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Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-
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Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-
Chancellor (Education)
1994
Early Land Settlement in Illawarra 1804-1861 Early Land Settlement in Illawarra 1804-1861
Benjamin Lindsay
Michael K. Organ
University of Wollongong
A. P. Doyle
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Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons
Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Lindsay, Benjamin; Organ, Michael K.; and Doyle, A. P.: Early Land Settlement in Illawarra 1804-1861 1994.
https://ro.uow.edu.au/asdpapers/101
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Early Land Settlement in Illawarra 1804-1861 Early Land Settlement in Illawarra 1804-1861
Abstract Abstract
The writer of this story was born in Illawarra over 76 years ago [c1857], and during his childhood and
youth he shared in the experiences and struggles of the pioneer settlers in that rich and beautiful portion
of the State. In this story he has attempted to give a detailed account of the manner in which the Crown
Lands of Illawarra were disposed of, for the information of all who are interested in matters pertaining to
Illawarra, and, more particularly, the large body of farmers now occupying those lands, many of whom are
descendants of the pioneers who came from England, Ireland and Scotland, and settled on the Estates of
the early grantees from the "thirties" to the "sixties" of last century. To these, and their descendants, this
story is respectfully dedicated.
Disciplines Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Publication Details Publication Details
This book was originally published as Organ, MK and Doyle, AP (eds), Early Land Settlement in Illawarra
1804-1861 by Benjamin Lindsay, Illawarra Historical Publications, 1994.
This book is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/asdpapers/101
Illawarra Historical Source Books
EARLY LAND SETTLEMENT IN ILLAWARRA
(1804-1861)
by
Benjamin Lindsay
[Originally Published 1934]
Compiled and Edited by Michael Organ & A.P. Doyle
Illawarra Historical Publications
1994
Illawarra Historical Publications
26 Popes Road, Woonona 2517
c Michael Organ & A.P. Doyle
First Published 1994
ISBN 0 9588028 6 6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publishers.
Printed by the University of Wollongong Printery.
Illawarra Historical Source Books
This book is one of a continuing series to be published as aids to the study of local
history in Illawarra. Some thirty works are at present in preparation or contemplation.
The series' objectives is to provide low-cost authentic source material for students as
well as general readers. Some of the texts will be from unpublished manuscripts, others
from already published books which however are expensive, rare, or not easily
obtainable for reference. They may well vary in importance, although all will represent a
point of view. Each will be set in context by an introduction, but will contain minimal
textual editing directed only towards ensuring readability and maximum utility consistent
with complete authenticity. Each book will be fully indexed and appropriately illustrated
where possible, with maps and diagrams where needed.
In this way the student will have a reliable source-book from which to work; there may
be editorial warnings, footnotes or endnotes, as well as occassional additions in square
brackets, for instance, as guides to the identity of peoples and places. Yet in general the
student will be left with the raw material of history out of which, with more research,
opinions can be formed. The general reader will have a segment of history with aspects
of Illawarra's communal life which can be accepted and enjoyed for its own interest, and
indeed fascination.
Edgar Beale
NB: On pages 20-22 Lindsay has included a partial transcript of an 1833-4 diary from
J.S. Spearing's property. This contains some errors and the reader is referred to W.G.
McDonald's definitive edition of the Paulsgrove Diary (Illawarra Historical Society,
Wollongong, 1988).
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my wife Jeanette for typing the text from the Illawarra Mercury; and
A.P. Doyle for his many editorial comments. Also to the staff of the Reference Section,
Wollongong City Library, for their assistance over the years in compiling Lindsay's
articles and obtaining both biographical and local material to assist in the task of minor
editing of the work.
Michael Organ
1 February 1994
Contents Page
Early Land Settlement in Illawarra 1
1 First Glimpses of Illawarra. Early Coastal Voyages. 2
[Illawarra Mercury, 2 February 1934]
2 Early Land Settlement outside Illawarra Reviewed. 3
Needs of Cattlemen and Cedar Getters Lead to
Penetration of Illawarra.
[Illawarra Mercury, 9 February 1934]
3 Occupation of Pasture Lands in Illawarra under 5
Free Grazing Permits. Difficulties of Transport of Stock.
[Illawarra Mercury, 9 February 1934]
4 Occupiers Under Grazing Permits and Others Obtain 6
Promises of Grants - Meeting between Them and the
Surveyor General at Mr Throsby's Stockman's Hut
at Five Islands.
[Illawarra Mercury, 16 February 1934]
5 Particulars of First Issue of Grants in Illawarra. 7
[Illawarra Mercury, 16 February 1934]
6 Particulars of Grants at Shellharbour. 9
Epitome of D'Arcy Wentworth's Career.
Remarks on Other Grantees.
[Illawarra Mercury, 16 February 1934]
7 Particulars of Further Grants to D'Arcy Wentworth 11
in Illawarra.
[Illawarra Mercury, 23 February 1934]
8 Extent of D'Arcy Wentworth's Peterborough Estate. 12
The Shell Lime Industry.
Early Use of the Little Port at Shellharbour.
[Illawarra Mercury, 23 February 1934]
9 Particulars of Grants to William Brown, the 14
"West Horsley" Grant, and other Grants
in the Vicinity of Dapto.
[Illawarra Mercury, 2 March 1934]
10 Regrading the "Macquarie Gift" Grant to Major 15
Johnston and the Later Grants to David Johnston
and Isaac Nicholls.
[Illawarra Mercury, 2 March 1934]
11 Particulars of Grants to Lang and Gerard and Mrs 16
Jemima Jenkins. Remarks on Traffic in Land Orders.
[Illawarra Mercury, 2 March 1934]
12 Particulars of Grants near Wollongong and to the 18
North Thereof. Transfer of Official Centre from
Red Point to Wollongong.
[Illawarra Mercury, 9 March 1934]
13 Mr J.S. Spearing's Occupation under promises of 20
grant at Wollongong.
Entries in an Old Diary kept by an Employee
of Mr Spearing in 1833.
[Illawarra Mercury, 9 March 1934]
14 Particulars of Avondale, Marshall Mount, and 22
Calderwood Grants and of grants to Henry Osborne
in Other Localities.
Remarks on Cattle Thieving in Early Days.
A Tribute to Henry Osborne.
[Illawarra Mercury, 16 March 1934]
15 Particulars of Grants South of Macquarie Rivulet 25
in the Albion Park District.
[Illawarra Mercury, 16 March 1934]
16 Disposal of Land Between the Free grants and the 26
Mountain Summits, and Remnants Elsewhere, North
of the Minamurra River.
[Illawarra Mercury, 23 March 1934]
17 Reference to the Land South of the Minamurra River 27
and North of the Berry Estate, in the Kiama,
Jamberoo, Gerringong District.
[Illawarra Mercury, 23 March 1934]
18 Berry Estate. 30
Epitome of Alexander Berry's Career.
Analysis of Free and Purchase Grants in the
Berry Estates.
Disposal of the Remaining Land on the Mountain
Slopes South of Minamurra River.
[Illawarra Mercury, 29 March 1934]
19 Review of Settlement in Illawarra 1804-1861. 34
Comments on Use Made of Auction Sale Regulations
in Building Up the Berry Estate.
[Illawarra Mercury, 6 April 1934]
20 Difficulties Encountered by Land Owners and 35
Small Settlers Using Land for Agriculture in Early Days.
[Illawarra Mercury, 6 April 1934]
22 The Advent of Small Settlers on Large Estates. 36
[Illawarra Mercury, 13 April 1934]
23 Disembursement of the Large Estates. 37
Conditions under which Small Settlers acquired
the Freehold of their Farms.
North and South of the Minamurra Compared.
[Illawarra Mercury, 13 April 1934]
* Epilogue - Glimpses of the Past. 39
[Illawarra Mercury, 6 April 1934]
A Story of
EARLY LAND SETTLEMENT IN ILLAWARRA
By Benjamin Lindsay
(Late Chairman of the Lands Board, Department of Lands, N.S.W.)
The writer of this story was born in Illawarra over 76 years ago [c1857], and during his
childhood and youth he shared in the experiences and struggles of the pioneer settlers
in that rich and beautiful portion of the State. In this story he has attempted to give a
detailed account of the manner in which the Crown Lands of Illawarra were disposed of,
for the information of all who are interested in matters pertaining to Illawarra, and, more
particularly, the large body of farmers now occupying those lands, many of whom are
descendants of the pioneers who came from England, Ireland and Scotland, and settled
on the Estates of the early grantees from the "thirties" to the "sixties" of last century. To
these, and their descendants, this story is respectfully dedicated.
In the search for material on which to build up this story, the writer was confronted with
the fact that no less than two Histories of Illawarra had already appeared in print; one by
the late Judge McFarland, entitled A History of Illawarra and Manaro, published in 1872;
and the other by Mr Frank McCaffrey, entitled a History of Illawarra, published in 1922.
The writer hopes he will not be deemed presumptuous in adding yet another "story" to
the literature of Illawarra. He has endeavoured - whether successfully or not is for the
reader to say - to give the particulars regarding the grants and grantees in a more
detailed form than has hither to been presented.
The writer has to acknowledge his indebtedness to the authors mentioned for the great
help afforded by them; to the Under Secretary for Lands, Mr T.W. Irish, who generously
afforded him access to the old records and the official maps of the Lands Department;
and to the officials of the Mitchell Library and the Free Public Library for the information
obtained at those institutions.
Chapter 1
First Glimpses of Illawarra
Early Coastal Voyages
From the date of the first settlement under Governor Phillip in 1788, to the time of
Governor King, very little was known of the Illawarra district. Captain Cook, when sailing
along the east coast of Australia in 1770, located the headland at Port Kembla and
named it "Red Point". He also noted in his journal that "to the north-west of Red Point, a
little way inland, stands a round hill, which looks like the crown of a hat". This refers to
Mount Kembla, which thus came to be known as "Hat Hill" in early times.
Early in the year 1796 Bass and Flinders - the former a surgeon and the latter a
midshipman in the navy - accompanied by a boy, voyaged along the coast south from
Sydney in a small boat, which they called "The Tom Thumb". It has been gleaned from
their journal that, with a view to obtaining fresh water, they landed on the beach
somewhere near the Tom Thumb Lagoon, so called after the name of their small craft.
While searching for fresh water they encountered some natives at Red Point near by,
and from them they learned that fresh water could not be obtained there. The natives
also told them of a "river" further south, where they could get fresh water and fish and
wild ducks in abundance. An offer by the natives to pilot them there was accepted and,
on reaching this river, they found it to be merely an outlet through the beach to the sea,
from what they assumed to be a swamp of lagoon. They managed to effect an entrance
in the boat and obtained fresh water from a water-hole near the lagoon.
By that time a number of other natives had appeared on the scene and assumed a
threatening attitude, and the little party must then have realized their defencelessness in
event of hostilities. Their boat had been overturned when landing through the surf at the
Tom Thumb Lagoon and their powder was wet. Flinders had clipped the beards of two
of the natives at Red Point, and in order to keep them amused while the powder was
being dried, he now started clipping the beards of several more. When, however, the
muskets were being handled, the natives became alarmed and they had to desist.
Apparently the natives were bent on preventing the party returning to the sea, and
began in an excited and threatening manner to urge them to go further inland. By
adopting a ruse they eventually were fortunate enough to get back to deep water and
safety.
There can be no doubt that the scene of this episode was the entrance to Lake
Illawarra, though it is clear the voyagers were not aware of the existence of the large
sheet of water so close at hand. Had they gone only a little further inland, they would
have been its discoverers, but, as the sequel will show, they might never have been
heard of again.
In May, 1797, the ship Sydney Cove was wrecked on the Furveaux Islands. Some of
the officers and crew escaped from the wreck in a long boat, which was driven ashore
near Cape Howe. The shipwrecked party then commenced a long and terrible trek along
the coast from Cape Howe to Sydney. The survivors of the party were met at Watta
Molla, near Port Hacking, and taken to Sydney. The others had been ambushed and
killed by natives at Hat Hill (Mount Kembla), which serves to show what might have
been the fate of Bass and Flinders, and the boy, had they not succeeded in getting
away from the natives at the entrance to Lake Illawarra the year before.
In the course of their journey along the coast the shipwrecked party came across
indications of the rich coal deposits near Bulli, and on this being reported, Surgeon Bass
was dispatched (during 1797) in a whale boat to make investigations. It was on this
voyage, apparently, that Point Bass was located and named. Bass also landed "at a
little bight just south of Illawarra", regarding which he has left on record "that he
discovered, close to where he landed, in a hollow circular space among the rocks, a
hole 25 to 30 feet in diameter, into which the sea rushed by a subterranean passage".
The "little bight" is Kiama boat harbour, and the Blow Hole is known to everyone. After
leaving Kiama he went some distance further south and entered an inlet, which he
called the Shoals-haven, owing to it being so much shoaled up by sand and mud. He
also went a short trip inland from there and discovered the Shoalhaven River.
