Part 2: White invasion until 1840s depression

As descriptions of the land became available, persons desirous of land became interested in Ourimbah. A merchant by the name of Robert Holl was granted 2000 acres in a block which covered from the present Shire boundary at Teralbah Street northwards to the Ourimbah Public School and from a large part of the flat which includes Sohier Park, westward past Dog Trap Gully.

A well-to-do gentleman, Holl was quite often reported in the Sydney press among lists of donors to various charitable causes. He was at one stage empanelled with a group of select colonial gentlemen on a jury [Sydney Gazette 17 February 1825, at 2]. It is apparent he enjoyed a degree of prestige in the Colony.

Holl had arrived at Sydney in 1822 from India, where he had been for 27 years. He had come via Java and had brought a "Valuable Cargo" [AONSW 4/183413]. In September 1823, with most of that cargo still in his possession, he applied for a grant of land under the prevailing system which favoured persons with a certain capital. He was qualified by his capital to receive 2000 acres. By 1827, when it was surveyed, he had chosen his land at Ourimbah and it had been promised to him.

How he came to choose Ourimbah for his grant is unknown. As a businessman in the Colony he would have had contact with prominent business figures, some of whom would have conducted private research into the resources available in the countryside. For example, the business partners Wollstonecraft and Berry, who had employed men in the extraction of cedar from the forests to the north and south of Sydney.

For many years after the 1820s access to the Brisbane Water district was difficult. It was isolated by Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury River, Mangrove Creek and Mangrove Mountain. In an 1832 letter to the Colonial Secretary on the subject, Frederick Hely said that there were

…but two practicable outlets Coastwise for the conveyance of Cedar from the District of Brisbane Water and the transport by land is utterly out of the question. [AONSW 4/1128.1]

The two practicable outlets referred to by Hely were Cabbage Tree Harbour and Brisbane Water. But no part of Brisbane Water was at that stage connected by road to the areas from which any cedar might be got; and the only outlet in use, Cabbage Tree, presented many difficulties in transport, both to and across Tuggerah lake, then portage across the sand spit separating the lake from the ocean and the unsuitability of the harbour in many conditions of weather.

It is possible that having had some news of the troublesome and expensive nature of any cedar-getting venture in the area, considering the scale and profitability of their operations elsewhere, that the wealthy pillars of colonial commerce, Messrs Wollstonecraft and Berry, might have abandoned the district to Holl, informing him just the same that the thickly wooded and fertile country might be of promise. The same information may have come to Holl from another business partnership of Raine and Ramsay, who had timber leases in the vicinity.

In his letter to the Colonial Secretary referred to above, Hely stated that there were no cedar trees on any of his land and he hoped that any trees that might be growing in the Brisbane Water district would soon be cut down to deter the unwelcome types who came searching for them.

It is possible also that Hely himself was the one to inform Holl of the district's bounties. Frederick Augustus Hely had arrived in the Colony only some twelve months after Holl. He consistently demonstrated a dedication to the establishment of a thriving agricultural community in his chosen area. His first grant of land in the area, Wyoming, was picked by him around 1824.

By 1834 Holl had returned to England, where he died perhaps never even visiting his land grant at Ourimbah.

It was still very much a wilderness in 1830, when surveyor Felton Mathew was sent to trace the mountain ranges from near the head of Mangrove Creek down to Broken Bay. He stumbled upon Ourimbah Creek, which he refers to here as Tuggerah Creek, on several occasions and wrote of the district in his journal as follows:

Tuesday, 21st September, 1830
Started with four men each carrying four days provisions to explore the Range leading to Broken Bay. Walked about 20 miles and encamped near the head of a creek which I afterwards ascertained to be the "Tuggerah Creek".

23rd September, 1830
Early this morning recommenced our march and after walking till about 3 o'clock found to my great mortification, that the range terminated abruptly in a gully, the bed of "Tuggerah Creek".

Followed a bridle track which brought us to "Kangiangy", Mr Healey's stock station where we passed the night.

29th December, 1830 [Intending to mark the ridge from Gosford up to Mangrove Mountain]
… lost the Range in consequence of the thickness of the Brush and descended into an extensive valley which I afterwards discovered to be Tuggerah Creek.

30th December, 1830 -
Endeavoured to ascend Tuggerah Creek but after wandering about for several hours scarcely able to proceed for the brush - found myself close to last night's camping place - ascended another Range which I traversed with great difficulty, but at length got on the first one marked and which separates the waters of Tuggerah Creek from the Sea

3rd, 4th and 5th January, 1831 -
Exploring and endeavouring to trace the principal Range between Narara and Tuggerah Creeks - very difficult - intricate and brushy.

Thursday, 24th February, 1831 -
Attempted to take my dray along the Kangiangy road - upset and broke the axle tree

Friday, 25th February, 1831 -
Sent axle tree to be repd - Explored pt of the Range between Tuggerah and W ' yong Creeks - & thence walked along the bank of Tuggerah Creek to its mouth - the land of the finest description - Creek deep and from 2 to 4 chains in width - scenery most beautiful -

Saturday, 26th February, 1831 -
Exploring and marking the Range between Tuggerah and Wyong Creeks - did not reach the tents till nine at night

Mathew spent a couple of weeks more, covering other parts of the Central Coast and then moved on ...

