Alexander Bunn HADEN [24561]

  General Notes:

Alexander Bunn Haden
Baptism Date:17 Mar 1841
Baptism Place:All Saints Church, Derby, Derbyshire, England
Father:Richard Wright Haden
Mother:Elizabeth Haden
FHL Film Number:1041144

Alexander Bunn Haden
AgeFull Age
Marital statusBachelor
OccupationCoffee Planter
Marriage year1876
Marriage day12
Marriage monthJan
PlaceClifton & Compton Holy Trinity
Spouse's namesHolland Rachel Rhoda
Father's nameRichard Wright Haden
Father's occupationWine Merchant
WitnessessElizabeth Lillie/Wm Richard Holland/Thomas William Holland
SignedSigned
By banns or licenceBanns
ResidenceWhitby
CountryEngland Derbyshire Marriages

Alexander a coffee planter in Shri Lanka moved to Tasmania with Sydney Hope Unwin in 1883.

Nigel Mercer writes (2021) that he now owns part of the block of farm land, in Upper Brid Rd Springfield, bought jointly by Alexander Haden & Sydney Unwin in 1883. At that time the land, named Brid Farm, was covered with a dense forest of myrtle beech, they were the first settlers who cleared and farmed it. Myrtle beech enjoyed a damp cool climate in the 19thC but today (2021) global warminng and drought have made it rare.

Alexander moved to a well paid job with the Civil Service in Hobart and on 27 Sep 1900 sold his share of the land to Unwin.

Tasmanian Electoral Roll 1919 records Alexander as a clerk living at 5 Melville St, Dennison Hobart Central.

Image of land courtesy of Nigel Mercer 2021

  Research Notes:

Dorset Tasmania History Society.
Tuesday, 29 June 2021 Page 3 of 4

Daily Telegraph (Launceston)
13 aug 1883.
In 1883 the s.s. Flinders, arrived in Launceston from India, with two gentlemen of position, and their families, from Ceylon.
The new arrivals are Mr and Mrs Unwin and family, and Mr and Mrs Haden. From Mr Unwin, who first came to Tasmania about nine months ago, we learn that both he and Mr Haden were engaged extensively in coffee planting in Ceylon. About nine months ago he came to Tasmania and secured some land at (Springfield) Scottsdale, and recently went over to Melbourne to meet his family, who were escorted down from Ceylon by Mr and Mrs Haden, who brought with them a Cingalee man servant. Mr Unwin is very favourably impressed with Tasmania, and believes that as soon as the proposed railway to Scottsdale is constructed, many more of his Indian friends will be induced to make Tasmania their home.
Scottsdale is in the Nth East of Tasmania 252 Km Nth of Hobart, 63 Km from Launceston to the SW.

Daily Telegraph (Launceston)
19 Apr 1884.
SCOTTSDALE. MINISTERIAL TOUR, BANQUET AT SCOTTSDALE. April 18. The Hons. N. J. Brown and J. S. Dodds were met at Springfield yesterday at 4 p.m. by the residents, and conducted to Scottsdale, where they were entertained at dinner at Lord's Commercial Hotel at 8 p.m. R. G. Ladbury, Esq., J.P., occupied the chair. The usual loyal toasts were proposed, after which the health of the Hon. The Ministers was proposed, which was responded to by Messrs. Dodds and Brown. The following address was then presented : To the Hon. N. J. Brown, Minister of Lands and Works, and the Hon. J. S. Dodds, Treasurer. On behalf of the residents of Scottsdale we offer you a hearty welcome on this occasion of your visit to this district, and to express our grateful appreciation of the successful efforts of the Government in passing measures for the general advancement of the colony. Whilst fully appreciating the great advantage that will be conferred on this district by the extension of railway communication to it, and the active steps you are taking in pushing forward the engineering survey for the construction of the work, we are confident that when this important work is completed and opened for traffic it will in a reasonable time reimburse the Government for the outlay of the cost of construction, and prove an important factor in fastening and stimulating the agricultural and mining industries of the district. We desire to point out to you the increase of agricultural settlement
in this district renders it desirable that several of our roads should be improved to meet the growing requirements of the settlers ; and we trust this important matter may receive your favorable consideration. We regret that sufficient funds were not provided for the completion of the main road, and request that a vote may be submitted to Parliament next session to complete this necessary and important work. In consequence of increasing enquiries for land, we deem it desirable, that the existing restrictions for selections should be removed. Wishing you a pleasant journey through the district.
We beg to subscribe ourselves, your obedient servants, R. G. Ladbury, C. O'Reilly, S. M. Fred Ockley, Sydney H. Unwin, A. B. Haden, Joseph Hazlewood, T. D. Hazlewood, H. A. Percy, Thomas S. Tucker, W. N. Holmes, Captain Preston, W. Webber, W. N. Holmes, John Cunningham, John M Lord. Mr P. H. Webber proposed 'The Mining Industry.' This was responded to by Mr S. Hawkes. The Hon. The Treasurer proposed 'Prosperity to the District.' Mr Edwards and the Hon. C. O'Reilly responded. The meeting was most enthusiastic throughout.

