Address:
(Old)
Castlereagh Rd, Upper Castlereagh
How to get
there: Drive north from Penrith along Castlereagh Road till you
read a roundabout with a hedge in the centre cut in the shape of
rowers. Turn left there (the sign might say 'Old Castlereagh
Road') and drive a distance west and you come to another right angle bend. The road there turns (called the Birds Eye Bend corner) and heads
north. Soon you'll reach the church and hall and that
is
now the end of Castlereagh Road (beyond that it is to be dug up to extract
the sand and gravel below).
Note:
At mid left of this view the Nepean River is seen emerging from the face of
the Blue Mountains. The river then traverses a
half-circle
of its own alluvial deposits (seen as the ighter-tone [former] farming
lands). The E-W stretch of the river divides this
alluvial
half-circle 'artificially' (i.e. in human nomenclure) into "Emu
Plains" at its southern side and "Upper Castlereagh"
river
flats at its northern side - but geologically it is all the same continuous
one single geo-historical formation.
Source:
Penrith City Library Photographic Collection LCPH E018.
Early
homestead on the river flats, Hadley Park. This is a double-storeyed
brick-nog building constructed in
1811-1812.
It is perhaps the earliest datable homestead with two full storeys now
surviving in Australia.
Home
of the family of Charles Hadley. An
outbuilding, possibly the initial timber cottage built on
the site (ca.1806) is also maybe the oldest timber cottage known to survive in
Australia.
(Photos:
Daphne Kingston, Stedinger Associates)
Depending
on the final line up of speakers, things that are likely to be discussed
include:
*
How old is the river? (current thinking is that it is older than 42
million years).
*
When did the Blue Mountains rise? (Dr David Branagan will address this
question.)
*
What is the origin of the great silcrete boulders of Castlereagh?
*
Where was the "Great Castlereagh Axe Factory"? (Aboriginal ground
edge stone axes or hatchets)
[Stone
hatchets were an essential part of the Aboriginal toolkit in southeast
Australia. Some think it very likely that there was at least one stone
hatchet in every camp. Hatchets were often attached to a wooden handle and
used like an axe to cut off sheets of bark for huts or canoes; to shape wood
into shields, clubs and spears; to cut open hollows in trees to catch possums;
and to split open trunks to get honey or grubs or the eggs of insects.
They were made from hard stone that was roughly shaped and then ground against
another stone to make a cutting edge. Hefty stone hatchets made from
distinctive cordierite hornfels cobbles have been found at Homebush Bay and
other areas near Sydney, which were likely carried there from the Nepean.]
*
Where were the Aboriginal stone fish traps at Castlereagh?
*
When did humankind first come to 'Upper Castlereagh' (and of course this is
but a 'recent' name)? - According to the work of archaeologist Fr
Eugene Stockton it was more than 40,000 years ago.
*
When did white settlers first arrive? (Answer about 1800 most likely,
settling on land at the Birds Eye Bend).
-
Early farming life may be discussed (if speaker/s on this can be
obtained).
*
Where was the first Wesleyan place of worship (chapel) in the Southern
Hemisphere? (Answer - our meeting place).
Visitors are
invited to bring along little items of interest about the past, to
show. The main planned display of the day will be a
display board, and publications for sale, by NEPEAN
DISTRICT HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP (NDHAG)
The display by NDHAG will show
some of their photo collection of old houses along Castlereagh
Road. It will also feature two sites that they have excavated or
collected from - the "John Lees site" which is alongside the meeting
place itself, and the McCarthy farm which was across the former Cranebrook
Creek just to the east.
"I
am not a Christian: I only follow after, if haply I may attain it ..... doing
good unto all men."
[
Rev. John Wesley, June 1739 ]
Memorial
plaque inside the church to John Lees and helpmeet Mary Lees, who gave this
'sacred acre' to the Wesleyans ca. 1815. Also
on the church wall is another plaque with words of the first schoolmaster (and
later preacher), James Rutledge:
"I
taught school for five years, and in it I was married, and in it I witnessed
glorious revival of God's work.
In
it was my daughter Maria
baptised: there I officiated as a local preacher for seven years - and
so
the spot to me, as well as the family of the original donor, is hallowed
ground".
DISPLAYS:
Attendees
are invited to bring along any small items of interest to add to a display
table. (Please contact John at john.mail@ozemail.com.au
or (02) 9747 3701 who would be interested to know about anything you are
bringing to show.)
It
is expected that the principal items on display will be photos of the
Castlereagh vicinity, plus publications for sale, by Nepean Distrrict
Historical Archaeology Group. About
NDHAG:
Write:
PO Box 874 Penrith NSW 2750
Email:
ndhag@bigpond.com
Internet:
http://www.users.bigpond.com/ndhag
Phone:
(02) 4751 1868
"Discovering
and Recording Local History"
The group
finding and digging up an old path at Minaville
(Photo: NDHAG)
The NDHAG was formed on the 12th March 1978 (with five
members - Jenny Lawless, Don Berry, John Gersteling, George Gyford and Ellen
Morris).
George Gyford (left) receiving a NSW
Government Heritage Volunteer Award, in 2005
(George Gyford, deceased, first settled in Penrith in 1957 and was active
in local history research for more than a quarter of century. He
helped establish NDHAG and held the position of President for 27 years.
George encouraged a professional and methodical approach to the recording of
local history, endeavouring to gather a full history of their occupants, and
description of the site with photos and plans. The Group for more than a
decade focussed especially on the Upper Castleragh river flats area, where the
Penrith Lakes Scheme was set to obliterate most of the various old
properties. With other work by PLDC, and consultant archaeologist
Siobhan Lavelle, the group's assessments for the Penrith Lakes Scheme area
were incorporated in the DA4 Management Study of the area.)
In his "spare time" George Gyford
lectured on Ancient History and Historical Archaeology at the Nepean Community
College, and often spoke at various local community groups.)
Since 1978, NDHAG has researched and
recorded numerous sites in the Nepean district. Members come from all
walks of life, usually with no previous experience in archaeology
recording or research. However they do have an interest and an enthusiasm for
discovering and recording local history. Training is provided "in
house".
NDHAG SITE SURVEYS AND RECORDINGS
1. Random Stone Barn, Huntington Hall, Emu Plains
2. Hadley Park, Castlereagh
3. Old & New Police Stations, Emu Plains
4. Old Inn and Pest Office, Emu Plains
5. Steadman's Cottage, Castlereagh
6. Willett's Cottage, Castlereagh
7. Mrs Cane's House, 652 High Street. Penrith
8. Slab Cottage, Agnes Banks
9. Brickyard, Kingswood
10. Brickyard Survey - Nepean District
11. Richard Heaton's Cottage, Orchard Hills
12. Old Brick House, 562 Great Western Highway, St Marys
13. Assembly Hall, Emu Plains
14. Old Stone Barn, Castlereagh
15. Old Timber Barn, Castlereagh
16. "Arms of Australia" Inn, Emu Plains
17. "Union Inn", Emu Plains
18. Masonic Hall, Castlereagh St., Penrith
19. Railway Station, Emu Plains
20. "Victoria House", 7 Lawson St, Penrith
21. "Hedsor", 32 North St, Penrith
22. "Craft Cottage", Belmore Street, Penrith
23. Slab Cottages, 10 Lawson St. & 75 Henry St., Penrith
24. Stationmaster's House, 57 Belmore St., Penrith
25. Pise Ruins, Church Lane, Castlereagh
26. Parsonge, 2 Glebe Place, Penrith
27. Smedley's House, 6 Macquarie Ave., Lemongrove
28. "Dad & Dave Cottage, Castlereagh
29. "Corromandal" Farm, Ebenezer
30. Nepean Times Printery, Station St, Penrith
31. "Kerry Lodge", Castlereagh Rd, Castlereagh
32. John Lees House, Castlereagh Rd., Castlereagh
33. Parker’s Slaughteryard, Castlereagh Rd., Castlereagh
34. "Oshome", Agnes Banks
35. Cottage on Goodlit’s, Castlereagh
36. Well and Cistern, McCarthy Farm, Cranebrook
37. 73 Forbes Street, Emu Plains
38. Ruins on Ralph Wilson’s Grant, Castlereagh
39. Barn & Dairy on Pugh's Grant, Site 36, Castlereagh
40. Concrete House, Parker Site, Castlereagh
41. Upper Castlereagh School, Castlereagh
42. Wright's Farm Site 2, Castlereagh
43. Vella's Farm, Site 2, Castlereagh
44. Mead’s Farm, Hartley
45. Williams Wright's Farm Site 26, Castlereagh
46. Purcell's Cottage, Site 33, Castlereagh
47. "Strathcairns", Site 18, Cranebrook
From this work, a number of publications have been
produced for sale:
Guides
Beginers Guide to Small Excavations - $5.00
Guide No. 1 - Land Titles Office - $5.00
Guide No. 2 - Lands Department - $5.00
Guide No. 3 - Recording Buildings - $5.00
Guide No. 4 - Beginers Guide to Research Sources in NSW - $5.00
Guide No. 5 - History of Nepean - $5.00
Sites studies
Australian Arms / Old Post Office (1994) -
$5.00
Bunya Pine (Colour) - $5.00
Bunya Pine (B&W) - $5.00
Church Lane - $5.00
Cranebrook Creek - $5.00
Emu Plains Police Station (Old and New) - $5.00
Farrells Lane - $5.00
Mass Concrete House - 23 Smith St Castlereagh - $10.00
McCarthys Farm - $5.00
Parkers Slaughter House - $5.00
Pise House Castlereagh - $5.00
Purcells Cottage - $5.00
Steadmans Cottage - $5.00
Strathcairns Cottage - $5.00
Vellas Farm (At Wrights Farm Complex) - $5.00
Wrights Farm Complex - $5.00
Early settlers compilation
In Search of Early Nepean Pioneers - $25.00
At its formation in 1978, NDHAG
selected McCarthy's Farm as an early settlement site worthy of research and
survey. For its first few years this site was the focus of attention for
the Group. The McCarthy site was probably
settled as early as 1800 by James McCarthy, one of the earliest settlers on
the Upper Castlereagh river flats. The work carried out by the
Group involved research into the history and activities of the McCarthy
family, together with a close and detailed study of the farm site which had
been burnt and razed to the ground in the mid 1970s.
