John Henry Monger Snr (1802–1867) was an assisted migrant who became one of the richest men in Western Australia. In 1829, Monger emigrated to the Swan River Colony, in what is today Western Australia; he went on to run a mill at Galup and establish a hotel and store in York.
Early years in England Monger was born on 2 February 1802 in Faversham, Kent, England. By trade he was an engineer.
First years in Western Australia He arrived on 6 October 1829 on board Lotus with his wife Mary.Short biography at Battye Library He was an assisted immigrant, indentured to Colonel Peter Latour, who planned an ambitious emigration scheme on of land in the Leschenault area near Bunbury. Monger was to be foreman of Latour's sawmills.
Monger constructed and ran a sawmill at Galup, just north of the Perth settlement, which later came to bear his name, Lake Monger,Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 23 October 1841 p.1. until 2025. He invested in an allotment at Galup ("the Lake") of of "sand" with five trees per .Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 23 October 1841 p.1; Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 28 May 1836, p.699. He and his family at first had a camp there but then built a house.Swan River Guardian 20 October 1836, p.9.
A Mr Halliday "met his death by violence" near the lake and Monger and at first Aboriginal people and then a sawyer called John Ellis (a "timid man") were suspected of the shooting.Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 26 January 1833, p.15. Monger (who was accustomed to conversing with Aboriginal people"he understood a few of their words, and the rest were made intelligible to him by signs") gave evidence. The matter remained a "mystery".
Monger left Galup in March 1833,Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 23 March 1833, p.48 with "an assortment of sawed timber". after Yagan, Yellagonga and other Noongar warriors chose Galup as a place to congregate, and the Aboriginal people were reported toPerth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 9 February 1833, p.22.
Monger is reported to have carried of brandy around the colony for sale and he sold it for a price that enabled him next time to buy double the amount of brandy.Richardson A, A Pleasant Passage: The Journals of Henry Richardson, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, 1990. In November 1833, Monger took possession of the Perth Hotel (the "old established hotel" offering "dinners, beds and stabling") and he published an advertisement soliciting the support of the public.Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 16 November 1833, p.184.
Monger also took up a grant of land (Perth Lot L55) on Mount Eliza, on which he built a house with four rooms.Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 13 September 1834, p.353; Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 28 May 1836, p.699; Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 30 April 1836, p.683. Monger put the Galup property up for lease or sale in September 1834 and again in April and October 1836, also putting two Mount Eliza lots up for sale including his pit and cross-cut saws, with the statement "proprietor moving to York".Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 16 April 1836, p.686; also see Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 30 April 1836, p.683 and Swan River Guardian 20 October 1836, p.9.
On 21 May 1836, Monger's banker, William Lamb,Landgate, Deeds and Ordinances I/329/216 Deed of Conveyance dated 10 June 1833. put up for auction his house at Mount Eliza plus "of land situated on one of the Lakes at the back of Perth".Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 30 April 1836, p.683.
In May 1836, Monger wrote a letter to the paper criticising his banker for calling up a mortgage of £25, equivalent to in . The rate of interest was 25% per annum; Monger complained that he had been paying the interest monthly. He claimed he was at risk of losing his house and land at "the Lakes" except for the kindness of a few friends.Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 28 May 1836, p.699. The banker responded that he had warned Monger that the principal sum would be required when it was due but instead of repaying the loan, Monger went to York for three weeks.Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 4 June 1836, p.703.
York Monger initially walked to York. While everyone else was wanting a grant of farmland for sheep grazing, Monger saw an opportunity to open a hotel and store. Monger decided that the best location for a hotel and store was close to the ford across the Avon River at York.
The land he chose (Suburban Lots A1 and A2) had been claimed by Rivett Henry Bland and Arthur Trimmer. Bland and Trimmer built the first house in York here, above the ford, in September 1831.Lesley Brooker (Compiler and Editor): Explorers Routes Revisited Western Australia 1836-1864, Roe Expedition 1836, p.11. Trimmer also had a house next to Bland'sPerth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 8 April 1837, p.880. and there was also a barn. Monger bought this land for £100.Landgate, Deeds and Ordinances I/166/625 Deed of Conveyance dated 30 April 1838. At the time, Bland was the Government resident magistrate for York and Beverley.
Monger’s store and the York Hotel Monger applied for a free licence in early 1837 and then an ordinary licence.Rodger Jennings: Over the Hills, A History of York 1834-1880. He was described as being "a publican, of York" on 5 February 1837, when he had to personally eject a troublesome private in the 21st Regiment named John Curran, who was later charged with assault for hitting Monger with a bludgeon. The original hotel was a small building of wattle and daub and was the first hotel in the area. This was called the York Hotel. The wattle and daub hotel burnt down and Monger then built a large and substantial hostelry.
It was a dangerous time; in July 1838, Monger returned to Perth to report spearings by "hostile tribes".Swan River Guardian, 20 July 1837, p.203. On 20 May 1839, the wife of Elijah Cook was murdered by Aboriginal people not far to the south of York, which caused shock waves throughout the Colony.
