Index

• Issue
  
• (1) Kate b. 1841
• (2) Frances Mary Ann b. 1844
• (3) Christina Victoria b 1846 d 1848
• (4) Ellen Louise b. 1848
• (5) Flora Margaret b. 1850
• (6) Mary Matilda b. 1853 d 1855
• (7) William Rees b. 1856
• (8) Jessie Maud b.
• (9) Frederick Wills b. 1862
• (10) Constance Julia b. 1864

Australia's 1828 census is the main evidence linking William Johnson with Frances Johnson, the Lincolnshire convict who arrived in Sydney on the Lord Melville in 1817. William was born in Sydney about October 1818, father unknown, with half brothers and sisters left behind in Lincoln.

Just as his mother's known activities conform with the general pattern of female convict life, so William's eventual status as a "gentleman" mirrored the popular view of the first generation Australians, the Currency Lads and Lasses.

Until about 1820 most observers expected and feared that the rising generation of native-born Australians, mainly sprung from convict parents, would reproduce the stereotyped characteristics of most of their parents, perhaps in a heightened form. After that time nearly all chroniclers agreed, with mingled surprise and relief, that no such thing had occurred. Cunningham's characterisation of the 'Currency lads and lasses' exemplifies the general contemporary view. (2)

• Our Colonial-born brethren are best known here by the name of Currency, in contradistinction to Sterling, or those born in the mother country. The name was originally given by a facetious paymaster of the seventy-third regiment quartered here, the pound currency being at that time inferior to the pound sterling. Our Currency lads and lasses are a fine interesting race, and do honour to the country whence they originated. The name is a sufficient passport to esteem with all the well-informed and right-feeling portion of our population.....

  The Currencies grow up tall and slender, like the Americans, and are generally remarkable for that Gothic peculiarity of fair hair and blue eyes which has been noticed by other writers. Their complexions, when young, are of reddish sallow, and they are for the most part easily distinguishable - even in more advanced years - from those born in England. Cherry cheeks are not accompaniments of our climate.....

  The young females generally lose their teeth early, like the Americans and West Indians, this calamity always commencing about the period of puberty: it may possibly be ascribed to the climatising process, as we see nearly all plants and animals suffer considerable change in appearance on transplantation to a different latitude: we may therefore hope this defect will subside when a few generations have passed away. 'The Currency lads' is now a popular standing toast, since it was given by Major Goulburn at the Agricultural dinner, while 'The Currency lasses' gives name to one of our most favourite tunes.

  The young men of low rank are fonder of binding themselves to trades, or going to sea, than passing into the employ of the settlers, as regular farm-servants. This no doubt arises partly from their unwillingness to mix with the convicts so universally employed on farms, partly from a sense of pride; for, owing to convicts being hitherto almost the sole agricultural labourers, they naturally look upon that vocation as degrading in the same manner as white men in slave colonies regard work of any kind, seeing that none but slaves do work. It is partly this same pride, as much as the hostile sentiments instilled into them by their parents, that makes them so utterly averse to fill the situation of petty constables, or to enlist as soldiers. (3)

William probably had no formal schooling, and began whatever work he could as soon as he could. Perhaps he knew who his natural father was. He was 10 years old when his mother married Capper Pass, who was described in the census of that year as a 54 year old (on his marriage certificate he said 47) ticket of leave convict, who came to the Colony in the Canada in 1819 to serve a 14-year sentence. At the time of the 1828 census, Capper Pass was a tallowchandler living in George Street, Sydney. (A tallowchandler is a tradesman making or selling candles, which were made from tallow or hard animal fat.) At the age of 12 William was possibly living with his mother and step-father at the York Hotel in York Street, or he might have already found employment and lodging elsewhere.

William was 19 when his mother died, about Christmas Day of 1837. Just over three years later, on 23rd February 1841, he married Susan Morris at St. Andrew's church in Sydney, according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The witnesses were John Harpur, Mary Morris (Susan's mother and a sister were both named Mary), Frederick Oatley and James Oatley. William described himself as a bachelor, and Susan was shown as a spinster. Susan did not state which church she was a member of, though the 1828 census shows all the Morris family as Catholic, while as noted elsewhere, Frances Johnson was married with Presbyterian rites and buried with Church of England rites.

