HILL

Ireland, 1790s-1818

The exact date of birth of BERNARD (called ‘Barney’) HILL/HEALY is unknown. He was born in Co. Cavan, Ireland, in the late 1780s, or early 1790s. He was tried at Trim in Co. Meath, in March 1817 aged 24, and sentenced to fourteen years’ transportation for highway robbery. The offence was probably committed with the help of Patrick McCabe from Co. Kells, aged 18, who was convicted for the same offence on the same day. Bernard Hill would seem to have been married at the time of conviction with one son, Patrick.

(AOT: CON 13/1, p.150)

Convict years, 1818-1831

Bernard Hill arrived at Sydney Cove on board the Minerva, 1 May 1818 and later at Hobart Town on the same vessel, 7 June 1818. The ship had left Ireland 1 January 1818 and was the second ship of convicts to arrive in Van Diemen’s Land. Bernard Hill’s convict record, taken down upon arrival shows that by trade he was a violin performer. His height was 5'4", he had blue eyes, black hair, a dark ruddy freckled complexion and he was unable to write. He did not go to Port Arthur which was reserved for the recidivist. Instead he worked on government gangs for one year, and on account of being one of the group to help make the road to New Norfolk, received a Ticket of Leave mid-1819. This exempted Hill from forced labour and he was allowed to sell his labour within a police district until his term expired (1831). He had no legal rights and was forbidden by law to own land. Punishment was used to preserve law and order and to deter the convict from further crime. For neglect of work, not obeying orders, being absent without leave, drunkenness, or insolence to a master, whether government overseer or settler, the convict was brought before a magistrate and sentenced to work on a road party, a flogging, fined or sent to Port Arthur. Two minor offences were recorded against Bernard Hill. On 8 November 1825, he was reprimanded for being at the Mermaid Tavern kept by Mrs Fitzgerald at a quarter to nine the night before, and on 2 September 1830, Hill was fined 5/- at the Convict Barracks for being drunk that morning.

The future of NSW and VDL depended on the attraction of free settlers to whom convicts could be assigned as workers, the granting of land to officers and ex-convicts. On 3 June 1820 in a letter to Governor Sorell, Hill petitioned for and was granted the use of a Town Allotment at the upper end of Goulburn St. in Hobart Town. He built a small weatherboard cottage valued at £120. On 14 January 1830, Hill received a conditional pardon which restored him to full legal rights including the ownership of land. Hill then purchased an adjoining allotment in Goulburn St. from George Stokell on which stood a small brick house of four rooms valued at £95.

Survey of Bernard Hill's house, Goulburn St., Hobart

As well, he purchased a property at New Norfolk which had been granted to Thomas Murphy by Gov. Macquarie on 1 January 1817. The property of 100 acres was bordered by the Derwent River, consisted of 40 acres of fenced, cleared and cultivated land with a weatherboard house. It was valued at £300. Hill owned 10 working bullocks worth £40, 42 head of horned cattle worth £84, one cart worth £15, one plough, one harrow and other farm implements worth £12.

On 3 May 1830, five months after gaining a Conditional Pardon, Bernard Hill made an application for a grant of land with capital of £600 and property valued at £666, but was refused. On 23 January 1832, Hill applied for and was granted a Second Class Town Allotment. On 14 July 1832, Bernard gave this allotment as deed of gift to his brother, Peter Hill, who by 1838 had built a cottage there and spent £250 on improvements.

Hobart, 1830s-1840s

Bernard Hill’s eldest son, Patrick, born 1815-17 in Ireland, first appears on a property settlement of 1834 whereby Bernard Hill named his wife Ann Hill, née Porter and two sons, Patrick and Richard.

Richard Hill was born at Hobart Town and baptised by Rev. Philip Conolly at St Joseph's, 27 February 1825. The sponsors were Patrick McCabe and Mary McCauley. There are no further births on record for Bernard and Ann Hill.

The Hill family lived in Goulburn St. during the 1830s and 1840s. Richard Hill served an apprenticeship to the engineering trade with Easby and Robertson. He completed his training in 1849, aged 24. On 2 August 1842, Bernard Hill conveyed to his second son, Richard, aged 18, the 123 acre property at New Norfolk. Six years later, on 25 September 1848, he conveyed a half acre in Goulburn St. to Richard. Patrick Hill, living at Goulburn St. employed convicts as servants from 1849-1852.

