Manasseh Ward - the not so wild colonial boy

Manasseh Ward 1911

Manasseh Ward was one of the most prominent men of his time in Gosford. During his lifetime, Gosford was a country town still steeped in the pioneering traditions of the Australian Bush. Manasseh's life stands as a bridge between the convict era of colonial New South Wales and the Commonwealth of Australia that we know today.

Manasseh was born on 25 August 1851 at Killcare. His parents were both former convicts who were by that time free and well established in the area. They had a thriving timber business and a small sailing ship trading to Sydney every week. Manasseh was their seventh child and their second son. Their home was near present day Killcare, but at that time it did not have a name and was usually called 'Near the Heads'. William had lived there for about 25 years, 14 years with Catherine. There were six older children who were all living when Manasseh was born.

Manasseh was baptised at Kincumber on 23 November 1851 by Rev Alfred Glennie, the newly appointed Church of England Minister for the Brisbane Water district and Kincumber was the nearest church to Killcare. In neat, legible writing Glennie recorded that the 'Abode' of the parents was 'Near the Heads',  and the 'Quality or profession' of the father was 'Mariner'. The column heading for father's occupation  is evocative of the times, where the upper class did not have an occupation, and their 'Quality' would shown as 'Gentleman'. The implication is that people with a trade were of lower 'quality'.

Manasseh had one older brother, four years older, named Ephraim. There is little doubt that the parents, William and Catherine, drew inspiration from the bible in naming the two boys. In biblical tradition Manasseh and Ephraim were the sons of Joseph (of the coat of many colours story) and it was a blessing to say 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh'. In an interesting aside, in the Bible, Manasseh is the elder of the two brothers, but Ephraim was given precedence because his grandfather prophesied that Ephraim would be the greater of the two. 

Shortly after Manasseh was born the family moved to live at Kincumber. Many years later, Ephraim recalled the moving day:

The little vessel was brought into commission and loaded two days before the real shift. On that eventful morning she sailed; but there was an overland party as well, with the small folk and two horses. We all arrived safe and sound at new house – new to us, but old as buildings go – and very glad we were to be at the journeys end.

Manasseh and his brother learned bushcraft at the feet of their father who was practised in the arts of both the bush and the sea. But it is likely that they also learned from the indigenous people who were still living in the area. There are several mentions in the history books that Darkinjung man Billy Falkner was a trusted employee of the Ward family and 'helped raise the children'. (Charles Swanscott attributes Billy's employment to Manasseh, but Billy died before Manasseh had children, so he must have been working for William and Catherine). Ephraim and his older sister Mary Anne both wrote stories about the aboriginal people that suggest to me at least that they were familiar and possibly friendly with the first people of their area.

Whatever the source of Manasseh's knowledge, he grew up to be a superb bushman who had a deep love for the Brisbane Water and Gosford district. He would have had a number of options when it came to choosing his path in life. His father's business interests and contacts included farming, timer-getting, timer milling, timer trading, and coastal shipping. Ship building was also an option, with several of his older sisters marrying into the prominent shipbuilding families in Brisbane Water. Ephraim trained as a shipwright under their brother-in-law Rock Davis.

But Manasseh loved the heavy horse and bullock teams that dragged freshly-cut timber from the dense bush to the loading points on the waterfront where it was loaded onto small sailing vessels for transport to Sydney. He became well known in the district for his skill with horses.

Manasseh was 24 when his father died. He was still living with his mother at the family home at Kincumber. If family stories are correct, within a few months of his father's death, Manasseh went to the rescue of a young woman on a nearby property who had been trapped up a tree by a bull. The young woman was a widow named Madeline Keele (nee Henderson) who would later become his wife. When it became clear that Manasseh and Madeline would marry, Catherine gave Manasseh the old family property at Killcare on the understanding that this was to be his only inheritance from his mother and father's estate when the time came.