James
McCarthy has also been researched by Danielle
Embleton (Librarian, Penrith) - click
here for Danielle's work on JMcC. From the time Danielle
started at Penrith Libary she had heard the story
of James McCarthy .... i.e. that James was believed to have been the first (or
one of the first?) to farm in the area. He arrived as a convict in 1793,
on the Boddingtons. He was first sent to Toongabbie
Government farm. In 1796 he was convicted of "forgery" and was
to be hanged. Reverend Richard Johnson pleaded that his life be
spared, and this was so - but instead of hanging he was sent to the harser
regime of Norfolk Island for the remainder of his seven year sentence.
By 1802 he was back in Sydney and in August 1804 was given a land grant of 100
acres from Governor King. He named the property the "Crane Brook
Farm".
That
is the standard story on James McCarthy. Danielle Embleton in
January 2002 was contacted by a researcher of the McCarthy family whose
husband was a great-great-great-great grandson of James McCarthy. She,
the researcher, indicated that they'd been unaware of any 1796 conviction for
forgery, or sentence to Norfolk Island. They'd understood that
around this period in time James was travelling to Sydney to pick up Irish
labour. The researcher asked if Penrith Library had McCarthy Cemetery
records and if there were any other records on the McCarthy family, etc.
Danielle replied to the researcher, citing the various sources of
information and what knowledge the Library had of James McCarthy's early life
in the colony. The researcher replied with thanks and the middle
of her email was a sentence that Danielle later said "was to be my
downfall". That sentence was "But I wasn't aware
that his original conviction was also for forgery". It was
then that Danielle began checking things more carefully and found some
discrepancies. How could a convict, who was given a second
sentence of seven years and sent to Norfolk Island in order to serve it, turn
up two and a half years later to receive a grant and be living in the Evan
district. Thus the story of James McCarthy as the Library was thinking
Penrith already knew about seemed likely to be a tale of snippets on two
different men that had become woven together. This sort of thing
indeed must have happened many times in the keeping of history. As
Danielle persisted with this matter she sifted through the information
that could be related specifically to James McCarthy of the Boddingtons.
She found that he didn't appear to go to Norfolk Island at all.
Castlereagh's James McCarthy had been put on trial in Antrim, Ireland,
in August 1792. He was sentenced to 7 years transportation at the age of
20 years. On the 15 February, 1793, he sailed from Cork onboard the Boddingtons,
and that ship arrived in the Colony 173 days later, on the 7 August 1793.
In the King's Lists of 1801 a James McCarty is listed as living on a grant of
30 acres which had been granted under Grose in November 1794. Some confusion
may have arisen from researchers thinking that this referred to a grant given
to James McCarthy, when in actual fact he was simply renting this grant from
someone else. For Family "legend" has it that James McCarthy
was given a 30 acre grant in 1799 which was later changed into the 100 acre
grant awarded in 1804. Thereappears, however, to be no evidence to
substantiate this. It is more likely to be the grant to Denis McCarthy
which was the 30 acres grant in 1799, at Mulgrave Place in the Hawkesbury
district. The next mention of James McCarthy is in the 1802 Muster. This
continues to show that he was renting land at Mulgrave Place. He then
had 16 acres cleared, 9 in wheat and he owned one horse and 8 hogs. Of
the grain in hand 9 was in wheat and 30 in maize. Living with him was a
woman and child, along with one government servant. According to
information that accompanied this muster, said information was collected
in the middle of 1802. Also in 1802 (April), James McCarthy is
found listed on a register of arms belonging to individuals in His Majesty's
Colony of NSW. He was listed as having one gun and living in the
Hawkesbury District. It was on the 11 August 1804 he was given his 100 acre
land grant that became Crane Brook Farm. So what didn't add
up about the story of him going to Norfolk Island. Well, apart from the
physical logistics of a man, sent to Norfolk Island with a second 7 year
sentence, being back at Mulgrave Place only a few short years later, when you
follow the trail of the James McCarthy who went to Norfolk Island, you
discover that he never left Norfolk Island. He died there on the 9 July 1803
(Danielle, therefore, was able to dismiss this Norfold Island part of the
story). Danielle found it hard to pick when the lives of these two
men had begun to get blurred togehter. The Norfolk Island James McCarthy
is listed as being of the Boddingtons in Raymond Nobbs book
"Norfolk Island and its first Settlement: 1788-1814".
The story of that man's internal exile began in 1796 when he and three other
accomplices passed a forged note at "Mr Hogan's store".
Trial was delayed until April because that " James McCarthy" broke
out of the cells and remained at large for some weeks in the Hawkesbury
district. When brought to trial on the 29 April, two men were also put
on trial over the matter. Wood was found not guilty and James McCarthy
was found guilty and sentenced to death. The Governor approved his
executed on 13 May ordered the Corps to parade for the execution on the
following day. However, he countermanded the order after a plea by Mr
Johnson the clergyman who had attended the prisoner. His sentence
was changed to 7 years hard labour on Norfolk Island. In September the
ships Reliance & Supply sailed for Norfolk Island. David Collins
recorded on 20 September 1796 that “James McCarthy is also sent; he was
tried for and found guilty of forgery, but his life has been spared, on
condition of his serving 7 years at Norfolk Island”. There does
not appear to be any evidence that the James McCarthy who committed the act of
forgery and was sent to Norfolk Island and the James McCarthy of Cranebrook
were one and the same - and it is now thought that they are not. Who
James McCarthy of the Upper Castlereagh river flats plain really was is
fairly well documented after 1801. He was a devout Catholic and a
staunch supporter of the faith in the early stages of the colony. As a
shrewd farmer and businessman he amassed land and made farming
profitable. As a caring father and grandfather he saw this his children
were educated and his grandchildren provided for. Why was he
transported to Australia? The records which would have told us of
his crime have been lost or destroyed. Quite likely he was a
"rebel" in some way, or at least far from sympathetic to the English
cause in Ireland. For the Boddingtons probably brought here
on that voyage a large proportion of men from northern Ireland where the
Catholic "Defenders" were engaged in ongoing resistance to the
centuries of English occupation. A few years later the Catholic
defenders would unite with the also-oppressed Presbyterians .. as the United
Irishmen, and the short-lived 1798 Irish war of independence erupt. That
war was quickly crushed by the very surperior English Crown arms and after
1798 many more Irish were "bound for Botany Bay" as more exiles
followed to the Colony (thus would end up at Nepean or Evan area men like
Joseph Holt, a rebel general, and the well known chaplain of Castlereagh, Rev.
Fulton who was also exiled as politically suspect as seditious).
Regarding the men sent on the Boddingtons, the documentation of the convicts
was very poor and the conviction list did not accompany the Boddingtons (and
it was similar for other convict transports). Governor Hunter
complained that the manner in which the convicts were sent out from Ireland,
"is so extremely careless and irregular that it must be felt by these
people as a particular hardship, and by government as a great inconvenience.