These voyages, apart from whatever value they were in determining more accurately
and naming the features of the coast line, gave little or no information from which any
knowledge of the richness of the Illawarra district could have been gleaned. Even Bass's
location of the outcropping coal seams at Coal Cliff was not deemed worth while
exploiting by those in authority.
In the year 1804 Governor King dispatched Captain Kent to explore the South Coast as
far as the Shoalhaven River, but no record can be found of this exploration beyond the
notice of Captain Kent's return on 3 March 1804.
Chapter 2
Early Land Settlement Outside Illawarra Reviewed
Needs of Cattlemen and Cedar Cutters
Lead to Penetration of Illawarra
In presenting the full story of the settlement of Illawarra, it is necessary to refer to the
spread of settlement in the older settled districts during the first 20 years, from the
arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 to the year 1808, which embraced the terms of office of
Governors Phillip, Hunter, King, and Bligh, and an interragnum of 3 years between the
departure of Phillip and arrival of Hunter, during which Major Grose (for 2 years) and
Colonel Paterson (for 1 year) acted as Lieutenant Governors.
In the beginning settlement was promoted on the poorer lands lying close to the small
settlement at Sydney Cove. Wheat was grown at places now covered by the City and its
densely packed suburbs, and at Ryde and Parramatta at a very early period, to help
meet urgent needs of the settlement.
Subsequently the richer lands of the Hawkesbury and Nepean, and the rich pasture
lands about Camden were discovered. This led to the spread of settlement of the barrier
of the Blue Mountains on the west, opening up the districts of Windsor, Richmond and
Penrith; and in a south-westerly direction, opening up the districts of Liverpool,
Campbelltown, Camden, etc. The lands in those districts were largely settled in the days
of Governors Phillip, Hunter, King and Bligh, under free grants made by the Governors,
the sole prerogative of granting land being vested in and freely used by them.
The herds of the cattlemen in these districts had increased considerably by the time of
Governor King; and owing to this and the occurrence of periods of drought, feed
became scarce, and the need for an outlet to fresh pastures became urgent.
Cedar cutting had also become an important industry in the young Colony, and it was
inevitable that the more adventuresome of the cedar cutters would penetrate the
mountain barrier on the northern approaches to Illawarra in search of this valuable soft
wood. They would have learned from the natives, who were in the habit of making
frequent journeys to Lake Illawarra from the Tablelands, of the existence of large
quantities of Red Cedar in Illawarra. It can be safely conjectured there is no person now
living who could impart first-hand knowledge as to the quantities of this valuable timber
then growing there.
A book was published in the year 1872 by the late Judge McFarland, entitled A History
of Illawarra and Manaro. The author of this very interesting little volume had the
advantage of being able to work up some of his matter from first-hand information. The
particulars he obtained from Mr David Smith, of Kiama, who was one of the early cedar
cutters - having first entered Illawarra in 1821 - are extremely valuable. According to Mr
Smith "there was scarcely a creek or stream, valley, ravine or gorge between Bulli and
Broughton Creek, that was not dotted with cedar trees, many being of great size and
beauty". In particular, the country about Kiama seems to have been specially prolific in
cedar timber, for Mr Smith mentioned that the site now occupied by the town of Kiama
"had some noble cedars upon it".
The position, therefore, was that the pioneers of two important industries were seeking
an outlet into Illawarra - the cedar cutters for its wealth of Red Cedar and the cattlemen
for its pasturage - at about the same time; and mainly through their combined efforts the
difficulties in reaching Illawarra through the northern mountain barriers were ultimately
overcome.
The customs of the natives helped the pioneers considerably. The tribes were
constantly on the move from the Tablelands and all parts of Illawarra to the shores of
Lake Illawarra, owing, probably, to the abundance of fish and wild fowl there, as well as
in connection with their corrobore and other ceremonies of an inter-tribal nature; and the
age-long trails used by them, down the mountain barriers and through the dense
brushes, were used by the pioneers.
Chapter 3
Occupation of Pasture Lands in Illawarra
under Free Grazing Permits
Difficulties of Transport of Stock
The discovery of the existence of good pasture land in Illawarra led to the cattlemen of
the older settled districts of the Colony obtaining permits from the Governor to run their
stock on the grassed lands surrounding Lake Illawarra, extending along the Coast from
Red Point (Port Kembla) southerly to the Minnamurra River, and in a westerly direction
along the Valley of the Macquarie Rivulet.
The natural obstacles to the passage of stock overland from the settled districts were
considerable. As far as can be gathered from early records it would appear that long
before a passable route for stock down the mountain barrier had been provided, cattle
and other stock were brought there by boat.
In his History of Illawarra, Mr McCaffrey states that the first lot of cattle to arrive in
Illawarra were sent there in Governor King's time; that they were conveyed there by
boat under charge of David Nicholls; and were landed at Five Islands. He also states
that Major Johnston's cattle (from his Liverpool Estate) were sent to Illawarra during the
drought in 1803-4. As this would also have been in Governor King's time, the same lot
of cattle are, in all probability, referred to, especially as the David Nicholls mentioned
was in the employ of Major Johnston. In the Sydney Gazette of 18 March 1815, the
following item of news appears:
A considerable extent of fine grazing ground is described by late travellers
to be about the Five Islands, to which, however, it would be thoroughly
impracticable to convey cattle by land; and between Port Aiken [Hacking]
and the Five Islands a fine stratum of coal shews itself for the extent of
several miles.
There seems, therefore, to be good reason for the assumption that from the years 1803-
4, when the first cattle were brought to Illawarra by boat, to - at the very least - the year
1858, the only way cattle could be brought to Illawarra from the north was by boat.
The reason for qualifying the above statement by the words "from the north" is explained
in this way. A stockman named Joe Wild, employed by Mr Charles Throsby of Bong
Bong, is credited with being the discoverer of Illawarra - probably in the sense that he
may have been the first to discover its possibilities from a cattleman's point of view. It is
probable that, in seeking fresh pastures in the interest of his employer, and using the
tracks or trails of the natives, he may have found a way down the mountain from Bong
Bong, and succeeded in getting stock into Illawarra from that direction, before a
passable route for stock had been made from Campbelltown, Appin, etc.
In order to show that between the years 1815 and 1821 a passable route for the
passage of stock into Illawarra from Campbelltown way had been provided, the following
extracts from the Sydney Gazette of the year 1821 are quoted.
In the Sydney Gazette of 7 April 1821, Mr Cornelius O'Brien informs proprietors of land
in Illawarra that a track, much shorter, and of far less and more gradual declivity, had
been discovered; and suggests that they subscribe £1 each, among not less than seven
of them, to have the work of cutting away the brush, etc., done, to make a passage for
stock.
In the Sydney Gazette of the 18 May following, is an account of the visit of Governor
Macquarie to Five Islands, via the Cowpastures (Camden), from which the following is a
verbatim quotation:
We can state with unquestionable authority that the reports circulated with
respect to travelling the "Subscription Road" recently constructed under
the superintendence of Mr Cornelius O'Brien, from Appin, across the
Cataract River, to Illawarra or Five Islands, by Mr Brisbane, are
unfounded; that road being not only passable and safe for cattle, but is
also what may be called a good bridle road, and might be made, with a
little more trouble, a tolerable good cart road.
It may here be mentioned that the original road from Campbelltown to Wollongong was
not down the Bulli Pass and thence through Bulli, Woonona, etc., but ran along the crest
of the mountain from above Bulli Pass, to the back of Mount Keira, and then followed a
steep track down the flank of that mountain.
Chapter 4
Occupiers Under Grazing Permits And Others Obtain
Promises of Grants
Meeting Between Them and the Surveyor General at
Mr Throsby's Stockman's Hut at Five Islands
From the date when cattle were first brought into Illawarra during the drought of 1803-4,
the pasture lands in the district were being used under free occupation permits by the
cattlemen of the older districts, notable among these being Major Johnston, Captain
Brooks, Charles Throsby, D'Arcy Wentworth, Robert Jenkins, William Browne and
Samuel Terry. This continued until the year 1817. Prior to that year the occupiers under
grazing permits, and other influential persons, had obtained promises of grants from
Governor Macquarie, as evidenced by a notice appearing in the Sydney Gazette of 28
September 1816, as follows:
Those gentlemen and free settlers who have lately obtained promises of
grants of land in the new district of Illawarra, or Five Islands, are hereby
informed that the Surveyor General and his deputy have received
instructions to proceed thither in the course of the ensuing week, to make
a regular survey of the new district, and to locate the several promised
grants; and in order that the locations may be made accordingly, those
persons who have obtained promises of allotments are hereby required to
avail themselves of the approaching occasion of the surveyors being on
duty in Illawarra to get their locations marked out to them; and for this
purpose they are required to meet the Surveyor General at the hut of Mr
Throsby's Stockman in Illawarra, or the Five Islands district, at noon on
Monday, 2 December 1816.
There is, apparently, no record of the names of the "gentlemen and free settlers" who
did meet the Surveyor General, or his deputy, at Mr Throsby's stockman's hut on that
memorable 2 December 1816. The meeting was a momentous one in the history of
Illawarra. At that date the whole of the district was virgin lands belonging to the Crown,
and the prizes that were to fall to some, if not all, of those who met there, were indeed
great. The grants being given to these settlers were practically free grants, the
conditions were exceedingly easy, and each grantee was assured of having convicts
assigned to him to do the work required.
Chapter 5
Particulars of First Issue of Grants in Illawarra
The first grants in the Illawarra district were issued by Governor Macquarie on the 24
January 1817, and were as follows:-
David Allan, 2,200 acres, called "Illawarra", situated at Five Islands and including
Red Point.
Robert Jenkins, 1,000 acres, called "Berkely", situated at Five Islands and
including Flag Staff Hill.
Richard Brooks, 1,300 acres, called "Exmouth", and situated to the south of
lands now occupied by the private town of Dapto.
George Johnston, 1,500 acres, called "Macquarie Gift", situated on the northern
bank of Macquarie Rivulet, and later part of the estate known as Johnston's
Meadows.
Andrew Allan, 700 acres, called "Waterloo", and situated on the south bank of
the Macquarie Rivulet, opposite the Macquarie Gift" grant.
David Allan was Deputy Commissary General of the Colony when he obtained his grant.
The Sydney Gazette of 15 March 1822, contains an announcement of the death of the
wife of David Allan, "formerly Deputy Commissary General of New South Wales, on the
eve of accompanying her husband to Barbados, where he had received the appointment
of Deputy Commissary General".
In the Sydney Gazette of 22 June 1824, the following notice appeared:
To let, D.Allan's 2,200 acres grant at Five Islands, with good cottage and
offices, the whole being enclosed, with 200 acres clear and subdivided
into excellent paddocks.
From other notices in the Sydney Gazette the farm was being managed by Conor
Wholohan.
Andrew Allan was probably a son of David Allan. A notice appearing in the Sydney
Gazette of 16 March 1816, announces his appointment as a Clerk in the Commissariat
Department. He apparently left the Colony following David Allan's appointment to
Barbados. His grant was later acquired by Samuel Terry, and became part of the Terry's
Meadows Estate.
Robert Jenkins was an auctioneer in Sydney and Parramatta, who was killed through a
fall from his horse on the Parramatta Road in the year 1822. From a notice in the
Sydney Gazette of 7 July 1825, it is learned that John Robinson was then in charge of
the Berkeley Farm.
Major (later Colonel) Johnston, so well known in early Colonial history, was the officer in
command of the 102nd Regiment, better known as the New South Wales Corps.
In connection with this first issue of grants, it is strange that, although Mr Charles
Throsby was in occupation of land at Five Islands, as the fact of his stockman being in
residence, there would indicate he did not obtain a grant in Illawarra. The land which he
occupied was apparently absorbed in the grant of 2,200 acres to David Allan.
It may fittingly be interpolated here that the first report ot the Home Authorities on the
settlement in Illawarra is contained in a despatch from Governor Macquarie dated
December 1817. He wrote:
An extensive tract of rich country fit for the purpose of pasturage and
agriculture has, some little time since, been discovered about 45 miles to
the southward, on a part of the coast known generally by the name of The
Five Islands, but called by the natives "Illawarra". The persons who have
visited it speak very favourably of this new country, as possessing many
advantages for the grazier and agriculturist, and I have consequently
already given several grants of land to some respectable new settlers.
This despatch show that the potentialities of the Illawarra district were correctly gauged
as far back as the year 1817.
Chapter 6
Particulars of Grants at Shellharbour
Epitome of D'Arcy Wentworth's Career, and
Remarks on Other Grantees
Further locations of grants followed the first issue, and on 9 January 1821, grants were
issued by Governor Macquarie as follows:
Thomas Davey, 2,000 acres, situated at the entrance to Lake Illawarra, and
including Native Dog Hill and Barrack Point. This grant was transferred to D'Arcy
Wentworth by the grantee. It later passed by devise to D'Arcy Wentworth's
grandson, the late T.A.Reddall.
