30.12.15

Cricket History


It's that time of the year!

English cricket legend WG Grace “taking guard” in 1883.
His pads and bat are very similar to those used today. The gloves have evolved somewhat.
Many modern players utilise more defensive equipment than was available to Grace,
notably helmets, and a thing called a “box”

Does anyone have a photo of the Rylstone Cricket Team in 1883?

Bylong cricketers on top of Cox's Gap on their way to Baraemi.
Photo: Bylong Valley - Centenary of Education 1884-1984

 Cricket was well established as the sport of the Valley as early as 1898, as the Rylstone Express of that year reported in the "Kerabee News";

"Our local team play the Bylong Cricket Club at Kerrabee next Saturday, and as the Bylong gentlemen got defeated last match there is no doubt their best players will this time, face the music."
Ref: Bylong Valley - Centenary of Education 1884-1984


Photo: Bylong Valley - Centenary of Education 1884-1984

Back Row:   Gordon Tindale, Bill Davis, Archie Chitty, W. Spradbrow, Tom Stevens, Val Glew, 
Joe Goninan, J Brennen,   Simpson, Rou. Glew.
Second Row:   Oz. Leighton, Sid Freeman, Cecil Davis, H. Glew, Percy Davis, Chas. Graystone, 
J. Pholep, Ray Tindale, Dick Davis Geo Roberts, Allan Leighton.
Front Row:   J. Gleeson, Jack Kurtz, Harry King, Dave Leighton 

Ref: Bylong Valley - Centenary of Education 1884-1984

29.12.15

New Year 2016


I look forward to a Happy History Year

Cheers, Wal
m. 0467 672 186

1.7.15

Macquarie portrait


Macquarie portrait
Photo: State Library

9.5.15

One-hit wonders: spear points from the Kimberley

Today we update the latest technology almost minute by minute, but these artifacts are examples of  technology that was in use for millennia.




5.5.15

An interesting Birth Certificate - Princess Charlotte



The princess, who is fourth in line to the throne, was born on Saturday at London's St Mary's Hospital, weighing 8lbs 3oz (3.7kg).

Kensington Palace revealed on Monday that she had been named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have formally registered the birth of their second child.

The Duke of Cambridge signed the birth register at Kensington Palace on Tuesday, witnessed by a registrar from Westminster Register Office.

The document gives the date and place of Princess Charlotte's birth, and her full name as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge.

Ref: BBC News UK

24.2.15

Heritage Assessment of the Timber Slab School Rylstone

The old slab school house - 2009
Photo: Barbara Hickson

This report, by Barbara Hickson in association with Peter Docker, was compiled at the request of the Rylstone and District Historical Society and covers:
*Significance – Developing a statement of significance through the structural and physical study of the item, it’s history and its context
*Assessment of the items present condition - structurally and aesthetically
*Recommendations for its conservation, restoration and reuse.

To download report click here

23.2.15

The Heritage of Rylstone Shire by Ian Jack

R. Ian Jack, MA, PhD, FRHistS, FRAHS was born and educated in Scotland at two of its oldest schools and at a university which had just celebrated its 500th anniversary.

He came to Australia to re-establish medieval European history in the curriculum of the University of Sydney, but in the 1970s the influences of an archaeologist and the burgeoning heritage movement made him more and more involved with the development of the Australian rural scene and its physical remains.

He retired from the Department of History some 10 years ago and has served 8 years as the longest-serving President of the Royal Australian Historical Society.

He has contributed to a number of heritage studies in the Central Western region over the past 20 years and worked with NSW Heritage Office and others in developing the thematic approach to writing of histories.

Following is an Extract from Ian Jack's Thematic History 2003 report prepared for the Rylstone Shire Community Heritage Study.

____________
 


The Heritage of Rylstone Shire

Heritage is the living embodiment of history. Three themes in particular clamour for attention in the history of Rylstone Shire: grazing and its corollaries of rural industry; cement-making; and the formation of two highly significant but contrasting towns.

