Rivett Henry Bland

Rivett (or Revett) Henry Bland (2 February 1811 – 18 February 1894) was an early settler and a government administrator in colonial Australia.

Bland was the son of Thomas Bland, and was born at Newark, Nottinghamshire, on 2 February 1811. He was educated at the Newark grammar school, and studied for the medical profession at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. His brother was a member of the House of Commons.[1]:27–29

Western Australia

After leaving England in May 1829 for Western Australia, he arrived in August. Bland was a member of the first party of settlers to journey to the Avon Valley that set off on 6 September 1831, and he selected a place two miles south of Mt Bakewell near a broad reach of the river.[1]:27–29

Bland was appointed by the Governor James Stirling to settle the York district, about 70 miles (110 km) from Perth on the Avon River.

In 1832, Bland went into partnership with Arthur Trimmer to take up his selected land, a grant of several thousand acres of land on the Avon river, York and farm merino sheep that had been brought to the colony by the Trimmer brothers. Bland was to run the farm but both of them worked on the farm for some years. [2] The land includes what is now Balladong Farm. They also rented the Government Reserve which was the then unallocated but designated town land. [1]:34 This part of the town of York is still called Bland's Town.

In July 1834 Bland was returning from Guildford when the following incident occurred:

Bland loaded his dray with flour [at Guildford] and set off for York, accompanied by a young boy named Souper. A short distance out of Guildford, the party was overtaken by about 30 blacks who Bland said “evinced the most perfect amity and shook hands with his party, indicative of a cordial good understanding” which understanding Mr Bland fully understood. The next thing was a cry from Souper that he had been speared. The spear thrown from a screening bush passed through Souper’s arm, grazing the lapel of his coat. Bland immediately fired into the bushes where he could hear a rustling sound. The ambushers promptly made off.[3]

In September 1834, the Perth Gazette reported: [4]

The success which has attended Messrs Bland and Trimmer’s flock of Sheep at York, has created a general desire to enter upon this lucrative speculation, and many of our Settlers on the Swan, who have the means, as well as some few residents in the towns, are making preparations to remove to their larger grants over the hills, where an unlimited run for the flocks, and a soil adapted for agricultural purposes generally awaits them.

In December 1834, Bland was appointed Government Resident for the York district.[5][1]:57

In June 1835, Trimmer was on his way to York when his cart broke down. He was compelled to go on for assistance. On his return, accompanied by Bland, when about 7 miles from their home at York, “they observed a native in the bush in the act of raising his spear, and shortly afterwards, a known signal being given, a party of about twelve rushed forward from the place of their concealment; but both Mr Trimmer and Mr Bland being apprised of their danger by the signal given, put spurs to their horses, and galloped about three miles, by which means they avoided their hostile assailants.” [6]

In July 1835, Bland and Trimmer lost 16 pigs "speared and carried off by natives". Bland became superintendent of the work for the improvement of the York road, and he also commenced planning an exploratory expedition 100 miles to the east of his farm at York.[7]

The first town or suburban allotment of land in York was made to Trimmer and Band on 31 July 1835, which they purchased for £20.[1]:34 [lower-alpha 1] Lieutenant-Governor Stirling observed that if Bland were to stay in the Colony, he would become a wealthy man.[1]:57

By 1836, Trimmer and Bland had 5,000 sheep in York. Bland reported in 1836 that he had increased the flock at the rate of about 80 lambs to 100 ewes per annum. [8] In September 1836, two or three natives gained access to Trimmers’ barn.[lower-alpha 2] One was carrying away a quantity of flour was shot by a man named Gallop who had been hiding in the loft of the barn. [9] Two weeks later, in reprisal an old settler called Knott was speared in his hut and robbed. [10] Following this incident, the partnership between Bland and Trimmer was dissolved with effect from 1 October 1836. [11]

After the murder of Sarah Cook by aborigines in 1839, Bland complained that because of new measures to protect natives, he was prevented from arresting the natives suspected of the crime.[12][1]:82

In 1841, Bland sold the farm Grass Dale to Thomas Brown, [lower-alpha 3] and leased Balladong Farm to Henry Landor and Nathan Elias Knight including a corn mill. [14] Bland resigned as resident magistrate in September 1842. [15][1]:115

Historian John Deacon said of Bland as Government Resident for 8 years:

