Part 3: Industry & civilisation, 1840s - 1890s

The early 1840s depression had little effect on the growing number of inhabitants of Blue Gum Flat. They were unperturbed about occupying others' land and, while it was available,   timber provided an means of livelihood for many.

Even though supplies of timber were plentiful on the ground, the trees required felling and de-limbing. In some cases further transformation was required to render a saleable commodity. Shingles, particularly, required a significant investment of labour in splitting and fashioning the final product. A great many she-oaks (casuarinas) of good size grew on the sandy patches which occurred along the banks of the creeks in Ourimbah and elsewhere in the region. Many thousands of shingles were split from them. The humble shingle inspired some of the most dogged disputes with which the Bench of Magistrates was concerned during the first several decades of permanent white settlement.

In 1841, Hovenden Hely, Frederick's son, accused some Blue Gum Flat men, Martin Gready (Grady), Charles Bryant (Bryan) and Robert Clarke, of stealing shingles. Although the full details of Hovenden Hely's charges are not available on this occasion, it is known that the magistrate sent the depositions regarding the matter to Sydney in December 1841. On 12 April 1842 Magistrate Holden went out of his way to inform Hely that Martin Grady's case was to be heard the following day. One John Horrigan, who delivered the message to Hely, reported that Hely had laughed and had said that he would not be attending. Afterwards, however, Hely wrote to the magistrates, protesting about the result of the hearing. Holden told him that he had had his chance and that the magistrates were content that they had acted correctly [AONSW 2663].

In 1844 and 1845 Martin Grady was involved in another dispute regarding shingles, this time with the influential Edward Hammond Hargraves from Noraville. Hargraves had made an agreement with Grady and William Deaves, whereby Grady and Deaves were to cut shingles for Hargraves. But in November 1844 an unhappy Hargraves, whose antics in the courtroom were notably unrestrained, had Grady and Deaves before the Bench of Magistrates. Hargraves said that the two men had overdrawn supplies while they cut shingles for him. He had had them sign a second agreement whereby they would cut extra shingles to pay for the overdrawn provisions. Now Hargraves was complaining that Grady and Deaves had prevented him from taking 5,000 shingles that they had cut and stacked at Narara Wharf. The magistrates told Hargraves that the men could not be prosecuted under the Hired Servants Act as the agreements between them and him were not in accordance with that Act. Further, he was told that if he thought that the men had overdrawn supplies he should bring a civil action against them. The magistrates also told Hargraves that he had no right to take the shingles.

Following this, Hargraves took Grady and Deaves to court and won an order for 20,000 shingles which had been split by the men and which were awaiting shipment at Narara Wharf. Hargraves posted a man to guard the shingles and put up a notice advertising their sale. Then an Erina timber merchant, Samuel Pearse, came forward and said that Grady and Deaves were his hired servants and the 20,000 shingles were his. Pearse obtained an order from Magistrate Watson releasing the shingles to him, but Hargraves ignored the order and completed their sale to another party. In February 1845 Hargraves took another 10,000 shingles which Grady and Deaves had cut. Once again, Pearse got an order for Hargraves to give them up and once again Hargraves ignored the magistrate’s order. Incredibly, the whole process was in the course of further repetition in early March 1842, when the magistrates wrote to the Attorney General in Sydney, asking for advice. From that point the bureaucratic void still maintains a grip on the matter.

George Townshend, who had bought Macquoid's grant in 1838, managed to hold on to it until 1847 before his mortgagee, Henry Gilbert Smith, took possession. Smith lived at Manly and contributed significantly to the early commercial and social life of the community there. The land at Ourimbah was purely for business, however. At different times for the next several decades, H G Smith or his brother, Thomas, with whom he was in business, held title to Macquoid's grant while letting it for the purpose of timber extraction.

Also during the financially troubled 1840s, the title to Holl's grant of 2,000 acres was formally bestowed on his daughter, Mary Ann. But England and Mary Ann Holl were far distant from the land, which began to exert a strong attraction on the much nearer James Stockdale.

At the time of the 1841 Census, James Stockdale, his wife, their two sons and one daughter, lived in a wooden house in Albert Street, East Gosford. Stockdale worked as a shopkeeper. Shortly after the Census, they moved to the Hely property Wyoming, where Stockdale rented a house. In 1846 he and his family moved again, this time to accommodation no doubt erected by Stockdale while residing at Hely's. The new house was situated on Holl's grant, to which Stockdale laid claim after a period during which, he said later, he had been engaged to act as caretaker on the land. The track which became Chittaway Road either at the time or soon after, split from the Gosford-Maitland Road at Stockdale's new place, which has ever since been something of a focal point of development in the Ourimbah Community.

Stockdale had already shown himself to be a hard individual. During 1842 and 1843, the Gosford magistrates attempted by vigorous correspondence to have him pay a bill of £4 they believed he owed on behalf of the deceased Jonathon Turner (TOL Surry 1831 Life) but whether he did or not, he stalled until they either forgot or accepted in frustration his Statutory Declaration that he had paid the money.

In May 1846 dispute between Stockdale and Hovenden Hely flared when Hely accused Stockdale of stealing certain household and garden items from his place, which the Stockdales had been renting. Hely preferred charges and Chief Constable Dennis Dwyer and the Hely property overseer, James Glover (TOL Mermaid, with the Helys from about 1830, overseer from about late 1843) went to Blue Gum Flat to conduct a search of Stockdale's premises. There Glover identified certain items as being the property of the Helys'. Without further notice Stockdale was taken into the watchhouse at Gosford. Passing through Wyoming, Stockdale ironically pointed out some of his belongings, still on Hely property.

Stockdale's story was that his wife had purchased some items from Mrs Hely (Georgiana, wife of the late Frederick and mother of Hovenden) and that while he, Stockdale, was away in Sydney, his family moved those items and, accidentally, some others as well. Mrs Hely said that Mrs Stockdale had purchased for £1 a bedstead, fire irons, fender and sofa. As well as these items, a set of seed drawers, a set of iron garden lines, a block and a model pump were found at Stockdale's place. Mrs Hely said that when she had asked Mrs Stockdale whether she had wanted a receipt for the purchase, Mrs Stockdale had declined. Then, strangely, a couple of days afterwards, Mrs Stockdale had asked for a list of the items, but no mention to be made of price. Mrs Hely did not want James Stockdale charged because it seemed to her that Mrs Stockdale had taken the goods while he was in Sydney.

For his part, Stockdale asserted that he had witnesses in the persons of one Parkinson and one George Turner, to say he, Stockdale, had been heard telling his son to get the goods off his property, that they were full of bugs.

The recording of the judgment is not at all clear, but it seems that Stockdale received a fine of £80, held in case he was required to go for trial at the Quarter Sessions in Sydney [AONSW 2664].

Even by the end of the 1840s, the local authorities were becoming perturbed about the amount of timber that had been cut from the whole of the Brisbane Water District. In November 1849 the magistrates wrote to the Colonial Secretary expressing fear of a climbing unemployment rate if licences for timber cutting were not reintroduced. In August 1850 one of the magistrates wrote to the Colonial Secretary stating that he had ordered two licensed cedar cutters from Maitland to cease their activities in Brisbane Water, because the shortage was so acute as to adversely affect the value of Crown lands.

