Rowland Hassall

Rowland Hassall (1768 – 1820) preacher, landholder
Hassall’s life was said to have been a ‘continued example of religion and piety, extensive benevolence and hospitality’. His voluminous correspondence is one of the main sources for the early social history of New South Wales.

Rowland Hassall (1768-1820), preacher and landholder, was born on 31 March 1768 at Coventry, England, the son of James Hassall. He married Elizabeth Hancox, a silk weaver like himself, and a son Thomas was born in 1794. Both he and his wife were ‘called under one sermon’ preached by Rev. George Burder, and became members of the West Orchard Congregational Church. Hassall founded a Sunday school and was one of the field preachers for whom Burder wrote his famous ‘Village Sermons’. Burder, a director of the (London) Missionary Society, recommended Hassall as an artisan missionary for Tahiti. He described Hassall as ‘a stout young man’ with a ‘rather bold’ disposition who could read and write tolerably well but was ‘rather illiterate than otherwise’. Hassall was accepted as a carpenter and the family sailed for Tahiti in the Duff in 1796. A second son born before they left England was named Samuel Otoo in honour of the Tahitian king.

In 1798 the Hassalls fled to Sydney in a party with their brother-in-law, Rev. James Cover. Hassall received a grant of 100 acres (40 ha) in the Dundas district, which was later greatly augmented. For a time he lived in a house belonging to George Barrington ‘in the North boundary’ where religious services were held. Hassall also assisted in the itinerant ministry established by Cover and William Henry at Toongabbie, Kissing Point and other preaching stations. On Cover’s departure in 1800 Hassall carried on this work single-handed; one special care was the school at Kissing Point under Matthew Hughes, and his pleas for contributions and books received the attention of William Wilberforce. When William Crook arrived at the end of 1803, Hassall shared with him the ministry at Castle Hill.

On Samuel Marsden’s recommendation, in September 1800 Governor Philip Gidley King put Hassall in charge of the granary at Parramatta and the stores at Toongabbie, as government store-keeper. In September 1802 he was discharged for ‘not having discovered the constant Frauds practised by Repeated Forgeries of the Deputy Commissary of Parramatta’s initials’, but he continued to be provided from the stores in return for performing church services in the neighbouring districts. In March 1804 he was a sergeant in the Loyal Parramatta Association of Volunteers. Some time after moving from Barrington’s farm to Parramatta Hassall had opened a store. He ran the sheep of other flockmasters besides his own, borrowed a Spanish ram from Marsden to cross with his ewes, managed the property of Mrs King and during Marsden’s absence acted as his agent and managed his property. By 1808 Hassall had acquired 1300 acres (526 ha) of land, including a grant of 400 acres (162 ha) on the Nepean at Camden. In 1814 he was appointed superintendent of government stock, thus acquiring management of the Cowpastures, the most extensive run in the colony.

During William Bligh’s régime Hassall began to minister to the Calvinistic Methodist and Presbyterian settlers at Portland Head on the Hawkesbury, and in 1808 he helped them to build a Dissenting chapel (since 1824 exclusively Presbyterian) on land given by Owen Cavanough. He was a supporter of Bligh, but despite interrogation by the military officers he continued to preach there until the appointment of Rev. John Youl in 1809. He then extended his preaching labours to Liverpool until he was succeeded there too by Youl as Anglican clergyman.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hassall-rowland-2166

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/hassall_rowland

Rowland Hassall – A pioneer colonist
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16439061
– and
https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I69286/Rowland-Hassall⁷

Rowland Hassall School
https://rowlandhas-s.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Thomas Hassall
Thomas Hassall (1794-1868), Anglican clergyman, was born on 29 May 1794, at Coventry, England, the eldest child of Rowland Hassall and his wife Elizabeth, née Hancox. He accompanied his parents to Tahiti in the Duff in 1796.
https://atributetoaustralianchristians.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/thomas-hassall/

Samuel Marsden
https://atributetoaustralianchristians.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/samuel-marsden/

Joseph Orton
https://atributetoaustralianchristians.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/joseph-orton/
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