Person:William Hall (193)

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William Shakespeare Hall (1825–1895) was a pioneer settler of the Swan River Colony and a well-known justice of the peace, explorer, pastoralist, and pearler. He was also known by some as 'the father of the north'.

He was born in London to Henry Edward and Sarah Theodosia. When the family sold Shackerstone Manor he emigrated with his parents and five siblings to Western Australia. They arrived in Fremantle in February 1830 on board .

The family received two land grants—of and —at Mandurah^[1] and the locality of Hall's Head is named after them, though their attempt at developing the land was a failure. They built a house, Halls Cottage, on the smaller parcel of land and as of 2014 this was believed to be the only extant settler's building in the Mandurah area.^[1] While in the Murray district, Hall became known for building relationships with the local indigenous people, including learning their language, a characteristic that would later be instilled in his son Aubrey.

In 1835^[1] it became apparent that the land around Mandurah was not suitable for the type of farming that they wished to undertake, so the large-holding was sold and the family moved to Perth in 1836^[1] where Hall attended John Burdett Wittenoom's nascent grammar school.^[2] At this point his father returned to England to sell the family estate at Shackerstone, returning with Hall's elder brother. Farmland was then purchased at Wongong, to the east of Fremantle, and Hall lived here and farmed until 1852, when at the age of 27 he went to the Victorian goldfields.

He returned to Western Australia eight years later,^[2] and soon after joined Francis Thomas Gregory's expedition exploring the north-west in 1861. After this he returned to Wongong, but before long left again: in 1863 he took up the first sheep station, John Wellard's^[2] Andover, in the Roebourne district. Here, he again demonstrated cordial relations with the indigenous people, notably 'King Mulangom'.^[2] He remained there as manager of the station for two years, before returning to Perth. But again he didn't stay long, as he was offered the position of manager of the Roebuck Bay Company, and so moved north to that location. Here he was appointed to be the government's Justice of the Peace for that region. The Roebuck Bay settlement not being a success, the whole company moved to Roebourne and the port of Cossack.^[2] Hall resigned his justice-ship in 1867, but his letter of resignation went down when the ship was wrecked and it is not known if he ever rectified this.^[2]

Also in 1867 (in March and April) he travelled in the area of the Yule River.

On 2 June 1868 he arrived in Fremantle on the cutter , which was carrying a cargo of wool and perl shell, and on 2 November that year he married Hannah Lazenby (daughter of George Lazenby) in Cardup and took her back to live in Cossack. He gave up trying to farm, and turned instead to shopkeeping for a short time, before the pearling industry began to develop in the region and he put to sea with a crew of 'Malay' pearl divers. With this he was successful, but when he soon gave up the ships and stayed ashore as a pearl trader, he was less so, and before long was back buying ships—this time with indigenous crew members.

He suffered a heart attack while swimming in Cossack Creek and was drowned. A tombstone at his grave in Cossack was erected 'as a mark of appreciation and respect by the North West Pioneers'.^[3]

Two children lost

From History of Western Australia by W. B. Kimberley, Chapter 11 (p. 100). The children are presumed to be Shakey and James Anderton.

On the 11th December, 1834, two children of Mr. Hall, on the Murray, went down to the sea-beach to watch some soldiers fishing. One returned home soon after noon, but the other lost his way in the bush. At four o'clock next morning Mr. Norcott, accompanied by two white men and the natives Migo and Mollydobbin, who were attached to the mounted police corps, went out in search of the child. They soon came upon his track along the beach to the northward. The Europeans were quickly nonplussed, for a fresh wind had covered up the track with sand. Not so the natives. Their practised eyes traced the boy's wanderings four miles along the beach, when they intimated that he had turned into the bush. They followed his movements with astonishing minuteness, and led the way into an almost impenetrable thicket, through which they had to crawl on hands and knees. Loose shifting sand lay on the clear spots amid the bush, and thus their task was fraught with the utmost difficulty.

After about an hour's time the beach was regained, for the boy had only made a circuit inland of 400 yards. There the track was again distinct, and for five more miles, with occasional turnings in and out of the bush, they traced the erratic steps of the poor lad. Eventually even the natives were momentarily at fault, for the boy had entered another thicket which it was almost impossible for them to penetrate. But presently they cried out "me meyal geena," meaning "I see the footmarks." Their progress was now watched with the intensest interest by the white men, who viewed with ever-increasing amazement their acute perception. Through a dense mass of matted bush they forced their curious way, and when Mr. Norcott began to despair of success, the natives inspired his confidence by holding up a cap which was known to belong to the child. Again the track led along the beach until some sand cliffs were reached, where the wanderer had gone to an elevated spot. The wind had entirely effaced all marks of his feet in the loose sand, and it was an anxious moment for the search party. Migo was not daunted. Descending the hill, he persisted in making a circuit at its base, and after a little time he fell in with the track. But even here sand had obliterated most of the footsteps, and for nearly two hours the natives alternately lost and refound them. The party had nearly given up all hope of recovering the child when Mollydobbin saw a track on the side of a deep ravine. The natives went down into the ravine and commenced hallooing, hoping that the child might be asleep in the bush. Next they had to penetrate bushes and thickets more dense than any previous ones, and once again they emerged on the beach. Observing by the tracks that the child had been there but recently they pushed on with great eagerness, and at a distance of about 300 yards were delighted and gratified to observe the boy lying asleep on the beach, his legs idly washed by the surf. Another hour and probably the child would have perished, for the tide was rapidly coming in. Mr. Norcott galloped up to him, and calling him by name, the boy awoke and instantly jumped up.

The joy and delight of the two natives are said to have been beyond description. They had walked for nearly twenty-two miles with their eyes constantly fixed on the ground for ten consecutive hours, and they evinced such great anxiety as to the little one's fate that Mr. Norcott says he could not but applaud the noble disposition of these two savages.

See also

• William Shakespeare Hall on ArchivesWiki

1.   William Shakespeare Hall, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Hall, William Shakespeare (1825–1895), in Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
   2012-02-29.

   http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hall-william-shakespeare-3697