In these circumstances, James Stockdale was holding tightly on to what he could. He had set himself up on Holl's grant and was determined to remain ensconced and in full possession. When brothers Charles and William Newman (not at that stage, but later to become residents of Ourimbah) were prosecuted by Stockdale in May 1851 for cutting shingles from Holl's grant, Stockdale produced in court an authority from one A B Smith, merchant of Sydney, giving him right to occupy the land. Smith had been agent for the executors of the will of Robert Holl.

A Gosford storekeeper, however, one H A Crause, came before the magistrate and said he, not Stockdale, had the right to the land and any timber thereon. He produced a certified copy of a notice dated 5 June 1850 from one John Smith holding Power of Attorney for his brother, A B Smith. The original notice, Crause said, he had already served on Stockdale with no effect. The notice purported to withdraw any authority Stockdale may have had to use Holl's grant. Crause also produced a letter from one Hamilton, agreeing to let Holl's grant to Crause for £20 per annum. The case was adjourned until the granting of Power of Attorney by A B Smith to John Smith could be verified. Crause was able to obtain the verification and further documentation attesting to his right to the land.

Stockdale's case against the Newmans was dismissed and Magistrates Osborne and Hovenden Hely wrote to the Attorney General seeking advice. Crause, whose place was next to the parsonage in Gosford, left the district, however, in the late 1850s.

Robert Holl, the merchant originally promised the land, had died in 1834 shortly after his return to England. In February 1839 the New South Wales Government Gazette advertised the 2,000 acres promised to him at Ourimbah in the name of "Robert Hall". In November the same announcement was advertised in respect of "Robert Holt". Finally, in November of 1843, the Court of Claims, which was settling a great many disputes and claims over land in the Colony, advertised the land in the name of "(A B Smith, agent to the Executors of) Robert Holl". It was the determination of this Court that led to the land being granted to Robert Holl’s daughter, Mary Ann [LTO Papers with PA 182].

Miss Holl's will was made out in 1838, but after receiving the formal grant of 2000 acres on 30 April 1844, she added a codicil leaving as much of the land as they liked to occupy and use to the sons of a Mrs Rachel Wilson-Messrs John Ker Wilson, Robert Ker Wilson and Francis Ker Wilson, of Warawa in the Colony of Queensland; and any or all of the land otherwise, to Alexander and Hugh Hamilton and their brother, whose name the distant Miss Holl could not recall, all residing in Sydney.

Mary Ann Holl died in 1849 in England. The will was proved in September of that year. In 1855 John Hamilton, the brother whose name she could not remember, died intestate and, his father being also deceased, the elder of the remaining brothers inherited his share.

In 1858 the Messrs Wilson attempted to have Stockdale evicted from the land on which he said he had been placed as caretaker and which he now claimed as his own. The Wilsons found themselves facing a resolute opponent and in the ensuing court case it became apparent that because of the wording of the codicil to Mary Ann Holl's will, their case was weak as long as they were not in occupation. They discontinued the action and in 1863 gave up any claim they may have had on the land in favour of Alexander and Hugh Hamilton.

The Hamiltons then began proceedings to have the title to the land awarded to them. Their attorney argued to the Registrar General that Stockdale's being on the land should not be a matter for consideration in the issue of the Title Deeds; indeed, the Certificate of Title should be made out, bringing the matter to a head so that, if Stockdale wished to continue the dispute. it was up to him to do so.

In 1865 the Examiners to Titles, on advice from the Supreme Court, recommended that the Title should go to the Hamiltons and that notice to quit should be served on Stockdale and anyone else in possession [LTO Papers with PA 182]. James Stockdale had died on 18 December 1864, maintaining to the end his right to full ownership of the land. Even his will, dated 31 December 1863, detailed the manner in which he wanted the property divided between his four children (another daughter had arrived since the 1841 Census). He still had the two acres at East Gosford too! He was unhappy about the prospect of his son, John, marrying a daughter of Anthony Zotzenbeck of Blue Gum Flat and included in his will the threat of a reduced share of Holl's grant should such a marriage take place [NSW Probate Office Will No 6898: James Stockdale].

On 8 February 1865 the Brisbane Water bailiff, Henry Worley, served a notice to quit the premises, addressed to "Mr James Stockdale or the Party in Possession", on James's daughter, Mrs Ellen Venteman, who happened to be at one of the Stockdale houses at the time.

In response, John Robinson Stockdale took up cudgels and lodged a caveat against the land being brought under the Real Properties Act and a Certificate of Title issuing to the Hamiltons.

Finally the matter was decided in another court hearing on 5 and 6 February 1868, in favour of the Hamiltons and the Certificate of Title was made out in their names on 11 March 1868 [LTO Papers with PA 182].

Concurrent with this determined struggle by the Stockdales to maintain their grim squat on Holl's grant was the establishment of the prosperous Walmsley family in Ourimbah.

An announcement dated 18 July and placed in several 1844 issues of The Sydney Morning Herald was addressed to Mr Edward Walmsly (sic) of Brisbane Water. The announcement was to the effect that if Walmsley "or any others concerned" did not pay arrears of interest due to one C T Smith of Wollongong, then Walmsley's "Town Allotment" would be sold by auction. The Brisbane Water Police District reached points as far afield as Lower Portland (Wiseman's Ferry) in the south-west and Reid's Mistake (Swansea) in the north-east. While it is quite likely that the Walmsleys ventured into the Brisbane Water area in 1844, as to their arrival in Ourimbah, the preferred evidence is the journal of the Rev. Alfred Glennie, which contains the following entry for Thursday 16 October 1856.

On Tuesday last I visited the Sawmill, & Blue Gum Flat neighbourhood, calling at almost all the cottages by the way. I made the acquaintance of some new corners, vizt, the family of Walmsley - lately come to reside in the cottage which was formerly Mr Mannings.
[Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 16 October 1856.]

The Ourimbah to which the Walmsleys came was divided into two areas, as indicated in the passage quoted above-Blue Gum Flat, which extended from the small wetland area at the head of Bangalow Creek at Lisarow, northwards to Stockdale's place; and the establishment known at the time as The Sawmill, on Ourimbah Creek, covering a large area around the junction of what are today known as Ourimbah Creek Road and Foott's Road.

The Sawmill supported a significant number of families. The Rev. Glennie frequently held services there until a church was built at Blue Gum Flat. In 1855 Glennie called a congregation of fifty souls at The Sawmill "capital" and in 1856, seventy was "very good", the "largest ever" [Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 20 May 1855, 18 February 1856].

On 1 July 1853 H G Smith, the owner of Macquoid's grant, let the land to James Lindsay Travers and Oswald Bloxsome, both of Sydney, for a period of five years with an option to extend. Quite quickly however, Travers found himself in financial trouble and in 1855 had to mortgage his share of the mill to his partner, redeemable by the payment of £5600 at intervals over 3 years. As early as May 1855 Glennie noted that there were "… great changes. Several had gone away & many new faces in their place" [Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 18 May 1855]. Then, in December 1855 Travers tried to pull out of the business altogether. He placed an advertisement in The Empire newspaper announcing an auction for Tuesday 11 December 1855 at which would be offered "The Steam Saw Mills, Brisbane Water", including, among many items

A substantial six roomed house ... A two-roomed cottage ... Large wooded shed ... covering the machinery …, 20 slab huts for the men ... Large stable with bullock yard attached … 17 horses, 12 bullocks, 5 drays, 3 timber carriages, 2 wagons and the 60 ton ketch Uncle Tom.
[The Empire 1 December 1855.]

