Addison

DESCRIPTION

NameAddisonDescriptionThe 1,650 acres of land granted in 1821 to D’Arcy Wentworth, situated at Peterborough, included the site of the Private Village of Peterborough later to be known as Shellharbour Village.

D’Arcy Wentworth came to Australia on the Neptune 28th June 1790 as Assistant Surgeon in the convict fleet. He had been accused of highway robbery in England but came to Sydney a free man. Governor Macquarie appointed him Principal Surgeon in 1811 and also Principal Superintendent of Police. (The Sydney Gazette 1803-1842). D’Arcy was also a founding member of the Bank of NSW.

By his Will dated July 5, 1827, D’Arcy Wentworth left his Illawarra Estate which by extra grants acquired, a total of 13,050 acres, in trust to his five children, Martha (Reddall), Sophia (Towns), MaryAnn (Addison/Hollings), Catherine (Bassett/Darley) and his son Robert.

Captains Towns, Addison and Darley had married the D’Arcy Wentworth daughters, and the streets in the village were named after D’Arcy Wentworth’s family including Towns, Wentworth, Mary, Addison, Sophia and Darley streets.

Shell Harbor (early spelling) took its name from the abundance of shells (Aboriginal middens) found on the foreshores. Captain Towns & Addison, sons-in-law of D’Arcy Wentworth, established a shell-lime industry at the harbour. Large quantities of shells were burnt into lime and shipped to Sydney.

Captain Addison managed the Peterborough Estate in the 1840's and made his home of the shore of Lake Illawarra (near today's Skiway Park at Oak Flats). His property was called Lake House.

Mary Anne Wentworth was the second youngest of four daughters of D'Arcy Wentworth (1762-1827) and Mary Ann Lawes, probably born at Wentworth's Homebush estate sometime between 1820 and 1823.

She was one of eleven Wentworth siblings, the eldest of whom, her half-brother William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872), was more than 30 years her senior.

Mary Anne married Captain Stephen Addison (c1795-1854), a Hobart merchant, at St James' Church, Sydney in December 1840. They had five children between 1842 and 1852. Addison died in Hobart in July 1854.

In June 1855, Mary Anne married Charles Hollings (1813-1886), a gentleman in the service of the East India Company on leave in Tasmania. He returned to India later that year and remained there until 1861.

30 January 1857, Mary Anne gave birth to an illegitimate child, that was registered at Wollongong.

30 April 1859, Mary Ann gave birth a second illegitimate child, this time at Homebush. She listed her name as Mary Ann Wentworth, and as not married, on the birth register.

Charles divorced Mary Anne in London in February 1865, on the grounds of adultery, and she and her children were living at St Helier on the island of Jersey when she died 10 January 1870.

She was buried in the Almorah general cemetery at St Helier, and her name was added to the Addison family tombstone in Hobart's Cornelian Bay Cemetery.

Information - Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection, Sydney Living Museums.

External LinkBirth Addison 1845Birth Addison 1848News from the Interior 1848To Let For Three Years 1848Death Stephen Addison 1854Trespass Notice 1858Peterborough Estate Leases 1857Governor at Lake House 1848

Person

Addison, Stephen Captain

Fenwick, Thomas

Wentworth, D'Arcy

Place

Peterborough Estate

Lake House

Family

Fenwick

Locality

Mount Warrigal

Peterborough Estate Map showing location of Lake House, c.1851.

CONNECTIONS

CollectionFamiliesPersonFenwick, ThomasWentworth, D'ArcyAddison, Stephen CaptainPlaceLake HouseVillage of PeterboroughPeterborough Estate

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Addison