Historical Tumut Stories
By
"WOMBAT" ISSUE 1
HISTORICAL TUMUT
From Bongongo to Tumut
(By " Wombat.")
On Tuesday last I essayed a visit from Bongongo on a peregrination. On my "short stay there, I 'was delighted; in a way, with the surroundings, but the roads thither from Bookham are in such a deplorable state that I was thankful and pleased to receive accommodation for the night at Mrs. E. "Gassidy's, where I was treated with every kindness and consideration.
The state of the road from Tumut leading to her holding1 is deplorable. It is a nice little holding of 1440 acres. At the time of my visit there was a fair spring in the grass, and the sheep and cattle looked well, but it must be a trouble in the dry season there as regards water.
In the absence of a frontage creek, a tributary of the Adjungbilly is rendering itself famous after every rainfall, by enlarging its scope by numerous tributaries, and acres of holding are in this way washed away to siltups the proverbially treacherous (as far a miners say Adjungbilly. The jnvenile creek so to say has developed abnormal proportions, being jabout three parts of a chain in width h by ..about from 10 to 15ft in depth. There is no clay subsoil, and, if the 'jsaid creek was' dammed up, I am of opinion that good results would after each rainfall, the accumulated silt would wash up, and in time may the washaways at present disastrous. The same applies to the property owned by the esteemed squire of Bongongo, Mr. J. Graham, through whose property the recreant stream flows to the Adjungbilly Greek.
On my arrival at Bongongo Station I did not have the pleasure of an interview with the owner. His home is surrounded by happy prospects. The pine avenue to his homestead is a picture, and the undulating character of the whole of his holding, comprising some thousands of holdings, clad in spring's greenest mantle, left me contemplative of his big prospects in the sweet by-and-bye. Tumut bound, I essay to cross the troublous Adjungbilly, and in front on a gentle eminence appeared an erection I afterwards found was the Bongongo School. Reminiscences of the past came back to me when I as a boy of 10 or ll, was truant like inclined, and it struck me at once 1 had missed my chances, as I was never located in such a happy spot for it as this. For why there is about three or four; acres of the happiest protected sweet-briar bushes I have seen; but I did inot see a recreant " kid." Well, you Wouldn't for he or she could plant in a twinkling. Driving on. I came to ,:the Adjungbilly Greek," across which . Messrs MeEvoy Bros, have erected a bridge. I don't for a moment blame the contractors, as the bridge seemed faithfully built and was of two spans but, whoever the Engineer was who laid out the plans he certainly should have his head read. You approach it in an easterly and westerly direction, and; ihave to leave it in a southwesterly; forif you foliow it in its north; and south direction, you run foul of a bank six feet high.
Anyway, urging onwards through plenty sweetbriars and scrub,I espy the residential area of Mr. Jones, and another similarly held area. Thence passing through a gate, I came to Mr. W. McGullock'a residential lease, which in my early days I remember as the site of Mr. A. McDonald's Station holding, then untenanted and in ruins and hidden from sight by the growth of the accursed sweetbriar.
Mr. McCullock has cleaned them out of his holding and with Mr. A. Morris, must be complimented on carrying out the requirements of the Land Board. But, referring to Mr. Morris, Whose newly built house and sheds, Little paddock pats and promising vegetable garden, struck me as meritorious from a batchelor; but what of the laned that divided him from McCullock, so well planted with briars. There is no opportunity of dodging a nasty sideling, a dread and menace to the traveller.
Next I come to another residential lease and whether Sheahan owns it or the briars this deponent refuses to say. Following on and leaving the Adjungbilly Creek frontage behind I come across Mr. J. C. Grant's residential area to the left. He shows a bit of energy and perseverance, as his holding is well fenced and cleared, and his residence will shelter and shield him till he can provide a better.
