Nothing is known of William Henry JOHNSON prior to 1839 when his journal states “In May 1839, I was appointed Corporal by Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, and took charge of six border police, and marched overland to Melbourne. Arrived on the 13th of June in the same year … On arrival I reported to Captain William LONSDALE … I drilled the men and attended as orderly to Captain LONSDALE at Batman’s Hill until the arrival of Sir Charles Joseph LATROBE and the chief Commissioner of Crownlands. Then I was transferred to the Governor and acted as his mounted orderly at Batman’s Hill, my chief duty was to patrol the County for the protection of the squatters and their shepherds.”
His journal does not mention where he was born or how he arrived in Australia but an article written for ARMY by Cpl Chris Black of Army Public Relations (Trove: Australian Army (National: 1959 -1980) Thu 26 May 1966 Page 2) says “WOl Bill Johnson, RSM, HQ Eastern Command has a biography written more than 100 years ago by his great-grandfather Sgt William Henry JOHNSON. Sgt JOHNSON was transferred in the British Army to Australia in early1839 when the colony was beginning to flourish.”
JOHNSON’S journal tells of his experiences from 1839 to 1873 including arresting aboriginal men for robbery in the Western Port District in 1839, cutting the first track into Gippsland from Western Port Bay in 1840, bringing the murderer of 2 shepherds in DUTTON and DARLOW’s station on the Campaspe River in 1841 to trial and in the same year, exploring the Mallee Wimmera area and presenting his findings to the Chief Commissioner and the Governor. The journal tells how “the blacks had robbed Mr. CLARKE’s Lower Plains station of all the rations and had driven away 3000 of the sheep.” They tracked down the offenders and Johnson was speared in the leg during the melee. He saved the Chief Commissioner’s life and they recognised “my valuable service by raising my pay 2p per day. In September 1843 news came to Melbourne that a man named SIMPSON had been murdered near Buninyong by a man named WAIN who had burned the body in a hollow log.” Again, Sgt JOHNSON tracked down his man. WAIN was brought to Melbourne, committed, tried and found guilty of wilful murder and subsequently paid the penalty of his crime by being hanged. In 1843, JOHNSON arrested an escapee from Adelaide gaol who had been charged with arson.
“JOHNSON excelled in tracking and the traps he devised to snare the defaulters could be envied by todays police force” wrote Corporal Black. “Perhaps his most bizarre case was in January 1844 when a young squatter named BEVERIDGE had been speared to death by aboriginals at his homestead near the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers … The only witness was BEVERIDGE‘s shepherd, a man named RILEY, who had hidden terrified under a sofa while the aborigines killed his master and ransacked the homestead. Taking RILEY and two troopers, Sgt JOHNSON set out to track down the aboriginal tribe and arrest three warriors who had committed the murder. Johnson’s method of capturing the murderers involved a cunning plan and once the prisoners were secured, they travelled to Melbourne … where they lodged the prisoners in the Western lockup. Next day they were committed for trial, and in a week two of them were tried and found guilty and subsequently hanged. The third was not executed but kept in goal until the others were hanged. He saw them hanged and was then set at liberty to go back and tell the tribes what he had seen.” For this capture JOHNSON said “I was greatly praised by the country and the press.”
JOHNSON’S diary also states … “in Melbourne Sir John FRANKLIN and Governor LATROBE complimented me as a bushman, and said I was the best in the colony, and I don’t think a man can be found in either of the colonies who has done so much for the settlement of a country or who has so repeatedly risked his life in trying to make this a home for hundreds of thousands of people. I was twice wounded during my experiences of service under Government. I claim to be the first white man who ever discovered coal on the surface at Cape Patterson and brought specimens into Melbourne and gave them to Governor LATROBE at Batman’s Hill in the year 1839.”
