THE BUNGARRIBEE HUB AND BUNGARRIBEE An Entry into the ... · The Bungarribee Hub’s courtyard area has stones recovered by archaeologists from the historic ... Punjabi 3.7% Australia

THE BUNGARRIBEE HUB AND BUNGARRIBEE

An Entry into the

Mayoral History

Prize

Blacktown City

Council 2019

John Horne

THE BUNGARRIBEE HUB Opened on 8 February 2014, the Bungarribee Hub can be found at 20 Sir Hercules Parade,

Bungarribee not far from Doonside Railway Station. The map below shows the site of the

Bungarribee Hub.1

The Hub is owned and operated by Blacktown City Council and it is used for wedding

ceremonies and receptions, other parties and celebrations, group fitness and dance groups, conferences, and meetings. The Blacktown and District Historical Society holds its monthly public

meeting inside the Hub on the first Monday of the month.

1 Google Maps, <www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Community/Venues-for-hire/Bungarribee-Community-Resource-Hub>.

Members of the Blacktown and District Historical Society displaying

some of their publications the day the Hub was opened.

http://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Community/Venues-for-hire/Bungarribee-Community-Resource-Hub

The Bungarribee Hub is heated and air-conditioned and features disabled access and other

amenities. It has a theatre-style hall, meeting rooms, tables and chairs and a kitchen. It is typical of the kind of modern facilities that the Blacktown City Council provides its residents and community

groups.

BUNGARRIBEE HUB HAS A THEATRE-STYLE HALL WITH A VERY

ATTRACTIVE TIMBER DECOR

In the Foyer of the Bungarribee Hub, near the entrance to the Hall, is a display of Heritage items

from the site of the old Bungarribee House that have been recovered by archaeologists.

Some artefacts from the Bungarribee House estate are displayed inside the Hub. They include a

horseshoe, broken crockery, bottles, bricks, a thimble and buttons.

The Bungarribee Hub’s courtyard area has stones recovered by archaeologists from the historic

Bungarribee House Estate site embedded in its walls as a permanent reminder of this place’s heritage.

COMMUNITY GARDEN AT THE BUNGARRIBEE HUB

Every week local residents come to the Community Garden to grow vegetables and fruits. It is a

great social activity with the rewards of being outside, getting physically fit, meeting other people and being able to eat what you grow and produce.

Several garden beds inside the garden area have been constructed using old stones from the nearby historic Bungarribee House Estate.

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE SUBURB

What is the significance of these old bricks and artefacts that are displayed at the Bungarribee

Hub? Firstly, Bungarribee is a suburb in the City of Blacktown Local Government Area. It is an

attractive and much desired place to live being a brand new suburb close to Doonside Railway Station

and other amenities. Several properties in Bungarribee sold for more than one million dollars in

2018.2

BUNGARRIBEE IN ITS SETTING3

2 Real Estate.com, <www.realestate.com.au/sold/in-bungarribee,+nsw+2767/list-1>. 3 Google Maps, <www.google.com/maps/@-33.7757995,150.8566432,5117m/data=!3m1!1e3>.

Nurragingy Reserve Doonside Railway Station

Featherdale Wildlife Park

BUNGARRIBEE

Western Sydney Zoo

Rooty Hill

Historic Site

Western Sydney

Parklands

M7

M4

http://www.google.com/maps/@-33.7757995,150.8566432,5117m/data=!3m1!1e3

The 2016 Census has provided an interesting thumbnail that describes some of the features of the

people who live in Bungarribee today and what kind of community Bungarribee is.4

4 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Government,

<quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC10682>.

POPULATION Total 2638

Male 51.1%

Female 48.9%

Median Age 31 years Australian Median Age 38

Families 722

Average Motor Vehicles Per Dwelling 2

MARITAL STATUS

Married 1369

Separated 23

Divorced 39

Widowed 29

Never Married 423

72.7% of People in Bungarribee aged 15 years and over were married.

3.1% of People in Bungarribee aged 15 years and over were either divorced or separated.

EDUCATION

Primary 32.9%

Secondary 19.4%

Tertiary or Technical 22.8%

32.4% of people in Bungarribee were attending an educational institution.

FAMILY COMPOSITION

Couple Family without Children 17.9% Australia 37.8%

Couple Family with Children 76.2% Australia 44.7%

One Parent Family 5.8% Australia 15.8%

COUNTRY OF BIRTH

Australia 36% Australia 65.5%

India 26.4% Australia 1.9%

Philippines 8.5% Australia 1.0%

Fiji 5.3% Australia 0.3%

Sri Lanka 3.8% Australia 0.5%

Bangladesh 2% Australia 0.2%

ANCESTRY

Indian 32% Australia 2.0%

Filipino 9.5% Australia 1.0%

Australian 7.8% Australia 23.8%

English 5.7% Australia 25.0%

Chinese 3.4% Australia 3.9%

https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC10682

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Hinduism 37.2% Australia 1.9%

Catholic 24.7 % Australia 22.6%

Islam 8.5% Australia 2.6%

Not Stated 6.7% Australia 9.6%

No Religion, So Stated 6.2% Australia 29.6%

LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH

Hindi 13.4% Australia 0.7%

Gujarati 13.4% Australia 0.2%

Tamil 4.8% Australia 0.3%

Tagalog 4.4% Australia 0.5%

Punjabi 3.7% Australia 0.6%

English Only Spoken At Home 24.9% Australia 72.7%

Households where a Non-English Language is Spoken 81.9% Australia 22.2%

OCCUPIED PRIVATE DWELLINGS

Owned Outright 7.1% Australia 31%

Owned With Mortgage 85% Australia 34.5%

Rented 6.0% Australia 30.9%

EMPLOYMENT

Worked Full-Time 71.0% Australia 57.7%

Worked Part-Time 18.6% Australia 30.4%

Away from Work 5.8% Australia 5.0%

Unemployed 4.6% Australia 6.9%

OCCUPATIONS

Employed People aged 15 Years and Over

Professionals 29.9% Australia 22.2%

Clerical & Administrative 18.6% Australia 13.6%

Technicians & Trades 9.7% Australia 13.5%

Managers 9.5% Australia 13%

Machinery Operators & Drivers 7.9% Australia 6.3%

Community & Personal Services 7.8% Australia 10.8%

Labourers 7.3% Australia 9.5%

Sales Workers 7.2% Australia 9.4%

INDUSTRY OF EMPLOYMENT

Hospitals 8.7% Australia 3.9%

Banking 4.3% Australia 1.3%

Computer System & Design & Related Services 3.9% Australia 1.5%

State Government Administration 3.9% Australia 1.5%

Supermarket & Grocery Store 3.0% Australia 2.4%

The 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census Quickstats shows Bungarribee to be a suburb

that is multicultural in its make-up and youngish in its age composition with the majority of its families having children of school age. Most residents of Bungarribee are home owners and

employed.

The photographs below show a typical Bungarribee street and one of its local playgrounds.

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE DHARUG

This park sculpture in a Bungarribee Park describes some of the wildlife that once would have inhabited Bungarribee, but it also points indirectly to an earlier presence: the Dharug People of

Western Sydney who lived here and managed the landscape in such a way that it encouraged a

constant food supply and animals for hunting.

The suburb of Bungarribee might be a new suburb but the name is an old name for the area. The word “bungarribee” is an Aboriginal word. But what does it mean?

“Bungarribee” is a Dharug word and it comprises two Dharug words joined together to describe

this area. BUN or BUNG or BONG is the Dharug word for a creek that dries out in summer. KARABEE or CARIBI is the Dharug word for cockatoo. Thus, BUNGARRIBEE means a creek that

dries out in summer where cockatoos are found.5 This is a very descriptive title for the Blacktown

locality where the Bungarribee Hub is found. Bungarribee Creek and Kitchen Creek that run near to the Bungarribee Hub do not flow regularly and they are often dry. Even Eastern Creek that is nearby

can shrink to a series of pools of water in drought. Bungarribee is an appropriate name for a

Blacktown suburb where water courses are often dry or just a series of pools or puddles.

5 Kohen, Dr Jim, ‘Bungarribee to Bong Bong and Back’ in ‘The First Five Years: Journal Articles of the Blacktown and

District Historical Society 1980-1985, The Society, Blacktown, 2001

EASTERN CREEK FLOWS ALONG BUNGARRIBEE’S WESTERN EDGE

Some people think that Bungarribee means “the burial place of a king” but did the Aboriginal

people have kings? No. Was the name derived from King Bungaree Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe as some other people suppose because BUNGAREE is a similar word to BUNGARRIBEE? Broken Bay

is a long way from the Bungarribee Hub so how can there be a connection? Bungaree was from a

different place. Because the Dharug were the original inhabitants of the land where the Bungarribee

Hub now stands and they named the locality, a Dharug meaning must be the correct one.

THE EXTENT OF TERRITORY ASSOCIATED WITH THE DHARUG PEOPLE6

A very early use of the word BOONGARABEE (or Bungarribee) was in a Death Notice in 1826

announcing the death of John Campbell’s wife, Annabella Campbell. John Campbell was the original

owner of the estate called Bungarribee.7

6 Aboriginal Heritage Assessment: Preliminary Environmental Investigation: Great Western Highway Upgrade: Mt Victoria

to Lithgow, page 35, Comber Consultants Pty Ltd on behalf of Roads and Traffic Authority, Croydon, 2009

7 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 15 November 1826, page 3

At Boongarabee, the seat of JOHN CAMPBELL, E q.

J. P. and Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mrs

CAMPBELL, after a severe indisposition. This

amiable Lady leaves a large and respectable Family,

and very extensive circle of friends, to deplore her

lamented loss.

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE HOUSE AND ESTATE

Today Bungarribee is the name of a modern suburb in the City of Blacktown but it was also the

name of an early colonial estate which had a grand colonial house named Bungarribee House. This

estate was called Boongarabee (Bungarribee) by the European settlers from the earliest settlement times. The Bungarribee Hub stands next to the site of the remains of Bungarribee House.

For a long time after European Settlement began in Australia in 1788, the site of the Bungarribee

Hub was part of the Government Stock Farm that was centred round Rooty Hill. In 1802, Governor King established this 7000 hectare Government Reserve. The area the Stock Farm covered equates

with most of the modern local government area of Blacktown City. The next twenty years saw the

Bungarribee Hub site being used as grazing land for cattle and sheep by convict herdsmen. The Government Stock Reserve of 1802 was larger in area than the modern City of Blacktown.

8

8 Blacktown and District Historical Society Quarterly Journal, Volume XII, No. 2, Autumn 1992, page 12

BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE SITE, 2019 THE BUNGARRIBEE HUB IS ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE PHOTOGRAPH

GOVERNMENT STOCK RESERVE, 1802

JOHN CAMPBELL ― BUILDER OF BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE

A Scottish settler, John Campbell, was granted 2000 acres (800 hectares) around 1821 and his

estate was called Boongarabee (Bungarribee), a name for the place that he probably borrowed from

the local Dharug people’s usage.

John Campbell arrived in Sydney on 30 November 1821 with his wife, Annabella and their thirteen children on the ship ‘Lusitania’.

9

John Campbell’s 1821 Land at Boongaribee

(Bungarribee) Granted by Governor Brisbane10

Campbell’s estate was bordered on the west by

Eastern Creek, in the south by the Western Road, in

the north by the current Bungarribee Road, and in the east by the current Flushcombe Road.

