Port Macquarie
was chosen in 1821 as the site for the establishment of
a penal settlement mainly because the only access from the
south was by sea. After the district was opened to settlement
in 1830, whilst initially an overland route from the south
and then in the 1840s a road from New England came into
existence, the usual access was still by sea. Further north
at Macleay River from the time of the arrival of the cedar
cutters schooners and other craft came up river with
supplies from Sydney and departed with cedar. After settlers
arrived they carried passengers to and from Sydney and
agricultural produce such as maize and pumpkins etc. to
market. An 1841 advertisement for the sale of 50 allotments
at East Kempsey stated the river there was 11 yards deep
and was the best spot for steamers to discharge and load.
However it was not until November 1858 that the first steamer
the "New Moon" began operating a regular service to and
from Sydney. Vessels came up river as far as Warneton,
located about six miles above Kempsey and just below the
head of navigation at Belgrave, to discharge and load cargo.
THE GREAT NORTH ROAD
There was no railway
line north of Sydney until the 16½ mile long
"Great Northern Railway" between Newcastle and East
Maitland was opened on 30 March 1857
1.
In 1825 Governor Brisbane ordered the surveying of
a better overland route from Sydney north to the
Hunter River than one discovered by Benjamin Singleton
in 1818. This new route, to be later known as the
Great North Road, crossed the Hawkesbury near
Wiseman's ferry and went through the area later known as
St. Albans to Wollombi. Later tracks were surveyed to
Singleton and Maitland and were immediately used by
travelers to the Hunter River although the road was not
commenced until 1826. When Port Macquarie was opened
to settlement in 1830 the first settlers and their
vehicles and livestock traveled this road through Wollombi
to Maitland and then on to the Williams River and to
Port Stephens and the Manning River
2.
Although the first lots in the government town of Wingham
were not sold until 1854 its' site on the Hastings
River upstream of Taree was surveyed in 1843. According
to Manning River historian John Ramsland one of the
reasons the site was chosen in 1843 was that quote
"the road from Raymond Terrace to Port Macquarie passed
through it"
3.
A Calendar and
Directory compiled by James Raymond, the Postmaster
of New South Wales, titled "The New South Wales calendar
and General Post Office directory, 1832" detailed
stages of the overland journey from Sydney
to Port Macquarie and at each stage denoted by a
number the mileage from Sydney. Eight stages were
detailed for the 22 miles from the south bank of
John’s River to the town of Port Macquarie
that was stated as being 278 miles from Sydney.
From there details were given of the route north to
Rollands Plains and finally from there west to
Captain W. H. Geary's grant of 2560 acres named "Glencoe"
situated on the north bank of the Wilson River in the
Parish of Tinebank (then Owen's Plains but today Upper
Rollands Plains)
2.
The final stage from Port
Macquarie to Captain Geary's grant was described as -
firstly crossing a bridge at the mouth of Kooloonbung
Creek. Two miles further on the road led to Settlement
Farm and a further two miles on, at the confluence
of the Hastings and Maria Rivers, the road crossed the
Hastings River by a punt to Blackman’s Point. From
there it continued to the north-west through Mr. Richard
Smith’s grant and across to Balingarah (i.e.
Ballengarra) on the Wilson River where formerly a
government farm had been located with a reservation
set aside for a township, the Wilson being a branch of
the Maria. Balingarah was said to be about 12 miles
from the settlement. On the left was Mount Cairncross
where the Wilson River was crossed twice and, its
course then followed for about five miles to Rollands
Plains where formerly there was located another large
Government agricultural establishment with extensive
buildings. Still following the Wilson River westwards,
four miles further on Crotty’s Plains on the south
bank was reached, and Vincent’s plains on the north
bank (in all other records sighted such as land
grants and and the later the parish maps the locality
named here as Vincent's Plains was always referred to
as Owen's Plains), being described in the calendar as
comprising "fine tracts of land. The grants of the
Rev. Mr. Cross, Messrs Parker, Allan and Geary, and
Mrs. A. C. Innes, are situated here" - (note Mrs. Innes's
"marriage portion" grant of 1280 acres named "Tilbuster",
but generally known as "Wallaby Hill", was actually
located at Crotty's Plains on the south side of
the river in the parish of Cogo).