The cultural landscape of the Shire, even around Kandos, has been shaped by European pastoralism. The use of the watenruays, the clearance of forest, the siting of homesteads, woolsheds and mustering yards have created a landscape much changed from that familiar to the Wiradjuri in the eighteenth century. The modified natural environment of modern Rylstone Shire is an historical artefact. From the drama of Glen Alice or Nullo Mountain to the meadows by the Cudgegong the landscape makes the Shire an uncommonly attractive place for residents and visitors alike.

 Within this pastoral scene, the presence of fine early homesteads and their outbuildings is of cardinal importance. lt is ironic that not a single homestead is included in the list of heritage items in the Shire's 1996 Local Environmental Plan, not even Dabee, the jewel in Rylstone's crown. The Fitzgeralds' Dabee, with its stone woolshed and its rare sheep-wash near the supremely elegant homestead, farmed by one family for over 170 years, is of state and national importance: and Dabee is only one of a series of major historical properties associated with the Coxes, the Nevells or the Thompsons.

Within this context of significant pastoral heritage, the presence of the cement works at Kandos and its quarries_nearby is the more striking. No cement works anywhere has a more dramatic natural setting and it has created its own aesthetic in the landscape. The industry is also the prime creator of the acute contrast between Rylstone town, a mellow service centre and seat of local government redolent of the nineteenth century, and Kandos, a twentieth- century workers' town laid out by the cement company, whose product is prominent in the buildings and the fences. Both Kandos and Rylstone are residential and service focal points for the Shire, but the contrast in design, style and aesthetic is telling. Each is very important and a heritage item in its own corporate self. Each is greater than the sum of its component parts, although the residences, churches, schools, shops and public buildings are all independently significant. The difference between Rylstone and Kandos is one of the significances of Rylstone Shire.

The community is protective of the Shire, but each geographic sector of the community has its own vision, a separate vantage-point from which the Shire's history and heritage are viewed. The purpose of a Heiitage Study, and especially a Community Heritage Study, is to bring together these various viewpoints and to give them a coherence within the historical themes which have shaped the modern Shire.

Out of this process a well-balanced understanding of the components which make Rylstone Shire a special place should evolve, so that the Coucil and the community can use the Heritage Study as a powerful tool for the identification and management of their heritage. By doing this, the historical basis for the cultural landscape and the contrasting streetscapes can be put to work. The heritage values which have organically evolved over two centuries make Rylstone congenial to its residents and attractive to outsiders. Heritage is core business in Rylstone.
  
 

TIME OUT Newsletter 2009-10


In 2009-10, Sue Carter, Secretary of RDHS, produced a Newsletter which gave snapshots of what RDHS was doing at that time. See Extracts below:



RYLSTONE HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S CONTRIBUTION to History Week was the presentation of a talk on Jimmy Governor and the screening of the film ‘The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith’ in keeping with the History Week theme of Scandals, Crime and Corruption. There were four presentations; Kandos, Mudgee, Gulgong and Rylstone and all were well attended and the theme resulted in animated discussion during supper. A folder containing news articles, court reports and photographs of the times has been added to the Museum’s archives and makes very interesting reading.

FAMILY RESEARCH REQUESTS:
Requests for information on the O’Donoghue (Donoghue) family have been successful and we were able to send off some interesting information about this early Glen Alice settler and direct the family to Mudgee Historical Society who has much more information. We welcome all information about families so we can add it to our files and build up a data base of family information to assist researchers. The Research and Writing group had a packed meeting during the week and all who attended are busy on projects. The group is looking for someone willing to transcribe recorded interviews. If you can help with this task please phone Sue on 63791255. We have had requests about the Nicholson family, ‘Black’ Jack Turner from Rawdon, information about the Wonnarua tribe from Bylong, James Brown and Ann Gardner (1850’s). All help is welcome. 


FAMILY RESEARCH REQUESTS: 
The Research and Writing Group has been busy, meeting on the last Sunday of the month at the Cottage Museum to work on research tasks and monthly at the BVI to share information. The theme of this year’s History Week is 
‘FACES IN THE STREET’
 When we look at the businesses that have been established in our village since 1860, the people who owned and worked there and their customers. As part of this project we are planning a 2011 calendar along this theme. 


See digital copy of all issues here.


