Jeanetta Sadler Smith (1843 – 1915)

Jeanetta Sadler Smith was born in Bathurst NSW on 9 August 1843. She was the daughter of Jane Smith and Charles Smith and was baptized on 19 September at All saints Church, Bathurst by Rev. Sharpe according to the Anglican rite. It is curious that the baby’s father is not named in the entry of her baptism in the church register. This would appear to be at the request of her mother Jane and there has been much speculation about why this was so.

Jeanetta’s mother only admitted to her husband’s name five years later.

In 1843 Bathurst was not a desirable place to be, certainly not for a single young woman with a small baby and one cannot escape from wondering why Jeanetta’s mother was there. That year saw the country in the grip of drought and great economic downturn and it had been growing for several years. People had over committed themselves in their borrowings, believing the wool boom would never end. But it did and the banks foreclosed on many accounts causing widespread devastation for landowners and many fortunes were lost. At the same time the parent government in Britain had stopped the transportation of convicts as well as the assignment of convicts to land holders. This resulted in a widespread shortage of labour, particularly of shepherds to keep the vast flocks of sheep which had been accumulated.

But then they were disappearing anyway because of drought and it would take a long time for recovery to take place. Convicts were returned to Sydney and freemen simply walked off their land. This had been going on for several years so what kept Jeanetta’s mother there? Evidence suggests it was the British Army. There was always a detachment stationed there to keep the peace in this frontier town. It was a time when land hungry ‘squatters ‘ had pushed out beyond the boundaries of settlement set by earlier governments and those walking the roads were likely to be challenged by the military about the legitimacy of their business.

The next we see Jeanetta in the records in Sydney. She is 5 years of age and her mother is evidently in desperate straights. How mother and daughter got there is any body’s guess. It was a journey of 130 miles (210kms) and too far to walk. The road was being continuously improved but was still very bad. The main problem of course was the climb over the Blue Mountains. The new Victoria Pass which is in use today was opened in 1832 and this shortened the journey as well as eliminating the section at Mt York where the passengers had to get out of their coach and climb down the side of the mountain by themselves. It was even more demanding returning to Sydney. In 1836 there two companies providing a coach service to Bathurst. Coaches left Sydney every Tuesday and Friday at 6am arriving at Parramatta for breakfast. They changed horses at Penrith about noon and then tackled the steep climb to Wentworth Falls, (called Weatherboard), arriving at 7pm where passengers stayed for the first night.

The next morning they again left at 6am, hoping to complete the remaining 100 kms by nightfall. The first stop was at Blackheath for breakfast and they stopped as required till they got to Bathurst. The journey cost £3/5/-with extra charges for luggage so travel was not cheap and of course there was the additional cost of accommodation. Most travellers used private means and apparently often travelled in groups for mutual safety and help. We can only conclude that Jeanetta and her mother also had some assistance.

The records show that in July 1848 the Governor approved of her being taken in by the Female (Protestant) Orphan School at Parramatta. Her mother Jane was still alive but admitted to the Governor that she was unable to cope because her husband, the child’s father, had recently drowned. Reports had been received in the colony that the ship Charles was in on his way to the Punjab with his regiment had been wrecked in the Andaman Islands and it was feared that there had been great loss of life. Although Jeanetta’s mother tried subsequently to have Governor Fitzroy reverse his decision, he refused and there the matter rested.

Excerpt from the book Jane's Legacy by John Brew.