Monday, 7th and Tuesday, 8th February, 1831 -
Travelling - camped at the head of Tuggerah Creek.

Later in 1831 Mathew returned to the area for more survey work.

Monday to Thursday, 7-10th November, 1831 -
Measuring Range W. side of Tuggerah Beach Lake.

Monday, 14th November, 1831 -
Tracing part of Ourimbah Creek - …

[Mathew F, untitled field books (unpublished, held by National Library of Australia, Canberra, Manuscript collection Ms 15). Now published at http://www.users.bigpond.com/narrabeen/feltonmathew.]

Meanwhile more persons soon to be involved with Ourimbah were arriving in Sydney.

Thomas Macquoid had worked as a senior public official in India for many years prior to his arrival in New South Wales in 1829 to take up an appointment as High Sheriff. Macquoid was disappointed to find that the position of High Sheriff had not been included among those of the Administration admitted into the Colony's senior governmental body, the Executive Council. He maintained a persistent though unsuccessful campaign of correspondence with his superiors both in New South Wales and in England, aimed at increasing his salary and his prestige.

John Edye Manning also arrived in 1829. Manning was to take up an appointment as Registrar of the Supreme Court. Not long after assuming his duties he was also given responsibility for care of intestate estates - the property of those who died in the Colony without leaving a will.

Soon after their arrival both these men applied for grants of land and on the word of their public servant colleague, Frederick Hely, Principal Superintendent of Convicts, they chose land at Ourimbah [AONSW 1155].

Hely had arrived towards the end of 1823. In the decade after his arrival he was granted extensive pieces of land which he supplemented with purchases to build up a major land empire to the north and south of Ourimbah. He came to own all the land from near Wyong Creek township downstream to Tuggerah Lake and south as far as Tuggerah. South of Ourimbah he came to own all of Wyoming, Narara and Niagara Park.

He was a committed agriculturalist, systematically attempting different crops to ascertain the most suitable for the conditions and proceeding in an orderly manner toward establishing his properties as properly functioning agricultural ventures well able to support him and his family for generations into the future. He concentrated his activities on his property Wyoming which, with grant and purchases, covered more than 2000 acres of today's Wyoming and Narara.

Hely would apparently have liked to have retired to this property but his superiors always prevailed upon him to remain in his job in Sydney. Nevertheless he spent enough time in the area to become very familiar with the country from Brisbane Water to Wyong Creek, speaking with detailed knowledge of the terrain in his correspondence with the Colonial Secretary.

One of Hely’s neighbours, Robert Cox, had arrived in the Colony in January 1829, aboard the Lang. Cox's considerable capital consisted of 20 puncheons of rum [Sydney Gazette issues of 24, 27 & 29 January 1829]. Rum was as good as currency in the fledgling colony and a puncheon was a considerable measure, being anything from 325 to 540 litres (72–120 gallons). Not long after his arrival, Cox received a grant of 1280 acres which extended from Wyoming to Lisarow, up to the present local government boundary at Teralbah Street. In 1830 Cox informed the Surveyor General that he had selected his two sections at Brisbane Water and that the land was a part of 4000 acres which had previously been leased to timber industrialists, Messrs Raine and Ramsay [AONSW 1114].

The main features on Cox's land were Berry's Head in the southern part, the hill behind Lisarow in the north and the valley in between, which drains partly westward, flowing to Narara Creek and partly eastward eventually into Ourimbah Creek. The grant was thickly timbered and to Hely's dismay and despite Hely's encouragement to the contrary, Cox sent in timber cutters and cattle with no restraint and, according to Hely, probably without any intention of fulfilling the obligations of "development" and "improvements" conditional with the grant [ML; Ms Ah87]. As it happened, the land did become Cox's and remained with his family until it was sold to the Excelsior Land Company by his grandchildren [Swancott CW, The Brisbane Water Story Part IV-The Rest of the Story (Woy Woy: Brisbane Water Historical Society, 1955)].

Hely's poor impression of Cox's intentions can be understood. He said that Cox's timber cutters were undesirable types who were paid in rum and other hard spirits. As well, Cox had put more cattle on the land than it could possibly support. The starving beasts strayed onto Hely's land or onto Holl's grant, land for which Hely intimated he had some responsibility. At one time, Hely said, Cox's overseer told him that if Cox did not remove some of the cattle, the working bullocks would starve [AONSW 1114].

This irresponsible misuse of the land was anathema to Hely's demonstrated ideals of farm management. But despite the animosity he began to feel, he still permitted Cox's men to use his roads and bridges to get timber to Narara Creek. That was not enough for Cox, however, who wanted use of Hely's private wharf to load the timber.

