Family background
Rowland Hill was born in England in c1821 to Moses and Elizabeth Hill. After marrying Esther Steel in 1841 at Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, the couple arrived in New South Wales on the ‘Palestine’ on 7 March 1842. Rowland was noted as a 21-year-old farm labourer at that time.
On 24 June 1852, Esther died aged 32, and Rowland married Ann Elizabeth Pierce that same year. They lived in and ran the Enmore Hotel on the corner of Edgeware Road and Camden Street from 1859 and had at least five children. After his death on 7 May 1876, aged 54, Elizabeth continued running the hotel. She died in 1894. Rowland Hill was buried at Rookwood.
Occupation & interests
Rowland Hill was the publican of the Enmore Hotel on the corner of Edgeware Road and Camden Street from 1859 until his death in 1876.
Community activity
Rowland Hill promoted a sports meeting in the paddock at the bottom of Campbell Street in the late 1860s (according to Arthur Crocker in the Municipal Jubilee Souvenir). The sports included quarter-mile hurdle races, wrestling, putting-the-shot and climbing the greasy pole; other sports of the day were skittles, quoits and wood-chopping. This was not unusual as these activities encouraged drinking among the spectators and participants.
He was also a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters’ Friendly Society, Court Sydney No. 2409.
Local government service
Rowland Hill was an alderman on Newtown Council in 1864-66, representing Enmore Ward.
References
Biographical information for this alderman was originally researched by Mark Matheson for the Newtown Project Website.
‘Annual Licensing Meeting’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 April 1859, 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13023934
‘Family Notices’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May 1876, p. 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13373336
‘Family Notices’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 May 1876, 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13373385