D'Arcy, Dame Constance Elizabeth (1879–1950)

Dame Constance Elizabeth D'Arcy (1879-1950), obstetrician and gynaecologist, was born on 1 June 1879 at Rylstone, New South Wales, fifth daughter of Murty D'Arcy, sergeant of police, and his wife Bridget, née Synnott. She passed the senior public examination in 1894 from Rylstone Public School and, after attending Riviera College, Woollahra, in 1898 she matriculated at the University of Sydney (M.B., Ch.M., 1904). As neither of the Sydney teaching hospitals would accept a woman, she did her residency at the (Royal) Adelaide Hospital.
Ref: TExtract from Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, (MUP), 1981

22.2.15

St Paul's Anglican Church Ilford


St Paul's Ilford

August 3, 1874
The foundation stone of a Church of England was laid at Ilford on Wednesday last, by Mrs James Readford, of Woodlawn. A large assemblage of persons were present at the ceremony, including the Rev Canon Gunther, and the Rev Mr Benyson, who delivered suitable addresses on the patient. As soon as the latter rev gentleman had concluded his remarks, Mrs Readford was presented by the Rev Mr Benyson with a silver trail, with which she laid the foundation stone. This being done, Mrs Readford said: "Ladies, and gentleman, I have now performed the highly honourable duty to which you kindly invited me, and to which I most sincerely thank you, of laying the foundation stone of the Church of England. I fervently trust that the church you are about to elect will be the means of bringing year to the Almighty God. I have seen the plans of the proposed building, I have no doubt it will be creditable to Ilford. I am informed that funds are short, and I have much pleasure in putting a few coins on the stone. If any of you will do the same it will be thankfully received. I don't think if the honour of being invited to lay the foundation stone of this church, which I sincerely trust will prove a great blessing in this table." After a cloth was laid upon the stone, and a considerable sum collected, and the proceeding terminated with a very successful team meeting, which as the Rev Canon Gunther remarked was the best spread he ever saw (Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday, 8 August 1874, page 32).


 April 9, 1875.

The new Church of England. In this town, which has just been completed, was opened with considerable éclat on Tuesday, the sixth instant. The consecration sermon was preached by the Right Rev the Bishop of Bathurst, the service being conducted by the Rev Messrs Benson (Rylstone) and Gunther (Mudgee). Mr Benson expressed his intention of attending Ilford every month in future, for the purpose of holding divine service in the new building. The church, which was commenced in July last, is a plain stone building was shingled roof, without any pretensions to architectural elegance, and was built by Mr Martin, contract, on a piece of ground the gift of Mr W Russell of Ilford, one of the churchwardens. The churchwardens are Messrs S McCully, S Brown, E W Turley, W Russell, and T Corduroy. About 300 persons assembled at the opening and sat down to a sumptuous repast – consisting of tea, cakes, tarts, fruits, &c. – As tables supplied and presided over by Miss McCully and Mesdames Turley and Russell. The interior of the church was tastefully decorated with flowers and evergreens, and a display of bunting lent a somewhat gala appearance to the outside. On the whole the opening was a complete success, and a very enjoyable afternoon was passed. At the close a collection in aid of the building fund was made, and the sum of £11 collected (Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday, 17 April 1875, page 10).




Lone Graves on "Fernside"

Lone Graves on "Fernside"
Photo: Wal Pilz

Three Lone Graves on "Fernside"

Located about 200m to the right of the entrance road before the river crossing. The photo is looking south with the cottage (not homestead) in the background.

Notes on Tailby
“Captain Chauvel had just left Willow Glen, opposite Fernside, and gone to the Clarence River, having sold Willow Glen to Mr. George Tailby, who then lived at Rockville, where Mr . George McQuiggin now resides.” 
Ref: Some Early Recollections of the Town and District of Rylstone, Etc by William Weild Armstrong - 1905 - p.2


“Willow Glen.
The original grant to Caption Chauvel was 1086 acres on the Rylstone side of the river. Some assigned servants having absconded from about Sydney, and made their way to the upper parts of the Cudgegong river, reported finding good land on their return. This induced Captain Chauvel to take it up. The first residence was near the river bank. The depth of water in the river now is to be measured in inches, but in the early days a boat was kept.