Apparently the auction was unsuccessful and by indenture dated 1 December 1856 Travers surrendered his title to the mill and the lease, machinery and equipment to Bloxsome in exchange for release from his promissory notes. By the end of 1857, Mr Lyall Scott had taken over the sawmill.

As with those before him, Lyall Scott fell into financial difficulties. But with the backing of a wealthy Sydney gentleman, Mr William Jolly, who was involved in the timber industry in the capital with financier John Scott and a Mr J Taylor, he managed to turn his losses around.

That the sawmill was an enterprise of genuine consequence in the region is reflected in the promotion of its officers to positions in the local administration from those earliest times. In 1856 the mill's manager, Alexander Clark Davidson (Davison), was appointed Assistant Registrar for Brisbane Water. The Reverend Glennie consulted him in that capacity on several occasions in the short period up until the mill changed hands. Lyall Scott was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1861, taking his place on the Brisbane Water Bench of Magistrates for the hearing of many cases. Scott had an inclination toward expedient, practical judgments, unlike fellow magistrate, Edward Hargraves, who was given to histrionics and can be seen to have based judgments on prejudice. Scott's judgments frequently differed from those of Hargraves.

At first, Scott's right hand man at the mill was Samuel Tomlinson. But when Tomlinson saw that he had the opportunity of establishing his own mill on Holl's Grant, he did so in 1862, after a bitter court dispute with his former employer.

In partnership with one Baker, Tomlinson established the Great Britain Steam Saw Mills on land leased from James Stockdale, who was in possession of Holl's Grant at the time. The precise location of Tomlinson's mill is uncertain but is surmised to have been on the north-western corner of the junction of Glen Road and the Gosford-Maitland Road, on about the same ground as the more recent McKenzie's Sawmill. The new mill attracted further labourers to Ourimbah and added to Rev. Glennie's far flung spiritual responsibilities—

Went to Blue Gum Flat today 29 July 1862 but did not go beyond Mr Tomlinson's Mill. Now, that there are two Steam Mills at work, it will be more than I can manage to visit both establishments in one day …
[Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 29 July 1862.]

The hard labour and primitive conditions at The Sawmill and about the purlieu exacted a great toll on the sensibilities of the growing population, exemplified in their often violent and excessive behaviour.

James Stockdale was seen to drag his young apprentice about with a rope around his neck, or suspend the boy from the roof by a rope with the lad's toes just touching the ground [AONSW 2663].

In 1853 four men on hired service absconded from The Sawmill and headed north. They were captured near Maitland by Constables Richard Gorman of Gosford and Rudkin of Maitland [AONSW 2663].

In 1854 Thomas Middleton of The Sawmill went missing, presumed murdered. He had been working at the mill for some eight months when he went to Gosford on 20 August with £80 or £90 in his pocket. He bought some clothes and went drinking with some of his workmates who later accompanied him as far back as a hut at Wyoming. He was later seen, still drunk, making his way towards Berry's Head. Foul play was suspected as it was thought unlikely he would move on while the mill still owed him some £15 [AONSW 2663].

One John Coyne, a sawmill employee, stole a chain from work in 1855. Constable Gorman came across another mill worker, Joseph Lees, who, on instructions from the manager, Mr Davidson, was looking for the chain at Wyong. With Gorman's help he soon found the chain, which was easily identified as it had been wrought in a particular fashion by the mill's own blacksmith. Coyne was committed for trial at Sydney Quarter Sessions in 1856. Coyne had in fact been committed to trial for murder earlier in 1855, but the matter had not proceeded and he had been discharged [AONSW 2664; Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 15 August 1855].

Henry Schiffermuller and William Glover, labourers at the mill, shared a hut until one Friday in 1856 when Henry stole William's purse containing a pound note and some silver coins. Henry took off. William chased and caught him at Gosford. Meantime, one of the mill staff, Mr Austin, told Constable Gorman, who chanced by, that one of the men had stolen some money and absconded. By the time Gorman found the two parties they were drinking together at Spears's pub at East Gosford. Like it or not, Henry was committed for trial in Sydney and William had to go as witness [AONSW 2664].

All this strife from a congregation which in 1855 turned up in good numbers for a sermon from His Lordship the Bishop of Newcastle, whom the Rev. Glennie had brought to The Sawmill on Friday 13 April.

This, then, was the frequently turbulent community which the Walmsleys joined in 1856. The family immediately appealed to the Rev. Glennie, who was moved to write of them that: "They appear to be nice, civil, well disposed people, possessing that usual characteristic of Natives, hospitality." [Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 16 October 1856.]

For Glennie, the question of hospitality was of some importance; and rightly so! He mentions that on one particularly dark, wet night at The Sawmill when Mr Austin was away in Sydney, the young clerk left in charge "…regretted he had nothing to offer me but supposed I had had my supper before I came" [Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 21 July 1856].

In 1858 a dreadful illness swept over the entire district, tragically claiming the lives of many infants. Manifesting itself by way of fever and diarrhoea, it became known as the Blue Gum Flat low fever. Glennie directly attributes to the disease the deaths of several children, including two small boys of William and Mary Ann Foot (Foott, Foote), a daughter of one McDonald, The Sawmill engineer and another child of one Seaman. The disease may have been responsible for other deaths, too. In December 1858 a daughter of Samuel and Mrs Tomlinson succumbed after a brief illness while Glennie was away. Even adults were laid low-the energetic William Deaves, who would have been about 33 at this time, fell ill along with his sister, referred to by Glennie as Mrs Barden.

In that same year, Edward Walmsley had held a meeting at which it was decided that a temporary church should be erected on Cox's land. It was decided that the building be of slab construction, rather than weatherboard. Glennie was to draw a plan and call for tenders. The successful tenderer was one Boscombe (Buscombe) and Scott's sawmill supplied the timber, for a fee. The building would have been located somewhere on the same site as the present day Lisarow church and cemetery. Among the furniture were a reading desk and a communion table. Candle sockets were installed. Glennie praised Boscombe's work and the church opened on Sunday 29 May 1859.

Attendance was good, the church was quite full and a healthy collection of £4/4/1 was raised. A fence was erected around the burial ground. Again Glennie was very pleased with the craftsmanship of one Smith, responsible.

The day after the church opening, Glennie opened a school at Blue Gum Flat. This was more than likely in the new church building. A Miss Margaret Bates was the mistress and twelve pupils were enrolled. After nearly a year, Miss Bates mentioned to Glennie that she was not receiving enough remuneration and felt she would have to give up the school. Glennie counselled her to continue her work while he approached the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle with a request on her behalf for a stipend to supplement the income from fees. His endeavour was successful and a couple of months later the Bishop sent Glennie £10 to pass on to the schoolmistress. Glennie mentions making another payment on 27 March 1861 and also mentions several inspections he made. On 11 December 1860 he heard the children read "very Nicely" and on 14 January 1861 he records that there were 33 pupils in attendance with the prospect of more. He continued to call in at the school from time to time. On 4 April 1861 he advised Miss Bates on the completion of government vouchers and his last recorded visit took place on 13 October 1862 when he spent half an hour there.

