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the materials for the end of term breaking-up night feasts. He remembered Samuel Marsden "...at about seventy years of age, short and stout, clean-shaved, and rather bald, with white hair. He wore a broad-brimmed beaver hat, and drove himself aboutParramatta in one of the old-fashioned grigs, with a splendid horse. He had two rings placed in the splashboard, to pass the reigns, for he would sometimes drive home without them in his hands, in the forgetfulness of old age. His horse, however, would always stop safely at the front door of the parsonage, quite the same as if driven there."
He described some aspects of the King's School in his In Old Australia:
"I wish I could present my readers with some portraits of the boys who came to the school. Knickerbockers were unknown. Short jackets were worn and often the little fellows had the jacket buttoned up and the trousers, or 'pnataloons', as Mrs Forrest called them, buttoned over it: the suit generally made of blue cloth. One boy hada jacket and trousers all in one, made of brown holland, with buttons only at the back of the neck and waist. This suit gave him a cool appearance on a hot summer's day and Parramatta was as hot a place as I was ever in. Some of the boys wore large pinafores. At nine years old, I used to wear, over my long-trousered cloth suit, a brown holland pinafore, down to my ankles nearly. All we pinafore-wearing boys had girls' names given us, by way of nickname. The caps worn were of a peculiar type, having small learther peaks and large crowns with a cane round them, the pleats were drawn into the centre to a button. After a time, these canes would be taken out, and then the caps used to hang loose at the side of the head. One boy, John Antill, who at once received the nickname of "Magpie", came with a home-made cap, the upright made of square pieces of cloth -black, white, and red, with an immense cane top, no peakr, and a ribbon at one side. Older lads wore what were called 'black billies' - the usua; beaver or silk hats. --- School opened at seven a.m. and closed at nine p.m. but morning, noon and night, we had to learn the everlasting Eton Latin grammar - parrot-like. As we learnt the Church Catechism. Of course there were some boys that read the Greek and Latin Classics, but as I had not advanced so far I must confine my reminiscences to outside events. We paid only £28 per annum, so we could not be expected to fare as well as schoolboys of the present day. For breakfast and tea we had merely dry bread, with tea in large basins containing about a quart apiece. Green tea alone was then used in the colony. The quantity allotted for our tea was very scant, but a liberal supply of brown sugar, about the colour of coffee, and a dash of milk, made it into a kind of syrup. Two or three basinfuls were considered necessary to wash down the dy bread, and the consequence was that the small boys became like podgy calves. For dinner we had roast beef one day and boiled the next, the boiled beefe quite fresh, never corned or salted, sometimes mutton and 'duff', that is suet puddings - with lumps of suet an inch in diameter and not very nice either. I have never liked duff since. We never tasted butter, useless by means of a shilling tip to the housekeeper, when one might find some buttered
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Hassall then attended Reverend Robert Forrest's school at Campbelltown with two of the Nortons, two Oxlets and G.F. Macarthur. Reverend Forrest had retired from the headmastership of the King's School and had been appointed to the incumbency of Campbelltown and Narellan where his stipend was very low and as he had to rent a parsonage he took in six boys as resident pupils. For two years after he formally left School, James Hassal rode to Reverend Forrest's house three days a week to prepare himself to enter the ministry.
He seemed to be a happy childhood where his family entertained frequently and there were many visits to and from members of his extended family as well as many significant people in t he colony. There were many journeys undertaken with his father who spent long hours in the saddle. These journeys gace him an uneviable knowledge of the land and the people of the colony 0 firm bases for his later writings. When he was eight years old he accompanied his father on horseback to Bathurst over the Blue Mountains, a long journey of over 250 kms, in very wet conditions staying overnight in the poor homes of small settlers and trying out the road over Mount Victoria which was under construction and very hazardous. He also went during one of the school holidays with his father, the headmaster, Reverend Mr Forrest, the housemaster, Mr Woolls, and George Macarthur on a long trip to Illawarra. Another trip was overland to Port Stephens in about. 1839 which took them across Wiseman's Ferry, to Wollombi, Maitland, Morpeth and finally to Port Stephens where they stayed with Captain King, a descendent of Governer King and amager of the Australian Agricultural Company's property there. It was on this journey that he met the North family, friends who were to be very close later when the Hassalls moved to Queensland and the Norths were at Wivenhoe.