William was mentioned in an article in The Sydney Morning Herald Wed 6 Jan 1847 Page 2 “Sergeant William JOHNSON of the Mounted Police has received a free pardon for the activity displayed by him in the capture of the murderers of Mr. BEVERIDGE. (Trove newspapers online)
“At the end of 1846 the Border Police was disbanded and the native police force reduced in number, there being only a few retained as trackers. My chief officer, Mr. F. A. POWLETT, retired from the service, and went home to England; I resigned and left the Government service.” (Johnson’s Journal)
William Henry JOHNSON married Elizabeth Ann WILSON (also known as Eliza) on 11 August 1848 at St Francis church Melbourne. (BDM Vic certificate 572/1848).
“In 1853 I joined the first volunteer artillery corps established here under the captaincy of Mr. Rodan Green. I drilled some of the first cadets at Essendon. In the service I remained until 1862, when I entered the public works department as overseer in the construction of bridges on the Yarra track, under Mr. Clement Wilks, chief engineer. I continued in the Public Works department until 1866, when, in consequence of the deadlock during the regime of the Mc Culloch administration, I retired. In 1869 I entered the service of O’ Grady, Layett and Noonan, as overseer on the North Eastern railway. And in 1871 I re-entered the Public Works Department under Mr. George Burnley, chief inspector of the department at Williamstown, and I remained at this until 1873, when I was appointed one of the first foresters, and took charge of the Victoria State Forest on the 1st of October 1873 having held this appointment until the present.” (Johnson’s Journal)
The Argus 21 April page 11 1883 reported “William JOHNSON, forester at Buangor, to be a Crown lands bailiff.”
1890 Select Committee into who discovered gold first in Bendigo – The Government was offering £1000 for discovery of gold at Bendigo. One of those who made a claim was William Henry JOHNSON who was living at Longwarry at the time. He says “… he was with the Lands Department and served stock assessments to the squatters every year. I had been Government orderly to Governor LA TROBE. I came from Sydney in 1838. I brought my gold to Melbourne and showed my wife and her mother and we made up a party [Johnson, Wilson and Robert Kennedy] to go to Bendigo.”- September 1851. William Henry JOHNSON’s claim was unsuccessful as the Committee found “that due to the length of time from the discovery of gold at Bendigo it would be very difficult now to ascertain who the actual discoverer was.”
William Henry JOHNSON’s death was announced in The Leader 17 January 1891 page 3
JOHNSON – On the 11th January, at Joyce’s Creek railway station, William Henry Johnson, late Crown lands bailiff, of Buangor, father of J. W. Johnson, station master Joyce’s Creek railway station, aged 76 years.
William was buried at the Newstead cemetery on 12 January 1891 (findagrave.com). Eliza JOHNSON died at Ringwood in 1886 aged 56. She was born in Norfolk, England, her parents were James Wilson and Annie Walton. (BDM Vic 10752/1886)
William and Eliza had the following issue;
1.William Henry JOHNSON bc.1860 d 1861 at Essendon aged 7 months (BDM Vic 635/1861)
2.James Wilson JOHNSON b. 1861 Melbourne (BDM Vic 11884/1861), died in 1923 (BDM Vic 4155/1923) Ballarat East Victoria aged 63. I have not been able to find a marriage between James Wilson JOHNSON and Mary Carroll, but they had the following issue; 1889 William Henry JOHNSON /1892 Mary Elizabeth JOHNSON / 1893 Raymond James JOHNSON/ 1896 Maurice Wilson JOHNSON / 1898 John Thomas JOHNSON / 1899 Alice Ellen JOHNSON / 1904 Michael Leonard JOHNSON / 1907 Eugenie Mary JOHNSON / 1912 Agnes Jean JOHNSON. Mary died in 1933 and is buried with James at the New Ballarat Cemetery.
A copy of the hand-written journal of Sgt. William Henry JOHNSON was donated to the PPPG library by his Great Great Grandson Paul SMITH PPG Member No. 1362. Susanne WHEELAHAN Member No. 1555 has kindly transcribed the journal, and the full version can be found at the following link on the PPPG website.
Contributed by Dianne Wheeler PPPG Member No 1505