AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST COLONIAL GRAFFITI?

With the rather unfortunate, but probably quite normal name for the time, Adolarius Huxley had a rush of power in 1804. Sailing as a mineralogist with David Collins, Lieutenant Governor to Van Diemens Land, to settle Port Dalrymple, because Melbourne had run out of water (Melbourne had to wait another 31 years for settlement), Adolarius was charged with obtaining fresh water from the Supply River, an inflowing stream into the Tamar River in Tasmania. Being a public servant and the most senior person in the dingy, he instructed the men (probably convicts) to row to a small set of falls and wander upstream to get fresh water – in the meantime, many hours later and becoming rather bored (the men had obviously decided to have a break from Huxley’s authority and grab coffee and croissants) he spent several hours with a hammer and chisel carving out ‘A H 1804’ into the solid dolerite, no mean feat and it still remains today, 210 years later. AH saw a rapid rise in the colony and also had the honour of becoming the first victim of infamous bushranger Michael Howe (famed in The Outlaw – Michael Howe movie 2013), much to the delight of all convicts in the state.