There is more to add here about this period in Thomas' life.
In September 1843 the New South Wales Legislative Council established a Select Committee to investigate the feasibility of an overland route from Sydney to Port Essington, the northernmost part of the Northern Territory.2 Thomas Braidwood Wilson was asked to provide his views on the proposal. This trip to Sydney in October 1843 was to have serious implications for his health.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1843. OVERLAND ROUTE TO PORT ESSINGTON.
Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the proposed Overland Route to Port Essington.
1. You have visited the northern parts of New Holland? Yes. I have.
2. How long ago ? Nearly fourteen years.
3. You were wrecked in Torres' Straits ? I have been twice through Torres' Straits ; the last time I was wrecked ; I escaped, with the crew of the vessel, in an open boat, and endeavoured to get to Melville Island but we were unable to do so ; however, we succeeded in getting to Copang, from whence we proceeded in the Amity to Raffles Bay, and from Raffles Bay we visited Port Essington.
4. What is your opinion of Port Essington as a harbour? It is most excellent.
5. What do you think of its geographical position as a place of trade, with regard to India and Asia ? Its geopraphical position is decidedly good.
6. Suppose a line of communication were established overland between Port Essington and the settled parts of New Holland, that is to say, Eastern Australia, Australia Felix, and Adelaide, and by water with Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand, would not Port Essington become an important settlement ? No doubt it would become a place of great importance.
7 How long were you at Port Essington ? We merely visited it ; we did not remain there : we stopped at Raffles Bay.
8. From the information you derived while there, should you say the place was healthy? Yes, and from personal observation I should also say that it was very healthy.
9. Do you think it is as healthy as any other tropical climate? More so than any other with which I am acquainted.
10. You had an opportunity of seeing the country ? Along the coast only.
11. What was the character of the country ? I could not say that it was generally fertile in appearance. ? .
12. Your observations were simply limited to the coast? Yes.
13. Did you see any good tracts of country ? Yes, especially at Croker's Island, in Bowen's Strait — well watered ; at the time the settlement at Raffles Bay was abandoned, there was a garden there, which contained orange, lime, and lemon trees, bananas in abundance, shaddocks, citrons, pineapples, figs, custard-apples, papaws, tamarinds, dates, cocoa-nuts, arrowroot, sugar cane, peaches, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, turmeric, capsicum, and many other useful and ornamental, articles, all of which were thriving well, except the figs and peaches. With respect to Captain Macarthur's report, as to my unfavourable opinion of the soil, he has misunderstood me; I only stated 'that the soil, as far as examined, cannot be called good: there are, however, several fertile patches, but it would not answer in an agricultural or pastoral point of view. Admitting that the land was good, and capable of producing valuable crops, yet the price of labour would prevent its being cultivated with advantage, especially as it is situated so near to India, whence rice could be procured at a very low rate.
14. Have you been to any islands in the neighbourhood of Port Essington? None, except Timor.
15. Have you reason to suppose that a considerable trade might be carried on between Port Essington and the inhabitants of the islands in the neighbourhood ? I have not the least doubt of it ; I heard from Mr. Hazard, the Dutch resident at Copang, that had the settlement been continued a little longer, many Malays would have emigrated from Batavia ; there were also some Chinese about to come over, but were prevented when they heard that the settlement was abandoned.
16. Do you think the journey practicable ? I think it is worth while attempting it, at all events.
17. By Dr. Lang: Do you consider that if a settlement were formed there, it would be a favourable field for emigration from the islands of the Indian Archipelago ? Yes, I do.
18 And that the natives of those islands would find a very eligible field for their labour ?. Yes.
19. In the cultivation of the land and in the mechanical arts ?. I look more to the advantage in a mercantile point of view than an agricultural.
20. In the event of a settlement being permanently established in that locality, have you reason to believe that there would be considerable emigration from Timor and Java, both of Malays and Chinese ?. There would be, particularly from Batavia.