Campbell erected a temporary residence near the

site of the Bungarribee Hub and with twenty-two convicts began to clear his land for cultivation and by

1825 he had begun to enlarge his home to create

Bungarribee House, a grand-looking colonial mansion

and striking landmark in the district. When the building was demolished in 1957 the

process of demolition brought to light the building

methods used in the 1820s: draw-pegs instead of nails, pit-sawn roofing timbers, pitch pine roof coverings in

the early stages of the house and slate fixed with cast brass nails in the later additions. The demolition

also revealed that the bricks used to construct the building were locally made and not imported, as some people supposed, as the ballast of a ship.

11

Campbell’s convict employees assigned to him worked hard and consequently parts of

Boongaribee were cleared and farm buildings and fences were erected. A Land and Stock muster lists

John Campbell as having 2000 acres with 130 cleared, 15 acres of wheat, 5 acres of barley and 2 acres of potatoes. His stock included 24 head of cattle, 28 hogs and 1 horse.

12

9 Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 1 December 1821, page 2 10 Flickr < www.flickr.com/photos/102881146@N07/28660204183>. 11

Sydney Architecture Images Gone But Not Forgotten <http://sydneyarchitecture.com/GON/GON133.htm>. 12 Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report Prepared for

Landcom May 2007, Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants, Redfern, 2007, page 6

Annabella Campbell died in 182613

and John Campbell died the next year on 10 October, 1827

after a scratch on his leg turned gangrenous.14

Both were buried at St John’s Church, Parramatta.

PAINTING OF BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE, JOSEPH FOWLES, 1850s15

The spelling of Bungarribee remained as BOONGARABEE for many years after the Campbells.

Newspaper advertisements from the time refer to Bungarribee as BOONGARABEE. Here are two

examples. The first advertisement is for the sale of thoroughbred horses in 1832.16

The second advertisement offers a reward for a strayed or stolen horse.17

Later the spelling became standardised as BUNGARRIBEE.

13 The Monitor, 17 November 1826, page 5 14 Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 12 October 1827, page 2 15 Ibid., page 14 16 Ibid., 23 June 1832, page 4 17 Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, 9 January 1839, page 3

STOLEN or STRAYED from the Boongarabee Estate, a Bay MARE, about fourteen

hands and a half high, five years old, with four white legs, and white forehead, and on

the near side a hollow over the side, on the same side a swelling caused by bleeding.

Whoever will bring the said mare to the above Estate, or to Mr. Charles Smith in

Sydney, shall receive the sum of Two Pounds if strayed, or Ten Pounds if stolen,

upon conviction of the offender or offenders.

JOSEPH STRAFORD

The horses may be viewed at Boongarabee until a few days previous to the

sale, when they may be seen at Sydney, on application to Mr. Lyons, the

Auctioneer.

The word “Boongarrabe’ (Bungarribee) appears in an 1833 convict letter that was discovered by

Associate Professor Carol Liston from the University of Western Sydney in the UK National Archives at Kew, England. This is evidence of the use of Bungarribee as the name of the place where the

Bungarribee Hub now stands from early settlement days. Here is an extract from that letter.

Boongarrabe March the 10

th 1833

Dear Wife

I again avail myself to wright to you and I am very uneasy never hearing from you since I left

you forlon. This is my 4th letter since my arrival in this Colony. If I once got an account from home I

should be a great deal easier in my mind. In Every letter I begged of my friends to do the Best they

could in sending you out and It would be better for the government should send you out than come

free if it can be done which it can be should they exert themselves. If that should fail let them pay your passage and fetch out some commendations beside a letter from Mr O’Brien and the Major to

General Bourke or his Excellency the governor and let them know that I live with Mr Charles Smyth

at Boongarrabee (sic Bungarribee) 25 miles up the western road...18

Note: See Appendix 1 for full contents of this Convict letter.

Bungarribee House which was built in the 1820s was demolished in 1957. Many photographs show its unique Italianate tower. Bungarribee House had a lovely classical look.

BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE

19

18 Liston, Carol., Associate Professor FRAHS, University of Western Sydney in ‘History, Magazine of the Royal Australian

Historical Society’, March 2015, No. 123, pages 15-16 19 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 4363b

Between 1821 and 1957 when the house was demolished, Bungarribee had many owners and was

used for different purposes. 1. John Campbell 1821-1827

2. Thomas Icely 1827-1832

3. Charles Smith 1832-1840

4. Henry Kater 1840-1841 5. James Armstrong 1841-1845

6. East India Company 1845-1846

7. Ben Boyd 1846-1851 8. John Kingdon Cleeve 1858-1890

9. Various Tenants 1891-1900

The Estate was managed by John Kingdon Cleeve’s Trustees ― Robert Crawford of Doonside and

Robert Campbell Oatley of Mosman

10. John James Walters 1900-1916 (Leased 1900-1908, purchased 1908)20

11. Morris Davey 1916-1926 12. Charles Hopkins 1926-1929

13. Thomas Cleaver 1929-1949

14. Overseas’ Telecommunications Commission 1949-1998

15. Australian Government, NSW Government and Western Sydney Parklands and UrbanGrowth

NSW (Landcom) preserved and developed the site. 1998 to the present

One constant theme that flowed throughout Bungarribee’s history was horses. Horses at

Bungarribee Farm are part of the pictorial timeline on display at the site of the historic Bungarribee House, Bungarribee Homestead Park.

20 Moore, John W.S. Major J .J. Walters: The Early Years Part 3: Bungarribee. The Turret Journal of the

Blacktown and District Historical Society, Inc. Vol. 27 No.1, March 2007, page 17

Some of the streets in the Bungarribee Estate are named after famous racehorses. Sir Hercules

Parade is the street where the Bungarribee Hub is located and it was named after one of the most successful racehorses of its period.

Other streets and roads are named after former owners of the Estate. Icely, Campbell, Henry

Kater and the East India Company are examples. Another section of the suburb has streets with

Aboriginal names. One street is named after Trevor Housley, an OTC General Manager. It is ironic that he is

commemorated with a street name near to the site of the heritage building that was demolished when

he was in charge of the OTC in 1957.

HORSE RACING SCULPTURES, BUNGARRIBEE, 2019

Aboriginal Names

Bungarribee Estate Owners

Race Horse Names

RACEHORSES COMMEMORATED IN BUNGARRIBEE STREET NAMES

STREET RACEHORSE

Bet Hyatt Avenue Bet Hyatt

Bringelly Place Bringelly

Brougham Crescent Brougham

Chancellor Street Chancellor

Emancipation Street Emancipation

Emigrant Parade Emigrant

Gipsy Street Gipsey

Pegasus Avenue Pegasus

Manto Street Manto

Sir Hercules Parade Sir Hercules

Steeltrap Drive Steeltrap

Sweet Briar Avenue Sweet Briar

Theorem Street Theorem

Velocity Parade Velocity

Waler Street See Appendix 2

OWNERS COMMEMORATED IN BUNGARRIBEE STREET NAMES

STREET BUNGARRIBEE OWNER

Annabella Street Annabella Campbell

Charles Smith Avenue Charles Smith

Cleaver Street Thomas Cleaver

East India Street East India Company

Henry Kater Avenue Henry Kater

Hopkins Street Charles Hopkins

John Campbell Parade John Campbell

Thomas Icely Avenue Thomas Icely

Trevor Housley Avenue OTC General Manager

When the Bungarribee Estate was owned by the emancipated convict and wealthy butcher Charles Smith, it was New South Wale’s premier thoroughbred racing and breeding property.

21

DHARUG LANGUAGE COMMEMORATED IN BUNGARRIBEE STREET NAMES

STREET NAME DHARUG MEANING

Garmarada Avenue Comrade

Bubuk Street Bookbook Owl

Bulada Street Snake

Yarang Street Wooden Shield

Wirraga Street Goanna

Bugi Crescent Bark

Birragu Street Hollow Tree

21

Binney, Keith R., Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788-1900) and Serpent’s Legacy, Volcanic Productions, 2003, first

colour plate facing page 302

Thomas Icely used Bungarribee from 1827 to 1832 as a

breeding stud for bloodstock racing and draught horses.22

See Appendix 2 – Walers.

From 1832 to 1840, Charles Smith was the owner of

Bungarribee. He was a keen horse racer and he too used

Bungarribee as a horse stud. He also imported champion stallions from England.

23 During his tenure, Bungarribee became known as

“the Colony’s premier thoroughbred racing and breeding

establishment”. 24

It was also during his ownership that the Irish convict, Thomas

Canny, wrote to his wife in Ireland urging her to join him. In his

letter, he calls the place where he is ‘BOONGARRABE’ (sic Bungarribee). He also mentions Mr Icely. See Appendix 1.

Henry Kater was another horse-breeder at Bungarribee.25

An

economic depression in NSW in 1841 sent Kater bankrupt so he was forced to leave Bungarribee.

26

QUEEN’S OWN MADRAS SAPPERS27

James Armstrong was a Sydney veterinarian who traded horses for agents in India during the period he owned Bungarribee (1841-1845).

The East India Company also used Bungarribee as a base to gather

horses bred for British cavalry and artillery to be sent to India.28

Unlike his predecessors Ben Boyd, the next owner of Bungarribee

(1846-1851) did not use Bungarribee as a horse stud. Instead, he transported Pacific Islanders to the estate to be a source of cheap labour

in the colony. The State Library of Victoria holds this portrait of Ben

Boyd.29

22 Wikimedia, <commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Icely_1874.jpg>. 23 Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report Prepared for Landcom

May 2007, Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants, Redfern, 2007, page 8 24 Binney, Keith R., Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788-1900) and Serpent’s Legacy, Volcanic Productions, 2003,

page 302 facing. 25 Ibid., page 120 26 Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report Prepared for Landcom

May 2007, Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants, Redfern, 2007, page 9 27 Wikipedia, <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Army>. 28

Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report Prepared for Landcom

May 2007, Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants, Redfern, 2007, page 9 29 State Library of Victoria, H38849/488., <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-benjamin-ben-1815>.

THOMAS ICELY

HENRY KATER

BEN BOYD

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-benjamin-ben-1815

Boyd owned other properties as well as the Bungarribee Estate with very large holdings in other

parts of New South Wales. He also had large business interests in the whaling industry centred around

Boydtown near Eden on the south coast of New South Wales. With the availability of cheap labour

gone after the end of transporting convicts to New South Wales, Boyd tried bringing South Sea

Islanders into Australia to work on his pastoral properties.30

This business venture involved

blackbirding which was the practice of coercing and kidnapping Islanders as slave labourers.31

An

editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald on 3 November 1847 reported many misgivings about Boyd’s

activities:

‘When the public were first made aware of the project for recruiting our depressed labour

market by the introduction of unreclaimed savages from the islands of the Pacific, we confess we were

amongst those who looked upon it with very serious misgiving.’32

The Herald Editor was expressing the racial and religious prejudices of the period during which

he wrote. He was saying that white settlers did not want to be swamped by uncivilised savages from

the Pacific Islands. At the same time as he was writing, on the frontiers of European settlement, the

original inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, were being dispossessed and violently removed from

their country. Australia was in the process of trying to become a white’s only country.

Boyd’s venture to import cheap black labour from the Pacific failed, but for a short time during

Boyd’s ownership Bungarribee was used as a depot for these unfortunate Islanders most of whom

were never returned to their own homes and country.