Every ship from that country (meaning Ireland), have omitted to bring any
account of the conviction or terms of transportation of those people they
bring out”. Danielle remarked "Neither of my McCarthy’s
could read or write and at one stage I found myself comparing the X
signed on the trial documents to the X signed on James McCarthy’s will to
see if they were the same". The McCarthy farm is gone now but
recently it was noted somewhere that a descendant family may have gathered up
the bricks from there and re-built them into a cottage at Mulgoa
somewhere. So the connections may live on, bricks-wise, and the looking
into these sorts of things never really ends .. but may just go on and on, as
more things are discovered to be be connected, etc.
McCarthy
is the anglicized form of the Gaelic "Mac Carthaigh" or son of Carthach,
a personal name meaning "loving." The name is Irish
rather than Scottish despite the fact that the "son of" prefix is mac
rather than o.'
Tadhg MacCarthaigh became the first king of Desmond (Cork and Kerry) in
1118. It was also a McCarthy who built Blarney castle in
1446. Cormac MacCarthy put off Queen Elizabeth's demand for allegiance
with his "fair words and soft speech" - which was how the Blarney
stone acquired its reputation for imparting eloquence to those who succeeded
in kissing it. The MacCarthy families opposed the English encroachments
until the 17th century when, like the other Gaelic families, they lost almost
everything. Many of the Irish
sent to Australia in its early years were "political" prisoners
exile. One Denis
McCarthy may have had a 30 acres grant in 1799, at Mulgrave Place but there
also seems to be (another?) Denis McCarthy who was was transported to
Tasmania, following his capture during the 1798 rebellion. There
may well be some Tasmanian connection? When Philip Devereux died
in Tasmania, in 1910 a Tasmanian paper stated that more than thirty years ago
a relative who died in Sydney, leaving a considerable estate, had willed him a
large proportion of it - and it is thought this was James McCarthy, son of
John McCarthy & Ann Beardsley & brother of his mother, who owned
Cranebrook (MCarthy Farm) - fide http://users.ncable.net.au/~hartleyb/adevereux1818.html
This
extended note is made here on James McCarthy because his farm, and its
excavation/history, will be a feature of the expected display of 22
August. The first Catholic priests that came to the area usually
with families at Castlereagh/Cranebrook, mostly the McCarthy's. The
McCarthy home early became a centre for Catholic services and a small room was
set aside for the Priest when he stayed. McCarthy also set aside a
parcel of land for a cemetery for Catholics in the area, which cemetery is now
recognised as the oldest Catholic Cemetery in Australia. In the
twentieth century the property remained a productive dairy farm, with the
house extended several times until the family sold to sand and gravel
interests in the late 1960s. The last family member at the farm may have
been Kevin Dwyer (deceased, - 2004). Kevin had a strong interest
in history and was a member of the
St Marys Historical Society, along with his wife Margaret, for many
years. Kevin moved from his ancestral home known as Cranebrook
House (“McCarthy’s Farm”) at Cranebrook to St Marys in 1968. In
2003 he received the Centenary Medal for services to the local community
through local government and as a volunteer. He had been a Mayor, Deputy
Mayor and Councillor on Penrith City Council.
Today
there is a school nearby, at Emu Plains, which is called McCarthy
Catholic College:- "Integrity, Justice and Peace. McCarthy
Catholic College was established in 1986 as a Catholic Senior co-educational
High School. McCarthy Catholic College reflects the faith and courage
of the pioneer McCarthy family in the local church and wider community by
striving to uphold Catholic values and traditions. ....... Love Thy Neighbour as Yourself.
If you attend McCarthy Catholic College, you cannot be a part of the community without taking that value on board. If that does not get through then the College motto will not make much sense, Integrity, Justice & Peace"
(Mr Trefoni, Acting Principal, 5 June 2009). The school celebrates
19 June as "McCarthy Day", to "promote school spirit and our
namesake "the McCarthy family" (Miss H. Quirk and Mr. F. O'Callaghan).
SPEAKERS:
Rev.
Russell Davies will talk on the "Castlereagh
Wesleyan Chapel - then and now". Rev. Russell, a
retired Uniting Church minister, is currently General Manager and Chaplain to
Castlereagh Academy. He is working towards the 200th anniversary
in 2017 of the old Castlereagh church. This is the first Methodist
chapel in Australia - and indeed the first in the southern
hemisphere. He will speak about John Lees and the origins of
Castlereagh chapel, and outline its current status and plans for the future.
Fr Eugene
D. Stockton will talk on "The Bioregion of Deerubin"
(Deerubin is the Aboriginal name of the river). Father
Stockton is author/editor of the well-known book "Blue Mountains
Dreaming: the Aboriginal Heritage" (2nd Edition, 2009)about Aboriginal archaeology and history.
Book
"Blue Mountains Dreaming" by Eugene Stockton and others
Eugene Daniel Stockton is a priest
and theologan who is retired from parish ministry and is now mostly active in
writing. He has engaged in archaeology in the Middle East (1982)
and in many parts of Australia. This year, as co-editor with John
Merriman, he published a revised edition of "Blue Mountains Dreaming: The
Aboriginal Heritage" which brought together and reviewed many years of
research (excavations and surveys) in the Blue Mountains. Eugene
found traces of human activity along the River at Upper Castlereagh from up to
50,000 years ago, and occupation in the Blue Mountains at least 22,000 years
ago. He is interested in the way we view our locality (Blue
Mountains and Cumberland Plain), and proposes a shift from "Western
Sydney" to a bioregion view, as a distinct geographic unit focussed on
the River, with successive layers of inter-related life.
Eugene's theme on this follows on from a
paper (Stockton, 2002) which he delivered in 2002 at
Yarramundi a little further downstream on the Nepean (presented at a forum
named "Place and Culture" which had been organised by University of
Western Sydney).
Eugene in 2002 spoke that this is
basin or catchment of a river system, the Nepean-Hawkesbury and its
tributaries - comprising the Blue Mountains and the Cumberland
Plain. For this he used the local Dharug word "Deerubbin"
and he described the river basin as a bioregion, meaning a multi-layered life
community of which we are part: "It arouses awareness of the several
levels of life processes, superimposed one on the other, each interlocking and
interdependent on the others". Fr Stockton said he first
encountered this idea of bioregion in the book by Thomas Berry "The Dream
of the Earth" (1988).
Eugene read Berry's bioregional
story of the Hudson River Valley and saw that analogous things may be thought
for the River Deerubbin. Father Berry is from a Catholic tradition
sometimes called "geologian".
Eugene Stockton (2002) postulated
that the Blue Mountainas plateau rose and tilted west over 50 million years
ago; and he also thought of the River Deerubbin (Nepean) as the descendant of
the great rivers which bore sediments perhaps from as far away as Antartica.
He wrote in 2002: "Having
played its part in the formation of our sandstones and silts, it still
continues to carve out valleys through its daughter tributaries. It is
truly the Mother River of our region. It is very old, older than the
Lapstone Monocline atop the escarpment, where river-rolled pebbles and
boulders mark an erstwhile course of the ancient river before the last uplift
began."
"The earliest evidence of
human presence were stone tools discarded among the channels of the broad
gravelly riverbed of the Nepean, then 15 metres lower than it is now.
These have been dated up to 60,000 years ago (revised dates have yet to be
published)." .... "There is no reason to doubt continuity between
these perhistoric people and the Dharug, who provide the present population of
this region with a precious core link to the past".
Stockton recommended following
Berry's view of the river as a "celebration of existence" [and
survival] ... and that we could well view Deerubbin in the same light, as
"a symbol of and ground for such a bonding of all that lives in this
bioregion. The river and its tributaries reach out to every
locality and to every part of this living community. The river
reaches far back through time to the earlier inhabitants of the region, to the
ancestral life forms, to the very formations of the physical
environment" (Stockton, 2002).
Thomas
Berry, whose sense of "bioregion" is followed by Fr. Eugene
Stockton. And his dwelling place,
which
there are current moves to preverve from demolition.
Thomas Berry died 1 June, 2009, aged
94. Recipient of eight honorary
doctorate degrees, Thomas Berry has received recognition from sources all over
the world for the depth and breadth of his work to bring into greater human
consciousness a more reverential vision of the human-earth relationship.
He was buried
on 8 June in a meadow on the grounds of Green
Mountain Monastery (Fr. Thomas Berry Sanctuary) near Greensboro, Vermont -
a place which he had co-founded, along with Srs. Gail Worcelo and Bernadette
Bostwick ("We are a new monastery in the Catholic tradition,
whose founding mission gathers its inspiration from our mentor and co-founder,
Thomas Berry; monk, scholar, cultural historian and geologian"; in the
Benedictine tradition). Gail asked for women in the room who had
had a heart connection with Thomas to come up, surround the casket and walk in
a circle - "We danced, hands clasped together, walking to the right and
then to the left, swaying for a moment and then back in the other direction.
Another simple gesture of embrace and tenderness"; then men and women
would carry the casket to the meadow. Outside the monastery, at
the foot of the ascent, Sister Bernadette sounded the Ram's horn to initiate
the final climb. The women whom Thomas was closest to also helped carry him.
