Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1832-1838 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
1 microfilm
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
James Backhouse was a naturalist and Quaker missionary of Darlington, and later, York, England. In 1831 he sailed for Australia, accompanied by George Washington Walker (1800-1859), with the financial support of the London Yearly Meeting. They arrived in Hobart in February 1832 and from then until their departure from Australia in 1838 they visited most of the scattered settlements throughout Australia. They spent three years in Van Diemens Land where they visited the penal settlements, reported to Lieut.-Governor Arthur on conditions and made suggestions for improvement of the prisons, chain gangs, assigned servants etc. They also encouraged the formation of benevolent services, such as the Ladies Committees for visiting prisoners on Elizabeth Fry's model, inspected hospitals and recommended humane treatment for the insane, as well as distributing religious tracts and school books. In 1833 they established a Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends in Hobart and in 1834 the Hobart Yearly Meeting. In 1837 they bought property for a Meeting House in Hobart. James
Backhouse also collected many botanical specimens and continued to correspond with the Tasmanian Society and the Royal Society. After his return to England, Backhouse published an account of his journeys as "A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies" (London, 1843). For more information see : http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/backhouse-james-1728
Name of creator
Biographical history
George Washington Walker (1800-1859), Quaker, shopkeeper and humanitarian, was born on 19 March 1800 in London, the twenty-first child of John Walker (1726-1821) by his second wife, Elizabeth, née Ridley. Because of the death of his mother and the absence of his aged father engaged in the saddle trade in Paris, he was brought up by his grandmother in Newcastle. He was educated by a Wesleyan schoolmaster near Barnard Castle, and apprenticed in 1814 to a linen draper. Impressed by the probity and wisdom of his Quaker employers and James Backhouse of York, a leading Quaker minister, he left the Unitarian persuasion of his family in 1827 and became a member of the Society of Friends. The next year he formed the first Temperance Society in Newcastle.
For more information see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/walker-george-washington-2764
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Microfilm copy of the original manuscript lent to the Royal Society by F.C Wolfhagen
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Microfilm copy of the account book of James Backhouse and George Washington Walker for the years 1832 to 1838
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Accruals
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Conditions of access and use area
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Conditions governing reproduction
This material is made available for personal research and study purposes under the University of Tasmania Standard Copyright Licence. For any further use permission should be obtained from the copyright owners. For assistance please contact Special.Collections@utas.edu.au
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Dates of creation revision deletion
2020