Three Islanders recruited by Ben Boyd 33

30

Wikipedia,<En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Boyd>. 31 Australian National Maritime Museum <www.sea.museum/2017/08/25/australias-slave-trade>. 32

Sydney Morning Herald, 3 November 1847, page 2 33 Australian South Sea Islanders Port Jackson <http://www.assipj.com.au/southsea/wp-

content/uploads/docs/10_benjamin_boyd_importation_of_ssi_into_nsw.pdf>.

http://www.sea.museum/2017/08/25/australias-slave-trade

http://www.assipj.com.au/southsea/wp-%09content/uploads/docs/10_benjamin_boyd_importation_of_ssi_into_nsw.pdf

http://www.assipj.com.au/southsea/wp-%09content/uploads/docs/10_benjamin_boyd_importation_of_ssi_into_nsw.pdf

Between 1858 and 1890, John Kingdon Cleeve continued the practice of using Bungarribee for

horse breeding. After he died in 1883 the property remained part of his estate until it was sold off. John Cleeve and his son served as trustees of St Bartholomew's Church of England, Prospect,

NSW, where members of his family are buried.34

A very significant change came to the Bungarribee Estate after Major John James Walters took possession of

the property in 1900. At first, he leased the property from

the owners but then in 1908 he bought it. In 1908, he began the process of subdividing and selling about two-

thirds of the Bungarribee Estate in 8 to 20-acre blocks. The

estate that Major Walters sold off was called Bungarribee

Farms. Major John James Walters occupied Bungarribee

House and its Estate between 1900 and 1916. Before he

moved to Bungarribee, he commanded the NSW Lancers from April 1894 to September 1897. He also farmed a

property in the Moss Vale area.35

He was appointed a

Temporary Councillor on the first Blacktown Shire Council

in 1906.36

MAJOR JOHN JAMES WALTERS

34 Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungarribee_Homestead>. 35 Lancers, <www.lancers.org.au/The_Commanders.php>. 36 The Australian Star, 16 May 1905, page 5

GRAVES AT ST BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH, PROSPECT

WHERE JOHN KINGDON CLEEVE IS BURIED

http://www.lancers.org.au/The_Commanders.php

BUNGARRIBEE FARMS

PAGE FROM THE BUNGARRIBEE FARMS BOOKLET37

The Bungarribee Farms Estate was a significant part of the Shire of Blacktown as shown below

in this 1910 Locality Plan.38

37 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 911 38 Ibid., Image 946

BUNGARRIBEE FARMS LOCALITY PLAN, 1910

The development of Bungarribee Farms fundamentally changed the streetscape of Blacktown forever.

New roads, new settlers and a new community came about as a result of the Bungarribee Farms development. The roads developed by Major John James Walters that were put in place after 1910

are still part of the road system for a large part of the western Blacktown area today ― Doonside

Road, Walters Road, Bungarribee Road, Douglas Road and Holbeche Road.

NEW STREETSCAPE FOR SOUTHERN AND WESTERN BLACKTOWN

The barn on the Bungarribee estate is visible on the right hand side of this photograph of cattle grazing near Bungarribee House in 1910.

39

39 Bungarribee Farms, Blacktown, Arthur Rickard and Co., 1910

Flushcombe

Road Bungarribee

House

Walters

Road Doonside Road

Douglas Road

Holbeche Road

Reservoir Road

Eastern Creek

Great Western Road

Bungarribee Road

Many of the new roads that were part of the Bungarribee Farms Estate were named after the

children and family of Major John James Walters and his wife, Eleanor (known as ‘Nellie’) Walters.40

Walters Road The Walters’ Family Name Douglas Road The middle name of the Walters’ second child,

Newton Douglas Walters

Holbeche (Holbech) Road The middle name of the Walters’ third child, Malcolm Holbech

41

Years later, when new roads were added to the area, Newton Road was the name chosen for a

street that ran roughly parallel to Bungarribee, Douglas and Holbeche Roads. Of course, Newton was

the name of Major Walters and Nellie’s second child, Newton Douglas Walters.

‘Bungarribee Farms Blacktown’ advertised how good its farming land was at Bungarribee.42

40 Moore, John W.S., Major J. J. Walters: The Early Years Part 2: The Briars, Moss Vale. The Turret Journal of the

Blacktown and District Historical Society, Inc. Vol. 26 No.4, December 2006, page 8 41 Moore, John W.S., Major J. J. Walters: The Early Years Part 3: Bungarribee. The Turret Journal of the Blacktown and

District Historical Society, Inc. Vol. 27 No.1 March 2007, page 18 42 Bungarribee Farms Blacktown. Arthur Rickard and Co., 1910

BUNGARRIBEE FARMS AND BUNGARRIBEE RESIDENTS 1913

This is a list of electors as shown in the 1913 NSW Electoral Roll who lived at Bungarribee. Of

course, as properties on the Bungarribee Farms Estate were bought and families moved in, the

population increased and a newer and bigger Bungarribee community developed.43

This photograph shows part of the land that was sold in the Bungarribee Farms Estate in 1910.44

43 New South Wales Electoral Roll 1913, Volume 3. Archive Digital Books Australasia, 2010 44 Bungarribee Farms Blacktown. Arthur Rickard and Co., 1910

BUNGARRIBEE FARMS ESTATE MAP45

45 Mt Druitt Moments, Vol 2 Number 6, February 2011, page 2

The community that grew up in the Bungarribee Farms Estate was never able to escape the

consequences of its closeness to Blacktown’s business district and later Doonside’s as well. For a time, there was a Bungarribee Post Office. The Bungarribee Progress Association was

behind the move to have a Post Office at Bungarribee. It successfully petitioned the Post Office to

establish a local post office in the area in the 1920s and it nominated Frederick Leslie Parker to be in

charge of the new non-official post office. He was appointed Receiving Officer and Keeper in 1921.46

This Post Office was classed as a Non-Official Post Office and was conducted in the home of Mr

Parker who lived at “Glen Alice”, Walters Road, Bungarribee, which was about 3 miles (5 kilometres)

south-west of Blacktown. Frederick Parker conducted the Post Office in his home until 1927 when he sold his property and moved away.

Samuel George King continued to run the Non-Official Post Office in the house he had bought

from Frederick Parker from 1927 until 1930. A free bag service was introduced after 1930. This Non-Official Post Office served a community of about twenty-five residences with seventy

adults. These local people mainly ran poultry farms.

The Bungarribee Non-Official Post Office was closed on 6 September 1930 because of the small

extent to which it was being utilised by Bungarribee residents.47

There were no shops at Bungarribee so residents had to travel to Blacktown for shopping so why go to a Bungarribee Post Office when

you had to go to Blacktown anyway and Blacktown had a Post Office as well?

BUNGARRIBEE’S NON-OFFICIAL POST OFFICE, WALTERS ROAD, 1920s

A thrice-weekly mail service took mail to and from Bungarribee Non-Official Post Office and

Blacktown Post Office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.48

The Receiving Office Keeper at the Bungarribee Non-Official Post Office, that is Frederick Parker and later Samuel King, and their

wives, received an allowance of £11.10.0 per year.49

46 National Archives of Australia. Bungarribee Post Office File 1921-1930 SP/32/1 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid.

Notice how close the Great

Western Highway was to the Bungarribee Non-Official Post

Office conducted in the home of

Frederick Parker at ‘Glen Alice’

Walters Road, Bungarribee.50

In December 1920 and again in 1921 the Bungarribee Progress Association petitioned

Blacktown Shire Council to obtain an extension of the water mains on the Walters Road end of

Bungarribee Road.51

A permanent water supply was what the residents of Bungarribee Farms wanted

and needed. They also petitioned Blacktown Shire Council to properly maintain the roads in their district in

1924.52

Again in 1929, the deplorable condition of Bungarribee Road on the hills was raised. The

Association’s delegation told the Blacktown Shire Council’s meeting that four years had passed without anything being done. They described how anyone travelling with a pony and sulky had to

take a bush track through the bush to avoid bad sections on the road.53

The Bungarribee Farms Estate also had

its own church. St

George’s Church of England on the Great

Western Highway was

not far from Walters Road.

This photograph

shows the Church in

the late 1970s.54

50 Ibid. 51 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 4 December 1920, page 13, Nepean Times, 26 February, 1921, page 5 52 Ibid., 5 September 1924, page 3 53 Ibid., 22 July 1929, page 5 54 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 6678. Courtesy of Prospect Heritage Trust Inc.

The bell of St George’s Church was hung in “nature’s belfry” ― a stout gum tree.55

Being just a

small village, the size of the church building reflected the relatively small size of Bungarribee’s population. Yet this small community built its church.

In 1923, Mr and Mrs L. Franklin from Bungarribee held a function in their home with the

purpose of raising a nucleus for a fund to build a Church of England on the corner of Walters Road

and the Great Western Highway.56

Consequently, St George’s Church of England was opened and dedicated in 1925.

57

In 1927, a new organ was donated to the church by Mrs Mary Wilkins as a memorial to her

parents.58

In 1928, the Church of England building at Bungarribee on the Great Western Highway was one

of the polling places for the Blacktown Shire Council elections for “C” Riding.59

The building was

used as a polling place right through to the middle of the 1960s. The 1968 Great Western Highway’s new four-lane deviation led to the closure of the church.

THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE ST GEORGE’S CHURCH ONCE STOOD.60

THE OLD CHURCH HAS LONG SINCE GONE.

With the new highway, there was no longer any access to the property so the congregation

relocated to another property in Anne Street, off Walters Road, Blacktown. This new church was

called St Anne’s Church of England, Blacktown. During its lifetime, St George’s had Sunday Services and held a Sunday School. The Rector and

Parish Council from Christchurch, Blacktown oversaw this church and later St Anne’s.

55 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 13 December 1934, page 12 56 Ibid., 8 September 1923, page 3 57 Daily Telegraph, 4 April 1925, page 18 58 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 17 June 1927, page 6 59 Nepean Times, 24 November 1924, page 5 60 Imer, Gerard., Air Photo dated 1977, Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 6676

NORTHCOTT FARM HOUSE, BUNGARRIBEE ROAD, 1920s61

This is a typical farm building on the Bungarribee Farms Estate in its early days. A water tank collects rainwater from the corrugated iron roof. There is a cultivated area ploughed and ready for the

cultivation of a crop in a fenced area in front of the house. There is a shed for storing farm equipment

and vehicles. Timber has been felled to clear the land. A local sawmill has taken away commercial

quantities of wood from this farm. The Northcott family purchased this farm in March 1925.62

Edith A. Northcott and Alfred John Northcott drew attention to the condition of Bungarribee

Road at the Blacktown Shire Council Meeting in August 1925. They pointed out that Bungarribee

Road was very unsafe for vehicular traffic.63

Bungarribee Road was still unsafe in 1939. The photograph on the right shows Mrs Annie Northcott with

her children at their Bungarribee Farm property.64

In 1939, Mrs

Northcott fell from this bike and was taken to Parramatta Hospital with cuts and abrasions. She was treated and allowed to leave.

65

In the 1925 photograph below, Annie is standing next to her

father’s car. Her father, William Crouch is behind the wheel. He was

living with Annie and her family at their Bungarribee Road property where he died in 1948.

66

61 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 4347 62 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 29 May 1925, page 3 63 Windsor and Richmond Gazette, 21 August 1925, page 9 64 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 4355 65 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 31 May 1939, page 11 66 Sydney Morning Herald, 7 April 1948, page 7

Top Left: WILLIAM HENRY COUCH LOADING OATS WITH HIS GRANDSONS JOHN AND

BRUCE NORTHCOTT ON THEIR BUNGARRIBEE FARM c. 1942.

Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 1500

Top Right: ONE OF THE NORTHCOTT BOYS (JOHN OR BRUCE) ON HIS GRANDFATHER’S

BUNGARRIBEE FARM, c. 1942. Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 1501

Bottom Left: AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT A POULTRY FARM MIGHT HAVE LOOKED LIKE ON

THE BUNGARRIBEE FARMS ESTATE. Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 2725

Harry Taylor’s Poultry Farm Grantham Road, Seven Hills, c. 1940

Bottom Right: HOW A FARMER PLOUGHING BEFORE SOWING ON A SMALL BUNGARRIBEE

FARM MIGHT HAVE APPEARED. Blacktown and District Historical Society Image

Ted Wilcox Ploughing, Abbott Road, Seven Hills, c. 1942

Residents on the Bungarribee Farms Estate were mainly poultry farmers. Some had market

gardens or vineyards. Others were dairymen. One was a cabinetmaker. In the 1920s and 1930s, a much bigger property than the Bungarribee Farms Estate properties (8

to 20-acre blocks) was the 472-acre property Bungarribee. In 1930, Thomas Cleaver and his sons

Thomas and John Cleaver lived in Bungarribee House together. The Cleavers had a dairy and mixed

farm that was separated into 18 paddocks. They kept a dairy herd of more than 65 milking cows. Their property was a full-size commercial farm with machine shed, barn, milking machines,

refrigerator room and all kinds of farming equipment (ploughs, tractors, reapers, mowers and other

vehicles).67

The residents who lived on the Bungarribee Farms Estate engaged in small-scale farming and

other activities. This is demonstrated in the 1930 Sands Sydney, Suburban and Country Commercial Directory by their occupations.

68 Note the original spelling of gardener as an occupation.

1930 SANDS SYDNEY, SUBURBAN & COUNTRY COMMERCIAL DIRECTORY, BUNGARRIBEE

67 Windsor and Richmond Gazette, 22 September 1948, page 5 68 City of Sydney, <http://cdn.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/history/archives/sands/1930-1933/1930-

part23.pdf>.

Ahab, Joseph Poultry Farmer

Aucklanton, W. Vineyard

Bury & Farrell Farmers Collins, H. C. Market Gardiner

Emmett & Quinian Poultry Farmers

Ferguson, J. Poultry Farmer

Fulton Poultry Farmer Glossop Poultry Farmer

Harding Poultry Farmer

Hornsby, F. Market Gardiner & Poultry Farmer Iuratus, Peter Dairyman

King, S. G. Poultry Farmer & Receiving Office Keeper

Lena, L. M. G. Market Gardiner Mansfield, H. Cabinet Maker

Mansfield, James Poultry Farmer

Nunn, William Poultry Farmer

Parkins, Joseph Poultry Farmer Pass, P. Poultry Farmer

Paten Poultry Farmer

Robbins Poultry Farmer Sampson, W. Poultry Farmer

Somerville, W. Poultry Farmer

Stanley, P. Farmer Stokes Poultry Farmer

Turnbull Poultry Farmer

Villa, Joseph Market Gardiner

Wasson, R. Poultry Farmer

During the next half a century, many attempts were made to sell Bungarribee Farms. One

attempt was made in 1921 to sell part of the Bungarribee Farms Estate. This time the seller was an investor who named the area that was up for sale ‘Doonside Farmlets’.

69

69 Doonside Farmlets. Doonside Subdivision Plans. State Library of New South Wales, 1921. Z/SP/D8/1

Over the following decades, the Bungarribee Farms were slowly turned from agricultural land

into suburban streets. By 1959, the streetscape of the old Bungarribee Farms looks like this.

70

The street map below71 shows that more and more of the open agricultural land had been

converted to housing. Blacktown South and Walters Road Public Schools and Nagle Roman Catholic

Girls’ School have also taken over land. In the 1970s, the State Government sets aside land for a potential Doonside South Public School.

BUNGARRIBEE FARMS ESTATE SHOWING BLACKTOWN STREETS IN 1965

70 Gregory’s Street Directory of Sydney and Suburbs, Sydney, Gregory Publishing Company, 1959 Maps 103 & 116 71 Gregory’s Sydney’s Street Directory, 30th Edition. Sydney, Gregory Publishing Co. Pty. Ltd.,1965, Maps 104 and 116

New streets added by 1959

The photograph above shows NSW State Government land on Dennis Winston Drive,

Huntingwood. The site can also be accessed on Tallawong Avenue, Blacktown. It was originally set

aside for a school and is still vacant and not yet sold for housing development. The State Government attempted to sell the land in 2015 but Blacktown City Council lodged an application to have the land

rezoned as an E2 Environmental Conservation Zone. This matter is still before the Land and

Environment Court today. This remnant Cumberland Plain woodland is a window to show what

Blacktown and Bungarribee Farms Estate used to look like before development took place. Evans High School was opened on Walters Road in 1973 and the Tyndale Christian School

opened on Douglas Road in 1979. Tyndale’s site occupies 5.6 hectares (14 acres) which was a typical

size for a farm on Douglas Road when the area was given over to agriculture. In 1985, a new housing estate was developed and named Huntingwood.

72 Holbeche Road was

extended from Walters Road through to Reservoir Road thus opening up a huge area for industrial and

commercial usage.

72 Gregory’s Street Directory Sydney, Macquarie Park, Gregory’s Publishing Company, 1985, Map 114

Huntingwood Heights was

a new housing estate in

1985.

Arndell Park is a new

business district.

Gregory’s 1985 Street Directory Map73

By 2019, the process of developing the old Bungarribee Estate Farms into modern suburban,

retail, educational, recreational, sporting, hospitality and industrial usage is complete.74

BUNGARRIBEE FARMS ESTATE AS IT IS TODAY

73 Ibid., Map 115 74 Google Maps, <https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.7837938,150.8840767,14z>.

Holbeche Road was extended to Reservoir Road.

If you want to look, there are still a few farms left in the modern Blacktown area that used to be

Bungarribee Estate Farms. One remnant farm property is at 61 Holbeche Road. It has a shopping complex on one side, factory warehouses across the road with a school and housing on its other

perimeters.

Another farm relic from the time when Blacktown was an agricultural district is on Reservoir

Road opposite the Blacktown Workers’ Club complex with its McDonalds, Travelodge and Workers’ Club buildings. This property serves to remind us what the Bungarribee Farms Estate may have been

like with its market gardens and grazing goats.

Nearly 90 years have passed since the Sands Sydney Directory published its list of the land use

at Bungarribee. Poultry farming, market gardening and dairying were the main activities in the 1930s. Today the farming land of Bungarribee Farms is mostly gone and has been replaced by housing,

industrial estates, shops, petrol stations, churches, schools, clubs, parks and reserves, roads and

streets.

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE HISTORIC TREES

Near the Bungarribee Hub, we can still see remnants of the old Bungarribee. The footprints of

the house and its barn are visible in the Bungarribee Homestead Park where historical trees are still

growing where the owners of Bungarribee House planted them in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The footprint of the Bungarribee Barn is seen in this photograph of the Bungarribee Homestead

Park. The Bungarribee Hub is in the background.

Two Historic Trees, the Bunyah Pine and the Moreton Bay Fig at the Bungarribee House Site in

200875

75 Tod, Les, Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 2565

BUNGARRIBEE BARN PHOTOGRAPHED BY EVELYN ‘BONNIE’ WAYMAN, 196076

The Meat House and other old farm buildings can be seen and the historic trees, some of which

are still standing today. The Bunya had to be replaced a few years ago because the trunk was snapped

by strong winds and the remnant was taken out.77

The Moreton Bay Fig below (Ficus Macrophylla) stands between the Bungarribee Hub and the

Bungarribee Homestead Park. It once provided shade near the Meat House. It can also be seen on the

right hand side of the black and white photograph above.

76

Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 6444 77 Bungarribee Homestead Complex-Archaeological Site

<www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5051257>

BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE, 1920s

Notice the tree on the right hand side. It was still standing in the Bungarribee Homestead Park in

2014.78

There were three historic trees still standing in the Bungarribee Homestead Park in 2014. In the photograph above (left to right) are a Himalayan Pine (Pinus Wallichiana), an Italian Cypress

(Cupressus sempervirens) which was planted very close to Bungarribee House and a Hoop Pine

(Araucaria Cunninghamii). Recently the Italian Cypress had to be taken out so that today a

replacement stands in the same spot.

78 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 96

This replacement Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) stands next to the archaeological

ruins of Bungarribee House in the Bungarribee Homestead Park because the original tree had to be

removed.

The original historic Bunya pine was damaged by strong winds on 18 August 2012 and had to be

removed. This replacement was planted in 2013 and today it is growing healthily on the same site.79

79

Bungarribee Homestead Complex-Archaeological Site

<www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5051257>.

Originally the Bungarribee Estate was covered by Cumberland Plain Woodland. Today only

several pockets of residual Cumberland Plain Woodland exist in this historical locality: down beside Eastern Creek, along Bungarribee Creek, in the Western Sydney Parklands and on the old Doonside

South school site to name a few.

Harpers Bush on the corner of Holbeche and Reservoir Roads, Blacktown, also preserves

Cumberland Plain Woodland.

The ephemeral Bungarribee Creek has been changed into wetlands near Holbeche Road.

CUMBERLAND PLAIN WOODLAND, HARPERS BUSH, BLACKTOWN, 2019

Corner Holbeche and Reservoir Roads

BUNGARRIBEE ― AFTER MAJOR WALTERS

After Major Walters and his family moved out of Bungarribee House in 1916, tenants and

owners who used the remaining Bungarribee Estate during the first half of the 20th century were:

Morris Davey 1916-1926 Charles Hopkins 1926-1929

The Cleavers 1929-1949

Charles Hopkins renovated the house during the period he owned it, but in 1929, he sold the

property to Thomas Russell Cleaver and his sons, Thomas and John.

A Rolls Royce Parked outside Bungarribee House in 1938 during the Cleavers’ Ownership80

The Cleavers were the last private owners of the Bungarribee Estate. Prior to coming to live at

Bungarribee Thomas Russell Cleaver had a property at Nyngan. The Cleavers ran the Bungarribee Estate as an agistment farm for racehorses and as a dairy property.

BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE STABLE BUILDING81

80 Blacktown Memories, < www.flickr.com/photos/blacktownmemories/16613494976/in/dateposted/>.

TOM CLEAVER MAKING

ARRANGEMENTS FOR AGISTMENT

WITH HORSE OWNER JOHN CUSH AT

THE RACES 193082

Many race horses were spelled at

Bungarribee. Some of whom were Bonnie Valerie (1931),

83 Fidelity, Siren,

Hadrian, Salamander, Capaneus and

Saffron (1936),84

Lady Ivy and Planet(1937)

85 and Bonny Loch (1939).

The racehorse Valpan was struck dead by

lightning during a storm in January 1938, while being agisted at Bungarribee.

86

Probably the most famous racehorse to be spelled at Bungarribee when the Cleavers ran the

property was Peter Pan, a champion racehorse that won the Melbourne Cup in 1932. After the Cup was finished, Peter Pan was spelled at Bungarribee for some time.

