Wellington, situated on the main Western line is 248 miles from Sydney by rail.
It is an old place, and formed a penal settlement as far back as 1819.
The place abounds in old associations with the early history of Australia;
and if the newspaper man will not find many things to interest him, he is sure
to hear a good deal that will, as stories of convict life and encounters
with the blacks are even now rife in these parts.
The poor dusky natives were the first dispossessed; and the seemingly inevitable
fate of all these people, who disappear before the advances, or it might
be termed the inroads of civilization, as the verdure of their native forest
falls before the nipping frost, is represented as having already befallen them.
There is sufficient historical truth in the picture to justify the use that has
been made of it. True, there are a few blacks in the Catholic missionary
camp near Wellington, which I will touch on later; the rest have disappeared,
either from the regions in which their fathers dwelt, or altogether from
the face of the earth.
Up to 1845 the settlement about Wellington was very sparse.
There was not a house on the land now occupied by the town
of Wellington.
From Montefiore to the old stockade up the Bell River there was not
a vestige of a dwelling of any kind,
Mr. John Jardine then lived at Gobolion, the Davidsons had
Murrugulan (now Apsley), Messrs, Kaley, Templar, and Rickards held Nanima,
which later on came into the possession of Mr. Joseph Aarons, one of the
open-hearted early pioneers,
Mr. Maxwell resided at Narragol. and Mr. R. McPhillamy held Blackrock.
Murrumbidgerie Station, owned by Raymond and Co., was managed by Mr. Hogarth.
Michael Lahy resided at Umby.
Dubbo was not then in existence, but some four miles on
the Wellington side of the present town Messrs R. and L. Dulhunty
were the kings of that part of the country as far as Talbragar,
where they were met by another landed squire, old John Manghan,
a J.P. and a gentleman. Below Dubbo there were the Campbells of
Burglegurabie, near Sir Saul Samuel's station, Euromedah.
John Readford had a station a few miles below Mumblebone on the
river next to Mount Harris At Warren there was only a bark hut and
a stockyard.
The late Mr. John Andrew Gardiner then resided on a station a
few miles below Mumblebone, on the other side of the river. In
his employ was a cook called Soldier Donnelly, who used to be one
of the troopers stationed at Wellington. The blacks were at times
very troublesome, and Mr. Gardiner was one of those who had
occasionally to fight his way through them. Every hut or dwelling
was pierced with holes for muskets, to enable the inmates to take
aim at the black assailants.
Below Dubbo there were no sheep, nothing but cattle on the runs.
Mr. Michael McMahon was at Narromine managing for Christie and Wentworth.
In those days Dr. Curtis was the leading man in public matters.
The Commissioner of Crown Lands was Captain Allman; he had a body of
some thirty or forty troopers under him, who with their horses were
stationed in the Commissioner's paddock at Montefiore, or old Wellington.
Mr. M. O'Shea was the contractor who supplied the Commissioner and
troopers with forage and sundries. Montefiore was the farthest out
town or village in the north-west.
The only store was kept by Mr. James Drew, but there were two pubs;
the first was built by Mr. Hyeronimus, and it had such a run of
trade that Mr. T. Sullivan followed suit and built another. Both houses
are now things of the past, and the builders have joined the great majority.
All this has now changed.
Note:
For the full story with pictures
see the source below
Source:
Freeman's Journal
Saturday 12 August 1899
pages 13-19
Transcription, janilye
TROVE