Richard Henry Browne (1802-1882)

Introduction
Richard Henry Browne died a very rich man at the age of 80 years. His estate in 1882 was worth £38,580, 3s, 5d, which according to the on-line Currency Converter at the National Archives, London was worth £1,863,808.05 in 2005.

In 1839, at the age of 37, Browne was described as a young Englishman of distinguished manner, slightly built, vivacious, soigne in dress, uniformly courteous of manner, "most refined of land agents". (This description was written from memory 60 years later in 1899 by the novelist Thomas Alexander Browne (1826–1915) who had known Richard Henry Browne in 1839 when Thomas had been a teenager. Please note that Thomas Alexander Browne was not a relative of Richard Henry Browne.)

A young Englishman? He may have lived out the last half of his life in the United Kingdom, moving to London at the age of 45 in 1848, and dying near Edinburgh at the age of 80 in 1882, but he had not been born there. He had been born in India of an Irish-Catholic merchant father and a half-caste Catholic Anglo-Indian mother. He had family in the United Kingdom but his father's business during the years of his childhood was based in Calcutta where his parents and sisters lived, and where he and his brother spent their early childhood. He and his elder brother, John William Browne (1801-1834), were educated, at least during their teenage years, in England, turning them both into "young Englishman of distinguished manner". Together in Oct 1818, at the ages of 16 & 17 respectively, and after completing their educations, they left London on the "Harriet" for Sydney (arriving there in Feb 1819) where their parents were then living. This was only, however, after also completing a post-education "grand Continental tour" of Europe.

This "grand Continental tour" of Europe was to have a life-long influence on Richard Henry Browne. When he was selling land on the outskirts of Melbourne in 1839 he was known as "Continental" Browne. This was because he was very fond of retailing incidents of his "grand Continental tour", hence his nickname.

It is as a direct result of his time in Europe on his "grand Continental tour" that Heidelberg in Melbourne was named. The area had been known by the aboriginal name of Warringal, but in 1839 when Richard Henry Browne was selling land there as an agent for Thomas Walker (1804-1886), he renamed it Heidelberg, after Heidelberg on the Neckar River in Germany. From his memory as an eye-witness of the occassion Thomas Alexander Browne wrote, "I can see him now in the centre of a group of admiring friends, chiefly of the fair sex, standing on one of the heights which overlooked the meadows of the Yarra. 'There, my dear madam, permit me to direct your gaze. Do you not observe the silver thread of the river winding through that exquisite green valley ? it reminds me so vividly of the gliding Neckar, and alas ! (here a most telling sigh) of scenes, of friends loved and lost. I can fancy that I look at my ever-remembered, ever-regretted Heidelberg ! Those slopes rising from the farther river shore will be terraced vineyards; and these, where you can faintly discern the snow pinnacle on yon spur of the Australian Alps, I can imagine the grand outline of the Harz Mountains. It is, it shall be, Heidelberg ! Charles, open more champagne. We must christen this thrice-favored spot, on this trebly auspicious day, worthily, irrevocably!" "In some such fashion," Thomas Alexander Browne added, "Heidelberg was named, and, what was more to the purpose, sold."

Sydney1819-1822
In 1819 Richard Henry Browne and his brother John William Browne both sailed into Sydney in their late teens to be able to help their father in his business interests. These included their father's new pastoral interests, and his business trading as a merchant in both Calcutta and Sydney. Their father had immigrated to Sydney to live in 1816 on his ship the "Mary", and had brought their mother there to live in 1818. His father's business required frequent commuting between Sydney and Calcutta, and explains why the 2 teenagers were left in charge of the Macquarie Place merchant business in April 1819, just 2 months after they arrived.

In these early years in New South Wales Richard Henry Browne and his brother were unsure of whether they wanted to settle permanently in the Colony. As a result on 1 Jul 1820 their father wrote to the Governor requesting a grant of land for each of his two boys to induce themn to settle in New South Wales. With no land forthcoming, Richard Henry Browne continued to help his father with his business interests, especially his father's merchant business based in Macquarie Place, Sydney. This entailed his commutting to Calcutta, evidenced by a notice in the newspaper of 4 Nov 1820 stating "MR. R. H. BROWNE proceeding to Bengal (Calcutta) by an early Opportunity, requests Claims, to be presented at the Office of Mr. W. Browne, Macquarie-place."