87

Peter Pan was spelled again at Bungarribee for 3 months in September 193388

and won the

Melbourne Cup a second time in 1934, becoming one of only four horses to win the Melbourne Cup twice (Makybe Diva won the Cup three times).

Daily Telegraph Article

193289

The photograph shows Peter Pan at Randwick Racecourse in

1935.90

81 Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report Prepared for Landcom

May 2007, Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants, Redfern, 2007, page 17 82 Truth, 7 December 1930, page 2 83 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 23 April 1931, page 2 84 Daily Telegraph, 22 April 1936, page 25 85 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 8 July 1937, page 12 86 Sun, 31 January 1938. Page 15 87 Daily Telegraph, 18 November 1932, page 2 88 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 28 September 1933, page 14 89 Daily Telegraph, 18 November 1932, page 2 90 Howey, W. P., Them was the Days, PDF, page 139, <sconevetdynasty.com.au>.

Tom Cleaver gave the Blacktown Rugby League Football Club91

permission to use part of his

estate to play any matches it required in the 1930s. They played Sunday games against other clubs

such as Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Newtown Ionas, Leichhardt and others at Bungarribee on its picturesque paddocks.

92

A different kind of Club that was allowed to use parts of the Bungarribbe Estate for its activites was the Granville Gliding Club. Thomas Cleaver provided the Club timber for building a shed to

house its gliders on Bungarribee in 1931.93

GLIDER HAULING, DOONSIDE, JUNE 1931

94

Thomas Cleaver stood for election as a Councillor on the Blacktown Shire Council in 1935 but was defeated by Mr G. H. Barnett.

95

91

Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 891 92

Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 9 March 11936, page 3 93

Ibid.,16 April 1931, page 3 94

Newcastle Sun, 23 June 1931, page 8 95 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 7 November 1935, page 19

As well as agisting racehorses on the Bungarribee Estate, the Cleavers ran a dairy farm. In 1940

Thomas Cleaver advertised the sale of his dairy herd which gives an idea of the size of his herd.96

Being an older man in his seventies Thomas needed the help of his two sons to run the dairy

farm but when they both enlisted in the Army he needed to down-size.

During World War Two Thomas Cleaver’s son Thomas served with 2/6 Australian Cavalry

(Commando) Regiment until his discharge in January 1944 when he was allowed to return to farming. Arthur John Cleaver served with the Army in the Northern Territory. He kept up the family tradition

to do with racehorses by organising a race meeting for the troops in April 1943 in the Northern

Territory.97

Horses in the sale ring the day before the race meeting.

Troops held a picnic race

meeting at which the Bush Derby was decided. The day

before the race meeting, horses

were brought in from one of the

cattle stations, and were auctioned to the troops. Prize

money was awarded to the race

winners and £464 was raised for The Prisoners of War

Fund.98

96 Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 1940, page 7 97

Daily Telegraph, 1 May 1943, page 16 98 Australian War Memorial Image 014675

AUCTION SALES

CLEARING-OUT SALE

OF HIGH-CLASS DAIRY CATTLE,

TO BE HELD ON THE PREMIER

BUNGARRIBEE, DOONSIDE,

TO-MORROW, SATURDAY, 8th JUNE,

at 2 O’CLOCK.

WILLIAM INGLIS AND SON PTY., LTD., have

received instructions from Mr. T. R. CLEAVER to

sell by Auction as above.

20 COWS, in milk, all newly calved.

10 FORWARD SPRINGERS, on point of calving,

30 BACKWARD SPRINGERS.

All being offered subject to T.B. Test.

These Cattle are a really fine lot, and have been put

together by Mr. Cleaver regardless of cost, and are

only being sold as Mr. Cleaver’s sons have enlisted with the A.I.F.

WILLIAM INGLIS and SON PTY., LTD.,

28 O’CONNELL STREET, SYDNEY

‘Phones B6411, B6412

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE WORLD WAR 2 AIRSTRIP

On 29 June 1942, during World War Two, the Commonwealth of Australia Government used its

National Security Regulations to take possession of the Bungarribee Estate as well as other nearby Bungarribee Farms Estate properties for the purpose of constructing an airstrip which became the

Wallgrove, RAAF Dispersal Strip.99

The airstrip was 1500 metres long and 45 metres wide and it was

covered with 10,000 cubic metres of tar-sealed gravel. 1400 metres of drainage pipes of various sizes

were laid.100

When the Cleavers had part of their property taken by the RAAF they were running a dairy farm

and agistment property with most of their property given over to grazing. The owners of the farms on the Bungarribee Farms Estate, taken by the RAAF, were poultry farmers.

An advertisement for the sale of Bungarribee in 1948 shows what the Cleaver property at

Bungarribee was like during World War Two. It was 472 acres (191 hectares) and was divided into 18 paddocks. It had a large area sown with improved pastures. 50 acres (20 hectares) were under

cultivation and a further 200 acres (81 hectares) could be ploughed if necessary. The property had a 6

unit dairy with milking machine, refrigeration, cold room and Brine Cooler. The barn had 48 feed stalls attached. Other buildings on the property were 6 brick loose boxes, a harness room, garage and

machinery shed. The dairy herd consisted of 65 cows in full milk, 75 springing cows and 25 young

heifers.101

REMNANTS OF THE 1942 WALLGROVE RAAF DISPERSAL AIRSTRIP, BUNGARRIBEE, 2019

Visitors to the relatively new Western Sydney Parkland Trust Park, Bungarribee Super Park, can still

find traces of the Wallgrove RAAF Dispersal Airstrip from 1942. The remnant lies on very flat land

close to where Bungarribee Creek still flows in a roughly east-west configuration.

99 Wallgrove-Main File [Dispersal of Royal Australian Air Force RAAF Aerodrome – Acquisition of Property by the

Commonwealth – Property File] [3cm; Box 787] National Archives of Australia: Series Number SP857/6 Control Symbol PH1947/1298

100 Ibid. 101 Windsor and Richmond Gazette, 22 September 1948, page 5

PROPERTIES ACQUIRED FOR RAAF WALLGROVE DISPERSAL AIRSTRIP, JUNE 1942102



RAAF Wallgrove

Dispersal Airstrip

Bungarribee Estate owned by Thomas Cleaver

taken by the Federal Government in 1942

Bungarribee Farms Estate

Properties taken by the

Federal Government in 1942

The National Wartime Emergency caused by the Japanese Armed Forces attacking Australia in

1942, that required the building of so many dispersal airstrips in Western Sydney including Wallgrove (i.e. Marsden Park, Mt Druitt, Schofields, Fleurs, Hoxton Park, Pitt Town and The Oaks) was mostly

over by 1944. Consequently, the Cleavers were allowed to operate their Bungarribee Estate property

again as a farm from October 1944. Also, Thomas Cleaver was given grazing rights for the acreage

covered by the airstrip in April 1945. Other nearby owners were allowed to take back their Bungarribee Farms Estate properties in October 1944 too. However, there were some problems to be

overcome and compensation to be obtained from the Australian Government.

One landowner, Mr W. E. Lawrence, reported to Blacktown Shire Council that his property could not be used for agricultural purposes anymore because it was covered with gravel and would

not grow anything. He wanted the Federal Government to remove the gravel from his land to make it

productive again. The Shire Clerk of Blacktown Shire Council wrote to the Department of the Interior on Mr Lawrence’s behalf.

103

There were other issues.

1. Blacktown Council needed to build an alternative road to replace that part of Doonside Road

where the airstrip crossed it.

2. Some of the people who had their land and homes compulsorily acquired needed financial

help to relocate to other properties. They also needed to remove their belongings and farm

machinery. The McClure Family needed about £300 to buy another property near Doonside Station. They needed time to move their sheds and their farm cottage to their new property.

3. The Cleavers’ property was cut into two slices by the building of the airstrip. They needed to

be given access to be able to go around the airstrip to their cut-off paddocks in the southern section of Bungarribee.

LAND COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED FOR THE WALLGROVE AIRSTRIP IN 1942

OWNER LOCATION OF LAND

Thomas Cleaver Bungarribee

Doonside Road & Great Western

T. J. Bourke Holbeche Road

Mrs E. R. T. McClure Holbeche Road

W. J. Stinson Corner of Doonside Road & Great Western

H. Coulridge Holbeche Road

Mrs E. Spooner Landlord Ashfield

Holbeche Road

I. C. Wasson Holbeche Road

R. & J. Zaffini Holbeche Road

W. E. Lawrence Holbeche Road

Mrs E. V. Dent Holbeche Road

103 Ibid.

BLACKTOWN SHIRE CLERK’S LETTER ON BEHALF OF MR LAWRENCE, 1950104



BUNGARRIBEE ― THE OVERSEAS

TELECOMMUNIATIONS COMMISSION YEARS

The Cleavers only farmed at Bungarribee after 1944 for a short period. In 1949, the property was

compulsorily acquired a second time by the Australian Government, this time for the establishment of the Overseas’ Telecommunications Commission’s International Transmitting Station. Under their

ownership all the remaining buildings and facilities that made up the Bungarribee Estate were lost: the

Homestead, barn, dairy and milk room, stables, harness room, water supply, refrigeration room, boiler

room, garages, sheds and power.105

The reader might be wondering that if Bungarribee House was such a significant colonial

complex, why wasn’t it preserved and kept standing? The truth of the matter is that it was standing in

the 1950s but was allowed to deteriorate to such a condition that it had to be demolished in 1957. The Barn fell down in 1977. Bungarribee House and its outbuildings could have been saved if

there had been money allocated for its preservation and the will to do so.

The story of the destruction of the early nineteenth century Bungarribee House and its farm buildings happened in the twentieth century. Now they are gone forever and the only remains lie

under the surface of the earth.

The Bungarribee Hub stands beside the Archaeological Heritage Area today. The Archaeological footprint of Bungarribee House is seen in the Plan below after excavations had been

carried out in 2000.106

When the Bungarribee Estate, with all its heritage buildings, was compulsorily acquired by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) beginning in 1949, it built a modern transmitting

station with a large transmitter room, workrooms, generator and power rooms and offices. A number

of aerials were erected on the property for transmitting and receiving radio signals. Staff housing and

other amenities were erected off Doonside Road.107

105 Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report prepared for

Landcom May 2007. Redfern, Godden Mackay Logan, 2007, page 10 106 Ibid. 107 Ibid., page 11

OTC SITE, DOONSIDE, 1970s108

108 Imer, Gerard., The OTC Aerial Farm at Doonside… and the Memoirs of Lorraine Thomas. The Turret: Quarterly Journal

of the Blacktown and District Historical Society Inc. Volume 33 No. 4, December 2013, page 16

THE OTC TRANSMITTING STATION, DOONSIDE109

VIEW FROM THE WATCH TOWER LOOKING TOWARDS DOONSIDE ROAD,

OTC TRANSMITTING STATION, DOONSIDE110

109

Doonside Residential Parcel, Western Sydney Parklands: Conservation Management Plan: Report Prepared for

Landcom May 2007, Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants, Redfern, 2007, page 25 110 Neil Yakalis and Wayne Clauson Ex-OTC <zerodegrees.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/doonside-in-pictures-pt4-of-4/>.

In the early 1950s, there was a serious attempt by the newly formed National Trust to save

Bungarribee House and some of its heritage buildings. The National Trust wanted to put a tenant into the house. The tenant wanted to operate tea rooms with a museum included where artefacts would be

displayed.