This wharf was originally across the creek from Hely's, on land granted to John Street. Hely purchased the land from Street for the specific purpose of making the wharf his own. It was located near the point at which today's Showground Road (this section formerly a part of the Maitland Road) crosses Narara Creek. There was a second, public, wharf on land granted to Hely and located near today's Manns Road, between the present residential developments at Narara and the industrial development at West Gosford.

Hely wanted Cox's men to cart the timber to the public wharf. Cox wanted to cut time and costs by carting only as far as the private wharf. After allowing Cox so much, this insistence by him was a source of some annoyance to Hely. Especially when Cox wrote to the Governor regarding the matter. Hely, too, wrote to the Governor refuting Cox’s claims and making some of his own. Cox had been to his land once, if ever, according to Hely; he spent nothing on it, exercised no control over his workers-in fact, paid them with alcohol which made them an unruly source of bother to neighbouring settlers and workers-spent nothing on roads or bridges to and from his land and still insisted on being able to use Hely's private wharf! [AONSW 1114.]

While Hely became more and more keen to concentrate solely on his farming, the government was resolute that he remain in his job as Principal Superintendent of Convicts in Sydney. During 1832 and 1833 Hely made moves to take a closer interest in his farms and in the district. He wrote to Governor Bourke in 1832 reporting that disorderly convicts were hampering the settlers to whom they were assigned. These unruly convicts and other workers of a similar disposition could not be properly disciplined as there was no district magistrate at the time. He proposed himself for the job and in 1833 threatened to resign from his position as Principal Superintendent of Convicts, offering his services as magistrate at reduced salary.

The government policy at the time was that gentlemen performing magisterial duties should not be paid and dismissed Hely's proposal on that basis with no consideration of his reports of the need for some figure of law enforcement in the area. As an inducement to continue as Principal Superintendent of Convicts, Hely was offered a hefty pay rise of £100 per annum.

Even as late as 1832 the government had been unable to formulate a policy on the cutting of cedar and Hely was approached for his ideas on the matter. Eventually in 1835 a programme was initiated where principals involved in the cutting of cedar from Crown lands must be licensed. Hely applied for a licence for the area at the head of Ourimbah Creek. He was one of the first applicants and was granted licence number One [AONSW 4/1128.1]. Less than six months later however, cedar cutting in the Brisbane Water District was prohibited altogether on Crown land, on the basis that large tracts of land were to be sold off. Doubtless lack of cedar would be a positive discouragement for buyers or result in reduced prices.

Meantime, Manning and Macquoid were interested in obtaining descriptions of the land they had been granted, for they, too, probably visited the area rarely, if ever. Macquoid's original, rather scant description of the land he wanted was

…2,560 acres … at Tuggerah Creek … bounded on the north by Tuggerah Creek ... and on the west by Lofty Mountains which overhang … a crossing place leading to Yangy Gangy ... [Ms A5479; LTO Memorial Book E, No 70; LTO Memorial Book K, No 633.]

Manning's first description of the land he chose made it clear that he wanted to be next door to and to the east of Macquoid. Both must have become anxious when they began to see labels such as Tea Tree Swamp appearing on surveyors' maps of their land. They began to plead a rather dubious case by letter with the Colonial Secretary to the effect that while the surveyors had not exactly erred in locating the grants as they had done, still the placings were incorrect [AONSW 1155].

These two gentlemen were by no means uninfluential in the Colony and eventually their single minded battle to have their boundaries changed was successful. The "lofty mountains overhanging the crossing place" became Macquoid's eastern boundary, quite near the expressway bridge over Ourimbah Creek today; accordingly, Manning was relocated as well.

Shortly after being allowed to move his grant, Macquoid had surveyor Heneage Finch measure it, with a view to dividing it into lots for sale. Finch found that the grant was 130 acres deficient. The matter was referred to Felton Mathew, who discovered an error in scaling and who put the deficiency at 113 acres [LTO papers with PA 6215].

Mathew was frequently accompanied by his wife, Sarah, on his field expeditions and in 1834 she joined him in a visit to Brisbane Water, the purpose of which was very likely to investigate these anomalies in area of Macquoid's grant. Parts of her journal, recording the party's excursion from Hely's at Wyoming, are worth reproducing here at length.

Saturday morning [18th January, 1834] we set off, and I enjoyed a very beautiful ride, through a fine forest country, occasionally crossed by belts of dense brush, absolutely impervious to the suns' rays and delightfully cool. These brushes always border creeks and gullies, and are composed of rank vegetation in every shape; trees of gigantic height, the magnificent and graceful palms and the beautiful, feathery Fern Tree, are all collected here, with vines of immense size, twisting their snakelike branches to the tops of the tallest trees, and hanging in grotesque forms from one to another; these vines seem to have neither leaf nor flower, merely a stem varying in thickness from the size of the finger to that of a man's arm and twined in many places so firmly together, that the aid of the axe is necessary to cut a path through; the road we travelled is cleared and tolerably good, being formed in many places of wood where the hollows or watercourses are swampy: the windings of the road presents many beautiful vistas through these deep umbrageous solitudes and nothing can be more impressive than the stillness which prevails, unbroken, but by an occasional flight of screaming parrots, or the solitary cry of the shy pheasant, these birds are seldom seen, always hiding in the dense brushes; they are about the size of the Guinea fowl, with long downy plumage of a dark slate colour, the wings brown, feet and legs black, the toes are furnished with large and strong claws; their principal beauty, is the tail of the cock-bird which is very splendid, slightly resembling some species of the Bird of Paradise, the form of the head and neck is very similar to the Gallina or Guinea hen. Our tent is pitched in a very pretty spot, shaded by the dark foliage of the Forest Oak, which is abundant here, below us is a small creek, with its deep fringe of brush completely hiding it from view, innumerable Bell-birds inhabit this spot and their invarying note is heard all day long.