D'Arcy Wentworth, 1,650 acres, situated at Shellharbour, and including the site of
the private town.
D'Arcy Wentworth, 1,500 acres, situated at Shellharbour, including Dunster Hill
and Mount Wentworth.
James Mileham, 700 acres, on south shore of Lake Illawarra and on west side of
D'Arcy Wentworth's grant of 1,650 acres at Shellharbour.
John Horsley, 1,200 acres, on south shore of Lake Illawarra, adjoining the grant
to Mileham.
William Wentworth, 1,000 acres, fronting Koona Bay on Lake Illawarra, and
Macquarie Rivulet; adjoining Horsley's grant on the east and Andrew Allan's
grant of 700 acres on the west. The sites now occupied by Albion Park railway
station and racecourse are within its boundaries.
Samuel Terry, 2,000 acres, situated on south bank of Macquarie Rivulet,
adjoining the western and southern boundaries of Andrew Allan's 700 acre grant
and western boundary of William Wentworth's 1,000 acre grant, and later known
as Terry's Meadows.
As in the case of Davey's grant, the grants to Mileham, Horsley and William Wentworth
were later transferred to D'Arcy Wentworth.
According to notices appearing in the Sydney Gazette of the year 1816, William
Wentworth was leaving the Colony that year. It appears highly probable that the William
Wentworth of this notice and the William Wentworth to whom the grant was issued are
identical with William Charles Wentworth, son of D'Arcy Wentworth, who went to
England about the year 1816 to complete his education at one of the English
Universities.
James Mileham was the Resident Assistant Surgeon at Windsor in 1816, and John
Horsley was an army officer.
Thomas Davey was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. He was appointed Lieutenant
Governor of Tasmania in 1812. The Encyclopedia of Australia records that Governor
Macquarie urged his recall "on account of his profligacy and drunkenness" and that on
27 November 1816, he was notified by the Governor of his recall. He then came into
conflict with the authorities over the question of compensation. He was offered land
grants in Tasmania, but wished to obtain them on the mainland. At some time prior to
his departure from Tasmania to Sydney, en route to England, on 11 May 1821, the
amount of his land grant had been settled at 4,000 acres in Tasmania and 2,000 acres
in Illawarra. As he died in England in May 1823, it would appear that he transferred this
grant to D'Arcy Wentworth before he left the Colony in 1821.
With reference to the grants to Davey, Mileham, Horsley and William Wentworth, and
also the grant to Surveyor Ralph referred to later, there is a very strong presumption
that none of these grantees had any intention of settling upon them, and that they were
located and granted with a view of their sale to D'Arcy Wentworth. That they were
incorporated in his Estate from very early days is common knowledge.
D'Arcy Wentworth was so intimately associated with the earliest settlement in Illawarra
that an epitome of this gentlemen's Australian record would not be out of place in these
pages. From the Encyclopedia of Australia it is learned that he entered the Army as an
Ensign in 1782. He subsequently studied medicine in London and later secured
appointment as Assistant Surgeon in the convict fleet. He came to Australia in that
capacity in the ship Neptune, which arrived in Port Jackson on 28 June 1790. He
became Superintendent of Convicts at Norfolk Island in 1791. Hunter made him
Assistant Surgeon to the settlement in 1796. Between then and 1804 he was Assistant
Surgeon at Norfolk Island and at Parramatta. From 1804 to 1806 he was Surgeon at
Norfolk Island, with military rank. He later got into trouble with Bligh, and contemplated
returning to England. Being led to expect better treatment from Macquarie however, he
decided to remain. Macquarie appointed him Principal Surgeon on 1 January 1811, and
also Principal Superintendent of Police, with wide magisterial powers. He retired in 1818
on a pension, but apparently did not relinquish medical duties until 1819, nor Police
duties until 1820. He was the father of William Charles Wentworth, who in later years
took a very prominent part in the movement which resulted in the elevation of New
South Wales from a Crown Colony to a self-governing State.
Chapter 7
Particulars of Further Grants to D'Arcy Wentworth in Illawarra
Comments on Grant of 2,000 Acres to the
Trustee of D'Arcy Wentworth's Estate, Issued in 1861
A further area of 2,000 acres was granted to D'Arcy Wentworth on 3 September 1821,
lying to the southward of his previous grants and including Point Bass.
Another area of 1,000 acres, south of and adjoining the last-mentioned grant, and
fronting the ocean and Minnamurra River, was granted to William Ralph, on 1 May
1833. This grantee was one of the early surveyors. As in the case of the grants to
James Mileham, Thomas Davey, John Horsley and William Wentworth, this grant was
later transferred to D'Arcy Wentworth.
Another area of 2,000 acres - which may be shortly described as being bounded on the
north and east by D'Arcy Wentworth's previous grants and Ralph's grant, on the south
by the Minnamurra River and a right line along and near the edge of Terragong Swamp,
and on the west by a line partly forming the eastern boundary of a grant to Isabella
Croker, called "Croom" - was held by D'Arcy Wentworth under a "promise of grant" to
him by Governor Brisbane, for which the grant did not issue during his lifetime. It is
gathered that the heirs to his estate, or the Trustee acting on their behalf, lodged a claim
for issue of the grant with the Court of Claims, and in pursuance of the report of the
Commissioners, dated 22 December 1857, the deed of grant was issued on 29 May
1861, to Randolph John Want, as Trustee of the Estate of D'Arcy Wentworth.
The Colony had been created a self governing State in 1855, and in 1861, Mr (later Sir)
John Robertson had succeeded in getting the first Crown Lands Alienation Act passed
by Parliament. Under that Act (colloquially called The Free Selection Act
) the whole of
the Crown Lands, other than Reserves, Town Lands, and Population Areas, became
available for selection (Conditional Purchase) on and after the 1 January 1862. Had the
Trustee of D'Arcy Wentworth's Estate not secured a firm title to this 2,000 acres before
that date, the land would probably have become a bone of contention between the
Estate and would-be selectors.
The statutory price for Conditional Purchase was fixed at £1 per acre, the maximum
area obtainable at 320 acres and the deposit required at 5/- per acre; while the terms as
to payment of balance of purchase money were made very liberal. This 2,000 acres
would thus have provided for at least seven small holders, who, in view of the quality of
the land and the liberal conditions, would have had every prospect of becoming
prosperous free-holders. It may be contended that long possession under authority of a
"promise of grant" by one of the early Governors would have taken this land out of the
category of "Crown Land" and that contention may be correct. It is significant, however,
that steps were not taken to secure the grant of this land until legislation to provide for
settlement by small holders on the Crown Lands of the State became imminent. The
delay of about 3 1/2 years between the court's report on the claim and the issue of the
grant also seems to suggest some hesitancy on the part of the Crown Authorities to
issue the grant.
Chapter 8
Extent of D'Arcy Wentworth's Peterborough Estate
The Shell Lime Industry
Early Uses of the Little Port at Shellharbour
The total area acquired by D'Arcy Wentworth in Illawarra under grants, a promise of
grant directly made to him, and grants to others which were subsequently transferred to
him, amounted to 13,050 acres in a compact block.
This large estate, embracing within its boundaries some of the richest Illawarra lands,
extended along the coast from the entrance of Lake Illawarra to where the Minnamurra
River enters the ocean. It also extended for several miles inland; was bounded on the
south by the Minnamurra River and the northern edge of the Terragong Swamp; and on
the north by the southern shores of Lake Illawarra and the Macquarie Rivulet. All that
fine expanse of verdant hills and rich pastures, now traversed by the South Coast Road
and Railway, from where these cross the Macquarie Rivulet to where they cross the
Minnamurra River, lies within its boundaries.
In the early records this property is referred to as D'Arcy Wentworth's Peterborough
Estate. In his History of Illawarra Mr McCaffery mentions that "during the year 1819
Surgeon D'Arcy Wentworth was shipping cattle to his Peterborough Estate, Illawarra".
The Sydney Gazette of 3 April 1819, published a notice by D. Wentworth, as follows:
All persons whose cattle are now grazing on the tract of land in that part
of the district of Illawarra, commonly called Five Islands, bounded on the
north by The Great Lagoon, on the west by the Lagoon, on east by the
sea, and on the south by a line leading from Point Bass westerly, are
desired forthwith to cause the same to be removed; otherwise they will be
impounded without further notice.
Two interesting facts emerge from this notice. One is that Mr Wentworth, in 1819, was
exercising proprietary rights over lands, which in 1821 were granted to Thomas Davey,
James Mileham, John Horsley and William Wentworth, thus strengthening the
presumption that the grants were obtained by these gentlemen, not for use or
occupation by themselves, but for sale to Mr Wentworth, to whom the grants were
transferred after their issue. The other is that Mr Wentworth calls Lake Illawarra "The
Great Lagoon", thus indicating that the Lake had no proper designation at that time.
The name "Peterborough", given by Mr Wentworth to his Estate, pre-dated the name
"Shellharbour", and continued in use in respect of the southern part of the Estate, near
the Shellharbour railway station, for many years after the name "Shellharbour" came
into general use.
Large deposits of shell existed on the seashore in this locality, and the conversion of
these into Shell-lime was developed, the lime being shipped from the little boat harbour
to Sydney; hence the name "Shellharbour". This industry was carried on by Messrs
Towns and Addison, the latter being a son-in-law of D'Arcy Wentworth. About that time
portion of the grant of 1,650 acres to Mr Wentworth was laid out as a private township
and surveyed into allotments. The first allotments sold in the village were purchased by
Mr Addison.
The Shell-lime industry petered out in course of time, but Shellharbour later became the
business centre for a community of tenant farmers on the Wentworth Estate, the little
boat harbour providing a port of trade to Sydney.
For many years prior to the start of the Shell-lime industry, the small beach at the boat
harbour was one of the points to which cedar planks were carried from a large portion of
the surrounding country by bullock teams. The cedar planks were built into rafts at the
beach and floated out to the small sailing craft waiting to take them to Sydney. In his
History of Illawarra and Manaro, published in 1872, Judge McFarland says:
Mr Turkington of Charcoal, who first visited Illawarra in 1820, informs me
there were many cedar cutters in the mountains and brushes ... there
were no roads, except dray tracks, to the "beach" - as the present
Wollongong and Shellharbour were then styled - and the sawyers used to
draw the cut cedar to those places in bullock drays, then made a raft of it
and thus took it alongside the small craft that came from Sydney to fetch
it.
Mr McCaffrey mentions in his History of Illawarra that:
W.C. Wentworth, who had obtained the right from the Governor to cut the
timber off 5,268 acres, lying between the north bank of Minnamurra River,
near Jamberoo, and top of Mount Terry, entrusted the duty of cutting
timber and having it delivered at the little port at Shellharbour, to his
manager, John Pugh Nicholls.
Chapter 9
Particulars of Grants to William Brown,
the "West Horley Grant",
and other Grants in the Vicinity of Dapto
On the 30 June 1823, Governor Brisbane granted to William Browne 3,000 acres in one
grant and 800 acres adjoining it in another grant. This land has frontage to the northern
entry to Lake Illawarra, and for some distance upstream, and to the western shores of
Lake Illawarra. It embraced all the land lying between Captain Richard Brooks' grant of
1,300 acres, called "Exmouth", situated south of the private town of Dapto and fronting
Illawarra Lake, and Major Johnston's grant of 1,500 acres on Macquarie Rivulet, called
"Macquarie Gift".
This Estate was called "Athanlin" by the grantee, but is better known as Yallah. Yallah
railway station is within the 3,000 acre grant, and the bridge on the South Coast Road,
crossing the Macquarie Rivulet, is at the south-east corner of the 800 acre grant.
Mr William Browne, colloquially called "Merchant Browne", was a member of the firm of
Browne and Turner, Merchants, of Calcutta. He came to Sydney in Governor
Macquarie's time and decided to remain here. In the files of the Sydney Gazette of the
year 1816 appears notices by him, intimating his intention to remain in the Colony, but
that he will continue to receive shipping orders for the firm in India. He was reputedly a
wealthy man, and was no doubt regarded as a great acquisition to the young colony.
This may account for the extremely liberal allowance of land made to him in Illawarra.
Other grants in the vicinity of Dapto were as follows:
George Brown, 500 acres, granted 1 May 1833. This grant includes the private
town of Dapto.
George Brown (a relative of the former), 300 acres, known as "Mullet Creek
Farm", granted 1 May 1833.
Henry Brooks, 600 acres, granted 1 May 1833. This land fronts the south bank of
Mullet Creek, at its entrance to Lake Illawarra, and includes Kanahooka Point.
This grantee was a son of Captain Richard Brooks.
Between the grants to the two Browns and the grant to Henry Brooks, an area of about
350 acres is embraced in purchase grants to the following:
George Brown, 100 acres.