Negotiations dragged on through 1956 and by January 1957, the OTC wanted to demolish the

house. It is interesting to note that in October 1956 the National Trust pointed out to the OTC Chairman that the roofing iron had been removed from the House with the consequent hastened

deterioration of the old building. The OTC thought there was no residual value so it argued that

Bungarribee House should be demolished. It is obvious that there was no will or desire to save Bungarribee House on the part of the OTC

and it was consequently demolished.111

In relatively recent times, we have seen how dilapidated houses like Alroy and Woodstock in the Plumpton area and Exeter Farm in Glenwood have been rescued from a terrible state, conserved,

renovated and rebuilt. If Bungarribee House had been standing today, it would not have been

demolished.

The diagram below shows the Easement that the National Trust wanted so that Bungarribee House, its barn and dairy could be utilised and preserved in 1956.

112

111 Doonside-Bungarribee Homestead 01 May 1955 – 28 Feb 1957. National Archives of Australia Series Number C5516,

Control, Symbol 01/011/0012 112 Ibid.

Barn

OTC Staff Housing

Direction of OTC Transmitting Station and Aerials

Dairy

Bungarribee House

LETTER FROM NATIONAL TRUST TO OTC CHAIRMAN, 1956

Page 1113

113 Doonside-Bungarribee Homestead 01 May 1955 – 28 Feb 1957. National Archives of Australia Series Number C5516,

Control, Symbol 01/011/0012

NATIONAL TRUST LETTER TO OTC CHAIRMAN, 1956

Page 2114

After reading through the letter from the National Trust to the Chairman of the OTC, one can

form the conclusion that the OTC had no interest in preserving or keeping Bungarribee House. How

could some person or persons come onto the OTC site with their truck and other equipment, pass through the OTC’s gates and secretly remove the roofing iron from such a large building as

Bungarribee House? This was a site that was considered to be secure and closed to the public. The

OTC wanted Bungarribee House gone and facilitated its ruin by letting some local scrap metal dealer “steal” the roof.

Tenders were called for the demolition and removal of rubble from the site in January 1957. Mr

John Langrigg Curwen Lawson, a local Building Contractor from Rooty Hill, was awarded the

contract to demolish Bungarribee House in February 1957 and the building was demolished soon afterwards.

115

Many years later, John Lawson became the President of the Blacktown and District Historical

Society in its early days in the late 1970s. The only structure to survive the demolition of Bungarribee House was the Barn and it was used

as a storage building by the OTC until it too partially collapsed during a storm in 1977 and was

demolished.

114 Ibid. 115 Ibid.

WHEN THE OTC DEPARTED, BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE WAS GONE TOO

Top: OTC TRANSMITTING STATION RUINS

Burns, Ian, Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 4681

Middle: OTC STAFF HOUSE RUIN, 1996

Imer, Gerard , Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 74

Bottom: BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE SITE LOOKING FROM OTC STAFF HOUSING SITE, 2008

Tod, Les, Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 2557

To properly realise the magnitude of what was lost when Bungarribee House was demolished,

look at these colour photographs taken in 1949 by Colin B. Berckelman.116

Bungarribee House was a very special building.

The OTC site at Doonside officially closed in January 1998 but the transmitting station buildings

and the aerials remained until 2000-2001. Today most of the site is part of the Western Sydney

Parklands, though the north-eastern corner close to Doonside Railway Station was developed into a

new housing suburb called Bungarribee by UrbanGrowth NSW (Landcom) starting in 2011.117

Today the Bungarribee Hub and its nearby park, the Bungarribee Homestead Park, preserve

remnants of Bungarribee House and these places are a window into the history of this important

heritage site within the City of Blacktown.

Don’t you wish that we still had this attractive old Colonial homestead standing next to the

Bungarribee Hub today?

116 Berckelman, Colin B., Bungarribee 1949. Sydney, The University of Sydney. The Sydney eScholarship Repository,

<http://hd1.handle net/2123/14587>. 117 Horses, Houses & Trees: Stories from Old Blacktown and District. Blacktown, Blacktown and District Historical Society,

1976, page 34

http://hd1.handle/

BUNGARRIBEE ― STORIES AND TRIVIA

BUNGARRIBEE TEA GARDENS

In the early days, the Bungarribee Tea Rooms were located on the Great Western Road near where Reservoir Road crosses over the Great Western Highway today. Now the street is called

Honeman Close but it used to be the original route of the Great Western Highway before the 1968

upgrade.

The Bungarribee Tea Gardens were actually part of a service station. Edith Chambers and her husband Theodore owned the tea rooms and when her husband died, Edith ran the business on her

own. The photograph below shows Edith and Theodore Chambers in front of the Bungarribee Tea

Gardens in 1924.118

In 1940, Edith sold the service station and Tea Gardens to Herald Herman Honeman and Clarice Merline Florence Honeman who changed the name of the Bungarribee Tea Gardens to Honey’s

Garage.119

The ruins of Honey’s Garage in Honeman Close were photographed in 2018.120

118 Prospect Heritage Trust Image 119 Horne, C., unpublished research about the Honeman Family 120 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 6267

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE SUB-DIVISION NEAR COFFS HARBOUR In the late 1940s, there was a new housing estate near Coffs Harbour called Bungarribee.

Eventually the residents of this area voted to change the name from Bungarribee to Coffs Harbour

West.121

The housing estate was an enterprise of a company called Bungarribee Limited.

Bungarribee Limited was initially formed in 1906 with capital of £3000 in shares of £10 each. Its purpose was to acquire the Bungarribee Estate at Doonside.

122 The major shareholders when

Bungarribee Limited was set up were John James Walters and his partners Arthur Rickard and Francis

John Gow. The NSW Realty Company was the biggest shareholder in the company.123

Bungarribee Farms was Bungarribee Limited’s first land development.

Over the half century that followed, Bungarribee Limited changed ownership but continued in its

original business of speculating in land. In the late 1940s, it developed a housing sub-division near Coffs Harbour called Bungarribee

with its name connection to the original Bungarribee near Doonside.

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE PLANE CRASH

There was a plane crash at Bungarribee on 11 May 1950. An RAAF Douglas Dakota C47 was on a training flight from RAAF Schofields when it lost altitude and dived towards the ground,

smashing small foliage and having its starboard wing ripped off by a large gum tree.

The pilots were attempting to make an emergency landing on the old World War Two Wallgrove airstrip on Bungarribee when they crashed the plane. The three members of the crew managed to

scramble out of the wreck before it caught fire.124

Pictured below is the wreck of the Dakota after it had crashed at Doonside.125

121 Coffs Harbour Advocate, 17 October 1947, page 9 122 Sydney Morning Herald, 24 April 1906, page 9 123 Moore, John W.S., Major J J Walters: The Early Years Part 3: Bungarribee. The Turret Journal of the Blacktown and

District Historical Society, Inc. Vol. 27 No.1 March 2007, page 17 124 Goulburn Evening Post, 11 May 1950, page 4 125 The Sun, 11 May 1950, page 5

BUNGARRIBEE ― BARNEY, THE BULL

In February 1934, the Cleavers of Bungarribee had a bull named Barney. John Cleaver had to

take this bull from Bungarribee through Blacktown to Seven Hills. The Cumberland Argus and

Fruitgrowers Advocate described what happened.126

“He was just a bull, quiet, peaceable but insatiably curious. Barney ― that’s the bull ― arrived in Blacktown, on his way to Seven Hills, with Mr Jack Cleaver last week.

A new comer from the wilds of Doonside, he was a little dazzled by the bustle of town life.

Perhaps that’s why, dodging his keeper, he disappeared inside an outhouse at the back of a shop in Blacktown Road. Having got in, he couldn’t get out again until they took the roof off, tied a rope to

his tail, a stick to his nose, and pulled.

Next, curious to investigate the automobile industry, he disappeared inside Miller and Potter’s

garage, distributed several shocks to the customers, and came out looking disappointed. Barney further investigated a vacant block of land, gave a cursory glance to the boot shop, and

allowed himself to be persuaded to continue the promenade.

But at Seven Hills ― his next contact with civilisation ― Barney fell again. Claude Davis has a grocery shop in Seven Hills Road. Barney’s keenly interested in groceries. He went up to the front

door like anyone else, but Claude shooed him off. Still, it takes more than that to deter a bull who

knows what he wants. Barney just went around the back and walked in the back door. And having at last found out just what a grocery shop looks like inside, he gave his undivided attention to business

once more and went on his way.”

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE RACEHORSE

A horse named ‘Bungarribee’ raced in the Newcastle area in the 1940s.127

126 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 15 February 1934, page 6 127 Newcastle Sun, 8 March, page 16

BUNGARRIBEE ― THE ABATTOIR

In 1887, The Daily Telegraph published a news item referring to a petition for the establishment

of the new Public Abattoir to be built at Bungarribee. The current public abattoir at Glebe Island was

to close and it was proposed that the new Public Abattoir should be built at Homebush. 156 local

electors from the Shire of Blacktown petitioned the NSW Government to consider building the new abattoir at Bungarribee.

128 It should be noted that the Riverstone Meat Works had already been

established in 1878.

This is what they said:

“Owing to the several objections being raised against the erection of the above establishment on

the Homebush estate, and it being thought desirable that all slaughtering of cattle should be done up-country, and a site being mentioned at Blacktown on property known as Bungarribee Estate, we, the

inhabitants of the surrounding district, do hereby pray on petition that the said site may be adopted for

the purpose of the site for the Abattoirs from Glebe Island, we having no objections to the same – We ever pray, etc.”

It was also stated

“that should the Government adopt the site they can resume, surrounding it, from five to six

thousand acres of land, with the Western Line running through it, at a cost of from £25 to £40 per

acre, with abundant water supply; land running from Blacktown to Rooty Hill, which at the present

time has only about six dwellings thereon”.

The wonderful thing about this petition is that it records the names of 156 residents and their

localities from the Shire of Blacktown from the year 1887. An abattoir was never built at Bungarribee but there was a butchery and a Meat Room on the

Bungarribee Estate. Evelyn ‘Bonnie’ Wayman photographed the Barn and Meat House at

Bungarribee House in 1960.129

128 Daily Telegraph, 1 December 1887, page 1 129 Blacktown and District Historical Society Image 6444

Barn Meat House

Barn

PETITIONERS AND THEIR LOCATITIES IN 1887 BLACKTOWN EASTERN CREEK PROSPECT

John Baker, Hotel William Bates

John Carne

Edward Collins John Collins

Michael Curren

J. H. Fitzsimmons

Thomas Fitzsimmons, Kildare J. J. Graham

Edward Harvey

Thomas Harvey James Haughton

P. Lackey

John Leahy

Joseph Liggett John A. Long

T. McCoy

Peter McGill Thomas Mackead

B. Palmer

Edward Pike Frank Poileo

Nicholas B. Russell

John Swinfield

C. Tamsett Charles Taylor

Thomas Tibbett

H. Timmins Alfred Walker

Charles Wallace

R. B. Wellard Thomas Wilkins

Henry Wood

Henry Begges Peter Beter

Thomas Brown

B. S. Durass, Western Rd D. Durass, Western Rd

H. G. Harvey

J. Iles

Richard Iles John Jesson

Joseph Learmonth

Thomas Learmonth John Lueland

Samuel Marks, Senior, Western Rd

Samuel Marks, Junior, Western Rd

J. Marten, Western Rd John Morgan

M. Nealen

Patrick Nealing (X his mark) F. E. Perkins, Mount Capicure

Lenus Perkins, Mount Capicure

A. Robinson William Robinson

J. H. Stanfield

James Walker

John Wright

James Barclay, Wallgrove

John Burke, Wallgrove R. E. Coleman, Wallgrove

F. H. Fracge, Wallgrove

William Moore, Wallgrove John Shand, Wallgrove

John Shand, Junior, Wallgrove

W. S. Bryce John Buckett, Junior

Reservoir Hotel

Ralph Christie J. P. Cumberland

Patrick Delaney

John Hallagan

William Hay W. Higgins

Henry Higgs

John Hunus John McCullough

William McCullough

J. McGuigan

B. T. Mutton William Neeve

N. J. Newis

John Pond John Pond, Junior

William Pond

M. Shane Thomas C. Swannell

James W. Todd

Richard Turlong (his mark)

