Jim Stanbury - Early Days

James Stanbury was the first white child born on Dangar Island (then known as Mullet Island) in the Hawkesbury River near the present day township of Brooklyn. The date was February 25, 1868.

The island was originally called Mullet Island by Captain Phillip's exploration party who visited there on March 7, 1788 and caught a quantity of mullet to supplement their provisions. The name was later changed to Dangar Island when Henry Dangar acquired the island in 1864.

James was the first son, and third child born to James Stanbury (Snr) and his wife Catherine (nee Riley). They had a total of 10 children - 5 girls and 5 boys, born between 1864 and 1885.

James Snr, had migrated to Australia from Bratton Flemming near Barnstaple, North Devon, arriving in Sydney on the steamship Fitzjames on April 7, 1857, at the age of 21 years.

The "Fitzjames"

He met Catherine Riley in Camden, and subsequently married her on February 2, 1863, at the Scots Church in Sydney. Catherine was born at "The Rocks", Sydney, on February 19, 1846, her parents having migrated to Sydney from Scotland, arriving only 2 weeks prior to her birth.

In 1867, James Snr took up the position of farm superintendent on Mullet Island which had been a land grant to Henry Dangar. There they farmed until 1874, when it was decided to move to Terara on the banks of the Shoalhaven River to take up a tenant farm owned by the de Mestre family. Terara is slightly downriver from present-day Nowra and was the first settlement on the south bank of the Shoalhaven. In fact Terara was actually the original site for Nowra.

James Snr. set up a market garden and a shop on the rich alluvial flats. He also purchased a trading boat for selling and buying goods up and down the river. Whilst James Snr. tended his shop and trading boat, the young James looked after the market garden and farm animals.

The family continued to live in Terara until after the birth of their final child in 1885. Sometime after (about 1886) they left Terara and moved further up the Shoalhaven River to a farm on the southern bank where Saltwater Creek enters the river. This property is in the western lee of Pulpit Rock, and opposite the old Boyd property of Bundanon. The property acquired by James Stanbury Snr is currently called "Calymia". James Snr planted an orchard on the new farm and carried on with general farming.

It was during their time at Terara that young James, as early as 6 years old took to rowing on the river. His life was a very physical one, and as such, school was not a high priority.

At the age of 11 years, it was finally decided that young Jim (as he was known) should have some schooling. By then he was 5 foot 10 inches (178 cms) tall and weighed 12 stone 71bs (80kgs). He would have seemed like a giant among those in the infants class to which he was assigned. Jim stayed for a day or two and then marched out of school, never to return.

Instead, he worked hard on the family farm, and taught himself to read and write by the light of an oil lamp. All the time his great frame grew taller, wider and stronger, until, when he finally stopped growing, he stood 6 foot 2 inches (189cms) tall and carried 18 stone (115kgs) of tough muscle.

Among other accomplishments, Stanbury learned in his teen years to grab a couple of oars and send a skiff skimming over the water like an aquaplane.

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