Part 4: Timbercutting, subdivision, farming, the Great Depression

The settlement called Blue Gum Flat is next to Gosford in point of local importance. There, as at other places, things are kept going by the spirited efforts of two or three men. It is owing to the Messrs. Wamsley and to another, perhaps, that Blue Gum Flat is the busy little place it is. There is a considerable population here, and it contains a church, a public school, and a post-office.
[Town and Country Journal 6 March 1875]

Ourimbah's position as a point of local importance was strengthened by the siting of a railway station and goods yard close to the old Stockdale homestead. The local timber industry was revitalised as the last and most inaccessible stands of hardwood were turned into millions of railway sleepers for the rapidly expanding New South Wales rail network and for export orders. Many thousands of sleepers were despatched to South Africa and India over the next several decades [Swancott C, Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi 1963] and much high praise was given to the quality of the local product.

The citrus orchards which flourished on the cleared ground also utilised the railway and ensured that Ourimbah retained its status as a "point of local importance" for some years.

The railway was opened on 15 August 1887. The only stations between Gosford and Wyong were Narara and Ourimbah. Prior to the railway, Wyong had consisted of a small settlement situated around the Gosford–Maitland Road, a short distance to the west of the present town. The Wyong folk were soon attracted to the railway, however, which thereafter became the focus of the town's commercial activity. From 1886, people further south around Tuggerah and Chittaway had petitioned for a platform. There was a proposal for a platform to be erected on the Fountaindale Estate, near Station Street East. A decision was made in favour of the present location at Tuggerah, where the platform was installed in 1890 and known at different times in its early years as Tuggerah or Tuggerah Lake. The deciding factor was the convenience of access to the lake (achieved by the subsequent formation of Lake Road leading directly to the public wharf which was constructed in c.1899). The station at Wyong and the platform at Tuggerah oriented the attention of settlers at Tuggerah and much of Chittaway away from Ourimbah. In fact, as happened at Wyong, a small business community sprang up adjacent to the platform at Tuggerah, which effectively staunched the growth of any such community at Fountaindale, or Kangy Angy to the west.

South of Ourimbah a private siding was installed in 1892, about 100 metres south of the present Lisarow station. This was known as Jenkin's Siding. When a platform was constructed in 1902 it was known for a very short time as Wyoming and thence as Lisarow [The Archives Officer, SRA Archives, Transport House, Sydney].

As well as forcing the relocation of the Blue Gum Flat Public School, the railway provided the opportunity for the subdivision of land into "town-size" allotments and the creation at Ourimbah of a townscape at first dubbed "Beckford". An area had previously been earmarked for a township to the north of this planned subdivision. The following notice appeared in the NSW Government Gazette of 17 April 1866:

It is hereby notified, for general information, that His Excellency The Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, has been pleased to revoke, under the 6th section of the Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1861, the temporary reservation, from sale, of the site of the proposed village on Orinbah Creek, near Tuggerah Beach Lakes, in the County of Northumberland, reserved from conditional purchase, By Notice of 23rd December, 1861.

2. It is further notified that the intention of forming a village in this locality has been abandoned.

This proposed village was in the area of the foot of Palmdale Valley. At this point it is propitious to look briefly at Palmdale, the small (by comparison) valley immediately to the north of the Ourimbah Creek Valley.

Canada Drop Down Creek flows down the Palmdale Valley before joining Ourimbah Creek. The small valley possesses an intrinsic natural beauty; the charming feeling is of being closeted from the rest of the world by protective slopes enclosing on all sides. The word canada comes from a Spanish word meaning "steep, narrow valley". A dropdown was a crossing place on a creek or river where the banks were excavated to form ramps facilitating the fording of the waterway.

The peaceful little valley became the object of a frantic land grab, once the plan for a village had been dropped. The undoubted existence of rainforest softwoods, even by this stage enjoying something of a precious status, would have provided the motivation for Lyall Scott to select two blocks comprising 100 acres in all, at the very head of the valley. One of Scott's sawmill employees laid claim to virtually all of the remainder of the valley. James Miller selected blocks in his own name and those of his wife and daughter and other minors by the name of Day. Although these selections all either lapsed, were cancelled, forfeited or revoked, the land was held long enough to have any valuable trees felled, which was no doubt the purpose of the exercise [AONSW CP Books 14, 15, 17]. The fate of most of the land, then, was that it became the property of the Bank of New South Wales.