It seems that William was not a resident of Sydney at the time of his marriage, although the exact detail is not clear and he did show Sydney as his place of residence on the wedding certificate. But this is contradicted by the complete biographical note in Victoria and its Metropolis, which states:

• JOHNSON, William, St. Kilda, is a native of Sydney, N.S.W., born in 1818. He came to Victoria in 1840, and embarked in the tannery business, which he carried on opposite the site of the present gasworks, South Yarra, for six or seven years; after which he went to the old Golden Point diggings, Ballarat, and to Forest Creek. Mr. Johnson is a property owner in Melbourne, and has retired from active life for about forty years residing now on his own property, "Yonka," Barkly-street, St. Kilda.

A family story relates a trip William undertook from Sydney to Melbourne by boat, and found to his surprise on entering his cabin that there was a woman already in his bunk. The story does not canvass his subsequent actions. Possibly William established himself in the tannery business in Melbourne, and then returned to marry Susan and to bring her to Melbourne. It could have been this presumed journey of the newly-weds which was the fabled overland trip which enshrined an Australian Aborigine in the family history. However, the following letter (4) introduces some extra confusions.

• William, your grandfather, was my grandfather Joseph Harper's great friend. I have always been told that they overlanded from Sydney with their wives and children, arriving in Melbourne about 1840. Exact date not certain. My grandfather J.H. was born on the Hunter River N.S.W. in 1819. The land had been given to his father by the Governor for services rendered. I have heard he was Deputy Surveyor, but the land was so often flooded by the Hunter and their crops destroyed so often, that J.H. and W.J. decided to leave it and go to Melbourne. My mother said they travelled by bullock wagon (the men would have to walk beside it) and must have because of their wives and children. J.H.'s two children died as infants soon after their arrival in Melb. J.H. ran an hotel for some years at Essendon, and later settled at Woodend, 50 miles further on and made some money during the Gold Rush in 1851. Your grandfather was a successful business man and finally lived at St. Kilda. His family often drove up to Woodend for holidays and Connie and my mother were very fond of one another and good friends until Connie married and went to live in Sydney. After her husband's death, when they went to live with Aunt Ellie in E. Malvern, they renewed their friendship and it went on with my sister Helen and Thellie until they died.

This was the much related trip (5) from Sydney to Melbourne that led to "Yonka" becoming a family name. According to the story, the party became lost not far from Melbourne and was found by "Yonki Yonka," the "chief of the Yarra tribe" of Aborigines. He guided them into Melbourne, and thereby earned the gratitude of William, who used to "let him cross his land" to the ocean. Yonki Yonka is sometimes described as Youki Youka, which possibly arises from a style of handwriting in which the first upstroke of the lower case "n" is widely separated from the first downstroke, giving the appearance of a lower case "u". It perhaps explains the reference to "Youki-Youka" in the following account by Haydon. (6)

• Several instances have occurred where natives who for many years have been living with Europeans, leaving them, and betaking themselves to their former haunts and habits of life. A native of one of the Westernport tribes, named Youki-Youka, was stolen from his tribe by some sealers, long before any permanent settlement took place in Australia Felix, and was taken by them to an island in Bass's Straits; with them he lived for seven or eight years. He made a voyage to Adelaide, South Australia, and from thence engaged himself to a gentleman who was about taking stock overland to Port Philip.

  Immediately on his return, his tribe gave him every welcome, and he took up his quarters again with his old friends and relatives, and is not now recognised from the others but by the good English he speaks. The protecters might have made him very serviceable to them, but of course did not. He is now a most dangerous character, for a half-civilized savage is more mischievous than one who has never mixed at all with the white population.

One of the lasting legacies of William's association with the helpful Aborigine is the family practice of naming their properties after him. William called his Melbourne residence "Yonki Yonka" and his son Fred, when he bought a farm near Cranbrook in Western Australia decades later, did the same. Nowadays generally abbreviated to "Yonka," the farm still bears the name, and the Cranbrook Shire has attached it to the adjacent road leading east from Albany Highway.

Whatever the exact events were surrounding the journey by William and Susan, we know that on 23rd February 1841 they were married in Sydney and that on the 14th December that same year their first known child, Kate, was born, probably in Melbourne. Kate was baptised into the Church of England on 13th March, 1842, in the Parish of St. James, Melbourne, at which time her parents were living at South Melbourne and William was described as a tanner.

Frances Mary Ann (named for both grandmothers?) was baptised in identical circumstances on 1st September 1844, with her birthdate shown as 22nd July, 1844. This time William and Susan (shown as Susannah on the baptismal record) were described as living in Melbourne, and William was shown as a leather cutter.