Before Mar 1822 Richard Henry Browne was back in Sydney. Whilst in Calcutta he had looked for business interests of his own, and arranged to become an agent for the sale of cargos in Sydney. Earlier in 1822 his father had sold his merchant business in Macquarie Place to fellow merchant Thomas Icely (1797–1874). In Mar 1822 Richard Henry Browne was working with Mr Icely as an agent for the sale of cargos from Calcutta for other businesses. In this capacity, as an agent for the sale of cargos from Calcutta for other businesses, Richard Henry Browne sold some goods to the Government, which, on 1 Apr 1822 paid a bill on the treasury of £415, 8s to Richard Henry Browne Having sold these goods Richard Henry Browne was planning to sail back to Calcutta, evidenced by a notices in the newspaper, the first on 3 May and the last on 7 Jun 1822, that stated "Mr. Richard Henry Browne, proceeding to Calcutta, requests Claims to be presented at Macquarie-place." . He took work at Calcutta with the merchant firm Sheddon & Co. He was not to return to New South Wales until 1824.

Richard Henry Browne's times in Calcutta during the period 1820 to 1824 allowed him to later describe himself in the 1881 Scotland census for Lasswade, MidLothian, as a "former East Indies merchant" (East Indies being the term popularly applied to India).

Sydney, Illawarra & Bathurst, 1824-1836
In 1824 Richard Henry Browne decided to leave Calcutta and settle in New South Wales. After arriving in Sydney in Apr 1824 on the "Perseverence", he wrote to the Governor on 28 May stating that he had recently arrived from India with the intention to settle, and asking for a land grant. This resulted in the promise of a grant of 640 acres. He was granted 600 acres at Illawarra at a quit rent of £4, 10s per annum starting 1st January 1831 on 4 Jun 1824, in the district where his father had been granted 3800 acres in 1823 to add to the land he already held of Appin.

Richard Henry Browne's route from Calcutta to Sydney on the "Perserverance" in 1824 was a common one in its day, and can be partly traced through notices in newspapers. The "Perseverence" travelled from Calcutta, possibly to Madras, and then on to Mauritius. It is from Mauritius that the newspapers begin to record its journey. After Mauritius the ship "was compelled to put into Hobart Town, in want of water and provisions", in early April 1824 , and finally sailed on to Sydney in late April 1824 , with "Mr. R.H. Browne" among the passengers "from the Mauritius".

600 acres of land at Illawarra was not enough land on which to make a living grazing sheep and cattle. Richard Henry Browne therefore formed a pastural partnership with his paternal cousin Henry O'Brien (1793-1866), who in 1821 had received 3 convict labourers and 600 acres on the Bathurst plains. In this capacity they began to receive convict labourers, some examples of which follow:


 * In Jun 1824 Martin Graham from the "Isabella" (1818) was assigned to "Messrs H O'Brien and R H Browne, Illawarra", 1 of 12 convicts assigned to the district of Appin and distributed by his father W. Browne J.P. of Appin, who also assigned 1 of the 12 convicts to himself . It was not uncommon for his father William Browne to assign convicts to himself, as in the previous month, April 1824, he had assigned to himself 1 of the 7 convicts available for the district of Appin in April who also happened to be a blacksmith.


 * In Jul 1824 Peter Coil from the "John Barry" (1821) and Henry Jackson from the "Countess of Harcourt" (1824) were assigned to "Messrs H O'Brien and R H Browne, Illawarra", 2 of 26 convicts assigned to the district of Appin and distributed by his father W. Browne J.P. of Appin, who also after returning a convict making him 1 of the 26 available for assignment in that month, and had then assigned a different convict to himself.


 * In Nov 1824 Peter Kelly from the "Dorothy" (1820) and William Watts from the "Guildford" (1824) were returned by "Messrs H O'Brien and R H Browne", 2 of 4 convicts returned in the district of Appin and redistributed by his father W. Browne J.P. of Appin.

