SETTLEMENT
1891 Census
People who lived and worked on the islands of the Hunter River Estuary
At the time of European settlement in 1804, the islands were used by peoples of the aboriginal Worimi and Awabakal nations. For the next 30 years a few Europeans made the islands their home.
Farmers were brought from Germany to work the islands, grapes grown and dairy farming for the mail landowner A.W. Scott. From the 1860s the islands were subdived into smaller holdings and more families battled tides and intermittent floods as they tried to take advantage of the rich soils found on the floodplain.
The population of the islands in the 1891 Census was listed as follows:-
Ash Island ( Greville Island ) – 40 Families
Ahearn, Alderson, Anderson, Avery, Barrett, Beauford, Befford, Bennett, Bowden, Boyce, Brown, Burkill, Callen, Campbell, Caurngartnix, Croese, Cunningham, Curtis, Dempsey, Devereaux, Edstein, Elkin, Fairhall, Finney, Fraser, Funey, Gardenar, Garred, german, Giggins, Gilroy, Gilson, Gray, Green, Hannell, Henderson, Herbert, Hines, Higgins, Highes, Idstein, Jackson, Jeffrey, Jones, Laycock, Lintoo, Lodge, Maccauley, Maher, Manning, Maslen, McInnes, McLean, Murison, McMulkin, McWilliam, Milham, Morrisey, Nethersole, Nicholson, Nolan, Page, Peacock, Peterson, Phelps, Ranclaud, Read, Richardson, Robinson, Roby, Rogers, Rommell, Russell, Sandeman, Scanlon, Schambach, Scholfield, Schuck, Scott, Shakespeare, Shelley, Sleishman, Smith, Stephens, Sutton, Towns, Tully, Turnbull, Vincent, Voysey, Walker, Ward, Warfield, Weakley.
Dempsey Island – 6 Families
Baker, Davis, Eggleston, Gordon, Gray, Henderson, Hughes, Muncaster, Richards, Towns, Turner.
Hexham Island – 9 Families
Black, Burns, Callen, Campbell, Capper, Cowlishaw, Dodds, Dunlop, Dunn, Ebsworth, Fox, German, Griffith, Fall, King, Lillymen, Mann, Mercier/Mercer, Palmer, Read, Ripley, Robert, Sheddon, Sheridan, Soar, Stephenson Whipps, Wright.
Moscheto Island – 29 Families
Beford, Bennett, Burns, Coombes, Croese, Deamer, Dempsey, Doidge, Duggan, Foster, Garnham, Hardes, Henderson, Hyde, Jordan, Maslin, Pember, Phillips, Pilley, Ross, Tomkins, Tongue, Turner, Widdison, Wilton, Wilson, Yates.
Smith Island
Ward