Henry Dangar, first surveyor
Henry Dangar (right) was responsible for imposing some discipline on the legal situation with regard to land in the early years of European settlement in the Maitland area.
The original allotments, given in 1812 and 1818 to the first settlers at Paterson’s Plains and Wallis Plains respectively, were without stable tenure and were highly informal, even irregular in their establishment: they were all about 30 acres (12 hectares) in size but none had clearly defined boundaries. It was Dangar, 11 years after the first settlers had taken up their blocks at Paterson’s Plains, who surveyed their holdings, established proper boundaries and conducted an inventory of the improvements the settlers had made. He did the same at Wallis Plains. He also surveyed and mapped much of the rest of the Hunter Valley.
The surveys
The need for the survey grew from the demands imposed by the increasing European population of the area and the realisation that some order in the management of land resources was essential. People were looking for work and property in Wallis Plains, soon to become recognisable as a town, or travelling to the upper Hunter and beyond to establish their own holdings. From 1821 the through traffic grew rapidly, and road allotments had to be provided, land management realities recognised (land was being bought and sold without clear title) and government purposes (including military posts, churches and village reserves) accommodated.
Adjustments to the existing holdings were required, with compensation (in the form of additional land) provided to those whose lands and livelihoods were affected. Some settlers appear to have been given more land because they had been successful with what they had originally been given: presumably they were seen as good bets.
Dangar’s first surveys were carried out in 1822, accompanied by the compilation of an inventory of the improvements that had been made by the original, mostly convict, settlers. At Wallis Plains Dangar assessed these improvements (habitations, barns, fences, crops and livestock) as amounting to £664/10s on a total land area of 817 acres ꟷ already more than double the total area of the initial grants. Clearly, the settlers had been able to take advantage of the lax conditions of their occupation of Wallis Plains to acquire additional land.
John Eckford’s original 30 acres, for example, had become 40, and the improvements he had made (a barn, cottage, garden and orchard) were assessed as having a total value of £35. Dangar recognised the increased land Eckford was farming and allowed him more: his allotment was increased to 100 acres. Patrick Maloney’s farm of 26 acres became 53.5 while William Jones’ holding was increased to 100 acres from 36. Increases in allocations were common.
At Paterson’s Plains, Dangar found that John Swan, an original settler from 1812, was working 57 acres with improvements assessed at £50/6/. Benjamin Davis had only 23 acres near Old Banks but the value of the improvements he had made was estimated at £40. A neighbour of Davis, Dr William Evans, had cleared about 70 acres of a property he called Bellevue and he was allowed an additional 1000.
Dangar’s life and work
Born in Cornwall, England, Dangar had arrived in New South Wales in 1821 and quickly obtained employment as Assistant Government Surveyor under John Oxley. He soon laid out the road network of Newcastle, marked the overland route to Wallis Plains and beyond, and set aside land for public purposes. He then explored and surveyed the upper Hunter and areas west of the Great Divide, bestowing Cornish names on localities and features. His reports on the quality of the land he surveyed caused rushes of applicants for land grants.
Most importantly, Dangar laid the survey foundation for the granting of large estates throughout the Hunter Valley: these were to open up the rich mostly floodplain land around Maitland and further up the valley to agriculture. His inventories of Paterson’s Plains and Wallis Plains, the survey record of the holdings there and the maps he drew of the Hunter became important historical documents.
Eventually Dangar fell foul of the law when he allocated himself land: an enquiry found this had involved a misuse of his powers. Dismissed in 1827 and with his holdings confiscated, he returned to England but came back to work as a surveyor for the Australian Agricultural Company in the Port Stephens area. Over time he obtained several large holdings including Neotsfield at Whittingham, near Singleton, and he became a magistrate and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. His station near Inverell was the site of the Myall Creek massacre in 1838.
Henry Dangar died in 1861 and he was buried in a family crypt at All Saints Anglican Church, Singleton. By his work he had begun the imposition of order on the chaotic situation that had developed as far as land resources were concerned. His name is commemorated in Mount Dangar, Dangar Falls and Dangarsleigh.
References
Gray, Nancy, ‘Dangar, Henry (1796-1861)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 1, 1966.
Hunter, Cynthia, Bound for Wallis Plains: Maitland’s Convict Settlers, Maitland City Council, Maitland, 2012.,
Keys, Chas, ‘Our past: Henry Dangar, surveyor of Maitland, put land in order’, Maitland Mercury, 24 May 2020.