Patrick married Catherine White, probably in 1839. They had six children born mostly in the early 1840s: Ann Mary (born 17 May 1840), William James (born 2 April 1842), Richard John (born in 1843), Lucy (born 22 December 1844) and twins George and Mary Jane (born 31 January 1851).

Marriage of Richard Hill, death of Ann Hill, the move to the Huon and death of Bernard Hill

On 19 June 1852, Richard Hill married Mary Ann Brady in Hobart Town. Mary Ann arrived in VDL aged two on 26 June 1833 with her parents, Phillip Brady, aged 36, a painter, Mary Winefred Brady aged 32, her two elder brothers, John aged 7 and Francis aged 4 together with her younger sister, Elizabeth aged 6 months. In 1842, the Bradys lived in a weatherboard house at 11 Molle St. in Hobart. In 1848 they were living at 57 Macquarie St.

Ann Hill died in Hobart, 3 December 1852. A few weeks later, Richard and Mary Ann Hill’s eldest son, Richard Peter Hill was born in Hobart on 27 December 1852. By this time, Richard Hill had set his sights on Honeywood in southern Tasmania. Patrick and Catherine Hill moved with their five children (George had died) to Honeywood as well, sometime in the 1850s, followed by Bernard Hill, who after the death of his wife, went to live with his sons in the Huon. In 1858, Patrick Hill was the licensee of the Kermandie Hotel at Hospital Bay. At that time he occupied 392 acres of land at Honeywood, leased from the Crown. Bernard Hill only survived his wife by six years. An inquest was held 9 August 1858 at the Kermandie Hotel and oaths sworn stating that Bernard Hill was accidentally drowned in the Kermandie River owing to the boat sinking in which he was sitting. He was said to be aged 80, but he was more probably in his seventies.

Deaths of Catherine and Patrick Hill

Catherine Hill died at Honeywood 30 July 1879, aged 68. The funeral left the house on a Saturday at 2 p.m. Two years later, Patrick Hill married Mary Brennan, a widow aged 35 (2 June 1881). His death occurred under mysterious circumstances. He was reported missing by his family in July 1897. Sub-inspector Webster of Cygnet found his body in the bush at 12.45 p.m. on 25 July 1897 upon a plain about a kilometre back in the bush from Charlotte’s Cove. Two or three days previously parts of his clothing had been discovered just over a kilometre away from where the body was found. The inquest believed that Patrick Hill had become delirious, laid down having first partly undressed. There was no sign of any struggle and the jury of the Inquest, held on the 26 July, returned a verdict of accidental death from exposure. Patrick Hill was aged about 82.

Honeywood (Geeveston)

The township of Honeywood, later called Geeveston, in honour of its founder, William Geeves, began in the 1840s. William Geeves and his family emigrated from England in 1842, met Lady Franklin, the wife of the Lt. Governor, and were persuaded by her to settle on a block of her land at Franklin. During Christmas week 1849, William Geeves took up 80 acres of land at Lightwood Bottom, a part of Honeywood. The settlement grew up on the hills and basins drained by the Kermandie River, a tributary of the Huon River. In wild forest grew a wealth of stringy bark, swamp gum, blue gum, blackwood and a wood indigenous to the Huon only, Huon pine. The first industry to support the early settlers was the timber splitting industry which provided both shelter and later a livelihood. The need for somewhere to grind wheat quickly became apparent. Flour mills serviced a large area since they were expensive to install. The first flour mill in Honeywood was built by J.B. Walter in the 1840s. With the help of convict labour, Walter dug a water channel for about a quarter of a mile at the head of tide water to benefit from boat access while having the last creek rapids as a source of water power.

Richard Hill's sawmill, Geeveston

In 1849, Richard Hill visited the Huon and purchased Walter’s flour mill and the surrounding 100 acres of land. Employing his engineering skill with the help of two friends, Brittain and Robertson, he converted the mill into a sawmill, constructing a frame saw and a circular saw. The first sawmill in Tasmania was erected in the 1830s by Peter Degraves at the Cascades, Hobart Town. Richard Hill’s sawmill, also water driven, was the first sawmill in the Huon. He soon bought out the other two partners, began storekeeping, but made a living from paling buying and later orcharding.

