Alfred William Howitt (1830-1908)

ABSTRACT

As an individual I'm uncertain as to why we remember these figures and their achievements, because we really have no idea about the complete person. Not that we have any better knowledge of anyone, even one quite close to us and a long time of our acquaintance. Was Howitt a kind and caring man, and thought of in that way by his wife and children and his peers, or just one that was able to draw, organise or make his mark amongst his peers to the extent that they placed him in positions they didn't want to populate or occupy themselves. Were those who bestowed upon him the responsibilities of the position he was given, really just using him to their own ends. Possibly to curtail any advancement by him that would hinder their own.

These are questions that we will never answer with any accuracy, yet we want him remembered for his contribution? Like Ned Kelly is also remembered for his contribution of making an area that he frequented known and place it on a modern map?

There is some evidence that the man whose reputation is from Snowy River and made famous by Banjo Patterson, himself famous for his writings, buried his sister in the Cassilis cemetery. Or even someone possibly mistaken for that man or a relation for that man is buried in the cemetery, but to what good? So that people may walk over the ground under which lies another man who was eulogised in verse? Possibly because he was the only one who came to the notice of one who was good with words and had a talent of rhyme and was therefore able to spin a tale that would excite the minds of those whose life seemed not as big as this appeared?

We have to wonder if Howitt should be remembered any more than the average miner who was working in the tunnels and stopes of the King Cassilis mine and made one woman or their children happy, or one hotel licensee wealthy with the wage that he passed over the bar?

But because he was better known and held a position of a higher rank than the average miner, butcher or baker. An employee of the government is maybe the reason we remember him. But mainly because he was widely known outside the Cassilis area.

Alfred William Howitt (1830-1908)

There are many memorials of one kind or another to Alfred William Howitt. The Cassilis Recreation Reserve Committee of Management decided that there should be some reference of Howitt at the reserve, as the Omeo Goldfields of which he was appointed Magistrate and warden, probably also encompassed Cassilis. In this the 150th year of the date that Howitt was appointed Magistrate and warden of the Omeo Goldfields it seems appropriate to place something about him on these pages.

Alfred William Howitt (1830-1908), by Batchelder & O'Neill
La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria, H25326

It should be noted that a Howitt oak, though still small, was planted at the Cassilis Recreation Reserve in 2012 with the purpose of remembrance of Alfred William Howitt, another of the people that contributed to the area around it. Coincidentaly the area for which Howitt was responsible, is said to cover 150 square miles on the 150th anniversary of his appointment to the Omeo region.

Howitt born at Nottingham, England on 17 April 1830 to Quaker parents William Howitt and his wife Mary, née Botham. The Quaker connection seems to be of little interest to most chroniclers of his life and times, yet it appears to be important. That upbringing would have set in place much of what he actually did.

From:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/5741198?searchTerm=Howitt%20AND%20%22magistrate%20howitt%22%20AND%20%28warden%20OR%20howitt%29&searchLimits=exactPhrase=magistrate+howitt|||anyWords=warden+howitt|||notWords|||l-textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromdd|||frommm|||fromyyyy|||todd|||tomm|||toyyyy|||l-word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||sortby#pstart209118

THE GAZETTE. Saturday 19 December 1863

The following notifications appeared in the Gazette of yesterday :

TERRITORIAL MAGISTRATE.- -Alfred William Howitt, Esq.

POLICE MAGISTRATE, WARDEN, AND CORONER.-Alfred William Howitt, Esq., J. P., to be a police magistrate anti warden of the colony of Victoria, and also to be a coroner of Victoria, and to act at Omeo in those several capacities, vice W. H. Foster, Esq., transferred.

3.1 Cite:

Article identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5741198

Page identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page209118

APA citation

THE GAZETTE. (1863, December 19). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), p. 5. Retrieved March 28, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5741198

MLA citation

"THE GAZETTE." The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956) 19 Dec 1863: 5. Web. 28 Mar 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5741198>.

Harvard/Australian citation

1863 'THE GAZETTE.', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), 19 December, p. 5, viewed 28 March, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5741198

Wikipedia citation

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5741198 |title=THE GAZETTE. |newspaper=[[The_Argus_(Australia)|The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956)]] |location=Melbourne, Vic. |date=19 December 1863 |accessdate=28 March 2013 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Much About Howitt

Much has been written about Howitt, his organisational skills, artistic ability and such things, and an odd journal entry. But can we know the man from these? They are but the skeleton of the person, and not the fleshed out persona and character of a man of his time. His known achievements were many.

More information can be gleaned here:
Australian Dictionary of Biography