Cornelius Wholohan, 40 acres.
Henry Osborne, 100 acres.
James Neale, 60 acres.
John Morris, 50 acres.
To the west of the town of Dapto, on Mullet Creek, an area of 500 acres, called "West
Horsley", was on the 13 January 1842, granted to Augusta Brooks and Elizabeth
Weston. This historic grant was occupied from about the year 1818, under a promise of
grant by Governor Macquarie, to Lieutenant William Francis Weston, dated 30 March
1818. Lieutenant Weston died at West Horsley in the year 1826, and the property
passed to Augusta Brooks, wife of Richard Brooks, of Merriwa, and her sister, Elizabeth
Weston, to whom the grant issued, through the Court of Claims.
Lieutenant Weston came from a place in England called "West Horsley", hence the
name given to the grant. This grant is now owned and farmed by members of the
Lindsay family, descendants of the late Mr George Lindsay, who, with his wife and
children, emigrated from Northern Ireland and settled at Unanderra in the year 1837.
Some distance upstream from West Horsley, on Mullet Creek, an area of 300 acres was
granted to George Molle on 11 September 1817, by Governor Macquarie. This grantee,
Colonel George Molle, was Lieutenant Governor of the Colony and Commandant of the
Forces in Governor Macquarie's time. Macquarie and Molle had been fellow
campaigners in the Peninsula Wars against Napoleon, and were old friends.
Macquarie's humane and generous policy towards Emancipists, notably in the case of
Doctor Redfern, brought him into conflict with the Army Officers and severely strained
the ties of friendship existing between him and Colonel Molle, who strongly sided
against him and refused to meet Doctor Redfern on any terms of equality. Whatever
may have been the reason, 300 acres was a very modest allotment for Colonel Molle, in
comparison with the large areas allotted by Macquarie to many other grantees in
Illawarra.
Adjoining Colonel Molle's grant an area of 600 acres was granted to George W.Paul, on
1 May 1833, and between the "West Horsley" grant and Colonel Molle's grant the
following areas fronting Mullet Creek were granted, viz:
E.R. Stack, 300 acres, on 20 May 1837, which includes Reed Park.
The Fitzgerald Family, 75 1/2 acres, being a Court of Claims Grant.
James Blanch, 200 acres, granted on 20 February 1839.
Chapter 10
Regarding the "Macquarie Gift" Grant to Major Johnston,
and the Later Grants to David Johnston and Isaac D. Nicholls
Reference has already been made to the grant of 1,500 acres to Major Johnston, called
"Macquarie Gift" - one of the first lot of grants in Illawarra, made on 24 January 1817. A
few years later, on 3 September 1821, a grant of 600 acres was made to his son, David
Johnston, and on 1 May 1833, a further grant of 700 acres was made to him. These two
grants lay adjacent to the "Macquarie Gift" Farm, on north bank of Macquarie Rivulet.
Adjoining the grants to David Johnston, and also fronting the north bank of Macquarie
Rivulet, an area of 600 acres was granted to Isaac David Nicholls, a relative of the
Johnston's, on 1 May 1833, pursuant to a promise of grant to him by Governor
Brisbane, on 24 January 1825.
As previously stated, the first lot of cattle to arrive in Illawarra were brought there by
boat about the year 1804. They were owned by Major Johnston and were in charge of
David Nicholls. It is therefore very probable that these cattle were depastured on the
lands which were later granted to Major Johnston, his son David Johnston, and Isaac
David Nicholls, and that these lands were the first to carry stock in Illawarra.
This historic Estate, of a total of 3,400 acres - including the grant to Nicholls, which
would appear to have been located here in the interests of the Johnston's, and have
been transferred to them - came to be known as "Johnston's Meadows" in the early
days. After the death of David Johnston, in 1866, this property was occupied by the late
E.H.Weston, a grandson of Colonel Johnston.
Chapter 11
Particulars of Grants to Lang & Gerrard and
Mrs Jemima Jenkins
Remarks on Traffic in "Land Orders"
Extent and Early Occupancy of the Berkeley Estate
Prominent reference is made by Mr McCaffery in his History of Illawarra to the case of
Mr John Wyllie, who occupied land at Five Islands for grazing. He states that "the
Dunlop Vale Estate near Lake Illawarra was a grant of 2,000 acres to Mr Wyllie, dated
1822", also that "this grant was approved by Governor Darling on 13 October 1829". As
a matter of fact, however, no deed or grant of this land was ever issued to Mr Wyllie.
It would appear that Mr John Dunlop Wyllie was unfortunate enough to get into financial
difficulties, which resulted in his interest in this land, under a promise of grant, being
sold at auction by the mortgagees. The deed of grant for the 2,000 acres was issued on
the 30 March, 1840, to Andrew Lang (father of the Reverend John Dunmore Lang) and
Gerard Gerrard, pursuant to report by the Court of Claims. Mr Gerrard, soon after this,
sold his share in the grant to Robert Howarth and went to New Zealand. The property
thereafter became partitioned between the Reverend John Dunmore Lang and Robert
Howarth, the later acquiring the western portion, which he named "Kembla Grange".
The Kembla Grange Racecourse is on this land.
Another area of 2,000 acres at Five Islands, adjoining the 1,000 acres granted to Robert
Jenkins on 24 January 1817, is a `purchase' grant obtained by his widow, Jemima
Jenkins. The grant for this land was issued on 24 September 1834, and the purchase
price was £500 (5/- an acre). Apparently this is identical with the 2,000 acres which,
according to Mr McCaffery's History of Illawarra was held by Mr John Wyllie under a
lease grant to him by Governor Darling in 1828.
Mrs Jemima Jenkins acquired a further 280 acres under 5 small grants, as follows:
One of 50 acres on 5 August 1835, in virtue of a promise of grant to Thomas
Simmes by Governor Macquarie, dated 10 September 1818;
One of 60 acres, granted 4 May 1836, in virtue of a promise of grant to John
Harris by Macquarie, dated 3 March 1821;
One of 50 acres, granted 4 May 1836, in virtue of a promise of grant to John
Williams by Macquarie, dated 31 March 1821;
One of 60 acres, granted 4 May 1836, in virtue of a promise of grant to Isaac
Cornwall by Macquarie, dated 31 March 1821; and
One of 60 acres, granted 4 May 1836, in virtue of a promise of grant to William
Landron by Macquarie, dated 31 March 1821.
These five small grants embrace a compact block of land and include the site of the
private village of Unanderra.
The promises of these small grants were probably soldiers, who had land orders issued
to them on completion of service. Many of these, instead of locating and obtaining
grants in virtue of the orders so obtained, bartered them to business firms, who in early
days specialised in this traffic, and who, in turn, disposed of them, at a profit, to land
holders for use in acquiring additional land. These small grants have been fully quoted
as typical of the traffic in "promises of grants" (or `land orders', as they were generally
called) by soldiers and others, in those good old days when rum was currency, and
many promises of grant passed into the hands of wealthy land owners.
Before the persons who acquired these orders could obtain title to any land claimed by
virtue of them, the claims for transfer were dealt with by a court, called shortly the Court
of Claims. This Court was established in consequence of the prevalence of trafficking in
"land orders" and "promises of grant". Whether it constituted any salutory check on
abuses is doubtful and cannot be determined at this distance of time.
The Jenkins Estate in Illawarra comprised a total area of 3,280 acres of exceedingly
choice land in a compact block. After the death of Robert Jenkins in 1822, his widow,
Mrs Jemima Jenkins obtained a grant of 2,000 acres called `Eagle Vale', near
Bundanoon, where she resided until her death in 1842. About the year 1839 her son, Mr
William Warren Jenkins, built a mansion on the Berkeley Estate, and went into
residence there.
From the date of the first grant to Robert Jenkins in 1817, to that time, the Estate had
been in charge of overseers, who had quarters in a rough building near Unanderra, then
known as "Charcoal".
Chapter 12
Particulars of Grants near Wollongong and
to the North Thereof
Transfer of Official Centre from Red Point to Wollongong
In this chapter the grants surrounding the Town of Wollongong, and within the narrow
strip of land between the mountain range and the ocean, lying north of Wollongong, will
be dealt with.
South of Wollongong an area of 500 acres was granted to Jemima Waldron on 6 June
1835. This grant was called "Spring Hill" and was obtained by Mrs Waldron in virtue of a
promise of grant to George Tate, by Governor Macquarie, dated 22 June 1821, and in
pursuance of a report by the Court of Claims. The inference to be drawn is that Mr Tate
sold his claim to this land, under a promise of grant, to Mrs Waldron. The grantee was
the widow of Captain Waldron, who had charge of convicts employed on Government
work in this locality, and who was fatally injured in an assault on him by two of the
female convicts in the year 1833.
Other grants at and near to the town of Wollongong were as follows:
Surgeon John Osborne, R.N., 640 acres, granted by Governor Darling in 1831
and called "Glen Gosh". This grant embraces the two properties for long known
as "Mangerton" and "Garden Hill". The suburbs of Wollongong now extend over
part, if not the whole of the land.
Charles Throsby Smith, 300 acres, called by him "Bustle Hill". The grant for this
land was issued to Mr Smith by Governor Bourke in 1835, but the land had been
occupied by Mr Smith for many years before that, under a promise of grant to
him by Governor Macquarie. The Town of Wollongong has now extended over
the whole of this property.
Rachel Moore White, 280 acres, south of John Osborne's grant, and now
embraced in the southern suburb of Wollongong, called Coniston.
Frederick Jones, 100 acres, situated between the grants to Rachel Moore White
and Jemima Waldron.
Robert Anderson, 200 acres, granted 1 January 1827, includes the land now
embraced in Stuart Park.
Prior to the year 1829 the official centre was at Red Point, where a Government post or
barracks was established soon after the time when the first grants were allocated in
Illawarra in 1816. This was further strengthened by a detachment of the 40th Regiment
under Captain Bishop in 1826, notice of which appears in the Sydney Gazette of 5 July
1826. Chiefly through the persistent efforts of Charles Throsby Smith, the official
quarters were transferred from Red Point to Wollongong in 1829. Mr Smith
endeavoured to have the town named "Bustle Town", but was, unfortunately, not
successful.
The following is a quotation from an article appearing in the N.S.W. Calendar and
Directory of the year 1835:
The port of Wollongong was considered the best in point of extent, depth
and shelter on the shores of the Illawarra, and in this place, in fact, there
was already many houses and a very good inn by Mr Brown. The town
has been laid out on a regular plan and allotments are sold in conformity
therewith by Mr Smith, to whom the land principally belongs. This
gentleman may therefore be said to have materially advanced the
interests of the district.
It may be remarked that, notwithstanding the opinion expressed in the article quoted, it
is a matter of considerable doubt whether Wollongong Harbour would have been
chosen in preference to Port Kembla if it had not been for Mr Smith's great personal
interest in having the settlement removed to where he had secured most of the land.
West of Wollongong, and near Mount Keira, an area of 1,280 acres was granted to John
Hubert Plunkett on 12 March 1837, in virtue of a promise of grant to Gregory Blaxland
dated 5 March 1830, and was called "Keelogues" or "Gundarin". The former is obviously
an Irish name and the latter a native name. Mr Plunkett was Solicitor General of the
Colony in 1832, and became Attorney General in 1833.
Lying between the grant to Mr Plunkett and the Town of Wollongong is an area of 1,000
acres which was promised to J.S.Spearing, as an additional grant, by Governor
Brisbane on 2 September 1825. By virtue of this promise of grant and in pursuance of a
report by the Court of Claims, the deed of grant of this land was issued to R. and
C.Campbell on 10 May 1841. This land is now embraced in the Keiraville Suburb of
Wollongong.
North of the town of Wollongong the land available in Illawarra consists of a narrow strip
lying between the Illawarra Range and the ocean, gradually tapering to a point where
the range dips to the sea at Clifton. The bulk of this area was absorbed in the following
grants:
An area of 1,000 acres, at Geard's Hill, now within the northern suburb of
Wollongong, granted to R. and C.Campbell by Governor Gipps on 10 May 1841,
in virtue of a promise of this land to J.S.Spearing, as a primary grant, by
Governor Brisbane on 2 September 1825, and pursuant to report of the Court of
Claims.
An area of 1,920 acres, north of the Campbell's grant, at Geard's Hill, granted to
John Buckland on 11 July 1835, by Governor Bourke, in virtue of a promise of
grant to him by Governor Darling, dated 11 April 1829. This grant was called
"Balgownie".
North of Buckland's grant another area of 1,920 acres, at Bellambi was granted
to R. and C.Campbell by Governor Gipps on 30 April 1841. This was a promise
of grant by Governor Darling to "Miss Harriett Overington, now Mrs Spearing" on
3 March 1827. The grant issued to the Campbell's, in virtue of that promise, and
pursuant to a report by the Court of Claims.