The Hill house and sawmill, Kermandie River, Geeveston

Richard Hill was one of a group of half a dozen buyers who took advantage of the high production of split palings, shingles, posts, rails and barrel staves. The first splitting was carried out near the water’s edge where women and children shouldered their burdens over long distances along bush tracks. As timber became exhausted near the waterfront, other means of transport necessitated the need for roads and the construction of tramway. On 1 April 1856, a meeting was held at the Kermandie Hotel to consider the erection of a tram-road. This resulted in the formation of the Liverpool and Honeywood Tramway Company of which the principal trustees were Richard Hill, Stephen Geeves and Dr. Crooke. After taking over Dr. Crooke’s shares in August 1859, Richard Hill retained the largest number of shares in the Company valued at £940. Richard Hill laid the first tramway in the Huon for about three kilometres of track. He benefited from this expenditure because it gave him priority to buy in his area. By the credit he extended as storekeeper, he was instrumental in keeping men in continuous employment which was essential to the settlement of the Huon.

Children of Richard and Mary Ann Brady

Richard and Mary Ann Hill had four more children born in Honeywood. Twin sisters were born 8 March 1854 at 5 a.m. Elinor survived, but Mary Ann died two weeks later on 24 March 1854 at 4 a.m. Francis Brady was born 21 October 1855 at 2 a.m. (baptised 9 November 1855, sponsors James Reilly and Ann Hill) and Anne Mary 21 July 1857. Two more children were brought up by Richard and Mary Ann Hill. Mary Ann’s brother, Francis Brady, drowned in 1856. He had married Mary Ann Furlong 19 August 1851 and there were four children: Agnes Catherine ‘Kate’ Brady, born 1852, Mary Ann Brady born 1854, and twins Lucy and Louisa Frances born 1856. The twins died (Louisa aged 2). After the death of Francis Brady, Kate and Mary Ann Brady joined the Hill family and were brought up with Richard, Elinor, Francis and Anne Hill. Francis’s widow, Mary Ann, remarried the following year. On 27 June 1857, she married William Davies at Franklin and from this second marriage there were five children: William Lewis (born 2 February 1860, baptised 22 February 1860, sponsors Phillip Brady and Ellen Brady), Anne Tidwal (born 4 January 1862, baptised 31 January 1862, sponsors Phillip Brady and Mary Ann Hill), Arthur Francis (born 19 April 1864, baptised 15 May 1864, sponsors Francis Brady and Julia Fitzpatrick) and twins Alfred Edward and Lily (1866) who died.

Back: Elinor Flanagan, née Hill, Richard P. Hill, Annie Fitzpatrick, née Hill, Francis B. Hill; Front: Mary Ann Hill, née Brady, Richard Hill

Geeveston, 1850s-1915

In the early 1850s, Richard Hill started a pottery business but later abandoned this due to the large numbers of people moving to the Victorian goldfields. He subsequently added a flourmill to the property and cultivated about six acres of hops. He worked on his mill and nine acres of orchard during the second half of the nineteenth century. The average yield from his orchard was about 1,200 bushels of apples and 70 bushels of pears. He took a lively interest in local affairs being the first returning officer for the Franklin electorate, a Justice of the Peace, one of six Jurors for the Franklin district, first chairman of the Honeywood Road Trust, first chairman of the Franklin Board of Works, a captain of the Defence Forces and chairman of the Agricultural and Fruit Boards. He owned a hotel for a while adjacent to the flourmill, and later another at Hospital Bay.

The House of Richard and Mary Ann Hill, Geeveston

Deaths of Richard and Mary Ann Hill, 1912 and 1915

In his will, dated 23 September 1909, Richard Hill left the property to his eldest son, Richard. He died 2 July 1913 at Geeveston aged 88. Mary Ann Hill died at Geeveston three years later on 19 November 1915, aged 82.

Mercury, 4 July 1913

Descendants of Patrick Hill (c.1817-1897)

Ann Mary Hill, the eldest child of Patrick and Catherine Hill, married John Brown, at Franklin 13 January 1863. Lucy Isabella was born 18 December 1863 and another daughter, Annie Brown, 18 October 1866. Ann Brown, née Hill died 1 September 1897, aged 57.

William James Hill, the eldest son, a master mariner, was married to Rose Frances Jeffrey at St. Joseph’s Hobart Town by Rev. Fr. William Hall, 21 July 1863. Rose was the daughter of Robert Alexander Jeffrey, a carpenter, and Catherine Grady, who at 16 married at St. John’s Church of England, New Town. Witnesses to the marriage of William and Rose Hill were Rose’s father, Robert, and William’s sister, Lucy.

