James Hartwell WilliamsPrint Page

The plaque, erected at the grave site, commemorates the 110th anniversary of the death of James Hartwell Williams, the first United States Consul to Sydney, who died in 1881. James Hartwell Williams was appointed consul in 1836. 

In 1836 his uncle secured his appointment as the first United States consul to an Australian colony. His exequatur from the British government was delayed, partly due to a change in American presidents, and he returned from a visit to the United States on 15 January 1839 in the Tartar to open the consulate.

Williams's duties involved recording American shipping in Australian waters for Washington and acting as arbitrator in disputes on American ships. In 1842 he pointed out to the British government the advantages to Sydney trade if American whalers could bring in oil free of duty. Conditions which made it costly for foreign vessels to refit and victual in Sydney were alleviated. With the discovery of gold in California in 1848 relations were strained by the treatment of some Australians at the hands of the Committee of Vigilance in San Francisco; when Williams denounced the 'wholesale slanders of the Sydney people by the California press', he was regarded by some of his countrymen as 'to all interests and purposes an Australian'.

Location

Address:	West Street, St Thomas Rest Park, Crows Nest , 2065
State:	NSW
Area:	Foreign
GPS Coordinates:	Lat: -33.823761 Long: 151.206433 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.

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Details

Monument Type:	Plaque
Monument Theme:	People
Sub-Theme:	Foreigners
Actual Event Start Date:	1881
Actual Event End Date:	1991
Link:	http://adb.anu.edu.au/

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:	1991

Source: MA, ADB