Key dates

 

1829 October

The Hall family arrives in Fremantle and settle in the Murray District, south of Perth

1846 June 12

The marriage of George Bracher to Sarah Louisa Hall in Perth

1847 July

Birth of Sarah Fanny Bracher

1847 September 10

George Bracher sails to Mauritius

1849 March

Sarah Louisa and Sarah Fanny Bracher sail to Mauritius

1852

Birth of Ellen Theodosia in Mauritius

1852 September 6

George, Sarah Louisa, Sarah Fanny and Ellen Theodosia Bracher return to Australia (Melbourne) on the Rival

 

The Hall family is numbered among Western Australia’s pioneers. The beautifully restored Hall Cottage still stands at Mandurah, about an hour’s drive south of Perth. The Shakespeare Hall Museum in Cossack (W.A.) chronicles the role of the family in opening-up the far north-west of the state. Perth’s Battye Library holds documents that record many of the exploits of the pioneer family.

​

The Halls are also responsible for commencing the line of Brachers in Australia. The forty years of letters written by Sarah Louisa Bracher (nee Hall) provides much insight into the early years of the Bracher family in this country.

 

The Halls were among the first families to emigrate to the Swan River colony, presumably attracted by some of the same publicity that lured George Bracher to its shores ten years later. In October 1829, Henry Edward and Sarah Theodosia Hall disembarked the Protector at Fremantle with their six children aged 1 to 10.

​

Henry Edward Hall – age 38

Sarah Theodosia Hall – age 27

Sarah Louisa Hall – age 10

Henry Hastings Hall – age 8

Letitia Hall – age 6

William Shakespeare Hall – age 4

Theodosia Sophia Hall – age 3

James Anderton Hall – age 1

 

They were greeted by a vastly different environment to what they had left behind in Shackerstone, Warwickshire. The Hall Family had lived in Shackerstone Hall most of the era from the beginning of the reign of Charles 1st until about the death of George 4th. In 1625 John Hall purchased the greater part of the Parish of Shackerstone and by 1630 his son William is recorded as Lord of the Manor. After 200 years at Shackerstone, they sold the manor to the Curzon family and emigrated to Western Australia on a ship they had chartered with another family. Twenty years after the family left Shackerstone, the manor house burnt down. Only the nearby village of the same name is left.

 

The only account we have of the Hall family’s background was provided in a letter from Sarah Louisa Hall to a grand nephew in September 1894. Sarah Louisa was 75, but was still mentally active. It is the reminiscences of an elderly person and could suffer from a degree of self-agrandisement, especially following her life of hardship and low status as the wife of George Bracher.  In particular, the final line of the letter gave rise to still unconfirmed family speculation about a blood connection with the greatest English language playwright:

 

“…I am glad you feel an interest in our old family pedigree for I do myself. Our forefathers derived in England with or about the time of Wm the Conqueror and had several fine grants of land and other property settled on them – churches for instance; your grandfather’s grandfather, the Revd. Thomas Strong Hall was a fox hunter, a common pastime for clergymen in those dark old days; he was also a bosom friend of the Duke of York of that time and was led into many sins and extravaganzas by the debauched royal duke. I am sorry to say that our family, though they had many good traits in their character, were continually selling one nice property after another until the beautiful Shackerstone and Newton Burgolands Estates were only left to my father by his uncle when my dear father was only six or seven years old.

 

“ The family vault in Shackerstone Church contains many of our ancestors for ages past, and I have a dear lovely little sister, Theodosia, interred there. I well remember her as we used to walk about the garden together and the little pet used to hook her finger into mine  - she was next before your Pa in our family.

 

“ I was very young, but I well remember the circumstances of the Marquis of Hastings sending for my father (of course your grandfather) to meet him at his town residence, Mayfair, London. He asked him for breakfast and then told him that he was appointed as Governor of Malta and he found that the Shackerstone Estate would revert to the Hastings family in case my father should die without male issue. At this time your uncle Henry was very delicate through a terrible fright which I will tell you about another time if you like to hear all about it. I think your Pa was only 3 weeks old when the Marquis was so kind as to give the reversion of the property to the daughters of your grandfather in case of the sons dying in infancy. I used to hear my dear mother talking of the good old Marquis and as we were all four to be christened at the same time at St Mary’s, Lambeth, London, for we were all born near there, they thought the least they could do would be to call the eldest son Hastings. And as Dr John Hall married one of Shakespeare’s daughters, they named your dear father after the poet.”

 

What would have induced a reasonably affluent family, with long ties to their land, and their London base, to sell-up and travel in speculation to the other side of the world ? The auction notice for Shackerstone Estate in February 1843 said that sale included a manor house and farms, a water corn mill, a public house, numerous cottages, orchards and gardens, and a considerable portion of the Village of Shackerstone.