A conflict had arisen between Margaret Bates and Edward Walmsley towards the end of 1861, she complaining about his habit of allowing his horses to graze about her cottage at night. No doubt frightened by noises, she had written two notes to Walmsley, which the latter showed to Rev. Glennie, who described the teacher's behaviour as "offensive" and her notes as "uncalled for and impertinent". Taking Edward Walmsley's side in the dispute (he was already proving to be a pillar of the Church in the community), Glennie gave Miss Bates a sound talking-to but was upset that she refused to "acknowledge her error" [Glennie A, Journals, Parts 1-3, Gosford 1850-1863 Local Studies Collection, Gosford City Library; 31 October 1861]. Miss Bates is not mentioned by name again-Glennie had referred to her familiarly in his journal by her first name, but he now refrained from any further mention at all of the teacher’s name, whoever he or she might be. It is likely that Miss Bates was sacked, because when the school came under the control of the Council of Education in October, 1863, the teacher was a Miss Elizabeth Bristowe, who had already been conducting the school there for some time [Ourimbah PS Centenary Souvenir Booklet 1963 at 2; NSW Department of Education records—list of teachers at Ourimbah PS].

Curiously, Edward Walmsley was often at odds with the incumbent local schoolteacher over the decades which followed. This may have been a means of maintaining his considerable influence in the community against the threat of an opposition articulate enough to mobilise public feeling against him.

It was not until several years after he had settled in Ourimbah that Edward Walmsley purchased any land there. In fact, his brother, William, who, prior to purchasing, resided at Wiseman's Ferry, bought land before Edward did. On 2 March 1859 William bought the whole 4 square miles of Manning's grant from the Bank of New South Wales. On the same day, he transferred 762 acres in the north of the grant to another brother, James. Not until later in the year, on 1 November, did Edward become a landowner, when William disposed of 450 acres at the southern end of the grant to him. That parcel contained the Bangalore homestead which Edward had moved into in 1856 and which he now continued to occupy as Gosford Park. William established himself at Chittaway, calling his farm Fountaindale.

At this time Lyall Scott was still operating The Sawmill and had a lease of Macquoid's grant. James Stockdale saw himself as the owner of Holl's grant. Two major elevations on Holl's grant are the ridges on each side of Dog Trap Gully. The smaller is behind the present township of Ourimbah and is reached by Glen and Wamsley Roads. This was known in the 1860s and 1870s as Sandy Ridge. The larger ridge is closely followed by Dog Trap Road and the F3 Sydney-Newcastle expressway. It runs from the south-western corner of the grant, north-easterly towards the site of Lyall Scott's sawmill.

This much larger area is probably what was referred to as Jackson's Ridge and would have provided a plentiful source of timber for a sawmill located, as was Scott's, at the toe of the ridge, with virtually no problems in any weather hauling the timber. In fact, while Scott was extracting timber from this ridge, his orders to his bullock drivers were to haul from Jackson's Ridge only when wet weather prevented them hauling from alternate areas. Easy access to the timber on Sandy Ridge could be gained for Scott by the construction of a bridge across Dog Trap Gully.

But there was ill-feeling between Lyall Scott and James Stockdale. Accordingly, Scott approached Stockdale's son, John, to raise the question of leasing the western portion of Holl's grant, at this time known collectively as Stockdale's Bush. It was arranged between Scott, John Stockdale, James Stockdale's son-in-law, Marshall, and William Jolly, that Scott's second-in-charge, Samuel Tomlinson, should sign the lease with James Stockdale, transferring it later to Scott and Jolly.

In November 1860 this plan was put into effect, Tomlinson signing apparently on his own behalf, to pay £70 per annum for all the land west of the Flat. Scott then had a bridge constructed across Dog Trap Gully, gaining access to Sandy Ridge. However, when Tomlinson was asked to transfer the lease, he became reluctant to comply.

Tomlinson insisted that Stockdale agree to any transfer. Stockdale would only agree if Scott could provide a guarantor for the rent for the remaining period of the five year lease. Scott was an undischarged bankrupt at the time, but a guarantor was arranged and at this point Tomlinson flatly refused to sign a transfer.

Scott had been giving Tomlinson £17/10/- each quarter to pay Stockdale as rent and on these occasions Tomlinson would give Scott a receipt signed by Stockdale. This system continued until Tomlinson finished his time with Scott. That was to be in February, 1862. For his part, as soon as he realised Tomlinson's intentions, Scott marched some of his men up Dog Trap Gully and had them chop down and set fire to the bridge he had had erected only eight or ten months previously.

Amusingly and in rather Nero-esque fashion, Scott entertained his men, while the bridge burned, with an account of the exploits of the All-England Eleven which was playing before large crowds in Melbourne and Sydney at the time.

For Tomlinson, the loss of the bridge was a severe blow to his prospects. The timber from the extensive Jackson's Ridge was now out of reach of the mill he established. He decided to charge Scott with arson. The four magistrates were divided on the question. Considering Scott himself had been appointed to the magistracy only some six months previously, it was indeed a vexed question. Hovenden Hely and James Harrison felt it was a civil matter. Edward Hargraves, Scott's antagonist and William Nunn were inclined to let the charge proceed as a criminal case in Sydney.

It is indicative of the frontier justice which operated at this time, that even in the letters which accompanied the depositions to Sydney, the presiding magistrates carried on their bickering. Hargraves alleged Hely had not heard the full case. At the same time as this, magistrate William Nunn was being charged with compounding a felony in that he had destroyed evidence in an unrelated case. Hargraves was vociferous in his defence of Nunn in the letter which accompanied the depositions for Nunn's case to Sydney.

Scott's response to his being committed over the arson matter was to lay a charge of perjury against Tomlinson, who had denied acting as an agent for Scott and Jolly in obtaining the lease. This matter also was referred to Sydney. Scott emerged unscathed from this litigious nightmare and continued to sit on the Bench of Magistrates. When the government took over the management of the school in 1863, he was appointed to the Local Board.

It was in this last capacity that Scott petitioned the Council of Education for a change to more adequate and accessible accommodation for the school in 1869. He said that the Rev. John Shaw (Glennie's replacement) had been renting a place from R J Want of Sydney (a solicitor to whom the Hamiltons had sold Holl's grant after their successful application for the deeds). These premises were, in fact, the old Stockdale homestead.

The Stockdale family built several houses on the property and after James's wife had died from burns in 1857, the old place was left vacant for George Robinson Stockdale to return from Cooranbong with his wife Ann Rebecca (Williarn Deaves's sister) and family. George successfully applied for a licence to operate a hotel, the "Bushman's Home", on the premises. The buildings on the site were described in a report made by a school inspector in 1879 as follows:-

The residence is a 7-roomed house; its external walls are framed and weatherboarded, partition walls vertical slabs: it is an old building: but through its having verandahs on three sides, it is in fair condition, and will last many years yet … The Schoolroom is a very old slab building ... built about 15 years ago for a dance room in connection with the Public House, which is now the [Teacher's] Residence: ... also an old stable and W. C.... [AONSW Blue Gum Flat School File 5/14974.2.]

George Stockdale operated the hotel for only about a year and had the licence transferred to Anthony Underwood, who had been living near the wharf at Narara. Underwood had held a licence for a public house near Yass and should not have been surprised when, after only twelve months, the licence was cancelled as a result of Senior Sergeant Buckley of Gosford Police reporting him for abandoning the "Bushman's Horne" as his principal residence.

As to whether the "Bushman's Home" was the first hotel in Ourimbah, the Gosford Times of 20 April 1933 noted the demolition of a very old building at the northern end of "the wine saloon and bakery premises occupied by Mr Tom Jones". It remarked that this structure "was erected over 80 years ago and was used as a wine saloon and bar for many years, being the original hostelry of the Ourimbah district." This statement could have been founded on living memory and would appear to give the title of first (if anyone is interested) to an establishment located in close proximity to the Traveller’s Rest—today’s Tall Timbers! Official requirements have not always hindered the unlicensed supply of liquor.

In 1869, however, the "Bushman's Horne" public house was the preferred location for the Blue Gum Flat Public School. Lyall Scott said as much in his letter to the Council of Education on 21 January of that year. The Certificates of Title show a lease taken out by one Walter John Pashley for two years from l November 1869. Edward Walmsley purchased all of Holl's grant on 1 November 1870 and sold the leased area of just over 4 acres containing the building to the Council of Education on 6 November 1872 [LTO CT Vol 594 fol 30].

The move for a more substantial and centrally located schoolhouse was as a consequence of a subtle shift in the nature of the communities which made up Ourimbah-Blue Gum Flat, Sandy Ridge, The Sawmill, Chittaway and Kangi Angi.

As a counter against very large areas of land being taken up by squatters, the New South Wales minister responsible for Crown lands had two bills passed into law in October 1861, permitting free selection of Crown land by yeoman farmers. The powerful squatters squealed for decades afterwards, but in Ourimbah the Robertson Land Acts had the effect of binding together the inhabitants by fostering a feeling of permanence and promoting a vested interest in the provision of adequate community facilities. Selections under the Robertson Land Acts were conditional upon certain payment arrangements and "improvements" being implemented. A selector making a conditional purchase (CP) chose their land, paid 25% deposit and commenced cultivation. The farm would be surveyed at a later date. The balance of the purchase price fell due after three years but could be deferred indefinitely on payment of 5% interest per annum. A conditional purchase could be transferred even though it was not fully paid up. The system was open to a degree of abuse and some CPs were terminated after only a short time. This was the case in Ourimbah, too; but for the most part, in Ourimbah at least, land was selected in the spirit the legislation intended. Sawyers, bullock drivers and labourers moved off the large estates which had been the grants to Holl, Manning and Macquoid, frequently to the north bank of Ourimbah Creek, but also to the west and south of Holl's grant.

The benefit to the selector, their family and to the community, of the conditional purchase scheme, is demonstrated by the example of Edward Hawkins. "Ned" was employed as a young man at The Sawmill after having come from Wollombi. He was certainly at The Sawmill in 1862. On 30th July, 1863, he selected 40 acres on the north bank of the Creek about a mile upstream from the mill. No doubt he had, on occasion, cast his eye across the Creek as he struggled along the road through dense vine and scrub on the southern bank. After only twelve months he had erected a hut and had a well-formed road leading from it to the point on his land at which he crossed the Creek to reach the timber track on the southern side. Ned elected to make annual interest payments after his deposit. He enjoyed the company of some of the influential men of his district as a keen and talented cricketer. He was appointed a Trustee of the Local School Board (the eminent Edward Walmsley was another and Ned appears to have been a Walmsley supporter). He served in several capacities, including President, on the committee of the Ourimbah Progress Association. Of his several children, descendants still (in 1988) reside in Ourimbah. His obituary in the Gosford Times (28 July 1927) stresses the respect in which he was held by the community. In 1902 he transferred his CP to a land dealer, Mr Frank E. Ashford, who then transferred it to a Kate Lowe in 1904 [LTO Transfer of Conditional Purchase Register Book 719, No 427; AONSW Conditional Purchase Register 7/2704 fol 73].

It was a very fortunate thing for the survival of the community of Ourimbah that the small holdings became available, for a sharp decline in the value of timber in the decade of the 1860s brought to a close the initial major bout of activity in the extractive industry of timber getting. This, despite the grand showing made by the Jolly & Co. Mill at the Paris Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures immediately prior to 1868. A lengthy account of the Mill's activities appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald. "Messrs. Jolly and Co." were reported as having gone to ...

… very great expense in furnishing specimens of the timber growing on their property at Ourimbah for the Paris show. These specimens were 28 in number and were so prepared as to show the timber in every way—in its natural state, rough sawn, planed and polished. To each specimen a number was affixed, this number having a reference to a descriptive catalogue, in English and French, prepared and printed in the colony and sent with the wood to France, and freely distributed at the Exhibition to all who took an interest in the exhibits…
[The Sydney Morning Herald 17 November 1868]

After 1870, Lyall Scott and Samuel Tomlinson apparently deserted the district, leaving the small settlers to practise subsistence farming as best they could. Although the work was extremely arduous, the good soils rewarded effort. Nevertheless, conditions were generally still very primitive as notions of British civilisation struggled to maintain a foothold in this remote locality.

A brief outline of the events which befell the Armstrong brothers and their sister, Mrs Frazer, will further inform the Reader as to the rigours faced by the settlers and the benefit to succeeding generations and the community of the Robertson Land Acts.

In the late 1850s, John and Charles Armstrong and their sister Mary, with her husband, Robert Frazer, moved on to the northernmost part of Manning's grant, known as Green Hills, near Ourimbah Creek. The land at that time was ostensibly owned by the Bank of New South Wales, but after William Walmsley purchased it in 1859 and sold the northern part to his brother James, who lived at Windsor, they continued to occupy some ground. The Frazers became William Walmsley's nearest neighbours. As did most of the residents of the district at the time, the men cut timber for the mill when possible and cultivated a patch of ground basically for their own use. In 1862 William Walmsley sued Robert Frazer for damage caused by Frazer's horse and pigs trampling his crops [Swancott C, Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi 1963].

Tragically, Robert accidentally shot himself in 1863, endeavouring to protect his crops from birds. He was standing on a log waiting for some neighbours, the Williamses, who had greeted him. He apparently dropped his gun, which discharged and fatally wounded him. Edward Walmsley was leaning on his brother's gate, talking to William at the time. They wondered what the fuss was about but were not aware of the seriousness of the event until Charles Armstrong came over to borrow a door to use as a stretcher. Edward Walmsley immediately sent for John Stockdale whose expertise, although amateur, was valued by Walmsley and the inquiring magistrate [AONSW 2664].

This left Mary a widow at about 31 years of age, with at least two children, Charles Christopher, born 1858 and Joseph John, born 1861. She moved in with her brothers who still resided near her despite John's having selected 40 acres on the south bank of Ourimbah Creek, to the west of Macquoid's grant [AONSW CP Books Vol 1; NSW. Department of Lands Map R 423.1603]. The further up the Creek one travelled, the thicker the entanglement of vine and scrub. It would certainly have been an undertaking to clear the selection by hand and John Armstrong may never have done so. The land was eventually acquired by Alfred Snaith Jaques and Henry Parsons (the latter the Blue Gum Flat school teacher from October 1871 to December 1877).

