The Australian Accent

On the Australian accent; Where did it come from? An interesting quote from the journal of an early colony traveler, 

David Burn - journal of a voyage from London to Hobart in the barque Calcutta, 31 July-22 Nov. 1841, and journal, 1 Aug. 1844-19 Feb. 1845

B 190/2

http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2015/D36511/a1502.html

Sydney and its suburbs is essentially Hibernian - The homely tongue of “Merrie England”, which stamps her Southern sister’s ”Saxon” origin, is here o’erborne by the Emerald brogue in all the rich variety of its manifold intonations, from the racy mellifluence of sprightly Munster, to the sober and portentous drawl of the “Black North”- 

Culture of Sydney and Hobart

Burns also comments on the culture of Hobart compared with Sydney;

 "The personal characteristics, too, are conspicuously apparent in the respective cities - Here (Sydney) the mansion and the palace are flanked by the hut and the hovel, and red heels and shoeless feet unequivocally betoken the from whence of the individual. Rags, filth, and squalor are intermingled with luxury, pomp, and super plenty - Hobart Town presents no such striking contrasts - Her mansions are not so numerous - her shops are less gaudy, and less extensive, but she can boast of English cleanliness, English order, and English comfort - No barefooted damsels disgrace her streets - the untidy cabin gives place to the well kept cot - and, in a word the arrangements, the habits, and the feelings are peculiarly English - English, too, they will descent, whilst it is to be feared a spirit of Irish insousiance will hardly fail to mark Australia for its own –"

Future Prospects of the Colony

Further, when discussing the colonies with another pompous friend in Sydney, Dr Wilson, they agreed "The condition of this Colony and V.D. Land were discussed, Sir Geo. was unable to see why V.D.L. should not be greatly benefited by the heavy British expenditure - this I endeavoured to explain. I found he entertained like opinions with my own regarding the Banks having made Bankrupt of the Community. He, also, deemed the people had been labouring under a species of moral delirium tremens. I had a long talk with Dr. Wilson; he asked me if I thought these Colonies could become great countries. My reply was “No”, his opinion, he said, also."  So they agreed that Australia could never become a great country. Moral "delirium tremens"!!!!

The East Coast Landscape and Towns in 1840's (from the account of David Burn), 

David Burn - Journal of a voyage from London to Hobart in the barque Calcutta, 31 July-22 Nov. 1841, and journal, 1 Aug. 1844-19 Feb. 1845)

Sydney

His impressions of Sydney landscape "

The locality is exceedingly romantically picturesque, yet nothing can be more painful than the drear sterility of all around. It is a wonderful proof of what climate will effect to contemplate the ample, the rank vegetation clinging to and covering the never ending masses of rock, which are only lost in vast beds of hungry and sparkling

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sand - Nothing can be more savagely wild than the landscape - It is just such, in the chief features, as are to be found in the remote mountain lakes of Tasmania - The continuous beds of impracticable sand stone defy the labours of civilisation, the few patches tortured into an assumption of fertility rendering the natural inhospitality of the surrounding space only the more powerfully prominent, like a farthing rushlight in an ancient Gothic Hall, its feeble ray serving to render the darkness visible it would vainly seek to illumine –

Nevertheless, here, amid all this chaotic mass of rock, sand, and scrub, numerous noble villas have everywhere arisen - This worthless ground has been sold at one hundred pounds per acre, and goodly mansions have sought to adorn a desart stamped as such by the hand of nature - But for the beauteous and ramified arms of its hundred bays what a hideous place Sydney would be, but the water, the bright blue, everywhere present water imparts a softness, a grace, a majesty to a picture which otherwise must have been less than valueless –

From its peculiar position it is next to impossible to obtain an entirely commanding view of Sydney, indeed I have seen no painting which conveys anything like a just idea of its character or importance - Perhaps the North Shore may be as good a spot as any but still it is imperfect since George, Pitt, and other principal streets are excluded from the view - Threading the wild bush, every shrub teeming with its blossoms, I made a detour with the intention of re crossing at the Upper Ferry –"

Newcastle

His first impressions of the city of Newcastle; "

On turning out at daylight, I found we were close to Newcastle Heads which are exactly sixty miles distant from Those of Port Jackson - For this trip the cabin fare per Tamar is only 3/- a price charged with the view of running Sophia Jane (7/6) off the station - these two vessels sail every Tuesday & Friday - By the Tamar Co.s Boats Rose & Thistle, which sail every other day the fare is 15/- This does not deserve encouragement, but, unhappily, Sophia is rather aged, somewhat bent in the middle, and not altogether the most ship shape to a sailors eye - The coast about Newcastle is anything but interesting, consisting of a low sandy and unmeaning shore - The entrance of the river is distinctly marked by an island peak called Nobby’s on either side of which the Hunter disemboques itself - The peak is now being shorn of its fair proportions as well as a cliff on the mainland, and extensive causeway or breakwater being in course of formation to unite the two, and thus block up the southern passage which is most exposed to the fury of the

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ocean - Public opinion is much divided as to the beneficial results of this measure - some asserting it will tend to cloak the Northern passage, others insisting it must of necessity deepen it - From my own observation of similar matters, I fully accord in the theory of the latter - Newcastle is rather a pretty looking place, lying on the gentle slope of a small hill with a Northern exposure - It contains perhaps 1400 inhabitants, and is principally remarkable for the Collieries with which it is enriched - These collieries are leased to the Australian Agricultural Company of whose investmn.ts this is said to be the most if not the only profitable one - They charge 11/- per ton for splendid coals delivered from the [indecipherable], - They pay, I am told £500 of Monthly wages, a sum which, in the depth of the surrounding gloom, is of vast account - they have several shafts sunk -

Wharves have hitherto been unattended to but a good one is now in course of formation - Military Barracks, affording quarter for 16 Officers and 200 men have not long been completed, Major Last, Mr. De Winton, Dr. Galbraith and a detachment of the 99th at present occupy them - A lefty wall was intended to enclose them but only a small portion of it has been finished - There are prisoners Barracks at Nobby, and a stockade at the Wharf, the prisoners are men sentenced to Irons - Some time since half a dozen of them took to the water with the view of escaping from Nobby - The sentry challenged and ordered them to return - five obeyed but the sixth persevered - Again he was warned and persisted - The sentry fired - hit him, and down he went; his body appeared no more and most probably was drifted out to sea - Coal abounds in all direction here, the very fact of the cliff being surcharged with it -

The height adjoining Nobby is called Signal Hi8ll - from this all vessels approaching are made known, and here a large coal fire is nightly made to do duty f a light house. The town wears a very woe begone look at present, and only some short time since 50 of the limited Military force was detached to New Zealand - On Signal Hill, without carriages, lie 7 - 6 pounders in the last stage of consumptive [indecipherable] - The Hunter is a very

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shallow river in many places, even the light draughted steam boats constantly taking the ground - Bar Harbours and shallow rivers will ever, I fear, mar commercial greatness in this colony - The vicinity of Newcastle is extremely sandy and barren - An immense sand hill has been blown up between the town and Signal Hill, underneath which a capital made road lies engulfed - there are many good houses of which the new Police Office erected by Sir R. Bourke is a very creditable specimen - Opposite to Newcastle on the Northern Bank lies Stockton a small village which boasts a Salt Works, Iron foundry, and Woolen Manufactory -"

and "

we took a stroll to Windmill Hill, from whence the town, the sinuosities, bays, and islands of the Hunter, with the extended scrubly plains bordering its course are comprehended at a glance - The picture is very far from being a glowing one, scarcely one spot of cultivation gladdening the sterile character of the sandy desart whose worthlessness is, however, screen ed by the dense but useless brush wood where with it is covered - The only point of interest landwards is when the eye falls upon the far distant mountains whose remoteness, as usual, “lends enchantment to the view” - Indeed, there is an almost painful degree of sameness in all Australian and Tasmanian scenery, one place so closely resembling another that the eye grows weary in traversing the measureless depths of primeval forests, interminable plains, and regularly irregular mountains - At the back of the Windmill The Australian Agricultural Co. have established a village for their miners, comprising some

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"18 or 20 houses to each of which half an acre of garden ground is attached - The company hold 2000 acres here, andtheir miners who live rent free earn n average rate of wages of 25/- weekly - A new shaft has been sunk in this quarter, but it is not expected to commence working for a year or two - Turning our back upon the vast expanse of sterile land outspread before us, we next contemplate a much more boundless extent of sky and water - The vast Pacific in all its might stretches onwards until the blue of Ocean and Ether commingle - The sea is ever a glorious sight, but to be truly exhilirating it must be dotted with here and there a tall ship - few such are seen from the heads of Newcastle, upon whose beach the unploughed wave generally breaks in solitary murmurings - The whole picture either sea or landward is stupendous, but chilling from the great paucity of the necessary life like accompaniments."

and north of Newcastle "

The coast to the Northward of Newcastle is one long succession of low sandy uninviting, beach which stretches all the way to Port Stephen, a harbour very distinctly marked by a range of small hummocky peaks with two or three island rocks of like character close to the mainland, the interior is, further, backed by a group of hills of moderate elevation and limited extent - Port Stephen is Head Quarters of the Australian Agricultural Company –(who) are said not to be making a fortune) - We were off it by noon -

The entire line of coast is utterly destitute of either the pictorial or romantic graces, - even that of savage grandeur is denied - the uniform character is that of undeviating sterility - of a weary unbroken sameness - Here and there, but at distant intervals, a desolate promontory or peaked cliff will thrust its crags into the ocean, but there is a formality even in those crags sadly destructive of the picturesque, which forces upon memory other and more pleasing subjects of contemplation - Ah, me! In running along the shores of Merrie England, in coasting the hoary cliffs of stern Caledonia, or skirting the emerald hills of Green Erin, what an infinity of grand, majestic, and glorious objects woo and enchain our regards, delighting alike the heart and eye, and attuning the mind to love and joy - Here, how different ! The dun disconsolate hue of the sombre, never changing, foliage, - the drear, melancholy, aspect of the solitary, barren wastes, - the heavy chill of the deathlike wilderness, oppress the very soul with painful images of desolation and gloom - Ah! Who would emigrate that could earn a livelihood in their own dear Fatherland? - Even gold may be purchased at a price too"

On Port Macquarrie 

"The first and most prominent objects which the eye encounters, an object which the eye encounters, an object essentially Colonial in character, is a new and every extensive gaol crowning the brow which overhangs the entrance of the harbour. Without assistance from this wholesome structure, the aspect of Port Macquarie, invested as it is with low sandy hillocks and backed by dense, sombre scrub is sufficiently uninviting.