At the summit, Paul Winter played his solo clarinet as people prepared to
lower Thomas into the Earth. The monastery bell tolled, one that is only rung
when someone has died, and he was lowered in". His
'headstone' is a large stone outcrop.
Thomas, with
sisters Gail Worcelo (left) and Bernadette Bostwick (right) at Green Mountain
Monastery.
Almost his whole life, Thomas Berry
had been a student of the earth and the human condition. From his
academic beginning as a cultural historian, he soon evolved to
become a historian of Earth - and to see himself not as a theologian but as a
"geologian."
In particular, he conducted an ongoing study of the
ecological nature of Earth, the way everything affects everything else. He
realized then that human beings are a part of a larger natural order.
“The catastrophe of our time is the loss of any real human connection to the
natural world,” he told a reporter in 2005. “That’s why ecology
alone is not the answer because it’s a ‘use’ relationship to the natural
world. The earth is saying, ‘You used me.” Trees, birds
- all living things - have rights, he wrote. They require that
people treat the natural world not as an object, but as a living
being. “If nothing has rights but humans, then everything else
becomes the victim,” Berry said. (Source:
http://isiria.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/thomas-berry-died).
[ Move
to rescue from demolition the dwelling place of Thomas Berry - The
"Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World" seeks to
rescue from demolition the dwelling place of Thomas Berry. Through
his writings and lectures he sought to revitalize the major cultural
institutions of education, politics, economics, and religion, and his work
continues to generate creativity in the fields of art, music, dance and
literature. Thomas Berry's hermitage dwelling has come to lie in
the path of a proposed loop-road around the city of Greensboro, NC - where
Thomas grew up and had a childhood experience of a “meadow across the
creek” that served as a touchstone for his future life and work.
After retiring from the Riverdale Center in New York City in 1995, where he
wrote The Dream of the Earth , co-authored The Universe Story ,
and produced a vast body of papers and articles, Thomas took up residence at
the above photographed hermitage on Berry family land in Greensboro, NC.
From 1995-2004 he worked there on his further books The Great Work:
Our Way Into the Future and Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as
Sacred Community. When his health had deteriorated and death
was looming, he had moved into the Wellspring Retirement Community, which was
only a stone's throw away from the hermitage site. His admirers
wish to relocate his house out of the path of destruction and save it as a
"source of pride to the citizens of North Carolina and the world"
and a centre for continuing his visions.
Matt Poll is
assistant curator for indigenous collections of the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney.
Matt has a Fine Arts background and he also specialises in the recent Public Artworks and art exhibitions by Aboriginal artists throughout western Sydney. He can give an overview of how the western Sydney arts strategy is developing. Matt is also interested in, and can give his ideas on, how community led engagement with the Deerubin and Gandangarra Land Council might work for any non Indigenous community groups who are
interested.
Ted
Matthews is a former Nepean school teacher who is now a guide at
Jenolan Caves. Ted will be speaking on some of the
difficulties of interpreting the ancient past, with a talk called "'The
Secrets of Hidden Gravels and Cobbles". Ted was for over 30 years a science teacher for NSW
Department of Education. For the first half of his Science teaching career he taught at Nepean High and during those years took students on excursion to places of interest such as the Lapstone outcrop of the ancient Nepean River gravels and to Jenolan Caves.
After leaving Nepean High he transferred to South Coast High schools for an extended period and then finally to Bowral High, from where he retired after another
six years.
His interest regarding the Jenolan Caves goes back to his childhood. While a student at Sydney University Ted was employed as a casual Caves Guide at
Jenolan. He continued in such a position throughout his teaching career.
At retirement from teaching Ted was
permanently employed by the Jenolan Caves Trust as a guide, a position which he holds
to-day.
Tessa
Corkill
will speak on Aboriginal use of stone, and stone hatchets (ground-edge
hatchets) in
particular. Tessa is an archaeologist whose main interest is in sourcing
of Australian Aboriginal stone artefact materials and landscape archaeology.
She has a particular interest in silcrete, which, in many areas, was the most
common material from which artefacts were made. After graduating
from Sydney University as a mature age student in 1986, Tessa worked as a
consultant archaeologist, mainly in the Sydney region. Since completing an
MPhil on sources of Aboriginal stone flaking materials in 1999, she has
undertaken several research projects, some as an Associate of the Australian
Museum. These include the sourcing of more than 300 stone hatchets from the
Sydney region that are held in the Museum, and identification of stone raw
materials from a number of archaeologcial sites. (Tessa is also
interested in the Tertiary river sediments at Maroota, believed to be closely
connected to the greater story of the Nepean-Hawkesbury River - viz. http://maroota.sands.googlepages.com)
Some of Tessa's work may be downloaded - viz. links at the bottom of this
page.
Dr
David Branagan of Sydney University. Branagan
and Pedram (1990) described the Lapstone structural complex thus: "The
Lapstone Structural Complex forms the most prominent topographic feature in
the Sydney region. The complex consists of a number of related folds and
faults, trending generally north-south, which together form a large
south-plunging structure between Kurrajong Heights and Lapstone. The
east-facing escarpment of the Blue Mountains, formerly called the Lapstone
Monocline, varies in its character, being sometimes a single monocline,
sometimes a double monocline and sometimes a normal or high-angle reverse
fault. Faulting west of Kurrajong and at Glenbrook is part of a series
of overlapping en echelon faults, west-side down, and sometimes overturned,
rather than a single fault. This fault system forms the west side of the
complex. Significant minor structures associated with major features
include thrusts, minor folds, joint systems, tectonic breccias, sedimentary
injections and igneous dykes. Many of the minor structures show a marked
parallelism with the major structures. The main period of deformation
forming the complex is believed to have taken place in the Early Tertiary, but
the overall structure has a long and complex history. Field evidence suggests
that sinistral strike-slip faulting played a part in the deformation,
particularly of the near-surface rocks. Basement block faulting was also
significant, producing the Cumberland Basin and associated structures when the
main Lapstone structures were formed. Basement structural control is
believed to consist of the northerly extension of the western edge of the
Eden-Comerong-Yalwal Rift intersected by elements of the east-trending Lachlan
Lineament."
Matt Poll,
curatorial assistant at Macleay Museum, Sydney University.
John
Byrnes, a Sydney geologist
retired from the NSW Government (Mines Department) will be speaking and is
organising the meeting. John will speak on the past and on
finding/coordinating people and interests on such - and introduce idea for a
webpage to index "people of the 'sacred acre' - those surnames found in
the Wesleyan cemetery, largely representative of the families who once lived
over the Upper Castlereagh river flats" in so far as linking to whoever
is researching to those families today.
-
John welcomes more
speakers and any offers to assist with the meeting of 5 September.
Please
contact him at john.mail@ozemail.com.au
For
other information please see these webpages:
John
Byrnes: http://www.lachlanhunter.deadsetfreestuff.com/JohnByrnes.htm
About
Ted Matthews' work: http://members.iinet.net.au/~john.mail@ozemail.com.au/TM-Jenolan/ted-matthews-jenolan.htm
For
the "downstream" end of the old (Tertiary) river that's likely the
Nepean-Hawkesbury: http://maroota.sands.googlepages.com
POEMS
OF TRIBUTE TO CASTLEREAGH
By Councillor
John Thain
The
Rain it Fell in Castlereagh
The
Rain it Fell in Castlereagh
The
rain it fell in Castlereagh
An
early settled town
With
drops the size of dustbin lids
By
God did it come down
The
Nepean
flooded many times
Washed
down a rich dark loam
Nourishing
a feeble crop
But
fed the convict homes
The
suburbs soon multiplied
A
town grew in stature
Shedding
its penal roots
To
a gentle rural nature
The years passed by
work
was done with matic hoes and spade
To
bring commerce and industry
To
Nepean's booming trade
The
Governor mapped a river town
By
name of Castlereagh
Despite
the best laid plans
The
idea went astray.
The
town's still there
Though
not as planned
No
steeples high
Or
Houses Grand
Its
beauty still remains
Shining
river, fertile plain
Overlooked
by mountain bluff
Who
could ask for grander stuff
Fair
Castlereagh
The Castlereagh academy, or 'seminary' as it was also
called, was run by Reverend Fulton who who had his parsonage and this academy
near the Anglican cemetery. This was the first tertiary or advanced place of
teaching in Australia. Under Fulton's teaching it produced some well known
colonists and the first native born Australian poet of any note, Charles
Thompson - Thomson, who hailed from Clydesdale (where Richmond Road crosses
South Creek) was one of Fulton's best students. They must have been book
lovers. Indeed his father, Charles senior, had been transported to
Australia for stealing books. Charles Thompson jnr published his first and
only book of verse in 1826 when he was aged twenty: "Wild Notes from the
Lyre of a Native Minstrel". There is a very long poem in the book which
tells a lot about early Castlereagh and inter alia laments the
beginning of the cutting down of the Castlereagh forest.
