"Generous and public spirited almost to a fault, Mr. Hay in his time of affluence devoted a considerable amount of his private income in the furtherance of public matters, and many of the progressive measures in the early days owed their introduction to Mr. Hay's persistent advocacy"

David Alexander Hay was described in his obituary as "one who has been prominently and intimately associated with the history of Bunbury for nearly 40 years" (reference). He was one of the more colourful prominent people in early Bunbury and, although he had mixed fortunes, he seemed to have an amazing ability to ride the waves. Most known for his role in the discovery of the Collie coalfields, he was also prominent in public and social life of early Bunbury and "in his time of affluence devoted a considerable amount of his private income in the furtherance of public matters, and many of the progressive measures in the early days owed their introduction to Mr. Hay's persistent advocacy" (reference).

Early Life

There is not a great deal known about David’s early life. He was born on 14 March 1844 and grew up in Dundee, Scotland. He was the second eldest of four children (reference). His father, John, died in 1854 when David was ten years old and his mother, Mary, had a store in Dundee (reference; reference). His oldest brother, John, died in 1860 at the age of nineteen, and in 1863, David migrated to Australia with his mother (reference). His younger sister, Margaret, stayed behind and later married John Storrie - they lived in Glasgow and had seven children. (reference). There is no information on his younger brother William, but as he would have only been 15 years old when David and his mother left, it seems probable that he died as an infant. David and Mary left England for Australia on the ‘Strathmore’ on 22 December 1862, accompanied by his mother’s sister Miss Eliza Hill (reference). Eliza and Mary were two of the four Hill sisters that settled in Bunbury, and their biography can be read here: The Hill Sisters. 

Business Man

The Hays and Eliza Hill arrived in Fremantle on 26 March 1863 (reference). From there, they went to Bunbury, and it didn't take them long to settle in. By October that year, David had set up as an auctioneer and advertised his Aunt's property in Minninup for auction (reference). Soon after arrival, Mrs Hay and David took over a business from Mr Hyman Lipschitz located in the Canberra Buildings in Victoria Street. They began trading as M. Hay & Son (reference). A few years later, they acquired a parcel of land from Mr Lipschitz on Victoria Street that stretched from Wellington Street to Prinsep Street. They converted a pre-existing building on this land to the "Dundee Store", named after their hometown in Scotland. This store was located at approximately 113 Victoria Street, where Sports Marine store currently sits (reference). The store sold a mixture of goods, including fresh produce, drapery, cutlery, ironmongery and confectionery (reference). 

It seems the homemade confectionery was popular, as Mr Lewis Moulton recalled in 1936, when talking about his childhood with the Spencer boys, Sir James Mitchell and Sir Newton Moore: "The boys used to go down to Mrs. David Hay's store to buy lollies. Mrs. Hay was an aunt of Lord Forrest and made Scotch rock" (reference). David built the business up with his mother, but from the recollections of Mr George Withers, who was employed in the store as a young boy, it seems Mrs Hay was the one to be feared as the following incident shows: "Treacle and honey were sold in bulk, and treacle or molasses was brought in by Yankee vessels in casks of 30 to 40 gallons. It was then emptied into a container for retail purposes. I was generally sent to do this filling and on one occasion was called away while it was being drawn off and forgot to go back. Later on Mr. D. A. Hay brought a customer in to sample some sugar and tea, when he found himself sticking to the floor. He was a good sport, so did not tell his mother, but advised me to clear it up, pronto! before she saw it. Needless to say I did, but 20 or 30 gallons of treacle were lost." (reference). They also exported sandalwood (reference) which, as David's son, George, would later recall, David would collect from the settlers. "In those days," he said, "farmers in the Darkan and Williams districts made periodical visits to Bunbury for stores, most of them coming to the coast along the Collie River. My father made these journeys fairly often, bringing down sandalwood and wheat and taking back stores bought from the proceeds of the sale of the sandalwood and flour gristed from the wheat brought down." (reference). 

By 1869, M. Hay & Son had stores in Busselton and Blackwood in Bridgetown and Bunbury (reference). In 1870, the partnership between David and his mother was dissolved, and the Dundee stores continued to be run by Mrs Hay (reference). M. Hay & Son also commenced building a new store in 1892, but the following year, the company was forced into bankruptcy (reference; reference; reference; reference; reference). The partnership was likely restored as David was listed as the managing partner at the time of bankruptcy.