The harbour, like most on this coast, is a bar one situated at the mouth of the river Hastings, and in heavy weather swept by tremendous rollers of the vast Pacific. In this respect it strikes one as bearing a great affinity to the Macquarie Harbour of Tasmania upon whose low sandy beach I have beheld the surges break in long and thundering sheets of feathery foam. Port Macquarie, however, is much more accessible than its southern namesake, which is only approachable with certain winds. 

My first impression upon debarking was that a vast internal traffic must exist to call so large a township as Port Macquarie into being. Many very extensive, even costly, buildings and stores, such as would not be out of keeping in either London or Liverpool, grace its streets, which are spacious and well laid out. One of the five or six storey warehouses would, I should think, be ample for the necessities of the town. The inn, too, the Hotel Royal, is unquestionably upon far too extravagant a scale, wearing as it does an air of magnificence infinitely better adapted to a stirring life like English Watering place than the dreary dead and alive nature of an abandoned penal settlement of a semi penal Colony, but it and the goodly store houses were created at a period when at every dinner, ball, or public assembly, the Colonials were greeted with the inspiring air “Money in Both Pockets”, which might then have been styled the Australian National air - but, Ichabod, the glory has departed. Now there is scarce money or pockets to be found.

Port Macquarie wears the impress as if of a City of the dead. No bustle disturbs the solemn silence of its streets - no traffic destroys the placidity of its harbour - its lone steamer is solitary lord of all it surveys - fine houses are frequent, but they, like the warehouses, are nearly tenantless. An immensity of capital has been easily expended in needless bricks and mortar - and the town is fully more than a century before its wants. Mr. Cohen, a respectable shopkeeper, informed me he had erected three fine houses at a cost of £2000 they have been finished these two years but, hitherto, he has had no return whatever. I naturally inquired what could induce such speculation, or if there was an extensive back country of whose produce this was the shipping port. The hope of its being Depot for the district of New England I ascertained had proved the lure - like many other

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earthly hopes those of the Port Macquarie residents have been pushed too far, and are consequently fallacious - no doubt much of the New England traffic will be directed this way, but it is alleged bad roads and other causes lead many New Englanders to prefer the route via Maitland. The Port Macquarieites may therefore be said to be in the position of those who seek to cook their hare before they have caught him. Their town wears the semblance of a departed prosperity which it never in reality enjoyed.

Oh, the sad, sombre air of all these Australasiatic townships - they are shrouded in an atmosphere of gloom. Their population, by ones and twos, crawl their streets with seeming lifeless apathy - every feature strikes chilly to the heart. Port Macquarie lies in 31°25.45 South 152° 53.54 East. Its Government House, the residence of the Police Magistrate, is a very pretty cottage with a deep verandah round its front and flanks - the site is beautiful, being on a gentle eminence commanding the settlement.

On the right hand, immediately across the street, there is an extensive range of brick buildings occupied as Convicts Barracks and lumber yard. The Military Barracks are directly in the rear, they are separate buildings seemingly erected from time to time to suit the growing demand for troops. Port Macquarie was created a penal settlement by Governor Macquarie and when the “Valley of Swells”, as that of Wellington was called, came to be abandoned, this was selected as the depot for the “Specials” who were, par excellence, the most especial, finished, scoundrels that “Left their Country for their Country’s Good”.

..."Here, parsons, merchants and lawyers clerks, and all who had turned a good education to a bad account were congregated. The enormities whereon the sun here has shone would, if divulged, present a hideous accord of depravity. Here a portion of the Monster Knatchbull’s career was passed. Here, as we have said, dwells Robert Herring. Here, in the ostensible position of Overseer of a Chain gang, but living in comfort and affluence with his wife, abideth Kinnear, a fellow whose address obtained discount for a forged bill of £80,000 from a Liverpool Bank. I am told he sometimes visits his gang, but is generally at his wifes, who keeps a shop which he, sub rosa, manages, and still contrives to play off some of his old tricks upon the unwary. The system of discipline here appears to be utterly worthless, for I have been informed of circumstances of convict management, from sources where the validity of the information could not be doubted, "

....."The vicinity of the settlement is thickly timbered - firewood abundant, being cried thro’ the settlement at 1/6 per load. The character of the scenery in its leading features is essentially that of Tasmania, the same trees, shrubs, and grapes skirt the roadside.

About three miles on we come to a small marsh. Had I been dropped there asleep I might easily have conjectured myself in the Lake country of the sister colony - the same naked trees bordering its edges - the same hills rearing their crests in the back ground - the sole perceptible difference is that the mountains are less grand and the timber more diminutive."

Wauchope

"The woods of Wauchope abound with a variety of pretty trees, such as the Box, the Myrtle and the Fig. The latter is a parasite whose seeds are dropped in the upper limbs of some lofty gum where they vegetate, gradually sending down long tendrils which twine and twist in all imaginable gothic tracery around the supporting stem and strike root in the ground where they rapidly expand, until like human parasites they utterly destroy their early props. Their roots then become exceedingly large, measuring 30 and forty feet from the trunk and three or four in height. "

"The more one contemplates the wild natural graces of their banks, the more they must be enchantened; the aqueous avenues are literally enclosed by walls of living green, and the bights and projections of the richly festooned trees, resemble the bastions, curtains, and turrets of ancients fortresses whose war torn walls are invisible to the eye because of the

rank tracery of the luxuriant and overspreading ivy - Even so is it with the forests here - their own charms receive a freshened zest from the bright and exhaustless masses of the thousand and one creepers which render a sharp knife necessary to penetrate their sanctuary - We espayed the fish with a pair of damaged [indecipherable] but unsuccessfully - A visit was paid to an island which, from the fact of its having a lake in the centre, I designated Lake Island -..................

The more one contemplates the wild natural graces of their banks, the more they must be enchantened; the aqueous avenues are literally enclosed by walls of living green, and the bights and projections of the richly festooned trees, resemble the bastions, curtains, and turrets of ancients fortresses whose war torn walls are invisible to the eye because of the

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rank tracery of the luxuriant and overspreading ivy - Even so is it with the forests here - their own charms receive a freshened zest from the bright and exhaustless masses of the thousand and one creepers which render a sharp knife necessary to penetrate their sanctuary - We espayed the fish with a pair of damaged [indecipherable] but unsuccessfully - A visit was paid to an island which, from the fact of its having a lake in the centre, I designated Lake Island -

Aboriginal Encounters 

At 10 a.m. my Charon and I took boat downwards to Messrs Oakes’ station when within a mile and a half we were hailed by an Aboriginal tribe, soliciting hard for tobacco. there were upwards of twenty men (no women) Paddy Melon (a dwarfish scrub Kangaroo) hunting - we pulled inshore and I had the glorious delight of rendering so many fellow creatures comparatively happy at the trifling cost of a couple of pipes and so many figs of tobacco, a donation to be equally shared, and which elicited for me a volley of “Good fello - good fello”, the poor creatures grinning and chattering with the most inexpressible satisfaction. Their passion for smoking

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is intense. They have been apt pupils in acquiring all the vile European tastes and habits. A lady, a friend of mine, discoursing to one of their women, domesticated in the family, of the joys of Heaven had her homily cut ridiculously short by the naive inquiry - “[indecipherable] Missus, plenti smoke dere?” Upon due explanation the forest child became utterly indifferent to all the glowing account of Celestial bliss, no joy existing in her mind where there was not “plenti of smoke”.

Except at Port Macquarie this was the first Aboriginal tribe I had ever beheld, the very first I had ever encountered in their native fastnesses, although from youth I have “fallen into the sere” since erst Australasia and I became acquainted. time there was when such an encounter, in Tasmania, would have called powder and ball into active requisition, therefore no reader, by any possibility, can appreciate my sensations at thus greeting the poor, ill used, Blacks with cordial good will, instead of being driven in self defence to a deadly exchange of shot for spears.

A pull of two hours and a half brought us to Sevenoaks, the pretty station of Messrs. Oakes situated in a fine open marshy plain at no great distance from the river. The house is a large and spacious one formed of cedar planks, white washed without and within. The landscape is extensive, of picturesque beauty and impressive character, the distant mountains girdling it with a zone of glowing purple.

Dr. Richardson and Mr. Tozer of Port Macquarie dined with us and after dinner a swim in the McKleay freed me of the travel stains of the past winter. In the evening we were attracted towards the Black Camp, a short half mile distant, to witness a Corrobbora. I was at once recognised as the “fella dat gib im smoke de mornin” and again importuned for more. A few inches of tobacco distributed here and there sufficed.

The tribe might probably muster some thirty or five and thirty individuals, men women and children. The [indecipherable] men we found, like so many strolling players, bedizzening themselves for their respective roles. A small clear spot served for stage and the depths of the thicket for exits and entrances, whilst a flickering fire from dead boughs was at once foot and centre lights. The adornment for the approaching spectacle consisted chiefly in smearing the visage with red ochre and streaking their limbs and bodies with quaint devices fashioned by white clay. Some twisted and knotted their hair like the females of Europe, whilst one man had his locks elaborately inwoven with Cockatoo feathers. All being in readiness a warrior commences chanting and, as it seemed to me, giving constant reiteration to the same words keeping time to the monotonous drawl by

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beating a short stick against his shield. The warriors, meanwhile, have ensconced amid the brush wood, whence at a given moment a couple issue; at stated intervals others follow until the whole dramatis personae are engaged when “the fun grows fast and furious”, violent bodily exertions and incessant grimace being accompanied by wild suppressed gutteral intonations resembling the short grunts of an angry boar. Some of their pas are particularly light, their attitudes, if not always graceful are peculiarly easy, and as the dance proceeds they cause their limbs to quiver rapidly and their knees to clash together in a singularly energetic manner, to which they bear chorus with their voices, performing likewise a species of saltatory movement which I cannot better describe than by assimilation to the favorite gambols of the Artistes of Saddlers Wells and Astleys - I, of course, merely attempt delineating that which I saw, but they have a variety of characteristic dances for various occasions.