The pasturage of animals at Bathurst also needed their attendance. Richard Henry Browne and his cousin Henry O'Brien therefore contacted the Government to request the use of more land (squatting) on which to pasture their animals. "Mssrs H O'Brien & R H Browne of Bathurst having made application for a Certificate to procur a Ticket of Occupation for the depasturage of 236 head of Horned Cattle...and 2640 Sheep...in the charge of the abovementioned Men, and others as Stockmen and Shepherds (Viz) William Burke and Matthew Flinn, Ticket of Leave Men". On 19 Oct 1824 they were to be certified to use a "spot of ground, name unknown" about 45 miles SSE from Bathurst, bounded on the South by a river. This was communicated by letter on 5 Nov 1824 to R. Hy Browne, Bathurst. Richard Henry Browne was to be allowed temporary occupation of 4 square miles (2560 acres) at that exact described location. William Burke and Matthew Flinn were again mentioned. His cousin Henry O'Brien was not mentioned but it was understood by both the Government and Richard Henry Browne that the use of the land was for both himself and his cousin.

At this point in his life story Richard Henry Browne had become a prime example of the high level of mobility of persons within Australia (by land), around Australian (by sea), and around the world (by sea). At this point in his life story Richard Henry Browne had also become a prime example of the similtaneous identification of the same person by 2 or more different locations where they owned or controlled land. In 1824, as can be seen from the above, he was known similtaneously as R.H.Browne, Illawarra; and R.H.Browne, Bathurst. Later, in 1837/38, he was to become known similtaneously as R.H.Browne, Sydney; R.H.Browne, Yass; and R.H.Browne, Brackenbury. Then later, in 1840, he was to become known similtaneously as R.H.Browne, Melbourne; R.H.Browne, Geelong; and R.H.Browne, Heidelberg.

In 1826 Richard Henry Browne still had pastoral interests in the Bathurst district, as on 1st Feb R.H.Browne was made a member of the Bathurst Literary Society "at a Meeting of the Gentlemen of Bathurst". By 1832, however, he was based back in Sydney, while his cousin Henry O'Brien had moved his pastoral business to the Yass district. In Jul 1832 R.H.Brown(sic), Sydney, had a convict labourer, David Hughes, assigned to him. He then travelled to London for a period.

Sydney & Yass, 1837-1838
R.H.Brown(sic) left London on the "Royal George" on 20 Oct 1836 and landed back in Sydney on 13 Mar 1837 with imported goods to sell. Then on 1 Jul 1837, R.H.Browne was appointed as Sydney agent for the newly formed Australian Association of Bengal at its first meeting in Calcutta. He resigned this position soon after, and was no longer their agent by 30 Mar 1838 when the "Gaillardon", the first ship chartered by the Australian Association of Bengal, arrived at Sydney. The reason given for his earlier resignation was discussed at a Meeting in Calcutta of the Australian Association of Bengal on 2 Jul 1838, where it was stated: "Our agency at Sydney was addressed in the first instance to Mr. R. H. Browne, late of the firm of Sheddon and Co. of this place; but as that gentleman had no settled purpose of remaining in the colony, or at any rate residing at Sydney, our affairs passed into the hands of Messrs. Campbell and Co., of George-street, as provided for in our instructions."

After arriving back in Sydney in Mar 1837 Richard Henry Browne visited his cousin Henry O'Brien at Henry's town residence in Upper Pitt Street, Sydney. As a result he resuming his pastoral interests, this time on the Yass plains where his cousin Henry O'Brien, and now also his cousin Cornelius O'Brien (1796-1869), had their stations. Richard Henry Browne took up a depasturing license on the Yass plains and called it Brackenbury. In Dec 1837 R.H. Browne of Yass was made Commisioner of Crown Lands for the district. In Feb 1838 R.H. Browne, Brackenbury, was presented in Sydney to the newly arrived Governor Sir George Gipps (1791-1847). In Mar 1838 R.H.Browne had 14 bales of wool included in a shipment to London on the "Alfred". Also prior to April 1838 R.H.Browne, Yass, signed an undertaking, together with other landholders of Yass (including his 2 O'Brien cousins), not to pay labourers in liquor.

