Enterprize (1829)
Encyclopedia
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
, Enterprize, was built in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 1829 by William Pender. It was used for coastal transport of cargo such as coal, livestock, and supplies.
John Pascoe Fawkner
John Pascoe Fawkner
John Pascoe Fawkner was an early pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land , to sail to the mainland in his ship, Enterprize...
bought the ship in April 1835 for use in his forthcoming settlement activity in Port Phillip Bay, in what was at the time the southern part of the colony of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
Fawkner was finally ready to leave for Port Phillip Bay in August 1835, but at the last moment creditors prevented Fawkner from joining the voyage and the expedition set off without him. On board the Enterprize as it departed the Tasmanian port of George Town
George Town, Tasmania
George Town is one of the larger towns in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. At the 2006 census, George Town had a population of 4,266. It is the regional centre of the George Town Council Local Government Area....
were Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Fawkner’s representative); George Evans, builder; William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans; and Fawkner’s servants, Charles Wyse, ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary
Mary Gilbert
Mary Gilbert was the first European woman to live in the Port Phillip settlement of Melbourne, Australia. She was the daughter of one John Duff, and was married to James Gilbert, blacksmith. The Gilberts were pioneer settlers who disembarked on the banks of the Yarra River and set up camp on 30...
, under Captain Peter Hunter.
On 15 August 1835, the Enterprize entered the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
. After being hauled upstream, she moored at the foot of the present day William Street. On 30 August 1835 the settlers disembarked to build their store and clear land to grow vegetables, and the Enterprize returned to George Town.
Separately, John Helder Wedge
John Helder Wedge
John Helder Wedge was a surveyor, explorer and politician in Van Diemen's Land .Wedge was the second son of Charles Wedge of Shudy Camps, Cambridge, England. John Wedge learned the basics of surveying from his father...
, a member of the Port Phillip Association
Port Phillip Association
The Port Phillip Association was formally formed in June 1835 to settle land in what would become Melbourne, which the association believed had been acquired by John Batman for the association from Wurundjeri elders after he had obtained their marks to a document, which came to be known as...
, had left Launceston on 7 August 1835, to also set up a settlement on what the association claimed as its new lands. By the time Wedge reached the Yarra River, Fawkner's party was already settled.
The Fawkners finally arrived at the new settlement on Friday, 16 October 1835, on the second trip of the Enterprize. Fawkner's diary reads: 'Warped up to the Basin, landed 2 cows, 2 calves and the 2 horses.' By that time any special claims that the Port Phillip Association may have had to the land at Port Phillip Bay were dashed by Governor Bourke's Proclamation of 26 August 1835. Though legally Fawkner and Batman and Wedge, and their respective parties, were considered trespassers on Crown land, they remained in the new settlement, which came to be called Melbourne.
After the settlement voyage, Enterprize continued operating as a coastal trading vessel. She disappeared from the shipping register in 1847, having been wrecked on the bar of the Richmond River in northern New South Wales, with the loss of two lives.
A fully operational replica
Ship replica
A ship replica is a reconstruction of a no longer existing ship. Replicas can range from authentically reconstructed, fully seaworthy ships, to ships of modern construction that give an impression of an historic vessel...
of the Enterprize was launched in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1997. It is managed by the Enterprize Ship Trust on behalf of the people of Victoria. The Enterprize's home port from 1997 to 2011 was Williamstown (South West of Melbourne), where it moored and operated for fourteen years. In September 2011 the ship moved its home port to the Melbourne Docklands precinct. It conducts regular voyages from its home port in Docklands and other places around Port Phillip bay.
Characteristics
- Overall length of 27 metres (88’6”)
- Beam of 5.4 metres (18’4”)
- Displacement of 72 tonnes
Named After
- The Hotel Enterprize in Spencer Street, MelbourneSpencer Street, MelbourneSpencer Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is named for John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom....
was named after the ship. - VicroadsVicRoadsVicRoads or the Roads Corporation of Victoria is a statutory corporation which is the state road and traffic authority in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is responsible for maintenance and construction of the state arterial road network, as well as driver licensing and vehicle registration. ...
sold special Vehicle registration plateVehicle registration plateA vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
s titled "Melbourne City of Enterprize" to help pay for the construction of a replica of the ship. These are currently available from the Enterprize Ship Trust.