Ere I take leave of this Black subject, I may job down their portraiture of a parson - which is “White fello dat belong to Sydney pull shirt outside tousel, git a top ab waddie, pay al long Corrobboree all about dibbit, dibbit”. Had the Aboriginal a Puseyite in his eye?

The tale I have heard has already appeared in print - I know not where, and as it is not my own, my reiteration may serve to corroborate the original narration. the poor woman who deemed there was no Heaven without smoke affords me another anecdote - she was of the King River tribe, and was wooed in the customary Australian fashion, that is to say she was truck to the earth by a blow on the skull from her lover, who flinging her like a sack across his back bore her in a state of insensibility to his fire. Here he cast her on the ground.

Recovering slowly she beheld her adora gazing at the heavens - a large sheet of bark was near - watching her opportunity she flung herself prostrate beneath it - the wooer sought her everywhere but the right place. When a sufficient distance was between them she started up and escaped. In after years she preferred the service of the Whites but her tribe compelled her to go with them and she returned no more, being murdered in some of their capricious moods.

......Quitting the plains we enter the scrub threading its devious mazes until daylight and Sevenoaks again greet our view - here the landscape is one of great extent and transcendant natural beauty, but, ah me, the loveliest graces of a new country lack interest and tone to impress their charms vividly and enduringly - 

Port Stephens aboriginals

There was an Aboriginal encampment, and some of our gentlemen went to play leap frog and jump against the Blacks whom they invariably excelled to the loud merriment of both parties. I picked up a few indifferent rock oysters. Had my dinner depended on them I should not have fared over sumptuously. The land appeared to be barren and sandy. Two of the Blacks paddled off in their bark canoe, it is part of a sheet stripped from a tree puckered and tied with currajong strips at the extremities, the centre being spread and kept open by short transverse sticks. This slight vessel they made to skim the sea with much ease and speed.

Squatters Dwellings (Sevenoaks)

"I may here observe the squatters dwellings are constructed of upright slabs, the roofs being covered with sheets of the black butt bark which are kept securely in their places by a solid framework of timber fastened over them - The chimneys of these dwellings occupy no inconsiderable portion of the space - they are also formed of slabs protected from the frames by an inner coating of stone work between two and three feet high –"

Raymond Terrace and Morpeth, Maitland

"We were close to the village of Raymond Terrace, a truly pleasant spot at the confluence of the William and Hunter - Altho’ in its infancy it boasts many goodly dwellings of cheerful aspect and fair proportions, the charm of the landscape is, notwithstanding, grievously marred by the vast number of long, naked, decayed, spindling trees that crown the banks on either side - when these shall have been eradicated, the propspect will deserve to be called charming, and then still of a tame character.

The Hunter is densely populated, farms appear to be numerous and extensive, and, from secular demonstration, such at least as may be gleaned from a passing view, I incline to think its reputation as one of the most fertile agrestial districts of New Sth. Wales is richly merited. I would I could comment the manner of its [indecipherable] but that is filthy, discreditable and disreputable. Vegetation is luxurious, even to rankness, but it is

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but it is most offensive to the eye to wander thro’ corn fields of ugly stumps or still more ungainly standing timber, the bark being ringed to ensure the death of the tree. There is an utter absence of the fine dwellings upon which one reasonably calculates on a river of such agricultural and navigable pretension.

Near Raymond Terraces there was a vessel of some 70 or 80 tones in frame - everywhere indications of lavish fertility abound, but it is a savage fertility - bread, as it were, in plenty but, still, bread wrung from the wilderness, the rude hut and ruder offices at every step intrude, and thus the picture of the Hunter is necessarily but a picture in outline, requiring to be filled up by all the intelligible colourings which taste, residence, and the minute elegancies of social man know so well how to apply. At present it is a goodly rural landscape devoid of finish and much impaired by the slovenliness of the husbandry. a Mr. Hickey’s was the first place worth mention, and that merely by lack o f any degree of comparison elsewhere.

Here the axe and the grubbing hoe had partially done their duty: the odious gums had given place to a tasteful cottage which reared its modest head on the crest of a slope whereon a garden and vineyard displayed their stores.

Our trip was now within five miles of its termination and as the destined point was neared gracefully swelling hills closing in the N.W. portion of the landscape redeemed in part its almost unbroken [indecipherable] of character; larger tracts of tolerably cleared land also throw an additional grace upon the semi canal like river which, hereabouts, wantons in a truly serpentine maze, winding within five minutes from N.W. to S.E. and indeed, round and round the compass.

The land is of the deepest and richest alluvial soil, bearing the finest and most healthy looking crops, and tolerably besprinkled with habitation. Every stage of nearer approach to Morpeth renders the prospect more alluring - so closely did we skirt the western bank, the vessel may be almost said to brush it in her career. The large quantity of tillage now in the heights of luxuriant vegetation dotted the surface with a gorgeous mantle of glowing emeralds - At no season could the country have been viewed in such absolute perfection and never was season more favourable for such view than the present, because moisture had been long and moderately prevalent, a blessing only too infrequent for the prosperity of this land.

Our passage proved a particularly slow one, a small leak in the boiler compelling us to do our work with one. Half a mile below Morpeth the Patterson river diverges N.E. at a spot called Hinton where a punt is established. Morpeth is a considerable village upon the left bank of the Hunter at the head of its navigation, cheerfully placed upon swelling slopes

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rising in picturesque liveliness from the waters edge. We reached it in safety at 3.30 p.m. Its style of Architecture albeit neither Doric nor Italian is suited to its wants, storehouse, inns and smiling [indecipherable] being watered here and there. ..............

Few dwellings of any pretension are to be found at Morpeth. There is one, however, that of Mr. Close, of goodly exterior and agreeably situated in a park like enclosure adjoining the unassuming little Church, a neat stone edifice with a somewhat dumpy, square, battlemented, tower. This Church has been erected by Mr. Close, upon whose land and under whose auspices Morpeth has been created. The rich low lands around (under their present aspect) are far more like the meadows of Old England than any I have hitherto seen.

The walk from Morpeth to Maitland is really a charming one, smiling fields, sleek cattle, substantial homesteads, cosy dwellings, a glowing landscape woo the wayfarers attention, the emerald meads beaming in his delighted and with enchanting grace at every step. My reader, however, must again be reminded that this delicious landscape was traversed by me at the very finest season of the year and in the finest season wherewith New S. Wales had for years been favoured.

When the fervid glare of the summers sun shall have turned “the green leaves all to yellow” much of the beauty will questionless depart - what the aspect then a vividly painful recollection of the desolate almost horrescent, appearance of withered Tasmania suffices to proclaim. There is no medium, either the earth is baked to a cinder, else saturated to a slough.

A three miles tramp brought me to East Maitland where the Sessions House and Gaol are situated in a straggling village with a Branch of the Australasian Bank, a few good houses whereof the hotels and gin shops are not the least prominent. A short two miles connects East with West Maitland. The latter village is much the larger and more select, but it is still but a straggling place abounding in the too abundant houses of accommodation the bane and scourge of this unhappy Colony.

The river skirts the principal street, and the superb agrestial territory around is begirt with fine pastoral hills upon whose swelling slopes elegant villas are plentiously studded. The locality is indeed a lovely one, and in the golden days when “Money in both pockets” abounded, the resident gentry might surely be forgiven the pardonable vanity the contemplation

......................

almost certain hopes in the very moment of their expected fruition - and, alas, how constantly is this the case, - the wheat vegetates, flowers, gives glorious promise, when, suddenly, a breath and it is gone - the well filled ears are but a map of rust, and nothing left but straw - It seems clear to me that New south Wales can never hope to be a safe wheat growing country, and I almost wonder her settlers should struggle at so frequently futile an attempt - With Port [indecipherable] a sugar colony, the convicts from her and her sister isle withdrawn and a really wholesome population substituted (the bond and free never will be made to work in unison) Tasmania might even yet be the secure granary and “cabbage yard” whilst the undivided energies of Australia could be much more beneficially directed towards the growth of wines, silks, and tobaccos - Were for 14 years leases accorded to squatters, it might be well deserving their consideration to improve and embellish their homesteads and to construct tramways into the interior, - Timber is superabundant and the ironbark is almost indestructible - Were such a simple mode of transport adopted where three months are now occupied in the conveyance of stores little more than eight days would suffice - The first cost would quickly be saved in the vastly enhanced facility of transit, and the actual outlay would be much less than a casual glance might lead one to infer -.........................

Maitland, too, and diverse cosey farm stands lay within our ken, but only a reach here and there betrayed the wandering course of the Hunter. On the opposite or N. Western circles of the stupendous panorama the landscape is hilly verging, in several instances, towards the mountainous. The valleys wherever visible showed verdant token of human toil; in the main, however, the sombre character of Australasia predominates tempting one in the very language of Lady Randolph to apostrophise “the woods and wilds whose melancholy gloom” impressed or appeased the soul with sadness.

We traversed the hilly ridges contemplating the space beneath in an infinite variety of phases, but, shift the prospect as we might, save where man had created a few emerald spots the primeval savagery frowned sternly conspicuous.

Perched so many hundred feet above the forest glades the eye roamed their sombre coppice, the harsh and hungry foliage spread in long unbroken lines bearing a strong resemblance to the dun moors of Caledonia; a sort of half dreamy illusion rendered still more in keeping by native fires whose smoke wound upwards like the vapours vomited from the various outlets of the Highland bothy.

The turf we trod was gemmed by countless tiny flowers, whilst, at our sides, numberless shrubs displayed their floral pretensions, rendering the air balmy with their odouriferous perfume; a shrub of the appearance and scent of the Wallflower being the most prevalent. We still continued to wind the hill, thundering down mighty rocks which sped crashing and smashing into the startled vale. At length we stood upon the edge of a precipitous cliff some 4 or 500 feet of almost sheet descent. Here a wide magnificent panorama unfolded itself in stupendous majesty before us. In front, some thirty miles distant, pile upon pile, lay lordly mountains, barring the landward path to Sydney, masses of light and shade flickering fitfully, and [indecipherable] their figured sides in the half obscured sun.