21. In what way would you employ these emigrants ? Chiefly for the purposes of trade.
22. Not in the cultivation of the land ? I would say chiefly for trade.
A more detailed report of the event was given a few days later.
Many biographies of Thomas Wilson state that Thomas committed suicide, an action that wouldn't seem to fit with the cause of death reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. The idea that Thomas took his own life is probably derived from the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for his daughter Mary Braidwood Mowle,7 which in turn bases that deduction on the inquest held by John Coghill immediately after Thomas' death.
I have the honour herewith to transmit evidence taken by me in the absence of a Coroner together with a Medical Certificate [Not Decipherable] before Colonel MacKenzie in relation to the demise of Thos. Braidwood Wilson who departed this life on Saturday Nov 11th [inst.?]. The Certificate not being so explicit as I should desire may however be satisfactory.
The death certificate mentioned followed.
This is to certify that I have made a postmortem examination on the body of the late T. B. Wilson Esq. of Braidwood and believe that the Immediate cause of his death was from the rupture of a Blood vessel or Blood vessels in the lungs.
So why did John Coghill believe that the certificate wasn't explicit enough? We can only examine the evidence of the witnesses at the inquest in an attempt to answer that question. The first to provide testimony was Edward Thompson, Thomas Wilson's brother-in-law.
Enquiry touching the sudden demise of Thos. Braidwood Wilson.
About the end of August last on Dr. Wilson's return from Sydney I went to Yarralumla where I remained for about three weeks. On my return however I perceived a marked and extraordinary change in his general appearance and manner, his conduct latterly was such as to impress me with the idea that he was not of a sound state of mind. He was constantly in the habit of walking about the house in his shirt regardless of his appearance and that decency of which he had previously been so strict an observer. He [would?] constantly walk into my room at night appearing perfectly unconscious of what he was doing. Latterly his conduct was quite unsettled, more particularly since his receipt of a letter from Sydney some time in the early part of October. Immediately on receipt of the before mentioned letter Dr. Wilson proceeded to Sydney where he remained until the second of November. On his return his conduct and appearance left no doubt on my mind that he was insane, he was quite incoherent. On Friday morning between nine and ten [OB?] I went into his room while he was in bed and asked him some questions to which he made no reply but complained of pain in his stomach. I got him some Brandy and water into which I put a quantity of ginger and [salt] in it. His general embarrassment of his affairs was in my opinion the cause of his mental derangement, in fact from his own statements his embarrassment preyed upon his mind.
In the last few months the Doctor seemed to take little interest in the garden and the improvements than he had been in the habit of doing. On Friday last he came into the garden and asked me to give some of the new things. After some little time I recollected what he wanted and gave him some lettuces, a portion of which he put into his hat and sat some more. On coming to the bee hive he threw a portion of the lettuce root at the hole of the hive which I removed when he told me. He felt something near his heart which he could not get the better of. His [Not Decipherable] was quite [Not Decipherable] and his general manner such as to impress me with the idea that he was not all right.
Thomas' housekeeper, Mary MacDonnell, also submitted a statement.
I have been in the employ of Dr. Wilson for the last three years. His conduct latterly has been exceedingly strange. Some few days before he went to Sydney he returned from the garden with two [roses?] in his hand and stood near the rocks at the back of the house talking to himself. He asked the question [Not Decipherable] there was no one near him at the time. He was constantly in the habit of walking out in his shirt. I often thought the Dr. was not right in his mind. On Thursday about twelve o'clock he came to the kitchen and asked me for a little warm water which I saw him after drinking. [Not Decipherable] finding that he could not throw anything off his stomach he asked me for a [Not Decipherable] that did not produce any affect at the time. He then proceeded towards the [Not Decipherable] in the front of the house and plucked some lettuce which he ate. From his general conduct and manner I have no doubt he was insane.
Next deposed a servant of Thomas WIlson's named Eliza Ross.