Mr. George Tailby purchased Willow Glen in ’49, and later the land on the opposite side of the river , where he buit the present brick residence, and changed the name to Fernside. The native name for the place was Narrangra, meaning "No Grass', having got this name from the fact that it was a part of a cattle run of the Marsden family, and the black herdsmen used to keep the stock on the part they knew, until it was eaten very bare.

Mr. Tailby had sheep and cattle stations at Coonamble, the latter being Gullagumbone, and the former Merri Merri Station, now owned by Mr. Peacock. Fernside, then Willow Glen, was acquired as a shearing depot, it being a common thing in those days to travel sheep to where there was more convenience for carriers , and where the sheep could be washed, away from the cattle. The Cudgegong river, which old hands say has much changed in character, was a very suitable place, being a chain of very long ponds. The wool was washed on the sheep’s backs, and shorn, and the sheep travelledd back to Coonamble. 

About 7000 were brought down each year in this way, though the numbers reached as high as 9000. Mr. Tailby was the first, white man to settle at Gullargumbone, but he considered the climate unsuitable, to live in, so fixed his home at Rylstone. It is worth mentioning, that in those days, Mr. Tailby was never interfered with by the lawless bushranging characters who were too common at that time. This is attributed to the fact that Mr. Tailby would never have an assigned servant, that system being productive of so much cruelty.” 
Ref: Some Early Recollections of the Town and District of Rylstone, Etc by William Weild Armstrong - 1905 - p.58

Gowrie Hut


Gowrie Hue Plaque
Photo: Shirley Tunnicliff collection

Gowrie Hut was probably built for a local settler, Percy William Morrison, some time between 1900 and 1906 as a residence for himself and his family.

Parts of "Gowrie" were first formally settled in 1893 as pioneer pastoralists James Edward Morrison and William Cox ranged up from the Goulburn River Valley seeking good granting land.

At first, use was seasonal, but this hut testifies to attempts at permant settlement.

The land was first taken up on an annual lease basis. In 1900 this portion (53) was then excised as a conditional purchase in the hands of Percy William Morrison. It then passed to Wallace Eames before the Issue of Grant and thereafter to Percy Tindale. In 1935 it was transferred to Albert Edward Kerney who added two crown leases to "Gowrie".

Until 1959 the property was part of the alpine leases scheme, in which cattle were grazed in the high country during spring and summer and then moved to the valleys for autumn and winter. In 1959 the property was transferred to Bryan Kerney.

 The hut was probably constructed by "Mountain Billy" Black, a local bush carpenter. He used hand=sawn stringybark and black pine fashioner with simple tools - axe, adse,wedges, threw and pitsaw - to throw up a durable buildingof commendable accuracy using the old-fashioned "vertical slab" technique.

The interior walls were papered with sheets of newspaper (hte earliest dated 1900). The presence of locally made beds, kitchen furniture, a well-made table and built in crockery shelves finished with decorative paper imply a feminine touch.
 

There was once a kitchen garden and a substantial orchard with a rnge of nut anf fruit trees. The presence of a single-mouldboard plough suggests some subsistence cropping.

This photo of Gowrie Hut may have been taken as eary as the 1940's. It shows an unidentified man holding a rifle. Another rifle leans against the motorbike, which appears to be a side-valve AJS, possibly of mid 30's vintage. (Courtesy Bryan Kerney)

In 1908-1909 the hut was used by two notorious cattle duffers, Harry Windle and Elizabeth (Jessie) Hickman and legend has it is that during WWII a military deserter was hidden here.

Bryan Kernet generously donated the hut and about one hectare of surrounding land to the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1995 and it was addred to Wollemi National Park in 1998. The Service emoloyed local bush carpenters Chris Ware and Rod Burton to restore the buiding in stages. This work was completed on 2001.

Gowrie Hut under reconstruction
   Ref: Shirley Tunnicliff

21.2.15

Lee Family in Bylong Valley

Lee Family

When William Lee and his sons took their stock north to occupy the Bylong Valley, the way from Capertee into the Bylong was a precipitous track down Growee Gulph, at one stage a fall of 1500 feet in two miles. The Lee family occupied the choicest of this valley and spread their flocks over the valley floor from the Growee Gulph 15 miles north to Bylong Creek. The Bylong grants were originally in the name of William Lee, but it was his son, John, who became the notable Bylong pioneer.