Portion of that poem runs ... Fair Castlereagh:
I trace thy landscape round,
Each well known spot to me is sacred ground;
In ev'ry mead - in every bow'r or tree,
Some dear companion - some old friend I see:
The myrtle grove that skirts thy sloping sides,
And the tall summit from the plain divides,
The rich acacias waving o'er the rill
That pours its scanty stream beneath the hill;
Thy spreading vale - but here let mem'ry tax
The rude invasions of the spoiling axe,
That chased the dryads from th'affrighted glade,
And lopped each shrub that once composed their shade.
By
Charles Thomson (1807-1883).
Published
in 1826 in his
"Wild
Notes: From the Lyre of a Native Minstrel"
widely
regarded a the ‘first substantial book of verse’ written
by
a person born in Australia
For
the COMPLETE TEXT of this book is obtainable by clicking on the following link
to open it, or else right-mouse-click [ and then choose "Save Target As
.. ] to download the file:
PDF
eBook of this text
(
© University of Sydney Library. The texts and images are not to be
used for commercial purposes without permission ... This text was sponsored by
AustLit: the Resource for Australian Literature (www.austlit.edu.au) for the
SETIS electronic texts collections - http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts
)
"""""""""
No more poems, but here are
some other (more general) quotes:
An
appreciation of place: "Heritage
for me is very much about a sense of place, about the place where I live, about
the places where I work, and the stories of the places in between. For me
because heritage is about physical things, it’s about buildings, it’s about
ruins, it’s about bits of archaeology hidden under the ground that we don’t
know [are there], and about landscapes, these are very tangible things that we
look at and, to understand them, we really need to know the stories of why they
were created, the stories of what happened in those places and how the people
who once lived there and worked there influenced their environment and their
communities, because for me heritage is living with a tangible part of the past,
but it’s also about deciding that it’s sufficiently important that we want
to make it part of the future, not just part of the present.
Heritage and the preservation of buildings is really about stopping history,
it’s about saying these places changed in the past and in the normal course of
time change would mean disintegration and the resources being used for something
else. What we’re saying is we want to stop that historical process of change
because we value things in the physical fabric of those places, and what they
can tell us now, and we value them enough as a message from the past to put the
resources, both financial and intellectual, and emotionally into saying
they’ve got to be there for the future." (Carol Liston, Associate
Professor, School of Cultural Histories and Futures, University of Western
Sydney, Nepean campus).
"""""""""
Considering "The Secrets of Hidden
Gravels and Cobbles"
This
talk by Ted Matthews considers gravels found within Jenolan Caves.
In a classic 1889 book "The Jenolan caves: an excursion in
Australian wonderland" by Sam Cooke, the text of which is downloadable at
www.archive.org/stream/jenolancavesexcu00cookiala/jenolancavesexcu00cookiala_djvu.txt
. The Jenolan River drainage, after emerging from the limestone belt
is eventually part of the Nepean flow. Cooke noted that it
"chatters on to the River Cox, whence it enters the Warragamba, which joins
the Nepean a few miles above Penrith, and about 50 miles below the Pheasant's
Nest. It does not, therefore, enter into the Sydney water supply, but passes
through the Hawkesbury to the ocean". Cooke remarked on the
lime of the limestone heading off on a return journey to the sea: Thus the
old coral reef melts away far inland, and the lime that formed the coatings of
its corals is again utilised for the same purpose ..... How many ages have come
and gone since the Jenolan Caves were coral reefs in the azure sea?"
The presence of gravels within the Caves was already well noted in 1899.
In places the walls of caves were observed to hold a considerable portion of
large pebbles or "drift". Cooke wrote of such at the
Imperial Cave: "THE GRAVEL PITS. There are two pits of
gravel. One of them is about 12 feet deep and the other about 15 feet. In the
rocks overhead are bones distinctly visible, owing to the earthy matter having
fallen away from them. Some of these bones are large. There are
shelving rocks about six feet from the floor. The sides of one of the
Gravel Pits are oblique, but the other pit, which is railed off, is round and
perpendicular. It could hardly have been more symmetrical had it been made
by a professional well-sinker. This spot, although perhaps uninteresting
to a mere sightseer, cannot fail to attract the attention of
geologists". He also commented on cemented drift at the level
of the Underground River. Cooke also noted other fine-grained internal
sediments, e.g. "About 20 yards north from the ladder to the underground
river is the entrance to the Fossil Bone Cave. Here is a stratum of
coffee-coloured slatey substance in layers like those of the Wianamatta
shale. It is so soft that a gentle touch is sufficient to pulverise
it." There is a very considerable story to the study of the
cave fillings at Jenolan, which Ted Matthews will discuss.
"""""""""
"Cranebrook
Terrace revisited" - The earliest inhabitants
Artefacts,
and suspected artefacts, in the basal gravel at Upper Castlereagh were found by
Eugene Stockton. Two key papers recording this are Stockton and Holland
(1974) "Cultural sites and their
environment in the Blue Mountains" [Archaeology and physical anthropology in
Oceania 9: 36-65] and Nanson, Young and Stockton (1987) "Chronology and palaeoenvironment of the Cranebrook Terrace (near Sydney)
containing artefacts more than 40,000 years old" [ Archaeology in Oceania 22:
72-8].
Some key
points in those papers are:
* Stockton
found one of the artefacts (a pebble with a succession of flakes along one edge)
in situ and near the base of gravels.
* In Nason
et al. *1987), Figure 5 shows three photographs of "The artefacts from the basal gravels at the site".
* In Stockton and Holland (1974), Figure 7 shows "Core and pebble tools: uniface pebble choppers" of which the pebble of figure 7a is noted as "from Castlereagh close to carbon sample GaK. 3014" and is same pebble as that of figure 5a in the Nason, Young and Stockton paper.
* The Stockton and Holland paper states: "Nepean River, Castlereagh (Windsor 1:63360 [GR] 666323. In situ at the base of the gravels was a possible pebble chopper, dated from a nearby log at 26700 (+/- 1700 / 1500) B.P. (GaK. 3014). Large pieces of bog-preserved timber were frequent at this level, a specimen from the adjacent upstream quarry being dated more than 31,800 years old ....".
Later work concluded that timber was beyond radiocarbon method, and/or affected by later humate contamination, etc., and
thermoluminescence work suggested a much older age for this layer. A charcoal sample from higher in the gravel, near Jackson's Lane, gave 37,750 +/- 1500/-1700 BP age.
Thermoluminescence dates were in the range 43-47 Ka.
* The Nason, Young and Stockton paper describes the pebble of figure 5a as "a pebble chopper; a round flat pebble of weathered rhyolite, measuring 12x10x3 cm, with three flakes dislodged by concoidal fracture ... " and "obvious pitting from age covers all surfaces".
Nason, Young and Stockton stated "We believe this is possibly an artefact. It is extremely unlikely that a naturally abraded river-stone would receive three concoidal fractures along the same edge, although it is possible if this edge of the stone were to protrude from an imbricated river bed such that it was repeatedly struck by other stones rolling over the bed."
Below is
some more on the latest-available (Stockton and Nanson, 2004) consideration of this.
[Cranebrook
Terrace revisited: Archaeology in Oceania, publication date 1 April
2004, authors Eugene and Gerald Nanson.]
"Recent
publication of revised dates for the Cranebrook Terrace, near Penrith NSW,
invited renewed attention to the archaeological finds in the quarries beside
the Nepean river. The original find was a pebble chopper found in situ at the
base of the gravels, when pumping allowed inspection below the water table and
the discovery of bog-preserved logs nearby (Stockton and Holland 1974:65).
These were then dated to about 30,000 B.P. Subsequent work on the
geomorphology of the terrace by Nanson and Young showed that the dated samples
had been contaminated with younger carbon in the ground water (Nanson et al.
1987).
"The 1987 report discussed the major expansion and revision of the
previous investigation. Thirteen [C.sup.14] and TL dates were published,
indicating the basal gravels were deposited between 43,000 and 47,000 years
ago. Further artefacts were found in the tumble of gravel at the foot of the
quarry wall at the original site 11 and were described in detail. It was
explained why the finds though not in situ could only have come from the
gravel unit. A postscript of the report recorded further finds from sites 7
and 8 by a party of University of Sydney students, with Peter White, in
February 1987. It was noted that, apart from effects of age pitting and use
damage on the first find, the flake ridges of the arfifacts were fresh and
undamaged, suggesting discard at of near the find spots, rather than being
rolled from a distance upstream.
