A view of Sydney from North Head by Howard Ashton

 

WE KNOW where the name Trewhella almost certainly came from. We know this because of some research carried out by Bruce Steele (though he did not realise the significance of his "find", nor did he follow it up).

In an explanatory Note to his edition of Kangaroo, Steele endeavoured to show where the name Trewhella in Kangaroo might have come from.

"Various unsuccessful efforts have been made to identify [Trewhella]," he wrote. He cited as one possible source a Cornish chorister, Matthew Trewhella, who was allegedly seduced by a mermaid, a depiction of which watery affair Lawrence may have seen in a church in Zennor, near where he was staying in Cornwall.

Steele's Note also mentioned a far-more-likely candidate, Joshua Thomas Trewheelar, whose funeral had been reported in two local papers a few days before Lawrence arrived in Sydney. (Another creditable product of Steele's research in Sydney.)

I do not believe Lawrence read either of those reports - for one thing, had he read it, it is likely that he would have got the spelling of Joshua Trewheelar's name right.

However, I do believe that he heard the name "Trewhella" at that Sunday afternoon tea-party where he learned that "Wyewurk" was vacant. I have no proof of this speculation, but it has a few things going for it.

Firstly, the recently-deceased Trewheelar was (as Steele also mentioned) the manager of an engineering company, Cameron Sutherland Pty Ltd, which specialised in mining machinery - and in the novel "Jaz" Trewhella travels down to Mullumbimby (Thirroul) to visit the local coal mine there.

More significantly, Joshua was a member - for, like the Trewhella of Zennor fame, he sang - of the Sydney Apollo Society, which had recently changed its name from the Sydney Liedertafel, one of Sydney's leading choral societies, among whose other stalwarts was the well-known bass singer, Charles Rosenthal.

Joshua Trewheelar was also a Mason, as probably was Rosenthal (as were many other men of a Protestant persuasion in Sydney at that time).

It is possible, indeed likely, that Rosenthal and his fellow Lodge-members attended the Masonic funeral of Joshua Trewheelar on Wednesday, May 24, and that this recent event may have been a topic of conversation at that Sunday afternoon tea-party, a few days before Lawrence began writing Kangaroo (and where several other Lodge-members were probably also present).

It is likely, as Dr Steele pointed out, that mention of the name "Trewhella" would have rung a Cornwall bell for Lawrence, and perhaps put his transposition antennae in motion.

The fact that Hum, who was present at that tea-party, also had Cornish connections adds weight to this speculation.

(Yet it must be pointed out that the name "Trehwella" was not unknown in Australia. An advertisement for a "grubbing" - a stump-removing implement - machine called a "Trewhella" appeared in a number of contemporary publications…as did ads for a motorcycle called "the Callcott".)