Henry Hellyer
Encyclopedia
Henry Hellyer was an English surveyor and architect who was one of the first explorer
s to visit the rugged interior of the north west of Tasmania
, Australia
and made the most comprehensive maps of the area up to that time.
, England
. He was the third child out of eleven born to John Hellyer, a mercer, who was descended from Hellyers living in the area back to about 1620. Nothing is known about his early life or where he was trained as an architect and surveyor, but it seems that the family were able to afford to educate their children well. His older brother William Varlo Hellyer was a lawyer in London and Secretary of the Royal Institution
in 1841, and a copy of a letter written by Henry in 1830 to William Varlo's Hellyer's wife, Mary Vuliamy was deposited by a Canadian descendant of William and Mary in the Hellyer Regional Library in Burnie, Tasmania
. Henry himself had no direct descendants.
When the Van Diemen's Land Company
(VDL Co) was formed in 1825 he was one of the first officers to sign on, as a surveyor (later Chief Surveyor) and Chief Architect. His achievements in Tasmania are well documented, and the Court of Directors of the VDL Co in London noted his resignation (March 1832) as follows: "Mr Hellyer, whose valuable services have been so great and whose name is so well known both to the Colonial Government and at home, by his unwearied exertions for the company, by his personal privation and risk in exploring the country, and by the admirable maps and plans which have been exhibited, has been recently appointed to an important situation under the Surveyor-General of the Colony".
There are no portraits of Henry Hellyer. However,for the sequicentenary of the town of Burnie in 1977, a portrait was created by local artist Casey McGrath from descriptions, and used as the basis for 200 silver medallions and 4,000 anodised aluminium ones that were given to school children in the area. A special issue of the local newspaper provided a detailed account of his life.
(VDL Co), and wrote extensive journals and reports which are held in various archives. His best known journey was in 1827, when with Richard Frederick
and Isaac Cutts, he travelled from Circular Head
to St Valentines Peak and back, in February 1827.
Overall, it seems clear that Henry Hellyer accepted the VDL Co view that their Royal Charter
from King George IV made the Aboriginal people of North West Tasmania trespassers on Company land. In August 1830, while building a footbridge over the River Wey, his camp at Weybridge was visited by George Augustus Robinson
and the "friendly mission" whose intent was to investigate claims of killings, including the Cape Grim massacre
by VDL Co employees, and to remove all Aboriginal people from their land and relocate them to an offshore island. The party that visited Hellyer's camp included Truganini
and her husband Woorady. Hellyer told Robinson of a stock-keeper who claimed to have killed 19 Aboriginal people with a swivel-gun and later wrote to his sister-in-law about Robinson's visit, saying: ""I hope he will do some good, for at present a man's life is not safe if he stirs out without arms, but I have hitherto been lucky enough to escape." This probably refers to an incident on 25 January 1829 which he described in a report as "... a narrow escape, the natives having set fire to a thicket which we were struggling to get through. We rushed through the flames … We saw the natives with fire and tried to shoot them, but although not ten yards off they all escaped ...".
In 1831 he became the first European to reach the summit of Cradle Mountain
. In the same year, he began the design of the residence, Highfield House, for the Chief Agent of the VDL Co, but he did not live to see it built. He committed suicide on the night of 1/2 September 1832, leaving a note which is held in the Tasmanian Archives.
. There is also some evidence that he may have suffered from bipolar disorder
.