"Understandably, caution has been expressed at such antiquity for signs
of human presence in southeast Australia. The finds are dismissed by Mulvaney
and Kamminga (1999: 138) as 'simple flakes found in a cobble stream . there
are some serious doubts about their identification as artefacts'. However, the
previous reports provided detailed descriptions according to archaeological
norms, with some illustrations and photographs. Some twenty items were
displayed at the Department of Geography, University of Sydney, to a group of
archaeologists and geologists and were graded to range between certain and
uncertain artifacts. Eight of the former were published (Nanson et al. 1987:
74-5,78). They are now in the Macleay Museum.
"In a major revision of this story, more recent luminescence
determinations by Nanson et al.(2003) put the age of the gravel deposition in
the eastern part of the terrace at about 110 to 75 ka (Penrith Unit), and the
basal gravels in the western portion where the artifacts were located at 40 to
50 ka (Richmond Unit). Four new TL samples were obtained from sand lenses
within gravels of the Richmond Unit near where the artifacts were found. Close
to contact with overlying flood plain fines these gave ages of 41.9+/-5/5 ka
(W390), 43.0+/-6.3 (W394) and 45.1+/-8.8 (W937), while near the gravel base
was a date of 50.4+/-8.9 (W935) (Site 13, Figure 1). The original in situ
pebble chopper would be dated at or near this last date.
"While evidence of considerable antiquity is mounting in other parts of
Australia, the Cranebrook Terrace dates are the only ones found so far on the
eastern seaboard".
"""""""""
"The former
residents of Upper Castlereagh and their lives"
If you
know anything about this please come along and "chat" -
however the subject of former residents (contra today when there are almost no
residents of Upper Castlereagh) is just too large to even attempt any summary
of it. This aspect perhaps will be little treated on the day of
talks - as in the leadup no speaker on this topic has been found as yet.
| Name
of Holding |
Post
Town of Holding |
Name
of Occupier |
Acerage |
Horses |
Cattle |
Sheep |
Pigs |
Reference |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Mount Pleasant |
Castlereagh |
Andrews, George |
5 |
1 |
5 |
… |
5 |
p.444 |
| Castlereagh Farm |
Castlereagh |
Barlow, Charles |
30 |
2 |
… |
… |
… |
p.435 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Beecroft, James |
80 |
4 |
9 |
… |
3 |
p.437 |
| Kerry Lodge |
Castlereagh |
Brown, Thomas |
107 |
6 |
5 |
… |
4 |
p.442 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Byrnes, Alfred |
12 |
… |
2 |
… |
1 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Byrnes, John |
11 |
… |
4 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Clara Villa |
Castlereagh |
Carter, Thomas |
100 |
5 |
4 |
… |
3 |
p.436 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Clarke, Joseph |
84½ |
5 |
… |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Clarke, Peter |
90 |
3 |
3 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Clarke Grove |
Castlereagh |
Clarke, William |
100 |
3 |
… |
… |
… |
p.436 |
| Clarke's Selection |
Castlereagh |
Clarke, William |
110 |
1 |
6 |
… |
2 |
p.436 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Clemson, Edwd. |
250 |
8 |
25 |
… |
3 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Coffey, William |
49 |
8 |
2 |
… |
3 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Colless, Elizabeth |
55 |
6 |
7 |
… |
5 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Colless, John |
65 |
9 |
9 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Cooper, William |
40 |
5 |
8 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Cosgrove, Richard |
100 |
6 |
23 |
… |
3 |
p.437 |
| Colles's Farm |
Castlereagh |
Eagle, Walter |
14 |
3 |
1 |
… |
3 |
p.436 |
| Napean Farm |
Castlereagh |
Evans, George |
180 |
7 |
2 |
… |
2 |
p.445 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Farrell, William |
75 |
16 |
13 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Fisher, John |
10 |
1 |
… |
… |
1 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Gillighan, M. |
100 |
15 |
14 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Rose Farm |
Castlereagh |
Gosling, Stephen |
100 |
3 |
9 |
… |
2 |
p.448 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Graham, George |
220 |
5 |
26 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Fernbank |
Castlereagh |
Greenhalgh, William |
50 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
… |
p.439 |
| Rose Cottage Farm |
Castlereagh |
Griffiths, Catherine |
100 |
2 |
5 |
… |
4 |
p.447 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Gunnell, James |
90 |
9 |
9 |
… |
8 |
p.437 |
| Napean House |
Castlereagh |
Hadley, Charles |
200 |
13 |
9 |
… |
4 |
p.445 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Hadley, Robert |
220 |
10 |
25 |
… |
5 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Hadley, Thomas |
120 |
5 |
5 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Herbert's Farm |
Castlereagh |
Herbert, Alfred |
16 |
3 |
5 |
… |
2 |
p.441 |
| Glenwood |
Castlereagh |
Hobbey, Thos. |
80 |
3 |
6 |
… |
2 |
p.440 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Hobby, A. |
38 |
4 |
… |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Purcell Farm |
Castlereagh |
Hobley, Thomas |
50 |
4 |
… |
… |
… |
p.446 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Howell, George |
40 |
2 |
… |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Howell, Peter |
80 |
7 |
6 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Hudley Park |
Castlereagh |
Hudley, Chas. |
80 |
9 |
5 |
… |
4 |
p.441 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Jackson, John |
180 |
8 |
14 |
… |
8 |
p.437 |
| Robertson's Farm |
Castlereagh |
Lander, William |
250 |
3 |
4 |
… |
… |
p.447 |
| Napean Farm |
Castlereagh |
Lavender, Sarah |
60 |
5 |
3 |
… |
6 |
p.445 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Law, William |
32 |
2 |
2 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Stoneybatter |
Castlereagh |
Mason, John |
43 |
2 |
5 |
… |
1 |
p.450 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Mason, Susannah |
45 |
4 |
8 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Napean |
Castlereagh |
McCann, Peter |
40 |
2 |
… |
… |
… |
p.445 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
McRae, Andrew |
5 |
2 |
… |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Napean |
Castlereagh |
Mills, Charles |
36 |
2 |
1 |
… |
1 |
p.445 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Mills, James Junr. |
13 |
2 |
6 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Mills, James Senr. |
123 |
4 |
5 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Parker, Henry |
54 |
5 |
4 |
… |
8 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Parker, Hezekiah |
1 |
1 |
1 |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Parker, John |
20 |
2 |
… |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Paull, Chas. |
2 |
1 |
… |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Pine, T. |
20 |
11 |
24 |
… |
8 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Plunkett, Thos. |
7 |
… |
… |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Purcell, John |
100 |
6 |
8 |
… |
3 |
p.437 |
| Lambridge |
Castlereagh |
Rees, Richard |
60 |
7 |
3 |
… |
… |
p.443 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Robertson, Robert |
300 |
10 |
24 |
… |
4 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Shaw, John |
280 |
9 |
6 |
… |
5 |
p.437 |
| Pinchgut |
Castlereagh |
Shaw, Robert |
80 |
2 |
9 |
… |
2 |
p.446 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Sheen, Henry |
45 |
5 |
6 |
… |
4 |
p.437 |
| Minnieville |
Castlereagh |
Single, Joseph D. |
156 |
6 |
10 |
… |
4 |
p.444 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Smith, Isaac |
80 |
6 |
7 |
… |
5 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Stanton, James |
37 |
3 |
4 |
… |
1 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Stanton, William |
6 |
4 |
… |
… |
… |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Vine, Fred. |
220 |
12 |
26 |
… |
8 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Whitcom, Levi |
115 |
2 |
11 |
… |
8 |
p.437 |
| Castlereagh |
Castlereagh |
Wright, W. |
78 |
5 |
25 |
… |
2 |
p.437 |
| Mount Ritchie |
Castlereagh |
Yeoman, William |
2,000 |
20 |
18 |
… |
… |
p.444 |
|
One
useful list of residents - for the year 1885. Source: NSW
Legislative Assembly, Votes & Proceedings 1885
(2nd
Session) Vol. 3 - Appendix 2. pp. 435 - 457. "Parliamentary Return of
Landholders 1885"; District of
Windsor,
Town of Castlereagh. Transcribed by Jonathan Auld and Michelle
Nichols, 2005.
Quite
a few meetings remembering the past of Castlereagh have been held in the
past. Perhaps the biggest ever was a bi-centennary day in
2003. This is recorded in the newsletter of the St Marys &
District Historical Society (Vol.1, No. 9, Autumn 2003) as follows:
"Lorna Parr and her band of helpers had a perfect day for their bi-centenary
celebrations at Cadtlereagh on Saturday, 5th April. Held at the Regatta Centre, there
was plenty of room for the crowd that turned out.