During that period he had proved himself to be a man of sterling qualities, carrying on the onereous duties of magistrate in a pioneer settlement with distinction and success. His letters reveal that he possessed those qualities which make for leadership; while he resided in York he had the esteem of both the settlers and the Government, and at all times he had dispensed justice with an impartial hand. [1]:115

Bland went to England in 1844, and while there, he secured a contract with the British Admiralty to supply 400 loads of Western Australian timber.[1]:160 He also lobbied for more Parkhurst lads to ease the labour shortage in Western Australia.[1]:162

A few months after his return from England, Bland lost his wife in childbirth. In September 1846, Bland was appointed acting Government Resident of Albany.[1]:168

In 1848, Bland sold Baladong Farm to the Parker family.[16]

On 6 February 1848, Governor Charles Fitzgerald appointed Bland as personal secretary and Clerk of the Council in place of Walkinshaw Cowan. From January 1849 until June 1850, he became Acting Colonial Secretary. [1]:168 Towards the end of 1848 he accompanied Fitzgerald on an expedition to Champion Bay, for the purpose of examining a lode of galena, discovered on the Murchison River by Augustus Charles Gregory. The party consisted of Fitzgerald, Bland, Gregory, three soldiers, and a servant. The discovery was verified, but on the return journey Fitzgerald was speared in the leg by the aboriginals, and Bland had a narrow escape.[1]:204

Victoria

Returning to England after a visit to the eastern colonies, he was in 1852 appointed resident director of the Port Phillip and Colonial Gold Mining Company, and arrived in Melbourne towards the end of that year. In 1856 he arranged with the proprietors of some land at Clunes to commence mining operations on some quartz lodes, and erected an extensive plant of machinery in conjunction with a party of miners, afterwards called the Clunes Quartz Mining Company. This mine has continued to be worked to the present time with varying results. The total gold, raised from 1857 to 1884 was 506,220 ounces (14,351 kg), of the value of £2,029,078 13s. 7d., giving a profit of nearly half a million from an outlay under £20,000.[17]

He died in the colony of Victoria on 18 February 1894, and his estate in England was proved in London on 23 May 1895.[18]

Notes
  1. This allotment was for Suburban Lots A1 and A2 comprising 10 acres, and was the land which Bland and Trimmer had allocated to Trimmer, being the land which today is between Christie Retreat and Ford Street. Prior to making the grant, the Government advertised several times their intention to do so: Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 11 July 1835, p.526; 18 July 1835, p.529; 25 July 1835, p.533; 26 September 1835, p.569; 3 October 1835, p.573; 17 October 1835, p.581; 24 October 1835, p.585.
  2. While referred to in some newspapers as Bland and Trimmer's barn, in a letter from Louis Guistiniani to Lord Glenelg, Giustiniani refers only to Trimmer, Swan River Guardian, 23 November 1837, p.253.
  3. Thomas's wife Eliza was a prolific letter writer. She and Thomas wrote letters to her father, William Bussey, many of which were published in the book "A Faithful Picture" by Peter Cowan.[13]
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References
  1. John E Deacon: A Survey of the Historical Development of the Avon Valley with Particular Reference to York, Western Australia During the Years 1830-1850, UWA, 1948.
  2. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 18 May 1833, p.78; 4 June 1836, p.705.
  3. The Western Australian Journal, 5 July 1834, p.314; Tuckfield, Trevor, The Old York Road, 1975.
  4. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 27 September 1834, p.362; 8 November 1834, p.386.
  5. CSO Outward Letters Vol IX, p,49.
  6. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 13 June 1835, p.510.
  7. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 25 July 1835, p.534.
  8. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 4 June 1836, p.705.
  9. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 17 September 1836, p.765.
  10. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 1 October 1836, p.772.
  11. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 15 October 1836, p.779.
  12. CSO Inward Letters, 20 May 1839.
  13. Cowan, P, editor, introduction by Alexandra Hasluck: A Faithful Picture, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1977.
  14. Inquirer, 15 December 1841, p.1.
  15. CSO Outward Letters Vol XV p.360.
  16. A.M. Clack and Jenni McColl: York Sketchbook, p. 30.
  17. Mennell, Philip (1892). "Bland, Rivett Henry" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  18. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England for 1895. London, England: Principal Probate Registry. 1896. p. 214.
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