 

Henry Edward Hall’s father and uncle were military men and it is also known that Henry had studied medicine in London, though it’s doubtful whether he graduated. The uncertain political and economic times in England may have helped to sway their decision. Most significantly, it was probably the generous offer of a land grant commensurate with the numbers of staff and stock a migrant could bring with them that provided the greatest incentive. Hall Family historian, Ian Berryman, says that Henry Edward Hall financed the expedition to Australia by selling his life interest in the family estates at Shackerstone to Earl Howe. By around 1825 it seems that Earl Howe owned most of the property in Shackerstone Village.

​

“ As part of the agreement, the Earl was to allow Henry’s parents to occupy a house and a few acres of land in Shackerstone, and was also to pay an annuity of £30 to his father. The annuity, and the tenancy of the house and land, were to cease after the death of Henry Edward senior.

 

The agreement with Lord Howe also made provision for Henry’s uncles Arthur and George, who were to occupy cottages in Shackerstone. The agreement does not mention annuities for them. I presume that their needs were modest, and they could have survived by growing vegetables, raising poultry, perhaps keeping a pig or two and a cow, and relying on their brother for occasional financial support “.

​

Until 1810, tax records show various members of the Hall family as proprietors or occupants of some properties. H.E. Hall is recorded variously as proprietor and also tenant, and after 1830 as a tenant of one of the cottages.

​

The family of Henry Edward and Sarah Theodosia appear to have lived in London from before 1819 until 1827, when they moved to Lambourne in Essex, and from there, back to London in 1829. It can be assumed that it was from this address that they left with ten servants aboard The Protector, to reach Fremantle in February 1830, only eight months after Capt James Stirling had arrived in The Parmelia to start of the Swan River settlement.  At the time there were less than 1,000 settlers in Western Australia, scattered between Guildford on the Upper Swan and down the coast to Cape Leschenault. The full retinue to land on the beach at Fremantle comprised:

​

• A carpenter and wheelwright

• A blacksmith

• 2 female servants

• 6 apprentice boys

• 1 blood mare, 37 saxon sheep, 13 goats, 1 sow, 9 pigs, 17 barndoor fowls, 8 ducks, 3 galinas, 3 turkeys, 3 geese and 18 dogs,

• Machinery - 3 single ploughs, 1 bust plough, 1 double plough, 1 cultivator, 1 horse drill, 1 horse mill, 1 dressing machine, 1 kibbling mill, 1 machine fan, 1 flax breaker, bellows, forge and tools for blacksmith, complete carpenters, joiners, wheelwrights, boatwrights, coopers, shoemakers and turners tools, two lathes for wood and metal, 1 pair harrows, 18 carts, carriages and waggon wheels, 6 saddles, 12 bridles, 8 set horse harnesses, 1 sloop, 1 joilly boat and various provisions.

• 500 pounds worth of furniture, glass, china and earthenware

• 500 pounds worth of linen plate and wearing apparel

• 56 pounds worth of gardening and agricultural seed

• 2 large cases of plants and 1 dozen sugar cane.

​

The value of the cargo entitled the family to a land grant of 16,594 acres.

​

C.T. Stannage, writing  in “The People of Perth”, noted that:

 

“ Swan River Colony was designed to foster agricultural settlement by attracting middle class investors who were offered generous land grants terms as incentive for their migration and as compensation for the high risks they undertook. Western Australia was founded as a colony, and all early decisions concerning it, including the siting of the capital, reflected and embodied this motivating force”.

 

They were forced initially to buy an abandoned ship off the Fremantle coast in which to live because of the lack of residential buildings. In 1831, Henry Edward Hall secured a land grant 50 miles south of Fremantle in the Murray District and began clearing it while his wife and young family remained in Fremantle until after the birth of their last child . He chose most of it at the mouth of the Harvey River, with the balance of 200 acres on the west bank of the estuary at Mandurah, which is now known as Halls Head. The Mandurah Museum describes the five roomed cottage as a perfect example of a pioneer home, built entirely from local materials, probably by tradesmen and servants brought out with the family on the ‘Protector’.

 

The family had a disastrous start at Mandurah. In April 1833 Sarah Theodosia Hall returned to England on the Cygnet with her son, Henry Hastings, to further his education at Brill-on-the-Hill in Buckinghamshire, as well as to attend unsuccessfully to some of the family’s financial woes. In November 1834 Sarah Theodosia returned to Perth on the Adams and rejoined her husband in Mandurah, who was struggling to provide for his family and servants using government rations. A local solicitor foreclosed on Henry Edward Hall, forcing them to sell land and possessions to pay the debts. They remained in the cottage, then known as Dedallumup, until 1836, but it remained in family ownership until sold by their son in 1871.  Henry Hastings Hall returned to the cottage after his parents died in the late 1850s and lived there for a time with his new wife, Dora Peel, from 1870.