John Tindale, a close associate of the Lees, was the first to take up land in the neighbouring Widdin Valley. On2nd May, 1836, a block of 1110 acres was advertised by Crown Authorities, and by 10th December JohnTindale's 1110 acres were some of the richest in the whole Widdin Valley. Nearby blocks were soon afterwards acquired by John Lee and very soon he was the most active landuser in the valley

About 1840 John Lee took over Bylong from his father. Three years later he leased Tindale's holdings in the Widdin and added them to his own. The Lees had first brought sheep to Bylong but by the fifties were replacing these with cattle and horses for which they became famous. The Widdin was used by Lee for grazing his heifers and weaners. His overseer was George Simpson, a young single man from the Hawkesbury. In 1847 Simpson made a trip to the Hawkesbury districts and married Miss Sarah Russell. Next year their son George, became the first white child to be born in the Widdin Valley. The Simpsons settled on Emu Creek and this property was held by them until 1954.

William Lee has seven sons. Four of them, Thomas, James, John and George were notable horse breeders. But it was John Lee who contributed most to the family's history of breeders of quality stock, both cattle and horses. Of the 19 blood horse families in the Australian Stud Book, four were established by the Lees of Bathurst and Bylong.

Widden Valley


Widden Valley

A valley that has sometimes known flood and fire, but seldom famine. For it is a valley of lush, green springs and golden summers. Its sweet waters, its abundant pastures and sheltered timber are ringed about by steep ramparts. Winter cannot disturb its calm. One could search the world for such a place.

Long before the white man came, the black tribesmen had given it a name that none would change – "Widden" – "stay here"! Here the Thompsons came a century ago and here they stayed.

John Lee, one of Australia's greatest early stud masters, first bred thoroughbreds at Widden. Now in 1967 the Thompsons of Widden have reached their century of thoroughbred breeding. Widden has always held a leading place among the bloodhorse studs of Australasia. It has the longest unbroken "father-to-son" history of any stud in the world today.

The stream was a main tributary of the river it joined just below Mount Kerrabee, running strongly along its clean sands below the casuarina's shade. The timber grew straight and tall - blue gum and myrtle, apple gum and white box, stringybark and fine stands of red cedar. About ten miles above the river junction the valley floor widened, where Myrtle and Emu Creeks ran in from the Nullo Mountain Spur. On this big flat, and in the many grasslands of the side gullies, kangaroo, emu and wallaby were plentiful. The herbage and native grasses made it a valley of plenty. The sandstone cliffs that rose so steeply from the valley floor were honeycombed with caves that provided shelter for many native families.

Southwards stood the peaks of Nullo Mountain, of Wilworri, Kilgoola and Midderlila, with Coricudgy lifting his head four thousand feet into the clouds. The main range here divided Kamilaroi territory from that of the Wiradjuri to the south and west. To the south-east the Kekeelbon spurs marked their border with the Kuring-gai people.

Until 1813 the infant colony of Australia was still confined to the Eastern seaboard near Sydney. In that year three young pioneers, William Charles Wentworth, Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson made the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains, reaching a mountain peak west of Hartley Vale. In their wake came Surveyor Evans, who marked the track further on and discovered the Macquarie River and the Bathurst Plains. William Cox in the six months from July 1814 to January 1815, with a work force of 30 convicts made a road from the Nepean River to the Macquarie.

The gate was opened! By early 1818, Governor Macquarie had settled the first free settlers on giants of land west of the range. Two of these were Australian-born, William Lee and John Nevell; and both of these were later to have strong ties with the Thompson Family.

The new settlement at Bathurst became the jumping-off place for inland exploration. Evans in 1815, and again in 1817 in company with Oxley, opened up the Lachlan Valley. In 1818 Oxley, with Evans as second-in-command opened the way to the Liverpool Plains and the New England. In 1821 James Blackman, Police Superintendent at Bathurst, explored the Cudgegong River districts in the vicinity of the present town of Mudgee. He was followed shortly afterwards by Alan Cunningham and William Lawson in two separate trips.