In December 1838, Monger ("innkeeper of York") was charged with assaulting James Manson on a street in Perth, but the case was "compromised by paying the constable’s expenses equally".Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 15 December 1838, p.199. In 1838, Monger's licence fee was doubled from £5 to £10. He asked for the additional fee to be suspended, complaining that in a distant place like York, the remuneration from accommodation is limited and precarious, and that his crops had failed and he had lost some good friends to his business.
In May 1840, the government expressed a desire to extend Avon Terrace through Monger's land. Monger sought compensation and after much haggling, was granted Town Lot 1 as a replacement.
A few months after this, he opened Monger's Store, commonly referred to as "Monger's". It was the first general store established in York. Stocks such as hardware, drapery, groceries, wines and spirits, provisions and implements were sold there. Monger advertised his goods heavily from 4 August 1841 onwards, as being available "at the stores of the undersigned".Inquirer, 4 August 1841, p.6; Inquirer, 11 August 1841, p.2; Inquirer, 14 August 1841, p.4; Inquirer, 18 August 1841, p.6; Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 21 August 1841, p.2; Inquirer, 25 August 1841, p.6; Inquirer, 13 October 1841, p.6; Inquirer, 12 January 1842, p.1; Inquirer, 19 January 1842, p.1.
Monger became unpopular because in October 1840 he declined to provide a dinner "according to promise" for the first Fair of the York Agricultural Society.Diary of Dr Samuel Waterman Viveash 19 October 1841. Settler Dr Samuel Viveash commented in his diary entry of 22 December 1840: "Called on Monger, he was not inclined to settle my bill, indeed tried to snatch it out of my hand."
Monger's "store" was on the opposite side of Avon Terrace, and was a "long, low building", and "every three months his wagons would journey to Guildford or Perth for supplies". The stone section on the south east corner of what is now called the sandalwood yards could have been this "long low building".
In 1841, Monger built a windmill. The windmill was located on on the northeast corner, where the current sandalwood yards are located.Landgate, Deeds and Ordinances VI/390/2453 Last will and testament of John Henry Monger 10 August 1867 registered 10 March 1868.
Monger also built a blacksmith's shop on Town Lot 1 and engaged a blacksmith,Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 28 August 1841, p.1; Inquirer, 1 September 1841, p.6; Inquirer, 9 November 1842, p.1. but at the time he did not have a grant of the land and so he had to seek the Governor's permission to occupy his own building. He also applied for permission to occupy an island to the north of the ford as a summer hotel but the Governor refused this request.CSF 16/49/366/116: CS to RM 14 April 1842.
In November 1842, he advertised for "a steady, industrious man to take charge of and drive a team of bullocks, and otherwise make himself generally useful".Inquirer, 12 January 1842, p.1. Monger's mill appears not to have worked consistently as in a number of 1843 advertisements, Monger offered for sale "an excellent flour mill, now in good operation".Inquirer, 17 May 1843, p.1; Inquirer, 24 May 1843, p.1; Inquirer, 21 June 1843, p.6; Inquirer, 28 June 1843, p.6. One advantage of having a mill was that Monger could accept wheat after harvest instead of cash in payment for goods sold. At the time, "money is not to be had in the Colony, all is barter".Peter Cowan editor, A Faithful Picture, the letters of Eliza and Thomas Brown at York in the Swan River Colony 1841-1852, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1977, p.110.
In May 1844, Monger gave technical assistance to Walkinshaw Cowan in his steam mill venture in Guildford, and was also an investor.Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 4 May 1844, p.2. In his diary, Cowan blamed the failure of the venture on "the misconduct and ignorance of an Engineer".Peter Cowan: A Colonial Experience: Swan River 1839–1888, From the Diary and Reports of Walkingshaw Cowan, Perth, Peter Cowan, 1978, p.27.
In November 1844, Monger advertised his hotel ("the York Hotel") to be let for "one year to seven, as may be agreed on". The advertisement sets out a full description of the property.Inquirer, 13 November 1844, p.2.
Monger was trying to find a buyer for the business "so that he could concentrate on his merchandising business [...] this included expanding his interests and also establishing himself as a collecting agent for Western Australia's burgeoning sandalwood industry".
It appears that Monger did not find a tenant for the hotel because he continued to trade the hotel and advertise. Monger also continued offering goods for sale at his "stores".Inquirer, 10 December 1845, p.2.
Sandalwood Around this time, sandalwood was starting to be exported from the York region by "Messrs Carter and T Ellis".Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 7 August 1847, p.4. Licensing for the cutting of sandalwood had been in force since 1841.Licences were extended from 4 Victoria (1841) by proclamation 30 December 1848. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 30 December 1848, p.2. Ellis was a tenant of Monger, living in a small house on Town Lot 1.1849 survey of York. The sandalwood was exported to Singapore and China.
York farmers brought their sandalwood to Monger's and, in exchange, would receive goods and articles from the store. In addition to dealing in sandalwood, Monger was heavily involved in buying, selling, storing and carting wool. He recognised the value of fencing as this eliminated the need for shepherds, and he imported large quantities of fencing wire.