Meanwhile he continued some trading as a merchant in Sydney. For example on 13 Dec 1837 goods that R.H.Browne had imported from London arrived in Sydney on the "Juliet", and on 21 Mar 1838 goods that R.H.Brown(sic) had imported from Canton had arrived in Hobart on the "Orwell" before being transported on to Sydney.

Heidelberg, 1839-1844
In May 1838, whilst he was still living in Yass, the seed was sown for a new chapter in Richard Henry Browne's life to begin. This was because in the NSW Governement Gazette of 30 May 1838 was an advertisement for the sale of Government land between the Darebin Creek and the Yarra River at Melbourne. This Melbourne land was to be auctioned on Thursday 13 Sep 1838 at the George-street Market Building in Sydney.

On Thursday 13 Sep 1838 Richard Henry Browne attended the auction of Government land in Sydney and purchased 920 acres on the Yarra River for £1334 at today's Heidelberg in Melbourne. 3 nearby allotments, totalling 3130 acres were bought speculatively by Thomas Walker (1804-1886) who planned to subdivide the allotments and place them up for sale. Walker was an investor and land speculator, well-known in Sydney business circles of the day. Richard Henry Browne had been a Commissioner of Crown Lands at Yass for less than 12 months, but this experience stood him in good stead, and arrangements were subsequently made for him to move to Melbourne and act as the land agent to sell Walker's blocks.

10 blocks of land between the Darebin Creek and the Yarra River, Melbourne, were put up for auction sale by the Government on Thursday 13 Sep 1838 at the George-street Market Building in Sydney. The blocks were sold to the following purchasers: Thomas Walker (1804-1886) purchased adjacent portions 1, 2 & 3 totalling 3130 acres, adjoining and west & south of the village reserve, which he planned to subdivide for resale; George Isaac Porter (1800-1848) purchased non-adjacent portions 4 & 7 totalling 1570 acres, on which he settled; Richard Henry Browne purchased portion 6 totalling 920 acres, east of the village reserve with a very small section adjoining); Thomas Wills (1800-1872) purchased portion 8 totalling 970 acres; Neil Campbell purchased portion 10 totalling 1035 acres; and Captain Sylvester John Brown (c1790-1864) purchased portions 11 & 12 totalling 1876 acres. Not included in the sale of 13 Sep 1838 was 2 portions without water access, and the village reserve that at that time was known as Warringal, and did not begin to be sold until 1845.

The block of 920 acres that Browne purchased at the auction was described as follows: "BOURKE, Portion No. 6, 920, Nine hundred and twenty acres, more or less, parish of Keelbundoora; bounded on the west by the section line forming the east boundary of Portion No. 5, and of the Village Reserve, bearing north 140 chains; on the north by a section line forming part of the south boundary of Portion No. 8, containing 970 acres bearing east 80 chains; on the east by the section line forming the west boundary of Portion No. 7, containing 780 acres, bearing south 100 chains, and on the south by Yarra Yarra River. Price 5s. per acre", with the 5s per acre being a reserve price. The price that Browne paid of £1334 eqauted to £1, 5s per acre.

An imaginative description of the land sale of 13 Sep 1838 in Sydney was given in a 21 Feb 1840 advertisement for the sale of one of the landlocked blocks, portion 5, that had not been put up for auction sale on 13 Sep 1838. (The 2 portions without water access, the 2 landlocked portions, were not included in the sale of 13 Sep 1838 but were both sold later. Portion 5, 960 acres, was sold on 26 Feb 1840 to stock-and-station dealer James Watson (1811-1869) and portion 9 was sold on 5 Feb 1840 to Neil McLean (1810-1858), a ship's captain. ) The imaginative description of the auction read as follows: "The competition for this Estate at the last Government Sale was the greatest that ever occured in the sale of Crown Lands, and the silence which reigned amongst the assembled crowd while the most intelligent entered the lists to become possessed of it was truly characteristic and the moment the purchaser was declared, he received the congratulations of his friends."

It is not difficult to understand why Richard Henry Browne would have been interested in purchasing some of the land between the Darebin Creek and the Yarra River at today's Heidelberg, as one of his cousin Henry O'Brien's acquaintences at Jugiong, near Yass, was Joseph Hawdon (1813–1871). Hawdon, late in 1836, was one of three men who drove a herd of cattle through the Darebin Creek area when they overlanded the cattle from Jugiong on the Murrumbidgee to Melbourne. Hawdon was to settle in Victoria but still travelled extensively. In 1838 Hawdon even secured a contract at £1200 a year to carry the overland mail fortnightly between Melbourne and Yass, whence it was transfered to the mailman from Sydney, though he did not convey the mail himself instead using an employee. In late 1836, while driving the herd of cattle from Jugiong to Melbourne, Hawdon had seen that the area of land between the Darebin Creek and the Yarra River was prime agricultural and grazing land. Ironically Browne was later to sell two portions of the land at Heidelberg to Joseph Hawdon: the first 363 acres in 1839 as land agent for Thomas Walker; and in mid-1843 a second portion of about 279 acres being a section of his own 920 acres, land on which Hawdon was to take up residence and name ‘Banyule’.

The first thing that Browne did with the 920 acres of land that he purchased on 13 Sep 1838 was to have the block subdivided. He decided to apply to have his block subdivided into 4 portions which are said to have been 214 acres, 279 acres, 264 acres and 192 acres. (This adds to 949 acres so there is a problem with this division.) By 31 January 1839 the subdivision of the land that he had purchased had been finalised. He planned to settle on 1 of the portions, and to sell the other 3.
 * Before Jun 1839 Browne had sold a "264" acre portion of his land to Arthur Hogue (1816-), a wealthy Melbourne merchant, who, like Richard Henry Browne, had been born in India (Calcutta) to a merchant father (Arthur Hogue (c1790-1828)). Arthur Hogue named his portion "Banyule" said to mean, "the hill" in the dialect of the Warringal Aborigines.
 * In Dec 1839 he sold the eastern-most "192" acre portion of his land to James Williamson (1816-1897), which Williamson named "Viewbank", and on which Williamson built a "genteel residence", a weatherboard home. According to the research of Sarah Hayes in her 2014 book "Good taste, fashion, luxury: a genteel Melbourne family and their rubbish", Williamson got into financial difficulty which resulted in this "192" acres being put up for sale in Oct 1842. Her research is that Browne firstly brought the property back, and then 2 years later, in Aug 1844, sold the property again . Aug 1844 was close to the time that Browne moved to Hobart.
 * Browne was also to sell his western-most portion of "214" acres to William Verner (1807-1893).

Browne retained ownership of the "279" acre portion of his land between the portions that he sold to Hogue and Verner, and established a residence there. This was the portion that Browne was later to sell to Joseph Hawdon in mid-1843 for £1550. (Joseph Hawdon was also to buy the land adjoining this "279" acre portion: firstly, in 1843, the "264" acre portion from Arthur Hogue, which Arthur Hogue had named "Banyule", the section on which Hawdon was to build his Elizabethan-Gothic revival style mansion; and, in 1845, the "214" acre portion from Verner, until Hawdon's "Banyule" totalled about 700 acres.) In her book Sarah Hayes discusses an advertisement of 5 Oct 1839 which happens to be for the sale of 25 lots of 40 to 60 acres of land (approx 1250 acres) without realising that this land for sale was part of the 3130 acres of land that had been initially been purchased by Thomas Walker for subdivision and resale. The advertisement describes the land for sale as "adjacent to the highly improved Estate of Joseph Hawdon, Esq". She then goes on to discuss Joseph Hawdon's Banyule Homestead that was completed in 1846. What she misses is that the 5 Oct 1839 advertisement is referring to Joseph Hawdon's first purchase of land, being 363 acres north of Sylvester John Brown's ‘Hartlands’ and south of the village reserve that he had purchased for £1670, and also part of the 3130 acres of land that had been initially been purchased by Thomas Walker for subdivision and resale,. It was not until mid-1843 that Hawdon purchased the land from Browne on which he built his Banyule Homestead. Sarah Browne then contradictorily goes on to incorrectly discuss a second advertisement of 7 Mar 1840 as an advertisement of the sale of Richard Henry Browne's 920 acre subdivided into 4 lots estate, without noticing that the advertisement is for 100 acres in 10 acre blocks and is another section of the 3130 acres of land that had been initially been purchased by Thomas Walker for subdivision and resale.