So in 1832 just west of
Rollands Plains on the Wilson River was as far north as
the published route on the eastern side of the dividing
range extended. An instance of a family that came via
this route from the Paterson River by bullock drawn dray
cart to Rollands Plains is the family of Alexander and
Barbara McKay. After arrival in the colony in Feb 1839
they spent eleven years at Dungog before in 1850 making
the journey north to settle in the Cogo locality on the
Wilson River. The James Raymond calendar also stated
that whilst there was no beaten track, the aboriginals
came further north from Port Macquarie by following
the coast by - "a succession of sandy beaches,
extending to Point Plomer, from thence to Crescent
Head"
1.
NEW ENGLAND TO PORT MACQUARIE ROAD
Early in the 1840s settlers
to reach Port Macquarie from the south could follow
the extension of Great Northern Road from Maitland
to New England and then down over the range to Port
Macquarie by a road constructed by convict chain gangs
in the 1830s and early 1840s, of which the last section
of was not surveyed until 1839.
On 8 Feb 1840
The
Australian reported on the conclusion of the
survey of the last section and predicted when completed
the road link from New England to the mid-north coast
would mean - "That the hazardous transmission of the
wool from the country as well as of Liverpool Plains
by the present circuitous and toilsome journey to
Maitland will be avoided".
Prior to the survey,
the first 28 eight miles of the road from Port Macquarie
to New England had already been formed as far as a
property named "Walibree", located on the south bank
of the Hastings River about 17 miles distant from
Major Innes's Upper Hastings River station at Yarras
named "Yarrows". It was from this point the 1839
survey of the remaining approx. 52 miles to New England
began. On 11 Mar 1842 the Port Macquarie correspondent
of
The Australian reported: "the first arrival
of the 'Golden Fleece' from the tableland. Yesterday
evening two drays with 16 bales of wool from "Kentucky",
Major Innes's chief station at New England, arrived
in town."
4.
Not long after he
arrived in the colony, in March 1847, Governor Fitzroy
with his wife and son visited Port Macquarie and
he traveled up this road to inspect the New England
squatting district, returning the same way. Upon his
return to Sydney the following month he ordered the
withdrawal of the military establishment at Port
Macquarie
5.
In a chapter dealing
with the year 1843, Annabella Boswell recorded in her
published journal: "It was hoped that Port Macquarie
would become the established port for the shipment of
wool etc. to Sydney, and that the drays from New England
would from there take back the necessary supplies to
the stations", adding however that - "As time went on
these hopes were doomed to disappointment, as
transportation ceased, and Government gradually withdrew
its support from the district ... It never was a good
road, and there were no men available for keeping it
in repair. To crown all, the bar gradually became
impassible, so all the traffic from New England was
diverted to Morpeth and Newcastle, and Port Macquarie
sunk into comparative insignificance"
6.
During the 1840s
drays traveling the road went as far inland as Armidale
and, for almost 40 years loads of goods were drawn by
bullock teams to and from Port Macquarie and the
Tablelands. The son of an early Upper Hastings settler
John Coombes claimed to have brought from a station
in the Walcha district the last dray load of wool down
to Port Macquarie in 1881
7.
NEW ENGLAND TO KEMPSEY ROAD
The 1859 E. W. Rudder
sketch map of Kempsey showed a road on the north
side of the river from Kempsey through West Kempsey
marked "New England Road". However such can be
misleading as it suggests a route trafficable by
bullock drawn drays between New England and the
town of Kempsey was in existence at that time. Whilst
work on constructing this road was underway it was
not then passable throughout by loaded drays so was
not a practicable route from New England to the lower
part of the Macleay River for settlers with vehicles.
Such would not have become available until 1863 at
the earliest. The following newspaper extracts give
an insight into the genesis and development of a
trafficable dray road:
The Sydney Morning
Herald of 28 Dec 1857 reported that a dinner
attended by about of 25 of the "most respectable"
settlers had been held at the "Rose Inn" in East
Kempsey to honour Kempsey storekeeper William Smith,
for recently supervising the completion of work paid
for by a public subscription of £120, on
clearing a line for a road to New England along a route
discovered originally by W. H. Kemp J.P. and surveyed
by government surveyor W. W. Darke. Whilst the report
mentioned the line had been cleared for passage of
"two loaded drays" at that time it could not have
been more than a rough track and not a practicable
dray road, for it was said the work party supervised
by Mr. Smith had consisted only of three white "boys",
one adult, and one aboriginal and that Mr. Smith
had only been absent from home for two months
supervising the clearing etc. It was stated a
government grant of £1500 had been applied for
to construct a road of 106 miles in length
trafficable by loaded drays, and it was claimed when
completed a journey from Kempsey to New England
"could well" be accomplished in eight days.