The remaining old grants along the coast, in this locality are unimportant. Among these
may be mentioned one of 300 acres to Cornelius O'Brien, one of 300 acres to William
Bowman, and one of 100 acres to George Tate, all at Bulli; small grants to Robert
Marsh Westmacott, Patrick Callaghan and John Kelly at Woonona; also, between
Buckland's 1,920 acres and R. and C.Campbell's 1,920 acres, two small grants to
William Wilson in 1836, in all 260 acres, which were promises of grant by Governor
Brisbane in 1825.
Chapter 13
Mr J.S. Spearing's Occupation under
promises of grant at Wollongong
Entries in an Old Diary kept by an Employee
of Mr Spearing in 1833
In searching for information that would throw any light on Mr J.S. Spearing's occupation
of the 2,000 acres comprised in his promised "primary" and "additional" grants near
Wollongong during the period between 1825, when they were promised, and the year
1841, when his interest in them passed to R. and C.Campbell, a statement was found in
a report in the N.S.W. Calendar and Directory of 1835, describing the progress of
settlement in Illawarra, as follows :
Several persevering colonists have laid out much money there (Illawarra)
under considerable disadvantage. Mr Spearing has opened a very fine
tract at great expense; this gentleman's garden is celebrated for the fruit
sent from it to Sydney.
A contribution from "E.J.B", published in the Sydney Morning Herald, of 12 November,
1910, was also found, which relates the finding of an ancient and much worn diary kept
by a man who was evidently in the employ of Mr Spearing, on this property, in the year
1833. It commences with the entry:
"On June 2nd 1833, a whale came on shore at Palamba. Mr Jones and Mr Bennett
dined at Paulsgrove and returned home to tea; a rum way of meeting".
Monday, 3rd June 1833 - Mr Spearing went to see about the whale; finished sowing
peas; Mr Johnston called".
Tuesday, 4th June 1833 - "Sent two drays to Palamba for blubber from the whale".
Wednesday, 5th - "Received two cows from Five Islands".
Friday, 7th - "Sow'd 5-1/2 acres of wheat in the field near Emery's".
On Sunday, 12th, of later date - "The peaches stolen, supposed by the blacks".
Again - "Already the Australian natives were learning that the boomerang and the spear
were no match for the "old Brown Bess", the age of iron had come into conflict with the
age of steel".
On a certain Saturday of 1833 we learn that "Captain Waldron" servant girls were
brought to the court for thrashing their master, "Remanded".
On Wednesday, 26th, this entry occurs: "This day the two consigned servant girls of the
late Capt.Waldron were hung at Sydney for the murder of their master".
Saturday, 25th - "Three teams plough at work farther part of Emery's. Burges pulling out
the stumps. Mr Spearing took T.Hughes to the Court, having found some beef on him
that he could not account for ... sentenced to receive 50 lashes".
Another entry - "Went to Wollongong Church. Wilkinson preached a capital sermon on
Scandalishing, Slandering and Interfering with our neighbour's affairs. Very suitable to
the Illawarra gentry".
Sunday, 23rd, - "Mr A.Osborne drunk, tea at Paulsgrove and brought some Portsmouth
papers, which were very acceptable in this dreary hole".
The diarist later records "that he walked to Wollongong for the papers and heard the
servants of Capt. Waldron being pardoned by the Governor and Supreme Council".
Later - "Mr Spearing took Clarke, the tailor, to court for robbing the garden; sentenced
25 lashes, but begged him off - also Teasdale for not doing so much work as he ought
to have done, but was let off. Mr S. returned in devil's own humour from the Court".
Later - "Mr Marcus went to Sydney in the Bee with some wheat.
Later - "Mr Spearing took Ryan to court for refusing to thrash. Sentenced to 25 lashes".
Later - "Heard of the postman's body being found", also "Hunt got 50 lashes for being
drunk and kicking up a row at Brown's".
Again - "To the beach and back before breakfast at 11; left Paulsgrove with my boxes
with regret that I ever went near the place. Dined and slept at Brown's; drank some of
the colonial rum; dreadful headache".
The writer then left for Sydney - in the Bee, it is presumed. Later entries in the diary
relate to his experiences in Sydney town.
This diary serves to throw some light on the condition under which the people, bond and
free, lived and worked 100 years ago in Illawarra. "Paulsgrove" was evidently the name
Mr Spearing had given his property, though no trace of this name now exists. It will be
noticed that the diarist calls Bellambi "Palamba". Whether this is due to misspelling, or
whether the present name is a corruption of "Palamba", cannot be told.
Evidently Mr Spearing was using the land for cultivation of crops, as well as grazing and
fruit-growing. As the property comprised 2,000 acres quite close to the town of
Wollongong, and 1,920 acres at Bellambi, promised to the lady who became his wife,
and seeing that he would have obtained these as "free" grants, and that convict
servants were assigned to him to do all the necessary work, it would seem that the
conditions making for success were strongly in Mr Spearing's favour. It may be that, in
aiming at becoming a large land-holder, he entered into an undertaking beyond his
means, and that, to carry on, he obtained financial assistance on the security of his
holdings, from the firm of city merchants to whom the grants eventually issued.
Chapter 14
Particulars of Avondale, Marshall Mount and Calderwood Grants
and of Grants to Henry Osborne in Other Localities
Remarks on Cattle Thieving in Early Days
A Tribute to Henry Osborne
The only grants of importance north of the Macquarie Rivulet which remain to be
mentioned are the following:
A grant of 600 acres to Alfred Elyard on 4 October 1834, called "Avondale",
being in virtue of a promise of grant to him by Governor Brisbane in 1825. This
land fronts the south bank of Mullet Creek and lies at the north-east corner of the
`Marshall Mount' grant to Henry Osborne.
A grant of 1,280 acres to Charles Throsby Smith on 29 February 1840, called
"Calderwood", being in virtue of a promise of grant to him by Governor Darling in
1829.
A grant of 2,560 acres to Henry Osborne, called "Marshall Mount". This was a
promise of grant to Mr Osborne by Governor Darling on 5 September 1829, from
which date he was authorised to take possession. The grant did not issue until 30
September 1841.
When Mr Henry Osborne came on the scene in the late twenties of last century, almost
the whole of the choice lands of northern Illawarra, lying between the ocean and the
foothills of the coast range, had been granted or promised to others. He had the good
fortune, however, to light upon an area of over 4,000 acres, still available, between
those grants and the poorer country of the mountain slopes. The "Marshall Mount",
"Avondale" and "Calderwood" grants embrace the land lying between the grants to
William Browne, the Johnston's and I.D. Nicholls, and the poorer lands of the mountain
slopes.
The "Calderwood" grant is a long narrow strip of land, about half a mile wide and about
4 miles long, squeezed in between the Marshall Mount grant and the less attractive land
of the mountain range. Land of such a shape would have been very expensive to fence
and work as a separate holding, and it would appear, in the circumstances, that C.T.
Smith's "promise of grant" was located here for Mr Osborne's benefit. The "Avondale"
grant, also, appears to have been located here with a view to its acquisition by Mr
Osborne.
Both of these grants became part of his Estate, making the total area thus acquired by
him in this locality 4,440 acres in a compact block. It may be remarked that Mr Osborne
later acquired a considerable area on the mountain slopes, adjacent to the Marshall
Mount and Calderwood grants, by purchase from the Crown, in small portions, under
the auction sale regulations which superseded the free grant system.
Mr Osborne also had other lands granted to him. One of these grants lies outside
Illawarra in the Kangaroo Valley - an area of 2,560 acres, called "Barengarry", being a
promise of grant to him by Acting Governor Snodgrass, dated 10 February 1838. The
grant was issued by Governor Gipps on 25 February 1841.
In connection with this grant it may be mentioned that cattle thieves flourished in
Illawarra in the days when cattlemen from the older settled districts had stock grazing in
Illawarra under permits given them by the Governor, and for some years later. This
greatly perturbed the cattle owners, who were very much at the mercy of the thieves.
There were no fences. Cattle roamed at will and were easy prey for these gentry, who,
no doubt, were good bushmen, well able to outwit the few stockmen employed by the
owners, and the small body of soldiers stationed in barracks at Red Point for the
protection of cattlemen and cedar cutters. Apropos of this, the following notice appeared
in the Sydney Gazette of 27 September 1817.
We ... land-holders and proprietors of stock in the district of Illawarra or
Five Islands ... hereby offer a reward of £20 to be paid on conviction of
any person or persons ... stealing or destroying cattle and other property
belonging to us. (Sgd) David Allan, Richard Brooks, William Browne,
Charles Throsby, Robert Jenkins, Samuel Terry.
In view of these depredations, the cattle owners turned their attention to the Kangaroo
Valley, as a safe harbour for stock from the raids of cattle thieves, owing to it being
completely surrounded by natural barriers. In his History of Illawarra, Mr McCaffery
relates that:
...with a view to preventing cattle and horse stealing, Captain Brooks
undertook the difficult task of stocking the Kangaroo Valley country in
1818. To do so he used the path which led from Lake Illawarra, crossing
the Macquarie Rivulet to the west of Johnston's Meadows, then up the
range into the Pheasant Ground (probably one of the old native trails), to
a spot known today as Hoddle's Creek, and thence along the range to the
valley below.
It is possible that, in selecting the location for the grant of 2,560 acres, promised him by
Acting Governor Snodgrass in 1838, in the Kangaroo Valley, Mr Osborne had in view
the asylum of this locality offered for his stock.
Another area granted to Mr Osborne comprised 2,000 acres, situated south of
Jamberoo, on the northern slopes of Saddleback Range, near "Bong Bong" Mountain.
This 2,000 acres was selected by Henry Gratton Douglas as the location of a promise of
grant to him by Governor Brisbane. At his written request it was advertised in favour of
Henry Osborne in the NSW Government Gazette of 11 September 1855, and the land
was thereupon granted to Mr Osborne, in three areas of 640 acres, 720 acres and 640
acres respectively, by Governor Denison on 11 October 1855. This is yet another
instance, and a very belated one, of the traffic in "promises of grant" so prevalent in the
earlier days of the Colony.
It may be remarked that in early days a roundabout route, via Kiama and over
Saddleback Range, was used by Mr Osborne for stock travelling from Marshall Mount to
his property in the Kangaroo Valley. The route passed through, or near to, the 2,000
acres acquired under these grants, and this may explain why this land was secured by
him.
Mr Osborne is one of the most notable figures in the early history of land settlement in
Illawarra. His Estate at Marshall Mount comprised good agricultural and grazing land,
well adapted for dairy farming, and Mr Osborne did much pioneer work in promoting this
industry. He was highly respected by all classes, and had the reputation of possessing
great energy and business ability. He died in 1859 a comparatively young man, and was
a great loss in his day. He laid the foundations of a large fortune for his descendants,
who, to this day, are prominent among the families of wealth and social importance in
this State. The beautiful Osborne Memorial Church at Brownsville, Dapto, built and
endowed by his family, is a fitting memorial to one who made good use of the privileges
which were accorded to those who had wealth and social standing in the days when the
choice lands of Illawarra given away in large grants.
Chapter 15
Particulars of Grants South of Macquarie Rivulet,
in the Albion Park District
In that portion of Illawarra south of the Macquarie Rivulet and west of the 13,050 acres
comprised in D'Arcy Wentworth's Peterborough Estate, which includes Albion Park and
the country between Albion Park and Jamberoo, the land was mainly absorbed in the
following grants:
700 acres to Andrew Allen (one of the first lot of grants issued in 1817).
2,000 acres to Samuel Terry (granted in 1821) which front the south bank of
Macquarie Rivulet and comprise Terry's Meadows Estate.
These grants have been specially referred to in the earlier part of this story. Further
grants issued were as follows:
1,400 acres granted to John Paul, 1 May 1833, in virtue of a promise of grant to
him on 6 May 1823. This adjoins Samuel Terry's grant of 2,000 acres (Terry's
Meadows) and fronts the south bank of Macquarie Rivulet.
1,200 acres granted to Rosetta Terry on 11 November 1857, adjoining Paul's
grant and extending a considerable distance upstream on the south side of
Macquarie Rivulet.
This grant was obtained in virtue of a promise of grant by Governor Brisbane to John
Terry Hughes in 1826. The long delay of more than 30 years between the date of this
grant was promised to J.T.Hughes, and the date the grant issued to Rosetta Terry, is
remarkable. In that respect this case is similar to that of the grant of 2,000 acres to
Randolph J.Want, as Trustee of the Estate of D'Arcy Wentworth, commented on in a
previous chapter.
1,280 acres granted to Isabella Croker, 21 March 1839, and called `Croom'. This
grantee was formerly Miss Isabella Reddall, daughter of Reverend Thomas
Reddall - a Colonial Chaplain - and granddaughter of D'Arcy Wentworth.