The proceedings were officially opened by Penrith City Mayor. Cr. Greg Davies, and
descendents of original land owners planted an avenue of trees. Several heritage groups mounted very interesting displays and a bus shuttle was
running to and from McCarthy's Cenetary, where many early settlers now rest.
The crowd was entertained by local dance groups and singers and the Australian Heritage Dancers were a colourful addition to the program. They took us back to earlier times when dancing was a very graceful pastime.
One of the highlights of the day was the play, in verse, performed by the students of Castlereagh Public School. Written by their teacher, it told the story of the early settlers coming to Castlereagh and of the hardships they faced. The children were all costumed most suitably by their parents and presented a wonderful tableau."
The
above mention of an "avenue" of trees is not accurate. The
trees were planted more as a clump of trees - at the SE corner of the John Lees
"sacred acre" church/school area. The planting was
organised by Lorna Parr, who wrote in 2003 "Note to Old Castlereagh
Families - Twenty five native trees (with plaque attached) have been donated to
us to plant on the day at the old Upper Castlereagh School to recognise the
efforts of early pioneers. If you would like to nominate your Castlereagh
Pioneer family please fill in the attached and return to Lorna Parr 63 Taylor
Road, Cranebrook 2749 as soon as possible. Note. We only have 25 trees so
the committee will review the nominations to cover the Castlereagh area as
widely as possible. Only one person can plant the tree so someone must be
nominated by you". Trees are still there but idenifying
them may be difficult as the intended "plaque" never eventuated.
That
particular "Castlereagh Day" in 2003 was in conjunction with a
Conference presented by Penrith City Council and Library. The
conference focused on the settlement of the first Europeans in this area, along
the Nepean River at Castlereagh from May 1803 (The Conference was held at
the Council building on Friday
28 March 2003, 85 people attending). [Conference convenors
were Lorraine Stacker ( lstack@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au)
and Alison Spencer at alisons@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au
and the speakers were: Lorraine Stacker (Penrith
Librarian and historian) on: Introduction
and on on the development of theEvan
district ; Carol Liston (Associate
Professor, University of Western Sydney) as Keynote Speaker; Jim
Kohen (lecturer, Macquarie University) on Aboriginal history; Jan
Barkley Jack (PhD student and Hawkesbury historian) on the early
development of European settlement on the Hawkesbury; George
Gyford (historical archaeologist) on the difficulties of researching
early settlers and his group’s (NDHAG) upcoming book on the first land
grantees; Siobhan Lavelle (historical
archaeologist) on Minnaville; and Danielle Embleton (Librarian
at Penrith City Library and family historian) on James
McCarthy )
Report
of an earlier visit by historians to Castlereagh, in the Sydney Morning Herald
of 28 May 1934.
"""""""""
"Construction
materials and brick-making in particular"
Sandstone
quarries occur west of Emu Plains, and sandstone might even have been
obtainable locally via Smith Street, Castlereagh (pers. comm. Bob
Dennis). Brick making is believed to have occurred locally at
Castlereagh, albeit that no definite sites for such have ever been
recognised. At Cranebrook Creek behind the Wesleyan Church is
speculated as a likely place where bricks were locally fired - making bricks
used at McCarthy's farm, at the church, and for a building "Kerry
Lodge" north of the church. One of the
interesting finds from McCarthy's (former farm house east of the meeting place),
which NDHAG may bring along and display is a brick with a small child's footprint impressed in it.
Considerable
interest is ongoing in the Penrith-Castlereagh-St Marys area on the topic of
early brickmaking and the following notes give some introduction to
that. A further book on the subject is in progress, by Amanda
Blanche of NDHAG, "Brickmakers of the Nepean".
Archaeologist Mary Casey
( http://www.caseyandlowe.com.au ) has done good work on the earliest brickmaking, and has recognised a likely site
of early manyfacture at at St Mary's:
""~~~
At nearby St Marys a site has been found which is interpreted as a brickmaking area associated with the building of the early Dunheved homestead (part of former Australian Defence Industries site. The site is just north of Dunheved Golf Club. The area of suspected brickmaking activity there has potential for finding the actual spot/s where brick "clamps" were fired. If so, this will be of State significance as such sites are very rare - even though it is thought that brickmaking on site was commonplace practice for the most substantial colonial estates. This development area was previously the St Marys Munitions Factory, but since the 1990s many of
munitions-period buildings have been demolished. The Dunheved Homestead Site, the home of descendants of Governor King, is planned for preservation and will be within a regional park to be managed and owned by NPWS. The ‘Dunheved’ estate was established by Governor King, utilising grants made by Governor Bligh to King's wife and children. Occupation dates from ca. 1807. King had earlier tried to grant his family land here. About August 1804 King bagan to grant his wife (Anna Josepha), a portion of this area, but the 2,350 acres of the promise had to be cancelled before it was executed; as the matter was challenged as despotic - it was declared illegal (signed off by King’s Secretary). In January 1806 King’s grants to his four legitimate children in the colony were given title. These blocks were adjacent to each other on both banks of the South Creek, and amounted to a rectangular-shaped family holding of 2,340 acres - being almost the same amount of land that the governor had first attempted to give to his wife. This land is below where where Ropes Creek comes in from the south-east to join South Creek. The identified brickmaking site lies just across South Creek from the Dunheved homestead and was formerly on "Elizabeth Farm" (the name of one of the four grants by Governor Bligh to Governor King’s children). Elizabeth Farm was later designated as Portion 116 of Parish Londonderry. The farms of the King children were surveyed in 1805 by James Meehan, and registered on 1 January 1806. That same day, Governor King also signed title deeds for a property of 600 acres adjoining the King children’s grants at South Creek to Mrs Mary Putland. Mary Putland was the daughter of the incoming governor, who was to accompany her father to the colony.
All this was a deal or agreement, clearly, which Governor King reached with Bligh before the in-coming governor arrived in the colony. A little further south along South Creek was Rev. Samuel Marsden's "Mamre" property, and a little further south along the creek was "Leehome" of 2000 acres, belonging to Gregory Blaxland. This is probably where Blaxland's party set out from in 1813 for their successful crossing of the Blue Mountains. Indeed all these names are famous in Colonial history and Australia's first military rebellion deposed and arrested Governor Bligh. The Blaxland brothers (Gregory, John) were on the side opposing Bligh. A grandchild of John (Anna) wrote in her reminescences that she considered John's death was hastened by the treatment he received by "that wicked Governor Bligh (a man most hateful to all the Colony", and that after John died her grandmother suffered such great grief that she became "a martyr to paralysis". Bligh's supporters likely enough painted a different picture of the rebellion times. On his arrival in the Colony, William Bligh was grateful for the outgoing Governor’s part in obtaining land for his daughter. King also granted Bligh land in the few remaining days before he handed over the Colonial reigns to Bligh. The British Government is not known to have made any adverse comments on such reciprocal arrangements of mutual land granting. When Anna Josepha finally got her long desired land at South Creek, from Bligh, she called her hew property "Thanks". By the end of 1806 the combined King family holdings along South Creek here were made up of Anna Josepha’s "Thanks" plus "Phillip Farm", "Maria Farm", "Elizabeth Farm" and "Mary Farm" as the childrens' grants (3,130 acres in all of potentially rich farm and pasture lands). Gregory Blaxland acquired his South Creek land in 1808. For the 1820s, Toby Ryan, a neighbour of the King’s at that time recorded the following about the King family estate: " ... about the largest in the County, very valuable ... It was well stocked with sheep and cattle, and a large quantity of cultivation was carried on, with about eighty to one hundred assigned servants on the estate".
The property ran sheep and bred suberb horses. The Commonwealth acquired the lands in 1941. The "Dunheved" house was demolished in 1947 by a Castlereagh contractor named F. Gavin. After he had done with it nothing remained of the King family presence there and he reported the site as "left in a clean and tidy condition".
That there was a brick-making site on Elizabeth Farm began to be suspected when it was noted that the glaze (green) was extending over some broken fragments of brick. Fragments of bricks with glaze on broken faces strongly suggest that this could have only happened at a brick manufacturing site. It is thought that some bricks probably exploded in the clamp kiln and then glaze trickled over broken faces. One area of long grass and leaf litter was found to contain what could be the base of a brick clamp with bright orange bricks. There is no very early historical documentation found of brickmaking. However, it is known aht Anthony Rope, the builder of the hut on ‘Elizabeth Farm’ in 1807, had been a bricklayer in his early years in the colony, before he gained land for farming in 1791. The brick-scatter site is just north of present-day Hartog Drive, Werrington County. The King estate records for 1813 show that a man named Morgan was paid one pound five shillings for 1000 bricks. Where they were made is not mentioned. Who Morgan was is not known. However, an Edward Morgan (life sentence convict) may have been working in the district (e.g. for John Blackman at Evan in 1828).