A Story about WOLLOMBI 

By Gail Duerden (Reproduced with kind permission)

Wollombi is one of the oldest towns in the state, next to Parramatta and after the Hawkesbury, the Wollombi district is one of the oldest agricultural settlements in Australia. Over two centuries ago the pioneers, pushing north wards were in quest of new lands to develop topped the ridges at the head of the Macdonald River and found, on the other side, deep creeks meandering between hills through pleasant valleys. 

At the point where the four of these watercourses unite to form a nobler stream where the first pioneers pitched their permanent camps. They named the place ‘Wollombi,’ because the word, in the aboriginal language, meant the meaning “meeting of the waters.” 

On 5th March, 1829, construction started from Richmond through to Wollombi, Ellalong and onto Maitland where it finished. The road was convict constructed from the Hawkesbury over the hills and along the flats that ended at Maitland (The Great North Road). Along this winding road passed the traffic of the colony; bullock teams and pack horses hauling the supplies needed by the men that were opening up the plains and the tablelands of New England. Wollombi became the resting place on the long journeys to and from and where the teamsters rested their bullocks for a week, and in the course of time a town sprang into being. By the end of 1831, the whole of the Wollombi valley was taken up for farms and pastures. The actual village of Wollombi wasn’t yet in existence in 1834. The first sales of village allotments took place in 1838, the buyers were: JR Hadfield, Michael Byrne, W Barclay, John MacDougall, M Harris and R Ball. During 1840-41 three sales were held and the purchasers were John MacDougall, W Webb, W Colquhoun, CW Romer and Elizabeth Nichols. 

In 1840, A Police Magistrate, Mr David Dunlop, was appointed, and in the following year 500 pound was provided in the Government estimates for a Court and Watch house at Wollombi. From 1839 Wollombi village enjoyed a weekly mail service to Maitland and Sydney. The town had regular Correspondents for several of the early newspapers and their reports were often very vivid. 

This in the “Australian Chronicle” of January 21, 1840, its Wollombi correspondent had this to say:

“The appointment of D Dunlop Esq as Police Magistrate for this district appears to give general satisfaction, although not personally known to many here.

The maize crop looks well except in those places where it suffered early from the caterpillar, which was invariably the case when sown close to wheat fields. 

The Tobacco crop has proven a complete failure.

It requires more than common courage and tact to take a loaded dray from here to Maitland, owing to the shocking state of the bridges. It is awful to witness the passage of a load over many of them, where to deviate an inch from the usual track over loose slabs and sticks its almost certain death.”

Farmers began tilling the land and found a ready market for their produce in Maitland or Sydney. 

Wollombi was a settlement along the creek frontages. The soil on the flats is a rich sandy loam, which produced maize, sorghum, pumpkins and melons in great abundance. A good deal of dairying was carried out. During the 1920’s the cream was collected 3 times a week and was taken eighteen miles away to the Cessnock Butter Factory. 

Pioneers planted citrus fruit orchards and they thrived amazingly in the warm valleys. Families planted rows on citrus and carefully tended the trees, of oranges and stone fruit which were grown on an extensive scale and were deeply laden with fruit. It might be that the limited extent of good arable land available in the district discouraged rather than encouraged intensive cultivation. The ridges and hills surround the district were rough, stony and heavily, timbered. Great outcrops of sandstone frown down from the steep hillsides. Often these dominating scarps are sheer cliffs, running parallel with the creeks for kilometres. At the base is the weathered, barren waste material that has accumulated through the centuries. Above them is a jumble of boulder strewn gullies and small hills where only the roughest grazing is possible. Where the timber had been cleared and the grass grew thick and sweet. On the occasional cleared hillsides, there was plenty of feed for cattle. There were vast tracts of the rough hills where stock was bred and grazed solely for beef purpose. 

There were wonderful timber potentials in the ranges on the tree clad hillsides. The ironbark, cedar and oak trees they were big and sound, however, the distance from market stopped some development, but the potential of their wealth did not go unnoticed by the pioneers. The timber was cut from the riverbank forests for housing and fencing and the cash the menfolk got from sending the timber to Sydney town. Cedar and oak were used in buildings and to make furniture. 

Pioneers could see the potential of the area. A man with a hundred acres of flat and five or six hundred aces of hill land could make dairying a very profitable venture. All varieties of fodder crops could be cultivated for winter feed and the natural grasses withstand dry times sturdily. In the places where paspalum had been sown it had done well. English grasses and clovers would flourish if planted and would greatly improve the pastures. 

It was said that Wollombi was a convict settlement; that is incorrect. It was a town, where the earliest settlers, possibly half a dozen had assigned servants for a short time, as the system ceased in 1838, and the convicts received a ticket of leave, and there were few settlers before 1855. It was said that the first office, and other stone buildings had been erected by convict labour; which is untrue. 

A gentleman named Mr C Roper was the first settler in Wollombi. He lived near the sales yard and grew wheat. His house, which was thatched with straw, was at one stage, used as the Post Office. The first post mistress was Miss Dunlop, daughter of the first police magistrate, David Dunlop.  

The discovery of gold in 1851 brought enormous changed to the colony. Gold fever took over the population, people deserted cities, farms and country towns. Roads were flooded with travellers seeking the new El Dorado that would give them the glittering prize that were there for the taking. The Hunter Valley, rich in black gold – coal – did not experience the excitement of a gold rush but benefitted from the general impetus of this exciting time. 

Accommodation for travellers was needed, as never before, diggers had to be outfitted with food and clothing, so many wayside country inns-built stores as well as the obligatory smithy, innkeepers learned to weigh and buy gold. In addition, the railway began to move up the valley bringing with a large workforce that required the services of an inn. Many small inns sprang up along the track, only to fade away as the rail head moved north. During the golden fifties, at least five new inns were built around the Wollombi area as the Great North Road took the increase of traffic to the north, two new inns were built at Black Creek (Branxton), one at least, the Morning Star, from gold won on the Turon diggings. Patrick Plains records an amazing score of eight new hotels, as they were called at this area of many changes. Some of these buildings survive, greatly altered, still licensed to serve the public and other have been renovated into homes. 

The first Church of England - Wollombi baptism was recorded, in the church register, is that of Thomas Townshend on 27th May, 1838, who passed away in 1922. Before a church was built at Wollombi the services were held in the Court house. On 16th November, 1845, Bishop Broughton visited Wollombi and confirmed 20 candidates. The court house was so crowded that it was decided it was time for a church to be erected. 

On 17th November, 1845 the Police Magistrate with a committee appointed, by the church, selected the sites for the Church and cemetery and made a arrangement to apply to the Government for the necessary grants. The applications were successful, for a small child’s tomb stone - Thomas Bellamy who died 24-12-1846 aged 11 months. In January 1847, Bishop Broughton reported to the Sydney Diocesan Committee that the building of the church was advancing satisfactorily, with both being consecrated on the 16th February, 1849 with 10 clergy present, including Rev. R T Bolton (who took the consecration service), Rev H O Irwin from Singleton parish, Rev C P N Wilton from Newcastle, Rev R G Broodle from Muswellbrook, Rev C Spencer from Raymond Terrace, Rev R Chapman from St Mary’s Maitland, Rev J Cooper from Jerry’s Palins and Rev J F R Whinfield. 

The church was dedicated to St John the Evangelist. It is described as a lofty stone building of good proportions, designed by Edmund Blackett, Architect. The naïve measured 30 feet by 18 feet. Rev John F R Whinfield was appointed to St John’s Church. The church has since had additions and some renovations. 

The first entries in St John’s Baptismal Register were on Sunday, 6th May 1849. The children’s names were Mary Ann Cadman, Duncan Campbell and William Joseph Bridge.

On the very next day Monday, 7th May 1848, the first entries were made in the Marriage Register were Henry Brown and Elizabeth Hawkins (my Great Great Great Grandparents) and also John Turner and Ann Wood (Great Great Great Grandparents of Peter Rosethorn the Comedian). 

The first Rectory (which was then called the Parsonage) was a rented weatherboard and cedar cottage adjoining the church ground facing Negro St. A property was later acquired, by the church, and a parsonage was constructed with a small grant totalling 23 pounds. The Rectory was later moved, as the previously constructed building was flooded. A sandstone building was then erected on 15 aces. 

The earliest records, referring to Wollombi, occurs in the Baptismal Register of the Lower Hawkesbury District. The first two entries were made by Archdeacon Broughton showing that on 2nd Feb, 1831 when he baptised Matilda Budd (whose father, Sgt. Thomas Budd, died 12th Sept 1833) is buried on the roadside near Sweetman’s Creek, and Louise Wills. Both children were daughter of discharged veterans whose residents was given as Wollombi. Thomas Budd was a former Sergeant of the 48th Regiment of the Foot, and a Private of the New South Wales Royal Veterans who found himself elevated to the profession of schoolteacher at Wollombi because he was literate (could read and write) and he could take control over the children, due to his army service. He was married to Sophia ( Hozepha) in San Sebastian and they settled, with their family at Tallivera Grove, Sweetman’s Creek. 

The stipend lists of the 1850’s contains some family names: Brown, Bourne, Moore, Harris, Clark, Craft, Coombes, Crawford, Crump, Bridge, Diplock, Cobcroft, Pinchin, Willis, Woodbury, Howell, Townsend, MacMullen, Burgess, Forbes, Milson and Mitchell.  

In the year 1857 the Wollombi area suffered three devastating floods, which caused a lot of distress in the area. 

In the 1850’s the Government opened the first National School on the banks of Sugarloaf Creek, near its junction with Yango. This spot marks the birthplace of James Stewart Wright, who was later to become the Director of Education and was inspector of schools for over 40 years, with both of his sons being teachers in charge of the school. 

In 1858 the population of the Wollombi District was 1519 – of whom 395 could read and write; 871 were Church of England, 433 Roman Catholic, 80 Presbyterian, and 70 Wesleyan. There was 4,500 acres under cultivation. 

In 1862, the village of Wollombi, had grown to 233 residents and the rest of the district to 1655. 

In 1868, Joseph Eckford was the local member of Parliament, for Wollombi and its 1092 voters.

The district had 5853 head of cattle, 3543 sheep and 1,449 pigs with produce figures of: 28,856 Bushels of wheat, 23,042 bushels of maize, 398 bushels of barley, 680 bushels of oats, 88 tons of potatoes, 7,502 lbs of tobacco and 180 gallons of wine.  