Launceston Examiner 24/01/1885
THE SCOTTSDALE RAILWAY LINE. (BY OUR OWN REPORTER.) (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
ELLESMERE, Jan. 23.
The construction of railways is a necessary accompaniment of civilisation, but it will obliterate many old time associations of a pleasant nature. There may be " Yuba Bills" amongst guards and engine drivers, but they have not time to be sociable, and one cannot listen to their merry stories and to the music of the horses' hoofs.
How many old colonists remember with pleasure the days when James Lord handled the ribbons, and Page and Burbury vied for public patronage.
Stage coaching has, however, had its advantages, but it also had its drawbacks, and it was not pleasant to be cooped up with a Chinaman, a fat man, and a woman carrying a teething child, and yet such things have "happened to a man in Tasmania." I do not think the Scottsdale people will regret the resignation of King Cobb, and the advent of the locomotive; at any rate, I shall ever entertain a lively recollection of the corduroy road we experienced to-day after leaving the sideling on the Meredith Range. The foregoing musings are a prelude to the announcement that the Minister of Lands, the hon. N. J. Brown, left Launceston this morning by vehicle on a visit of inspection to the terminus of the recently surveyed Scottsdale railway line, where he was to meet the Engineer in-Chief, who has been "tramping it" along the line from Launceston to its termination near the Vinegrove Hotel, on the Springfield-road. Such an opportunity was not to be missed, and "your own" secured a seat, and at 9 a.m. started on the
journey. The morning was lovely, and the trip is, especially to a stranger to the districts, like myself, full of interest, scenery being a constantly changing panorama, in which nature with a thousand tongues proclaimed bounteous richness of land. Leaving the town behind we found on either side now a lovely valley, now a rich field. The Distillery Creek gorge, rough and rugged, bright glimpses of valleys with the Boomer Hills beyond, and as we proceeded we penetrated the forest for which the north-eastern district is noted. Nine miles out from Launceston we passed Mr. Adams's farm, situated on a knoll, with rich fields round it, waving corn contrasting with the golden dandelion spangled fields in which sheep and cattle grazed. From the St. Patrick's Rivulet, where we changed horses, to near Springfield, the country traversed was one vast forest, the fern gullies with
which it abounded being rendered more beautiful by the native clematis, wild musk, and " wait a while," and ever and anon grim old Mount Barrow or Mount Arthur frowned on us as we turned curves in our route. At the Mount Arthur Inn we dined and met Mr. Wentworth M. Hardy, Inspector of Surveys, who is conducting a trignometrical survey of the district, and is at present erecting a new station on Mount Arthur, which will be completed in the course of a week. He speaks in high terms of praise of the manner in which the survey of the Scottsdale Railway line has been conducted. After passing Myrtle Bank, 23 miles from Launceston, we ascend the Meredith Range, which rises 2000ft. Above sea level, and meet exceedingly nasty pinches of road, but the journey was uneventful till we came down off the range into the rich agricultural district of Springfield, where the coach to
Launceston had met with an accident in the morning, and the Minister of Lands, instructed the road party to repair the culvert which had caused the mishap. At Meredith's cutting too we met Messrs. Unwin and Hayden, two young Englishmen who have taken selections in the locality. They appear most desirable colonists, and Mr. Brown was able to give them the good news that he had made arrangements for the construction of a track to the vicinity of their selections. We arrived at Tucker's Corner, Scottsdale, at 4.30 p.m., and here the Minister was met by the hon. C. O'Reilly, S.M., Mr. Jas. Fincham, Engiineer-in-Chief, and Messrs. Sheard and McCormack, surveyors. The journey was an exceedingly fatiguing one, being a succession of jolts, and the coach rolled a good deal on account of a heavy top load. Mr. Fincham has just walked over the surveyed line, and is greatly pleased with it. Many engineering difficulties in earlier surveys have been overcome, and others lessened, and considering the heavy timber in many parts it will be an easy line to construct. There have altogether been three surveys of the route of the Scottsdale Railway. The