It was while he was at school at Campbelltown that Hassall made his first acquaintance
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with limestone caves - the Wombeyan Caves. He did the journey with Reverend Forrest, Reverend J. Troughton, his brother, two school friends and some servants and they explored several of the caves. The Church, the Organand the Theatre. This was the first of many journeys to these caves and later to the Bungonia Caves.
In the years after he left school James Hassall gained farming experience by managing his father's 4000 acre property at the Oaks, eight miles from Camden, a property in which he seemed to maintain an interest in for many years at least until 1853 when he leased it. This experience stood him in good stead when we has a minister in the bush and the long hours in the saddle doing the business of the farm were very beneficial when he later managed a widespread parish. During this period he attained his majoirty in October 1844 and received from servants in his father's employment a testimonial letter (held by this Society) which indicated that he had the respect and admiration of those who worked for him and the family. The letter spoke of his "inestimable worth both in public and private life" and his "impartiality" - these qualities which were apparent thourhgout his long career.
The influence of his father, Thomas Hassall, and grandfather, Samuel Marsden, no doubt played a larget part in his choice of career. In his In Old Australia, written at the end of his life, he wrote of his admiration for Samuel Marsden, not only for his ministry but also for his contribution to the development of the colony particularly in sheep breeding and pastoral development and, according to his grandson, ought to share equal recognition with the Macarthurs for the development of the wool industry. He admired the way Marsden had developed the church from the time of his arrival when there was not a church for him to preach in. He admired the effort taken to minister to the needs of the criminals as well as to establish schools for the children of the colony. As he wrote, Marsden "had qualities suitable to his day. He knew not what fear was. He was the bold reprover of vice and, it may be said, the only one at that day. Governers, officers, officials, settlers and emancipists, all alike came under his stern rebuke, whenever he saw wrong, injustice, or profligacy practiced. No wonder that he was hated, maligned, misrepresented by and evil community".
Above all Hassall admired Marsden's work in New Zealand where he introduced the Christian religion earning the name "the Apostle of New Zealand". Marsden bought and outfitted a ship, the Active, and led a mission to New Zealand, the first of seven visits he made there. A manuscript account of Marsden's New Zealand mission, written by himself, was brought to Queensland by James Hassall but was unfortunately lost in the 1893 flood - a great loss to the recognition of Marsden's achievements.
With such a background James Hassall began his training for the ministry and in 1845.
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with his brother, George, he commenced training under the Reverend Robert Allwood, first at St James' Parsonage, Sydney and then at Lyndhurst College, Glebe, a college for divinity studies which had been founded by Bishop Broughton. In 1848 he was ordained and his mother wrote of the excitement the family felt about that and how they intended to attend his ordination. She also touched on the difficulties he would fave and gave him some advice, reflecing her position as the daughter and wife of such eminent clergymen as Samuel Marsden and Thomas Hassall. "I feel sure more than ever the great importance of the steps you are about to take as you appear as if you are to have --- to contend with that you Grandpapa and Papa never thought of or had ever to think of when they were entering the Church ... Your Mother's imperfect prayers should not be wasted that you may be --- worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man --- in his --- path to righteousness. With love Believe me your affectionate Mother."
