A Ghost Train to Toronto

On the weekend, Mary and I travelled to Toronto for a friend's 60 th Birthday celebration.

Toronto is on the west side of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales. It is a beautiful spot and we intend to come back with our group of friends later in the year.

With an eye to its history, we could not resist to see what Toronto had to offer.

Firstly we found the old railway station which is no longer operational. It closed in 1990 after 91 years of serving the local passenger community. Oroginally a tramway was constructed in 1891 from Fassifern Railway station to Toronto. A variety of steam engines was used on this line including a horsedrawn carriage. The line was converted to a branch railway in 1911 terminating at Toronto. Many thousands of passengers travelled here for holidays at Lake Maquarie over the years, including the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) who visited Toronto in June of 1920.

Next we found a plaque commemorating the site of Reverend Lancelot Edward Threlkeld's second Mission for Aborigines which he established in 1830 on his 1280 acre land grant "Derambambah".

History Services NSW has some 20 records of convicts assigned to the Reverend Threlkeld in the Newcastle area, including one Charles Adams who arrived in the Colony in March 1823. He was assigned to Government House in Parramatta in April 1823. In 1828 at age 22 years, Adams is recorded as being a "servant" and a 'bullock driver' with Rev E Threlkeld, Lake Macquarie.

If you are researching a convict ancestor who was assigned to Reverend Threlkeld , you should go to our website at: http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

Green Hills Burial Ground

Today Mary and I visited Pitt Town and Windsor, two of the Macquarie towns. Although we had been there many times before, we did a photo shoot of the many historical sites and buildings that remain today as a testiment to the districts's heritage.

These included the site of Governor Bligh's farm on the outskirts of Pitt Town; site of the Government Cottage (c1796-1919) where Governor Lachlan Macquarie named the five "Macquarie Towns" on 6 December 1810; St Matthew's Anglican Church (begun 1817); St Matthew's Rectory (1825); and the Hawkesbury Museum c1820 which was the home of the Hawkesbury's chief constable John Howe.

One of the most rewarding finds was the site of the Green Hills Burial Grounds, located on a patch of undeveloped land at the back of the Jolly Frog Hotel at Windsor. Not easily accessible from the town, we had to park in Court Street and walk down past the Toll House and go under the (Windsor) road bridge and over the bicycle roadway. We then came upon the site which today is a very peaceful green patch among the hustle and bustle of the modern day Windsor.

Green Hills was the earliest burial ground in the Hawkesbury district being used for burials from around 1806-1810.Governor Macquarie designated a new burial ground to be used from 1810 which is now the cemetery in St Matthew's Church of England.

From 1810, Green Hills however continued to used for the burial of convicts with the last convict being buried there in 1834.

The Hawkesbury district is rich in convict history. History Sevices NSW has extensive information on the large number of convicts assigned to the district.

If you are researching a convict ancestor, you should go to our website at: http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

Australia Day and your Convict Ancestor

Happy Australia Day to all our readers.

This day gives us an opportunity to reflect on who we are as Australians. For many of us this will focus us on our ancestors who came to this land as convicts from England.

Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd spoke fondly of his convict ancestor, one Thomas Rudd, at an Australia Day function at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Sunday.

History Services NSW Convict Database has the following information recorded for the said Thomas Rudd:

• arrived at Port Jackson from Portsmouth on 28 June 1790 aboard the Neptune (Second Fleet). Sentenced at the Old Bailey on 23 May 1787 for a term of seven years;


• arrived at Port Jackson for a second time from England on 12 June 1801 aboard the Earl Cornwallis. Sentenced at the London Gaol Delivery on 19 February 1800 for a term of seven years;


• 1808 - sought assistance and was granted capital from John Blaxland for payment of wages;


• 1813 - subscribed to a building fund for a court house at Sydney;


• 1814 - recorded as a landholder at Liverpool;


• 1816 - required to prove he was free or be returned to government service. Resided at Liverpool;


• 1819 - assigned a convict servant, Edward McQuade (per theship Guildford which arrived at Port Jackson on 8 April 1816);


• 1822 - recorded as a landholder of Liverpool (free by servitude);


• 1824 - resident at Campbelltown - signed a letter to the Sydney Gazette asking for government investment in capital works at Campbelltown.

If you are researching a convict ancestor, and would like a ready summary of the information that is available, you should go to our website at:http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

A German Convict?

Yesterday, on a very hot Sydney day, I was interviewed by Dennis Gastmann for the German documentary series “With 80,000 Questions Around the World". In this show, the reporter travels to foreign countries to learn about their history, culture and tradition.

Dennis and his camera man, Thomas Hipp, are in Australia for one week and are scheduled to conduct four feature interviews for a program on Australia Day.

I was was questioned on issues such as:

• Do Australians regard themselves as a Convict nation? This is apparently a common perception in Germany.


• What is the significance of Australia Day, which many Aborigines refer to as Invasion Day.


• My own convict ancestry and what it is like for an Australian to discover they have a convict ancestor.

The program will be aired on German Public Television on 1 March 2010.

A search of the History Services NSW Convict Database found that 21 convicts were native of Germany. An interesting German convict was George Bennet alias Isaac Davis, who arrived in Sydney on the convict ship Waterloo on 12 June 1837. George was aged 55 years when he arrived and was a native of Brenham, Germany. He had been previously transported to the Colony on the convict ship Guildford in 1824 and had escaped during June 1835. In 1844 he was before the Hyde Park Barracks Bench of Magistrates for making a false statement. At this time it was discovered that he had not received any additional punishment for previously absconding from the Colony. For punishment, the Bench of Magistrates recommended that he serve two years on Cockatoo Island as punishment. He eventually received his Ticket of Leave for the Parramatta district in November 1847, which was later altered to Sydney district, so long as he remained employed by Mr. Isaac Norris of Pitt Street.

Governor Macquarie has arrived!

On the rainy Monday morning of 28 December 2009, Mary and I attended the commemoration of the 200th Anninversary of the arrival of Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, Governor Designate of New South Wales at the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

The event was organised by the Woollahra History and Heritage Society and held at the Signal Station at Watson's Bay, Sydney. It was intended to capture the history of Macquarie's voyage to New South Wales. The president of the Society, Peter Poland, read extracts from the Sydney Gazette and journals and letters of some of the ships' passengers. The Society was also seeking to encourage descendants of the 73 rd Regiment, which travelled to the Colony with Macquarie, to form an assocation.

In 1809, Macquarie and his party [including Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie, Captian John Antill and the soldiers of the 73 rd Regiment, John Thomas Campbell who was to become the Governor's Secretary, and Judge Advocate Designate Ellis Bent] were on board the storeship HMS Dromedary which was accompanied by the warship HMS Hindostan.

Governor's Macquarie's journal of 28 December reads: "At 10 o'clock this morning ..... the Hindostan and the Dromedary anchored within the entrance of Port Jackson... The wind being ahead we could not proceed any further up the Harbour than the entrance".

Upon the arrival of the ships on that December day, the Union flag would have been hoisted up the flagstaff close to the site of the present Signal Station.

On this Monday, 200 years later, the Union flag was again hoisted by Sydney vexillographer, John Vaughan, along with the flag of the Scottish Australian Heritage Society, in honour of Macquarie's Scottish roots.

Lachlan Macquarie eventually landed at Sydney Cove on 31 December and took up his official position as Governor of New South Wales on 1 January 1810. So began on one the most significant periods in the development of New South Wales.

History Services NSW has extensive research material available on Governor Macquarie including a listing of the extensive public buildings and works undertaken by him.

Go to our website at: http://www.historyservices.com.au/resource_material.htm

The Bicentenary period of Macquarie's Governship (1810-1821) will see many commemorations of his achievements.

For details of upcoming events go to: http://www.macquarie2010.nsw.gov.au/

Tanilba House

Out on the western end of the Tilligerry Peninsula, (in Port Stephens, NSW) is Tanilba Bay. 'Tanilba' means 'place of white flowers' which is a reference to the flannel flowers which formerly thrived in the area.

The first settler in the area was Lieutenant William Caswell who was granted 50 acres of land at Tanilba in 1831 in recognition of his military service in the Royal Navy.

Using convict labour, William Caswell laid the foundations of Tanilba House in 1837. It was built of quartz porphyry stone which was quarried nearby. The mortar came from the lime produced by burning oysters. Vineyeards, gardens and a dairy were estabishled on the estate. We previously visited the homestead on one of the days when it is open to the public. It is a fantastic place retaining its charm of yesteryear.

Going back to its history, in 1920, Henry F Halloran, surveyor, real estate agent and property developer, purchased Tanilba Estate. He co-ordinated the bulding of a number of intriguing structures in local stone in the streets and parks of Tanilba Bay.

One of these being the stone Centenary Gates, on the Avenue of Allies, which were built in 1931 to commemorate the centenary of Williiam Caswell coming to Tanilba Bay.

History Services NSW has records for 23 convicts who at one time were assigned to William Caswell in the Port Stephens area.

For example, one Ellen Clarke who "in 1843 is recorded as having been apprehended after having absconded from Lieutenant W Caswell R. N." In 1841, Ellen had previously absconded from the Female Factory at Parramatta.

If you are researching a convict ancestor who was assigned to William Caswell, you should go to our website at: http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

Kissing Point

On Saturday, 21 November 2009, celebtations will be held to mark the completion of the upgrade of works at Kissing Point Park and the adjacent Bennelong Park. These include a new pathway and boardwalk running through both parks.

Kissing Point was the original name of the area that we now know as Ryde. It is believed to have been given that name in the early days of the colony because the area of water around it was the furthest up the Parramatta River that heavily laden vessels could reach before their keels "kissed" the bottom.


On the way up the Parramatta River, the eastern shore flattens out around Kissing Point and so in the early days of the Colony lent itself to farming. The first land grants were made in 1792 to emanicipated convicts in the area which was named "Eastern Farms".

On of the these ex-convicts was James Squires, He was a First Fleeter who came to New South Wales on the Friendship in 1788.

On his emanicaption, he was granted 30 acres of land at Kissing Point on 22 July 1795. James was a very enterprising and community minded person and had many successful ventures in the early New South Wales Colony.

On his farm he grazed sheep, sowed wheat, maize and barley and was the first to successfully grow hops and commercially brew beer.

In 1798 he became the licensee of The Malting Shovel Tavern on the shores of the Parramatta River, a halfway house for travellers between Sydney Town and Parramatta by river.

At one time he had a bakery, suppled the Colony with meat, ran a credit union and was widely known for his fair play as a lender and philanthropist to his poorer neighbours. He was also a resident constable for the "Eastern Farms" district despite his convict background. Bennelong was buried on his farm in 1813.

History Services NSW has records for at least 15 convicts who worked for James Squires at Kissing Point, including those for Thomas Fox who was twice transported to New South Wales, viz:

married Bridget Fogarty in Tipperary in 1813 (she came to New South Wales as a free settler on the Bachelor in 1835);

first transported on the Guildford in 1816;

granted a Conditional Pardon on 31 January 1820;

employed by James Squires, Kissing Point 1822;

transported again on the Roslyn Castle, 1833;

assigned to David Ramsay , Dobroyd 1833 ;

granted Ticket of Leave, Parramatta 11 /2 /1841;

Conditional Pardon 31/7/1847.

If you are researching a convict ancestor who was assigned to James Squires, you should go to our website at: http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm