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Title
Date(s)
- 1835 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
1 volume
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
James Ross (1786-1838), teacher and editor, was baptized on 4 January 1787 at Aberdeen, Scotland, the third son of Alexander Ross, writer to the signet, and his wife Catharine, née Morrison. He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen (M.A., 1803; LL.D., 1818) and conducted a school first at Sevenoaks, Kent, and then at Sunbury, Middlesex, where he married Susannah, née Smith. He won great esteem as a schoolmaster but by 1822 was in financial difficulties and in poor health. He decided to emigrate to Van Diemen's Land and make a home there for his rapidly growing family, to farm and to teach a few pupils.
Supported by a recommendation from Lachlan Macquarie to Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell and with a capital of £1309, including books worth £100, he arrived at Hobart Town in the Regalia in December 1822 and in January was granted 1000 acres (405 ha) on the River Shannon.
For more information see: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ross-james-2607
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
A gift to the Royal Society of Tasmania , 7 September 1938 from Henry S Wyndham
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Includes a list of the 'Civil Establishment of Van Diemen's Land and its dependencies'; a list of the 'Military'; a list of 'Public Institutions'; a 'Return of convicts'; list and description of 'Newspapers and Journals published in Hobart Town'; an 'Index Plantarum, or an attempt towards a popular description of some of the most common and remarkable indigenous plants of Van Diemen's Land' [pp.61-114]; 'A shred of autobiography, containing various anecdotes, personal and historical, connected with these colonies' [by Jorgen Jorgensen - pp.115-180).
Includes also a 'Chronological view of events in Van Diemen's Land and other parts of the world, during the last two years'; an alphabetical 'Directory of the district of Hobart Town taken from the Jury List' ; a list of shipping arrivals and departures at Hobart for 1834; an essay on Circular Head by James Ross, addressed to Edward Curr Esq.
Annual first published in 1829 as 'Hobart Town Almanack' and continued until 1838 with variant titles: 'Van Diemen's Land Annual and Hobart Town Almanack', 'Ross's Van Diemen's Land Annual and Hobart-Town Almanack', 'Ross's Hobart Town Almanack, and Van Diemen's Land Annual', "Elliston's Hobart Town Almanack and Ross's Van Diemen's Land Annual'.
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Conditions governing reproduction
This material is made available for personal research and study purposes under the University of Tasmania Standard Copyright Licence. For any further use permission should be obtained from the copyright owners. For assistance please contact Special.Collections@utas.edu.au
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Dates of creation revision deletion
2020
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Text
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application/pdf