1. Unidentified; 2. Catherine Hill; 3. Unidentified; 4. Mary Nicholas, née Hill; 5. Ernest Hill; 6. Rose Hill née Jeffrey; 7. William Hill; 8. Florence Connell, née Hill; 9. Rose Hill

William and Rose Hill lived in Melbourne, Victoria, and had ten children, six of whom survived: Robert James (b. 30 September 1864 died aged almost two, 27 May 1866 at Hobart), Catherine (b. 27 October 1866; unmarried; died in 1943 at Kew), Annie Theresa (b. 16 October 1868 died aged four, 21 December 1872); Rose Elizabeth (b. 6 Jul 1870; unmarried; died in October 1910); Florence Josephine (b. 3 Jul 1872; married Russell Connell in 1898; died 30 Jul 1935); William (b. 16 October 1874 died two weeks later, 4 November 1874); Mary Teresa (b. 28 September 1875, married Alfred Nicholas; died 30 Jul 1964), William Patrick (b. 17 March 1878, married Emily Anderson; died 12 Mar 1964), Ernest Francis (b. 3 October 1880; married Mary Garvey and Josephine Moiler; died 29 Jul 1965) and Amanda May (b. 21 August 1884 died at Hobart aged two, 14 December 1886).

Richard John Hill, the second son of Patrick and Catherine Hill, aged 32, married Rose Jeffrey’s sister, Isabella ‘Bella’ Alice Jeffrey, aged 18, at St. Mary’s, Franklin, 24 September 1874. Witnesses to the marriage were Francis Tasman Brady and his future wife, Mary Jane Hill, sister to the groom.

Richard and Bella Hill had ten children: Walter Julian (b. 13 November 1875), Albert Ernest (b. 18 March 1878), Mary (b. 20 September 1880), Richard George (b. 14 January 1884 burnt to death in New Zealand), Talbot Bernard (b. 13 September 1884), Lucy Violet (b. 20 September 1887), Edwin Tennyson (b. 23 January 1891), Myrtle Winifred (b. 20 September 1892), Linda May Catherine (b. 31 March 1895) and Elsie Gladys (b. 12 December 1897 died aged twelve, 13 February 1910).

Lucy Hill aged 21, married Moses Langdon a widower aged 35, 16 May 1866 at Honeywood. Witnesses to the marriage were Richard and Mary Jane Hill.

Mary Jane Hill, the youngest child of Patrick and Catherine Hill, aged 23 married Francis Tasman Brady aged 24, the son of John Brady and Ellen Fitzpatrick, 30 September 1874. They had six children: Phillip Patrick Joseph (b. 6 November 1875), Lilian Mary Virginia (26 August 1877), Kathleen Winifred Mary (b. 10 May 1883), John Edwin (b. 6 May 1883), Lucy Mabel (b. 2 October 1885) and Ellen Theresa (b. 23 September 1891).

Descendants of Richard and Mary Ann Hill

Richard Peter Hill (1852-1925)

On 9 February 1880, Richard Peter Hill, aged 27, married Mary Anne Kinsella, aged 21 at St. James’s Church, Port Cygnet. Mary Ann was the daughter of James Kinsella and Mary Ann Conway.

They had nine children: Mary Winifred (b. 20 September 1880; died aged 26, 4 December 1906), Annie Genevieve (b. 1 August 1882), Richard Bernadine (b. 21 September 1884), James Joseph (b. 1 April 1886), Hubert Peter (b. 30 January 1888), Francis Philip Vincent (b. 26 May 1890 was drowned at Trial Harbour aged sixteen in 1906), Rowland Marcellus (b. 27 February 1894), Andrew Stanislaus (b. 30 April 1896) and Eleanor Margaret Catherine (b. 8 October 1897). Richard Hill worked in Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania as a miner and appointed his brother, Francis, and wife, Mary, executors in his will dated 19 January 1925. He bequeathed his house and property at Geeveston to his wife and died 5 February 1925, aged 72.

