Edward Davy Wedge
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Edward Davy Wedge (1777-1852) colonist in Van Diemen’s Land and the Port Phillip District of Australia, and son of Charles Wedge, and brother of John Helder Wedge.
The Wedges imported sheep and a saw mill into the colony. Davy obtained a 2,000 acre (8 km²) grant which he called Forton, but at first he tried to establish the saw mill at Oyster Cove, just south of Hobart Town. The mill was not a success financially, and was eventually abandoned at a loss of £2,000. Davy then turned to agricultural pursuits, and established Forton with the assistance of convict labour. In 1827 his sons Edward, Thomas, Richard and John joined him, and in 1830 his wife, daughters and youngest son Henry Wedge also arrived in the colony.
After the settlement of Port Phillip in 1835 Davy and his bother John established a squatters run at Werribee, near Melbourne, and in the 1840s Davy and his wife left Forton for the Werribee run.
In May 1852 the Werribee River flooded and the Wedge house was engulfed. The family was forced onto the roof which collapsed during the night and the family washed away. Davy and his wife Lucy both died, as did their eldest daughter, Lucy. Davy, his wife and daughter Lucy were all buried at the Williamstown cemetery.
[edit] External links
- J. Uhl, 'The Men from East Anglia: the Wedge Family an early pioneering family in Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip', reprinted from the Victorian Historical Magazine Vol XXXVII No 1 (Melbourne 1966);
- Crawford et al (editors) The Diaries of John Helder Wedge, Royal Society of Tasmania, (Hobart 1962); Correspondence File for Wedge in Tasmanian Archives)