During the early 1840’s a Wesleyan clergyman, Rev. Malcolm Colquhoun, (who was chaplain for the convicts) opened a school on Maitland Street, between Aleppo and Negro Streets, at least as early as 1843 . The buildings walls were made of rubble stone with a thatched roof and a congregation was formed. A Mrs Kibble was baptised by Rev Colquhoun at Wiseman’s Barn at Laguna. The land for the church and school was said to be on the southern side of Maitland Street, near Cuneen’s Bridge. 

There was also a site, next to the school for a Chapel. It was in existence and in use in 1847. They also had sites for a residence and cemetery across Cuneen’s Bridge, on the top or north side of the road. 

The Roman Catholics were ministered to by a visiting priest from at least 1840. Fr Lynch from West Maitland was one of the visiting clergy. A stone church was built in the late 1840’s on the right or north east side of Maitland Street, in the last block of allotments near Cuneen’s Bridge, the land was donated by John McDougall (who had been the overseer of convicts in the area building the Great North Road). John McDougall was known to be a cruel man. This church was dedicated to St Michael. On the 30 Sept 1840 laid the first stones of the Church of St Michael the Archangel. The stone church was to replace the slab building that had been temporarily used. 

The foundation stone bore the inscription:

To the greater glory of Him Whom all the Angles serve, this Church, under the patronage, of St Michael the Archangel, is erected. This foundation stone was laid by the Most Rev John Bede Polding, D D Bishop and Vicar Apostolic in New Holland, on September 30th, AD 1840. Paster J T Lynch.

It took years to build the church and often funds ran out before work could continue. The church had been blessed but not consecrated. 

The Wollombi village, which only had 17 houses and 76 residents, appeared to be over ambitious in building St Michael’s church. No one saw the peril of building the church near the meetings of the waters. The church and grave yard stood for some 50 years, until the great flood of 1893, which damaged the old building and toppled the headstones in the graveyard which had buried in silt. There was no point in building another church on this land, it was decided that a new St Michael’s was built on a flood free block on Maitland Road on another allotment, which John McDougall had purchased five decades before. Much of the stone from the old flooded church was used to build the new church and the old foundation stone was incorrportaed in the southern wall.  

St Michael’s Church, Wollombi AMDG

This Stone was Solemnly Laid and Blessed by the Right Rev James Murray, D D Bishop of Maitland on Sunday, 22nd Oct 1893 The Rev Thomas Rogers, Pastor. 

The new church cost 850 pounds. The first church, near Cuneen’s Bridge, had a grave yard and certainly some of the early catholic settlers were buried there. Thirty years later (during the 1920’s), when the area was under cultivation, quite a number of headstones lay along the fence lines, but the floods that followed, especially the 1948 flood had buried them.  

John McDougall (one of Wollombi’s first settlers) was an interesting character. He was a man of substance and church benefactor. He was the overseer of the convict gang who worked their way through the heard of Great Cessnock. He left lengths of nearly formed cart tracks and broken bodies of his iron gang. It was said he forced convicts to squat in a little wooden box and inserts a rod to lock the head between the convict’s knees. To hasten suffocation McDougall hammered down the lid. 

At Deadman’s Creek (later a timber mill owned by George Brown) east of Cessnock on the Old Maitland Road, McDougall had three convicts tied face down across a log. To destroy them, all at the one time, he had a tree felled, which fell on top of the men. He found one still breathing, so he took a handspike and hit him in the head. Their bodies were tossed in a common grave. This is how the area got the name of Deadman’s Creek. 

At Great Main (then known as Wyalla) he yoked his gang to a plough and flogged them down the track. On a hillside between Millfield and Cedar Creek, he made a convict embrace a tree and began to flog him with the cat-o-nine-tails. Throughout the flogging he enjoyed his wife Euphemia telling him “give him another and make the baby laugh” whilst she stood on the balcony of an inn with a baby in her arms. The convicts were treated very badly and McDougall was known for his brutal cruelty. 

John McDougall came to Australia in a convict ship ‘Agamemmon’ in Sept1820. Between 1828 – 1831 he served as an overseer and supervised the building of a section of the Great North Road which extended from Greater Cessnock from Maitland to Bucketty. He was literate and sharp. He cut a difficult length of the Great Northern Road at Hanging Rock and the ascent by the way of the Convict Drinking Trough to Bucketty which can still be seen on the side of the road. 

From 1831, was the year that the convict gangs completed the Great Northern Road and he then settled in Wollombi. He became a family man, farmer, postmaster, inn-keeper, church benefactor and land speculator.

He had begun to raise a family with his wife Euphemia (ne Clarke). First child born was William and baptised by a Church of England minister; after this the family turned to Rome and 4 more children were born Euphemia, Henry James, Sarah and Theodore. 

John became an industrious farmer, one of his two farms (portion 40, fifty acres, Parish of Yango) was on the left bank of Sugarloaf Creek a mile above the Wollombi township; the other, (portion 35 fifty-six acres, Parish of Coolamin) was on the right bank of the Wollombi Brook around 2 miles below Wollombi. As the township developed McDougall began to diversify his interests. 

In 1838, at the first sale of the Govt township, he purchased one of several allotments; other purchasers were: JR Hatfield, Michael Byne, W Barclay, M Harris, and R Ball. Michael Byrne became a pioneer resident and businessman. 

McDougall served as a storekeeper and inaugural postmaster. He was literate and business like, had capacity to run the post office with ease. The post office was conveniently between his two farms, so he could regularly see to his crops and his cattle. 

James Smith succeeded him as postmaster and McDougall became the proprietor and licensee of the first inn in Wollombi. By 1840 he had completed the erection of the Inn with Michael Byrne erecting a general store. 

John McDougall, went for a ride to see his friend Thomas Pendergast at the Rising Sun Inn at Millfield, near his Ashgrove Estate, a few days before Christmas Day 1840. He was enjoying the hospitality at the Rising Sun Inn when Edward (‘Jewboy’) Davis and his gang rode up to the homestead, on the adjacent Glen Myre Estate, where they confronted Mr J M Davis, seated at the dinner table with his guests, Mr Crawford, David Dunlop (police magistrate), and Eliza Hamilton Dunlop. Having robbed them they gang galloped across the paddock to the Rising Sun where the bushrangers took 13 pounds from Thomas Pendergast and at the same time robbed John McDougall, on whom they inflicted about a dozen lases with a bullock whip, declaring ‘that he had been over fond of flogging whilst the overseer of the iron gang’. 

The emergence of the old convict flogger from this whipping, bloody but whole, inspired the legend of McDougall’s more atrocious flogging by the “Jewboy” gang and his permanent crippling.

The legend is said to be:

‘Jewboy’ Davis brings out a cat-o’-nine-tails and hands it to one of his men. “Give McDougall 333 chops,” he says. “Jewboy” says to another, “Now you give 

McDougall 333 chops.” When that’s over McDougall’s shirt is gone: nothing’s left except raw flesh. Then ‘Jewboy’ says, “Now it’s my turn to give McDougall 333 chops.” ‘When that’s over, ‘Jewboy’ says to McDougall, “Well, I might as well finish you off now.”

With that he gets a bayonet, but first he gets the publican to bring a glass of brandy and makes McDougall drink.” “Now I’ll finish you off,” he says. 

Just then the publican’s wife comes out and says, “For God’s sake, don’t finish him. ‘Jewboy,’ seeing the publican’s wife is pregnant, says “Well madam, on account of your condition you’re in, I won’t finish him now; but I’ll give him some of this.”

With that, he starts pouring salt over McDougall’s back. The publican says, “Oh, God! If you’re going to do that you might as well finish him.”

‘Oh, no,” says ‘Jewboy,’ “out of respect for your wife, I won’t do that.”

From that day on McDougall was a cripple. He later lived in Church Lane, Millfield, and took all day long to get up to the store and back with a bite to eat. 

The whipping was said to induce hallucinations of regression from the man of substance, but was said to resume his private endeavours with great difficulty. In 1840-41, at 3 further sales, he purchased 30 allotments extending from Maitland Road down to Maitland Street to the northern boundary of the township; and one of these lay side by side with the single allotment of C E Roemer, the German exporter, grazier and land speculator who in 1840 purchased the 1840 acre site of Richmond Main Colliery. 

In 1845, John McDougall became the licensee of the Rising Sun Inn, which had ready access to the property of his son, William, and his own 320 acre farm, Rose Hill, purchased on 7 March 1845 from John Smith. This was where McDougall was to spend his last days. 

The legends, elaborated and perfect by generations of men of the middle and lower ranks of society on the Wollombi, will have none of this many sided career of John McDougall. The legends devote themselves entirely to the creations of the archetypal overseer and his reduction to a cripple by Edward ‘Jewboy’ Davis, the archetypal rebel.

Only one legend on the Wollombi concerned itself directly with a child of John McDougall:

A fell by the name of McDougall comes to Wollombi. He’s putting himself up for election of parliament. When he gets up to speak, somebody sings out: ‘Is your name McDougall?’

“Yes,” he says

“Are you the son of John McDougall?”

“Yes, I am,” he says

With that, they all rush at horse with horsewhips and run him out of town.

During the early years on settlement at Wollombi, John McDougall built his hotel, called the Governor Gipps in 1840, on the corner of what became known as Old Vineyard Paddock, and subsequently, it was kept by W Court, James Bridge, Samuel Moore, Edward Slack, George Elliot and William Wells and the license went out about 1865. A notice was placed in the Sydney Herald on 4th August 1841 “Here stands the Sir George Gipps, kept by Mr McDougall, the best appointed I have seen in the colony. 

Another hotel was built on the adjoining allotment, on the corner of Maitland Street and Yango Road by George Bridge, called the Fitzroy, and subsequently kept by James Ward and Moses Jones, and closed about 1892. 

Another hotel ‘The Harp of Erin’ was built by John Kenny known to the locals as ‘Kenny’s Folly,’ about 1860 on the site of Wollombi store, which was opposite the Post Office. It was a fine old two-story sandstone building. The licence continued until 1868 and then about 2 years later, Richard (Dickie Jurd on the site of what was known as Howard’s boarding house. The closing of this hotel synchronised with the opening of the Family Hotel in the 1880’s. Around this time Moses Jones Jnr., obtained a license for premises on the site of the corner store, and was subsequently kept by T S Townsend, John Cameron and Matthew Valentine Jones (son of Moses Jones snr) and closed in the late 1890’s. 