Sunday 19th. Enjoyed a very beautiful walk through varied country, in parts undulating, the side of the hills covered with fine trees; and the hollows, a dense vinous brush containing Palm trees and the endless variety of shrubs so luxuriant in these deep and shaded situations. Our camp is surrounded by a number of the natives and at night their various fires studded about, have a curious effect; each family has a fire around which they sleep even in the summer, they seem very sensitive of cold, while extreme heat is apparently unfelt by them; they are in their native wilds, an interesting set of people and those who have only seen the poor degraded, wretched creatures, about Sydney can form no idea of the aborigines of Australia; many of them, particularly the old, are according to our notions extremely hideous in their appearance but there are several about here, who are very good-looking and possess eyes and teeth which might well be envied; they are so happy too that it is a pleasure to see them, always singing and laughing, the children playing with each other, good humoured and obliging: they are fond of ornamenting themselves with any thing they can get, old shirts, trousers, or handkerchiefs, but their usual dress seems to be only, a cord made of opossum hair, twisted many times round the lower part of their bodies from which depend, a sort of tassel made of strips of opossum skin about a quarter of a yard long, three or four of these generally hang round, one in front, one behind, one on each hip. their heads are covered with thick black hair, some curled some not and almost all have a fillet of net work round the forehead; several have the cartilage between the nostrils perforated and they are fond of inserting a small white bone from the leg of the Kangaroo, which projects two or three inches on each side of the nose; the hair is ornamented in various ways, some twist bits of opossum fur, in their curly locks, or stick a feather from some bird, others fasten a long tail to their back hair, to hang down the back in a queue, but it is somewhat strange these ornaments are all peculiar to the men, the women are almost always seen wrapped in blankets, or cloaks of sewed opossum skins, without any attempt at adorning their most hideous features: they are much fewer in number than the men and among the children we see playing about there are no girls.

Monday 20th. Took a walk before dinner: the tent being insufferably hot, we sought the shade of the thick brush where the sun scarce penetrates. With a sharp little black fellow called "Nobody" for a guide, we proceeded in search of a track through the bush, to Tuggerah Beach Creek, but either our guide misunderstood us, or did not know the place we meant, for after walking a couple of miles, we found ourselves astray and it was too late to seek farther, our walk was very pleasant, we were so amused with our little guide, walking with firm and graceful step, choosing the best paths and with untaught politeness breaking down such branches as would obstruct our passage, he caught sight of a Lorie and was so anxious to shoot it that the gun was given him and he stole very cautiously under the tree, but he could not pull the trigger, being half afraid of it, the poor parrot was shot however, and he brought it to me with all the pride and pleasure possible, then taking it from me with, "I bin carry parrot belonging to you, " he untied his girdle of cord, broke off a piece, tied it to the parrot's neck and slung it on his arm, then with the gun on his shoulder, returned with lis to our tent. The weather all day had been very hot: the Thermometer standing at 98° in the shade but in the evening there was thunder and afterwards a storm of wind from the South-East, which made us gladly close our tent for the cold was as disagreeable as the extreme heat had been.

Tuesday 21st. This morning all our sable friends left us, promising to return tomorrow, they never stay long in one place and their restless habits, are the greatest bar to any attempt at civilization, they are however much happier in their native state and I think it almost cruel, to endeavour to detach them from it, civilization could give them no advantage; it would only deprive them of their present simple enjoyments and substitute fictitious wants which they would be unable to gratify. They are rapidly diminishing in number and most probably another generation will see their entire extinction, in at least this part of the Colony: beyond the settlements in the interior, they are still in formidable numbers, but these have the free range of their vast forests uninterrupted by the labours of the white man and are therefore in possession of the ample means of subsistence, of which we have, by our settlements, deprived their ebony brethren of the coast. - They have a curious idea of a future state, which also displays their sense of the superiority of the whites, they beleive [sic.] they shall after death, "jump up white man" as they express it: they bury their dead and by way ' v of mourning, smear their faces and some parts of their bodies with white paint which gives them a most horrible appearance. "Nobody's" brother and sister were thus disfigured for the loss of their little boy, which died a few days ago, the little fellow shook his head most pathetically as he told us it was "murry budgeree" (very pretty) "little boy what die, - and when I asked him what they did with it when dead, he said pointing to the -ground, "him lie down there," jump lip "white fellow, bye and bye. " - I think the parents only seem to wear mourning.