first was made by Mr. J. C. Climie, who after repeated attempts to penetrate the Upper Piper district, laid out a line which crossed Invermay, and passing along the Regatta Ground ran parallel with the River Tamar to Dilston, running thence to Mount Direction, and then curving east- ward till it touched the northern end of the Turner's Marsh agricultural district. Then proceeding more northerly it passed five miles east of the Lefroy goldfield into the valley of the Piper River,which it followed to Hardwicke's farm, and crossing the river there curved easterly through the Denison goldfield to the Brid River, and across that into the heart of Scottsdale. The Examiner condemned this route as soon as announced, because it passed almost entirely through pastoral or barren country, and though the passenger traffic from Lefroy was made a great deal of this could not compensate for the steady traffic which might be expected if the line were taken through the rich agricultural and timber-producing districts of Turner's Marsh and the Upper Piper: This.opinion met with strong endorsement from residents well acquainted with the districts; and the representations made to the Government induced them to send out Mr. W. P. Hales, surveyor, who, though a Launcestonion by birth, had only recently returned from a sojourn of several years in New Zealand. Mr. Hales set to work vigourously to find an alternative route, aided by local residents, and was soon able to announce that he could get a practicable route through the Upper Piper, only 58 miles in length, as against 67 by Mr. Climie's route. This route, which was adopted by Ministers, passed at the back of the Invermay Park to the Mowbray Racecourse, and thence by Newnham Creek and Rocher's lane through the Landfall Estate to Neilly's (Dilston) Creek. Thence it passed by Coldwater Creek to Turner's Marsh, crossing the Upper Piper River at Lower Turner's Marsh. The route runs thence through Prickly Wattle Gully to Hall's Track, near the Second River, and then crosses the Third River, and rising to the summit of the foot hills of the Denison Range, passes round in the neighbourhood of Hall's Track and joins Mr. Climie's route at Barb Point, between Piper's Brook and
the Denison goldfield. Parliament accepted this route, subject to certain deviations, and Mr. Hales then found he could reduce the route by adopting a tunnel at the Denison Range and carrying the line through the Denison Gorge and across the Button Grass Plains at the foot of the Blue Mountain into Scottsdale. In February of last year Messrs. McConnell Sheard, De Mole, Hargrave, W. P. Hales, and T. M. Atkinson, each upon separate sections,
made perfect the permanent survey, and effected further savings though accepting Hales's amended survey as the basis of their operations. Mr. Sheard shortened the line three chains in crossing the Launceston Swamp, and again between Hain's farm and Rocher's Lane. Mr. Hardgraves made a saving in the deviation from Coldwater Creek to Turner's Marsh by taking an easier gully, and Mr. Sheard made a great saving by changing the route through the Upper Piper from Lyons's Saddle to the route of the preliminary survey at the Second River. From this point there is no amendment in Mr. Hales's route to where the line reaches Muddy Creek. As to the general bearing of the line, I learn that after leaving the Launceston and Western station the line will run along the bank of the North Esk River for half a mile, thus strengthening the level of the embankment of the river as well as
effecting a saving in the cost of the work. The line makes a straight run across the Eastern Swamp to Greig's farm, and thence passes along rising ground to the Racecourse, where it passes through the preserve of the Mowbray Plumpton Company, and here a station will be built for the use of the sporting public. The ruling grade is one in forty, and the sharpest curve is one of five chains. The clearing is light for the first seven miles, after which it is heavy, except at the Button Grass Plains, and on the open land at the Upper Piper. There are no heavy bridges, except one across the Piper River at Turner's Marsh, which will be an iron girder bridge on masonry piers, the main opening being 60ft., and several spans of 20ft. There will be three large viaducts at Dogwood Gully, Beeson's Hill, and Myrtle Gully, and there will be a tunnel through sandstone at the Denison Range thirty-five
