Early Campbelltown history had a military start and what better way to
commence our blog, than with a military man:
Photograph courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, ca 1821-1852.
Early days: Francis
Allman was born in 1780 at County Clare, Ireland to English parents. At age 14
he joined the Queen’s Royal regiment as an ensign and over the next twenty
years he served in conflicts in the Netherlands, Egypt and Alexandria.
Military service: During
this time he rose to the rank of captain. In the Peninsular Wars and as a captain
in the 48th Regiment, Allman was severely injured in a sabre attack to
his head and would have been killed if not for a fellow Masonic brother, a French
officer coming to his aid. Sadly the French officer was later killed and Allman
taken prisoner until the end of the war. He was granted a life pension of £100 p.a. because of his injuries.
Family: Allman
married Sarah, the daughter of the 48th Regiment’s paymaster in Gibraltar
in 1807. This union produced eight children, 4 boys and 4 girls, the three
eldest being born in the UK and the remaining five were born in Australia.
He and his family later
immigrated to Australia, he in charge of the 48th Regiment and his
wife and children as free persons aboard the ‘Minerva’ arriving in Sydney in April 1818.
Under orders from Governor Lachlan Macquarie, Allman
was sent along with 44 soldiers and 60 convicts to establish a second penal settlement in NSW at Port Macquarie in 1821. Under his command Allman was appointed both Commandant
and Magistrate. On a later visit to the new settlement Governor Macquarie,
expressed his pleasure at the ‘clean and commodious’ establishment.
Allman
was later appointed and served as Police Magistrate in several areas Newcastle,
Maitland, Illawarra and Goulburn before coming to Campbelltown in July 1836.
Campbelltown: Apart
for his Police Magistrate duties and during his tenure in Campbelltown he was
responsible for overseeing the construction of the water reservoir and cattle
tank, in 1838-39 by iron-gang convict labour. Water was a desperate necessity as
there was no natural fresh water supply in the township of Campbelltown until the
reservoir was built. The reservoir was first filled in 1840 and decommissioned in 1888. (Remains of this early water supply are still evident: In Hurley Park, bounded by Allman, George and Lithgow Streets).
Photograph courtesy: Campbelltown City Library. Local Studies Collection, Reservoir in 1886
Sadly
their eldest daughter Sarah, died at Denham Court, July 1836 in her twentieth
year and was buried, with headstone and surround, in St Peters Anglican
cemetery, Campbelltown.
Lady
Jane Franklin (second wife of Sir John Franklin, Governor of Van Dieman’s Land
[Tasmania]) visited the Illawarra and Campbelltown in May 1839. The legacy of
her extensive diaries gives a wonderful insight to our early area, sadly her
comments on Captain Allman and his family were somewhat unkind.
Francis
with his family moved to Berrima in February 1843 as Police Magistrate before
retiring to Yass in June 1844 and dying there in his eightieth year in 1860, his
wife Sarah passing way four years later. He was buried with full military honours.
‘Allman
Street’ Campbelltown is named in his honour.
Further
information: can be found in Campbelltown Pioneer Register 1800-1900 or by contacting Campbelltown District Family History Society Inc: www.cdfhs.org.au
A more detailed article will be available in a future copy of the Ghostbuster Magazine.
Resources:
Campbelltown Pioneer Register 1800-1900; Australian Dictionary of Biography;
Trove (NLA); State Library of NSW; Ryerson Index; Diary of Lady Jane Franklin; Allman family website and Campbelltown City Library Service.