Wednesday 22nd. The weather today has been fine and cool, the Blacks are not returned, one of them brought us a fresh supply of fruit and a bottle of milk from Wyoming (Mr. Hely's): they are very good messengers; for a little flour or a bit of Tobacco they will walk several miles to carry a letter or message; a letter for Felton was brought today, a considerable distance by one of them, known by the cognomen of "Hopping Joe, " from a lameness, contracted by falling from a tree; he took back an answer the same evening and in spite of his lameness, the speed with which he got over the ground, proved he was a very good Post.

Thursday 23rd. This morning the overseer at Wyoming, sent one of our Black friends, Mr "Hobby, " with the horse for me; and the waggon for our baggage speedily followed, so we were soon on our return towards Narara. The ride was very pleasant, for though the heat soon became excessive, yet as our route lay so much through dense brushes, we did not feel it so much. We met a few blacks on their way to Wyong, they are always accompanied by several dogs and usually armed with spears and waddies, while the unfortunate gins (women) are always the bearers of whatever they may possess, such as calabashes, tinpots and various nondescript articles contained in bags made of net work. These are often hung round the forehead resting on the back; the bags are ingeniously net of a thread or cord, made of the bark of the Kurrajong, their fishing lines are made of the same.

[RAHS Journal Vol. XX1X Parts 2, 3 and 4]

It is not clear from these words precisely where the Mathews were, but one may make a considered guess. Mrs Mathew says in an entry just before those included here that they had six miles (10 kilometres) to go to their objective. The only significant feature that distance from Hely's at Wyoming was the crossing place over Ourimbah Creek. The head of Narara Creek is certainly far less than ten kilometres from Hely's and a trip to Erina was a separate undertaking, made directly after the journey detailed here. It is conceivable that Mathew was attempting to find the Ourimbah Creek crossing place as a reference in connection with his work.

From Hely's there were two routes north from as early as 1832. One route appears to have run from Wyoming, along the line of today's Chamberlain Road, over Berry's Head and down to Lisarow on the northern segment of Chamberlain Road.

A second route took the longer but easier line around the western slope of Berry's Head, somewhat along a path today traced by parts of Wyoming Road, Berry's Head Road and the Pacific Highway Cox and Hely had argued about this road in 1832 and after the latter's death in 1836, Cox attempted to get compensation for the road which would originally have been merely a bullock track used in getting his timber to Hely's wharf and which a practical government surveyor had in c.1835 declared a public road. Cox alleged that the road ran for 4½ miles through his land and that he had incurred £200-£300 expense in its formation. Despite his unreserved claims, he was unsuccessful in his appeals for "… Land, town allotmt, Money or any compensation whatever …" [AONSW 1114]. As soon as it had been declared public, according to Cox, it became the favoured route for all engaged in hauling timber from the Ourimbah area to Narara Creek and it is likely that under the burden of this traffic the road deteriorated to the extent that for a long time the older, more precipitous route over Berry's Head remained a viable alternative for horsemen and pedestrians.

So formidable an obstacle was Berry's Head, that if Felton Mathew and his party proceeded north across it, it is remarkable that Mrs Mathew did not refer to it in some way in her journal. More likely, then, they used the route around Berry's Head, aiming at what Mathew had marked on his 1831 map [AONSW map 5945] after his previous exploration of the area, as "Blue Gum Flat."

Considering the unknown nature of the country, it is not surprising that the party then became disoriented and unable to find its objective. On Mathew's 1831 map, the features he identifies by a name are sparse, indeed. At the southern end of the area are Blue Gum Flat and Mr Cox's Sawyers' Huts, which latter appear to be in the vicinity of today's MacDonald Road and well off Cox's land (hence, they may not have been there for the second visit!). Along Ourimbah Creek are Boomee and Wylalong. The free-standing hill to the south of the Ourimbah Creek crossing place was called Geerine (Giirin on a slightly later survey-the hill would have been an ideal landmark for the crossing before the track became well-formed). A little further downstream was Yerralong. A large area of Chittaway is noted as Tea Tree Brush and further north, corresponding with what appears on some present-day maps as Titwood, is Titooa. Considering Felton Mathew sometimes surprised himself by crossing his tracks on the first survey. it is not unreasonable to assume that the country described by Sarah Mathew is that on the north side of Berry's Head and down onto Blue Gum Flat.

Macquoid's problems were still not resolved, however and, at length, Surveyor Larmer was despatched in 1836 to remeasure the grant and make up any deficiency at the western end.

The confusion was later put down to a clerical error in the official description of the land as adopted by the government, according to Surveyor John H. Laycock, who in 1885 insisted that the marks on the ground that had been used in the measuring were all correct and in the right places. It was probably because of this and because of the instruction to Larmer to make up the deficiency on the western end that Macquoid's grant became popularly understood to stretch further west than its original description and, when an area of 250 acres was granted in compensation for the earlier shortfall, that was where it was generally supposed to be.