The grant was one of the class of free grants issued in favour of Clergy's daughters. In
later years it became the property of the late John Russell, of Albion Park.
An area of 2,560 acres at Stockyard Mountain was granted to Thomas Foster on 22
March 1839. The grantee named this property "Curragh-More". Colonel Foster was
granted this land "for services rendered as an officer of the Army for more than 20
years". The grant extended from Mount Terry to the Minnamurra River, and the road
from Albion Park to Jamberoo passes through it.
Another old grant here is one of 300 acres to John Ritchie, at Woodstock Mill, fronting
the north bank of the Minnamurra River. It was granted on 27 July 1842, in virtue of a
promise of grant to Ritchie by Governor Brisbane in 1842.
The remaining grants in this locality are in comparatively small areas, viz:
One of 408 acres to Thomas Faragher, dated 29 April 1837;
One of 320 acres to John McEncroe;
One of 308 acres to Robert Menzies on 12 October 1839;
One of 300 acres to J.L.Spencer on 7 August 1837; and
One of 300 acres to C.J.Grace, on 28 May 1839.
Also small purchase grants to Messrs Hanley, Derrett, Riley, Vidler, Colley, Owen and
Collins, between 1848 and 1856. The grants to Messrs Faragher, Menzies, Spencer and
Grace are also "purchase" grants. Particulars of the grant to John McEncroe could not
be found, but in all probability it is a "purchase" grant also.
Chapter 16
Disposal of Lands between the Free Grants
and the Mountain Summits, and Remnants Elsewhere,
North of the Minnamurra River
This completes the summary of old grants in the part of Illawarra north of the
Minnamurra River, the great majority of which were free grants under the system
prevailing until 2 August 1831, when free grants were discontinued, and land could only
be disposed of by cash sales, i.e. auction sale at a minimum price of 5/- per acre. In
1839 the minimum was increased to 12/- per acre, and in 1842 it was further increased
to £1 per acre. This latter became the statutory price of all Crown Lands selected under
the Crown Lands Act of 1861.
It is here necessary to explain that in the case of some of the free grants, the grant did
not issue until after free grants were abolished. In those cases, however, the promise of
grant had been obtained prior to that date.
The grants which have so far been particularised embraced practically the whole of the
superior land lying north of the Minnamurra River, except in two instances alluded to
later. Wherever they lay close to the mountain slopes they were allotted and measured
in such a manner as to exclude the inferior land on the slopes.
One of the exceptions mentioned above applies to a fairly large area on the slopes and
foothills north of the West Horsley grant, and west of the grant to Messrs Lang and
Gerrard. This land is shown on an old plan as a "Reserve for Government", which
apparently explains why it only became available after the system of free grants had
been abolished.
The other exception is an area on the mountain slopes at the head of Macquarie Rivulet,
on the south side of that stream, and beyond the grant to Rosetta Terry, where the
McGill, Mole, and Fraser families, and others, acquired small holdings by purchase from
the Crown after the issue of free grants had been discontinued. This land was of
superior quality to the land along the mountain slopes north of the Macquarie Valley.
These lands and the other land lying between the old grants and the summit of the
mountain range, from the heads of the Minnamurra River and the Macquarie Rivulet tot
he northern-most point of Illawarra, where the range meets the ocean, were disposed of
by the Crown in small areas by auction sale, excepting a few small areas not disposed
of before the Crown Lands Act of 1861 came into operation, and which were taken up
as Conditional Purchases under the Act.
The only areas away from the mountain slopes which were not absorbed under the free
grants system consisted, in one case, of a long narrow strip between the ocean and
Lake Illawarra, north of the Lake Entrance; in another, of a remnant lying between
D'Arcy Wentworth's grants and Terragong Swamp; also a remnant of about 350 acres
between old grants at Dapto, referred to earlier in these pages, and another small
remnant between the "Croom", "Curragh-More" and "Terry's Meadows" grants. These
were sold in small areas prior to 1861. An area of 280 acres at Figtree was disposed of
in small grants to Matthew Ryan, D.Smith and J.G.Richardson; and at Cobbler's Hill, at
the south east corner of John Hubert Plunkett's grants - J.Plunkett, 60 acres; B.Rixon,
40 acres; Malachi Ryan, 30 acres; Matthew Ryan, 40 acres.
Chapter 17
Reference to the Lands South of the Minnamurra River
and North of the Berry Estate,
in the Kiama, Jamberoo and Gerringong Districts
In that part of Illawarra lying south of the Minnamurra River and north of the enormous
area acquired under "free" and "purchase" grants in the Berry Estate, the large "free"
grant are comparatively few in number, while a large area of very choice land was
acquired in small grants; some as "free" grants, and others as "purchase" grants, under
the sale system which succeeded that of the free grants. This is in marked contrast to
the land north of the Minnamurra, excepting the part lying near the river in the Jamberoo
district, and may be explained by the fact that in the very early days the cattlemen were
only concerned with country which, in its natural state, provided a good proportion of
open forest country, suitable for grazing purposes. The country south of the Minnamurra
River, in the district of Kiama and Jamberoo, on the other hand, consisted principally of
rich volcanic soil, and, in its natural state, was covered with a dense growth of brush
timbers, and possessed little or not value to the cattlemen.
In the parts close to Kiama and lying between the Saddleback Range and the
Minnamurra River, including Jamberoo, details will only be given of the "free" grants and
the older purchase grants. These were as follows:
800 acres to James Holt, 8 March 1831, called "Hoonong" or "Eureka". This was
in virtue of a promise of grant to John Cowell by Governor Brisbane, dated 21
February 1825. No better description of this land can be given than to state that it
later became the property of the late Captain Charles, who occupied it for many
years.
500 acres granted to Thomas Kendall, on 8 March 1831, called "Tanner's Hill" or
"Burroul", adjoining the town of Kiama on the south, and fronting the ocean.
1,000 acres granted to William Montague Manning on 23 March 1839, situated
south of Kendall's grant, fronting the ocean, and called "Bonaira". This was in
virtue of a "promise of grant" to James Farmer, dated 14 November 1825.
In his History of Illawarra and Manaro, published in 1872, Judge McFarland gives the
following information supplied to him by Captain Charles:
On the Gerringong Road (from Kiama) there was a small clearing by
Reverend Kendall close to Kiama; also one on the sea coast 2 miles
further south by Captain Farmer, who settled about 1829.
The period referred to by Captain Charles is the year 1844. As the grant issued to
W.M.Manning in 1839, it is unlikely that Captain Farmer was occupying in 1844.
Probably Captain Charles meant to convey that the clearing had been effected by
Captain Farmer.
An area of about 1,280 acres on the extreme end of Saddleback, close to Kiama, was
subdivided into small blocks of from 30 to 40 acres each, and sold between 1850 and
1855 to George Gray, John Miller, Murty Faraher and others.
1,280 acres west of Kiama and fronting south bank of the Minnamurra River and
Terragong Swamp was granted to James Robb on 26 October 1840. This was in virtue
of a promise of grant to John Colliss, dated 26 October 1829.
On the slopes of Saddleback Range between Kiama and Jamberoo are the following
large "purchase" grants:
J.T.Hughes and J.Hoskins, 805 acres, granted 11 November 1839;
A.B.Spark, 679 acres granted 29 July 1837, and 628 acres granted 16 December
1839.
Beyond James Robb's 1,280 acres are the following small grants, fronting the south
edge of Terragong Swamp, viz:
R.Miller, 100 acres;
Thos. Walker, 50 acres;
James Marks, 50 acres and 250 acres.
James Marks grant of 250 acres, dated 28 March 1843, was obtained in virtue of a
promise of grant of 500 acres to Malcolm Campbell in 1830. Pursuant to a report by the
Court of Claims, following the death of the promisee, 250 acres was allotted to James
Marks, and 250 acres to Ewen Campbell. The others are "purchase" grants.
Beyond these, and fronting the south bank of the Minnamurra, are the following grants:
Ewen Campbell, 250 acres
Michael Hyam, 1,280 acres
William Ritchie, 60 acres
Moses Brennan, 300 acres
John Ritchie, 300 acres
Thomas Campbell, 320 acres
Thomas Campbell's 320 acres was a "purchase grant" dated 10 May 1839, and the
others are "free" grants.
The grant of 1,280 acres to Hyam was called "Jamberoo", and includes the private town
of Jamberoo. It was granted on 16 March 1840, in virtue of a promise of grant to him by
Governor Darling, dated 21 February 1829.
John Ritchie's 300 acres was granted 1 March 1829; and Moses Brennan's on 29
August 1834, in virtue of a promise of grant to John Cullen dated 17 February 1825.
Ewen Campbell's 250 acres grant, dated 16the December 1844 was in virtue of a
promise of grant of 500 acres to Malcolm Campbell, deceased, dated 24 April 1830, the
other 250 acres being allotted to James Marks.
William Ritchie's 60 acres, called "Cedar Grove", was granted in 1840 in virtue of a
promise by Darling in 1827.
The grants to Henry Osborne, under Bong Bong Mountain on the northern slopes of
Saddleback, totalling 2,000 acres, have been previously referred to.
The remainder of the lands near Jamberoo and along the northerly slopes of
Saddleback were for the most part sold in small areas before 1861. A few small areas,
not so disposed of, were selected as Conditional Purchases under the Crown Lands Act
of 1861. A small block of 41 acres, at Bombo, fronting the ocean, was sold to William
Cole in 1854.
In the Gerringong district, south of the grants already specified, and north of the large
area acquired by the Berry family under "free" and "purchase" grants, are the following
large grants:
James Mackay Gray, 1,280 acres, called "Omega Retreat", granted 30 June
1840, in virtue of a "promise of grant" by Governor Darling to Thomas Campbell,
on 16 January 1829.
William Smith, 600 acres, granted 1 May 1833, in virtue of promise of grant to
him by Governor Brisbane in 1825. This grant includes Omega Railway Platform
and Gerringong Flats.
Michael Hindmarsh, 640 acres, called "Alne Bank", granted 1 January 1835, in
virtue of a promise of grant to him by Brisbane in 1827.
William Bland, 917-1/2 acres, granted 1 May 1833, in virtue of a promise of grant
to him by Governor Brisbane in 1825. This grant fronts the ocean south of the
town of Gerringong and includes the prominent headland at the northern
extremity of Seven Mile Beach, called Black Point or Black Head.
Chapter 18
Reference to Lands comprised in the Berry Estate
An Epitome of Alexander Berry's Career
Analysis of "Free" and "Purchase" Grants in the Berry Estate
Disposal of Remaining Lands on the Mountain & Slopes,
South of the Minnamurra River
The remaining lands between the mountain slopes and the ocean, lying south of the
grants already particularised, are contained in the Berry Estate. As these lands are,
strictly speaking, in the Shoalhaven district, it may be said they are outside of Illawarra.
When first undertaking the task of writing this story of early settlement in Illawarra, the
writer was confronted with the problem as to what were the real boundaries of the
Illawarra district on the south. The reader will have noticed that Governor Macquarie, in
a despatch to the Home Authorities in 1817, in regard to the newly discovered district,
referred to is as "a part of the coast known generally by the name of The Five Island, but
called by the natives Illawarra". It will also have been noted that Surgeon Bass, in his
voyage along the South Coast in 1797, spoke of the "little bight" at Kiama as being
situated "just south of Illawarra".
There seems to be no doubt that a certain well defined area was called "Illawarra" by
the natives. The writer is inclined to the opinion that this included all the land under the
mountain range, surrounding Lake Illawarra, and extending as far south as the
Minnamurra River. Whatever may have been the limits of the "Illawarra" of the natives, it
would seem that the whole district between the South Coast range and the ocean, from
Clifton to the Shoalhaven River, if not beyond that limit, has gradually come to be
regarded as the district of Illawarra. In view of this, settlement in that part of the
Shoalhaven District north of the Shoalhaven River will be dealt with in this story.
As a prelude to a summary of the "free" and "purchase" grants secured by Berry and
Wollstonecraft, and by Alexander Berry and his brothers, from the Crown, the following
epitome of the career of the remarkable man who conceived and built up the great Berry
Estate will not be out of place.
Alexander Berry started in life by qualifying as a surgeon, and joined the East India
Company as a surgeon's mate, later rising to surgeon. He combined professional duties
with a certain amount of trading, eventually shipping as super-cargo on a sailing vessel
trading to the Cape of Good Hope. While at the Cape he heard that floods had caused a
famine in New South Wales, and at once bought a 526 tons prize ship lying in Table
Bay, named it the City of Edinburgh, took aboard a cargo of provisions, and sailed for
Australia on 4 September 1807. Being carried out of his course through adverse
weather, he called at other ports, and did not reach Sydney until 12 January 1808. This
brought him into conflict with Governor Bligh, who took him to task for not making
Sydney his first port, with all his cargo of provisions intact. As Governor Bligh was
deposed about a fortnight later, Berry was saved further trouble on this score. From
then on to about the year 1819 he had an adventurous shipping career, the story of
which is told by himself in his Reminiscences (Sydney, 1912).