Other Ventures

After his initial partnership with his mother was dissolved, David became a butcher and continued in this trade for many years, building a new shop in 1889 (reference; reference; reference). 

David meanwhile, diversified into other ventures. In 1869, he was breeding sheep and came second in the "best pen of not less than ten wethers" at the Wellington, Nelson and Murray Agriculture Society (reference). He also served on company boards - in 1870, he was listed as a provisional director of the newly floated Bunbury Ropery Company run by Mr. Charles Upton & Sons. In 1882 was appointed Chairman of the Board for the Bunbury Jarrah Timber Company Limited (reference; reference). In 1891, he was the agent for New Zealand Insurance Company (Fire and Marine) (reference). Before he died in 1899, David was working for his son-in-law John Tuxford, who had just established a store in Bunbury (reference). 

Community and Political Involvement

Throughout his life, David Hay was always very involved in the community and the progress of Bunbury in both official and unofficial capacities. 

In 1870, he was the Treasurer of the Bunbury Town Trust and a council member for several years (reference; reference). He was also elected Chairman of the Municipality several times, which was the Mayor's equivalent position before Bunbury became a mayoralty (reference). A West Australian reporter in 1882 gave him praise for his work as chairman:

"The repairs of our footpaths, under the careful supervision of Mr. D. A. Hay, chairman of the municipality, are being effected in a thorough and substantial manner, which we have been hitherto unaccustomed to." (reference). Although David ran for the position of Mayor twice - in 1892 and 1897, he was unsuccessful in both elections (reference; reference). David also ran for the Western Australian Senate in 1884 and was elected (reference). However, the race was very close, with Mr Hay winning by only two votes and the opposing candidate, Mr Henry Venn, immediately filed an objection with the Supreme Court (reference). Several votes were questioned - one being that of a blind man who had the squares marked with raised surfaces which the court declared invalid as it was no longer a secret vote. However, the verdict went to Mr Venn due to Mr Hay arranging transport to the poll for several people, which was illegal and ruled bribery (reference). Nevertheless, upon return home, Mr Hay "was met at the jetty by a crowd of men and boys, who drew his carriage from the jetty to his house and then round the town." (reference). 

Mr Hay also petitioned for a Board of Education for the district and later served on the school board (reference; reference). He also served on the local road board for several years and was elected chairman of that board in 1887 (reference; reference).

On a less official level, David was secretary of the Bunbury show for several years and had "worked hard in the interests of the society" (reference). He was also a judge for both the Bunbury and Busselton shows (reference; reference). In 1885, David was part of a committee to represent the colony and the local district at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. He also donated a possum rug for the display (reference; reference). The Annual Plough Match was another event that Mr Hay supported and promoted enthusiastically (reference). On one occasion, he offered one guinea to the best ploughing by youths under 18 (reference). David was also a strong supporter of Bunbury Horse Racing. In addition, he was secretary for the Wellington Turf Club and cleared the land for the Bunbury Race Course (reference; reference). David was involved in other organisations including the Debating Society, Bunbury and Wellington District Political Association, and being President of Progress Association (reference; reference; reference). Overall, David Hay was a strong advocate for Bunbury and gave much of his time to the district's progress.

Mineral Exploration

Mr Hay was very interested in the mining prospects of the district and spent a lot of time following leads and promoting discoveries of different metals and minerals. As early as 1869, he seemed to be the person to go to with discoveries, as the following story shows: “DISCOVERY OF QUICKSILVER. — Quicksilver has been discovered at Quindalup, about twenty miles to the southward of the Vasse. As much as 180 ounces were brought to Mr. David Hay at Bunbury a short time since by a man who had been employed in the neighbourhood. It was not found in the shape of cinnabar, or the rough ore, but tolerably pure and clean, oozing from a hole in a mass of black sand, which is known to be very common in this part. The finder states that any quantity of the metal is procurable from the place indicated (reference).”

Sometimes, the connections to Mr Hay were spurious as in 1884, when a newspaper reported that Mr Giblett had found coal near the Warren River, and Mr D. Hay had set off at once for the site to bring back samples to send to Perth. However, it turned out that David knew nothing of the find (reference; reference).