Elinor Flanagan, née Hill (1854-1931)

Elinor Teresa Hill, aged 27, married Peter Benedict Flanagan, aged 26, at St. Joseph’s, Honeywood, 15 June 1881. Peter’s father, Patrick Flanagan, was a labourer, born at Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland about 1829 and his mother, Ellen, in Co. Cork about 1837. Seven children were born in India: Peter Benedict/Bede, the eldest, was born at Bellary, India, 30 November 1854. Other children were Mary Ann (b. 12 January 1857), Martin (b. 14 April 1862), John Matthew (b. 1860), Nicholas (b. 17 June 1864), Patrick (b. 14 March 1866) and James Francis (b. 20 July 1867). The family arrived in Melbourne on the Knowsley Hall as assisted immigrants and reached Hobart on the Southern Cross, 8 February 1874. Peter Flanagan applied for work as a teacher, 13 April 1874, and taught periodically from 1875-1901. He met Elinor Hill when he was teaching at Castle Forbes Bay from 1 January 1879 to 15 April 1883.

Peter and Elinor Flanagan

Five children were born in Honeywood or Franklin: Clement Benedict Peter (b. 16 August 1882 died aged nine, 28 August 1891), Alphonsius Richard (b. 26 October 1883), Norbit/Herbert Peter (b. 28 October 1884), Agnes Mary Hill (b. 5 January 1886 died of tuberculosis aged ten in April 1896) and Imelda Mary Ellen (b. 18 May 1887). Later, Peter Flanagan, assisted by his wife, taught at the Lower Piper School (1884), Deloraine (1885-1889), Rubicon Bridge (1889-1896), German Town (1896-1898), Hythe (1898-1901) and in the Brighton district. Six more children were born in the north: Peter Aloysius (b. 21 June 1888), Elinor Mary Stephanie (b. 27 July 1889; died aged 8 months, 6 March 1890), Julian Philip (b. 11 December 1890; died aged 7 months, 25 July 1891), Clementina Mary (b. 22 March 1892), Wilfred Joseph (b. 30 September 1894) and Rosina Mary (b. 11 September 1898). Out of eleven children, only seven survived. Peter Flanagan died 21 March 1929 aged 74 and his wife Elinor 19 July 1931 aged 77.

Francis Brady Hill (1855-1940)

At the time of his mother’s death in November 1915, Francis Brady Hill was married, had fifteen children and had been widowed for six months. On 27 February 1880, aged 24, he was married to Mary Ellen Fitzpatrick, aged 18, at St. Mary’s, Franklin, by Rev. Fr. John Murphy. The witnesses were William Davies, a relative of the Brady family, and Anne Fitzpatrick, sister to Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen was the daughter of Martin Fitzpatrick and Bridget Wall. Born 5 November 1861 at Franklin, she attended St. Mary’s school at Hobart Town. She was one of ten children. The others were: John (b. 1854), Catherine (b. 22 November 1855), Sarah (b. 5 April 1857; died aged two, 23 September 1859), Michael James (b. 20 September 1858; died aged 2, 16 January 1861), Sarah (Sr. Stanislaus) (b. 26 April 1860), Martin (b. 19 April 1863), Thomas (b. 1866), Anne Theresa (b. 23 August 1867) and William (b.8 July 1869.

1. Gertrude Hill, 2. Ernest Hill, 3. Francis Hill, 4. Harold Hill, 5. Josephine Donohoe, née Hill, 6. Ellenor Fahey, née Hill, 7. William Hill, 8. Mary Ellen Hill, née Fitzpatrick holding 10. Philip Hill, 9. Francis Hill holding 11. Julian Hill

Francis Brady and Mary Ellen Hill lived at Geeveston near the Kermandie River on an eight-acre property. Fifteen children were born, twelve of whom survived and eight of whom married: Francis Martin (b. 10 November 1881), Ernest Jerome (b. 30 September 1882 died of pneumonia aged 38 in 1920 at Sydney), Harold William (b. 25 December 1884), Annie Teresa (b. 6 April 1885 died aged ten months), Gertrude (b. 6 September 1886), Josephine Mary (b. 27 March 1888), Ellenor Cecilia (b. 14 September 1889), William Richard (b. 3 April 1891), Julian Joseph Ignatius (b. 4 January 1893), John Aloysius (b. 18 September 1894; died aged two), Philip Brady (b. 9 August 1896), Thomas Aloysius (b. 25 April 1898; died aged four months), Matthew Anthony (b. 17 April 1900), James Patrick (b. 21 December 1901; died of typhoid fever, aged 26) and Vivian Gerard Patrick (b. 3 January 1905).

