Half Way House
She was not sober and was not drunk. She
was just about half and half [1].
This description of my great great grandmother at the Half-way House at Lower
Jerusalem in 1859 sent me on a journey of exploration. Exactly where was Lower
Jerusalem, and were there any remains of the house? Where exactly did my
ancestors live, and why was Bridget in this condition?
The Valuation Rolls of 1859 had provided
the information that Bridget DOE and her husband Ephraim had rented parts of two
properties, one called Penrice (sic) at Lower Jerusalem, the other closer to
Jerusalem. In February of that year, Ephraim was charged and found guilty, under
the provisions of the slaughtering act, of having meat secreted in the bush, for
which he could not account. He was fined £50 in lieu of three months
imprisonment. Not wishing to be incarcerated, he headed for Launceston for
eight weeks to try to raise his fine, leaving Bridget to manage the two farms. She
began to empty the farm at Lower Jerusalem of all their belongings with the
plan to move all to the other property. The owner of the Penrise property, William
BROWN, received word of what was happening and immediately sent for a bailiff to
recover rent, before his lessees could skip away without paying.
The bailiff named William HUMPHREYS
accompanied William Brown, on a visit to Bridget at her home to serve a
distraint order to collect rent of £40 and bailiff’s fee of £15. Unable to pay,
Bridget drowned her sorrows as the bailiff removed two mares and a foal from
her barn and to keep as surety for the debt.
While Bridget was packing her farm
implements and other belongings on the cart to move them, Humphreys was
offering her lifestock for sale at an auction held that very day. He raised an
amount equivalent to what was owed, plus £10 which he deposited neatly in his
own pocket. Unaware of this development, the half drunk Bridget, drove her
laden cart to the Half-Way House where she suggested to the owner James CAVEY
that he might buy the animals in order to allow her to settle the debt. Bridget
had travelled to Tasmania on the convict ship Tory 2 along with James’s wife
Margaret or Martha MCDONALD and may have been on good terms with them. However,
the offer was not taken up.
Some weeks later, Ephraim Doe returned
from his jaunt to Launceston having failed to raise his fine and was jailed for
three months. Bridget placed her two children, Ephraim and Mary Ann in the
orphan school where they remained for five months, and waited for her world to
reconstruct itself. [2]
By December, Ephraim had been released and had brought a court action against
William Brown as his horses had been illegally sold and he had not received the
monies raised from the sale, over and above the size of his debt. All goods
seized should have been held for 15 days before going to sale. The verdict was
in Ephraim’s favour.
I enquired at a TFHS meeting whether
anyone knew exactly where Lower Jerusalem was, and received emails a few days
later to say that it is now called Lowdina and is north of Campania. I
collected original land maps of the area and overlaid them with a modern
Tasmap. A search on Trove found several references to the Half-way House, two
very useful ones being sales of land next to and opposite it.[3]
Armed with my research, I visited the Deed’s Office in Macquarie Street, paid a
fee and was asked whether I would like assistance. This was most unexpected. I
thought I would be doing this all on my own. Doing as much research as possible
before my visit and being able to clearly define my search was of great
benefit. The assistance provided was brilliant. The site was isolated, (being
part of a larger property) and the current reference documents found. I was
stunned when reading them to discover that the building still onsite was
described as having been built in 1850 from stone – and had a colorbond roof! I
had expected to find a few broken bricks or a blank landscape. Google Earth was
consulted and I set my eyes on a view of the Half-Way House. I could not wait
to visit and take my own photo, and maybe share a glass of wine with Bridget’s
ghost. Within a couple of days, I was standing on the doorstep being informed
by the current resident, “Everyone knows this is the Half Way House.” The house
has been extended at the back in recent years and many broken stones have been
replaced in the walls. The colorbond roof is quite new.
