Henry Hacking

Henry Hacking (1750–1831) was a seaman and early explorer in New South Wales, Australia. He was a convicted murderer, and also responsible for shooting and killing the Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy in 1802.

Henry Hacking
Born1750
DiedJuly 21, 1831(1831-07-21) (aged 80–81)
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Occupationseaman and explorer
Known forearly settler in Sydney, New South Wales

Biography

Hacking was quartermaster of Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet that established the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia in 1788. He probably returned to England after the loss of the Sirius in 1790, as he returned to Sydney in the Royal Admiral in 1792.[1]

In March 1799 Henry Hacking was ordered by Governor John Hunter to investigate claims of British sailors being trapped by Aboriginal Australians at the mouth of the Hunter River to the north of the colony. Hacking encountered a group of Awabakal people on the south side of the river, who informed him that the sailors had left earlier on foot, endeavouring to walk back to Sydney. Hacking did not believe them, and became agitated, shooting dead three Awabakal men. The sailors later arrived in Sydney, having walked the distance to return.[2]

Hacking led many hunting expeditions to supplement meat rations for Australia’s first settlers. He was among the party that found the lost government cattle at Cowpastures in 1795. He was sentenced to be transported to Norfolk Island in October 1799 for perjury, but received a pardon.[1]

In 1800 and 1801 he piloted the Porpoise into and out of Port Jackson. In 1802 he was appointed first mate of the Lady Nelson.[1] In 1802 Hacking shot and killed Pemulwuy, an Aboriginal resistance fighter and a Bediagal man who had killed and harassed settlers and who since 1790 had been a wanted man.[3]

In 1802 Hacking shot and wounded Ann Holmes, his former mistress, for which crime he was sentenced to death but pardoned in 1803. Also in 1803 he was found guilty of stealing naval stores from Investigator and again sentenced to death, then reprieved on condition that he was transported to Van Diemen's Land.[1]

In 1804 Hacking was appointed coxswain to the lieutenant-governor at Hobart. In July 1806 he was appointed pilot at Hobart at £50 a year. He died at Hobart on 21 July 1831.[1]

Legacy

Port Hacking, south of Botany Bay, known as Deeban by traditional owners, was named in his honour by Matthew Flinders in 1796.[4][5]

References
  1. Walsh, G. P. (1966). "Hacking, Henry (1750–1831)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. 1. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  2. Collins, D. (1804). On Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from Its First Settlement in January 1788, to August 1801 ... To which are Added, Some Particulars of New Zealand ... and an Account of a Voyage ... by which the Existence of a Strait Separating Van Diemen's Land from the Continent of New Holland was Ascertained. Cadell. p. 491. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  3. Smith, Keith Vincent (1 November 2003). "Australia's oldest murder mystery". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  4. Flinders, Matthew (1814). A Voyage to Terra Australis
  5. Estensen, Miriam (2005). The Life of George Bass. Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1-74114-130-3.

Further reading
  • Forsyth, Leslie Charles (1982), Henry Hacking, 1750-1831 : an early Australian at Sydney and Hobart, Willoughby Municipal Library, ISBN 978-0-9599654-4-5
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