Francis Brady Hill was an orchardist and Government Assessor. On 12 July 1915, Mary Ellen Hill died at Geeveston, aged 53. She was buried at Geeveston with her three babies who died in early infancy. Five years later, F.B. Hill, aged 65, married Rose Meredith, aged 47, at St. Joseph’s, Hobart, on 1 August 1920. Rose was the daughter of Edward Meredith and Eliza Mulvey, born at Margate, 25 November 1871. She later helped in the general store in a converted room of the house at Geeveston. On 30 December 1920, a land settlement for the purposes of a will was made by F.B. Hill whereby his property, valued at £1,400, would go to his sons Julian, Matthew, Vivian, William and James. Of his surviving daughters, Josephine was to receive £75, Gertrude and Ellenor £50 each after his death. He died at Geeveston 20 May 1940 aged 84.

Mary Ellen Hill left a will dated 20 May 1915:

This is the last Will and Testament of me Mary Ellen Fitzpatrick of Geeveston I appoint as my Executor Thomas Fitzpatrick Franklin I make this Will on the Twentieth day of May One thousand nine hundred & fifteen I give devise & bequeath to my son Frank Martin Hill the two hundred pounds (£200) advanced by him to me on his property at Honeywood for his sole use & benefit I give to my three daughters viz. Gertrude Josephine & Ellie Fahey equal shares in the sum of One hundred pounds lent by me to build a shop on my husband's property To be paid within two years Also to Gertrude my piano watch & gold ring. To Josephine sewing machine gold Broach & a ring For Ellie Fahey my cross & chain - Mary Ellen Hill.

Mercury, 13 July 1915

The following article appeared in the Mercury, 22 October 1935 under the heading 'Birthday Celebration Mr Frank B. Hill Geeveston Pioneer':

Mr Frank B. Hill, of Geeveston, Huon, celebrated the 80th anniversary of his birthday yesterday, he having been born at Honeywood, a part of Geeveston (then unnamed), on October 21, 1855 (writes our travelling correspondent), Storekeeper, orchardist, and Government valuator (the last-named position he held for 20 years, Mr Hill, who was a son of the late Mr Richard Hill, has much of interest to narrate concerning the early days of Geeveston and the Huon generally.

Mr Hill's father was born in Hobart in 1825 and served his apprenticeship to the engineering trade with Messrs Easby and Robertson, on the completion of which he purchased 100 acres of land at Honeywood, together with a sawmill there, the oldest in the colony, and worked by water power. The late Mr J.H. Walter of Lower Wattle grove, was the original owner of the sawmill. Associated with the late Mr Hill were Messrs Easby, Robertson, and Brittain, the last-named of whom he afterwards bought out. This was in 1849.In the early 50s he began a pottery business, but the large exodus of population to the Victorian goldfields about this time, together with the high price of timber, decided his sole devotion to the latter commodity. A few years later he added a flourmill to the property, and subsequently cultivated about six acres of hops.

The late Mr Richard Hill was the originator of tramlines in the Huon, which have been so potent a factor in developing the timber resources of that district. A company was formed for the purpose, two miles of tram road were laid down, and eventually Mr Hill added about four miles west and three miles north, these tram roads tapping some valuable timber forests. In 1877 he built the Annie Hill schooner and Governor Weld, ketch, for his timber trade.

Mr Frank Hill's mother was one of the first four women to reside in what is now known as the Geeveston district. Mrs Sawyers and her daughters Mrs George Thompson and Mrs James Harwood, sen., being the others. So overjoyed was Mrs Hill to learn that these women were living at Lightwood Bottom, another part of the district, that she invited them to dinner the next Sunday, a custom that was observed monthly for years. She and her husband and family later removed to Lightwood Bottom, now in the heart of Geeveston township, where nine acres of orchard were planted with Cleopatra, Sturmer, Scarlet Pearmain, and French Crab apples. Their home was the second built in Geeveston. It is interesting to add that the late Mr Hill advised the late Mr William Geeves after whom the district was named and who had settled at Franklin to settle at Geeveston where he planted two rows each of Windsor Pippin, Scarlet Pearmain, Blenheim Orange, French Crab, Alexander, and Stone Pippin apple varieties, the tree stakes being brought from England, and making splendid growth. The location of this successful plantation is now on the property of Mr Richard Geeves, a grandson.

When Mr Frank Hill had attained his 21st birthday, his father put him in charge of the butchering branch of his general store, the first established at Geeveston, and the first mob of fat cattle to be driven over the Huonville bridge, which was opened for traffic on July 13, 1876, was for Mr Hill. The decking of the bridge was being laid when the drover came along with the cattle, and Mr John Helmer, the contractor, temporarily had the remaining planks put in position to allow them to pass over, instead of having to use the ferry boat, as previously.