I have been in the employ of Dr. Wilson for the last twelve months. His conduct has been very strange latterly, being in the constant habit of walking about the house and place in his shirt. I often remarked to Mrs. MacDonnell that the Doctor could not be in his right mind. I think his getting down in the world was the cause of his appearing to be mad. On Friday he came to me for a little hot water which he drank, he was a little sick after that. He called for a glass of milk which he drank and had a quantity of lettuce and [Not Decipherable]. The day before he died he took some Tartar Emetic. The bottle from which he took it was half full and he took about half the contents. I read the label on the bottle which was in English. It was marked Tartar Emetic. He appeared to be very ill all night. Mrs. MacDonnell said that owing to his sufferings during the night she did not think he could live. He died about 11 1/2 OC on Saturday in great pain.
The medicine in question, tartar emetic, was often given in small doses to induce vomiting, thus the name emetic. In anything other than small doses it is considered a poison. Did Thomas take the drug to induce vomiting, but because of his state of mind unintentionally overdose, or did he mean to take his own life? Is this the reason John Coghill felt the death certificate insufficient? As a final observation on the topic, the stated cause of death, a ruptured blood vessel in the lungs, or haemoptysis, is not a typical symptom of tartar emetic poisoning. Given these known facts it seems presumptuous to suggest Thomas Wilson committed suicide when it may have even been an accidental overdose, or not related to the ingestion of the medication at all. The following report on the effects of the substance was reported just 12 years after Thomas' death in 1856.
The Rugeley case seems to be the first occasion on which we hear of tartar emetic as a slow poison ; and we may fully expect that this point as well as the varied apparently uncertain action of this substance as a poison, will be well handled by the gentlemen of the long robe employed in the defence. The public mind is not aware of the diversity of action of poisons according to the dose and circumstances of administration.
For, first, an irritant poison may destroy life by its action on the glottis while being swallowed. 2nd, it may do so by its immediate effect on the stomach, or on the intestines. 3rd, it may pass from the stomach into the blood, and produce great diversity of effects by its operation on the organs to which it is carried, and with which it may possibly be incorporated. 4th, if the patient live on, it may again produce a fresh set of symptoms by its passage through the organs by which nature destines it to be eliminated from the body.
Now, the cases in which tartar emetic has been recorded to have acted as poison the symptoms were those of the second order; vomiting and convulsions being the leading symptoms, both arising probably from the primary irritation of the stomach; as, for example, in the cases of the two children poisoned each by ten grains, as reported in Taylor. But in the case before us the second, third, and fourth classes of symptoms were each probably present in equal proportions. There were irritation of the stomach, poisoning of the blood, and exhausting efforts at elimination.
Then, again, while small doses in some persons, in some state of health, will produce dangerous symptoms, in other persons, in the same states of illness, immense doses produce scarcely any perceptible effect.
And as to the said Estate of Braidwood from and immediately after such attainment of my said Son as aforesaid I direct that the said trustees shall stand seized thereof to the use of my said Son James during his life for his own use and benefit without impeachment ? of waste ?
Signed published and declared by the said Thomas Braidwood Wilson as his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses the interlineations ? Between the 9th & 10th lines and between the 32nd & 33rd lines in the first page having first been made and the word "all" in the 33rd line of the said first page having been written on an erasure W G … ? Solicitor Sydney … ? In Pellingell ?
G P J Gregory Registrar of the Supreme Court James B Dowling ? Esq ?
There is a large amount of material published between 1843 and 1845 regarding Thomas Wilson's insolvency.
5. The Sydney Morning Herald Thursday 17 November 1843 page 2.
7. Patricia Clarke, 'Mowle, Mary Braidwood (1827–1857)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mowle-mary-braidwood-13117/text23735, published in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 13 April 2014.
9. "POISONING BY TARTAR EMETIC." The Hobarton Mercury (Tas. : 1854 - 1857) 7 May 1856: 3. Web. 10 Apr 2014; http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3338103.
At some stage we will have to engage a NSW Researcher to access the relevant file and if possible provide copies. We have started to compile some information about Thomas Wilson's Insolvency from the TROVE Australian Digitised Newspapers archives.