Captain George Bunn
Born in London in 1790, George Bunn was one of 11 children of paymaster for the Regiment with connections to the East Indies. Four of his brothers were in the Royal Navy or the merchant service in the employ of merchant house Buckle Bagster and Buchanan (Buckle & Co) and George began his maritime career in 1807, possibly in non-commissioned service in the Royal Navy. (according to Holcomb UNE 2012)
Between 1821 and 24 Bunn brought three transports of convicts (respectively carrying 172, 171, 172 men) to Port Jackson and Hobart in the Countess of Harcourt, under charter by Buckle & Co. On the return voyage in 1824 in company with the HMS Tamar and colonial brig Lady Nelson the Countess of Harcourt carried troops, families and supplies to Melville Island in an attempt to open up trade to the north (at the fledgling outpost of Port Essington).
On 26 January 1826 Bunn returned to Sydney to settle as shipping agent for Buckle & Co on their chartered brig John Dunn as a passenger. He brought rope, iron, gunpowder, wine, brandy, rum and gin for his employers, and secured cargoes of wool, timber, tree nails and seal skins in Sydney and Hobart on the ship’s return voyage to the UK.
Operating as George Bunn & Co at 98 George Street Sydney, largely but not exclusively for Buckle & Co, Bunn immersed himself in civic and business circles, with his valuable London connections and access to funds. Buckle & Co had contracts with the East India Company and with HM Naval Commissioners for convict transports. The company diversified in the 1820s to become a major importer of wool from the Australian colonies for the British textile industry. On Buckle & Co’s behalf Bunn offered consignees free warehousing in George Street or on the ship St Michael in Newcastle.
In November 1826 George Bunn was listed among the 24 shipping agents - owners and/or merchants - in the Port of Australia along with prominent names such as Robert Campbell (Snr and jnr), Simeon Lord and Berry & Wollstonecraft. (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 25 Nov 1826 p3)
The following year he received a land grant of 2650 acres near Braidwood, NSW. In May 1828 the 39 year-old married 20 year-old Anna Marie Murray who had arrived the preceding year with her siblings and father Terence Murray, then paymaster of the 48th Regiment. Later in 1828 the muster records Bunn’s 2640 acres of land, 5 horses, 400 cattle and 6000 sheep. Bunn diversified into banking, sealing and whaling - investing in ships and land for a station in New Zealand - and in transport infrastructure, establishing a company to build a canal between the Parramatta and Hawkesbury River.
From 1832 Bunn began developing new sites to expand his operations - whaling facilities in Mosman and, on the western shore of Cockle Bay a wharf, warehouses and in 1833, Newstead at Pyrmont, located at what is now known as Bunn Street. It was to be a new home for his growing family with Anna Maria his children John born 1830, George 1831, and Ellen 1833.
George Bunn died suddenly on 9 January 1834, aged 43. His funeral was grand and well attended.