By the time Christina Victoria was born, shown as being on 6th August, 1846, with a baptismal date of 8th October, 1846, the Johnsons were back in Sydney. William and Susan were living at Kent Street, and William was described as a publican, which could mean that William was managing The Green Gate hotel. This property is documented as being in Kent Street and as having been taken over by Susan's mother in 1834 (c.f. Susan Morris biography).

We can assume that William learned the trade of publican from his mother and we find, two years later, that he also learned something from his step-father, Capper Pass. Ellen Louisa was born on 27th November 1848 and baptised in the Parish of St. Andrew on 15th December the same year. William and Susan were still living at Kent Street, but now his occupation is recorded as candle maker.

The birth of one daughter, sadly, was counter-balanced by the death of another. A fortnight earlier, on 11 November, Christina Victoria died aged 2 years 3 months. She was buried in her grandmother's grave, as recorded in the inscription on Frances' tombstone.

Just as there is no known evidence of the reason why the Johnson family returned to Sydney, there is also nothing to show why they were back in Victoria a decade later. While this Sydney interlude is not mentioned in Victoria and its Metropolis, which suggests that William went straight on to the old Golden Point diggings, Ballarat, and to Forest Creek, we can assume that after six or seven years in the tannery business the Johnsons decided to try their luck back in Victoria when they heard about the discovery of gold. And just as the baptismal records of their daughters tracked them back to Sydney, so their progeny revealed their Victorian wanderings.

There were at least five diggings known as Golden Point, including one at Ballarat and one at Bendigo, but the only Forest Creek listed by Flett (7) is at the Mt. Alexander Goldfield, Castlemaine, about 25 miles south of Bendigo. The Mt. Alexander field appears to have been discovered about July or August 1851, and one of the Reward claimants was a Thomas Wall who was issued with the No. 1 Gold Licence for Forest Creek in October 1851. This, like many other discoveries (including Bendigo) was disputed, but Flett gives some credence to the first gold being seen at Bendigo by William Henry Johnson in October 1851 and first worked by Mrs Kennedy and Mrs Farrell (the wives of station hands) at Golden Point in the same month. Between November 22 and December 10 the number of diggers at Bendigo Creek grew from about 30 to about 250, indicating the speed with which diggers were attracted to a new field.

Family legend has it that William Johnson (not to be confused with the Bendigo discoverer) "made a lot of money out of the Victorian gold rush," though the story is not specific as to whether he made it from commercial activity or from finding gold. The latter possibility is given credence by Mary Johnson's death certificate.

Mary died on 10th May, 1855, aged 2 years. The family had been at Bendigo when the town was booming, attention having switched from alluvial workings to reef gold. The first steam engines, to operate crushing machines, arrived in Bendigo that year. By August 1855 there were 400 small warden's leases being operated at Bendigo, and of the 7500 white diggers there, 5000 were on the reefs.

On May 10 William Johnson was a miner travelling with his family from Bendigo to Spring Creek, according to the description of the informant's residence on Mary's death certificate. Which Spring Creek was their destination is unclear: Flett lists one at Beechworth in NE Victoria, one at the Alexandra Goldfield (which was not discovered until 1866), Spring Creek at Graytown (1868) and Spring Creek near Creswick, north of Ballarat, which was opening up at this time.

Mary died of "convulsions" between Shepparton and Benalla, which indicates that the Johnsons were heading towards Beechworth. Gold was discovered at this Spring Creek in late 1851 or early 1852, but the rush to Bendigo in March 1852 left Beechworth almost deserted. It can perhaps be speculated that the Johnsons were in fact returning to Beechworth, having left there for the Bendigo rush. Irrespective of specific places, it appears that William was an active participant in the Victorian rushes, and his known presence at a number of diggings over a relatively short period indicates wealth from actual gold recovery, rather than trade.

Mary Johnson seems to have been buried in a roadside grave at Gowangardie Station, "burial not registered." The death was registered two weeks later at Benalla on 23rd May, and this registration reveals William's illiteracy. Witnessed by the Deputy Registrar, William signed with X, "his mark."

It could well be the case that Mary's death ended William's career as an itinerant digger. William Jnr. was born at the beginning of 1856 -- indicating that Susan was in the early stages of pregnancy when Mary died -- in Melbourne, as were their last three children. It is said that William invested his money in Melbourne city property, though the extent of his holdings is not known. According to Alistair (8):

• Frederick said that he had property all over Melbourne, and that when the bad times came he didn't bother to keep paying up the rates. When Frederick came back from Japan his father said: 'Fred, go round all this land (he had the titles) and check up and see whether I can get hold of it again if I pay the rates.' So Frederick went around, but only about a quarter of it was left. The rest had been sold for non-payment of rates.