Mary, her children and her two brothers, now made up an extended family which may at times have had to call on the more plentiful resources of William Walmsley, their neighbour. Walmsley was not in the habit of transacting business on a charitable basis. The Rev. Glennie was given to complain (discreetly-in his personal journal) at the price of £7 Walmsley charged him for a milking cow. On one occasion, Mary and her brothers owing him for some beef and some bushels of grass seed, William Walmsley had them sign a promissory note to the value of £3 which they later denied. Mary was charged with perjury for that denial and was committed for trial in Sydney [AONSW 2664].

No enduring stain seems to have besmirched her character, however, for after William Walmsley left the district in 1875, she took over his duties tending the Post Office [Australia Post Official Post Office History GPO Sydney]. In 1870 William Walmsley had bought (for £97) the whole area containing the site of The Sawmill, reckoned at 100 acres, less three acres of roads (i.e. £1 per acre) [LTO Indentures Book 122 No 332]. In 1876 he sold that land to John Armstrong for £250 [LTO Indentures Book 163 No 621]. James Walmsley had sued John, Charles and Mary when they left his land at Green Hills in 1869, for damage to the house and land [Swancott C, Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi 1963]. Where they went between then and 1876, when John and Mary moved over to the sawmill land, is uncertain. Charles obtained a Conditional Purchase of 60 acres close to where they had been, on the eastern boundary of Manning's grant [AONSW Map 27194.] and possibly leased a much greater area for farming purposes [The Sydney Mail 21 March 1885]. both brothers and Mary may have lived there until (certainly by 1878 [LTO Papers with PA 12570.]) John, Mary and her new husband James August George Opperman and her children moved to The Sawmill site. Opperman bought 2 acres by the roadside from John and set Mary up as proprietress in a butcher shop actually run by her son Charles Christopher Frazer. Charles Frazer was still living there at the turn of the century [LTO Papers with PA 12570]. When he died in April 1917, at the age of 58, he had been a butcher for thirty-four years [Gosford Times 12 April 1917]. Charles himself obtained some 160 acres of land on the north bank of the Creek under the Conditional Purchase scheme, as well as a couple of blocks on the south side when Macquoid's grant was subdivided and sold. His namesake, however, Uncle Charles Armstrong, met an apparently grisly and unsolved end on his selection in 1884. His sister Mary had a headstone inscribed for his grave at Lisarow which reads in part:-

… found on his selection in a sadly mangled condition having come by his death in some strange and mysterious way…

Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord.

Mary died in 1901, aged 69, Opperman, some 12 years her senior, died in 1904 [Swancott C, Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi 1963].

Despite the trials of the 1860s, the tendency is observed for families to make the commitment of establishing houses, cultivating paddocks and gathering about themselves domestic livestock-all the trappings of an attitude of permanence. A feeling of community was developing.

In 1870 the residents felt that the district warranted a Post Office. Edward Walmsley was building a shop across the road from the school and offered it as a place from which the schoolteacher could operate a post office. This suggestion looked like being taken up until the teacher was transferred. William Walmsley was apparently the only other nomination, for he became Ourimbah's first Post Master, in 1871. The office, however, was located at his house and the citizens soon began objecting to having to travel so far out of their way to avail themselves of the facilities. How could it be Blue Gum Flat Post Office, they wanted to know, when it was way out at Walmsley's place, which was Fountaindale or Chittaway? Walmsley's reply was a very early presentiment of the name to follow: he held that he lived in Orimbah (sic) and that Orimbah was a part of Blue Gum Flat. A lack of alternative kept the Post Office at Chittaway until 1876, when a postal inspector visited and recommended removal to the school, where the incumbent teacher's step-daughter, Miss Florence Spry, was appointed Post Mistress [Australia Post Official Post Office History GPO Sydney].

Subsequently William Walmsley moved to Kiama, but in the early 1880s returned to the Brisbane Water district to keep a hotel at Gosford. His land and that of his brother James, no doubt continued to be let, a possible tenant being John Armstrong.

Meantime, Holl's grant passed by bequest from Randolph John Want to Randolph Charles Want and Alfred John Cape in 1869. In 1870 Edward Walmsley bought the 2000 acres from them, although mortgaging the property to the vendors. Many published reports and incidents show that there was still a great deal of timber in Ourimbah, but it is at this stage, about 1870, that some of those reliant on the timber for their income, began to feel a pressure exerted by difficulties of access.

Shortly after purchasing Holl's grant, Edward Walmsley was faced with an irate John Cockcroft on Sandy Ridge, who maintained that Walmsley had been cutting timber from Cox's grant, of which he (Cockcroft) was the lessee. Cockcroft's account of the incident was that he and Walmsley had argued and that Walmsley had fallen and cut himself. Walmsley charged that Cockcroft had produced a knife, had urged his dog to attack and had stabbed Walmsley [AONSW 2664]. Whatever the truth, the indication is of an intensification in competition for a resource previously regarded as virtually inexhaustible. [In about 1843 a petition by 110 signatories representing timber-cutting interests stated that there was sufficient timber within a reserve at the time recently proclaimed near Gosford, to supply Sydney for three centuries! [Jervis J, ‘Brisbane Water District A Century of History’ XXXIV RAHS Journal VI.] Such ludicrous claims are still made today in various places where interested parties desire to exploit forests.]

Edward Walmsley was to an extent responsible for the fostering of a community identity in Ourimbah. He was a force in the construction of the Anglican Church at Blue Gum Flat. Following the demise of the Stockdale dynasty he provided for the retailing of spirituous beverages to the populace by the erection of a hotel. He had a race track constructed which ran right around his house, Gosford Park, and held horse races. After Lyall Scott left the district Walmsley became the chief Trustee on the school's Local Board.

His own interests were coincidentally served by all these activities and his influence in the community was enormous, extending even as far as the Police Magistrate at Gosford. That influence, particularly with regard to the schoolteachers, was frightening. Through no fault of their own, many of these early settlers had had no schooling and harboured an ignorant suspicion of the seat of learning in the community-the schoolhouse, personified by the school teacher. Walmsley was not above conducting a campaign of vilification against a teacher. Although it is not known if he was behind the actions of those who

…broke into the garden Mr Parsons had and pulled up or trampled over all and threw 80 fruit trees he had bought, at his own expense and planted on an unused portion of the large school reserve on to the highway…
[AONSW Blue Gum Flat School File 5/14974.2 - Cottrell quoted in Holmes's letter 26.7.1878 ref. 18557]

he certainly was behind the removal and subsequent sacking from the profession of Parsons's successor, Mr Holmes.

Henry Parsons, teacher from 1 October 1871 to 10 December 1877, indicated to the administrators, the Council of Education in Sydney, that he had been misled as to the status of the school at Blue Gum Flat and that, after six years there, he deserved to be moved. He said that the last three years at the school were passed in "peculiarly unfortunate circumstances" even though he had "won the respect and confidence" of the people [AONSW Blue Gum Flat School File 5/14974.2 - Cottrell quoted in Holmes's letter 26.7.1878 ref. 18557]. These people were no doubt impressed by his proficiency and established methods, qualities praised by his successor and also by his discipline, a lack of which seems to have been the major complaint against the successor.