Thomas Ward John Warton

George Watts

James Watts William Whitney

James Williams

Mordecai Wilson Peter Winter

PETITIONERS AND THEIR LOCALITIES IN 1887 FLUSHCOMBE ROOTY HILL SEVEN HILLS

Nicholas Delaney, Flushcombe

W. Delaney, Flushcombe J. Harris, Flushcombe

George Kirk, Flushcombe

John Kirk, Flushcombe Y. P. Kirk, Flushcombe

James Manning, Flushcombe

John Moon, Flushcombe James Neeves, Flushcombe

T. Neeves, Flushcombe

Thomas Ricke, Flushcombe

Albert Roberts, Flushcombe Thomas Roberts, Flushcombe

Daniel Swan, Flushcombe

Thomas Cable

Catherine Coglan John Corbett

W. E. Ferris

Enoch Fernley Charles Francis

Robert Glace

W. E. Gooding Thomas Greentree

T. Gulleck

J. R. James

J. B. Laycock Luke Mulligan

Michael O’Hare

D. Orton James Potter

E. S. Riley

C. W. Robertson

Richard Spriggs, Gloryhurst Hubert Walker

William Walker

F. Willis Samuel York

George Best

Robert Best William Best

Sam Davis

Thomas Davis (his X mark) W. M Davis

Charles W. Horward

George Lalor, Senior George Lalor, Junior

Robert Lalor

William Lalor

George Luke Michael McCue

G. H. Meurant

Edward Power, Junior George Thomas Smith

William Henry Smith

Henry Wall

John Wall Richard Wall

The photograph below shows cattle grazing at Bungarribee in 1910.130

This whole area might

have become an abattoir if the residents had had their way in 1887.


BUNGARRIBEE SOLDIER DIES ON THE SAME DAY AND HOUR AS HIS FATHER

Driver William Albert Ransley was a farmer from Bungarribee Farms who enlisted in the

Australian Imperial Force on 20 July 1915 during World War One. He served with the 1st Field

Artillery Brigade and the 1st Australian Division Ammunition Column on the Western Front in France and Belgium until his accidental death.

Witnesses state that the morning when Driver Ransley was killed, was a very foggy one. His

Unit was waiting to cross over a railway line. The ‘All Clear’ signal to proceed was given and Driver Ransley advanced but a speeding train crashed into No. 4 Team killing Driver Ransley instantly. He

was buried nearby at the Allonville Communal Cemetery near Amiens, France.131

The photograph

shows the type of wagon that Driver Ransley was riding when he was killed.132

Coincidentally, his father died at Bungarribee on the same day and at the same hour or so it was

believed at the time. Unfortunately, Councillor Lalor got it wrong.133

Driver Ransley died on 12

April 1918 and his father, Henry George Ransley, also a farmer from Bungarribee, died on 17 April

1918.134

They did die very close in time to each other but not on the same day or at the same hour. However the accident that led to his death occurred on the same date his son was killed in France on

12 April 1918.

Henry Ransley was driving in a cart with groceries returning home along Reservoir Road when the wheel of the cart went into a rut and he was thrown off and the wheel of the cart passed over his

body. Later at the Inquest, Dr Waugh stated that Mr Ransley was badly bruised in the abdominal

region and one of his kidneys had ruptured. He had died from the effects of peritonitis (bacterial infection via the blood after an internal organ ruptures).

135

131 Horne, John & Carol and James Bostock, Diggers From the Shire of Blacktown: 1914-1918. Blacktown, Blacktown and

District Historical Society Inc., 2015, page 349 132 Australian War Memorial Image EZ0073 133 Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 1918, page 14 134 Sydney Morning Herald, 14 April 1920, page 10 135 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 15 May 1918, page 3

A SAD COINCIDENCE.

-------

-------

The president at this week’s meeting of the Blacktown Shire Council recommended that letters of sympathy be sent to relations of soldiers

killed in action, including Driver Ransley, of Bungarribee. Councillor

G. Lalor stated that the father of Driver Ransley met with a fatal

accident at the same hour and date that the son was wounded, and that they both died at the same hour on the same day.

(Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 1918, page 4)

BUNGARRIBEE ― AUSTRALIA’S MOST HAUNTED HOUSE?

Some people believe in ghosts and others do not. But whatever you think about ghosts and

hauntings, there are a lot of stories to do with ghosts, spectres and apparitions appearing to people in

and around Bungarribee House.

Mysterious deaths and suicides are supposed to be the origins of some of these stories. William Freame reported in the Nepean Times in 1932 that an officer left the house and lost himself in the

bush and starved to death. Another officer was supposed to have popped the question to a lovely

young lady over the sundial and upon being refused, shot himself. These kinds of stories may have led to “visions” of unquiet spirits.

136

The officer who sought death by starvation that William Freame mentioned in his article was

probably Major Hovenden, who had been in the colony of New South Wales for several years before he went missing. He had lost his money through several bad financial transactions and it was said at

his inquest that he was “Too poor to steal – too proud to beg”.137

Bungarribee, it seems, was a popular place to go and die. A man’s body was found in the bush

on the Bungarribee Estate in 1870138

and another in 1919.139

You have to wonder. Did people really see spectres by the gateposts at Bungarribee

140 and if

they did, who were they? What was date? In other words ― where is the evidence?

On 18 March 1957, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph published a story about ghosts in Bungarribee House.

This article appears to be a work of fiction ― but could it have some basis in truth? Over the

years when the old buildings were still standing, how many young people have passed on the rumour:

“Stay away from the barn! Don’t go in the house! It’s haunted?”

136 Freame, William., Lavender and Old Lace: Old Bungarribee, Nepean Times, 7 May 1932, page 7 137 Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer, 1 February 1845, page 3., Morning Chronicle 1 February 1845, page 2 138 Sydney Mail, 22 January 1870, page 12 139 Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1919, page 5 140 Bring Out Your Spooks. Australian Women’s Weekly, 3 June 1959, page 23

“Two girls who recently spent a night in Doonside’s ghostly Bungarribee House say they will never go near the ruin again. The girls Kaye Elliott and Kim Andrews, of Blacktown, are 17.

Bungarribee House, built 131 years ago, is supposed to have more ghosts than any other convict-

built structure in Australia. Successive generations of occupants have reported clutching hands and spectral apparitions. Hearing Bungarribee had been sold to the Overseas Telecommunications

Commission, and would be demolished soon, Kaye and Kim decided to investigate before the

ghosts became homeless.

“It started as a great joke”, says Kaye. “We packed blankets, a torch and some oranges and got a Blacktown taxi to take us out to the house at 9 pm. It was dark and eerie, and the wind was

whistling through the broken windows and holes in the walls. The gates, which are usually closed,

were swinging in the wind. We knew the ghost of a Hunchback was said to walk down the stairs, so we made a bed beside the staircase. We were both pretty scared, but we huddled up together

and waited until early midnight. Then Kim screamed. An eye was looking at us through a hole in

the wall, and there was an awful rustling noise. I threw the torch at the eye. We were so terrified

we threw broken bricks at it until it stopped making any noise. It turned out to be a nesting mopoke. We had killed it. We couldn’t go home because we didn’t have any transport. We’d told

our parents we were staying at the other’s house for the night. Later on we heard footsteps and

voices. We rushed out of the house. But the voices did not belong to ghosts but to some boys returning from a barbecue. But the boys thought we were ghosts, and ran off. So we just had to go

back into Bungarribee. We heard some queer noises from time to time and thought about the

murdered convict and the officer who suicided in the house. As soon as it was first light we went for our lives” – Anne Dupree

Alan Sharpe in his book Pictorial History of Blacktown argues that none of the owners of

Bungarribee resided there long because the house was shared with at least three ghosts.141

He describes the Bungarribee ghosts and supernatural manifestations as:

1. A bowed elderly man in convict garb

2. An elderly convict standing beside the gate-posts

3. A bloodstain on the wooden floor that could not be washed away 4. Cold hands clutching a sleeping guest’s throat

5. A transparent woman in white142

Another source maintained that Bungarribee House was one of Australia’s most haunted houses with two ghosts downstairs and one up. However the demolition of Bungarribee House in 1957

provided a possible explanation for the belief that the place was haunted. It showed that when the

building was constructed it had included two cavities the height of the building which were covered over but not sealed. This meant that when possums or other creatures fell into the cavities and

couldn’t escape, their frantic scratching and screams as they tried to escape might have been

interpreted as ghostly hauntings.143

What do you think?

BUNGARRIBEE ― A PLACE FOR A ZOO

Later this year, a new zoo is due to open on a piece of land that used to be part of the original

Dharug lands and on part of the original Campbell Land Grant of 1821. Two hundred years ago, the only animals found in this area were Australian native animals and

birds and the only flora was Australian. Over time, this has changed with the introduction of domestic

and agricultural animals and plants and the introduced exotic species brought in by the new settlers. Of course, over time many local plants and animals became extinct.

The Sydney Zoo plans to be a tourist attraction where local and overseas visitors will be able to

view all kinds of animals like lions, cheetahs, zebras, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles

and all kinds of other reptiles, as well as special nocturnal animals and native fish in an aquarium. The zoo plans to showcase Australiana and Aboriginal Cultural Exhibits too.

A plan of the Sydney Zoo in the Western Sydney Parklands near Bungarribee is shown below.144

141 Sharpe, Alan, Pictorial History of Blacktown Alexandria, Kingsclear Books, 2000, page 30 142 Ibid, pages 30-32 143 Sydney Architecture Images Gone But Not Forgotten <http://sydneyarchitecture.com/GON/GON133.htm>. 144 Western Sydney Parklands, <https://www.westernsydneyparklands.com.au/about-us/parklands-news/brand-new-sydney-zoo-commences- construction>.

http://sydneyarchitecture.com/GON/GON133.htm

https://www.westernsydneyparklands.com.au/about-us/parklands-news/brand-new-sydney-zoo-commences-%09construction

https://www.westernsydneyparklands.com.au/about-us/parklands-news/brand-new-sydney-zoo-commences-%09construction

BUNGARRIBEE ― SNAKE BITE REMEDY

In 1921, an interesting news article appeared in the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate.

