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sketcher, surveyor and farmer, was born at Ellesmere in the Lake District (Cumbria), son of John Sharland, a farmer, and his wife, Jane. William arrived at Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, with his father and brother aboard the Elizabeth in July 1823. Employed in the Survey Department under George William Evans as a copying clerk, he was soon promoted acting assistant surveyor. He remained in the department until 1839, being commended for his zeal and abilities in surveying and in drawing plans of the streets and precincts of Launceston and Hobart Town. Under Thomas Scott he laid out New Norfolk, Hamilton, Oatlands, Bothwell and Brighton. He explored the sources of the Derwent River and claimed the discovery of Lake St Clair on 8 March 1832. Included among several rough sketches in his 1832 official 'Report of exploration…south of the Derwent’ is a sketch, Frenchman’s Cap from the Adelaide River . A pen-and-ink drawing of the same subject is in the Mitchell Library (which holds a microfilm copy of his report).

In 1835 Sharland married Frances Sarah (1813-59), one of the seven daughters of Major Charles Schaw, police magistrate at Richmond (Van Diemen’s Land), and Anne Frances, née Cockburn. Frances Sharland was a noted collector of algae; her collection made at Kelso sent to the 1851 Great Exhibition in London was awarded a bronze medal. A.F. Sharland, one of their fourteen children (eight daughters and six sons), became a well-known Tasmanian architect and sportsman.

W.S. Sharland was retrenched from the Survey Department in 1839 and re-employed only on contract. By then he had taken up extensive properties near Hamilton and at New Norfolk which he farmed successfully. Appointed to the Legislative Council in 1849, he was an elected member in 1857 60, then represented New Norfolk in the Legislative Assembly in 1861-72. After Frances died in March 1859, Sharland married Margaret Fyfe of Mount Nod, Surrey. A devout member of the Church of England, he died on 23 October 1877 and was buried at New Norfolk.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011