It I is a monotonous track verily and there is nothing so far to thank Carruthers, Waddell, See, Lyne, or any Premier for. There are plenty of gates to open. (most of them erected on the top of a rise). Journeying onward, I have io negotiate a nasty hill, lately only partly cleared of timber; Past memories of mining days, in the shape of deserted shafts to my feft, tell me I am: within the golden belt, but the road will never entice a city man; A poor old fellow with "Matilda " up, thanked me warmly for giving him a lift with it in my trap for a couple of miles. Presently I drop down into an uninviting creek, evidently not deserving of a name. It was silted up, and a reedy growth of green stuff on either side, in a pantomimic sway, to say - Trespass on me if you dare!"
The country through which I passed was but poorly grassed thus far from Adjungbilly. Then came the toughest bit of road of the lot up a long, rutty, most uninviting hill, on which someone has attempted to dear the timber off, but has failed. I pitied my horse, but he was as staunch as a rock, and after steady tedious climbing I arrived, almost shaken to pieces, at the summit of the hill.
The descent therefrom was gradual, and, not too trying. Mr. George Last's famed holding was in the foreground. Coming to a small creek at the boundary of Messrs F Last's and P Kiley's holding, I strike another gate and strike Tumut onwards through Mr. P. Kiley's Red Hill holding.
The track is a sideling one, pretty well as Nature left it, but coming in site of the Red Hill Station gate, with a bald topped mountain (conspicuous from Tumut) in the foreground, the country becomes leveller, and, from the gate aforesaid where, by the way, a finger post for advice to strangers is urgently necessary the road is good. After a time I feel within the pale of civilization as I follow a cut and well-preserved road for about a mile, which, though particularly serpentine is a treat after the bad road passed.
Leaving this, I find a swampy hollow the head of Brungle Creek on my right. The road is most uninviting, and the only thing to break the monotony of the track is the presence of cockatoos, who seem to be happy and at home. Crossing this swamp hollow now developed into a small creek, I come into a foresreserve of green timber, through which Natures road is at least endurable, and before me is Mr Biffin with a waggon and 14 bullocks laden with the first load of wool this year from Mr. P. Kiley's. I pitied the poor driver, and his necessity for, numerous curses on his onward way to Tumut; but I hope he will be treated in as hospitable a way as I was on truly the prettiest spot I have visited in New South Wales. - (Ref- The Tumut Advocate and Farmers and Settlers' Adviser (NSW : 1903 - 1925)(about) Previous issue Tuesday 15 November 1904 Next issue Previous page Page 2)
HISTORICAL TUMUT. [BY "WOMBAT."] (Continued) The late Mr T. Wilkinson, in a memoir he left, says he lived 18 months on the Gilmore, at the homestead how known as "Rosebank." The Gilmore Creek was dry from the end of 1838 until the middle of 1889. Wheat was worth £2 per bushel, and hard to procure at that. "We took up a license for a holding on the Gilmore," says the writer, " but a dispute arose with Shelley as to the boundaries. We were ordered to move by Mr Commissioner Bingham who possessed great power at that time. We built where O'Brien's house now stands, and had one crop of wheat, which was half smut. My brother John was with me then. We had about 70 head ot cattle. Bingham moved our license over to Yallowin; that was in June, 1840, and we were the first there. We settled on the flat, and put in a crop of wheat at the top end of it. All wheat was ground by hand flourmill, the nearest mill worked by power being at Yass. McAlister was the only man who grow wheat for sale on the Gilmore Creek, where Korn now resides. Cultivation was done with the swing plough drawn by bullocks. All crops were reaped by hand and threshed with flails. Rations in wheat were served out and each man had to grind his own flour. We bred cattle at Yallowin, fat bullocks then be- ing worth 20s per head in Sydney, and hard to sell nt that- Two-year-olds wore worth 10s, 8-year-olds 14s and 5 and 6-year-olds 20s. We paid about L25 a year for our squatting license. We could hire good men for L12 a year. Whitty used to pay his men L5 a year and gave them each a 2-year-old filly; he was one of the best employers at that time. Dr. Clayton owned East and West Blowering in 1839, and about 2 years later