Mr Hill was married to Miss Mary Ellen Fitzpatrick who died on July 12, 1915, and his second wife was Miss Rose Ann Meredith, who assists him in the business of general storekeeper. The surviving members of the family, all by his first wife, are - William (school teacher, Sydney), Vivian and Julian (Sydney), Philip (Camperdown, Victoria), Harold (Tarraleah), Matthew and Frank (Geeveston), Gertrude (Huonville), Josephine (Mrs Fred Donohoe, Lymington), and Ellen (Mrs Fahey, Hobart).

In his comfortable armchair, a gift from the local men of the Foresters' Lodge, after 25 years as secretary, Mr Hill looks back with pardonable pride on the part he and his family have played in the development of the Huon. All will join in wishing a worthy pioneer "many happy returns."

Annie Fitzpatrick, née Hill (1857-1945)

On 27 March 1878, at St Joseph's Honeywood, aged 20, Anne Mary Hill married Matthew Fitzpatrick, aged 29, born at Port Cygnet, 29 March 1849 and baptised in 1850 at St Joseph's, Hobart by Rev. William Hall.. Matthew’s father, another Matthew, emigrated from Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland aboard the Bussorah Merchant with his wife, Catherine Fitzpatrick née Roach, born in Fermory Co. Cork, and two sisters, Mary and Margaret. Catherine had a sister Mary, a nun in Black Rock convent. Matthew and Catherine Fitzpatrick had a son, Patrick, born 7 January 1839, baptised at St. Joseph's Hobart, 10 April 1839. A daughter, Susan, was born 15 May 1843, baptised at St. Joseph's Hobart, 16 January 1844. She died 25 December 1847 at Hobart. Matthew Fitzpatrick sen. donated land to the Catholic Church for the building of a church. He died at Port Cygnet, 24 March 1874. Three priests attended the funeral: Frs Murphy, O'Regan and Kelsh. Catherine Fitzpatrick died 17 April 1876.

Matthew Fitzpatrick jun. was one of the first settlers on the Port Cygnet side of the Huon river and became a large employer of sawers and splitters, employing up to 600 men. In 1860, at the age of eleven, Matthew Fitzpatrick jun. was sent to England with his brother William to be educated. He was confirmed in England in 1862. Upon returning in 1865, Matthew helped his father in farming and a few years later opened a general store. He became an orchardist working 20 acres near his home at Port Cygnet, ‘Glenfern.’ Matthew and Annie Fitzpatrick had nine children: Matthew Aloyisius (b. 20 January 1879), Angela Mary (b. 30 June 1880), Francis Phillip (b. 23 August 1882), Teresa Mary (b. 7 June 1884), Norman Ignatius (8 October 1886), Bernard Joseph (b. 8 March 1888), Josephine May (b. 27 September 1891), Annie Mary (b. 15 January 1894) and Cecelia Clare (b. 26 March 1896).

1. Matthew Fitzpatrick jun., 2. Bernard Fitzpatrick, 3. Francis Fitzpatrick, 4. Matthew Fitzpatrick sen. holding 5. Cecilia Schultz, née Fitzpatrick, 6. Teresa Innes, née Fitzpatrick, 7. Annie Fitzpatrick, née Hill; 8. Josephine Burton, née Fitzpatrick; 9. Annie McDermott, née Fitzpatrick, 10. Norman Fitzpatrick, 11. Angela Fitzpatrick

Matthew Fitzpatrick took an active role in public affairs. He was appointed police magistrate and after many years of service was presented a purse of fifty sovereigns and an illuminated address by Port Cygnet residents. He was a Justice of the Peace, Government inspector of roads, returning officer, chairman of the Board of Agriculture, Government assessor, first president of the local rifle club, first captain and chairman of the local cricket club, first chairman of the Board of Health and in January 1908 was elected the first Warden of the Port Cygnet Municipal Council. In his last will, dated 27 January 1915, Matthew Fitzpatrick appointed Arthur Davis trustee and executor, left the house to his wife who received an annuity of £52 and left the property to two of his sons, Francis and Norman. He died at Port Cygnet, 15 August 1917 aged 68. His wife, Annie Fitzpatrick died 15 October 1945 aged 88.

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