Besides conferring on him an additional grant of 100 acres (40 ha) at Dundas and making him a magistrate, the governor in 1798 recommended his appointment as apothecary at the Parramatta Hospital and entrusted him with the task of assisting Samuel Marsden to conduct an inquiry into the state of small-scale farming round Parramatta. The accuracy of this appraisal is debatable, but beyond dispute were Arndell's good reasons to welcome Hunter's presence. In July 1798, at Governor John Hunter's request, he reported on the changes made under Grose and William Paterson, depicting a community sunk in crime, drunkenness and vice, mismanaged and poorly governed, which was restored to decency only by Hunter's prompt actions. His memories of this era, however, were far from happy. By October 1792, although still performing medical duties, he had eighteen acres (7.2 ha) under crop and three (1.2 ha) more cleared, an achievement exceeded by only two other persons.ĭuring the interregnum he received news that he was to be allowed a pension of £50 and he was given a 70-acre (28 ha) grant by Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose. Impressed by his meritorious services and anticipating a favourable reply to the application he sent to London, Governor Arthur Phillip at once gave him a 60-acre (24 ha) grant even though servants of the Crown were not yet entitled to such concessions. In July 1792, apparently convinced that farming offered the better livelihood, he sought permission to retire on a pension and became a settler presumably he hoped in this way to provide more adequately for Elizabeth Burleigh, his convict wife (whom he married in 1807 at Windsor) and their new-born daughter. Early in 1791 he began cultivating a block of land there, assisted by an assigned labourer. Arndell arrived at Port Jackson in the Friendship and was soon given charge of the hospital at Parramatta. His son John, by his wife Susanna, was later a medical assistant at Norfolk Island, and his natural daughter Esther married William Hovell. He was baptized on at Kington, Herefordshire, son of Anthony Arndell and his wife Elizabeth, née Harris. Thomas Arndell (1753-1821), surgeon, magistrate and landholder, was one of seven assistant surgeons who formed the medical staff led by Surgeon-General John White which cared for the convicts in the First Fleet.
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