In 1890, tin was discovered on Mr Hay’s property and the claim was judged to be “not very rich” but “should pay well the way it is being worked (reference).” In 1891, when a visitor noticed the rock in the town streets had gold-bearing properties, Mr Hay informed him that the rock came from Mr Clifton’s property (reference). Also, in 1895, Mr Hay showed reporters some samples of gold-bearing rocks found in the district (reference).

The Discovery of Coal

At the time, the government was very interested in finding coal in Western Australia as it was the fuel source for trains and essential in opening up the railways. Accordingly, they had offered a ₤1000 reward for its discovery. This reward was eventually shared by Mr David Hay and Mr Arthur Perren (reference).

In 1889, the first payable coal deposit was discovered. At the time, the newspapers reported in June 1889, David Hay went with four others to dig up the river bed of an area eight miles out of Bunbury known as "the Old Coal Pits." Seams of lignite (low-grade coal) were found there 35 years before by government drillers. However, the area was considered too wet to mine, so it was abandoned. The coal was deemed satisfactory, and Mr Woodward, the government assistant, recommended that a bore be put down as "undoubtedly modern coal would be found" (reference). Then, it was reported in October 1889, Mr Perren brought some coal samples from a site 25 miles away from the first field to be analysed, and these were deemed superior to any coal found previously (reference). These samples would lead to the establishment of the Collie Coalfields. In November of the same year, Mr Hay exhibited coal at the Show found near the Collie River (reference). Mr Perren and Mr Hay were deemed co-discoverers of the coal and were each given ₤100 from the government as a reward.

In 1898, Mr Woodward wrote a paper about the discovery stating the actual discoverer of the coal was a shepherd named George Marsh who, unaware of its value, told his employer Arthur Perren who was equally unaware of its value, but told his brother Jesse who then told David Hay. Mr Woodward did acknowledge Mr Day for "the manner in which he set about to ascertain the whereabouts of the discovery and for the energetic manner in which he prospected for the deposit  (reference)."

In 1939, Algernon Clifton presented his version of events which elaborated on Mr Woodward's story. According to Mr Clifton: "...a young man named George Marsh was minding sheep for Mr. Arthur Perren, of Brunswick, and had his camp on the Collie River close to where the town of Collie stands today. One day while filling his billy from a deep pool in the river he noticed a couple of dark-coloured stones on the edge of the pool. These being of a convenient size and shape lo set on either side of his fire while the billy boiled he carried them up and used them for that purpose. To his astonishment he found a little later that they had taken fire.... he had no idea of the tremendous discovery he had made and when the owner of the sheep made his next periodical visit with rations for the shepherd the circumstance of the stones having taken fire was pointed out to him. Mr. Perren at once knew what they were but said never a word. In fact, he lay low about the discovery for some seven or eight years. presumably in hopes of making enough money out of his stock-raising operations to enable him to develop a coal mine himself." The story continued to say that Mr. Arthur Perren became very ill and "thinking that he might be going to die, he sent for one of his brothers and disclosed the discovery to him" Jessie Perren, the brother, then visited Bunbury and seeing bags of coal on the jetty told a bystander he knew where there was "plenty of that stuff to be got." This was told to Mr Hay, the story continues, who went to visit Mr Arthur Perren and "bounced him into the belief that his brother had told him all about it and it rested with him to go up with Mr. Hay and show him the exact locality and apply jointly with Mr. Hay for a mining lease over the area. If he did not Mr. Hay would apply for a large area in his own name and then with the help of an experienced bushman, he would soon locate the spot and Mr. Perren would be left out in the cold.Eventually Mr. Perren fell in with the proposal and some days later a party consisting of Mr. Hay, Mr. Perren, Mr. Luke Crampton and Mr. Robert H. Heppingstone went out under Mr. Perren's guidance to the pool, where the blocks of coal had been found by Mr. G. Marsh some eight years previously. And that was about all Mr. Perren knew about it, though he supposed that the seam might be exposed in the bottom of the pool Mr. Hay decided to strip off and get into the pool and eventually he found what he supposed to be the seam of coal." Mr Hay then loaded some coal in his sulky and "drove back triumphant as the discoverer." The coal was then exhibited at the Bunbury Agricultural Show "with a large placard intimating that it was "Collie coal discovered by Mr. D. A. Hay." According to Mr. Clifton, Mr Perren was very annoyed and he did not want Mr Hay acknowledged, but in the end Mr Hay and Mr Perren were both acknowledged as discoverers and shared the government reward (reference).

The family story told by David's son George in 1935 was different again. George explained that his father often journeyed along the Collie River on shop business and: "He was homeward-bound one evening and was about to pitch camp when he saw a fire in the bush. He went over and saw one of Perrin's shepherds. Dad decided to spend the evening with him. They were in the middle of their evening meal when the fire began to die down. The shepherd said that he knew of a place close by where he could get some black stuff that would keep a strong fire going all night. He went away and returned with an armful of black substance. Becoming interested, Dad watched him throw the stuff on the fire and saw it burn up. He examined it closely and asked the shepherd if he realised what the 'black stuff' was. The shepherd was very surprised when Dad told him it was coal. Perhaps the shepherd later told Perrin. The First Drayload: When Dad was in Bunbury he got two or three people interested in his coal discovery and Bob Elphinstone and Joe White and a couple of others came out with a dray and took a drayload of the stuff into Bunbury. They took it from near the river at Allanson about four miles south of Collie. In Bunbury Dad was told that the drayload of stuff was slate not coal, and he was laughed at for his talk of a coal discovery. But he was not satisfied. He took a lump with him to South Australia and had it examined there. That examination confirmed his belief that it was coal. He came back to Bunbury and reported the result of the examination to Sir John Forrest, who was his cousin. Sir John passed on the information to Government officers and a bore was put down, the results showing that a coal seam existed not only where Dad had indicated but also in other places in the vicinity. I know there was a lot of talk about who really did find coal. I know, too, that Dad got a reward for finding coal. That seems to me to about settle it (reference)."

On the plaque at the discovery site, Mr Marsh, Mr Perren and Mr Hay are all acknowledged in the discovery of coal (reference).

David died in 1899 after contracting pneumonia. He was 55 years old.

Family

David married Katherine Walker O'Neill in 1866 (reference). Katherine was born in 1844 in Barna, a coastal village in County Galway, Ireland. She was the eldest daughter of Mary (nee Walker) and James O'Neill (reference). 

In 1863, when Katherine was 19 years old, she came to Australia on the convict ship "Lord Dalhousie" with her mother's sister, Sarah and her husband, Reverend Joseph Withers (reference). 

In 1931, Katherine recalled her arrival in Australia in an interview with the Collie times: "The Lord Dalhousie arrived at Gage Road on December 23 of the year mentioned after being 92 days at sea. She (if one can rail a boat with the title of Lord "she*) brought with her 422 souls of whom 270 were convicts transported for various offences from the mother country….[The convicts] were employed road making in Bunbury. They made every hit of Wellington Street and various other thoroughfares. Chained two and two together they would be escorted to their work by warders. After serving a stipulated time they would be allowed out on ticket of leave but a bell was rung every night at ten o'clock and all had to be in by that hour." While the rest of the Withers family travelled to Bunbury by boat, Katherine made the journey on horseback which meant she went through Perth which was then very small: "At that time there were only several shops in the capital and one hotel.This was in St. George's Terrace and is believed to be the United Service. The Hay Street roadway was a track made by bullock teams, it being no unusual sight to see the teams bogged…[when we arrived] footpaths were being made to Hay Street." The journey to Bunbury on horseback took several days and Mrs Hay recalled how pleased everyone was when the railway was built 30 years later: "In the earliest days of South Wert railroad history the train left Bunbury at about 8 o'clock in the morning and reached Pinjarra during the afternoon. It would proceed no further that day but would wait until the morrow when it would resume its journey in the morning and reach Perth about four o'clock In the afternoon. It would scarcely suit anybody dashing off to the Saturday afternoon races these times but [we] were perfectly satisfied for it meant a quick trip after horseback journeys and besides, staying at McLarty's in Pinjarra [we] never failed to have a good time." When Katherine arrived in Bunbury: "there were only about half a dozen houses in existence although there were a goodly number of pensioners' stone huts. Mr. Eliott was the resident magistrate." Mrs Hay recalled some of the people in the district at the time saying she knew the Australind pioneer Marshall Clifton's wife and son Pearce well, but Marshall had died before her arrival. She added that at the time, Australind "had then been deserted to a handful of people" (reference).