Much later, in 1884, it was decided that such should not be the case - the land thought to be Macquoid's compensatory piece was stated to be Crown land and a section of 250 acres further west from the Crown land, was held to be the land granted to make up the full amount of 2560 acres [LTO papers with PA 6215].

The problem with the measurement may have been the reason for Macquoid's not proceeding with any plan to divide the grant into lots for sale. However, it did not prevent him from using the land as collateral in the raising of loans. John Edye Manning also practised this method of obtaining income. As land values rose, mortgages could be taken to pay off previous mortgages and still provide enough cash to maintain an elegant lifestyle in Sydney. The presence of natural resources, such as timber, merely represented an additional bonus.

Frederick Hely died in 1836, still a young man and without ever having retired to Wyoming. Shortly after, any hope that the large estates would prosper and flourish into thriving agricultural communities as Hely might have wished, died too, in the depression of the early 1840s.

Macquoid was becoming a figure of some notoriety in the Colony. As early as 1832 newspaper reports appeared questioning his use of public funds for private purposes. In 1838 he sold his Ourimbah land to George Townshend, Manning's son-in-law, for £1,500. At that stage, the original description was thought to be of 2048 acres and so the sale documents mention a further 512 acres as being a part of the sale, but there is no description of the location of the extra land. Townshend mortgaged the larger parcel to one Henry Gilbert Smith and the smaller lot to his brother-in-law, Edye Manning and one Robert Cruden Gordon. He defaulted on both of these mortgages, Smith becoming the owner of what was determined to be 2310 acres and the deeds for the additional portion, determined as 250 acres, were eventually made out to Manning and Gordon [LTO papers with PA 6215. LTO Memorial Book M, No 564. LTO Memorial Book X, No 909].

Macquoid's financial position was becoming untenable. A prominent businessman, one Robert Futter, had faith in (or took pity on) him and the two became friendly. Futter appointed Macquoid as one of the executors of his will and, after he died, Macquoid authorised for himself a loan of £2000 from the estate. In January 1841, Futter's widow asked Macquoid to repay the money or to resign from the trust administering the estate and put up security for the loan. The High Sheriff of New South Wales was aghast at the idea that anyone could think he was using his position to advance his interests. In a mood of high dudgeon he wrote to his solicitor saying he wished to break off all contact with Mrs Futter and that he would repay the money "in a short time" [Pickard WJ, The Futters of Kings (Blackheath: Futter Park Ltd, Trustee of the JD FC and V S Futter Trust, 1984) at 52–53].

But time had run out for the Colony's senior policeman and in October, 1841, Governor Gipps wrote to the Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Russell, saying:

I am sorry to have to report to your Lordship the death of Mr Thomas Macquoid, Sheriff of this Colony and I regret still more to add, that he died by his own hand, having shot himself through the head with a Pistol on the morning of the 12th instant.

The verdict of the Jury afsembled by the Coroner to hold an Inquest on his body, was that he had destroyed himself in a fit of temporary insanity. As pecuniary embarrassments were well known to have led Mr Macquoid to the commission of this rash act, I lost no time in appointing two officers to report on the state of his accounts with the government … [Governor's Despatches: ML CY POS A1226].

Many of the greedy speculators in the Colony were experiencing pecuniary embarrassment at the same time. There had been a drought and the price of wool, the ultimate collateral for all the land deals in New South Wales at the time, had fallen dramatically. Another of those affected was Macquoid's neighbour in Ourimbah, John Edye Manning.

Manning had found his private funds insufficient for his financial ambitions and began to use monies under his care as Curator of Intestate Estates. He did not at any stage keep public funds separate from his own and when the High Court Judges protested about this, he reasoned that his own salary did not extend to the outgoings necessarily incurred in the care of the public monies and the method he had adopted of using the estate funds as his own was to the advantage of the estates.

Towards the end of 1841, the Judges only decided against sacking Manning because they felt they might better be able to monitor his dealings while he remained in office. By early 1842, however, it was apparent he would have to go. When he was sacked he had debts of more than £30,000, a third of which he owed to the public purse. His property was sequestered and he returned to England briefly before taking shelter on the Continent, where he had spent some time hiding from creditors even before his period in New South Wales.

While in England he wrote to another of his sons, (later Sir) William Montague Manning, who was still in New South Wales, opining that the only comfort he could feel was that so many gentlemen of Sydney had found themselves similarly ruined by the depression. The Bank of New South Wales eventually forced a mortgagee sale of the Manning grant at Ourimbah.

The depression of the 1840s which so altered the fortunes of the wealthy capitalists paradoxically had little effect on the bulk of the denizens of Ourimbah. Two occupants of Manning's grant were affected to the extent that they are not again mentioned in connection with the locality; but the majority appear not to have been unduly inconvenienced by the crashes of John Edye Manning and George Townshend.

John Keating Campbell took a five year lease on the northern three-quarters of Manning's grant in 1838. No rent was payable, the consideration being certain clearing and building conditions to be met by Campbell [LTO Memorials Book N, No 106]. It is an exciting possibility that even if any building was dilapidated to the extent of being uninhabitable by 1860, the cleared ground might have provided the site for William Walmsley's house after his 1859 acquisition of the grant.