In 1837 the King family began the endowed building of St Mary Magdalene Church on the Western Road at St Marys. The June 1920 obituary on a local identity, George Shadlow, who died at the age of 89 years, and who had talked of his father, Thomas Shadlow, recalled how he knew all about the building and opening of the Church of St Mary’s Magdalene. The bricks used in the construction on the building were made on Dunheved Estate and donated by Mr King, and the carting of these was the contribution of the late Mr [Thomas] Shadlow. The bricks were made on ‘Dunheved’ by a free immigrant, James Payne. Where these bricks are visible today, under the later cement rendering, they are seen to be of a pale yellow colour. Payne made the bricks somewhere on Dunheved estate. Little is known of his activities as a brickmaker, although he is thought to have worked at some stage with a later local brickmaker named Potts. In colour at least, the brickscatter site (ADI 3) on Elizabeth Farm is consistent with this being the possible
origin of the 1837–1840 bricks which went into building the St Mary Magdalene church.
Alternatively, it is thought, the St Mary Magdalene church bricks could have been made by one of the brickmakers at Castlereagh. However the names of the early Castlereagh brickmakers are likewise unknown. Their handicraft survives as at "Minnaville". There, the brickmaker’s mark was a scrape across the brick made by the sweep of the palm of his hand. That same marking is also found at
"Minnaville" in well bricks. Other houses of the early Macquarie period at Upper Castlereagh were of brick construction, like "Hadley Park" which was a two-storey brick-nogged farm house built about 1812. Brick-nogging was also the construction used at Mamre, the Reverend Samuel Marsden’s house, and at that of William Cox (The Cottage) at Mulgoa.
At the brickmaking site AD3, extensive brick scatter and some in situ walls or paving
remains were noted there in 1994. Four Aboriginal stone artefacts were also noted there, associated with a mound ("Broken bricks were all over the place and at no point was there any evidence for mortar found on the hundreds of brick fragments".
(The above information is mostly from a report by Casey & Lowe Pty Ltd
- "Archaeological Assessment, Central Precinct, St Marys Development, St Marys, NSW. For Maryland Development Company, July 2008).
""~~~.
"""""""""
"Crisis" in
heritage management
Some
speak of a "crisis in heritage management" in NSW, as historians Ian
Jack and Carol Liston are quoted on above in
a
newspaper article of 2008. (Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23617510-260
)
The above article,
quoting the views of Ian Jack and Carol Liston, was written by David Carment who
is a member of the executive of the History Council of Australia.
Both Ian Jack and Carol Liston have previously given talks on Castlereagh
history (references not yet obtained). Ian Jack is retired from the
Department of History at the University of Sydney, where he served as Head of
Department and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. His interests are Medieval
English and Welsh history; and archaeology of colonial Australia.
(An article on "Historians and the New South Wales Heritage Crisis",
by David Carment, is in the Heritage Council Bulletin (Autumn 2008).
David's reference to Ian Jack is probably to "Ian Jack,
Presidential Address on the Heritage Crisis" as given earlier that year to
the Royal Australian Historical Society. The peak body Federation of
Australian Historical Societies later that year (Newsletter, No. 28, August
2008) stated likewise, noting how the problem involved downsizing of agencies
and reduced funding, leaving places and environments at risk. In some
places heritage might now seem viable only if it can be interwoven with tourism
and part funded therefrom.
"""""""""
"Study and
preservation efforts"
Castlereagh
at present has no museums, but it seems likely that in future that will
change.
As the
history and heritage sites have disappeared under new developments, or by
quarrying as in the case of Upper Castlereagh, very few others apart from the
volunteer workers/members of the Nepean
District Historical Archaeology Group have attempted to record in depth the
history that is vanishing - and retain varied relics. During the
course of its work NDHAG has accumulated an extensive collection of early
bricks, pottery, coins, wallpaper samples, nails, building materials and many
other items which reflect the lifestyle of the early district pioneers.
All of the
collection will be on display on the open day and members of the group available
to answer any questions on the area and early families. We have a number of
publications relating to buildings and farms long gone available for sale.
Available also to peruse will be a large collection of maps and photographs.
One of the
"few" others known to be actively engaged in preservation/reconstruction
work is Bob Dennis:
Bob Dennis Demolitions
Lot 4 Church Lane,
Castlereagh, NSW 2749
Ph.: 047311209
( from http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Bob-Dennis-Demolitions
)
Bob
lives a couple of door from the Anglican Church (Christ Church) at Castlereagh
(a small church painted white, on hill, easily visible from a distance).
He has been
contractor for much of the demolition ongoing at Upper Castlereagh in advance of
quarrying. He has retained much of the old materials, and has beautifully
restored some of this. He has restored the demolished "Vine Cottage", which stood at Birds Eye Bend
area, and this will be part of a museum or visitors centre that Bob has been
building. His re-built "Vine Cottage" is already
clearlly visible there near the front boundary at his
place ( Lot 4 Church Lane ) - and various other historic materials ( stonework
etc.) are in evidence there for use in the ongoing construction work.
Bob has been building a museum there for some years. He says he will be opening
the site as "Vine Cottage
Museum" (where he intends to feature there the history of early and
obsolete trades). Bob's opening day grows closer - and "Vine Cottage
Museum" will perhaps open later this year.
A FEW REFERENCES:
Branagan,
D.F. and Pedram, H. 1990. The Lapstone structural complex, New South
Wales. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. Volume 37,
Issue 1, Pp. 23-36.
Corkill
T., 1997. Red, yellow and black: Colour and heat in archaeological
stone. Australian Archaeology 45: 54-55.
* Corkill T., 1999. Here
and There: Links between Stone Sources and Aboriginal Archaeological Sites in
Sydney, Australia. Unpublished MPhil thesis, University of Sydney.
Corkill T., 1999. The use of
geological maps in archaeological research. In K.May, T. Denham and D. Campbell
(Eds.). Proceedings of the National Archaeology Students' Conference 1998.
Pp. 53-55. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National
University, Canberra.
**
Corkill T., 2005. Sourcing stone from the Sydney region: A hatchet job. Australian
Archaeology. Vol.
60, pp. 41-50.
Edds,
Graham, & Associates, 1996. "Hadley Park": RMB 113
Castlereagh Road, Castlereagh NSW: Conservation Management Plan.
Gyford,
George F. B., 1990. A beginner's guide to the history of the
Nepean district. Nepean
District Historical Archaeology Group.
Lavelle,
S., and the Nepean District Historical Archaeology Group, 1995. Historical
Archaeological Assessment, Site 32, Penrith Lakes Scheme Area, Cranebrook,
NSW. Report prepared for the Penrith Lakes Development Corporation.
Mulvaney, J. and Kamminga, J., 1999. Prehistory of Australia. Allen and
Unwin, Sydney.
Nanson, G. C., Young, R. A. W. and Stockton, E. D. 1987.
Chronology and palaeoenvironment of the Cranebrook Terrace (near Sydney)
containing artefacts more than 40,000 years old. Archaeology in Oceania 22:
72-8.
Nanson, G. C., Cohen, T. J., Doyle, C. J. and Price, D. M. 2003.
Alluvial evidence of major late-Quaternary climate and flow regime changes on
the coastal rivers of New South Wales, Australia. In K. Gregory and C. Benito
eds, Palaeohydrology: understanding global change: 233-58. Wiley, Chichester.
Stockton, E. D., 1982. Arabian Cult Stones. Ph.D. thesis,
Department of Semitic Studies, University of Sydney. 472 pp..
Stockton, E. D., 2002. The Bioregion of Deerubin.
(Unpublished talk). A paper presented at the University of Western
Sydney "Place and Culture" forum, held at Yarramundi, May 4th, 2002.
Stockton, E. D. and Holland, W. N. 1974. Cultural sites and their
environment in the Blue Mountains. Archaeology and physical anthropology in
Oceania 9: 36-65.
Stockton, E. D. and Merriman, J. (Eds.), 2009. Blue
Mountains Dreaming: The Aboriginal Heritage. (Second
Edition). Blue Mountains Education and Research Trust, Lawson. 255
pp.
Van der Beek, P.A., Pulford, A., and Braun, J., 2001. Cenozoic Landscape Development in the Blue Mountains (SE Australia): Lithological and Tectonic Controls on rifted Margin Morphology.
Journal of Geology. Vol. 109, pp. 35-56.
*
Click here for an abstract of "Here
and There"
**
Click here for full version of "Sourcing
stone from the Sydney region: A hatchet job."
""""""
**
THIS WEBPAGE WILL BE UPDATED AS MORE SPEAKERS ARE GAINED AND THE EVENT TAKES
SHAPE MORE **
A layer of 3-6 metres "soil and
silt overburden" is first stripped in order to reach the underlying sand
and gravel deposit.