Whitty bought the property. There were no fences existing anywhere. Our cattle grazed from Tumut to Lobbs Hole, Davis had Yarrango- billy run in 1840. There had been stations on Long Plain, Tantangra, Coolamon and Coorangorambla, but they were all deserted on account of the snow. In 1840 we took our cattle up to Long Plain (I was in partner- ship with W. Bridle sr). We thought we could dairy there, but on March 8, 1841, snow commenced to fall and this disgusted us, so we came back to Yallowin, leaving our cattle at Long Plain where 80 of them perished in the snow. In 1851 gold was dis- covered in Victoria, and the dawn of better days began." During the '40's the brothers Messrs Ro- land and George Shelley (the latter being the father of Mr W. J. Shelley, of Tumut Plains) took up Bombowlee Station (alte Rankin Bros), and after they occupied it a while Hannibal Rose, who held Tumut Plains as a run, received a grant of 1280 acres there, as an encouragement for settlement. When Mr. George Shelley married, he dissolved partnership with Mr Roland Shelley, who purchased his interest in Bombowlee Station; and Mr George Shelley purchased Mr Hanni- bul Rose's interest in Tumut Plains Run. In the Gazette of 1866, this shows an area of 12,800 acres ; grazing capability, 800 head of cattle. In these pioneer times, with stock down to starvation price, with hundreds ol blacks spearing their cattle and causing them to stampede in terror for miles, with roads as Nature left them, and the necessity of pro- curing food supplies and clothing from Syd- ney per medium of bullock teams (usually meaning three months' absence from home), our early presidents had anything but a rosy time of it. Their residences were of the most primitive description - slab walls plas- tered with mortar to which chopped grass or horse hair had been added, roofs of stringy bark, earth floors as a rule, blocks and slabs, with four legs placed in them formed the principal sitting accommodation; their food was of the coarsest - beef and damper, the latter made of meal of their own grinding (more wholesome and bone producing than tbe fine flour of to-day) - hominy made of corn meal was a welcome addition. Of course they had their own milk and butter, and the coarse living was far more productive of health than the delicate living now. Gradually Tumut, by reason of its splendid climate, the productive character of the famed Tumut Valley from Talbingo to the conflu- ence of the Tumut river with the Murrum- bidgee, attracted settlement, but the distance to the central markets considerably retarded the progress of tbe agriculturist, and at this time (1841) the principal pursuits were pas- toral, the squatters growing a sufficiency of wheat, maize and potatoes for their own re- quirements. It is one of the troubles of the Australian squatter that he is treated alternately to a feast or a famine. Nature is profuse at in- tervals, but has also her seasons of niggard- liness. Tumut, luckily, being so near to the Australian Alps, seldom suffers from drought. The river takes its rise in the angles formed by the Big Bogongs or Mane's Range and the Snowy or Bald Mountains, about 36deg 10m south latitude ????? deg 25m east longitude. It flows in a northerly direction for about 80 miles, through rugged, scrubby country, from its source above Talbingo, until it fulls into the Murrumbidgee about 8 miles north east of Gundagai. It meanders through Tal- bingo, Blowering, Tumut and Mingay on its way, and the strange thing is that it has a greater average volume of water flowing beneath the bridge at Tumut than it has at Gundagai, although the Tumut is but a tri- butary of the Murrumbidgee. The first C.P.S. at Tumut was a Mr. Walker (appointed in 1845), afterwards and for many years Commandant of Native Police in Queensland. It la said of him that he was a clever and accomplished man, and sang a song which enraptured all hearers. He taught his native troopers songs from Italian operas, &c, and to hoar him sing "The Last Man" was considered a real vocal treat. This gentleman had a strong military turn, and, when one of Commissioner Bingham's troopers is said to have lost his way one night going to a maize field, he drew his sword and cut his way through the maize, much to the wonder of the owner when he looked at the state of his agriculture. People will wonder nowadays how it was an English gentleman would accept a position as a trooper under a commissioner. Many first class men, sometimes prosperous ones later on, had to accept anything going; there were few avenues indeed in their sphere of life. Splendid laboring hands, in 1846, worked for their grub. Mr Walker lived with Mr Henry Hilton, the chief constable, in a hut just where the Church of England has since been built. Mr Hilton was the son of a Liverpool merchant, and in the first instance acted as commissioner's clerk. Later he carried out the duties of postmaster and schoolteacher in the same quarters. Mr W S. Caswell, late Police Magistrate at Goul- burn, succeeded Mr Walker as C.P.S, taking up that office on June 7, 1847. There was no courthouse nor lockup, no town even. A store, kept by Messrs Strachan and Webb, was situated next the Show Ground. Strac- han was a Scotchman, and a very shrewd man at that, and a keen business man. Webb was the capitalist. He was an Irishman and related to one of the Irish patriots of that day. He was a Trinity College (Dublin) man and possessed remarkable talent, was witty, humorous and well informed. (To be continued) Young men about to marry should snap one of Fred Kinred's building blocks on his Railway Estate. They'll be worth double their value in a very few years. - (Ref- The Tumut Advocate and Farmers and Settlers' Adviser (NSW : 1903 - 1925)(about) Previous issue Tuesday 21 December 1909 Next issue Previous page Page 2)
10
HISTORICAL TUMUT. (BY " WOMBAT.") No. 10
This brings me back to the thread of Thomas Boyd's history- to a period when he was resident on the Gilmore on the land now owned by Mrs S Williamson -and to the time, in 1885, when Mr Richard McKay took Boyd over to the opening of the railway from Albury to Wodonga, defraying his expenses out of his own pocket. A great banquet was held in celebration of the opening. Both Governors from Sydney and Melbourne were present, and Boyd was seated on the right of Lord Loftus, who made a stirring speech praising old Boyd, who was the last living of the plucky band of pioneers that had started out to open up the country. At this func- tion, through the instrumentality of the late T. C. O'Mara, MP., and Mr R. McKay, Boyd was granted a pension of £52 per an- num from the New South Wales Government and a similar amount from the Victorian Government. He received the first £52 from New South Wales but never got the Victorian instalment. He died six months after. Mr Richard McKay sr. was a man of strong personality and one who would not be deterred in carrying out whatever he con- sidered would be of benefit to the town. He was ever staunch to his friends, a good con- versationalist and one who could give a graphic description of America as she was in the early days. He died in 1894, leaving behind him a sorrowing wife, and four sons qualified to fill with credit good positions in the land. Another old identity (and one I have al- luded to frequently in my previous contribu- tions) was Mr Francis Anderson. He came to Tumut in 1842, with his wife, his son Abraham and two daughters, viz: Mrs F. Foord sr. and the first Mrs Jas Kell. Strange to say, they arrived in Tumut on Mr Ander- son's birthday and that of her daughter's (Mrs F. Foord sr.) Mr Henry Anderson, of Lacmalac, was born the same year. Wheat at that period was £3 per bushel, tea 20s per lb, and Liverpool salt 1s per lb -and very difficult to procure even at those prices. Messrs Mick and Tom Troy, who held Brungle Station then, grew wheat at Killimi- cat (so named by reason of an old woman, whose cat fell off a dray and was killed com- ing up Kiliimicut Hill, saying " You've killed me cat! ") Anderson, being a blacksmith, did the Troys' work, and they let him as a favour have what wheat he required for his own use at 80s per bushel. Tea was so dear and so seldom obtainable that housewives of the day were often put to their wits end to give "a cup that would cheer but not inebri- ate." All that the stockman had to do was to crack his whip, or the traveller to whistle, and the " billy" (camp kettle") was imme- diately "slung." If no tea or coffee was in stock, a little wheat was parched in a pan. It was then pounded up and used as a substi- tute for coffee; either that, or a light cake was scorched sufficiently to make it pulveriz- able for the same purpose. Mrs Duffy, one of Tumut's oldest hands, still holds the credit of introducing the latter substitute; she and her husband resided at Gocup then. The first land surveyed in Tumut was by Surveyor Townsend, who measured 1280 acres of Tumut Plains for Mr Hamilton Rose. As I have said before, the bridge built by Messrs Foord and Anderson was a private