Similarly, Arthur Wilcox Manning, who had possession of the remaining 640 acres of the grant (the southern quarter), apparently quit Ourimbah as an indirect result of the economic breakdown. Arthur Manning's house was situated atop the mound on the eastern side of the railway line, just near the southernmost of the road and rail bridges over Cut Rock Creek [ML Map M3 811.25/1841/1]. A short road which once led from the highway to the house has recently been named Manning's Road. Arthur Manning, seeking assigned convict labour to work this patch, stated in the undated (probably late 1830s) copy of his application for the convicts, in the Gosford magistrate's books, that the land came to him from his father, "J. E. Manning" [AONSW 2663.]. This conflicts somewhat with papers held in the Mitchell Library in which Sir William Montague Manning has drawn the immediate family tree, with no mention of an Arthur Wilcox Manning [ML Ms 246/1 J. E. Manning Sr; 1791-1892, Sir William Montague Manning papers; Index F7].

Because of J. E. Manning's insolvency, on 12 January 1842 the local Brisbane Water Constable proceeded to Arthur Manning's farm, Bangalore, with instructions from Macquoid's successor as High Sheriff, William Hustler, to take an inventory of all the property there. Magistrate Holden respectfully cautioned the Sheriff that some of the furniture might belong to Arthur Manning and that perhaps it should not be sold until the question of ownership was settled. Holden and Manning had hunted bushrangers together and it is not unlikely that the magistrate had the young Manning's interests at heart. The property was catalogued, however and Arthur Wilcox Manning left the immediate area.

John Hill, Arthur Manning's overseer, was placed in charge of the property. Hill and his wife Ann had been residing on the property at the time of the 1841 Census. Also there at that time, along with Arthur Manning and his wife, Frances, were Robert and Sarah Clarke and possibly also Charles and Charlotte Bryan [Newcastle Anglican Diocese Baptismal Records (1839-1861), Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle]. All of those at Bangalore at the time were between the ages of 21 and 45; eight of the twelve men were convicts, as were two of the five women. There were four tradesmen, nine labourers and two domestics, besides the Mannings themselves [1841 Census - information relevant to Brisbane Water District extracted by P Tabuteau].

Those who we know were employed at Bangalore at this time are mentioned subsequently in various records relating to the district and no doubt some of those whose residences are not able to be placed were also a part of the Bangalore community.

Across the highway from Manning's place was James Smith's house (say, several hundred metres north of Lisarow cemetery), on land owned by Robert Cox [ML Map M3 811.25/1841/1]. Smith had men employed cutting timber for him. In 1840 he had William Deeves (Deaves), Thomas Jackson, D Higgins and Martin Grady. Deaves and Grady are local identities whose names come up on several occasions. In 1840 William Deaves was 16 years of age, 5 feet 3 inches tall (160 cm) with grey eyes, flaxen hair and florid complexion. Martin Grady (FS) was 37, 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm) with light blue eyes, dark brown to grey hair and swarthy complexion-a striking figure indeed! [AONSW 895.]

Residing at Blue Gum Flat in 1839 was one Mary Brady. Mary may have had a liaison with James Smith or he had a strong affection for her son, because shortly after Smith's death later in the Census year of 1841, correspondence between Magistrate Holden of Gosford, Constable Henderson of Veteran's Hall (Saratoga), Mr R Cox of Webb's Reach (Booker Bay) and John Edye Manning in his capacity of Registrar of the Supreme Court and Curator of Intestate Estates, is concerned with the subject of Smith's estate and the possibility of a boy, Brady, being made a beneficiary. As a result, Arthur Manning was asked to take charge of some of Smith's property, possibly a crop in the ground, which was to be gathered and held for the "Lad's advantage" [AONSW 2663].

If a degree of competence with basic tools was a requirement for success at the pioneering game, James Smith had it. In 1836 he killed a neighbour, one of Cox's convicts, James Whaling (per Captain Cook, 1832, 7 years). Whaling was "hit across the belly with a fire shovel by one James Smith" according to the magistrate Jonathon Warner, who examined the corpse one hour after death and was unable to note any signs of violence. Warner reported the following day, however, that by the next dawn Whaling's belly had turned a "blue or greenish blue" [AONSW 2663]. Bear up, gentle Reader! Smith was some 60 years of age at the time of this incident.

Some of the other convicts Cox had assigned to work on his Lisarow land were Charles Tucker (per Waterloo, 1829, 7 years), Henry Stephens (up until 1835) and Henry Murdoch (by 1837 moved to Cox's Parramatta residence, but possibly the same Henry Murdoch who settled near Wyoming at Maiden's Brush during the 1840s and later at Sandy Ridge, Ourimbah).

A Henry and Mary Castello (Costello) resided at Lisero (Lisarow) in 1839 when their daughter Eliza was born. Martin Grady and Harriet Parker were living at Blue Gum Flat in the same year, when their daughter, Hannah, was born [Newcastle Anglican Diocese Baptismal Records (1839-1861), Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle].

