The Wellington Convict and Mission Site is a heritage-listed former convict agricultural station, Australian Aboriginal mission and cemetery located at Curtis Street, Wellington in the Dubbo Regional Council local government area in New South Wales, Australia. It was built between 1823 and 1844. It is also known as Wellington Convict and Mission Site – Maynggu Ganai, Wellington Valley Settlement, Wellington Aboriginal Mission and Government Farm Site. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 March 2011.
History Wellington was founded as a convict agricultural station in 1823, the only Government settlement after Bathurst, west of the Blue Mountains. In 1827 "special" convicts, i.e. middle class or educated convicts who were thought to be receiving special attention were removed to Wellington to keep them out of sight. By 1831 convicts had erected buildings for the Commandant, military, stores, engineers, blacksmiths, carpenters, government officials and the convicts as well as structures such as a lime kiln and stockyards. From 1825, the settlement also housed the Police Magistrate, several constables and the Mounted Police. In 1831 the convict agricultural station ceased operation leaving behind only a small military presence. The London-based Church Mission Society moved into the settlement to create an Aboriginal mission. The mission was originally attended by two couples Rev William Watson and his wife Ann, who were the first appointed to this position by the London-based office, and Rev Johann Handt, a German missionary with experience in Liberia, and his wife Mary Crook, eldest daughter of the renown South Seas missionary, William Pascoe Cook. The missionaries abandoned the settlement in 1844. The Wellington Valley Settlement Site is located in the valley formed by the junction of the Bell and Macquarie rivers. The original inhabitants of this land are the Wiradjuri people here referred to as the Wellington Wiradjuri. The ethnological and archaeological evidence discussed in the Conservation Management Plan for the Maynggu Ganai Historic Site by Griffin NRM shows that there is considerable evidence of the Wellington Wiradjuri's relationship with the land, which includes the Settlement Site, prior to the arrival of Europeans. The journals kept by the missionaries show that the cultural and material practices of the Indigenous inhabitants were continued after the European settlement was established. In the 1820s settlement by Europeans at Bathurst grew rapidly, the population increased dramatically along with the amount of land occupied and cleared. This caused tensions between Aboriginal people and the colonists, with Governor Brisbane declaring martial law for a period in 1824. Wellington Valley was at this time considered to be the outer limits of the colonial frontier. There was no official settlement in the area apart from some unofficial grazing. A government presence was established at Wellington Valley to provide a secure outpost for further settlement and growth of the colony. The valley was occupied as a convict agricultural station in 1823. Lieutenant Percy Simpson was put in command of establishing the settlement and within three years had cultivated 120 hectares (300 acres) of land and constructed 40 buildings with the labour of 80 convicts. From 1926 the colonial government began winding back the numbers of convicts sent to Wellington with a view to reducing the overall scale of the settlement. This changed when in 1827 the settlement became the destination for difficult convicts or "specials". The treatment of middle or upper class convicts had been of concern to the colonial administration for some time. There was unease that these convicts were given preferential treatment that did not reflect their criminal status. It was recommended by Commissioner Bigge that they be given light work and banished from the centres of population. From 1827 these "special" convicts were sent to Superintendent John Maxwell at the Wellington Valley Settlement. One of the Overseers at the settlement, George Brown, was convicted of the murder of a seven year old Aboriginal girl. Governor Darling insisted Brown be tried: "the natives should be satisfied that whites are made answerable for every outrage committed against them." This was an early instance in Colonial Law where the rights of Aboriginal people were upheld. By 1830 the settlement was becoming "costly and unproductive." There were very few convicts remaining at the settlement and the agriculture station finally ceased operation in December 1830. By comparison with other penal settlements such as Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay or Norfolk Island; Wellington was a small enterprise which had minimal support from the Colonial Office. It was established exclusively as an agricultural enterprise (albeit on a small scale) on the inland frontier of the colony, whereas all the others were on the coast. Part of the settlement continued to be used by the government for military use in order to defend the frontier and provide security in the area. The rest of the settlement was given to the Anglican (London) Church Missionary Society. Augustus Earle, an artist, visited the site in 1826 as part of his travels with the Beagle. He painted Aboriginal people, the Wellington Caves, Government House and the Wellington area. Conrad Martens sketched and painted scenes around Wellington in late 1820s and early 1830s.
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