William must have had some money to invest in property before he went to the goldfields. One of those properties was purchased in 1847, left as a lifetime interest to one of Fred's sisters, and was finally sold in August 1950. A short piece in The Argus at the time records:

• A price equal to about 430 pounds a foot was paid at auction yesterday for a site at the west end of Bourke st., city.

  The property, 565-569 Bourke St., on the south side, between King and William sts., comprises two old shops and dwellings, on land 42 by 66 ft. 6in.

  It was purchased by the adjoining owner, Gollin and Co. Pty. Ltd., for 18,000 pounds. The property has been in the one estate for 103 years.

Ellen Johnson, as executrix of her father's Estate, had had this property valued in mid-1922. The valuation shows that at that time the three commercial/residential lots were leased to a tea and luncheon room operator, a hairdresser and tobacconist, and a fruiterer. The property was valued then at 6,200 pounds.

William Johnson's will shows that at the time of his death he still had a considerable portfolio of property. His will was dated 30 January 1900, and thus predated his death by only five months. It reads, in part:

• This is the last Will and Testament of me William Johnson of "Yonka" Barkly Street Saint Kilda in the Colony of Victoria Gentleman. I appoint my daughter Ellen Louisa Johnson of "Yonka" Barkly Street Saint Kilda aforesaid Spinster to be Executrix and Trustee of this my Will. I give devise and bequeath the whole of my real and personal estate...unto my said Trustee...upon trust for the purposes herinafter expressed namely That my said trustee...shall stand possessed of my property known as "Yonka" situate at the corner of Barkly Street and Charles Street Saint Kilda upon trust for my daughter Constance Julia George the wife of St John George of Blues Point Road North Sydney Master Mariner absolutely but subject to the right of the said Ellen Louisa Johnson to use and occupy "Yonka" as a residence during her life rent free And to stand possessed of my property in Bourke Street Melbourne known as Numbers 565, 567, and 569 Bourke Street and my property in Church Street Melbourne known as Number 27 Church Street situate at the rear of my said Bourke Street Property and my property in Spring Street Melbourne known as Number 13 Spring Street In trust for the said Ellen Louisa Johnson during her life. From and after the death of the said Ellen Louisa Johnson I direct my said Trustees or Trustee as to my said Spring Street property to hold and stand possessed of the same In trust for my daughters Flora Margaret Francis and the said Constance Julia George in equal shares as tenants in common. And I direct my said Trustees or Trustee as to my said Bourke Street and Church Street Properties upon the death of the said Ellen Louisa Johnson to hold and stand possessed of the same in trust for my son Frederick Wills Johnson for life.

William is buried in a family plot, approximately 10 feet square, which seems to have first been obtained for the burial of his patronymic son. William senior's memorial reads:

• IN/ LOVING MEMORY OF/ WILLIAM JOHNSON/ DIED 29TH JUNE 1900/ IN HIS 82ND YEAR.

The tablet alongside records:

• IN MEMORY/ of/ WILLIAM JOHNSON/ DIED 22ND APRIL 1859 AGED 5 YEARS// JESSIE JOHNSON/ DIED IN INFANCY// KATE/ WIFE OF R.H. FRANCIS/ DIED 9 MAY 1876 AGED 35 YEARS// EDGAR FRANCIS/ DIED 29 JANUARY 1875 AGED 2 YEARS// DORA FRANCIS/ DIED 8 APRIL 187(?) AGED 9 MONTHS// SUSAN JOHNSON/ DIED 30 AUGUST 1877 AGED 57 YEARS// ALSO/ IDA FRANCIS/ BORN 1(?) JUNE 1881 DIED JANUARY 25TH 1884// ALSO/ RICHARD HODGE FRANCIS/ DIED 16 APRIL 1895 AGED 58 YEARS// ALSO/ FRANCIS M.A. JOHNSON/ DIED 30TH AUGUST 1896 AGED 51 YEARS

Like so many of his generation, William had begun life in desperate circumstances but had reaped the benefit of the wealth that began to flow in Australia within 70 years of European settlement. When he died he owned property in Melbourne's central business district, and while he was probably unable to read it, could print "Gentleman" on his calling card. Small wonder that when asked what her Grandfather did, Thora Johnson could say: "He grew roses and smiled."