In his spectacularly brief period at Blue Gum Flat, from the opening of term on 21 January 1878 until 30 June 1878, George Holmes was unable to match the standards set by Parsons, who, he said, had raised "corporeal punishment" to its highest level of "artistic" achievement! [AONSW Blue Gum Flat School File 5/14974.2 - Cottrell quoted in Holmes's letter 26.7.1878 ref. 18557.]

Walmsley mischievously informed the Council of Education that Holmes took opium and requested his removal in a torrent of letters in May 1878. He monitored Holmes's correspondence with the Council of Education since the Post Office was at this time conducted by his daughter, Sarah Selina Walmsley.

The oft-stated claim of lack of discipline was not the only reason for Walmsley's and the community's desire for Holmes to go. They actually preferred a married man as teacher. Holmes alleged that the boys were immoral and the girls "wretchedly indiscreet—and the parents "mostly ignorant, poor" who thought their children were, to the teachers, merely the means of obtaining a salary. Perhaps with that notion in mind, Walmsley would withhold the payslips necessary for the teacher to be paid. Holmes said that Joseph Morris informed him that because local parents had spited him (Walmsley) over the years, Walmsley wanted the school closed. In fact, from the beginning of 1878, Walmsley sent his children to school at Gosford, despite being chief Trustee at Blue Gum Flat! [AONSW Blue Gum Flat School File 5/14974.2 —Cottrell quoted in Holmes's letter 26.7.1878 ref. 18557.]

Holmes's replacement was one John Nicholas, who served from 17 July 1878 to 1 May 1883. Nicholas was not frightened to stand up for what he thought to be right and had frequent arguments with Mr Woodbury, the contractor, during repairs to the school in 1879. Woodbury took offence at Nicholas's alerting the Council of Education at some departures from the Specifications. He pulled down the stable and toilet buildings against Nicholas's wishes. Woodbury kept his racehorse in the stable for several weeks and when races were held at Mangrove or Wollombi work would cease. It was in 1882 that Nicholas’s fate was sealed when he offended Edward Walmsley.

Walmsley was conducting "cat coursing" sports at his hotel in September 1882. Nicholas's cat was killed by James Cottrell's dogs on this festive occasion and Nicholas took the matter to the Small Debts Court at Gosford. The Police Magistrate awarded compensation but reduced the amount claimed of £1 by half and refused to award costs to Nicholas.

The same unsatisfactory justice was handed out when Walmsley, after Nicholas had interfered at the "cat worrying sport", accused Nicholas of assaulting one of his daughters. On the occasion of that matter coming before the Police Magistrate, Walmsley did not appear. The Magistrate moved to adjourn the matter. Nicholas protested that the case should be dismissed. The Magistrate dismissed but declined to award costs. Upon Nicholas's complaining he was informed by the Magistrate that he should choose whether he wanted the matter either adjourned or dismissed without costs. Nicholas raised these examples of what was known locally as "Gosford Law" in a letter to the Minister for Justice but was told there was nothing the Minister could do.

The esteem which Edward Walmsley enjoyed and whatever good reputation persists today, seems to have derived directly or indirectly from his commercial prowess in Ourimbah. A much more human influence in the community and a more enlightened attitude to teachers and education can be seen in the character of Alfred Snaith Jaques. That difference in attitude to schooling sprang from the fact that Jaques's father, Henry, was for a time a teacher and then a school supervisor.

Swancott states that A. S. Jaques came to Ourimbah in 1873 [Swancott C, Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi 1963]. This is somewhat at variance with the indication given in an obituary in the Gosford Times, that it was in about 1888 that he arrived at Ourimbah. He had spent some time at Gosford and it may have been to there that he came in 1873. He was a dynamic personality, organising flower shows, agitating for a railway line and operating the Fern Tree Hotel. He was an excellent horseman and introduced the Hansom cab and the horse bus to Gosford [Gosford Times 10 February 1927]. In 1881 he and Henry Parsons together bought the block which had been John Armstrong's selection at Ourimbah Creek. Jaques altogether selected some 450 acres around this block as well as purchasing a further possibly 500 acres on the downstream side of the block. Pride of the Valley, Jaques named his property. His brother, George Henry Jaques, some five years Alfred's junior, arrived at Ourimbah Creek about the same time and selected a total of about 650 acres which he appropriately named Palm Grove [Eglington Parish Map, 1907. AONSW Ourimbah Creek School File 5/17244.2]. Several tracks climb the sides of the valley in the vicinity of the Jaques holdings and these would doubtless have been the preferred routes for journeys to Mangrove Creek or (via today's Debenham Road) to Gosford.

The problems of access meant that much land hereabouts still carried valuable stands of timber. Alfred Snaith Jaques erected a steam sawmill on his land, upon the flat area just inside the gate of what is now the holiday farm Hidden Valley [NSW Department of Lands Map R4469.1603]. It has been speculated that the plant from Lyall Scott's sawmill might have been removed by Jaques to his establishment. Swancott says the machinery came from a sawmill at Yarramalong. Either way the Jaques families were ensconced and soon increasing.

So concerned was he for the education of his children, that A S Jaques had a schoolroom built on his land and employed a teacher for the benefit of his own, his brother's and his neighbours' children. In 1890, six children of Alfred Jaques, five of George Jaques and two of Achilles Step (who had selected land which he called Fig Tree, to the west of Holl's grant and on the southern boundary of Macquoid's grant) were in attendance at this privately funded school.

After many years of representation, Jaques's application for government assistance was successful in 1893 and the retiring private-school teacher was replaced by Henry Parsons, who was appointed "Half Time Teacher" of Somersby and Ourimbah Creek schools. As can be imagined, he found it difficult to give a half day, each day, at both schools, even using the timber trails out of the top end of the valley. A fortnightly cycle permitting five full days at each school was sanctioned. Parsons was still the Half Time Teacher in 1897 when, as a consequence of Alfred Jaques selling much of his land, the school was moved to a building constructed for the purpose on land about a quarter of a mile away from the previous school. This may have been on the land bought jointly by Jaques and Parsons in 1881. Jaques had subsequently bought out Parsons in 1909. At the time of shifting the school the land was in the hands of Parsons's son, Albert G H Parsons.

Later still, in 1911, the Department of Public Instruction, successor to the Council of Education, agreed to the establishment of a Provisional School for Ourimbah Creek. This was after the sub-division of Macquoid's grant. The new school was to be erected on land leased from Mr Max Lang. The tender for building the school went to the sole tenderer, G H Jaques. First teacher was Walter E Buckland, who continued at least until 1916 and was succeeded by Miss V Murphy [AONSW Ourimbah Creek School File 5/17244.2].

Downstream at Blue Gum Flat, the seventies gave way to the eighties and big changes were taking place. In 1882 the teacher, John Nicholas, first reported to the Department of Public Instruction that the contemplated railway line may encroach greatly on the school grounds. In a later letter, Nicholas enclosed a map showing the three routes under consideration. Also shown are the locations of the school, the shop marked to "Mr Denney", the "Wine shop" marked "Mr E Wamsley" on the same site as today's Tall Timbers Hotel, a building in the vicinity of today's Glen Road marked "Mr W Wamsley" and on the eastern side of the main road, at about what is today the corner formed by Frost and Shirley Streets, a building marked "Mr Cottrell".

In July, 1883, the Commissioner for Railways gave formal notification that about half of the school's land was to be taken for the railway line and that a road deviation would be necessary. The construction of the railway was clearly going to, and did in fact, cause a resurgence of activity in the timber industry in Ourimbah as elsewhere; and the prospect of these vast and scenic holdings being serviced by a railway prompted a flurry of real estate activity, which generated more paper, recording transfers and mortgages, than many of the participants had cold cash to cover their dealings.

As is the case in Australia today, one hundred years later, New South Wales and the other colonies were attractive propositions for overseas investors. Construction of railways with foreign funds was a favourite avenue for expenditure with all the colonial governments at the time; but the popularity of land among private borrowers was obsessive and led to speculation in a whirlwind of deals which sent land values spiralling skywards to such an extent that calamitous mistakes were bound to occur. Especially in Victoria, the land boom of the 1880s led to the formation of very many spurious societies, banks and land companies, intent on attracting as much of the plethora of imported and domestic money as possible in as short a time as possible. If a drought can be said to have beneficial effects, then the two year drought of 1884–85 in New South Wales greatly inhibited the effects of the land boom in that Colony. Other factors too, for example a popular and quick-acting Premier, were also responsible for the confinement, to a large degree, of this business malaise south of the Murray [Cannon M,: The Land Boomers. The Complete Illustrated History (South Yarra: Lloyd O'Neill, 1972)]. However, spores of these "fungoid growths", as the shonky enterprises were termed by the general manager of the Commercial Bank at the time [Shaw AGL, The Economic Development of Australia, (Longman, 6th ed 1973)], were carried across the border—even as far as Ourimbah.

On 26 June 1883 Henry Heron, solicitor, of Sydney, bought the western half of Holl's grant from Edward Walmsley. A month later he mortgaged it to one Ebenezer Vickery of Sydney. At this same time, one William Joyce Hobbs was buying a piece of James Walmsley's section of Manning's grant. Hobbs mortgaged his land back to Walmsley. Then, in October 1883, Heron bought William Walmsley's section of Manning's grant, measured at just over 1171 acres. The price was £5000. Heron paid £2000 and mortgaged the land back to William for the balance. In January of the next year, Heron took a second mortgage on the 1171 acres, this time from William Joyce Hobbs. Also, he bought the remainder of James Walmsley's section of Manning's grant and mortgaged it straight back to the previous owner.

Next, Heron bought Hobbs's part of the James Walmsley land, getting with it the mortgage to Walmsley. In May 1884 Heron negotiated a mortgage over the 1171 acres from the Commercial Bank of Australia and subsequently paid out the mortgage he had with William Walmsley on that land. Then he took a further mortgage on the 1171 acres from the Liquidators of the Oriental Bank. In August 1885 Heron owed the CBA £8170/15/3d. The Bank paid Heron's mortgage to Hobbs (the fate of the mortgage to the Oriental Bank is unknown) and moved to take the land. In November 1885 Vickery, the mortgagee of Heron's 1000 acres in Holl's grant, exercised his power of sale and sold that land to the Land Company of Australasia Ltd. In the same month James Walmsley transferred his mortgages over Heron's land to one Thomas Abercrombie Welton of Sydney. At last, on 12 April 1886, one John William Cliff, barrister, of Sydney, bought all the land Heron had acquired in Manning's grant from the mortgagees, Welton and the CBA. Cliff wasted no time forming the Fountaindale Estate and began to sell off small acreages.

The Land Company of Australasia increased its interest in Holl's grant in 1887 with the purchase of two further lots of 363 acres and 46 acres, extending its eastern boundary to include almost all of the land west of a north-south line through Beckford and Glen Roads. On 19 February 1892 the LCA mortgaged the land to the National Bank of Australia, then on 29 May 1907, in liquidation, sold the whole lot to Frank Joseph Lappen Measures of Narara. The next day the mortgage was paid off and in the same year the land was surveyed and subdivided as the Beckford Estate.

Macquoid's grant, too, was caught up in the activity, although complications existed because of the initial error in measuring the grant. It is helpful at this stage, to recall the details of the ownership of the land from the promise to Macquoid of 2560 acres in 1830. Perhaps at Manning's request, Macquoid changed his mind slightly as to just which land he wanted, stating that the description he had given of his western boundary, he had actually intended to be his eastern boundary. The grant was made in 1835 and said to be 2560 acres. It was soon realised (upon Macquoid's having the grant surveyed for subdivision) that the area was deficient, but before any additional land could be identified and granted, Macquoid sold his grant to George Townshend. The land sold was identified as 2048 acres plus a notional 512 acres to make the full grant quantity. Townshend mortgaged 2560 acres to H G Smith shortly after the purchase, for £800. He took a second mortgage from John Edye Manning on the land, for £5123/9/10d. These amounts, together with £100 interest for Smith, were supposed to be the full value of the land when Townshend's insolvent estate was itemised in 1841 [LTO Memorial No 909 Book X]. Then, in 1842, a Court of Claims decision was that 250 acres to make up the deficiency in Macquoid's grant should go to Robert Cruden Gordon and John Manning's son, Edye Manning [LTO Papers with PA 6125]. In 1845 Henry Gilbert Smith sold his land to his brother, Thomas Whistler Smith, who sold it back in 1853. The Surveyor General's map of the County of Northumberland in 1857 shows the additional grant to be immediately to the west of the larger grant and Court of Claims notwithstanding, when H G Smith made an agreement with Herbert Salwey, solicitor, of Sydney in 1847 for the sale of the land, included in the agreement was:

… land adjoining the first mentioned area which shall have been granted at any time in compensation for deficient area in the first mentioned Grant and which is believed to consist of Two hundred and fifty acres shown by the Government map of the County of Northumberland…
[LTO Papers with PA 6125.]

In the same year as that agreement, Smith applied to have the land brought under the Real Properties Act (innovative legislation designed to lighten the burden of proving good title at each transaction). Smith having returned to England, the application was made by his agent, one John Street, who stated that the land was worth £15,000 (the consideration given in the sale agreement) and requested that the Certificate of Title be made out in the name of Herbert Salwey. Salwey, however, had already divested himself of the land and appended a note asking that the Certificate be made out in the names of John Fitzgerald Burns, James Green and George Withers, Trustees for the time being of the Sydney Permanent Freehold Land and Building Society, as joint tenants.

This was duly acceded to and the Sydney Permanent Freehold Land and Building Society began to plan for the subdivision of the grant, including some 500 acres (today identified as Portions 87 and 88, Parish of Ourimbah) adjoining the western boundary of the first, deficient grant (Portion 62) [LTO DP 2244].

Then, in August 1885, the strip of about 250 acres (Portion 88) right next to Portion 62, was reserved from sale, being declared Crown land [Government Gazette 1/8.1885 at 5222].

Adding to the confusion, in 1886 Edye Manning, survivor out of Manning and Gordon, who had been granted 250 acres deficiency in the grant in 1842, sold that 250 acres, by this time taken as being what now is Portion 87, and any other land which might at any time be granted to make up any deficiency, to H G Smith. In that year Smith died. In 1887 his remaining executor and trustee sold that 250 acres to Herbert Salwey. Still the area was some 250 acres short and eventually, on 16 March 1888, Governor Carrington granted 246 acres, known today as Portion 88, to Herbert Salwey in full settlement and "final completion of the promise" [LTO Land Grant Register Book Vol 875 fol 29].