​

Creditors foreclosed on their property at Mandurah (16,000 acres, plus stock, implements and most possessions), which was sold at auction to pay the substantial debts. They managed to retain the cottage and 200 acres on the Peel Inlet. Possibly to make ends meet, Sarah Theodosia began an involvement with the Perth Hotel in St Georges Terrace, Perth, between 1837 and 1843. At age 19, Sarah Louisa sailed from Fremantle in January 1839, in the care of Sir James and Lady Stirling, who were also on the ship. She remained in London until January 1844, during which time it is presumed that she attended a finishing school. Henry returned to England in June 1841,presumably toi attend the affairs of his father, who died at Shackerstone in December 1841. He returned to the Swan River on The Ganges later that year. He set up a shop in Hay Street, Perth, selling items he brought back with him. Henry Hastings and Sarah Louisa returned to Perth in January 1844.  Henry Hastings Hall had received nearly a decade of education in England, and Sarah about five years. Sarah Louisa had gained sufficient education to enable her to open a small commercial school in Bendigo during the 1860s.

​

In early 1843, Shackerstone was auctioned off for 15,000 pounds, which enabled Henry Edward to pay off his debts and for Sarah Theodosia to quit her role at the hotel. The family had arrived in 1829 with much material wealth and with a fine reputation, but by the 1840s they had been reduced to being hotel managers and storekeepers.  It may have been through local commerce that George Bracher junior got to meet and woo Sarah Louisa Hall.

​

Under normal circumstances in such times, the marriage of an educated daughter of English landed folk to a butcher would have been unusual, but given the severely reduced circumstances of the Hall Family, it is perhaps not so surprising that on June 12th, 1846, Sarah Louisa Hall, 26, teacher of Perth married 30 year old George Bracher, butcher. However, the fact that the couple used the time to get married when her father and eldest brother were back in England might also provide a clue. An article in The Enquirer of July 1st, 1846 read:

​

“ Married

At Perth by the Revered J. Smithies on Friday the 12th of June, George, eldest son of George Bracher, Esq., Secretary to the Wilts and Dorset Banking Company, Salisbury, Wilts, to Sarah Louisa, eldest daughter of Mr Henry Hall, Surgeon, Leicester, and grand daughter of Captain Hall, late of the First Dragoon Guards.”

​

Their first daughter, Sarah Fanny Bracher, was born in July 1847. Sarah Fanny was to become a formidable and influential figure in the Bracher family throughout her adult life.

​

Six years later, in 1852, Henry Edward Hall’s sister, Amelia, emigrated to Sydney with her 15 year old nephew, Ted, and her 16 year old niece, Amy. The children’s father, Thomas Octavia Moore Hall, had died of TB at age 32, leaving his sister to raise the children. For many decades Aunt Amelia in Sydney figured prominently in the life of the Bracher family, especially in the raising and education of George and Sarah’s first born, Sarah Fanny.

 

Economic conditions in Western Australia were still poor throughout the 1840s, which may have prompted George Bracher to look beyond the seas to secure his young family’s future. However, it is just as probable that it was George’s restless spirit that saw him sail on The Arpentuer for Mauritius on September 10th, 1847. This was about a year after he had married and leaving behind his two month old daughter and wife. Sarah Louisa and Sarah Fanny followed him on The Waterlilly 18 months later, in March 1849. Mauritius had been conquered by the British in 1810 and had quickly become an important trading port with Australia, based on the importation of Mauritian sugar. The comings and goings of vessels from Mauritius were a regular feature in the Perth papers of that time.

 

It seems likely that a gentleman by the name of Pratt may have influenced him in the move to Mauritius. Pratt had been a neighbour in Guildford several years before and had a well-established business as a storekeeper and ironmonger before George had arrived there. He owned a vessel that traded between Perth and Mauritius. Another theory is that the master of the ship that brought Pratt to the colony, James Dempster, may have influenced George.  Dempster was apparently a colourful character with a liking for adventure. He traded between Perth and Mauritius in the 1830s with his schooner Mary Anne. In those early days there was only a very infrequent direct service between England and the colony. All supplies and mails for Perth were trans-shipped at Mauritius. Sugar, tea, coffee and rum could also be bought there at very fair prices, so the island became important to the young colony. According to modern day historian of Australian-Mauritian relations, Dr. Edward Duyker, there were also strong connections between the island and the English counties of Dorset and Cornwall. The suggestion, therefore, to head for Mauritius may even have come through George’s family back in Wiltshire, or perhaps George’s previous knowledge of the geographic connection.