Another inn at Wollombi was:-

The Fitzroy built in 1851. The first Licensee was George Bridge opened 20th April 1851, James Bridge 19 April 1853, George Bridge 1 April 1855 and William Doyle 17 April 1860.

The Wheatsheaf Inn at Wollombi 1853 to 1858

The Licensees were Thomas Bridge, 25 June 1853 – 15 May 1857 and then William Rose from 20th April 1858.

The Wollombi Hotel, Wollombi 1853

Licensee William Smith 15 Sept 1854, James Bridge 15 May 1856, Samuel Moore 15 May 1857, George Bridge 1865 and Thomas Richards 1866. 

The Cessnock Inn, Cessnock Road, near Wollombi 1857

Licensee Michael Carroll 1857 – 1866 owner, John Picton 1866-1875 owner, John Daly 1876, George Brown, owner 1878- 1908 with licensee’s Moses Jones Jr 1887 who was George Brown’s nephew, George Brown 1888 and his brother John Brown 1892, and later Dan Howard was licensee. The Hotel was then known as Howard’s Hotel. In 1908 George Brown sold the freehold of the hotel to Tooth and Company.  

It was claimed that in 1862 that the premises was not up to standard so the licence of the Cessnock Inn was refused to Michael Carroll. He had become the licensee of the inn, with the freehold belonging to his brother-in-law, Bernard McGrane, who was a local landholder and sold the Inn to John Picton in 1865. George Brown purchased the freehold of the Inn and 25 acres of land from John Picton in Nov 1883 (I have the original handwritten receipt). 

The old Inn was a low, single storied structure with a shingled roof and occupied part of the site of the present Cessnock Hotel, There exists among the Carroll papers, an old notebook in which a meal cost one shilling, run – the most popular drink, was threepence a glass, half the price of brandy or ale. A bottle of run was 5 ½ shillings, wine 4/6 and brandy 1/-. 

The Cessnock Inn had a camping ground at the side and rear of the Inn so that teamsters with their horses, bullocks and cattle could camp overnight or for several days, on their way to Maitland or Singleton. It was a good well known rest stop, with the teamsters and travellers well looked after with their meals and their rum, especially on cold winter nights. It was an important stop for people on their travels, so is included in the Wollombi area. 

The Cricketer’s Arms, Wollombi 1858

Licencee: Moses Jones 20th April 1858, his son-in-law Thomas Daunt 1863-1871 and Moses Jones Jnr 1872-1890. 

Moses Jones – Licence for the house in which he lived and had his hotel, was set in the township of Wollombi, in the district of Wollombi and to be known under the signs “The Cricketer’s Arms.”

William Wells appeared on summons in answer to the complaint of Moses Jones, Innkeeper, for impounding cattle and neglecting to comply with the Act in assessing damages. The Bench, after a long and pedantic hearing of the evidence of both sides, decided that a trifling omission had taken place and adjudged defendant to pay the sun of 2/6 and costs. (Maitland Mercury 18-1-1863.

Moses Jones (who was a convict), and his good friend Henry Brown had been working on properties on the Liverpool Plains but had decided to start a new life in Wollombi and Laguna. Moses Jones married Jane Hardcastle in 1843 at Scone (most being born at Wollombi) and had 9 children. Three of their son's became policemen and became highly respected members of the police force. That is another story to tell, we will leave that for today. Henry and Moses both decided to come the Wollombi district to make their new lives. Henry Brown’s eldest son, George married Moses Jones’s daughter, Martha Jane Jones on 24th July 1872 at St John’s Church of England, Wollombi. George and Martha (later built Marthaville) are my great great Grandparents. Henry was married to Catherine Beattie and had two daughters -Henrietta and Catherine who married William Harris, who was a Dr.

George was a very clever man, as was his father Henry, they both had a good education and had many businesses in their lifetime. Henry was determined that his 14 children all have good educations. George had the mail run from Maitland to Wollombi for many years. The mail was collected in Maitland and delivered to varies places on the way to Wollombi where the mail was collected by the local residents. 

The Hawkesbury River Hotel, Wollombi 1867

Licensee: - Richard Jurd 1867-1883

Richard (Dick or Dickie) Jurd built his hotel on the banks of Sugarloaf Creek about the time the Wollombi Courthouse was finished – 1866. The Courthouse later functioned as a Police Station, and is now the Pioneer Museum. 

The Courthouse Hotel, Wollombi 1880

Licensee: - Moses Jones Jnr 1880-1883, 1884-1886, Thomas S Townsend 1887 and John Cameron 1887 -1890.

The Family Hotel, Wollombi 1884 also known as Kenny’s Family Hotel1886

Licensee:- Dennis Kenny 1884- The Family Hotel

George Kenny 1896-1897 Kenny’s Family Hotel, John Dean 1898-1899, 

Reginald Dougherty 1900

The license of the Family Hotel was transferred from Wollombi to Paxton during the 1920’s and this caused great distress to the Wollombi locals. 

The Royal Hotel, Wollombi 1899

Licensee: - Henry Brown 1893 – 1894, Patrick Hickey 189The4-1895, Matthew Douglass Arkman 1896.

Men and their families that settled in almost virgin land, the good old pioneers, and my goodness they did work hard, extremely hard work, grit and honesty, won through, and put good properties together for their families. Family life was the priority and life was very simple. A lot lived until ripe old ages and others lives were taken too quickly, often by accidents, but they left behind families who still carry on their good names and work. 

Up at Yango, there was Johnny Forbes, John and Walter Moore, who all had nice properties. 

Tom Bar of Yango, was a well-read man, intelligent and said to be a refreshing man to have a most enjoyable conversation.  

Mick Cagney, started life behind scratch but won through and died a well-off man.

Down on the Cockfighter Creek were Billy Fletcher, Joe Williams, the Belts, Ned Allen, and many others – all fine old pioneers, straight as a gun barrel and as honest as the sun. 

Down on Maitland Road were the Lynch family, Slack’s, Morton’s, Mitchell’s and Sweetman’s as well as many other families.

Up at Laguna were the Brown family (my Great Great Great Grandparents), the Hawkins family (also Great Great Great Grandparents) they both hard very large families as well as Wilson, Sternbeck, McMullen, Willis, Woodbury, Lynch, Crump and a host of other hardy pioneer families. 

Old Isaac (Ike) Crump was a noted authority on draught horses, particularly draught stallions. His horse ‘Patch’, was a great reflection of his judgement – it was a particularly fine horse. With Ike the horse mating season synchronised with the coming of the wattle blooms.  

Narone Creek – Billy Goodman who was also a well-read man, Jack Turner one of the best reapers of the time and also Jim Rafter, Paddy Hickey of ‘Dingle Dell,’ who had a very nice property. Paddy was a typical Irishman; he ran a coach to Maitland at one stage and kept a hotel at Wollombi. There was also Tom Smith, of ‘Uddycussville,’ one of the best workers and strongest man known in the area. 

In 1865 the Wollombi Races were akin to what the Melbourne Cup is today. Everyone, from the surrounding area, put down their tools and had a week off their hard lives and work and went to the races. It was a very social gathering and something the district looked forward to each year. Several times the races were flooded out and this spread great disappointment through the area. 

Wollombi, in those days boasted three hotels, three stores, two blacksmith’s and a wheelwright and two undertakers. It was said it was a wonder that there was need for undertakers as there were very few headstones in the nearby Wollombi Cemetery. Wollombi was known as such a healthy place that there was no inducement to die, and one gentleman told a story that a man was shot so as to start the Cemetery. 

Wollombi, in 1865 there were 3 hotels, one owned by Moses Jones Snr (my Great Great Great Great Grandfather), Richard Jurd (Dick or known in the district as Dickie) and the other was owned by Johnny Cameron. All the hotels appeared to do a very good trade, especially at Wollombi Race time, which was the event of the year. 

People came from everywhere for the Wollombi Races – Cessnock, Singleton, Broke, Howes Valley, Laguna, Ellalong, Maitland, Yango and all the surrounding districts. The racecourse is a left-handed course and is around three furlongs (around 600Mts). 

It was well known that Old Ned Ball, from Warkworth, never missed a meeting nor Enock Cobcroft from Singleton. People rode or travelled in their sulkies, on their horses, bringing their horses for the races. 

Moses Jones had a booth, on the course, and supplied everything that was needed. The jockeys were weighted out on the steel yards and there were no colours for the jockeys. The jockeys did not ride with short stirrups or with a crouched seat, as they do now. They rode with long stirrups, and used long riding whips, which they used both on their mounts and also fellow contestants. There were often arguments which led to fist fights. After almost every race some altercation took place, the jockeys would go near a swamp, behind the booth, and there stripped down to the waist, settled the arguments with their bare knuckles, with much amusement for the large crowd, who came to watch. There would be another race and then another fight and so on until the programme was finished. 

Many fought for the love of the game, but there was never any animosity between the jockeys. All shook hands after each fight. The fights were just a side issue, more entertainment than anything and filled in the time between each race.  

These people were all good-natured people and very friendly, often the fights only cemented the friendships.  

The Handicap race was worth 40 pound, which was a good win, if you were fortunate to have a good horse and jockey.

Between the races many people had a flutter around the course on horseback. The ladies riding in side-saddles, with long skirts. Hagar Agnes McFarlane (later Mrs Samuel Horne – Hotelier from Singleton) was a great rider in those days. She was very well-known equestrian around NSW and Australia, especially with her prize horse “Rattler”. Hagar, was my late husband’s Great Grandmother. It was said that there was never a horse that she, or her brother Frank McFarlane, could not ride. They would be known today as ‘horse whisperers.’ Hagar looked magnificent in her equestrian and riding clothes. I am very fortunate to have inherited one of her riding crops. Frank was well known in racing circles where he achieved much success in the saddle and rode winner from the early age of 10 years (1863) until the early 1920’s when racing was very popular in the Wollombi district. He was regarded, despite his age, as one of the best in the district, right up to the time of his retirement. Frank owned a consistent performer named “Three Corner,” who had many wins. It was said he was a rattling good horseman. 

