Solomon Wiseman

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Solomon Wiseman (16 April 1777 - 28 November 1838) was a convict, merchant and ferryman. The town called Wiseman's Ferry, New South Wales, Australia is named after him.

Wiseman was born in Essex, England and became a lighterman on the Thames. On 30 October 1805 he was found guilty of stealing wood from a lighter and was sentenced to death. This was commuted to Transportation for Life and he was sent to New South Wales where he arrived in August 1806. In 1810 he was given his ticket-of-leave and in 1812, a pardon.^[1]

In 1811 Wiseman had constructed a sloop called the Hawkesbury Packet which was a coastal trader. Not long after he also had constructed the Hope, both which were wrecked within months of each other in 1817.^[2] After the wrecks of his ships he purchased the Mary Ann (ship) which he chartered to the Government. In 1826 he was granted a lease on the Hawkesbury River which later became known as Wiseman's Ferry. He died in 1838.^[1]

[edit] The Secret River

Main article: The Secret River

The Secret River, a novel written by Wiseman's great-great-great-granddaughter, Kate Grenville, was inspired by her desire to understand "what had happened when Wiseman arrived there [the area now known as Wiseman's Ferry] and started the business of 'settling'".^[3] Her inspiration to understand this came from her taking part in the 2000-05-28 Reconciliation Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge during which she realised that she didn't know much about "what had gone on between the Aboriginal people and the settlers in those early days".^[4] Initially intended to be a work of non-fiction about Wiseman, the book eventually became a fictional work based on her research into Wiseman but not specifically about Wiseman himself.

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