ST. LEONARD'S: THE PROPERTY OF E. P. BARRETT LENNARD ESQUIRE, SWAN RIVER, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, c.1840S
Artist Unknown
watercolour and ink on paper laid on card
46.0 x 41.0 cm (irregular)
signed with monogram lower left: W
inscribed with title on old label verso: ST. LEONARD’S: THE PROPERTY OF E.P. BARRETT LENNARD ESQUIRE / SWAN RIVER / WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Bonhams, London
Company collection, Melbourne
Edward Pomeroy Barrett Lennard (1799 - 1878) arrived at the Swan River colony 23 June 1829 on board the Marquis of Anglesea. He was 30 years old, unmarried, with little farming experience but considerable financial resources. He was accompanied by six servants and assets including farm animals and equipment.
In September 1829 Barrett Lennard accompanied Governor James Sterling with other prospective grantees, on an expedition up the Swan River to inspect available land. In October 1829 he was granted 2,906 acres on the West side of the Swan River and he quickly established a residence there. By December 1829 he was residing on the farm which he named St. Leonards after a small town in Sussex on the English Channel.
Barrett Lennard was soon one of the leading citizens in the small community of Guildford. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Guildford district in December 1829 and a commanding officer of the Voluntary Yeomanry in 1831. The latter position was to 'help settlers cope with the Aboriginal problem'. The corps was soon disbanded and the Aboriginal people fled to land not yet occupied by white settlers.
Barrett Lennard left the colony for England in August 1836 and returned in May 1839 with his new wife Elizabeth Frances Graham and first child. Elizabeth returned to England in 1854 with her four youngest children leaving the two eldest boys with their father at St. Leonards.
At his peak, Barrett Lennard's land holdings comprised 30,000 acres in the Swan and Avon valleys with a horse stud and cattle holdings. He also imported merino sheep and grew wheat. St. Leonard's homestead was the centre of his farming ventures but in 1841 was burnt down. The new home and buildings depicted in this watercolour were rebuilt on the same site soon afterwards.
Much of Barrett Lennard's assets were on borrowed money and by 1866 he was bankrupt. He died in 1878 aged 79.1
1. The above information is quoted from "Register of Heritage Places - Assessment Documentation," Heritage Council of Western Australia, www.register.heritage.wa.gov.au, which sources information from:
Barrett Lennard, D., Edward Pomeroy Barrett-Lennard, Wescolour Press, E. Fremantle, 1985
Bourke, M.J., On the Swan: A History of the Swan District of Western Australia, UWA Press, Perth, 1987
Erikson, R., (ed) Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, UWA Press, Perth, 1987