He came to the Colony among its first inhabitants in the year 1788, and obtained the Appointment, from his exemplary conduct, shortly after his arrival the first house in this part of the Southern Hemisphere was by him erected, and most of the Public Buildings since have been under his direction. James Bloodsworth, for many years Superintendent of Builders in the Employ of Government. On Wednesday last died, generally lamented, Mr.
įrom the Sydney Gazette 25 March 1804 No.56 He was survived by two sons and two daughters. The Sydney Loyal Association escorted the cortège with muffled drums, and the body was laid in the old Sydney burial ground on 23 March, with military honours. Because of the high regard the settlers had for him, Governor Philip Gidley King ordered that he be given the nearest the young colony could provide to a state funeral. At that time he was farming his grant of fifty acres (20 hectares) at Petersham later he increased his holdings to 245 acres (99 ha).Īlthough Bloodsworth had the asset of his farm and his government salary of £50, he was insolvent when he died from pneumonia on 21 March 1804 at his house on South Row, Sydney. In 1802 he had become a sergeant in the Sydney Loyal Association, a great mark of respect to a former convict. In 1803 when offered a choice of employment at Port Phillip or the Derwent he again refused, preferring to remain in Sydney. Next year he was offered rehabilitation to England, but he refused. Post convict years īloodsworth was pardoned in 1790 and on 1 September 1791 was appointed superintendent over all the brickmakers and bricklayers. This was far from satisfactory, but by adapting his construction methods to these crude conditions he produced serviceable buildings, which also were by no means unseemly, because he was working within the long-established rules of Georgian architecture. For the walls of Government House some lime mortar was obtained by burning oyster shells, but elsewhere mud-mortar had to be used. Bloodsworth worked under difficulties although there were competent bricklayers among the convicts, they had no proper mortar to bind the bricks together. Governor Arthur Phillip praised "the pains he had taken to teach others the business of a bricklayer", and his conduct was exemplary at a time when most convicts were noted for indolence or rebelliousness. On 4 June 1789, just sixteen months after the first landing at Sydney Cove, the early settlers gathered to celebrate the birthday of King George III and the grand opening of Government House. īesides designing many private houses, Bloodsworth can be credited with the first Government House (located on what is now the south-west corner of Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney.), which lasted from 1788 to 1845, and in 1790 the storehouse at King's Wharf on the shore of Sydney Cove. Bloodsworth was placed in charge of a gang of labourers who were responsible for the erection of the first brick huts built by May 1788. Since there were no architects in the fleet he was largely responsible for the design and the erection of Australia's first buildings, although the army and navy officers in the settlement had some knowledge of architecture. In addition to bricks, at the same plant burned clay roof tiles, which gave greatly improved water tightness, durability and dignity to the burgeoning public buildings. The approximate area is at the lower end of George Street, now known as Haymarket. In March 1788 brick-making began at Long Cove (this site was later named Cockle Bay, and, still later, Darling Harbour) under his instruction.
In 1788 Bloodsworth was sent to New South Wales ( Australia) in the First Fleet in the Charlotte and was immediately appointed master bricklayer in the settlement at Sydney Cove.
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