Hagar and Frank were the children of William McFarlane and Elizabeth (nee Bourne) who was the well-known Wollombi identities and William was the mailman, with his trusty horse in the lead and another horse with the mail. The first stage was Ellalong, then Cessnock and finally Maitland and then the reverse on the return. He found out, by chance, that his he was likely to lose his mail contract unless he submitted his tender in Sydney by the following morning, and this was not going to happen. William, who was a very well-known horseman and had tamed many brumbies. He saddled his horse and set off that afternoon at 5pm and rode the 84 miles (135 klms) of bush tract via Laguna, Bucket, Peat’s Ridge and Peat’s Ferry and was on the door step of the GPO when it opened at 9am with his tender ready and with the knowledge that his contract was his. He left an hour later and made it back to Wollombi within 24 hours of leaving. The horse was a brumby he had caught, in the mountains, and broken in himself. It would be almost impossible to find a horseman, with the stamina and skill, to take a horse over a journey like that. William was determined that he was going to keep that mail contract. 

There is a rather amusing story that has been told around the Wollombi race course, and whether it is true or just a legend, we don’t really know but it is a good story and I cannot leave it out. 

Many an equine battle was staged at the Wollombi racecourse. A match was made between two horse owners to be set as a 1 ½ mile race. One horse won handsomely, but did not pull up after passing the winning post, the jockey kept the horse galloping out of sight. The owner gathered the winnings, and he too, galloped away. It was said that the winner was a strong horse, which was supposedly owned by an alleged bushranger. No wonder they took off after the race, before any questions could be asked. 

After the races everyone went “into town” and the hotels did a roaring business. There were a few arguments, more fist fights, but were all friendly affairs. Card playing was flourished and it was nothing for them to play all night. This was called “gaffing” in those days. They were truly hardy men and horses in those days, being good, honest, hardworking people. 

The racecourse was not the best; there was a very boggy patch going out of the straight, but that was only a minor matter, it didn’t seem to worry any of the jockeys. Later there was an upgrade, the round a ridge, then along the creek bank until the straight was reached and then the winning post. I am not exactly sure where the race track was positioned by from what I have been reading I think it was on the flat known as the Wollombi Common. It was often flooded after heavy rain and many meetings had to be called off. 

There were some interesting individuals who attended the Wollombi races. One such character was known as “Swappin Bill” or “Swearing Bill.” He had a mania for swapping anything, and it is said that he was found one day with his boots off, swapping his socks from one foot to the other. He always looked for the winner of the last fight, so as to challenge him. He was once told he could not fight his way out of a paper bag. 

Another character as was chap who was always borrowing pocket knives. He would go up to anyone, with pipe in hand, and say, “Lend us your knife” (just about everyone carried a pocket knife back then). The knife would be handed over and then having the knife he would continue by asking for a bit of tobacco. Now having the other fellow’s knife and tobacco, he helped himself to a liberal amount of the person’s tobacco. He invariably cut off a good chunk (for chewing) which he pocketed along with the knife, more from force of habit than for any other reason. One day he took a spill off a horse and 23 knives and fourteen plugs of tobacco fell from his clothes. 

Tobacco, back in those days was indeed very strong, mostly twisted sticks. Many men chewed tobacco. One man was known for his excellent aim. He said to another gentleman, “you watch me kill that soldier ant.” He shot out a squirt of tobacco juice around 20 feet away, and so accurate was his aim that he killed the ant stone dead. 

Sergeant James Smith (known as ‘Long Smith’) was in charge of the Wollombi area during this time. He was an excellent and efficient officer who was 6ft 6” tall and as thin as a safety razor blade. He was later promoted to Narrabri and unfortunately, died there. 

Another character was ‘Milson Ned,’ renowned for all the rum he could consume. He actually thrived on rum, which must have preserved his internal organs. He was said to have lived to be 100 years old. 

The postmaster and line-repairer in Wollombi at this time was J C Smith . He was generally referred to Telegram or Telegraph Smith and was a most efficient officer. He died some years later at Braidwood. 

There was also a character Tom Bowcock, known as Old Tom, he was a wonderful old dover who was very successful at his job. It is known that a fellow Wollombi resident met up with him in Barcoo, Queensland where he was doing his droving work. He is said to have had a descendant who was a well-known master builder in Sydney. 

In later years, the Wollombi races were held on the property of John Wiseman’s course at Laguna. Paddy Hickey raced a fine black horse called ‘Dingle Dell,’and was trained and ridden by Denny Swan. 

Harry Chivers trained two horses for Dick Jurd, they were ‘Gleam & Faust., ’both horses were well know in the Hunter and Central Coast. 

Years later, there was only one pub in Wollombi. Its licensee was Jack Campbell (known as Honest Jack). He kept a particularly fine hotel, presided over by his estimable wife, who personally saw to the comforts of people travelling through Wollombi, in a style that was second to none. She was Miss C Hawkins daughter of Henry Hawkins. The names of the Campbells and the Hawkins stand for all that is good, honest and straight forth. They were people who always did the duty. 

Broke had two hotels – one owned by Jack Kerr of horse racing fame, who had a jockey named Theodore Nerriker a famous rider and horses: Proserpine and Recherce and The Bell-Inn Yellow Rock, Wollombi Road, Broke opened in 1848 with the owner and Licensee being Samuel Snape who came to Australia in 1833 on the ‘Andromeda’. His early years were spent at Glendon where he married Elizabeth Carter. Samuel’s license no was 723 & 773 from 26 July 1848 until 22 April 1854. Weekly stock sales were held by CJ Crofton at Snape’s Bell-Inn at Broke. 

Laguna also had two hotels one owned by Henry Brown, called at one stage North Road Hotel, later it became the Laguna Wine Shop and General Store (my Great Great Great Grandfather) who was the father of the Grand Old Man of Cessnock, George Brown (Marthaville) who was my Great Great Grandfather. Henry Brown identified himself completely with Laguna, he remained on the same piece of land (opposite his Wine Shop and General Store, adapted to changing circumstances, and found a family which retained unbroken association with his homestead site for more than 130 years. 

Henry began by purchasing a 9-acre portion and purchased (at a Govt auction sale) he purchased a further 50 acres. Henry was a very interesting character. He married Elizabeth Hawkins and they had 14 children. Her had previously been married to Catherine Beatty and had 2 children. Henry was well educated and was determined all his family would have good educations and had a great deal to do with the Laguna School and St Mark’s Church of England. 

The other Laguna hotel, The Traveller’s Rest, was kept by Mrs Black. Laguna House was owned by R A Wiseman and he played a decisive part in the establishment of the village, as a service centre for the farmers and labourers of Watagan Creek, and a resting place for travellers on the Great North Road. R A Wiseman established an inn as early as 1829 on the opposite side of Laguna House and at least as early as 1837 an innkeeper established a house at the junction of Great Northern Road and Watagan Creek Road. 

The Traveller’s Rest, McDonald’s River, Laguna opened on 6th July, 1836 by John Sullivan, who built the hotel, stood across the road from Laguna House. and he retained the hotel until 17 Jan 1851 when it was taken over by George Smith on 18 Jan 1851, then George Marriott on 7th May 1853 and then George Smyth 25 May 1854 until 15 May 1857, William Smith 20 April 1858, Henry Brown 18 May 1861, Charles Cox 17 April 1862, George Marriott 1865-1870, Achilles Daunt 1871-1875, George Sternbeck 1877-1878, Edward Bridge 1878-1879, George F Hopkins 1880-1881, Mary Ann Black 1882-1885, Dan James 1886-1887, WG Cross 1888-1890 and Mary Ann Black 1892. 

Laguna Inn, Laguna 1879 also known as Laguna Hotel 1892 ]

Licensee:- Henry Brown 1879-1890 Laguna Inn, 1892-1893 Laguna Hotel and then taken over by family members.

Laguna village was a grant of 1000 acres to Heneage Finch, surveyor of the Great North Road, described by Surveyor General Mitchell as “the greatest public work in the Colony”. 

There were two general stores in Wollombi village - one being owned and run by Alfred Elliott (who later became a Police Magistrate) and the other by Denny Kenny who also ran a hotel, after he sold his store.

Sam Townsend was a wheelwright and undertaker and Giles Bourne (another ancestor) was also a wheelwright, blacksmith and undertaker.

In 1865, the population of Wollombi was larger the surround towns. Cessnock only existed of a few homes and farms and the Cessnock Inn. Some years later, that changed with the advent of the coal industry which depleted the surrounding districts of many hundreds who found work in the coal mines. 

A school was set up in Wollombi in April, 1852 with John Rubie as the teacher. He had received the following items to teach the attending children:- 24 School books, 24 Scripture books, 2 sets of reading and spelling tablets,1 Registrar book, 1 daily report book, 1 map of the world, 12 class rolls, 4 sheets of scripture Maxims as well as a later arrival of 30 slates, 100 slate pencils, 24 class books, 12 Geography books, 12 Grammar books, 12 Arithmetic books, 1 box pens, 6 bottles ink. 

There were 15 boys and 28 girls on the school roll. 

During the early part of 1853, a difference broke out between the teacher, John Rubie, who reported to his superiors that he was involved in some uncomfortable situations. The happened partly because he had changed his banking arrangements from Michael Byrne’s business to a new Sydney Bank Brank which had recently opened up in Wollombi 

It would appear that the first Wollombi National School had commenced in a Wesleyan Methodist building on the north eastern side of Wollombi to Singleton Road, between Aleppo and Negro Streets. David Dunlop represented the Wesleyan Methodist Church and on 26th July 1853, he advised both the local school board and the State National School Board that the church requested the school to vacate their building and so the school closed. John Rubie was transferred to Merriwa School. The school closed on 24th September 1853 with the school reopening in 1855

During 1854, plans and specifications were submitted for the building of a “L” shaped school.  

The Wollombi school reopened in June 1855 and during the calendar year, there were 30 pupils – 15 boys and 15 girls on the school roll. The daily average attendance was 12 boys and 13 girls. 

