Joseph Hawdon

Joseph Hawdon (14 November 1813 – 12 April 1871) was a pioneer settler and overlander of Australia and New Zealand.

Hawdon was the son of John Hawdon, and was born at Wackerfield, Durham, England. He arrived in Sydney in November 1834, and in 1836 with John Gardiner made an overland journey to Melbourne with cattle, the first to come from New South Wales. He returned to Sydney but came to Melbourne again in 1837, and in August took up land near the present site of Dandenong. About the end of that year the newly-established South Australian settlement was threatened with famine, and Hawdon, who had returned to New South Wales, with Charles Bonney, drove 300 head of cattle from the Goulburn district to Adelaide, where they arrived on 3 April 1838. Charles Sturt in an official report made in August 1838 said of this journey: "Messrs Hawdon and Bonney could not have taken a more direct line or shortened the journey more wisely".

Hawdon also became the official mail contractor between Melbourne and Yass at the beginning of 1838. He made his headquarters at or near Melbourne for many years, and was one of the directors of the Pastoral and Agricultural Society when it was formed in 1840, and a member of the committee of the Victorian Horticultural Society which was inaugurated in November 1848. He had a property at Heidelberg and in August 1851 discovered a few grains of gold near the Yarra River. He remained in Australia until 1858 and then returned to England.

In 1863 Hawdon took up land between Christchurch and Westland New Zealand, and afterwards spent some years in England. He returned to New Zealand, was nominated to the New Zealand Legislative Council in 1866, and died at Christchurch on 12 April 1871. Hawdon River and Lake Hawdon are named after him. He married in 1842 Emma (daughter of W. Outhwaite) who died in 1853. Joseph's elder brother, John Hawdon, (29 June 1801 – 28 October 1886) came to Sydney in 1828 and held land in various parts of New South Wales. He was associated with his brother in overlanding and in connexion with mail contracts.

References

*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Joseph |Last=Hawdon|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogHa-He.html#hawdon1
*Alan Gross, ' [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010482b.htm Hawdon, Joseph (1813 - 1871)] ', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, MUP, 1966, p. 524.