The paper does not say what happened to the man.145

Note: Qui-vive is a French word from the early 1700s used by sentries as a challenge. It meant “On

whose side are you on?” Nowadays, the term means “on the lookout.”146

BUNGARRIBEE ― ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE

This is the headline that readers of the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate saw when they looked at their newspaper in September 1902:

Patrick Gorman shot and wounded his friend William Spence after an argument and violent struggle not far from the Cricketer’s Arms on the Western Road. The next day, police found

Gorman’s body lying face down in the Bungarribee Brush. He had a single gun-shot wound to the

chest.147

Apparently, the two friends had decided to leave Sydney and go on a trip to the country. Spence

did not really want to go but he was persuaded to travel as far as Penrith. Here they spent the night in

a local hotel near the railway station. The two friends then started back towards Sydney, walking along the Western Road. After they reached the Cricketer’s Arms at Prospect, they had a drink and

sat and rested for a while. They argued about the best way to go to catch the train ― walk to

Blacktown Station or walk to Seven Hills. The two men walked sullenly and apart after this

disagreement, towards Seven Hills with Spence some distance in front of Gorman. When Gorman shot Spence in the back, there was a fight as Spence tried to save himself. During

the fight, the weakening Spence fell to the ground and Gorman said, “I’ll settle you now!” Luckily,

the second shot missed Spence who struggled to his feet to get away and ran down the road about fifty metres. “For God’s sake, save me!” Spence called out to a man driving a cart, “I’m shot!” But the

carter left him and went to get the police.

After the carter had left, Spence crawled under the fence and hid in the bush not far from St Bartholomew’s Church until Constable Beattie found him. Spence was taken to Parramatta Hospital

for treatment. Extra police were called to the area and a search was made for Gorman.

The next day, a lad walking his horse found Gorman’s lifeless body in the Bungarribee brush.

The Coroner later found that the cause of death was a revolver bullet-wound, possibly self-inflicted.148

An interesting footnote was the early use of an X-ray by doctors at Parramatta Hospital where

William Spence was treated to find where the bullet was lodged after his friend had tried to murder

him.149

According to the papers at the time, Spence was expected to recover.150

145 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 29 January 1921, page 6 146 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/>. 147 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 24 September 1902, page 2 148 Evening News, 23 September 1902, page 8 149 Daily Telegraph, 26 September 1902, page 7 150 Western Grazier, 24 September 1902, page 3

On Sunday last, at Bungarribee, a man was found in a waterhole,

standing there up to his neck in the water. When asked why he was there, replied that he had been bitten by a snake, and that if he went to

sleep he would not wake again. Consequently he took the precaution

of getting into the water up to his neck, and if he started to nod it

would keep him on the qui vive.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/qui%20vive

BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE ― TOURIST MECCA, LANDMARK AND SITE WITH

REAL ARCHITECTURAL MERIT

Bungarribee House was always a landmark in the district. Travellers on the Western Road could

see it standing on its hill overlooking the Blue Mountains to the west, as they travelled east or west on

their journeys. Its tall Italianate Tower internally lit at night made it like a lantern or a lighthouse marking its place in the scheme of things. Look how impressive Bungarribee House appeared in the

plan on the right.151

In 1925, members of the Parramatta Historical Society made a round trip

through Blacktown to Bungarribee to

inspect the property. They had an enjoyable afternoon tea before they

departed.

What did Bungarribee House have

that made it an important place for an historical society to visit?

152

It was said to be one of the most

picturesque old colonial homes in New South Wales. It also had had a colourful

and perhaps romantic colonial past. Its

unique circular drawing room with its circular bedroom upstairs made it a more

than interesting attraction. It had fine,

curved French doors downstairs, four

French Windows upstairs and a stone-flagged verandah that overlooked an old-

time colonial garden. It still had many of

its out-buildings standing when the Parramatta Historical Society visited in

1925.153

In the 1950s, the National Trust of Australia wanted to preserve the building because it was so

special. The Royal Australian Institute of Architects featured the property in a film they made in 1954

called “Our Architectural Heritage”. Bungarribee House was included in this film that showed other

important heritage sites like the Hyde Park Barracks and other Francis Greenway buildings as well as Elizabeth Bay House and other early colonial buildings from Parramatta, Liverpool, Camden and the

Hawkesbury.154

A report prepared in 1954 for The Overseas Telecommunications Commission stated these opinions about Bungarribee House.

1. Bungarribee House was among the nine houses in the whole of New South Wales whose

preservation was considered essential at whatever cost.

2. Bungarribee House’s architectural quality is excellent with a quality of design that is almost unique.

3. Bungarribee House is architecturally so important (and it is of historical importance too) that

immediate steps should be taken for its complete restoration.155

Those are some of the reasons why the Parramatta Historical Society visited the house in 1925.

151 Doonside-Residential Parcel and Parklands Bungarribee Precinct, Western Sydney Parklands: Heritage Impact

Statement. Report Prepared for Landcom, August 2007. Redfern, Godden Mackay Logan, 2007, page 24 152 Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 29 September 1925, page 4 153 Ibid. 154 Australian Historic Architecture Three Films, Palm Beach, Ross Thorne, 2003. 1 DVD disk 155 Doonside-Bungarribee House Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) Property [Box No 1298 1924-1959.

National Archives of Australia series Number SP857/10 Control Symbol PR/2642

PLANS AND ELEVATIONS OF BUNGARRIBEE

HOUSE, 1950

Those were the same reasons why the National Trust was trying to save Bungarribee House in

the 1950s. The photograph below shows the Round Room at Bungarribee House before its decline into ruin.

156

Bungarribee House was very special but the financial cost was so great and no group or

individual or Government Department was willing or able to spend the money it would have taken to restore it. It was special and treasured by many but in the end, it was not preserved.

At least the Bungarribee Hub focuses on its history and the Bungarribee Homestead Park

preserves Bungarribee House’s footprint for modern tourists to visit.


BUNGARRIBEE HUB ― A TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE PERHAPS?

The Bungarribee Hub could become a Tourist Information Centre for the City of Blacktown. It

is situated next to an extremely important historical site from Blacktown’s colonial past.

The Hub has relics and reminders of Blacktown’s past on display. It even has a model of

Bungarribee House in one of its storerooms. The scale model pictured below was made by Kevin Sculthorpe in 2003.

157 It could be brought

out from its storeroom and securely displayed in the Hub’s Foyer. It would make an interesting

feature display in the centre of the Hub so that visitors could easily walk around it and view it from all sides. It would require some kind of secure island or castle mounting in the Hub’s Foyer, covered with

glass or plastic Perspex to protect it.

The Bungarribee Hub is an ideal building for a Tourist Information Centre for Blacktown for several other reasons:

1. It has toilets.

2. It has a good-sized car park. 3. It is next to a park that is also a Heritage site. Tourists would be able to stop to have a

picnic there.

4. It is on a main road and close to public transport. Doonside Railway Station and bus stops, M4 and M7 Motorways are not too far away.

5. It will have a Zoo very near to it and it is close to Nurragingy, Featherdale and other

tourist sites within the City of Blacktown.

6. It is surrounded by the Western Sydney Parklands with its facilities.

There is also space available on a wall of the Bungarribee Hub’s foyer to install stands where

Tourist Information brochures could be displayed. One of the rooms inside the Hub could become an office for a Tourist Information Officer and

other staff to service such a Tourist Information Centre.

The kitchen in the foyer could become a small café servicing the light refreshment needs of visitors, or vending machines could be installed.


APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

CONVICT LETTER FROM BOONGARRIBE (BUNGARRIBEE), 1833 Associate Professor Carol Liston, FRAHS, University of Western Sydney

Convict letter in article Bungarribee, Blacktown – A Convict’s View in 1833, History, Magazine of

the Royal Australian Historic Society, March 2015, No 123, pages 15-16

Boongarrabe March the 10th 1833

Dear Wife

I again avail myself to wright to you and I am very uneasy never hearing from you since I left you

forlon. This is my 4th letter since my arrival in this Colony. If I once got an account from home I

should be a great deal easier in my mind. In Every letter I begged of my friends to do the Best they

could in sending you out and It would be better for the government should send you out than come

free if it can be done which it can be should they exert themselves. If that should fail let them pay

your passage and fetch out some commendations beside a letter from Mr O’Brien and the Major to

General Bourke or his Excellency the governor and let them know that I live with Mr Charles Smyth

at Boongarrabee (sic Bungarribee) 25 miles up the western road.

Mr Charles Smyth lives in Sydney in Georges Street. He has purchased 3000 acres from my first

master Thos Icely Esq with 5 government men which I was one at my own request as he was going

home to England. His farm where he sent the rest of his men was 200 miles up the country and the

overseer recommended me to Mr Smyth. He would have me of Icely although he did not like to part

me. He told Mr Smyth that he never has so usefull a man since he come to the country. I had the care

of all his property to the value of some thousand. During the sale at Sydney when the sale was over he

have me 20 dollars 4 shillings or 8£ per year and that (if) I should not hold (it) my trade would turn

me more. I can see plainly I could earn 2£ per week at a average.

My master came to this country a prisoner and now 10 or 12 thousand he would never miss. He is

only 6 years free. He set up butchering and carries it on still so extensively that he kills 1-12 bullocks

a day besides mutton and pork. The receiving of cattle in this form and delivering them gives me

plenty to do sometimes passing receipts and one thing or another. I have as good a horse to ride in the

bush after cattle or any place I go with as good a whip and a pair of spurs as some of your gentlemen

cannot afford. Any such thing as to Eating and drinking no man could have better. I could support my

family if at liberty and the Lord should be so kind as to let me have them once more at 4 shillings per

week and could earn in 2 hours…

Your loving husband

Thos Canny

APPENDIX 2

WALERS

One of the streets in the suburb of Bungarribee is named Waler Street. What were the Walers

and what have they to do with Bungarribee? Walers were a special type of horse that was developed

in Australia in the 19th Century. They were called ‘Walers’ because when they were first exported from Australia the British who were buying them identified them as coming from New South Wales

hence the name ‘Walers’. ‘Walers’ were exported to India throughout the 19 Century for use by the

British-Indian Army. Over 300,000 horses were sold to the British-Indian Army between 1834 and 1937.

158

‘Walers’ were a tough utility and saddle horse. Their reception in India was very good because

they soon showed themselves to be a superior breed to the local horses bred in India and other horses

imported from South Africa (‘Capers’).159

Bungarribee was an important horse stud property and played an important role in the

development of the ‘Waler’. The following owners of Bungarribee used the property for horse-

breeding. Thomas Icely (1827-1832), Charles Smith (1832-1840) and Henry Kater (1840-1841), Joseph Armstrong and the East India Company (1843-1860) all used Bungarribee as a depot for

sending ‘Walers’ to India.

The British and Indian Army was involved in several conflicts in the 1840s. These were the First Afghan War (1839-1842), wars in Sind and Gwalior (1843) and the First and Second Anglo-Sikh

Wars (1845-46 and 1848-49). As a consequence of all these wars, the British Army in India was

always very short of reliable horses for its artillery and cavalry units.160

During the Boer War (1899-1902) over 37,000 ‘Walers’ were sent to South Africa. During the First World War (1914-1918) over 120,000 went to war. Only one ‘Waler’ returned to Australia.

‘Walers’ were sturdy and hardy horses that were able to travel long distances with little water. During various campaigns in the war, Australian Light Horse ‘Walers’ often went up to 60 hours

without water while carrying a load of almost 130 kilograms, comprising rider, saddle, equipment,

food, and water. This photograph shows a typical ‘Waler’ of the ANZAC Mounted Division in

1918.161

158 Farrer, Vashti., Walers Go To War Aspley, ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee (Queensland) Incorporated, 2001,

pages 3-7 159 Binney, Keith R., Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788-1900) and Serpent’s Legacy, Volcanic Productions, 2003,

page 90 160 Ibid. 161 Australian War Memorial Image B00611

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