Where Hawkesbury buried their dead ~ Trove Tuesday

Windsor Catholic Cemetery. Photo M. Nichols

Prior to 1810, inhabitants of the Hawkesbury buried their dead in various places including their properties, or along the riverbanks. There was also an early burial ground on the banks of South Creek at Green Hills (which was the original name of Windsor) but no records survive and the exact location is not confirmed, although a small plot of land has been set aside to commemorate early burials.

In 1811, the following Government Order, decreed by Governor Lachlan Macquarie was published in the Sydney Gazette stating that all burials were to take place in consecrated cemeteries. The Order stated:

The respective burial grounds which were sometime since marked out for the accommodation of the settlers in the several townships of Liverpool, Windsor, Richmond, Pitt Town, Castlereagh and Wilberforce having lately consecrated by the Principal Chaplain, His Excellency, the Governor is pleased to give this public notice, thereof and at the same time directs & commands that in future all settlers and other residents within those townships, or in their respective vicinities shall cease to bury their dead as heretofore within their several farms, & shall in a decent and becoming manner inter them in the consecrated grounds now assigned for that purpose in their respective Townships.

It was also recorded that when someone died, "notice of the event shall be immediately given to the Constable at the District wherein it has occurred, and the Constable receiving such information is hereby directed to communicate the same with the least possible delay to the nearest Resident Chaplain, in order that he may attend and perform the Funeral Service."

This order was not to be neglected and ignoring it could result in severe punishment. Further it became a "sacred duty ... to guard and protect the Remains of ... deceased Friends from every unnecessary Exposure."

Governor Lachlan Macquarie was keen the burial grounds be made available soon after and donated ten pounds towards the erection of a fence, to be built as quickly as possible. The first of these burial grounds to be established was at Windsor. Many people do not realise that the burial ground came first and was established adjacent to what was eventually to become St. Matthew's Church of England, which began construction in 1817.  Andrew Thompson who died in 1810 was in fact the first person buried in the burial ground. Henry Antill was responsible for selecting Thompson's burial site. 

Shortly after Windsor, burial grounds were established in Richmond, Wilberforce, Pitt Town, Castlereagh and Ebenezer. They were surveyed, marked out and then consecrated. 

A visit to the Hawkesbury in 1832 - Trove Tuesday

James Backhouse 1794-1869 was a naturalist and Quaker missionary. Born in Durham, England to a Quaker business family in Durham, England. He was employed at a Norwich nursery, working with some Australian plants and became interested in the penal colony, prison reform and transportation. With an increasing interest in social conscience Backhouse met up with George Washington Walker 1800-1859. George was a Quaker, businessman and humanitarian, was born on the 19 March 1800 in London. From his employees he learnt integrity and honesty of the Quakers and he joined the Society of Friends as a result. In 1828 he established the Temperance Society in Newcastle.  

In 1831 the two men departed England as missionaries, to observe the colonies. The trip was financed by the London Yearly Meeting. The pair arrived in Hobart in 1832 where Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Arthur, was keen to co-operate with the two men. They provided Arthur with reports of their findings and suggestions for improvements as they were given limitless access to the penal settlements. They visited New South Wales in 1835 and spent two years touring Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, Port Macquarie penal settlements as well as the Aboriginal Station at Wellington. Backhouse and Walker gave Governor Bourke detailed reports of these which were also sent back to the various authorities in England. These reports contributed to improvements and development of penal reform. They promoted the development of charitable organisations including the Temperance Society and British and Foreign Bible Society. They also promoted temperance and Aboriginal protection committees.

Whilst travelling around, James Backhouse kept a diary. In 1834 they returned from Wellington and were making the journey from Penrith to the Hawkesbury. His diary records in a manner “which 'preachifying', 'botany', and 'moral reflections' are mixed up with the itinerary in a purely Quaker fashion. The following is a transcription from the Windsor & Richmond Gazette 10 November 1900 of some of their reflections of the district.

21  October 1834 - We walked by way of the little village of Castlereagh to Windsor, a town of about 1500 inhabitants, beautifully situated on the Hawkesbury, and of very English appearance, where we found pretty good accommodation at an inn.
22 October 1834 - We called upon some of the inhabitants, and made arrangements for holding some meetings, in which we were assisted by the Wesleyan Minister.
23 October 1834 - We went to Richmond, another little town on the Hawkesbury, 4 miles distant from Windsor. The country here is very fine and productive, with extensive grassy flats along the sides of the river. On these, people continue to build and reside, notwithstanding that there have been floods at intervals of a few years that have risen far above the tops of their houses. A respectable Wesleyan at Richmond told us that he had heard of our visit to Wellington Valley several days ago from a Native, who had had the particulars detailed to him by a Black from the country. Our persons costume, and many other particulars, including our manner of communicating religious instruction, had been minutely described. And on our Wesleyan friend enquiring what the Black supposed all this meant he replied, "God Almighty come and sit down at Wellington," implying that the Most High would be worshipped there. The scattered natives of Australia communicate information rapidly, messengers being often sent from tribe to tribe for great distances. In the evening we returned to Windsor.
24 October 1834 - Accompanied by a thoughtful military officer, we walked to the villages of Pitt Town and Wilberforce.  At Pitt Town we were helped in obtaining a place to hold our meetings by the Episcopal Minister.
25 October 1834 - We had meetings at Richmond to the forenoon, and at Windsor in the afternoon. There was a painful feeling in both meetings on behalf of such as profess to be awakened, but do not maintain an inward exercise of the soul … who try to feed upon external excitement, instead of upon the ‘True Bread’ which cometh down from Heaven, etc
26 October 1834 - Had a temperance meeting in Government School-room at Windsor, ninety members being present.
27 October 1834 - Visited the jail, and addressed the prisoners. Afterward walked to Wilberforce, and had a meeting in the school house with a congregation consisting chiefly of Australians of European extension with whom I had an open time in preaching the Gospel, to which as regards its powers, the auditors seemed much of strangers…
28 October 1834 - At 6 this morning had a religious interview with a party of 24 employed in replacing a wooden bridge over South Creek, close to Windsor. In the afternoon visited the hospital and had a meeting of about 40 patients assembled in one of the 4 wards. In the evening met 120 persons in the school-room at Pitt Town. The district of Pitt town contains about seven hundred inhabitants, many of whom have been prisoners and are notorious for their drunkenness, profligacy and neglect of public worship.
29 October 1834 - We returned to Richmond and made call upon several persons for the purpose of furnishing them with tracts. In the afternoon we held a meeting at Currajong, a scattered settlement on the ascent of the mountains near the confluence of the Nepean and Grose Rivers, which uniting, form the Hawkesbury. The land here has been cleared and numerous cottages erected, but the inhabitants, who are chiefly Anglo-Australians, seem very uncultivated. In the evening we returned again to Windsor. The country in this neighbourhood was settled at an early period of the colony. Some of the alluvial flats on the Hawkesbury, which is navigable to Windsor for small craft, are very rich, and the people are now busy planting maize or Indian corn. Crops of this useful grain are often obtained after wheat has failed from frost, drought, or hot winds.
30  October 1834 - At 6 o'clock in the morning we mounted a 4 horse coach which stopped for breakfast at Parramatta and arrived at Sydney in 4 hours and a-half, the distance being 38 miles. Between Windsor and Parramatta there are a few large orange orchards, which are said to yield very profitable produce to their owners.  

Quakers traditionally encouraged education and Backhouse and Walker were optimistic about the British and Foreign School Society distributing material and text books on their journey. “Many schools in the colonies followed its curriculum and it became the official system in the early public education of some colonies. They encouraged savings banks, benevolent societies, and ladies' committees for prison visiting on Elizabeth Fry's model. They inspected hospitals and recommended humane treatment for the insane and asylums.”  

They also travelled interstate visiting Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide and returned home via Mauritius and South Africa where they travelled almost 10,000 kms spreading the word and recording their observations. Throughout their journey of the colonies, Backhouse collected and recorded botanical specimens which were sent back to Kew Gardens. The genus of a myrtaceous shrub was named Backhousia in his honour. Walker returned to Hobart in 1840 and married. He retained his concern for those less fortunate. In 1848 Lieutenant-Governor Denison noted that Walker was “the very personification of a mild, benevolent, and excellent Quaker. Even here, where sectarian and religious party feeling run higher than anywhere I have ever known, men of all denominations unite in speaking well of George Washington Walker.”   George passed away on the 2 February 1859 in Tasmania.

Title page of ‘A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies’

Whilst Walker returned to the colonies, Backhouse returned to England in 1841. He kept up with his nursery business whilst travelling extensively around the British Isles collecting botanical specimens. He continued his interest and concern in the places he had visited and also published ‘A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies’ in 1841 which contained important material relating to conditions of both the penal settlement and the Aboriginals of the time. Backhouse passed away in York on the 20 January 1869. These two men had Evangelical concerns for humankind and resolved to bring about change by practical means.

References:
The Hawkesbury District. (1900, November 10). Windsor and Richmond Gazette (NSW : 1888 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article85851796
Mary Bartram Trott, 'Backhouse, James (1794–1869)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/backhouse-james-1728/text1899, published in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 22 April 2014.

Hawkesbury in print - Trove Tuesday

210 years ago the first newspaper in Australia was published. The  “Sydney Gazette” is a very important source of historic material on early life in the colony and for the first few decades of the settlement, it was the only printed record documenting the day to day activities. It was originally published weekly by Australia’s first newspaper commenced in 1803 and was established by  George Howe (1769-1821) and the editor stated in its first edition "We open no channel to political discussion or personal animadversion [criticism]; information is our only purpose…" Howe was allowed to use the Government's press & type for the publication but it was accomplished out of his own pocket. Due to the cost of ink and paper, newspapers were often very small. In the early years, the Sydney Gazette averaged about four pages per edition and because of this, articles were kept to a minimum. Despite the limitations on the paper the Hawkesbury features in this historic issue.

The first mention of the Hawkesbury district appears in the first issue 5 March 1803 p. 4 and records the death of a settler, Mr Withers and that of Maria Wood and the fate of her orphaned children.

 The Sydney Gazette 5 March 1803 

The Hawkesbury went onto be recorded in the media many many more times over the years. In fact Trove Australia records at 327,845 mentions of the word in at least 525 newspapers in states and territories all over Australia. Hopefully as more newspapers are digitised and transcribed this number will increase tenfold.

Hawkesbury Newspapers - Trove Tuesday

Newspapers are a wonderful source of information for both local and family history. Information located from newspapers is often unique and often not found in other sources. Hawkesbury newspapers, dating from the 1840s, are included on Trove, the National Library of Australia's digitised newspapers and sponsored by Hawkesbury Library Service.

• Australian, Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser 1873 - 1899
• Hawkesbury Chronicle & Farmers Advocate 1881 - 1888
• Hawkesbury Courier & Agricultural & General Advertiser 1844 - 1846
• Hawkesbury Advocate 1899 - 1900
• Hawkesbury Herald 1902 - 1945
• Windsor & Richmond Gazette 1888 - 1955
• Windsor Express & Richmond Advertiser 1843 - 1844

Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser 11 July 1844, p. 1. 

The Windsor Express, was apparently the first permanent newspaper in the Hawkesbury, and first appeared on the 17 May 1843. This was almost 50 years after the Hawkesbury district was settled by Europeans. Geoffrey Amos Eagar produced the publication in his Printing Office located in George Street in Windsor. The newspaper only operated for about twelve months, with the last issue appearing on 9 May 1844.

Shortly after the Windsor Express became defunct, Eagar established another newspaper called Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser. The first issue appeared on the 11 July 1844 and operated until 1846. When the Hawkesbury Courier ceased publication, the Hawkesbury community had to wait for over a quarter of a century before another local newspaper was introduced. The Australian, Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser was launched in 1873.

From that time until the present, the Hawkesbury district, has had a newspaper operating. The Windsor & Richmond Gazette was established in July 1888 by J. C. L. Fitzpatrick. The newspaper recently celebrated 125 years of operating. The most current issue dates from 21 December 1955.

Windsor and Richmond Gazette 21 July 1888 published 125 years ago. 

All England cricket team plays in Windsor - Trove Tuesday

As the cricket season prepares to launch, sports fanatics may be interested in the fact that an All-England cricket team played a game in Western Sydney in the 1880s. The newspapers of the day had a field day reporting on the Test series vs a Hawkesbury/Nepean team.

A tour to Australia by the All-England cricket team, was arranged in 1881 and the visiting team arrived in Sydney via America, late in the year. The tour, like many of the early tours, was renowned for its scandals, not unlike cricket today. The series drew tremendous crowds and the first Test Match, played over several days in Melbourne, notched up 46,500 spectators.  The overall series resulted in an Australian win 2-0. The Australian team was captained by William 'Billy' Murdoch 1854-1911 while the English team captain was Alfred Shaw.

The Second Test was played in Sydney on the 17th-18th & 20th-21st February and Australia won by 5 wickets. The following day after this Test, a one-day match was arranged between the All-England Eleven and 22 of the Hawkesbury and Nepean. On Wednesday 22 February 1882, “a special train conveyed the Eleven from Sydney, and the play took place on Mr. McQuade's ground at Fairfield." (Fairfield was the name of the property which also encompassed much of the Windsor Golf Course). “A wicket was made of concrete and carpeted, thus greatly adding to the comfort of the players. It was estimated that about 1000 persons were present to witness the play.” 

The local newspaper reported that the “arrangements were not well carried out, the public being allowed to parade inside the roped enclosure, to the annoyance of those who paid for admission to the reserved portion of the ground, and interfering vastly with the scorer. Mr. W. H. Hull captained the local team, Mr. Bodenham acted as umpire, and Mr. J. Coleman as scorer.”

The results were published as follows:

The Australian, Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser 25 February 1882 p. 3. 

Retrieved September 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66359169

The concluding comment in the newspaper stated “it will thus be seen that our men did very well indeed, and we are informed by the All England team that they have met many worse twenty-twos than the Hawkesbury 22” which could be seen as a disparaging compliment.

A souvenir illustration of the English team appeared in the Town & Country Journal

Historic Australian newspapers can be found on Trove and browsing the pages reveal many wonderful sporting events from the past. 

A Fatal Excursion ~ Trove Tuesday

Right from the very beginning convicts tried to escape from the Colony. They believed by heading off into the bush, they could walk to China. These ventures were mostly doomed as the escapees lacked the skills to survive in bush and were ill-prepared. The following melancholy tale was brought to mind after listening to a talk last week about the various escape attempts made by the inhabitants, unaware of their environment or their locality on a map. Early newspapers provide informative accounts of some of these attempts and although it might seem astounding to us in the 21st century, in the late 1790s and early 1800s, little was known about the geography of this continent, particularly the interior, and China could have been just a short stroll through the bush.

The following remarkable account of this 'Fatal Excursion' was published in the Sydney Gazette 26 June 1803 with details provided by John Place, apparently the only survivor. Place, "who now lies in a very weak state in Parramatta Hospital" tells "of an attempt made by him and three of his fellow prisoners, to escape from this Colony." The article continues:

"John PLACE declares that he, John COX, William KNIGHT and John PHILLIPS, all late of the Glatton (prisoners), formed a resolution on the road from Castle Hill to Hawkesbury, to attempt their escape. They formed this determination in consequence of having heard people say [moral below] on board the Glatton, and while at work at Castle Hill, that they could get to China, by which means they would obtain their liberty again; being all married men (excepting one) they were very anxious to return to their families. On the 7th May (three days after their arrival at Hawkesbury) they left Cornwallis-place, resolved  to pass the Mountains, and took with them only their week's rations, which they received on Saturday and consumed on the Wednesday following. After travelling for 17 days, in hopes of passing the Mountains, and despairing of accomplishing the object on which they set out, they resolved (if possible) to return. After they had eaten their provisions they found nothing to subsist on but wild-currants and sweet-tea leaves, and had been oppressed with hunger for 12 days. Before they set off to return, John Phillips left them to gather some berries, and they saw him no more; they heard him call several times, but could render him no assistance they being so reduced by hunger, and conclude he perished. Being asked in what direction they went, Place says, that they travelled the whole of the seventeen days with the sun on their right shoulder, and found great difficulty in ascending some of the Mountains, and also attempted to return by the direction of the sun. After travelling for upwards of Twenty-days, all (except Phillips) reached within five miles of Richmond-Hill, when William Knight, unable to proceed any further, lay down, where Place says he must have died. On the same day, Place and Cox made the river above Richmond Hill, and in attempting to cross the Fall the current carried them down. One was carried to one side of the river, and the other to the opposite side, with difficulty pulling themselves ashore by the branches of the trees. Cox had only his shirt and shoes on, Place saw him lain along the bank, where, being very weak, and the night extremely cold, he supposes he died. Place also lay down, despairing of life, and was found on the day following by a man, who with some of the natives was in quest of kangaroos : he was then too weak to walk alone, but was led by the natives to the nearest hut, where he remained all night; in the morning he was taken to Hawkesbury, and thence sent to the Hospital at Parramatta. 

None can read the above account without pitying the ignorance, and commiserating the sufferings of these deluded prisoners; and it is fervently to be hoped that the inconceivable hardships they have endured from hunger and cold, with the almost constant prospect of death before their eyes, will deter all other prisoners from either advising any of their companions, or from making a similar attempt themselves. It is well known, that those are not the only unfortunate men who have perished in this wild attempt, many others have never returned to relate the hardships they underwent, and must therefore have perished under every accumulation of misery by their rashness and folly. 

Place who appears to be the only survivor, resigned himself to despair and death, and was when found, within a few hours of eternity. He seems to have been preserved by a particular providence, to give the above awful admonition to all others who now do or shall in future, entertain any idea of regaining their liberty by a similar act, in which nothing but inevitable death must be the final event."

In December 1803 John Place was mentioned once more in the Sydney Gazette and again a few months later.  He absconded, along with two others (Edward Hill and Dick the Waggoner) trying to escape from the colony. They left the Hawkesbury hoping to cross the Mountains, but after about a month away returned Hill gave himself up at the Hawkesbury whilst Place went to Sydney. At the time of the article appearing in the newspaper, Dick was still at large. The journalist, as well as the officials, were dumbfounded that he had tried to escape a second time, they wrote: "From this circumstance it would be reasonable to conclude, that no man in existence had the hardihood to make a second experiment of this nature - a consideration, which together with undebilitated appearance of the prisoner, seemed strongly to sanction a supposition that the major part of his relation had been fabricated, and that he had concealed himself in a remote employ. The Bench, after serious consideration sentenced him to receive 500 Lashes."  

Convict arrow from the monument at Wisemans Ferry. Taken M. Nichols

Breaker Morant in the Hawkesbury - Trove Tuesday

Much has been written over the years about the larrikin, Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant (1864-1902). A mischievous rogue, Harry was born in England and arrived in Australia and spent many years working in the Australian outback. A "charismatic roustabout made a name for himself as a hard-drinking, womanising bush poet and gained renown as a fearless and expert horseman." But a little known fact is that he spent several years in and about the Hawkesbury district.

His remarkable feats of horsemanship were well-known, like the excerpt from 1898, when the Windsor & Richmond Gazette reported a story from The Bulletin. "Harry Morant ("The Breaker") was last week jumping his horse Cavalier over a 4ft. rail filling a gap in the fence at the rear of the old Racecourse Hotel, Clarendon."  Apparently the "horse swerved and, going too fast to stop, cleared the 7ft palings!" The horse (a five-year-old gelding) was bred by Phillip Charley from an imported trotting mare which was originally "owned by the late Andrew Town, of Hobartville." It was noted that the jump was witnessed, "done in the presence of Mr. Kelly, of Clarendon, and some half-dozen others; and the measurement is well-authenticated." 

He was recorded as playing polo in Richmond and riding in the Hawkesbury Show. According to local newspaper reports he worked in various positions throughout the Hawkesbury.

His bush ballads, including Who’s riding the Old Horse, Now? appeared in various newspapers and magazines, as well as the Windsor & Richmond Gazette, 1 May 1897 p. 7, under his byline 'The Breaker' - see the ballad in full below. One of the popular verses reads:

A demon to handle! A devil to ride!

Small wonder the surcingle burst;

You’d have thought that he’d buck himself out of his hide

On the morning we saddled him first.

I can mind how he cow-kicked the spur of my boot,

And though that’s long ago, still I vow

If they’re wheeling a piker no new chum galoot

Is a riding old Harlequin now!

One of his old friends, editor J. C. L. Fitzpatrick wrote a memorable piece for the local newspaper, his memories of Morant, when news of his death reached the Hawkesbury.

     

Vale Harry Morant. Windsor & Richmond Gazette, 5 April 1902 p. 6.  

The Breaker was executed 27 February 1902 at Pretoria in South Africa. The debate about his life and death continue, a century after his death. 

~o~o~o~o~

Who’s riding the Old Horse, Now?

Windsor & Richmond Gazette, 1 May 1897 p. 7

TOP GEAR STUDEBAKER - TROVE TUESDAY

During the 1850s, Studebaker constructed horse-drawn wagons in the USA and by the 1880s some of these wagons found their way to Australia. In 1902 Studebaker constructed electric cars followed two years later with automobiles run by petrol. 

Studebaker’s were already in use in Australia by the 1920s.  In the 1930s they were quite popular. 

So what has the Studebaker got to do with the Hawkesbury? 

In 1928 Norman Smith drove a “Stock Model Studebaker Commander Sports Roadster” up Bells Line of Road to Kurrajong Heights. Norman was accompanied by an official observer from the Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA). The RACA commenced in 1903 to assist drivers with early regulations and expertise.

The above photo of the Studebaker “climbing Kurrajong Heights in Top Gear” appeared in The Land 22 June 1928 newspaper. It boasted the “Studebaker is the only car to have accomplished this feat with a passenger.” What a feat!! 

There were various models available but they didn't come cheap. Prices started at £420.

Advertisement from Gilgandra Weekly16 July 1925, p. 4.  

Today the Studebaker remains popular with vintage car enthusiasts.

Richmond's Black Horse Inn

During the early days, the colony was teeming with hotels that provided meals, drinks and sometimes accommodation for travellers. Rum, followed later by beer, was the main drink in the colony. Operating hours varied and the hostelries usually had big wooden signs defining the name, hanging on hinges outside. A light burning outside was kept on until a late hour. A lamplighter went around and lit the lamps and kept them burning. Prices ranged from 6d for a glass of rum and 3d for beer. Shouting a drink or round, popular these days, was pretty much unheard of. Entertainment was also scarce. Sometimes dances were held in the tap room, someone would play a fiddle and fights were fairly popular.  

Located in Richmond, the first license was issued 15 Feb 1819 to Paul Randall and recorded in the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825 and issued for the ‘Black Horse Prince.’ In later years it became known as the ‘Black Horse.’ A copy of the exact certificate was transcribed in the Windsor & Richmond Gazette in 1919.

Paul Randall was a convict who arrived in NSW in 1791 on board the “Admiral Barrington” Back in England, his brother William was involved in a robbery while his wife Mary was also implicated. Mary arrived on the “Bellona” in 1793. It appears their daughter Margaret (born in 1799) took over the operation of the Black Horse in the late 1820s leading the hotel into its heyday. Margaret had married in 1820 to Dr Henry Seymour, a convict who arrived in 1817. Following the death of her parents, Mary (1832) and Paul (1834) Margaret inherited the inn. Her parents are both buried at St. Peter’s, Richmond. It was during the 1830s that Margaret had constructed, in Windsor Street, a more established two-story building. It is thought that the original single-storey residence remained adjoining the new structure and certainly surviving photographs correspond with this theory. Margaret ran the Black Horse for forty years. 

As Henry and Margaret did not have any children they adopted Sophia Westbrook who was a daughter of James Westbrook and Eliza Phipps. Sophia married in Richmond in 1844, William Sly a convict who had arrived on the “Moffatt” in 1836. She inherited the Black Horse from the Seymour’s and the Sly’s operated it for many years. Sophia died in 1900 and son William became the licensee. Over the next twenty years or so, William Sly Jnr leased the hotel to a number of individuals including Sportsman O’Keefe who was a champion cross country rider. In the late 1920s the license was transferred to a newly established hotel at Kurrajong Heights. In the early 1930s the old inn site on the corner of Windsor and Bosworth Streets, was purchased Mr Grimwood and operated as a garage for many years.  

Black Horse Service Station, Windsor Street, Richmond, ca. 1935
Searle, E. W. (Edward William) 1887-1955
Courtesy of the National Library of Australia nla.pic-vn4655360

Years later, the building was modernised, and more contemporary alterations hid the significant historic hub. It functioned as service station until the 1960s. It was possibly in the 1970s when the service station business ceased and that the false façade constructed. It was divided into commercial premises but the nucleus of the Black Horse remains, hidden.

Much romance is associated with the Black Horse and the newspapers of the 1890s and 1900s are filled with nostalgic recollections. Windsor & Richmond Gazette 16 May 1919.   It was also famous, according to the early newspapers, and many “journeyed from all parts of the colony.”  According to the Australian Town & Country Journal in 1906, the register apparently “recorded the names of many eminent people who have been identified with the wealth and progress of NSW…spent their honeymoon at the famous Black Horse Hotel."

The wooden sign that hung out the front of the hotel showing a running black horse, is now part of the collection of the Hawkesbury Historical Society. From the late 18th century, hotels were required to be licensed with some records surviving and held by State Records.

Other Sources:
Hawkesbury’s Black Horse Inn by Ken Moon (Research Publications, 1988)
Documentation of ‘The Black Horse Inn’ … prepared by Graham Edds & Associates (1994)
Hawkesbury Journey by D. G. Bowd (Library of Australian History, 1986)

Hawkesbury Cornstalks - Trove Tuesday

Cornstalk was a term used in the early 1800s to describe an Australian born resident, in comparison to one that was born overseas.  It was often used to describe the physique particularly the young men born in the colony, who were recorded as being “taller and fairer than the European-born and had thus flourished like the Indian corn brought to Australia.” 

In 1831 the newspapers recorded that the Hawkesbury cornstalks were in regards to “size, strength and agility, the best in the colony.”

According to the The Australian 28 January 1831, p. 3 located on Trove  lists thirty-two cornstalks from the Hawkesbury district that all stood over 1.83m (6 feet) and up to 1.92m (6’3½”). Among the number was Jack Kable, the Hawkesbury born son of First Fleet convicts Henry & Susannah Kable. Jack was a champion boxer of his time, and stood 6’ 3½”

The Australian 28 January 1831, p. 3

Some of the names included are Gaudry, Dargin, Wiseman, Merrick, Howe, Dight, Rose, Turnbull, Stubbs, Cobcroft, Bailey and Farlow.

“It is remarkable that the Hawkesbury lads are for the most part, the leaders among the Australian youths. The following 'little boys,' as their mothers call them, would form a strong match at a trial of strength, if opposed to an equal number of lads from any other district.” 

The young men often stood six feet six inches high.The writer stated "We hope they nourish in their hearts that love of country, and that spirit of independence becoming their superior physical strength. Some hundred others may be enumerated.”

Christopher Watkin May and the dandy horse - Trove Tuesday

In the 1890s, the Hawkesbury claimed that Christopher May was the "father of cycling" despite the claims by Sydney newspapers and Mr W. R. George of the Sydney Bicycle Club. The Windsor & Richmond Gazette 21 March 1896 p. 6 stated:

Perhaps it will interest our cycling readers to know that Mr. Christopher May, over 82 years of age, a farmer, residing on the Hawkesbury, near Windsor, is the oldest living cyclist in Australia. A great controversy, as you know, has been going on in the Sydney and Melbourne papers lately as to who was entitled to this honor, and I think  to be the father of cycling. As Mr. George's experience only dates from 1866 or later, I think Mr. Christopher May can well lay claim to the title of grandfather, for he was the owner of a "dandy horse," and rode along Brickfield Hill in the year 1836. The old man told me the other day, with a good laugh, that he shortly after, on a Sunday, rode down the main street of Windsor and surprised the residents, who had never seen one before. Windsor was a more prosperous place then than now, and the population was larger, and the people, seeing the new-fangled machine and its rider careering down the hill in George-street, Windsor, went mad with excitement. the whole district turning out to witness a man astride of two wheels. Next day the police magistrate, old Lieutenant [Archibald] Bell, fearing a disturbance (be it remembered there was a rough element about in those stirring days), asked the young cyclist (for Christy was a young man once) not to appear in public again to disturb the minds of the people with his dandy horse - he feared a riot. At that time old Bell, the military magistrate, lived in Government House, which is still standing at the bottom of George-street. He came out to Australia with the 102nd Regiment, afterwards the Royal Veterans Company, and took part in Governor Bligh's arrest. Mr May is still in the land of the living, and although not a disciple of the bicycle, is still an active rider, and bestrides his old grey horse with all the activity of yore. 

Sadly Mr May passed away a few years after this article appeared. His obituary appeared in the Windsor & Richmond Gazette  28 July 1900 p. 9. He is buried in the Windsor Catholic Cemetery with various other family members.

Christopher Watkin May's headstone in the Windsor Catholic Cemetery

Hawkesbury River floods

The Hawkesbury River has a long history of floods and when Governor Phillip and his party explored the district shortly after arrival, debri was noted in the tree branches. In 1799 the river rose over 15m followed by three huge floods recorded including 1806. 1809, 1817 and 1819 saw a number of floods with heights reaching 14m and widespread damage in the Hawkesbury. 

Inhabitants had a period of calm with no major floods for over thirty years. Then successive floods in June 1864 caused major problems in the Hawkesbury, when the river rose and peaked at 14.64m. Buildings were seriously damaged, several were completely destroyed. Over 1000 people were made destitute with many families having no homes to go to. The agricultural district suffered heavy losses. Stacks of hay and corn were carried away, also pigs, cattle and horses.   

But the biggest was yet to come. On 17 June 1867 it began to rain.  The rain continued and became heavier and strong winds blew. By 20 June 1867, the whole district was covered with water, as far as the eye could see.  Within a few days the levels were almost to the height of the 1864 flood and rising quickly. All the available boats were answering the distress calls of inhabitants, so additional boats were sent from Sydney on a special train, arriving at Windsor. By 22 June the water was rising at the rate of seven inches per hour eventually reaching a massive 19.26m. 

Source: Illustrated Sydney News 16 July 1867, p. 8. 

Amazingly there was only one report of fatalities as a result of this flood. members of the Eather family drowned at Cornwallis. Two wives and their ten children were drowned, the two husbands and one boy were saved. Not all of the bodies were immediately recovered, but those that were, are located in the Windsor Catholic Cemetery. The body of a child was found several months later, at Freemans Reach, and another inquest was held. 

When waters receded, the destruction along the Hawkesbury were revealed and heavy losses were recorded. The floods covered a large part of NSW including Goulburn and the Hunter district, however the Hawkesbury was the worst hit. 

Although there have been numerous floods since European settlement, there has been nothing like the 1867 disastrous flood. It was almost 100 years later when floodwaters rose to 15.1m mark. A relatively short time later, in 1964 another flood occurred, the river rising 14.51m. 

Source: Windsor floods, date unknown.
Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum

For more information about Hawkesbury floods, check historic newspaper accounts on Trove and also Disastrous decade : flood and fire in Windsor 1864-1874 by Michelle Nichols (Berowra Heights, N.S.W. : Deerubbin Press, 2001)

Trove Tuesday - Death of Andrew Thompson 1773-1810

Andrew Thompson, despite arriving in the colony as a convict on the Pitt in 1792, went on to become one of the Hawkesbury's most celebrated pioneers. Thompson was renowned for his work as a Chief Constable, and magistrate but was also a farmer, brewer and businessman, accumulating a huge estate.  His premature death in 1810 was mourned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, the elite of the colony as well as the local Hawkesbury community. His obituary in the Sydney Gazette reads: 

At Hawkesbury, Green Hills, on Monday the 22d Instant, after a lingering and severe illness, aged 37, Andrew Thompson, Esq. Magistrate of that District. In retracing the last twenty years of the life of this exemplary and much lamented Character will not be held uncharitable to glance at the lapse from rectitude which in an early and inexperienced period of youth destined him to these shores, since it will stamp a more honourable Tribute to his Memory to have it recorded, that from his first arrival in this Country he uniformly conducted himself with that strict regard to morality and integrity, as to obtain and enjoy the countenance and protection of several succeeding Governors; active, intelligent and industrious, of manners mild and conciliatory, with a heart generous and humane, Mr. Thompson was enabled to accumulate considerable property; and what was more valuable to him, to possess the confidence and esteem of some of the most distinguished Characters in this Country; the consciousness of which surmounted the private solicitude of revisiting his native Country, and led him rather to yield to the wish of passing the evening of his life where his manhood had been meritoriously exerted, than of returning to the land which gave him birth. Mr Thompson's intrinsic good qualities were appreciated by His Excellency the present Governor, who soon after his arrival here was pleased to appoint him a Magistrate, for which situation Mr. Thompson's natural good sense and a superior knowledge of the Laws of his Country peculiarly qualified him. 

Nor can we close this Tribute to his Memory without recurring to the important services Mr. Thompson rendered this Colony, and many of his fellow-creatures, during the heavy and public distresses which the floods at the Hawkesbury produced amongst the Settlers in that extensive District; Mr. Thompson's exertions were on a late occasion for two days and two nights unremittingly directed to the assistance of the sufferers, and we hasten to add, that in these offices of humanity, he not only exposed himself to personal danger, but laid the foundation for that illness which has deprived the World of a valuable life.

During the unfortunate Disturbances which lately disrupted this Colony, he, whose death we now lament, held on the even "Tenor of his Way," and acquitted himself with mildness, moderation and wisdom, and when the ruthless Hand of Death arrested his earthly career, he yield with becoming fortitude, and left this World for a better, with humble and devout resignation, and an exemplary confidence in the Mercies of his God.

Source: Family Notices. (1810, October 27). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 3. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628118

The square, located on a ridge between the Hawkesbury River and South Creek, was named Thompson Square by Macquarie in honour of his friend. He also erected a lengthy monument on his grave in St. Matthew's Church of England Cemetery in 1813 with "respect and esteem for the Memory of the deceased."