Enterprize (1829)

Enterprize

The Enterprize at the site of Melbourne
History
United Kingdom
Owner:	John Pascoe Fawkner, April 1835
Builder:	William Pender, Hobart, Tasmania
Launched:	1830
Out of service:	Disappeared from the shipping register in 1847
Fate:	Wrecked on the bar of the Richmond River, northern New South Wales
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	Displacement of 72 tonnes
Length:	27 m (88 ft 7 in) LOA
Beam:	5.4 m (17 ft 9 in)
Sail plan:	Topsail schooner

The topsail schooner, Enterprize, was built in Hobart, Tasmania in 1830 by William Pender. It was used for coastal transport of cargo such as coal, livestock, and supplies.

John Pascoe Fawkner bought the ship in April 1835 for use in his forthcoming settlement activity in Port Phillip Bay, in what was then the southern part of New South Wales. However, the delivery of the vessel was delayed several weeks as the Enterprize was engaged in delivering coal in Newcastle, NSW by the ship owner's agent. On 18 July 1835 Fawkner took possession of the Enterprize in Launceston, Tasmania, for a total of ₤430. The original price of ₤450 being discounted by ₤20 due to the delay.

Fawkner was finally ready to leave for Port Phillip Bay in August 1835, but at the last moment creditors prevented Fawkner from joining the voyage and the expedition set off without him. On board the Enterprize as it departed the Tasmanian port of George Town were Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Fawkner’s representative); George Evans, builder; William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans; and Fawkner’s servants, Charles Wyse, ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary, under Captain Peter Hunter.

On 15 August 1835, the Enterprize entered the Yarra River. After being hauled upstream, she moored at the foot of the present day William Street. On 30 August 1835 the settlers disembarked to build their store and clear land to grow vegetables, and the Enterprize returned to George Town.

Separately, John Helder Wedge, a member of John Batman's Port Phillip Association, had left Launceston on 7 August 1835, to also set up a settlement on what the association claimed as its new lands. By the time Wedge reached the Yarra River, Fawkner's party was already settled.

The Fawkners finally arrived at the new settlement on Friday, 16 October 1835, on the second trip of the Enterprize. Fawkner's diary reads: 'Warped up to the Basin, landed 2 cows, 2 calves and the 2 horses." By that time any special claims that the Port Phillip Association may have had to the land at Port Phillip Bay were dashed by . Though legally Fawkner and Batman and Wedge, and their respective parties, were considered trespassers on Crown land, they remained in the new settlement, which came to be called Melbourne.