The first record of the Goulburn River (of which the Widden Brook is a major tributary) is in the Journal of Lieutenant William Lamson. Setting out from Bathurst, he proceeded northwards over the Winburndale and Clear Creeks, crossed the Turon River and explored the mountain country to the north-east of Mudgee. His Journal entry of November 30th, 1822. records:

We crossed a steep chasm of sandstone and came to a river running South East through a fine country. We named this the Goulburn.


Lawson named the river after Henry Goulburn, the then Colonial Secretary. The Journal records his native guide as "Ering". No doubt this is the same native often called "Aaron", who guided other parties out of Bathurst. His name is still recorded in "Aaron's Pass" - a steep descent on the present highway between Ilford and Cudgegong. Lawson enquired of Ering regarding the mouth of the river and the native told him "where the white man sits down”, meaning Newcastle. Lawson noted that undoubtedly the river ran eastwards to the sea and that it did not produce the fine sand to be found in western rivers.

For the first eleven days of December, 1822, Lawson explored the upper valleys of the Goulbum, which impressed him greatly. He described this mountain country as being "interspersed with plains here and there of the be the grass excellent, very thick with herbs and vines intermixed, watered by numerable fine runs of water. This is a beautiful country for sheep." He noted also the high dividing ranges which in some places "were here higher than Mount York. His Journal makes no mention of Widden, but records that he explored the Bylong and Merriwa districts of the Goulburn watershed.

By 1824 George and Henry Cox, sons of William the roadmaker, on the Burrundulla flats near Mudgee on the South bank of the Cudgegong River. William Lawson claimed the country on the northern side, where Lawson Creek bears his name.
The settlers who pioneered Bathurst in Macquarie's time had each been given 50 acres of farmland, a town lot of two acres, a convict servant and a gift of one cow and four bushels of seed wheat. From this humble beginning grew the fortunes of William Lee and his family. Within a few short years the Lees occupied the Capertee Valley. Shortly their title to that holding was upset by Sir John Jamison. William Lee and his sons, led by the same native who had guided Lawson, took their stock north to occupy the Bylong Valley, the same "fine country" which had so impressed Lawson. The way from Capertee into the Bylong was a precipitous track down Growee Gulph, at one stage a fall 1500 feet in two miles. The Lee family occupied the choicest of this valley and spread their herds over the valley floor from the Growee Gulph 15 miles north to Bylong Creek.


Here they prospered, while Sir John Jamison struggled with the less friendly environment of the Capertee Valley. The Bylong grants were originally in the name of William Lee, but it was his son John who became the notable Bylong pioneer.


John Tindale, a close associate of the Lees, was the first to take up land in the neighbouring Widden Valley. On May 2nd, 1836, a block of 1110 acres was advertised by Crown authorities, and by December 10th John Tindale's 1110 acres were some of the richest in the whole valley. Nearby blocks were soon afterwards acquired by John Lee and very soon he was the most active land-user in the valley.

About 1840 John Lee took over Bylong from his father. Three years later he leased Tindale's holdings in the Widden and added them to his own. The Lees had first brought sheep to Bylong but by the forties were replacing these with cattle and horses for which they became famous. The Widden was used by Lee for grazing his heifers and weaners. His overseer was George Simpson, a young single man from the Hawkesbury. In 1847 Simpson made a trip to the Hawkesbury districts and married Miss Sarah Russell. Next year their son George became the first white child to be born in the Widden valley. The Simpsons settled on Emu Creek and this property was held by them until 1954.


Ref: D. M. Barrie, Valley of Champions (Melb, 1967);

Baker family of Glen Alice

William and Caroline Baker were married in England and departed from Liverpool, on the vessel the "John & Lucy" on 25th January 1857 and arrived in Sydney on 6th May 1857 after 110 days.

The Baker family lived in the Mulgoa area when they arrived from England where Mary Ann was born. They also worked at Louee, and then at Glen Alice and had ground and the PO at Glen Alice.

 A photo of the headstone of Caroline Baker on Monivae Station is included in this link



The Baker family, well known in the district for many years, had an original area of over 1,000 acres situated to the north of the village of Glen Alice.  link

9.1.15

Ilford Section Bush Fire Brigade in 1939

The Ilford-Running Stream Bush Fire Brigade recently celebrated its 75th Anniversary.

The Minutes of its frist Meeting make interesting reading.