Thus, in a letter to his sister-in-law in 1830 he wrote that he had been in excellent health ever since arriving in the Colony, "… except for two or three short attacks occasioned by over-exertion and fatigue after some of my long excursions in the bush". There is no hint of what these "attacks" may have been, but there is no doubt that his explorations were marked by extraordinary energy and copious note-taking on everything that took his interest, from cicadas, through "young centipedes white as snow" to land-crab chimneys. He is often described as a visionary. The Chief agent of the VDL Co wrote of him: "He is exceedingly chimerical in all his ideas … He would have mansions where I would have cottages" and elsewhere "... he may he said to look upon everything with a painter's eye and upon his own discoveries in particular with an affection which is blind to all faults".Australian Biographical Dictionary entry http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010489b.htm
If Henry Hellyer was prone to "attacks" of depression after periods of over-exertion and fatigue, the winter of 1832 provided an occasion. He wrote: " ... The snow is so deep that we are completely hemmed in by it. It forms such hard lumps on my overalls ... that I was completely fettered by it and in the greatest pain imaginable. One hour of this weather would kill any man if he were stuck fast and remained inactive. The poor dogs were literally plated with coats of mail formed by the ice on their hair, but they travelled better than we could, as the crust would support them ...".Report quoted in McFarlane Ian. Aboriginal Society in North West Tasmania: Dispossession and Genocide. PhD, University of Tasmania, 2002
Henry's nephew William Hellyer migrated from New Zealand to New South Wales
about 1838,and became a solicitor and was a member of the NSW Parliament for one day in 1861. Many Australian Hellyers are descended from William, whose son Thomas Henry Hellyer (1840–1889) was a member of the NSW Parliament from 1883 to 84.
Henry Hellyer's surveys and maps
Henry Hellyer's Architecture
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
s to visit the rugged interior of the north west of 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...
, 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...
and made the most comprehensive maps of the area up to that time.
Life
Henry Hellyer was born in HampshireHampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was the third child out of eleven born to John Hellyer, a mercer, who was descended from Hellyers living in the area back to about 1620. Nothing is known about his early life or where he was trained as an architect and surveyor, but it seems that the family were able to afford to educate their children well. His older brother William Varlo Hellyer was a lawyer in London and Secretary of the Royal Institution
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
in 1841, and a copy of a letter written by Henry in 1830 to William Varlo's Hellyer's wife, Mary Vuliamy was deposited by a Canadian descendant of William and Mary in the Hellyer Regional Library in Burnie, Tasmania
Burnie, Tasmania
- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers...
. Henry himself had no direct descendants.
When the Van Diemen's Land Company
Van Diemen's Land Company
The Van Diemen's Land Company was created in 1824, received a Royal Charter in 1825, and was granted 250,000 acres in northwest Tasmania in 1826...
(VDL Co) was formed in 1825 he was one of the first officers to sign on, as a surveyor (later Chief Surveyor) and Chief Architect. His achievements in Tasmania are well documented, and the Court of Directors of the VDL Co in London noted his resignation (March 1832) as follows: "Mr Hellyer, whose valuable services have been so great and whose name is so well known both to the Colonial Government and at home, by his unwearied exertions for the company, by his personal privation and risk in exploring the country, and by the admirable maps and plans which have been exhibited, has been recently appointed to an important situation under the Surveyor-General of the Colony".
There are no portraits of Henry Hellyer. However,for the sequicentenary of the town of Burnie in 1977, a portrait was created by local artist Casey McGrath from descriptions, and used as the basis for 200 silver medallions and 4,000 anodised aluminium ones that were given to school children in the area. A special issue of the local newspaper provided a detailed account of his life.
Work in Tasmania
Henry Hellyer explored most of North Western Tasmania for his employer, the Van Diemen's Land CompanyVan Diemen's Land Company
The Van Diemen's Land Company was created in 1824, received a Royal Charter in 1825, and was granted 250,000 acres in northwest Tasmania in 1826...
(VDL Co), and wrote extensive journals and reports which are held in various archives. His best known journey was in 1827, when with Richard Frederick
Richard Frederick
Richard Frederick is a Saint Lucian lawyer and politician who was Minister for Physical Planning, Housing, Urban Renewal and Local Government. Born on August 6, 1965, he is the tenth of twelve children and the last of five boys...
and Isaac Cutts, he travelled from Circular Head
Circular Head
The Circular Head Council is a Local Government Area of Tasmania. It covers the far north-west corner of the state mainland.The major centres of the municipality are Smithton, on the north coast; Stanley, east of Smithton; and Marrawah on the west coast...
to St Valentines Peak and back, in February 1827.