At the time of the interview, Katherine was 87 years old and had perfect eyesight. She said that she had worn spectacles for more than 50 years, a claim which was borne out by a 1919 advertisement for the return of her lost handbag containing "containing purse, spectacles and crochet work" (reference). However, after recovering from a nasty illness in her early eighties, she found her eyesight had improved so much that she didn't need spectacles "even for threading the finest of needles (reference)." 

Katherine was known as a caring person. In a 1936 article celebrating Bunbury's centenary and recounting the town's progress, she was described as "a veritable mother to the whole town" (reference). 

At the time of the 1931 interview, Mrs Hay had 35 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren and was moving around between her surviving children, "making her older years happy by living a little with each of them" (reference).

Katherine died in 1933, aged 89 years (reference).

Children

David and Katherine had eleven children.

Eliza, born in 1867, married Bunbury businessman and Councillor Mr James Tuxford, and they had two sons who both died in infancy (reference).

Louisa Mary, born 1869, married Mr George Jones of Harvey, and they had seven children (reference).

John Alexander, born in 1871, married Annie Donovan in 1921 (reference). They lived in Bunbury, and John had five children and three stepchildren (reference).

While he was married to Katherine, David had a relationship for several years with Maria Hislop and had two sons with her. 

David Hislop Hay, born in 1872, died in 1873 at one year old (reference). Alexander Hislop, born in 1875, was registered as both Alexander Hislop and Alexander Hay. Alexander married Ethel Brown, and they had one son (reference).

Maria petitioned David for maintenance in 1876 and was awarded five shillings a week for the next fourteen years. It was the first case fought under the then-new Western Australian Bastardy Laws Act of 1875 (reference). 

Grace "Amy", born in 1873, married Walter Scott. They had one daughter, Daisy, and they lived in Congdon Street, East Fremantle. (reference; reference). Walter died in 1915 in Melbourne, and Grace was remarried to George Wilbow in 1918 (reference). They lived in Salisbury Street, Leederville, but they didn't have any more children (reference)

Albert George, born in 1875, married Lily Rundle, and they had seven children (reference).

Frederick William "Bill", born in 1877, owned Nulla Nulla cattle station on the coast near Wyndham in partnership with Lionel Overhue. He was the first person to grow cotton in the North West, and a consignment was displayed at the Wembley Exhibition. Bill tried to enlist during the Boer War but was turned away because he didn't pass his medical, so he worked his passage to Africa and joined one of the irregular corps and fought with them. After the war, he spent some time travelling in Africa, crossing the continent from east to west. When he returned, he worked as a surveyor with Mr Terry from Manjimup before travelling north to work for Alexander Forrest. Fred then served in World War 1 with the 10th Light Horse Brigade. He was wounded in the foot and left unable to walk without the aid of a stick. He returned to the North West and took up a pastoral lease with Lionel Overhue. In 1928, Frederick wrote to his mother, telling her their first consignment of cattle was ready, and his partner had to go to the hospital. He also said the local Aboriginal people were very hostile, but he thought the situation was manageable. However, in April 1928, Frederick was found speared to death by his partner and Constable S. Jack. An Aboriginal man named Lumbra was charged with his murder (reference; reference; reference). 

Mabel Katherine, born in 1879, married Edward Townshend, an engine driver. They lived in Merredin from 1920 to 1929 (reference; reference).

David Augustus Kennedy "Ken", born in 1881, married Dora Hill, and they had two sons (reference; reference). In 1906, David went to jail for forging a bank receipt while being secretary of the Western Australian Locomotive Engine Drivers', Firemens' and Cleaners' Union (reference). He died in a car accident in 1914 when he was 34 years old (reference).

George Lancelot, born in 1883, married his brother's widow, Dora, in 1916, and they had three more children (reference; reference). Previous to his marriage, George had been charged with breach of promise in 1905 by Emma Witt and ordered to pay ₤150 (reference).

Norman, born in 1886, died in infancy (reference).

Dorothy Nina, born in 1888, married Frank Dye. They lived at Roelands and had ten children (reference).

Researched by Gaye Englund for the Museum of Perth.