Joseph Fidden was an Englishman who arrived in the early Colony of New South Wales, not by his own choice - he came as a convict. Despite this unfortunate beginning he was to become one of the prominent pioneers of Ku-ring-gai's early history.

In July 1799 Joseph was convicted at the Kent Assizes in Maidstone on charges of stealing paint, two pots and two loaves of bread. The value of these goods was 3 shillings and 10 pence. His original sentence of death by hanging was commuted to transportation for seven years. He arrived in Sydney in June 1801, via the transport Earl Cornwallis.

On 13 April 1807 Joseph married another convict, Mary Clarke, in St John's Church of England, Parramatta. They lived in the area known today as Ryde. In about 1814, the Fiddens moved into an area that was known then as 'Lane Cove' (today we know this area as Ku-ring-gai). The couple had four children.

In 1821 Joseph was given a 40-acre grant of land from Governor Macquarie. This grant was located on the southern side of what is now Fiddens Wharf Road, and fronted the present Pacific Highway, Killara. However, he never took formal possession of this land. Instead, for the next 30 years he lived in a hut by the banks of the Lane Cove River, at the foot of Fiddens Wharf Road in present day West Lindfield/Killara.

During the early 1800s, modern-day Ku-ring-gai had the trees that could provide the timber that was so urgently required to develop and build the growing township of Sydney. To fulfil this need, Joseph worked long and hard as both a boatman and a timber-getter. Throughout the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s he gathered the timber and transported it, on his boat, to Sydney Town. Day after day he would cut down timber, load it onto his boat, and row this cargo down the Lane Cove River some 18 or more kilometres to the Market Wharf in Darling Harbour.

Joseph operated from a wharf near his hut. This was the original Government Wharf that had been used previously by the convicts in a Government Sawing Camp. The wharf soon acquired the name of 'Fidden's Wharf'. The road near his hut - which was the road down which the fallen trees were hauled before being sawn into smaller pieces and loaded onto his boat - soon acquired the name of 'Fidden's Wharf Road'.

Joseph was an incredibly strong man who worked long and hard for many years. He helped enormously in providing the fundamental building blocks for Sydney's development while assisting greatly in the opening up of the North Shore area. It wasn't until the early 1850s that he and his wife Mary finally left their hut by the Lane Cove River and went to live in Kent Street, Sydney. Joseph died in 1856, and Mary died in 1860.

Joseph Fidden's legacy remains.  His name is now remembered in 'Fiddens Wharf', 'Fiddens Wharf Road', 'Fiddens Wharf Reserve' and 'Fiddens Wharf Oval'.  The city of Sydney stands today as testament to the hard work of pioneers like Joseph and Mary Fidden.

Dr Meldrum's book on the life of Joseph Fidden, 'The Lane Cove Boatman: the Story of Joseph Fidden', is available for purchase through the Ku-ring-gai Historical Society (phone: 9144 6480) or from the author (phone: 9449 1611).