Overall, it seems clear that Henry Hellyer accepted the VDL Co view that their Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
from King George IV made the Aboriginal people of North West Tasmania trespassers on Company land. In August 1830, while building a footbridge over the River Wey, his camp at Weybridge was visited by George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson
George Augustus Robinson was a builder and untrained preacher. He was the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1849...
and the "friendly mission" whose intent was to investigate claims of killings, including the Cape Grim massacre
Cape Grim massacre
The Cape Grim massacre occurred 10 February 1828 in the North west of Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, when four shepherds with muskets are alleged to have ambushed over 30 Tasmanian Aborigines from the Pennemukeer band from Cape Grim, killing 30 and throwing their bodies over a 60 metre...
by VDL Co employees, and to remove all Aboriginal people from their land and relocate them to an offshore island. The party that visited Hellyer's camp included Truganini
Truganini
Trugernanner , often referred to as Truganini, was a woman widely considered to be the last "full blood" Palawa ....
and her husband Woorady. Hellyer told Robinson of a stock-keeper who claimed to have killed 19 Aboriginal people with a swivel-gun and later wrote to his sister-in-law about Robinson's visit, saying: ""I hope he will do some good, for at present a man's life is not safe if he stirs out without arms, but I have hitherto been lucky enough to escape." This probably refers to an incident on 25 January 1829 which he described in a report as "... a narrow escape, the natives having set fire to a thicket which we were struggling to get through. We rushed through the flames … We saw the natives with fire and tried to shoot them, but although not ten yards off they all escaped ...".
In 1831 he became the first European to reach the summit of Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain is a mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia. Rising to 1,545 metres above sea level it is one of the principal tourist sites in Tasmania, owing to its natural beauty...
. In the same year, he began the design of the residence, Highfield House, for the Chief Agent of the VDL Co, but he did not live to see it built. He committed suicide on the night of 1/2 September 1832, leaving a note which is held in the Tasmanian Archives.
Suicide
Henry Hellyer's suicide has led to a play and to many theories about the cause, none supported by much more than speculation. A balanced summary of both rumour and fact concludes that he probably suffered from depressionClinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
. There is also some evidence that he may have suffered from bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
.
Thus, in a letter to his sister-in-law in 1830 he wrote that he had been in excellent health ever since arriving in the Colony, "… except for two or three short attacks occasioned by over-exertion and fatigue after some of my long excursions in the bush". There is no hint of what these "attacks" may have been, but there is no doubt that his explorations were marked by extraordinary energy and copious note-taking on everything that took his interest, from cicadas, through "young centipedes white as snow" to land-crab chimneys. He is often described as a visionary. The Chief agent of the VDL Co wrote of him: "He is exceedingly chimerical in all his ideas … He would have mansions where I would have cottages" and elsewhere "... he may he said to look upon everything with a painter's eye and upon his own discoveries in particular with an affection which is blind to all faults".Australian Biographical Dictionary entry http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010489b.htm
If Henry Hellyer was prone to "attacks" of depression after periods of over-exertion and fatigue, the winter of 1832 provided an occasion. He wrote: " ... The snow is so deep that we are completely hemmed in by it. It forms such hard lumps on my overalls ... that I was completely fettered by it and in the greatest pain imaginable. One hour of this weather would kill any man if he were stuck fast and remained inactive. The poor dogs were literally plated with coats of mail formed by the ice on their hair, but they travelled better than we could, as the crust would support them ...".Report quoted in McFarlane Ian. Aboriginal Society in North West Tasmania: Dispossession and Genocide. PhD, University of Tasmania, 2002
Legacy
Although Henry Hellyer had no descendants, his younger brother Thomas Hellyer (1801–41) migrated to New Zealand with his son William (1821–1885) by way of Hobart Town, Tasmania, where Thomas married his second wife on 11 June 1832. Henry Hellyer had by then advised the Court of Directors of the VDL Co that he would be leaving their service at the end of his contract, to accept an appointment with the Surveyor-General in Hobart Town. It is not known if the brothers had plans to work together, or if they met, or if Henry Hellyer attended the wedding. He could have done so, since the VDL Co operated a cutter that made the trip regularly for mail and supplies, but his name is not listed amongst the witnesses.Henry's nephew William Hellyer migrated from New Zealand to 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...
about 1838,and became a solicitor and was a member of the NSW Parliament for one day in 1861. Many Australian Hellyers are descended from William, whose son Thomas Henry Hellyer (1840–1889) was a member of the NSW Parliament from 1883 to 84.
