The Scone ADFAS is pleased to present Stephen Gow with his lecture “From Distress to Deliverance”.
This lecture tells the remarkable story of William Gow, who arrived at Sydney Cove on the convict ship Morley in April 1817. Within the next five years, William was set to work teaching the children of convicts and free settlers alike at Wilberforce.
Tuesday November 26th 2024, 6.30pm
Scone Arts & Crafts Hall Kingdon St, Scone
Members free, Guest $30
Refreshments will be served after lecture. Note: cash, cheque or bank transfer prior to the lecture only (no credit card).
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Stephen Gow
Stephen is a long-term Armidale resident and was the Director of Planning at Armidale Council for 25 years until his retirement in 2013. He now works part-time for the State Government as a permanent member of the NSW Northern Regional Planning Panel. Stephen is the great great great-grandson of the subject of his 2020 book, convict turned schoolmaster William Gow. He also has a somewhat unusual pedigree, being descended from two of William’s children, as a result of a marriage between first cousins in 1886. Born and educated in London, Stephen came to Australia in 1983 under rather more auspicious circumstances than his ancestor, about whom he knew nothing during his upbringing in England.
From Distress to Deliverance
How did a young man convicted of burglary and sentenced to hang at the Old Bailey in 1816 come to be appointed as one of the first schoolmasters in New South Wales a little over two years later? This lecture tells the remarkable story of William Gow, who arrived at Sydney Cove on the convict ship Morley in April 1817 – and the timely coincidence of his transportation with the governorship of the nascent colony by the liberal Scot, Major General Lachlan Macquarie. Within the next five years, William was set to work teaching the children of convicts and free settlers alike at Wilberforce, in the burgeoning agricultural district in the Hawkesbury valley; was pardoned and granted land by Macquarie; and married a young ‘currency lass’, Maria Dunston. Together, they were among the pioneers of public education in this country, working for over twenty years in what is today the only surviving school building of its type from that era.
Having escaped the noose, William Gow led a long life, a testimony to Macquarie’s redemptive vision for the petty criminals discarded by their native countries. Stephen Gow’s lecture reveals how, through a combination of opportunity, education, faith and perseverance, his ancestor left an enduring legacy – a journey ‘From Distress to Deliverance’.
For more details or to order a copy of the book please visit From Distress to Deliverance – William PT Gow & his Descendants
Information courtesy of Scone ADFAS.
Bookcover courtesy of Stephen Gow