He appears to have made considerable profits out of his shipping ventures, for, early in
1820, Governor Macquarie described him as "an eminent merchant - well acquainted
with the present state and resources of the Colony". In the meantime Edward
Wollstonecraft, partner in his shipping enterprises and his brother-in-law, had come to
Sydney independently, started in business as a merchant and obtained from Macquarie
a grant of 500 acres at North Sydney, which he called "Crows Nest".
Berry's pioneering temperament apparently made him averse to settling down in
Sydney. He visited the Shoalhaven River in the Government owned vessel, the
Schnapper in company with Lieutenant Robert Johnson, in 1820, and explored a large
rich tract of country in the valley of that river. He then formed the conclusion that the
Shoalhaven River, being shut off from the sea by a sand-bar, might be made available
for navigation by cutting a dyke from it to the Crookhaven.
After this he returned to England and chartered another vessel. Sir Thomas Brisbane
had been chosen to succeed Macquarie as Governor of New South Wales and was then
waiting for a ship to take him to Sydney. Mr Berry offered to bring him and his staff on
his ship, and his offer was accepted. They arrived in Sydney near the end of 1821. Mr
Berry then placed before the new Governor his proposal to cut a dyke from the
Shoalhaven River to the Crookhaven, and offered to employ 100 convicts, free of any
cost to the Government, provided his firm received a grant of 10,000 acres. This was
eventually approved by the Home Authorities, as the Governor was not empowered to
grant so large an area.
In 1825 Mr Berry proceeded to the Shoalhaven entrance in a small vessel with the
convicts, a few chosen employees, and all the necessary tools, materials and stores.
Four of the men and a blackfellow attempted an entry through the surf in a small boat,
but the boat was capsized and two white men drowned. He eventually succeeded in
getting the vessel into the Crookhaven by using sweeps. The work of cutting the dyke
was completed in five weeks thereafter, in the year 1825.
Thus was the building up of the great Berry Estate started. In his Reminiscences,
published in 1912, Mr Berry concluded with the following terse statement:
I have told you the origin of the Shoalhaven Estate. It now consists of 80
square miles of land, and after the first 11,000 acres, it has been obtained
by purchase, generally from the Government. It now contains 368 tenants,
but the greater part of the Estate is occupied by myself.
This was written by Mr Berry in 1872. An analysis of the grants from the Crown in this
Estate reveals that after the first grant of 10,000 acres to Berry and Wollstonecraft -
which was a "free" grant issued by Governor Brisbane, on 30 June 1825, and which
roughly comprised land lying west of the Seven Mile Beach and bounded by the
Shoalhaven River and Broughton Creek - the part of the Estate on the north of the
Shoalhaven River was from time to time increased by the acquisition by Mr Berry of free
grants promised to others, and by purchase grants in the names of Alexander Berry and
his brothers David, John and William Berry, until it comprised an area bounded on the
north and west by lines starting from near the north-west corner of the town of
Gerringong, and running in west and south and east and south directions, along the
foothills of the coastal range, and meeting the Shoalhaven River at a point about 1 mile
upstream from where the Nowra Bridge spans the river; on the south by the Shoalhaven
River and on the east by the ocean - but excluding a reservations along the Seven Mile
Beach.
Within this area the following promise "free grants" were bought out by Mr Berry, viz:
1,920 acres at Tooliia (Toolijooa?), called "Richardson's Farm", promised to
J.G.Richardson, 23 March 1830; granted to A.Berry 11 February 1837.
1,000 acres, called "Hyndeston", near Gerringong, promised to Thomas Hyndes,
24 July 1824; granted to A.Berry 18 October 1839.
4,000 acres called "Broughton Head Farm", promised to Aspinall and Brown, 27
May 1829; granted to A.Berry, 29 May 1838.
1,280 acres called "Cambewarra Farm", promised to Charles Staples 27 January
1830; granted to A.Berry 20 May 1837.
1,280 acres, called "Meroo Farm" promised to Richard Mutton, 22 June 1829;
granted to A.Berry, 28 November 1837.
2,560 acres, called "Burke's Farm", promised to John Burke as an additional
grant; granted to A.Berry on 15 February 1842. This grant fronted the northern
end of the Seven Mile Beach, and was reduced in later years to 1975 1/2 acres
by resumption of a strip along the ocean frontage for a reserve.
The grants obtained by Alexander Berry and his brothers, by purchase from the Crown,
north of the Shoalhaven River, totalled 19,815 acres or thereabout, and the free grants
to Berry and Wollstonecraft, and to A.Berry - by virtue of promises to others whose
interests he had acquired - 22,040 acres.
Included in the boundaries of the Estate north of the Shoalhaven River is a purchase
grant by Messrs Hughes and Hoskins, 640 acres, and William Bland's free grant at
Black Head, 917 1/2 acres, which apparently became incorporated in the Estate. This
would make the total area of the Estate north of the river approximately 43,000 acres.
It is not intended to carry this story of land settlement in Illawarra beyond the limits of
the Shoalhaven River. A large portion of the Berry Estate lies south of that river, and for
the information of readers who may desire to know the full extent of land acquired from
the Crown by Alexander Berry, his brothers, and his partner Edward Wollstonecraft,
under free grants and by purchases, it may be stated that the total area thus acquired
from the Crown north and south of the river was, therefore, approximately 57,000 acres,
which is about 6,000 acres in excess of Mr Berry's estimate of 80 square mile. It is of
interest to note that nine promises of free grants north and south of Shoalhaven River,
who were probably in occupation, were "bought out" by Mr Berry in the process of
building up the Estate. The total area of these nine grants amounted to 14,480 acres.
The remaining lands outside the Berry Estate - and other grants particularised - from
Kiama southward, lie along the mountain slopes from Cambewarra to Saddleback
Range. The larger portion of these lands was disposed of by auction sale in small areas
prior to 1881. Whatever areas remained unalienated when the Crown Lands Act of 1861
came into operation on and after the 1 January 1862, were taken up as small
Conditional Purchase holdings under that Act. It may be remarked that a larger area
became available for Conditional Purchase in the southern part of this area than
elsewhere in Illawarra.
Chapter 19
Review of Settlement in Illawarra from 1804 to 1861
Comments on Use made of the Auction Sale Regulations
in Building up the Berry Estate
Three stages of the development of land settlement in Illawarra have now been dealt
with. The first was the period of occupation under free grazing permits by the cattlemen
of the older settled district, and others, from 1803-4 to 1816; the second period of free
grants from 1817 to 1831; and the third the period of auction sales of Crown Lands from
1831 to 1861. The Crown Lands Act of 1861 came into operation on and after 1 January
1862, and whatever remnants of Crown Lands remained unalienated under the free
grant and the sale system in Illawarra were taken up as Conditional Purchase holdings
under that Act. As previously stated, the area available for selection under the Crown
Lands Act of 1861, was very small; a few isolated areas on the slopes of the northern
portion of the district, and a somewhat larger area on the slopes of the southernmost
portion of the district.
During the first period the lands occupied did not extend south of the Minnamurra River,
the principal occupiers being Major Johnston, Captain Brooks, Robert Jenkins, Charles
Throsby, D'Arcy Wentworth, William Brown, David Allan, and Samuel Terry.
With the exception of Charles Throsby's stock, for which a route overland from Bong
Bong may possibly have been found by his stockman, John Wild, at an earlier date, all
stock coming into Illawarra before 1815, and possibly not much earlier than the opening
of the "Subscription Road" in 1821, were conveyed there by boat.
During the period of auction sales, from 1831 to 1861, nearly all the lands remaining
outside the free grants were disposed of. With the exception of a few small remnants
already particularised, the 2,000 acres sold to Mrs Jemima Jenkins adjoining the
Berkeley grant to Robert Jenkins, the purchase grants to Hughes and Hoskins and to
A.B.Spark, and the land sold to Alexander Berry and his brothers (with regard to which
latter group special mention is made later on), these lands were confined to the
mountain slopes, and were sold in small areas.
Between the head of the Macquarie Rivulet and the northern extremity of the district at
Clifton, those consisted of more or less inferior lands of the mountain slopes. On the
slopes south of the Macquarie Rivulet, the northerly slopes of Saddleback between
Kiama and Jamberoo, and the slopes from Saddleback south as far as Camberwarra,
the lands are superior to those similarly situated to the north, and small settlers who
acquired holdings by purchase from the Crown in those localities were in a better
position to succeed than those on the mountain slopes to the north.
It is necessary to refer specially to the lands which Alexander Berry and his brothers
acquired at auction sale over that part of the Berry Estate north of the Shoalhaven
River. In this locality Crown Lands of superior quality were offered for sale by auction in
large portions - ranging up to as much as 4,000 acres in one portion - and purchase by
Alexander Berry and his brothers between 1837 and 1842. Mr Berry, at this period,
seems to have specialised in the practice of buying choice Crown Land under the sales
regulations superseding the free grant system, and buying out all the occupiers of
"promised" free grants, which the lands purchased at auction completely surrounded. Mr
McCaffery, in his History of Illawarra, asserts that these "promises" were bought out at
ridiculously low prices; but of this no evidence, beyond hearsay, is available. It can be
stated, however, that a very large proportion of the land purchased at auction was
obtained at the upset prices then prevailing viz: 5/- per acre up to 1839, and 12/- per
acre between 1839 and 1842.
Chapter 20
Difficulties Encountered by Land Owners and Small Settlers
Using Land for Agriculture in Early Days
Dealing generally with the development of small settlement on the large grants, it is
fairly safe to say that up to about the mid-thirties of last century this was on a very small
scale, and that up to that time most of the lands were being used as grazing areas. It
was still the period of the stockmen and the cedar cutters.
The N.S.W. Calendar and Directory of the year 1835 gives the following description of
the progress of settlement in Illawarra at that time:
Hitherto the coast mountain has separated this rich tract from the rest of
the Colony, and in the absence of a carriage road to Sydney there has
been no means of travelling through it except by roads of the worst kind,
accidentally opened where the brush permitted. This has been a great
drawback to the cultivation, and even settling, of the district. Thus the
finest farms, though so near sydney, have continued in a primitive state.
After quoting the case of Mr Spearing, who is referred to elsewhere in this story, the
article goes on to say:
There are various other very promising establishments, and the want of
roads alone has prevented the establishment of many more. The
Governor's recent visit has offered a better prospect for the settlers, and
the Surveyor General has, since then, marked a road through the district
and connected with a good pass across the Coast mountain, so as to
radiate on Wollongong, the township, and afford the best means of
travelling in the three several directions.
The Governor referred to here is Sir Richard Bourke. He paid a visit to Illawarra in 1834,
for the purpose of determining how the district could be opened up by roads and its
connection with the Sydney market improved. On his return to Sydney he dispatched
the Surveyor General, Sir Thomas Mitchell, to Illawarra, with instructions to survey a
road through the district. The road laid out by him is the present South Coast Road,
excepting where recent deviations have been made.
It may be pointed out that in the survey of the numerous grants through which this road
was later surveyed and opened in Governor Bourke's time, no provision whatever was
made for inter-communication or through traffic by roads, and presumably the Crown
had to pay the grantees compensation for the lands taken for this road.
There is evidence that as early as the year 1822 there was some small settlement on
Captain Brook's grant near Dapto. The Sydney Gazette of 14 June 1822, reports a trial
for the shooting of a gin on Captain Brooks' farm at Five Islands. It was represented at
the trial that the natives were exceedingly troublesome and annoying in the
neighbourhood of the Five Islands during the corn season. In the space of one night
from 100 to 200 of them would clear a field of every cob and thus ruin the hopes of a
poor working man. One man named Graham, who had a wife and large family, was near
being killed when pursuing these robbers after they had stripped his fields of its
produce.
The evidence at this trial, and the reports already quoted from the N.S.W. Calendar and
Directory of the year 1835, clearly show that small settlers, and any of the large land-
holders who used their land for agriculture, were very much handicapped in those early
days.
Chapter 22
Deals with the Advent of Small Settlers on the
Large Estates
The influx of small farmers into Illawarra may be said to have definitely commenced
under assisted immigration in the thirties, and that within the three decades from 1830
to 1860 a large number of farmers and their families came to Illawarra from England,
Ireland and Scotland and settled there.
That at least one of the holders of free grants was selling farms to these new settlers is
related by the late Hon. James Gormley in his Recollections. He states that when his
family came to Sydney from Ireland about 1840 they went to Illawarra, where his father
purchased land from John Hubert Plunkett. The whole of the land, he stated, was
densely covered with timber and cost at least £5 per acre to clear for grazing and
cultivation. He also states that when they settled there they had a number of Irish
families as neighbours. Mr Plunkett's grant of 1,280 acres lay to the west of Wollongong,
under Mount Keira, and probably would not be graded as first class land for a small
farming settlement, though its proximity to the little settlement at Wollongong gave it
some advantage for the small settler. Mr Plunkett was a member of a distinguished
family of Irish patriots, and this also may have drawn Mr Gormley and his Irish
neighbours to this locality.