Apart from James Smith and Arthur Manning, Blue Gum Flat householders who also responded to the 1841 Census were Ralph Wood, Charles Tucker, Lawrence MacDonald and Edward Taylor. Wood was to become a long-time resident of the area and in 1841 he had, like all the others, a furnished, wooden house. He and another man and a young girl, probably his daughter, resided there at the time. Charles Tucker, the same who had worked as a convict on Cox's grant, lived with his wife and another man. Both the men were engaged in agricultural labours, the closest category in the Census to timber getting. At the end of 1835 Tucker had applied for his "Ticket of Freedom", intending to "proceed into the interior to procure work" [AONSW 2663]. Whether he did so or not, he ended up not far from where he had served a part of his sentence and very likely engaged in the same type of work.

Lawrence MacDonald was a carpenter, born c.1796. He was 5 feet 7½ inches (171 cm), tall for the time, with bluish grey eyes, brown hair and a weather beaten complexion. At his house there were his wife, Cecilia (they were both aged between 21 and 45) and their three young daughters, all currency lasses.

At Edward Taylor's place were he and his young wife, their children, a boy and a girl both under 2 years and another man.

Later in 1841 MacDonald applied for a timber licence for himself. At about the same time Ralph Wood began business, applying for licences for two men, Will Smith (FS) and Will Farand (FS) to cut for him [AONSW 895].

In fact the 1840s saw a major growth of population in the Ourimbah area. Attracted by the availability of work cutting timber, a great number of young couples moved all through the Central Coast, gradually forming settlements at which many began to put down roots. Our most important records of that movement and settlement are the registers kept by the itinerant Church of England ministers on the Coast. From them we know that despite the troubles at Bangalore, John and Ann Hill called their daughter, born 21 January 1842, after Frances, Arthur Manning's wife. Also becoming parents in that year were Charles and Charlotte Bryan and William and Ann Badcock of Lisaroe (Lisarow).

In 1843 and 1844, sawyer James and Mary Batchelor of Blue Gum Flat had children. Between 1843 and 1845, Henry Anderson, sawyer, is recorded in the registers as being resident at Blue Gum Flat on the occasions of weddings which he witnessed and the births of the children of he and his wife, Ann.

Typifying the drifting nature of the population were sawyer Charles and Sophia Kennedy, who had a child while at Blue Gum Flat in 1844. Shortly after that event, Charles died aged only 43 years. In 1842 they had been living at East Gosford when a child was born to them and before that, in 1840, they had had a baby while living at Colcorone (MacMaster's Beach).

Sawyer and splitter John Eggerton (Egerton, Egyton, Eggeton) and his wife Bridget (McDermott), lived at Blue Gum Flat when they had children in 1844 and 1846, then in 1850 were living at "Matcham's Land".

Another name that is mentioned on several occasions is that of Thomas Swan. Despite being recorded as having died in 1840, aged 27, resident of Blue Gum Flat, sawyer (per Mangles, 1833), a labourer Thomas and Sarah Swan, resident at Blue Gum Flat are recorded as having been parents of Thomas (1842) and Mary (1844). In 1835, a Thomas Swan, assigned servant to Frederick Hely, had with another man, apprehended an Aborigine, for which action there had been a reward of £10.

Also resident in the Ourimbah area during the 1840s were sawyer Matthew and Anne Butt, who had children while at Blue Gum Flat in 1845 and c.1849; labourer, Thomas and Sophia Little of Blue Gum Flat, who had children while there in 1845 and 1848; sawyer, John and Mary Kimmister, blessed with young in 1846 and again in 1847!

William Helps, who witnessed the marriage of Martin Grady and Harriet Parker, all of Blue Gum Flat, in 1845, was in Blue Gum Flat still the following year when his wife Sophia gave birth, but had changed his address to Wyoming and his vocation from sawyer to storekeeper in 1850 while for his wife still more changes occurred, she once more residing at Blue Gum Flat when she had the child of one Charles Newman.

Sawyer Henry Oxenham and his wife Sarah were at Erina in 1845, but in 1847 and 1849 they were at Blue Gum Flat when Sarah had babies. In 1847 James and Barbara Gowdy (Gowdie, Goldle) had a baby while at Blue Gum Flat. Similarly, William Deeves (Deaves, Deves) and Sophia Collins began their family while living at Blue Gum Flat in 1848.

In the decade of the 1840s, twenty births were recorded on the Church of England register at Blue Gum Flat, a further one at Lisarow and two more at Bangalore. Although none were recorded at either Lisarow or Bangalore during the following decade, the increase in population in other parts of the area we might generally call Ourimbah can be appreciated from the birth figures from the same source which shows Blue Gum Flat as hosting twenty-four births, the new centre of The Sawmill (all around today's junction of Ourimbah Creek Road and Foott's Road) saw twenty and the outlying parts of Ourinbah (Ourimbah) Creek, four; Chittaway, two; and Peach Tree Flat (possibly in the area known today as Niagara Park), four.