From convict to gentleman: the hard but honourable life of William Baxter

When William Baxter was 17, he broke into a house in Suffolk, England, and stole 11 gold sovereigns. 

He was caught, sentenced to 14 years, and sent to the notorious convict hulk HMS Leviathan where he spent the next seven months before his transportation to Australia in 1828, aboard the convict ship Phoenix. Fellow convict, James Couch, who would also end up in Shellharbour, was aboard the same ship.

William was five feet, seven inches (about 170cm) tall. He had brown hair, grey eyes and a ruddy complexion. 

At the time, those who were given the toughest sentences were often given the toughest assignments. William was sent to the Government Road Gang #21 to undertake hard labour. His trade in England was a lath renderer, or plasterer. As part of the road gang, William probably cleared dense bush and scrub, sawed timber and helped build infrastructure for the colony. He spent about nine years here, before receiving his Ticket of Leave in February 1837.

A Ticket of Leave was like an early form of parole. Those who showed good behaviour were allowed to leave government service, work for their own money and own property, but they still had to follow a strict set of rules: William had to stay in the set Police District of Illawarra, regularly check in with the local magistrate, and carry his ticket with him at all times.

William lived at James Robb’s Riversdale Estate at Jamberoo where he worked, clearing, sawing and fencing. In 1840, he married Mary Martin, granddaughter of another local convict, David Nowland. Soon after, they moved to Shellharbour. 

Here, William turned to seafaring, all self-taught. He worked on a ketch called Bee, trading between Kiama and Sydney. In 1845, he was master of the ketch Alexander, and established himself as a respected mariner along the south coast. At a time when there were few reliable roads in the district, coastal shipping was the lifeblood of the region. 

During the 1840s, William helped Caroline Chisholm, who brought some of the first European families to settle at Shellharbour on clearing leases. He transported wattle bark to Sydney for sale on their behalf, providing at least a meagre wage for them to survive on.

For the next 30 years, William plied the trade between Sydney , Bellambi, Wollongong. Shellharbour, Kiama, and Gerringong. He loaded goods from the shore before a jetty was built at Shellharbour in 1859, and commanded several vessels including Amphitrite, William and Ann, Dairymaid and Peterborough Lass. Eventually, Baxter’s line was absorbed into the Shellharbour Steam Navigation Company.

William and Mary had a family of six: William, James, Sarah, Teresa, Mary and David. The family lived in a hut near the harbour in what is today, Little Park. Their daughter Mary died in 1858 when she was just five days old. 

In 1876, William lost his wife to typhoid fever at the age of 53. Around the same time, he began losing his sight to cataracts. The community raised £25 at a testimonial held in his honour, a sign of the respect and affection in which he was held. He later became completely blind.

For decades before his death in 1888, William connected isolated communities, delivered their produce to Sydney markets, carried news and passengers, and helped Illawarra settlers advance and prosper. 

In his obituary in the Illawarra Mercury on 21 August 1888, it was said: "By the death of this gentleman, a conspicuous land mark of the district has been removed. He was associated with the progress of Shellharbour almost from its germ, and may be said to have established the navigation between that shipping port and Sydney."

Not bad for a convict. Baxter Lane in Shellharbour, is named in his honour.

To find about more about the history of Shellharbour City, visit Shellharbour City Museum’s online platform, Discover Shellharbour