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CONVICT WALL
Everyone stayed busy with plenty of tasks to tackle
Lt William Caswell granted land in Tanilba Bay
Lieutenant William Caswell chose Tenilba, now spelt Tanilba, with its beautiful harbourside location offering commanding views across the waters of Port Stephens, as the main homestead block. It was so named by Governor Ralph Darling on the land grant as the indigenous place name signifying ‘tenil’ meaning ‘white flowers’ and ‘bah’ meaning water.
Caswell had high hopes for Tanilba
Lt Caswell was an adventurer, and very determined to succeed, he had sunk most of his money into coming out to the new colony, and failure was not a word to which he was accustomed. He had high hopes and aspirations and set high standards and values.
William arranged for a cutter to transport all his luggage to Tanilba
William wasted no time in securing his land grants, promptly arranging for a cutter—a small, single-masted sailing vessel commonly used for coastal transportation—to transport all their luggage and goods to Tanilba. This cutter would have been similar to the one Lieutenant Caswell likely hired to transport himself and the ten assigned convicts to Tanilba.
The land was cleared & fences were built by convicts
After he arrived in Tanilba he acquired a boat for use as his means of transport across the waterways and then supervised the clearing of trees and scrub, the building of huts and outhouses, a detached kitchen, a well for fresh water, a milking shed, and a stable.
The men were all assigned tasks, usually in pairs, at Tanilba, no one was ever idle because the removal of stumps and building of stone walls and fences was a constant chore. These are some of the convict-built walls. More walls exist near Tanilba House.
As trees were felled, stumps were left, fields were ploughed, the first crops were planted out and the assigned convicts were allowed to grow their own vegetable plots near their bark huts.
A section of the convict-built wall was restored to its original condition in 2016.
Walls were built around the house
As trees were felled, stumps were left, fields were ploughed, the first crops were planted out and the assigned convicts were allowed to grow their own vegetable plots near their bark huts which were situated in the grounds of Tanilba House.
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