Around 1857 a National School was established in Wollombi. The first being a weatherboard building on a block of land which ran down to Sugarloaf Creek, to the west of Aleppo Street. The teacher was Mr John Wright, who was there at least as early as 1858, his salary was said to be around 50 pound per annum. He was later principal of Fort Street School. His successor, about 1862, was W Goudy, and in 1865, Mr Stephen Smith was the teacher. Wollombi takes pride in his name because his son, S H Smith, later a Director of Education for the State, was born during his father’s term at Wollombi. Other teachers remembered were Mr Alderton and Mr Joseph Brownlie, was the teacher when the new school was completed. The previous school had been flooded to the ceiling of the school on several occasions. 

During 1861 there were several floods which hindered the operation of the school. The floods came in April, May, June and July and again flooded in June, July and August 1864. The school had to close for several lengthy periods due flooding, in July 1866 had carried away the detached school kitchen, and the local school board were very concerned about the nearness of the playground to the deep creek which was close to the school. 

On October 12, 1868 Inspector Dwyer made his annual school examination and, in his report, it shows that there were 29 boys and 30 girls in attendance. 

In Sept 1871 there was some scandal at the school when the teacher, Thomas Henerie was charged with indecent behaviour to his female servant, Frances Ockwell. As a result of this charge, the teacher was transferred. 

Wollombi School Parents and Citizens Association was formed on 2 May 1916. The first officers of the association were:-

President – Rev. David Thomas Rees

Secretary - Richard Owens

Treasurer - Arthur R Andrews

Teachers-in-charge at Wollombi School have been: -

John Rubie 1852, W H Hooke 1855, John Wright 1856, Thomas Cuneen 1862, W Goudy 1864, Stephen J Smith 1865, Thomas Henerie 1870, Daniel Alderton 1871, Joseph Hollick 1874, Joseph Brownlie1875, John Farrell 1882, Hugh Farrell 1888, Joseph Kinlouk 1889, Frederick Moulsdale 1897, John Dobbie 1899, Alfred Croft 1903, William Gray 1911, Samuel Young 1913, Patrick Clyne 1913, Patrick Clyne 1913, Robert Blare 1925, Thomas Bach 1929, Fredrick Lett 1931, Richard Ridden 1937, Mary O’Connell 1943, Charles Stanmore 1843, Albert Squire 1949, Lindsay Crane 1954, Arthur McKenzie 1957, William Tyson 1962, William Brewer 1965, Ian Gray 1968, Malcolm Goudie 1975, Brendan Anthony Barber 1982.

Wheat was the main crop grown at Wollombi and district and was reaped, then threshed by the threshing machine. The grain was gristed (separated from its chaff) in preparation for its grinding at the Wollombi Flour Mill, which had been erected in 1840 and another flour mill at the Rising Sun Inn at Millfield (how Millfield got its name) ran by the Hinchcliffe family was run by bullocks, which plodded around in a circle, tuned a crown wheel which, through a pinion, dove the shafting attachment to the heavy stone rollers. You only had the assurance of the miller, about getting your own flour, from your own wheat. Later the mill, was converted to steam power. During the off season the Hinchcliffe’s cut timber for their mill. The flour mill at Wollombi was destroyed by fire and later demolished. 

In 1863, there was a failure of the wheat crop, caused by rust, and this seriously affected the resources of the district. 30 acres was about as much one man could handle on his property. The reaping was all done by hand with a sickle. It was really back breaking work. 

Maize, potatoes and tobacco were also grown. Every farm had pigs, at least one cow and fowls, so that the farmer was practically self-supporting. Then, of course, there were the pasturage carrying sheep and cattle. 

Stripping and selling wattle bark was another flouring business in the Wollombi area. They were done up in bundles and it was carted to Maitland Tanneries for tanning hides. 

One wag once referred to his bark as ‘Wollombi Wood.’ A sure sign of a gentleman approaching marriage was if a man took two loads of bark to Maitland in succession.

The wattle bark was usually stripped in the rainy season. The bark was stripped, dried, made up into bundles and often carted into Sawyer’s Tannery, at Parson’s Creek near Bishop’s Bridge. The price paid for the bark was varied from 2 pound 10 shillings to 3 pound a ton. A bullock wagon was built up with a fame to take the load to its destination. Three tons was a big load. Billy Fletcher and Joe Williams, from Cockfighter’s Creek, had taken the unknown trail were regular conveyers of this class of load. The tannery went out of existence and business then went to Sydney. 

I wonder if anyone reading this article realise the hardship and difficulties that their ancestors went through to leave such heritages as honesty, and true examples of the Australian pioneering spirit. They built up stock for their farms, they had bullock and horse teams which were a great help in the pioneering times. They had saddled horse and sulkies with buggies and then later the motor vehicle started changing their lives. My great great great Grandmother, Elizabeth Brown (nee Hawkins) had her first ride in a motor vehicle in May, 1923 on her 90th Birthday. She was amazed at the invention and marvelled about all she had seen over her 90 years; I wonder know what she would think of transport today. Elizabeth, had arrived in Australia, from England, as a young girl and came to Wollombi by bullock dray with her parents William Rudlan Hawkins and Ann (nee Quaife). She had taken the trip to Maitland many times, by bullock dray. 

Our pioneers often communicated with messages delivered by horse, then they received mail and telegraph messages and then came the wireless, telephone, hot and cold water and much later electricity. The road from Wollombi to Cessnock and then through to Maitland was improved and more people travelled on the roads. 

Our ancestors, most free settlers but some convicts, left their homes and families in the United Kingdom and other European countries, never to see them again, and came to a completely strange wild country where the climate was entirely different to what they had known, but they adapted and made wonderful lives for themselves and their families. They made comfortable homes, farms and businesses. 

Many lived to ripe old ages and may the sods rest lightly on their graves at Wollombi Cemetery. 

I know I am extremely proud of my ancestors for all they achieved. They had large families and these children married children of other well-known Wollombi district families. Many of the children didn’t take up life on the land and moved into Cessnock and surround areas and many moving to the New England Tablelands.  

The changes these pioneers saw in their lifetimes was amazing. 

This extract from “The Story of Some of the Pioneers” helps to make the picture clearer. It tells of a settler who arrived in 1853 (around the time my ancestors arrived in the area).

“A farm labourer in the South of England with his wife and 5 children found it difficult to make ends meet on 11 shillings per week. He decided to emigrate with his family and after a nightmare voyage of 6 months, they landed in Sydney, came up by coaster to Morpeth – then the main point of landing and discharge of vessel – and went by bullock dray to the Ellalong district. They had only their clothing, a few household utensils and practically no furniture. They lived with another settler until a slab-hut could be erected on their farm, and then they started to earn their living. They first had to clear every foot of land. The wife got together a few fowls, and the eggs were disposed of at times to the ubiquitous dealer at 4 pence per dozen. The nearest little store which offered 5 pence was five miles away; and a ten years old girl of the family was sent on Saturday mornings, when eggs were plentiful, to the store with a basket of eggs, so as to gain the extra penny per dozen. To do that, she had to walk ten miles.”

The ten-mile walk, of the little girl highlight one of the features of life then -the fact that nearly everyday walked. 

John Howe, the explorer (1774-1852) and his companions had all walked, in 1820, when they found a way to the Hunter; on Macquarie’s inspection of Wallis Plains, in 1821, only he could be provided with a horse. Horses were not plentiful, so walking was the only means of conveyance to where you needed to go, hence the term “shank’s pony.”

A story in the “Eagle” from October 1949 related a story which illustrated the transport problems of our pioneers and, as well, the danger from hostile natives.

“To obtain more men and rations, Mr Crawford had to return to Parramatta. He had to travel over the mountain road through Wollombi, across Wiseman’s Ferry to Sydney. He had a bullock which he utilised as a pack animal for food etc. Mr Crawford and the men he obtained had to do the journey on foot. During the journey a heavy storm overtook them the night they were close to Whiting’s Paddock and compelled them to camp. A nauseating smell permeated the atmosphere. In the morning, the discovered the other men were closer than expected. The five men were found pinned to the ground with spears, and the bodies were in a decomposed state.”

As more settlers came to the valleys of “The Wollombi,” the danger from the natives became less, the tribes being pushed back into more inhospitable regions or becoming “half civilized” nuisances around the villages. 

In both cases, the unfortunate first possessor of the land was doomed to extinction, the unhappy victim of the weapons, the vices or the disease of his conqueror. 

Wheat growing, which had been the most important industry in the Wollombi district for so many years, suffered a severe set back in 1870, when “rust” which had appeared some years before, greatly reduced the wheat yield. Wheat-farming became more hazardous as years went by, and finally ceased altogether, not only at Wollombi, but all along the coast. 

From that time the decline of Wollombi began. A decline which accelerated with the rise of Cessnock and mining in the Cessnock area. 

Wollombi’s greatness had departed, it was one of the few agricultural towns, in the state, that retrogressed almost to the point of extinction. The mushroom rise and decline can be understood. 

The decline of Wollombi was attributed to a set of circumstances that was unique in the history of the State. With 10 miles of the Wollombi Post Office were great coal mines, the newly developed mining enterprises of the Maitland field and with the opening of each new mine, a new town would spring up, pulsing with the feverish activity of hectic industrial life. 

To work the wide seams of the coal mines, the mine owners needed men who were strong and youthful, and they found their best workmen among the sons of farmers who were used to hard, heavy work. The young men of the Wollombi farms were lured by the big wages that mines paid, to swing picks in the bowels of the earth. They left the older folk, on the farms. 

The towns showed every evidence of the change that had taken place as houses were built to accommodate the miners and their families. 

In July 1940, it was announced that the Wollombi Court, at one time the most Important centre for the administration of justice between Parramatta and East Maitland, now no longer exists.

The court was abolished and notices were posted to the effect, that all business would in future be transacted at Cessnock. Some people said that Wollombi's decline commenced when the operation of Peat's ferry diverted northern traffic to the Pacific Highway.

Wollombi became a village, the hotels were gone, the old stone houses, the court house, the post office, the churches stand today as solid as the serene as when they were built. 

Written by Gail Duerden April 2020

Research from:

Family Notes and research

Family History 

Trove

National Archives

Cessnock Eagle

Mines, Wines and People

The Parish of Wollombi - A History by A P Elkin

History of Cessnock by William Bloomfield 

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Maitland Mercury

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Above; Photos of early Wollombi (courtesy of Gail Duerden)