Places named by, or after Henry Hellyer
- Arthur River: Aboriginal name Tunganrick, re-named by Hellyer 1827, but it was already recorded as the Arthur River in 1824.J. Moore-Robinson J. Tasmanian Nomenclature with dates and origins. Hobart: The Mercury Printing Office, 1911. http://www.archive.org/stream/recordoftasmania00mooriala/recordoftasmania00mooriala_djvu.txt
- Dipwood Marsh and Dipwood Range: (1827)
- Emu River: (13 February 1827)
- Hampshire Hills
- Hellyer River and Hellyer GorgeHellyer GorgeThe Hellyer Gorge is a gorge in Tasmania, through which flows the Hellyer River, named after Henry Hellyer. It is the subject of the Hellyer Gorge State Reserve. The Murchison Highway passes through the area with many sharp and steep bends. Being subject to 'black ice', this portion of road has now...
: Aboriginal name Kar.ne.ket.tel.lay; re-named as "Don" by Hellyer (16 February 1827), later re-named after him. - Inglis River (probably)
- Saint Valentine's Peak: Aboriginal name Natone, renamed by Hellyer 14/15 February 1827.
- Surrey Hills: (February 1827)
Other
- Fossil trilobite (Nepea hellyeri)
- Centipe (Lamcytes hellyeri).
- Minerals: HellyeriteHellyeriteHellyerite, NiCO3·6, is an hydrated nickel carbonate mineral. It is light blue to bright green in colour, has a hardness of 2.5, a vitreous luster, a white streak and crystallises in the monoclinic system...
, the Hellyer Deposit and the Hellyer Mine. - Hellyer CollegeHellyer CollegeHellyer College is one of eight senior secondary public education colleges in Tasmania, Australia. Hellyer College is the smallest college in Tasmania. Established in 1976, it provides academic and vocational training to around 700 students from around North-West Tasmania, including the West...
and the Hellyer Regional Library in Burnie, TasmaniaBurnie, Tasmania- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers... - Hellyer's Road Distillery
External links
- Entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography at the Australian National University. This gives the wrong date of death.
- Entry in University of Tasmania Companion to Tasmanian History
- Image of gravestone and plaque in old Stanley cemetery, at Hellyer's Road Distillery website
- Image of gravestone and plaque on genealogy website
- Newspaper clipping of Hellyer gravestone restoration from genealogy website
Henry Hellyer's surveys and maps
- Henry Hellyer's 1827 panoramic sketch from the summit of St Valentine's Peak at the Nationall Library of Australia
- Henry Hellyer's 1828 map of the interior of North Western Tasmania at the National library of Australia
- Henry Hellyer's 1828 map of the interior of North Western Tasmania with route of survey party at the National Library of Australia
- Henry Hellyer's 1828 map of North West Tasmania at the National Library of Australia
- Henry Hellyer's 1830 map of the Hellyer River at the National Library of Australia
- Henry Hellyer's 1831 map of the Surrey Hills area at the National Library of Australia
Henry Hellyer's Architecture
- Two of Henry Hellyer's 1831-32 drawings for Highfield House in a guide to the Highfield site by Parks and Wildlife service, Tasmania
- 1835 painting by W Purser of Highfield House at the National Library of Australia
- 1835 painting by unknown of Highfield House at the National Library of Australia
- Images of Highfield House at the State Library of Tasmania
- Highfield House - architect Henry Heller - web site of restored house at Stanley, Tasmania, Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania