The Big Dig

In his program, Tony Robinson Explores Australia which is currently screening on the History Channel on Tuesday nights at 7.30pm, Tony Robinson last week visited the site of The Big Dig located in The Rocks between Cumberland and Gloucester Streets in Sydney.

Incorporated now into the Sydney Harbour YHA and The Big Dig Archaeological Education Centre, it is the largest archaeological urban development in Australia. The excavations can be viewed up close by the public from the walkway of Cribb Lane, from Cumberland Street to Cambridge Street, during daylight hours. The Sydney Harbour YHA is built on stilts to allow this public viewing.

We had not previously been there, but it is a truly fascinating place rich in Convict history.

Excavations which began in 1994 have uncovered the foundations of over forty homes and shops and some one million artifacts, giving a priceless insight into the early life of the Colony of New South Wales.

One such artifact that featured on Robinson's program was the small jar with scenes from the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava (photo at left).

The Rocks became home to many of the convicts who arrived in Sydney from 1788.

Tony Robinson told us the story of one colourful character George Cribb, convict, butcher, entrepreneur and bigamist. Having arrived in Port Jackson on 20 December 1808 on the ship, Admiral Gambier, Cribb lived on the site of the Dig from 1809 to 1828. Items excavated from his property included a butcher's filtering knife, bones and horns from slaughtered animals, fine hand-painted Chinese porcelain and a small alcoholic still.

Another resident whose house was excavated (as shown in the main photo at top) was the Irish Rebel, Richard Byrne. He arrived from County Cork (a Wicklow rebel of the 1798 Irish Uprising) on board the Minerva on 11 January 1800, with a life sentence in the Colony. He lived in the house from about 1807 with his wife, Margaret and their seven children. Two significant features identified from the house excavations were the well and the hearth.

Being a stonemason by trade, Richard Bryne would have worked on many of the early Sydney buildings of the Macquarie period.

If you are researching a convict ancestor who lived in The Rocks area, you should go the History Services NSW website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

William Bede Dalley

In Hyde Park North in Sydney NSW, we came upon a monument to William Bede Dalley (as pictured above). His name intrigued me as Mary's uncle was "William Bede". But who was "The Right Honourable William Bede Dalley P C , Scholar, Patriot and Statesman?"

Described in an eulogy as a "Pioneer Statesman", William Bede Dalley, who was born in Sydney on 5 July 1831, made a significant contribution to the state of New South Wales in the second half of 19th Century across the fields of law, politics and literature.

He set trends in colonial dress with his colourful cravats and buttonholes which reflected a unique flair and style.

The statue in Hyde Park was erected by public subscription at the instigation of Sir John Robertson (Premier). It was placed where it is today, looking down Macquarie Street to the Law Courts and Parliament House. There is also a stained glass window and commenorative plaque to Dalley in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, and a plaque in St Paul's Cathedral, London. Dalley is buried in Waverley Cemetery in Sydney.

But it is his family history that it most interesting to me as both his parents were convicts.

History Services NSW records that his father was John Dalley who arrived in the colony on 31 December 1818 on the ship General Stewart. He was aged 19 years, from Dorsetshire and a wool comber and dyer by trade. He was sentenced to life on 12 March 1818.

His mother was Catherine Spillane who arrived at Port Jackson on 10 July 1825 on the ship Mariner. She was aged 27 years and was a housemaid from County Cork who had been sentenced to seven years transportation.

Catherine was recorded as being at the Female Factory in Parramatta in 1825, and in 1829 applied to marry John Dalley. But as was the case with many transported convicts she had already been married back home and permission was refused.

It you would like any more information on either John Dalley or Catherine Spillane, or are researching your convict ancestor, you can go to the website at :

http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

Conscript Pass and Lorna Brand

It is a long trek down to Conscript Pass from Thornleigh Oval (NSW) but there is an interesting history behind it.

In the Great Depression of the 1930's, a Thornleigh local, Lorna Brand raised money for the construction of a walking track near the Lane Cove River as a way of providing relief work for the unemployed. The track is known as Lorna Pass and is now part of the Great North Walk. It begins just behind Thornleigh Oval at the the rock (pictured at left) with the left pointing arrow. It then goes parallel to the river for a short distance before looping back to the Comenarra Parkway.

An extension goes down to the river through a spot called Conscript Pass. Here there are rock carvings done by the men who worked on the track. Firstly their initials (in the main photo above) and then the caricature of Sir Bertram Stevens, the Premier of New South Wales from 1932 to 1939 (pictured at right) .

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If you are in interested in early Australian History or are researching a convict ancestor go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/

Cobb & Co at the Royal Easter Show

The display of Cobb & Co coaches at the this year's Royal Easter Show was an interesting find, giving us a new perspective on the information contained in the Mail Delivery Contracts and Contractors Database of History Services NSW

The colonial government of New South Wales required the services of thousands of contractors to deliver the mail throughout the State. History Services NSW has details of 12000 contracts awarded to persons to provide specific mail services over the period 1835 to 1901.

Cobb And Co, founded by Freeman Cobb and partners in 1854, is listed in the Database as having 253 mail routes.

Mr James Malone, a pioneer of the Braidwood district of NSW, drove the coach, as pictured above, to deliver mail from 1841. He was at first an employed driver for various contractors when the service ran once a week to Bungonia and then later twice weekly to Goulburn. Then in the days of the goldrushes in the Goulburn district, Malone in partnership with Mr J J Roberts took over the contract himself. He sold his rights to Cobb & Co in 1878.

History Services NSW records that James Malone was awarded 11 mail contracts from 1854 to 1877.

His sons were also mail contractors in the Braidwood district - Owen having 20 contracts, Luke 11, Hugh 5, and Patrick 2.

If you would like to research the details of the mail contracts awarded to the Malone family, or indeed any persons who had mail contracts for the period 1835 to 1901, go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/mail.htm

Bow and Stern Miles Apart - HMAS Parramatta I

With the scuttling of HMAS Adelaide off North Avoca on Wednesday 13 April 2011, it is interesting to contemplate what happens to Navy ships when they have served their time.

Take the HMAS Parramatta I for example. This was the first ship (a torpedo boat destroyer and the last class of British warship designed with an outboard rudder) to be built for the Commonwealth Naval Forces which later became the Royal Australian Navy. She was commissioned on 1 September 1910. A After seeing service in the First World War in the Pacific, South-east Asia and then the Mediterranean, the Parramatta returned to Australia before being fully decommissioned on 20 April 1928.

The ship was then stripped of parts and sold, along with the HMAS Swan, to the NSW Penal Department and both were towed to Cowan Creek. Here the hulks were used as accommodation for prison labourers working on the roads along the Hawkesbury River. Later they were used to transport blue metal to Milson and Peat Islands.

On 2 Februaty 1934, the two ships were being towed down the Hawkesbury River for final breaking up in Sydney, when gale force winds struck. The Swan sank while the Parramatta ran aground in mangrove swamps opposite Milson Island and was abandoned.

In 1973, the bow and stern sections of HMAS Parramatta were salvaged by the Naval Historical Society of Australia and converted into memorials.

Today the stern stands proudly at Queens Wharf Reserve on the south bank of the Parramatta River at Parramatta (photo at left above), as a memorial to commemorate the service of all ships to bear the name Parramatta in the Royal Australian Navy.

The bow is situated at the Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney Harbour (photo at right above).

Fascinating to bring them "together" again!

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If you are in interested in early Australian History or are researching a convict ancestor go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/

Of Boundary Stones and Markers

On a visit to the Museum of Sydney, I came upon a boundary stone which was one of at least nine that were set around Sydney in 1833 to mark its boundaries.

The inscription on these boundary stones reads:

SYDNEY

Majr Genl Rd Bourke C B

GOVERNOR

1833

This find led me into some research on the boundary stones in the early Colony of New South Wales and a trip out to Parramatta. While the Sydney stones have mainly been removed, there are five still existing in Parramatta in their original locations. Mary and I located four of these , after much footwork at :

1) Alfred Street between Alice and Weston Streets, Harris Park;

2) Domain Creek in Parramatta Park;

3) Corner Of Boundary Road and Balfour Street, Northmead, off Kleins Road; and

4) under the bridge over the Parramatta River along James Ruse Drive, off Thomas Street. This is the best preserved as shown in the photo above. The inscriptions on the Parramatta stones read:

PARRAMATTA

Sir Geo Gipps Knight

GOVERNOR

1839

These town boundary stones were erected by David Lennox, master mason of Lennox Bridge (Parramatta) fame in 1839 using convict labour.

In the vein of marking out boundaries, we also came across a cast iron council boundary ward marker in Sydney Square near St Andrew's Cathedral.

Dating back to the time that the Sydney Municipal Council was formed in 1842, this boundary marker has been relocated, but was one of a series supplied to the Council in 1843 by P.N. Russell's Sydney Foundry, to mark the boundaries of the Council's wards. The markers read "Hosking Mayor 1842" with the appropriate ward name. The marker's name was stamped at the bottom: "P.N. Russell, Sydney Foundry".

History Services NSW has over 200 records of Government contracts awarded to the engineering works of P.N. Russell & Co. up to 1900, one being the supply of a pair of iron gates for the Toll House on the Glebe Island Bridge.

If you are interested in finding out the details of any of these government contract records, you can go our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/govt_contracts.htm

Two First Fleet Monuments

"Bonds of Friendship" Sculptures

Sydney, Australia (at left)
Portsmouth, U.K. (at right)

On a visit to Portsmouth in the United Kingdom in 2004, I came across a "Bonds of Friendship" sculpture at the gates of Sally Port in Portsmouth Harbour. This commemorated the departure of the First Fleet, from Portsmouth, bound for Sydney Cove on 13 May 1787.

I had seen a twin monument outside the Customs House at Circular Quay in Sydney prior to my UK visit but could not subsequently locate it. The question was where it it now?

On a visit to the City last week, I came upon Sydney "Bonds of Friendship" sculpture in the Jessie Gardens in Reiby Place off Loftus Street. [Apparently the sculpture was removed from Circular Quay in 1997 prior to the upgrading of Alfred Street, and after much deliberations was replaced in this location circa 2008].

The plinth of the Portsmouth monument was unveiled on 13 May 1976 by Sir Davis Hughes, the Agent General for New South Wales. The granite block was quarried in New South Wales and donated by the Citizens of Sydney.

In Sydney, the plinth of the monument was donated by the Fellowship pf First Fleeters. The granite block was quarried in Dartmoor, England and was donated to the City of Sydney by the City of Portsmouth as a return gift. It was set in place at Circular Quay by the Lord Mayor of Sydney on 2 July 1980.

The actual sculpture, "Bonds of Friendship" (1979) was the work of the sculptor, John Robinson. It is a chain with only two links, locked tightly together, representing the gift of trust between friends.

It was thus adopted by the Britain Australia Society as an addition to the original monuments to celebrate the journey of the First Fleet from Portsmouth to Sydney. The rings of the Portsmouth sculpture were made dull in appearance, while the ones in Sydney were shiny, signifying a new beginning.

The Portsmouth Sculpture was unveiled by the Queen on 11 July 1980. The Sydney Sculpture was dedicated by the Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowan on 17 September 1980 and was donated by the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac).

If you researching a convict ancestor who came to Australia go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/