Before Apr 1839 Richard Henry Browne had arrived in Melbourne. After he arrived he went to the area that he was to name Heidelberg, to both check on his land upon which he planned to settle, and began to make plans to sell both some of his land and some Thomas Walker's land as his agent. Page 2 of "Port Phillip Gazette" of 6 Apr 1839 included an article that stated "of all the beautiful tracts of agricultural soil, only one section, in the possession of R.H.Browne, Esq. has been laid out for improvement". The colourful champaign sale that he then held overlooking the Yarra River is described in the Introduction that forms part of this article. It was at this sale that he changed the name of the area from Warringal to Heidelberg.

The sale of both the large blocks like Joseph Hawdon's 363 acres, and the smaller blocks of 40 to 60 acre blocks in the Glanville and Gertrude Estates was a success. Page 2 of "Port Phillip Gazette" of 26 Jun 1839 included an article that stated "a country section known as the original purchase of R.H.Browne, Esq., possesses within its circumference a population of one hunderd individuals, which from its rapid increase has induced the proprietors of the different stations to make a requisition to the Government for the usual allowance in aid of their purpose - the erection of a church".

The advertisement of 5 Oct 1839 (for an auction on 7 Oct) names some of the people having "highly improved estates" in the area. Named were Joseph Hawdon "the enterprising discoverer of the overland route for Stock to South Australia", Captain George Brunswick Smyth (1814-1845) "H(is) M(ajesty's) 80th regiment", Captain Sylvester John Browne, Colonel Kenneth Snodgrass (1784-1853) "C.B." (Companion of the order of the Bath, a military honour), David Charteris Macarthur (1808–1887) "Manager Bank of Australia" at Melbourne, etc, etc. These were people who bought land in 1839 through Richard Henry Browne as Melbourne agent for Thomas Walker, or for those who were Sydney residents, as in the case of Kenneth Snodgrass, possibly directly from Thomas Walker in Sydney. Also named was George Isaac Porter who had bought land in Sydney at the 13 Sep 1838 sale, land that was adjacent to the land purchased by Thomas Walker (and another block that was adjacent to Richard Henry Browne's). Not named was Richard Henry Browne whose 920 acres was a little further away, not being, like Porter's land, adjacent to Thomas Walker's land. Richard Henry Browne must have numbered among the etceteras. Also amongst the etceteras was William Wedge Darke (1810-1890), the surveyor for Melbourne who had also speculatively purchased some of Thomas Walker's land. The advertisement refers to the village reserve for the future village as the "romantic village of 'Heidelberg'".

The advertisement of 21 Feb 1840 (for an auction on 26 Feb) also names some of the same people who bought land in 1839 through Richard Henry Browne as Melbourne agent for Thomas Walker: Joseph Hawdon, Captain Gorge Brunswick Smyth, Captain Sylvester John Brown, and David Charteris Macarthur. In addition Captain Thorn is named who had purchased land that had belonged to Thomas Walker, but not necessarily through Richard Henry Browne as agent. This time, as "this fertile tract of land is thickly studded with the most elegant habitations of the most respectable gentry", Richard Henry Browne is included in the list. Not mentioned this time was George Isaac Porter (an oversight). Also named is Arthur Hogue who by this date had purchased his 264 acre portion of Richard Henry Browne's land. This advertisement was for the 960 acres north of the village reserve (instead of south like Thomas Watson's land) and to the west and adjacent to Browne's now 728 acres. In this advertisement the village is refered to as Heidelberg.

The advertisement of 7 Mar 1840 (for an auction on 23 Mar) does not name other residents of the area. It refers to the land as being part of "the Heidelberg property, adjoining the Township if Warringal, generally known as the romantic Heidelberg".