It was on the richer lands of the large grant south of Wollongong that a large number of
tenant farmers settled during this period. These estates, with some exceptions,
contained large areas of rich volcanic country, densely covered with a jungle of brush
timbers, vines, palms, etc., and these were let out under what were called "Clearing
Leases", in small areas. These clearing leases were the beginnings of many present
day dairy farms of high quality in Illawarra.
When the land was cleared, maize was largely grown, to be followed by wheat. Of
course, wheat was also grown on the lighter soil of the forest lands. After some years
trial wheat-growing had to be abandoned, owing to he prevalence of rust; and the big fall
in prices rendered the growth of maize unprofitable. Dairy farming then gradually
became the staple industry of Illawarra; as it is to this day under vastly improved
conditions. It is mainly owing to the industry and grit of these small pioneer settlers,
while occupying the land under tenancies from the original grantees, that Illawarra has
prospered so greatly.
Chapter 23
Dismemberment of the Large Estates
Conditions Under which Small Settlers Acquired the Freehold
of Their Farms, North and South of the Minnamurra River
This story has now reached the final stage of land settlement in Illawarra resulting from
the dismemberment of the large estates.
Seventy years ago the lands embraced in the free grants and large purchase grants
were held by a mere handful of landowners. Leaving out of consideration the grants
close to the town of Wollongong, and those to the north of that town - which are within
industrial and residential areas - the only grants which, so far as can be ascertained,
had been subdivided and sold in small farms at earlier dates, were contained in
J.H.Plunkett's grant of 1,280 acres near Mount Keira, on which farms were being sold in
1840, and the Terry's Meadows Estate (comprising the grants of 2,000 acres to Samuel
Terry and 700 acres to Andrew Allan), which was subdivided into 48 farms and offered
for sale at Wollongong on 18 June 1869.
There seems to be little doubt that the following estates remained practically intact up to
seventy years ago:
The Jenkins Estate, 3,280 acres.
The properties of Robert Howarth and Rev. John Dunmore Lang, being a
partition of the old Dunlop Vale Estate, in all 2,000 acres.
David Allan's "Illawarra" grant at Red Point, 2,200 acres.
The Estate of Henry Osborne in northern Illawarra, comprising the Marshall
Mount, Calderwood and Avondale grants, the grants to William Browne at Yallah
(exclusive of Mr Eustice Evan's "Penrose" Estate, which may have been acquired
by his grandfather over seventy years ago), and other land near Dapto
purchased by Mr Osborne from the former owners; also lands on the mountain
slopes at back of Marshall Mount, purchased at auction from the Crown in a
number of small portions by Mr Osborne; in all probability amounting to not less
than 9,000 acres.
The Johnston's Meadows Estate, 3,400 acres.
D'Arcy Wentworth's Estate at Shellharbour, 13.050 acres.
Colonel Foster's Curragh-More grant at Stockyard Mountain, 2,560 acres.
The grants to John Paul and Rosetta Terry at Albion Park, 2,600 acres.
The few large grants between Kiama and Gerringong.
Henry Osborne's grants of 2,000 acres at Saddleback, and that part of the Berry
Estate north of the Shoalhaven River, containing approximately 43,000 acres.
From time to time in later years these estates, or the greater part of them, have been
subdivided for sale in small farms, and at the present time the lands in Illawarra are
largely held by small freeholders, who are in occupation of their farms. This has led to a
higher standard of development of the capabilities of the district than would ever have
been obtained while the farmers remained tenants of the large landowners.
It has been pointed out that, to the south of the Minamurra River, a number of small
settlers obtained their holdings on very choice lands by way of free grants or by
purchase direct from the Crown under the auction sale regulations which succeeded the
free grant system. The conditions under which these small settlers in the Kiama and
Jamberoo district obtained their holdings were much superior to those under which the
tenant farmers on the large estate to the north, and on the Berry Estate south of
Gerringong, laboured. They obtained the freehold of their farms free of cost in the case
of the "free" grants, and in other cases at a minimum price of 5/- per acre between 1831
and 1839, 12/- per acre up to 1842, and after that at a minimum price of £1 per acre.
The richness of the land was such that when brought into its full productive capacity, its
value was far in excess of the cost of improving it, plus the low price paid for the
freehold. Added to this, the great incremental value, which followed as the result of
improved market facilities, etc., all came to the settler.
On the large grants to the north, and the Berry Estate to the south, the small farmer was
a tenant holder, and when it became possible for him to acquire the freehold, the value
of the improvements, or, to put it better, the great increase given to the value of the land
by improvements effected by him, and the unearned increment given by increased
population, access to markets, etc., were included in the price he had to pay for the
land.
(The End)
Epilogue
Glimpses of the Past
Since my story of Early Land Settlement in Illawarra began to appear in the pages of
this paper, a suggestion has been made that I should supplement it with some
recollections of my early days.
As I left Illawarra for good at the age of 19, the period of which I am competent to write
is very limited; and in the long interval of 58 years since then, much had been forgotten,
and much imperfectly remembered.
My earliest memory is a vivid one of hearing the native dogs howl at night. My birthplace
was close to Lake Illawarra, and it is not improbable that the dogs were still on Native
Dog Hill, as late as my infancy, in the years 1857 and 1858. As far as my recollection
serves me, they had disappeared from that locality in the later years of my childhood. If
D'Arcy Wentworth's stockman could return to tell of their experiences, we would
probably hear a great deal concerning the depredations of these pests in their day -
Native Dog Hill may have been one of their last strongholds.
When I was born, and for several years later, the settlers were mainly engaged in the
growth of wheat and other grain. At first farming operations were confined to the forest
lands. Later the rich brush lands were let by the grantees under "clearing leases", and
cleared for the plough.
The "brushes" held a great fascination for me. The hills and gullies back of the forest
lands were covered with a dense growth of softwood timbers of many rare and beautiful
kinds, climbing vines that draped the trees, and an abundance of "staghorn" and "bird-
nest" ferns. In their depths the sunlight was dimmed, and penetrated fitfully through the
high leafy canopy overhead. This, and the strong aromatic perfume given off by the
ferns and other vegetation, produced a most pleasing effect on the senses. This was the
home of many beautiful birds, lyre-birds, satin bower birds, whose clear bell-like notes
were constantly heard.
The settlers could not afford to have any sentimental regard for these beautiful natural
growths, and the axe and the fire-stick were indiscriminately used, to make room for the
growth of maize and wheat. The tall cabbage tree palms still standing in the open
cleared land, and a few ancient figtrees, are all that now remain of that former rich
growth.
After the brush timbers had been cut down, and fire had later completed its work on the
fallen timber, maize (commonly called `corn') was chipped in with a hoe, and heavy
virgin crops of this cereal were often obtained in this way. Heavy crops of pumpkins
were also raised among the corn.
Wheat was reaped with the reaping hook. In the use of this implement there were many
experts, and much competition among the reapers, each reaper taking a "land", just as
shearers, today, compete in the daily tally of the number of sheep shorn.
A threshing machine visited each of the farms in turn to thresh out the wheat. The
"power" used for the threshing machine was a team of bullocks moving in a circle, with
the driver standing on a platform in the centre, armed with a bullock whip. Most of the
labour required at the threshing was supplied by mutual arrangement among the
farmers.
The gathering of workers at the wheat threshing was an exciting time for small boys.
There was great excitement and bustle when the driver took his stand on the platform in
the centre of the team to action with picturesque language. The whirr of the machine,
the feeding of the sheaves into the maw of the thresher, and the outpouring of the
golden grain; all of those were pleasantly exciting to a boy.
During the wheat-farming period, flour-mills were established at various centres in
Illawarra including one at Shellharbour. When the wheat was ground at the mill, the
farmer retained sufficient for domestic requirements and this was stored in a large tin-
lined case. There were no bakers then supplying bread to the farmers. All bread was
"home-made", and was baked in large camp ovens.
Owing to the prevalence of rust, wheat-growing was ultimately abandoned; and in view
of the fall in prices maize could not be profitably grown. Dairy farming then became
general.
During the period of my association with dairy farming, the conditions were very different
to what they are today. The separator was then be delivered daily to any large body of
consumers. Milk was "set" in large dishes, the cream later skimmed off and churned into
butter, which was then salted, kegged, and shipped to Sydney in a small coastal boat.
The first boat to run regularly to Shellharbour, within my recollection, was called the
"William and Mary". She was followed by one called the "Agernoria". Both of these were
small sailing craft, ketch or schooner rigged. Then a local company was formed and a
small steamer called "The Dairymaid", was put in commission.
The running of the boat to Shellharbour was somewhat uncertain, due probably to
weather conditions, and in order that the surrounding farmers should be made aware of
its arrival in port, a large "buoy", painted black, used to be hoisted with block and tackle
to the top of a large fig tree on the summit of Dunster Hill.
Amusements and sports were not plentiful in my time in Illawarra. Cricket had a few
votaries, but football, so far as I remember, was not played. Night entertainments were
few and far between. Magic Lantern Shows and Panoramas - the fore-runners of the
modern picture show, visited us at rare intervals. A class of entertainment much
appreciated was a local negro minstrel troupe. The "artists" were local amateurs, good
performers with the bones and the banjo. They have long since gone to their rest, and
we who remain of the boys enjoyed their song and jokes, should gratefully remember
them for the pleasure they gave us. The outing most looked forward to was that to Lake
Illawarra Entrance in the Christmas holidays. No doubt there are still some remaining
who, like myself, have pleasant memories of this annual re-union of farming families at
the Lake Entrance, in the sixties and seventies of last century.
In my childhood, wild ducks and swans were very plentiful in Illawarra. It was a common
occurrence to see or hear large flocks of these passing overhead in the evenings and at
night. I have memories of lying awake at night and listening to the whistling of the ducks,
and the musical notes of the swans, as they passed overhead in great numbers.
The telegraph line from Wollongong southward was first constructed in my early
schooldays. It left Shellharbour out and cut across many farms. I recollect that one
farmer objected to the line crossing his farm, and was inclined to be obstinate - a
modern Ajax defying the lightning.
The annual shows at Kiama and Dapto were then, as now, events of great local
importance. My father was a small exhibitor at these, and I have driven cattle, for show,
to both places. The first show that I remember seeing was at Dapto. It was then held on
a site somewhere near the old hotel at Brownsville. The Kiama Show was, in those days
held on a vacant square within the town.
A regatta used to be held annually on Lake Illawarra. It had little or no interest for
Shellharbour residents, but was popular among the folk of northern Illawarra. The
spectators gathered on Kanahooka Point to witness the sailing races. I attended one of
these regattas in the late sixties. The wearing of turbans by the male sex was just then
the fashion, and I recollect taking a much greater interest in the gorgeous turbans
displayed on the men's headgear, than in the results of the sailing races.
When I was a very small child, attending the old "National" School at Shellharbour, Sir
Henry Parkes visited Illawarra on an electioneering campaign. A party of electors from
Shellharbour met him at the punt crossing the Minnamurra River, and escorted him to
Shellharbour. He addressed the electors from the verandah of Martin's hotel, adjacent to
the old school, and we school children had the treat of seeing a great man and hearing
him speak.
I think Sir Henry Parkes was mainly instrumental in having free libraries established in
country towns, under control of the Municipal Councils. Probably the Shellharbour
Municipality was one of the earliest to avail itself of this boon. The late Mr Richard Hall
was Council Clerk at the time, as well as being our schoolmaster, and he was
instrumental in having good educational works, and the best of English literature
supplied to the local library. This opened up a mine of literary wealth to us, and I, for
one, revelled in the literature then made available.
On a wild and stormy night in the late sixties, the ship "Rangoon" was wrecked on Stach
Island, at the mouth of the Minnamurra River. I think it was the late Captain Charles,
then living nearby, who first sighted the wreck in the early morning after the storm. Word
was conveyed to Kiama and Shellharbour, and rescue parties from both places were
soon on the scene. Captain Wilson, of the "Agernoria", led in the rescue work, which
resulted in the ship-wrecked crew being brought safely ashore. Needless to say, the
rescuers took great ricks, and displayed great heroism. I rode to the scene of the wreck
sailors, one of whom gave me the first ship's biscuit I had seen. It was nearly as hard at
Illawarra blue metal.
During my youth gold was being won from the sand on one of the small beaches lying
between the Minnamurra Entrance and Point Bass. The gold was in minutes particles,
and was supposed to have been brought down to the sea from the upper reaches of the
Shoalhaven River, carried northward by the prevailing ocean currents, and washed up
on the beaches by the action of the waves. This entrance evidently did not pay, as it
was soon abandoned.
