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CHAPTER 4
BRIGHTON
Brighton, a district situated on the main route from Hobart Town
to Launceston at some sixteen miles distance from Hobart Town, was the first
of many country districts in which Hall practised his profession during the
next twenty years, and the only one in which he enaged in private practice .
However, the precise circumstances which determined his choice of Brighton
and his removal thereto, are unknown .
The population was rural , scattered and not very large, composed
of 657 free males, 374 free females , 967 male convicts and 57 female
convicts, a total of 2,055. 1 Actually, the district was without medical
attention until December 14, 1833, when Scott applied to have District
Assistant Srgeon W. De Little sent there in answer to several requests
made by Assistant Police Magistrate F. Roper to have a medical man appointed
to care for th great numb er of men employed on the roads . 2
With De Little
cari.ng for the convicts and performing all the official duties , it was
probably difficult for Hall to make a livi.ng, especially as he was at a
considerab le disadvant.age as a Roman Catholic.
Restricted thugh he was professionally, Hall soon became well
known as the leader of the Catholics for whom he conducted services in his
own home in the absence of the visi ti.ng priest, a practice which he fol lowed
in later years in other country areas .
He also became known to the
Government through his persistent and eventually successful effort from
November 5, 1834, to August 31, 1835 , to secure the payment of a small fee
of three guineas for attendance at a murder inquest to which he was summoned
by the local police. 3 However, it was his prominent participation in the
Brighton Association for the Detection and Supression of Felonies , formed
1
2
a
Hobart Town Almanack and Van Diemen 's Land Annual , 1835 , p. 47 ,
cso 1/689/15154.
cso 1/768/16408 & 1/820/17492.