chains in length, the gradient being one in sixty. The engineers in surveying the line have so adapted it that the materials at hand can readily be used in construction. As to the site of the station at Scottsdale, a great difference of opinion exists amongst the residents. There are two alternative sites, one at the Corners (or the present township), and the other at Muddy Creek, about a mile and a quarter nearer Launceston, on the main road. The relative claims of these sites is the cause of the Minister's visit upon the present occasion. During this evening two deputations waited on Mr. Brown on the subject. The first was introduced by the hon. C. O'Reilly, Mr. C. S. Button being spokesman, and pointing out that Tucker's Corners had a prior claim, as being the centre of the commercial portion of the township. Scottsdale was an important district, and its principal export-besides wheat,
butter, etc.-was tin ore, which came down at the rate of fifty tons per week from the mineral districts of Upper Ringarooma. If the station were put at Muddy Creek the tin ore would have to be carted an additional mile or more, and the interest of the farmers, all engineering difficulties being equal, should give way to general commerce, for the farmers would only use the line once a year, while the storekeepers used it all the year round.
The northern farmers of the district had great claims also, and he represented them fully. Mr. Tucker endorsed Mr. Button's remarks. and said if the Corners site was adopted one telegraph station would do for the whole district, but if the Muddy Creek site were adopted there have to be two offices. Mr. Joseph Hazlewood also endorsed the remarks of the previous speakers, and thought the northern farmers should be considered, and besides the people near the Corners had bought land at the rate of .£100 per acre, and had erected houses on it, and it would be unfair to them to make them go all the way to Muddy Creek to a station. The Minister of Lands, in reply, said that he only received the deputation as a matter of courtesy, as nothing new could be told to him on such a well worn subject as the question of site. It was a question of the rival interests of the shopkeepers at the Corners, and the important farmers at Springfield. He dissented entirely from the ground taken up by Mr. Button, that the
farmers' interests should be subservient to the commercial interests, and considered quite the reverse was the case. However, he would inspect the two rival sites next day, and whatever decision he arrived at it would be with an honest desire to do justice to all. The deputation then thanked the Minister, and withdrew. Subsequently the hon. C. O'Reilly introduced a second deputation, which desired to urge the claims of the Muddy Creek site.
Mr. Herbert A. Percy acted as spokesman, and after thanking the Minister for his kindness in having ordered a re-survey to be made of the Muddy Creek route, pointed out that all the most fertile land in the district was south of Muddy Creek. The distance from Muddy Creek was shorter, the grades easier, the compensation light, and there would be no water at the Corners unless the township were deprived of it by a station well. Muddy Creek was the most central situation. Mr. Farquhar also pointed out that there was a large tract of unoccupied Crown land, comprising come 8000 acres, on both sides of the line south of Muddy Creek, which would be the natural outlet for settlement in this locality. Mr. Fred. Briggs said Scottsdale would never extend northward. The Minister of Lands gave the same reply as to the former deputation, and said he would fully consider
the matter, as it was one of great importance, so as to conduce to the permanent prosperity of the district, and he had come up specially with this object. The deputation then withdrew. The Engineer-in-Chief was present while both deputations were received. The Minister of Lands leaves here about one o'clock to-morrow, and expects to reach Launceston about 8 p.m, He returns to Hobart on Monday.
The Launceston to Scottsdale railway opened in 1889, in 2021 it is closed and the subject of a debate to open it as a Heritage Railway - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-27/disused-rail-corridor-debate-still-raging/10044640

Alexander married Mary WARD [24570] [MRIN: 12114] on 27 Apr 1859 in St Clement Danes Westminster LND MDX.

Alexander next married Rachel Rhoda HOLLAND [24562] [MRIN: 8855], daughter of Richard HOLLAND [24563] and Unknown, on 12 Jan 1876 in Clifton DBY. (Rachel Rhoda HOLLAND [24562] was born on 30 Dec 1844 in Clifton DBY and died on 18 Nov 1927.)