 

George, Sarah and young Fanny lived in the highland town of Beau Bassin while on the island. Sarah Louisa described herself on her marriage certificate as a school teacher, and she may have taught while on the island. George may also have held positions in schools because was known by some people as “the professor”. Whether this was because of any teaching ability, or because of his manner and personality, we do not know. Indeed, the Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australia does note George Bracher as a school teacher on Mauritius, but  a November 1852 letter from his half-brother, John Howes Bracher in Wiltshire, to George on Mauritius mentions in passing that “…I was glad to hear that you had given up your berth at the Mauritius, as I had judged from the tenor of your former letters that “nigger-driving” was not in accordance with your feelings; indeed that a man could take delight in search a course must have rather a harder heart than I give you credit for…”. This may imply that George was involved for at least part of his time on the island in the management of an enterprise that used Mauritian slave labour. While slavery had ended there in 1835, the slaves were replaced by indentured labourers from India. Indentured labour was common in colonial times. Some of the contracts were similar to apprenticeships, while the terms of others were often imposed on criminals whose sentences were commuted if they agreed to colonial indenture.

​

We have scant information about George and Sarah's time on Mauritius. In September 1848, George was involved in a skirmish with a local police officer, while trying to recover an overdue loan provided to the Sergeant. Perhaps indicative of George's standing in the community, the unpleasant matter was resolved in George's favour through the intervention of the Governor of Mauritius, Field Marshall Sir William Gomm.

 

While on Mauritius a second daughter, Ellen Theodosia, was born to George and Sarah in 1852. She was named Theodosia after her maternal grandmother. Shortly after the birth, George decided to return with his family to Australia. The discovery of the rich gold diggings at Ballarat in 1852 had created world news and it is, therefore, not surprising that George’s intention was not to return to Perth, but to Melbourne.

 

“…I am but little surprised that your intentions were to sail for Melbourne on the 16th July as I fully expected that the news of gold diggings with their successful issues at Australia would reach you and I never considered your occupation at the Mauritius or the climate were desirable for you or your wife and family and as in all probability Sarah will have the opportunity of seeing her friends and relatives again it will I think be altogether more comfortable for you all, and I sincerely hope that it may be instrumental in your return to England again should you be desirous to do so…I think I told you in my last that Sarah’s aunt and two cousins had left England for Sydney in January…It was indeed a great and hazardous undertaking for Miss Hall to go out but her strength of mind when engaged in any matter or thing very soon smooths the rugged parts when they can be subdued…if you meet with Miss Hall give my kind regards to her…” (George Bracher Snr to George Bracher, September 1852)

​

On September 6th 1852, George, Sarah, Fanny and baby Ellen arrived in Melbourne (from Mauritius) aboard the “Rival”. The town of 80,000 people was in the grip of gold fever and many of the newly arrived had to be accommodated under canvas in the swampy area south of the Yarra River. Historian Geoffrey Blainey paints a picture of what those arriving by sea would have viewed upon entering Hobsons Bay.

 

“ From the incoming ship, Melbourne came into view….probably not one of its buildings was more than three storeys high. Few trees could be seen, for most of the native trees had been chopped down, and the newly planted European trees were still saplings. The main objects visible on Melbourne’s skyline were deep sea ships anchored close together near Williamstown and Port Melbourne.

 

“ So meagre were the city’s wharves and piers that they could accommodate few of the ships arriving in the bay. So the passengers were ferried ashore in steam tugs and little passenger vessels, and perhaps a day or two later their luggage followed them in barges and lighters, to be piled up on the wharves.

 

“Melbourne town straggled along the north bank of the Yarra River. Stately houses stood close to huts with open fireplaces. Horse stables were dotted along the city’s lanes. At night, hobbled bullocks grazed close to the dray they had hauled down from the goldfields.” (Reflections: 150 Years of History, The Age, 2004)

​

The Brachers travelled on the Rival as steerage passengers, which probably indicates that they had not prospered in Mauritius. This situation is also alluded to in a character reference for George from the Secretary to the Education Committee in Mauritius, J.M. de Voux:

 

“I have known Mr Brecher upwards of four years and, having had frequent opportunities of forming a high appreciation of his moral character, conduct and general abilities, I have never hesitated, nor do I hesitate now in recommending him as an intelligent, active, industrious and perfectly upright person, and, as such, as worth the entire confidence of his employers. Mr Brecher belongs to a highly respectable family in England and has seen better days, but circumstances over which he has had no control have, for sometime past, reduced his means and compel him now to try his fortune in a more congenial sphere of activity. I have not the least doubt that, wherever his lot may be caste, he will conciliate (??) the esteem and confidence of all luck (??) as may avail themselves of his services”.