With. the ordination he became the first native born Church of England priest in Australia. His first appointment was as locem tenens at St Peter's, Cook's River, to replace his former tutor Reverend Thomas Makinson who resigned from the Church of England on 22 February 1948 and had joinged the Catholic Church. St Peter's was a widespread parish embracing Newtown, Botany, Cook's and George's Rivers, Petersham, George's Hall and Canterbury. As well he was chaplain of the Benevolent Asylum which was situated near the present Redfern Railway Station. It was a very widespread parish and part of it was "as wile and godless a place as I have ever known", although he had the satisfaction of baptising many children and starting several schools. He lived in the parsonage at Petersham and made mnay good friends among his parishioners. To help with household expenses he took in William Throsby, son of the explorer Charles Throsby, as a lodger, who unfortunately contracted scarlet fecer and dide. Hassall himself contracted the disease shortly afterwards but recovreed under the careful nursing of his mother and sisters and his parishioners. During his period at Cook's River he spent many hours in the saddle because the parsonage was a long way from both the church and the Benevolent Asylum. He also commenced schools at Canterbury and Botany.
In 1849 an incumbency was offered to him at O'Connell Plains, near Bathurst where his father still owned property, but he chose instead to go to Bungonia where there was a large stone-built parsonage and his salary was In 1849 an incumbency was offered to him at O'Connell Plains, near Bathurst where his father still owned property, but he chose instead to go to Bungonia where there was a large stone-built parsonage and his salary was £300 per year. Bishop Broughton gave him £35 for removal expenses.
The move to Bungonia was not without its difficulties. The bullock team carrying his furniture was delayed for six weeks by flood and James Hassall was forced to live with his servant in a virtually empty parsonage. As a bachelor for his first year there, he started to engage in the business of the parish which mostly entailed long rides on horseback to visit station
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properties. During that year he rode nearly six thousand miles. He always stayed several days at each place he visited and his visits included many hours spent in shepherds' huts and talking to the shepherds as they guarded the flocks in remote areas. After his marriage his wife odten accompanied him on these visits.
On 19 June 1850 while he was living at Bungonia, he was married by his father at Cobbitty to Frances Anna Marina Emma Dixon (born at sea on 1 January 1826), the youngest daughter of Captain Francis Francis Dixon, whose wife was John Oxley's sister. Frances' parents died when she was young so she was brought up by the Oxleys and spent much time at their property, Kirkhaum, Camden, not far from Thomas Hassall's Denbigh. (Much later James and Frances Hassall were to establish their home in Brisbane, called Matavai, at Corinda overlooking Oxley Creek, named after her uncle, John Oxley, who charted the Brisbane River).
In the parsonage grounds he grew wheat and oats so that he could feed his family and keep his horses in good condition. He was so highly thought of in the district that he was often helped with the harvesting by his neighbours, not all of whom were members of his flock. He became quite expert at killing his own sheep.
While he was at Bungonia, James Hassall was visited by reverend W.B. Clarke, the Colony's first geologist, who was on tour of inpsection of the southern goldfields. Clarke went with Hassall to the nearby Bungonia Caves and entered the Drum cave: "The Rev. W.B. Clarke's main object. in coming to Bungonia. was to explore the Shoalhaven gullies which pass within five miles of the place. So I dorve him out with his man and his paraphernalia. His first delight was to collect fossils from the mass of limestone in which they were abounded. Then we went to see one of the caves, existing there as is usual in limestone country. The one we entered was a deep crevice in the limestone that i had often visited with picnic parties. On one of these visits I tied several candles to a stick with a number of branches, lit them and lowered them with a long string. The crevice was about five feet wide, but as the light descended some feet we found it shine up dfar behind us, showing that we were standing, simply, on a stone or rock, jammed in the crevice, whic h might five way with our weight at any moment. The ladies of our party were out of the cave at a bound. I could reach not bottom with my string. Mr Clarke measured the perpendicular fall by counting the time that stones took in falling, and estimated the depth at seven hundred feet. The river was considered to be fifteen hundred feet below us, so that the crevice would not extend more than halfway down."
The Hassall's first two children were born at Bungonia but they moved from there partly because the gold rushes made it difficult to get servants and James Hassall worried that his wife and growing family would have no protection when he was away on his travels around the
