Forum
HV Families
Webmistress
Wollombi ... a short history
In 1823 the first overland journey from Newcastle to Sydney via Maitland, Cessnock and Wollombi was accomplished by Major Morisset of the 48th Regiment and one time commandant of penal settlement of Newcastle. By 1825 a track ran from Castle Hill across the Hawkesbury to Wollombi.The building of the Great Northern Road had begun in 1829 as an access road from Wallis Plains and Maitland to Sydney, travellers on the road found the land round Wollombi good with a plentiful supply of water and began to settle in the area.
Above - The main street of Wollombi with the post office/general store in the foreground.
Visitors will no longer see the toll bar erected in 1861 on the Wollombi-Maitland road, opposite where Cessnock School of Arts now stands, but they can travel to Deadman's Creek, six kilometres on the old road on the Maitland side of Cessnock, remembered for one terrible example of brutality favoured by convict overseers. At this spot three convicts were chained to a tree while other men in the road gang felled a tree on top of then.
There is still an air of old world graciousness emanating from its historical buildings, particularly the beautiful, if not usable, churches.
The Court House - Open Day 1999
The area has a very early place in Australian history, long before the advent of white man. Its first name was Wollombai-ta, an aboriginal name for the meeting of the waters. It was taken from the Awabakal infinitive wollotillko, meaning to meet, converge, gather.
Its tribal history is indeed ancient for here also was a meeting place for the friendly corroborees of the Awabakal from Lake Macquarie and the Watagan Mountains, the Darkingoong (the great artists and carvers) of the Boree region, and the Wanaura from the Lower Hunter Valley.
Wollombi was once a vital centre for the region, having its resident police magistrate, court and police facilities long before Cessnock, and was once a State Parliament division. In its heyday it served a large developing area peopled by farmers, vignerons and timber-getters.
Its cemetery is of special interest. The Church of England portion was consecrated in 1849 by Bishop Tyrrell. In the official party was David Dunlop, who was later to be buried there with his wife, Liza. She was a remarkable woman, learning the native tongue and recording aboriginal poetry and songs.
This cemetery contains the graves of early settlers and assigned servants (convicts), soldiers who fought against Napolean, Irish political prisoners, distinguished churchmen and medical men.
Very early Roman Catholics were buried in a cemetery at the old church at Cunneen's Bridge.
Wollombi Cemetery
Wollombi had a school in 1833 when Thomas Budd was a teacher. He died in that year. He was a war veteran and one of the pioneers of Sweetmans Creek. His grave can be seen from the roadway near Sweetmans Creek turn-off.
Wollombi's national school of 1860 was replaced by a standstone building in 1881. In 1843, the Wesleyans and Presbyterians built church schools near Cunneens Bridge.
Kennys Folly is a two storey standstone building erected in 1850 by John Kenny, who was mentioned in 1851 and 1861 as being a local publican. This buildings was later leased to Gordon Edgell, founder of the canning family.
Wollombi Post Office has been in its present standstone building since 1900. The first postmaster was John McDougall, appointed in 1838, a former overseer of convict road parties from 1827 to 1831.
Wollombi Courthouse, built in 1866, replaced the courthouse and lock-up erected in 1841. On its completion, a writer described it thus: "An adornment to the township and a standing threat to evil-doers." But this warning went unheeded.
In 1840, David Dunlop, who had a distinguished career as a police magistrate, asked the Principal Superintendent of Convicts for an official scourger and a fresh supply of cat-o'-nine-tails.
Wollombi Churches
On St. Michael the Archangel's Roman Catholic Church, the first entry concerning Wollombi in the registers of what is now the Maitland Diocese,
This building was erected at Cunneen's Bridge on the banks of the Wollombi, where the foundation stone was laid on September 1840, by Archbishop Polding. Archbishop Polding, first R.C. Archbishop of Australia, accompanied by Rev. Father J.T. Lynch, with the Wiseman Brothers, rode from Wiseman's Ferry up the Great Northern Road. As they passed along they could still see aborigines on the ridges and convicts at work on the farms.
Land for the church was donated by John McDougall. The first Mass was celebrated on April 26, 1843. The buildings's costs exceeded £300, much higher than expected. Even when the first Mass was held, windows and doors still had to be fitted.
Left: Interior St Michael's Catholic Church
The original St. Michael's stood unchanged until 1892, when Rev. Father Thomas Rogers, aided by the Wollombi Postmaster, J.C. Smith, called tenders to rebuild the church.
The foundation stone on the new site was laid by the Most Reverend James Murray, Bishop of Maitland, on October 22, 1893. Rebuilt on Maitland Road, the church incorporated the foundation stone of the original building.
Turning north along Maitland St. (the bridge road) is the St. John's Church of England. Wollombi is mentioned in the register of Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, for the baptism on January 20, 1828 of Charles Eather.
St Johns Church of England
On May 10, 1845, the Reverend T.R. Bolton presided over a meeting to consider erecting a "Protestant Episcopalian Church, when a sum exceeding expectations was subscribed."
Mr. Bolton laid the foundation stone on Wednesday, July 26, 1846. With it was placed a bottle containing the coins of the realm and records naming the Governor, Bishop, officiating ministers, architects and other persons concerned with the building.
It was consecrated on February 15, 1849. It was the first church consecrated by the Right Reverend William Tyrrell, DD, first Bishop of Newcastle.
The rectory, then called a parsonage, was built in 1869 on a site across Wollombi Brook. An earlier building, partly completed, was destroyed by flood.
Hotels
Until recent years the wine saloon at Wollombi was conducted by the Jurd family descended from Daniel Jurd, who came to NSW in 1802.
In 1840 there were five licensed inns in the vicinity of Wollombi, at this time there was 'no church, no clergyman, no surgeon or physician' and 'the Court House is a hut without a window, and the lock-up is a hovel with a bark covering'.
One of the earliest of the local hostelries was the Governor Gipps Inn, built in 1841 by John McDougall. McDougall, a former convict had arrived on the ship Agamemnon in 1820, he was employed on the Great North Road eventually becoming an overseer of Road Party 28. He had a reputation as a harsh and brutal master who used the 'cat' mercilessly, when the road was completed he settled in Wollombi and began farming.
Also licensed in Wollombi, the Brook Inn (raided by bushrangers in 1843), Kenny's Folly (1850), Wollombi Harp of Erin and The Cricketer's Arms (both operating in 1866). George and Samuel Bridge had separate establishments in the old vineyard paddock at the corner of Maitland St and Yango Rd. The Family Hotel was owned in turn by Docherty, Harris and Thompson.
At one of the Wollombi inns John McDougall, former overseer of the convicts, was ceremoniously flogged by Edward ("Jew Boy") Davis and his gang.
© Patricia May [All Rights Reserved]