining these boys. Over the following two years, Towns imported around 400 more
Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...
to Townsvale on one to three year terms of labour. They came on the vessels ''Uncle Tom'' (Captain Archer Smith) and ''Black Dog'' (Captain Linklater). Between 1864 and 1904, an estimated 63,000 women and men came to Australia to work in the shipping and sugar industries. Many were poorly paid and endured harsh conditions. It has been alleged that those acting on behalf of Towns and others engaged in blackbirding, the practice of coercing and kidnapping labourers when they could not obtain workers to come voluntarily. Many attempts had been made to grow cotton in Australia before this time, but Towns was the first to do so on a large scale. Realising that a port was needed on the Queensland coast north of Bowen, Towns arranged for explorations to be made from his stations, a suitable site was found at Cleveland Bay, and in October 1865 it was gazetted as a port of entry and named
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
. Towns organised the first importation of
South Sea Islander South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...
labour to that port in 1866. They came aboard ''Blue Bell'' under Captain Edwards. Apart from a small amount of Melanesian labour imported for the beche-de-mer trade around Bowen, Towns was instrumental in bringing Polynesian labour to Queensland. Towns paid many workers "in goods" amounting to 10 shillings per month. One of his agents claimed that the labourers were "savages who did not know the use of money" and therefore did not deserve cash wages. This was despite the Polynesian Labourers Act of 1868 stipulating the workers should have been paid in coin. Towns appears to have been involved in the first attempts to cultivate coffee in Australia. The story goes that Towns was privy to a plan by the government to grant title to land under cultivation. He procured a boat load of coffee beans, arranged for them to be planted on a substantial tract of land in the Townsville area and applied for the title to the land. The coffee crop failed because the beans had been roasted before Towns acquired them. However, this detail did not prevent Towns from succeeding in his efforts to acquire the land.


Later life

In 1870, Robert Towns was attacked by paralysis and his health was precarious thereafter. He suffered a further stroke on 7 April 1873 and died at his home, Cranbrook, on 11 April 1873. He was buried on 15 April 1873 in the Balmain Cemetery.


Legacy

The Balmain Cemetery closed in 1912 and, in 1941, it was decided to convert it into parkland (the Pioneer's Memorial Park) and advertisements were placed for families to make arrangements for re-interment of bodies or removal of memorials. As a result, the memorial stone from Robert Towns' grave was relocated to stand atop a monument at
Castle Hill, Townsville Castle Hill is a heritage-listed isolated pink granite monolith in the suburb of Castle Hill, Queensland, Castle Hill, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Its Indigenous name is Cootharinga, sometimes written as Cooderinga. It rises t ...
. The pulpit of St Andrew's Cathedral was provided by Towns. After a number of subsequent owners, his home Cranbrook House would become Cranbrook School. On Sunday 1 November 1964, a monument commemorating the "100th Anniversary of Settlement in Townsville" was unveiled on The Strand in Townsville with particular mention made of four men: Robert Towns, Andrew Ball, Mark Watt Reid and John Melton Black. As at 2020, the monument is located in Anzac Memorial Park between the Centenary Fountain and the bandstand (). A statue of Towns is located on Pioneers Walk in Townsville. In June 2020 the hands of the statue were painted red, in an apparent protest against Towns being memorialised despite being involved with blackbirding.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Towns, Robert 1794 births 1873 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council People from Townsville Burials in Balmain Cemetery Politicians from Sydney 19th-century Australian politicians Presidents of the Bank of New South Wales Australian people in whaling Australian ship owners Australian merchants 19th-century Australian businesspeople Sea captains 19th-century British slave traders 19th-century English merchants People from Longhorsley Businesspeople from Sydney