The sought after
£1500 grant must have been forthcoming, as
two years later on 23 Feb 1860
The Sydney Morning
Herald reported - "The contract for the supply
of the New England road party, extending over a
period of six months, has been gained by Mr. F.
Chapman of Frederickton his tender being somewhat
below that of the Kempsey competitor, Mr. W. Smith,
the late contractor. The drays will shortly have
to take the rations beyond the Devil's Nook,
probably to Nulla Creek, and beyond. The country
between these places is very broken, and in some
parts scrubby. Two sidings of some length are
being laid out by the the avant corps of the
superintendent. He has materially improved here upon
the original survey ; saved much expense, and by
carrying the line along the high river bank saved
labour, and afforded the traveler the prettiest
view of the whole line."
The same newspaper on
8 August 1862 reported - "the arrangements made for
carrying on to completion the Armidale and Kempsey
road, by Mr. Keele, are very satisfactory. Much useful
work has been done, and the judicious distribution of
labour justifies the expectation that this line will
be available for dray traffic at an early date."
§
NEW ENGLAND TO NOWENDOC ROAD
According to an extract
from a 1 Sep 1854 letter published in
The Maitland
Mercury of 21 Oct 1854, the A.A. Company's
Superintendent at Nowendoc had advised the company re
the "Mountain Road" road from New England to the Manning
River that - "a dray passed through here a few days
since to open the road to New England ... the drayman
told me it was a far better road than either the Port
Macquarie or Clarence River roads ; and that he expected
to be down in a short time with a load of wool from Mr.
Rusden's; and if he got encouragement he would put
another dray on next trip".
Thus from August 1854
there was an availability to settlers traveling north
from Maitland with drays to proceed via the Great North
Road to New England and then down over the range to
the Manning River and coast from where they could
travel further north to the Hastings etc.
ROUTES FROM PORT MACQUARIE TO MACLEAY RIVER
via Mariaville (aka Boat Harbour) on the Maria River
Early Upper Macleay
squatters would have brought their livestock from
Maitland to Port Macquarie via the above publicised
route to Captain Geary's grant at Owen's Plains
(now Upper Rollands Plains) or little further west
to Magnus McLeod's, thence up to Geary's Flat and north
to Mt. Kippax and across the range, then crossing
Dungay Creek, and north to the Upper Macleay or east
to Dondingalong, Callatini and Euroka. No evidence has
been noted to suggest this route was ever trafficable
during the 19th century by bullock drawn dray cart
beyond Owen's Plains just west of Rollands Plains.
It is said in 1837
there was an outcry from the Wilson River landholders
that their crops and farm improvements were being
destroyed by herds passing through on their way to the
Macleay by this route from Ballengarra to Upper
Rolland's Plains and then via Geary's Flat etc. It is
said such resulted in the surveying of a line of road
which left Ballengarra and went north crossing Pipers
Creek and the Maria River and coming out at Commandant
Hill
8.
A survey of a stock
route is one thing, but for early Macleay River
settlers from Ballengarra it was necessary to go by
boat a short distance down the Wilson to its junction
with the Maria, then up that river to Mariaville (aka
Boat Harbour) where a road from there to East Kempsey
had been formed into a trafficable road before 1841
as implied in an April 1841 advertisement for the
auction of 50 town allotments at Kempsey (later East
Kempsey) that stated that it - "is not more than seven
miles by the present road ... from Maria Ville on the
Maria River, the nearest point of communication between
the "M'Leay River" and Port Macquarie" by water about 7
miles."
9.
Just prior him taking
up an appointment at Newcastle as the Police Magistrate,
a late 1853 advertisement for the lease of Major A. C.
Innes's 1280 acre farm named "Tilbuster" (aka "Wallaby
Hill") located on the south bank of the Wilson River
at Crotty's Plains west of Rollands Plains, stated the
farm was located - "25 miles from Port Macquarie by a
good dray road"
10.
In April 1858
The Sydney Morning Herald
reported a government grant of £500 for
work to the section from Rollands Plains to the
township of Balyngarra (Ballengarra) at the head
of navigation of the Wilson River had resulted in
a "carriage-road" through the locality and that
funding of £200 to £300 was being
sought to also make good the road from the head of
navigation (i.e. Ballengarra) south to Port
Macquarie
11.
Upper Rollands Plains to Kempsey road
Until the Upper
Rollands Plains to Kempsey road came into existence
in the 1860s, except directly by way of the ocean
from the Hastings River to Macleay River or on
land by way of the ocean beaches, the above mentioned
partly by boat route from Ballengarra to Mariaville
and thence by road to East Kempsey was the only land
route from Port Macquarie to Macleay River. The bar
across the entrance to the river at Port Macquarie meant
that shippers could never be sure when a vessel would
arrive and depart. As it became increasingly a hindrance
the need for an alternative shipping place grew. To
send their produce to market in Sydney, for farmers
north of Port Macquarie along the Wilson and at Rollands
Plains, an attractive option was to have a trafficable
dray road made across the Marlo Merrican range to
give access to the Macleay River from where such
could be loaded on to ships from the wharfs at Warneton
and six miles further downstream at Kempsey.
Construction of this
road across the Marlo Merrican range appears to have
begun in 1860. From Ballengarra the route followed the
above described existing road to Captain Geary's
"Glencoe" grant, but before reaching it branched off
to the north up through the original 1920 acre in the
Parish of Tinebank William Skottowe Parker portion 2
grant named "Clarefield", and then over the Marlo
Merrican Range through Wittitrin Parish to Dungay Creek,
where it crossed, then proceeding north to the Upper
Macleay with a branch off east to Dondinglaong and
via Euroka to East Kempsey. No mention of this route
to the Macleay River has been noted in the Maitalnd
or in Sydney newspapers prior to the following in
The Sydney Morning Herald of 23 Feb 1860 from
which is is evident that prior to the early 1860s
this route to the Macleay River was just a mailman's
"track" suitable only for travel by persons on foot
or horseback and not passable by bullock drawn drays
viz: - "KEMPSEY TO ROLLAND'S PLAINS - A small road
party is now at work on the postman's track, clearing
and making a practicable dray road between the above
mentioned places. Mr. Herborn, surveyor, accompanied
by Mr. Scott, rode over the track last week, and
has already commenced laying the line. It is sound
throughout, and once opened will, we understand, be
often called into requisition by the residents of
the Plains making the Macleay their shipping point
in preference to Port Macquarie."
Just when this road
became trafficable to drays is problematic. 10 months
later
The Maitland Mercury of 8 Jan 1861 reported
- "the work of clearing and otherwise repairing this
line has been for some time in abeyance." Later that
year on 19 September 1861 it reported - "ROLLANDS PLAINS
as your valuable columns are always open - to report any
nuisance to the public, there exist at present one on
the road leading from here to Kempsey, in the shape
of a bridge. The approach to the bridge on the Plains
side is about two feet from the ground, and not only
the height, but the logs that forms the foundation
are out further than the slabs on the top of the
bridge, as a consequence, horses, in springing upon
the bridge, are very likely to put their hind legs
between the lower logs and the top framing of the
bridge, and, as a matter to be expected, the horse's
leg becomes fast and in danger of being broken. I
have heard of several horses' legs being hurt ... my
horse, which I was riding, got his legs entangled
in the bridge, and narrowly escaped having his leg
broken - as it was the skin and hair was torn off
his leg, and he has been lame ever since."
In
The Sydney
Morning Herald of 30 April 1862 its Macleay River
correspondent reported - "we have had a great deal
of rain ... two of the bridges recently erected
on the line of road from East Kempsey to Rolland's
Plains were washed away. On 6 Dec 1862 (7 months
later) the same newspaper advised that since its'
report in April the road was still impassable for
drays as follows - "KEMPSEY ... The road between East
Kempsey and Rolland's Plains, which forms the connecting
link between the ports of the Manning, Port Macquarie,
and the Macleay River, is still impassable for drays.
That between West Kempsey and Armidale (New England)
is also still incomplete".
The Maitland Mercury
of 12 March 1863 reported - "ROLLAND'S PLAINS The road
from here to Kempsey at the creeks is in several
places very dangerous. There has been a lot of money
expended on the road, but it would have been almost
as well if the money had not been laid out at all,
and perhaps better, unless the work had been done in
a more substantial manner.
From the above it can
be concluded, whilst a mailman's track able to traversed
on horseback existed, no road that was trafficable
throughout by bullock drawn dray carts existed prior
to about 1861
§