The Half-Way House Lower Jerusalem
The earliest reference I could find for
this property was in April 1848 when a convict muster was held there. [4]
In 1849, it was advertised for sale as a farm of 90 acres with a four room
stone house, a blacksmith and a wheelwright’s shop, and currently occupied by
Mr John Hopson. [5] By June 20 1851, it had
been renamed “Bird-in-Hand” and a shooting match was held there, the prize
being a six year old horse.[6]
Entry in the competition was £1, advertised by J FOSTER . By 1853, the licence
was transferred from William KEARNEY jnr to George URCH and the name changed back to
Half-way House. [7] Wm Kearney had not given
up the licence voluntarily. He had been murdered in an altercation over a
shovel in January of that year. [8]
James CAVEY appears in newspaper records in 1856 as Licensed Victualler of
Lower Jerusalem and seems to have held the lease for several years, the owner being
Joseph FOSTER..[9]
On 23 Feb 1859, Joseph Foster advertised
in the newspaper for 30 wethers which had strayed or been stolen from his
paddock on the night of February 15th. [10]
On March 2nd, Ephraim Doe was reported having been arrested. Was he
responsible for this theft, or was the meat found on his property from another
source? The imposed fine of £50, suggests, that the quantity of meat was large.
A few months later, Joseph Foster moved
in to become the next landlord of the Half-way house. He was an entrepreneur
and tried various ways to attract business. Every few months he would advertise
shooting matches with generous prizes. In 1860, a fat bullock was offered.
Entry fees were 6 people at 30 shillings each or 12 at £1. Later in the year, prizes were £5, £3 and £1. In
1861, Professor Eagle appeared to perform his myriad of magic tricks including
the production of various types of liquor, all from the same bottle. [11]On
the Queen’s Birthday holiday in 1862, shooting matches, cricket and skittles
were advertised. [12]
In 1863, gold and silver women’s watches became the prizes. No doubt, each of
these events drew a crowd of spectators to drink and eat at the establishment.
By 1865, William CORRIGAN had taken over
as landlord but business had slowed and Joseph Foster ordered that all of his
property be sold for distraint (unpaid rent). [13]
Fat pigs became the prize in August of that year and a good upstanding horse in
October when William KEARNEY snr held the lease. By Easter Monday 1870, horse
races had been added to the entertainment with a maiden plate, hurdle race and
publican’s purse. In October, a ploughing match took place with 16 teams in the
main event. There were confectionery, cake and orange stalls and an excellent
cold dinner laid out in the barn as the house was too small. [14]
In 1872, the business was put out to
tender and John White took over. He held a pigeon match but the attendance was
small. Ploughing matches, hurdle races and sweeps were held on the greater
property which belonged to George Stokell, the 8 acres on which the Half-Way
House stood having been subdivided from the rest of the farm. The area was
going into decline as nearby Campania developed and by 1883, it was offered for
sale as a farm and dwelling rather than a business. Again on the market in June
1892, it was to be auctioned. Further advertisements appeared in 1893 and 1896.
Over the years, the Half-way House also
hosted political meetings and several inquests following murders, deaths and
accidents on the roads and nearby farms. Many horse shoes have been dug up
around the site of the blacksmith’s shop, evidence of the work required to keep
hoses and carts on the road in the early days. Travellers rested and ate there
and many would have drowned their sorrows or celebrated at the bar.
In March1894, the Launceston Examiner
reported that the name of Lower Jerusalem would change to Woodlands and in June
the Post Office would take on the new name. [15]
Ten years later, a petition signed by residents requested that the Post Office
be moved to Lowdina Siding where a platform and goods shed were required to
service the railway which was now the transport hub of the community.[16] Today
the area is signposted as Lowdina and there is little evidence of the
interesting history of the Half-way House.
[1]
1859 'SUPREME COURT.', The
Hobart Town Daily Mercury(Tas. : 1858 - 1860), 24 December, p. 2, viewed 16
June, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3259998
[2]
TAHO SWD6
[3]
1861 'Advertising.', The
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860
- 1954), 13 September, p. 1, viewed 16 June, 2015,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8801047
[4]
1848 'TICKET-OF-LEAVE MUSTER.', Colonial Times 11 April, p. 3,
[5]
1849 Colonial
Times 8 May, p. 3,
[6]
1851 'Classified Advertising.', The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), 24
May, p. 3,
[8]
1853 'SUPREME COURT.', Hobarton
Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania 22
January, p. 2,
[9]
1856 'RICHMOND.',The Courier ), 16 April, p. 3,
[10]
1859 'Classified Advertising.', The Hobart Town Daily Mercury 21
February, p. 3
[12]
1862 The Hobart Town Daily Mercury ‘7 June, p. 2,
[13]
1865 'Advertising.', The
Mercury 12 May, p. 4,
[14]
1870, The
Mercury 26 October, p. 2,
[15]
1894 Launceston Examiner 22 March, p. 1,
[16]
1914 The
Mercury 12 March, p. 7