Meantime, however, one block of 80 acres (later found to be 83 acres) situated at the lowest part of the valley and covering all the ground around the junction of Canada Drop Down Creek with Ourimbah Creek, became the property of two men: George Anderson and George Ralph. It had been selected in the name of Agnes Miller in 1867 and transferred to James Day in 1868. In 1875 it was transferred again to Henry Day, then in 1882 to Thomas Hawkins and in 1883 to Anderson and Ralph. The indication in the following newspaper article extract is that Anderson had an even more extensive holding—this could have been all the Palmdale land extending west from the 83 acre plot or, more likely, was land extending north from the home block and further along the north bank of Ourimbah Creek. A large area of land in this latter vicinity was only taken up late in the 1890s by Homestead Grants.

Anderson apparently turned the land into a very attractive farm, as we shall see from this contemporary (1885) newspaper piece (the Reader is cautioned that then, as now, not everything one reads in a newspaper can be believed, but the article's value is not destroyed by a few obvious errors).

The reporter and several companions are touring the Gosford-Wyong district by horseback. They are riding along the southern shore of Tuggerah Lake ...

Looming up dimly in the twilight, and apparently bounding Lake Tuggerah on the north, but in reality running out into it for some distance, was a picturesque looking bluff, or rather promonory [sic]. This constitutes a regular camping ground for picnic parties and those few visitors from the metropolis who, being of a sporting turn of mind, go to some trouble to find out the locality where wildfowl "most do congregate", and where fish can be obtained in plenty. When the Melbourne bowling team visited Sydney, it was at this spot that the picnic given them by the Sydney team took place. Messrs. Holterman, Anderson, and some other residents of the district did everything possible to make the trip enjoyable, and the visitors took their departure full of praise regarding the beauties of the place, the sport to be obtained, and the kindness of those with whom they had been brought in contact. Fish fairly swarm in the Ourimbah Creek, which, after running through the promontory, finds an outlet into the lake. Mullet, schnapper and bream are to be found of great size, and jewfish have been caught up to 3112 feet in length and nearly 45 lb. weight. Pelicans, swans, ducks, teal, snipe, curlews, and pigeons, too, find a home either on the placid surface of the lake or the thick, grassy, and thinly-timbered fringe through which we travelled. When the railway to Gosford is finished, I shall expect to see the Tuggerah and Wamberal lakes become favourite resorts for visitors from the metropolis. At present, letting alone the fact of the locality being so little known, the four hours' sea journey, although not at all rough from a sailor's point of view, is yet quite sufficient to debar the great bulk of excursionists from attempting the trip.

Emerging from the scrub which skirted the lake, we proceeded along the south side of Ourimbah Creek through Mr. Armstrong's holding of 1,280 acres. Here the flats are fairly good, and the undulating country is timbered with mahogany bluegum, spotted gum, and ironbark. As we rode along the slope of a ridge a mournful cry caused us to rein in our horses and listen intently. Again the sound was repeated,- this time stronger, clearer, and fiercer than before, and then there was no mistaking it. I had heard a similar sound many a time before in the mallee country of Victoria. It was the howl of a pack of dingoes. That peculiar, cold-blooded, flesh-creeping sound was wafted to us on the breeze several times afterwards; but the dingoes did not come in sight, and so there was no opportunity of getting a shot at them. Formerly a good many existed in the district; but they are becoming gradually thinned out, and that very day I saw a good-sized dog that had been killed by Mr. Davis near the Wamberal sawmill.

The railway line cuts off a corner of Mr. Armstrong's property, but it runs right through the adjoining freehold estate, known as Fountaindale, containing 19, 000 acres and belonging to Mr. Henry Heron, the well-known solicitor, of Sydney. The property extends to the little hamlet Of Blue Gum Flat; and here for the night we must leave it, some of us obtaining quarters at Walmsley's Hotel, and others under the hospitable roof of Mr. G. Anderson, whose residence was nor far away.

Continuing our journey next day through Fountaindale, it was easy to imagine, considering that the railway will soon run through it, the value of such a magnificent freehold, with its patches of rich flat, its slopes suitable for fruitgrowing, and, above all, its great supply of timber, the latter being found on even the waste ground.

Those possessing land on either side of the railway for miles back inform me that they regard timber as their greatest source of revenue so soon as it can be despatched by rail; and in this respect alone the owner of Fountaindale may be regarded as fortunate. The property stretches from Ourimbah Creek to Blue Gum Flat and from thence to the Gosford timber reserve, and for the most part the country is of an undulating character. For sawing purposes, such timber as bluegum, turpentine, ironbark, coachwood, ash, beech, tickwood, and cedar is sprinkled about in all directions, while, from a picturesque or ornamental point of view, groves of bangalows, treeferns, cabbage-trees, and staghorn are to be found on the estate. Even the most distant portion of the latter will be within two miles of the railway, and, as it is surmised that a platform will be erected within its boundaries, this will make communication easier still for those residing on the property. About 200 acres of the flat have been cleared and sown with English grasses, and 100 acres are to be ploughed and cropped during the present autumn. A portion of Mr. McQuade's grant of 2,200 acres adjoins Mr. Heron's estate, the remainder of the first mentioned property living on the opposite side of the main road to Maitland. As we pass the Bluegum Flat Public school, I am shown the town of Beckford, or rather where the town is to be, for at present it only exists in survey maps. It is proposed to erect a railway station here, and allotments have been laid out for sale. Five acres sold recently realised £100 per acre, so that it would appear as if ground were valuable in the vicinity. Wishing to see what settlement existed or was likely, to exist tip the Ourimbah Creek, we turned off from the Maitland-road, and followed a by-track through Mr. McQuade's property. This for the most part is a narrow strip of fertile brush land along the creek. For fully eight miles the land on the opposite side has been taken up by selectors, and on the south side Mr. McQuade is hedged in by another block belonging to Mr. H. Heron, and containing 1000 acres. There being few ranges in this, and the soil being of the best quality, the growing of fruit and vegetables will doubtless in the future constitute the leading industry of this region. At any rate I never saw any tract of country so strikingly similar to Brandy Creek and Narracan, two of the most noted districts in Gippsland for the production of roots, vegetables, and fruits of an almost fabulous size and good quality.

The depth of rich mellow soil, the tangled brush and undergrowth, the tall, stately trees, and the roughness of the roads all combined to make me imagine I was once more traversing the grand old forests of Gippsland. It was useless, however, to dream of the cool shades of the Narracan Valley or Brandy Creek while the sun was over 100° in the shade and the mosquitos were incessantly torturing us and our horses. We were not only hot, but hungry, when we reached the sawmill, which was to be our farthest point in this direction. The sawmill is situated on Mr. Jacques's selection, and to the southwest lies a vast area of Crown lands. Some 20,000 acres of this mountain country are leased to Mr. George Anderson for timber and grazing purposes; but on the northern side exists a timber reserve, which, however, is being now let under the block license system. The ride back in the sweltering heat, tired and hungry still as we were, was even more wearisome than our morning's journey; but everything must have an end, and by dusk we were once more at Blue Gum Flat.

It seems almost a pity that a more euphonious title than that just mentioned should not have been bestowed on this little hamlet. Doubtless, however, after the establishment of railway communication, a more appropriate name will be given to it. Blue Gum Flat contains a post-office, Mr. H. Denny's store, Mr. Walmsley's hotel and butcher's shop, and several private dwellings, including that belonging to Mr. Edward Walmsley, sen., one of the oldest and most respected residents of the district.

From the sawmill previously referred to, and from others in the vicinity, the timber is carted to a creek about a mile and a-half from Gosford, where it is shipped down the stream to Brisbane Water. This mode of communication will, however, be cut off immediately the railway embankment is constructed across Brisbane Water. Somehow, no adequate provision has been made to admit of vessels proceeding as heretofore up the creek, the bridge on the embankment being too low for anything except very small craft. This will necessitate the timber being conveyed to Gosford from the present depot ere it can be shipped to Sydney; and, although some loss and inconvenience will likely occur to those directly interested in the trade, the townspeople are hardly likely to grumble at such an addition to the traffic as the blocking of the creek passage will be the means of bringing about ...

Beyond Blue Gum Flat, and about eight miles from Gosford, we come to the farm of Mr. G. Anderson. For the display of energy and enterprise in reclaiming the scrub land, and demonstrating practically what it will grow, this gentleman deserves every credit. His farm of 600 acres of flat and gently undulating land is situated on the Ourimbah Creek, which bounds it for two miles, while another watercourse runs through the centre of the property into the Ourimbah. Gippsland, again, was brought back to my memory as I stood on the threshold of Mr. Anderson's homestead and gazed around at the beautiful scenery, the dense undergrowth, the tall trees, and, above all, at the rich soil and herbage which was discernible wherever the timber had been cleared. And a good deal of this has been done. Just on a similar principle, too, to that which I saw pursued by the selectors at Bulu Bulu and Narracan during a trip a few years since through these most heavily-timbered portions of "the new province" of Victoria. Like those hardy pioneers of Gippsland - many of whom unfortunately found the task of reclaiming the country to be simply ruinous - the residents of Gosford look upon the establishment of railway communication as the salvation of the district. At all events, it will tend to advance agricultural operations considerably, to say nothing of the timber and coal trade, for coal-bearing country is s known to exist for many miles along the new line. All the best descriptions of timber, including blue gum and turpentine, are to be found on Mr. Anderson's farm, as also the usual varieties of brush and scrub. The cost of clearing is necessarily very great, £8 per acre being about the average for stumping and burning alone, the use of horses and a stumper being given in. Then there is 30s. per acre for chopping down the scrub, and altogether fully £12 per acre represents the expenditure ere the ground is fit for the plough.

Notwithstanding the height and size of the timber, grubbing is not so hard as it would seem, there being no taproot to the trees in the locality. Besides several acres already cleared, about 40 acres more are in process of reclamation. Dacey's patent stumper or "forest devil", as it is nicknamed, worked by a couple of men, performs good work in the way of extracting stumps and trees. In from five to seven minutes a tree or stump from 18 inches to two feet in diameter can be grubbed, so that its advantage over manual labour is at once established. Mr. Anderson, as an employer of farm labour, has no equal in the district. Although only two years in possession, he does not, like many others, rest satisfied with doing a little at a time in the way of clearing the ground. On the contrary, Mr. Anderson's argument is that the sooner the ground is cleared the quicker will be obtained a return for his outlay. What with five Chinamen gardening, he has no less than 18 men employed for several months past. Five acres of maize and four of vegetables comprise the area under cultivation up to this season, and as there is a good local demand for vegetables a steady income may be expected from this source alone. It has been estimated that an acre of cabbage at one penny per head will bring in a return of £80 within the year. On the land now being cleared maize, oats for hay, and vegetables are to be planted. The garden will also be enlarged and more fruit trees planted, in addition to some 400 vines and 500 orange trees. By the healthy appearance of the flower garden, it has already been demonstrated that horticulture can be conducted successfully. Considerable improvements have been effected on the homestead block of 210 acres. All the back boundary has been fenced with post and rail, and around the comfortable dwelling-house several acres have been cleared, and a large stable, coachhouse, and other out-offices built in a substantial manner. A new house, however, of brick, the latter having been made on the premises, and stone has lately been erected on a pretty slope overlooking the garden, and this will make Mr. Anderson's farm of still greater value as a home or a country residence. If there is one thing more than another that Mr. Anderson excels in it is in the possession of wellbred and hardy horses. Including three buggy pairs - all splendid goers - he possesses about 20 head, besides a small but compact and symmetrical stallion named St. Clair, by Kelpie. Whether in saddle or harness, Mr. Anderson does not spare his horses when occasion demands, a fact which was illustrated at the period of the visit of the Melbourne bowling team to the Tuggerah Lakes, and also on many other occasions when visitors require to explore the hitherto almost unknown region lying between Brisbane Water and Dora Creek.

[The Sydney Mail 21 March 1885. A Sketch of the Gosford District Part III]

It might be conjectured from the abundant detail concerning Mr Anderson, that our loquacious correspondent enjoyed that gentleman's hospitality during the brief, overnight sojourn. This is unfortunate from the point of view of the commentary which might otherwise have been had, on a typical evening's proceedings at "Mr. Walmsley's hotel". The establishment referred to is undoubtedly the Traveller's Rest, the construction of which Swancott puts at 1878 [Swancott C, Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi 1963]. Certainly the hotel was in existence in 1882, as we know from the teacher's map of that year, mentioned previously and from the listing in the government Gazette of Edward Wamsley (the shortened spelling of the surname had gained much currency by this time) as licensee. The same source shows Edward's fifth son, Archibald Albert Ernest Wamsley (1859-1934) as licensee in the years 1883, 1884 and 1885. On 30th July of that last year, the hotel was leased by one James William Hosstetter (Hofstetter). He is listed as the licensee for 1886 and continued to hold the lease during 1887 although in that year the licence was held by one Edward Nun. From 1888 the licensee was Edward Wamsley's third son, Alfred Edward Wamsley (1855-1922). The wooden building stood until all but the stone chimney was completely destroyed by fire in 1950.

The "Mr Edward Wamsley, sen., one of the oldest and most respected residents of the district referred to in the article would be the father of William and Edward. When he died in August, 1885, Edward Sr was 105 years of age. Edward Jr died ten years later, aged nearly 65. On the basis of their ages alone, it is most unlikely that the newspaper advertisement of 1844, discussed earlier in this book, was addressed to Edward Jr, who was 14 at the time. In 1856, when Edward Jr and William came to Ourimbah, their father was 79. In 1863 the Rev. Glennie mentions leaving his two horses at Gosford in the charge of "old Mr Wamsley". Edward Sr's will [NSW Probate Office, Will No 12187], dated the same year as his death, gives his address as Burrawang, the same as that of one of his will's executors, Henry Chittick, the latter connected to the Wamsley family by marriage. From these sometimes confusing pieces of information, the logical construction is that then, as often is the case now, the ageing parent was cared for in turn by the families of several of his children. When Ourimbah was visited by the "wandering wordsmith" in early 1885, Edward Sr happened to be staying at one of the cottages on Edward Jr's land. At other times he was with family on the south coast or at Gosford. The point here is that, despite him having been at times present at Ourimbah, it is practically impossible that Edward Sr was responsible for any of the social or commercial exploits committed at Ourimbah in the name of Edward Wamsley. All such initiatives are, in fact, properly attributable to his son, Edward Jr.

Of a quite different nature to the large, speculative, real estate transactions of the 1880s, were several transfers of smaller acreages in the eastern part of Holl's grant, by Edward Wamsley, during the same period. Firstly, in 1883, Wamsley sold 50 acres on the eastern side of the highway [LTO, CT Vol 666 fol 234; LTO, FP 907604.], northwards from the present Bailey's Road, to William Earl. This may have been the rationalisation of a long-standing arrangement, for Earl and his family had been living in Ourimbah, probably on the same spot, from at least 1855. The creek through his purchase was known as Earl's Creek and was surely the creek which claimed the life of a young daughter on St Valentine's Day, 1866. Edward's son, Alfred Edward Wamsley, became the owner in 1886, of 31 acres at the junction of Chittaway Road and what then was the Gosford to Maitland highway [LTO, CT Vol 758 fol 154; LTO, FP 908761] now Brownlee Street. The railway necessitated a realignment of the main road, connected to the local roads and this short section of what used to be the highway, by level crossings and gates. Also in 1886, Edward Wamsley sold to James Cottrell a block of just over an acre in Glen Road. The land was set back off the road quite a way but was connected to it by a long, narrow strip which Cottrell widened with an additional purchase in 1888 [LTO, CT Vol 816 fol 211; LTO, FP 909663, LTO: CT Vol 852 fol 225].

Also in 1888, Henry Denney bought two small blocks, one on each side of the railway line. He had run the shop across the road from the old school and now had a store erected on the western side of the highway, opposite the station master's residence. His other block, on the eastern side of the line, was later to become the site of Mullard's boarding house and coffee palace, for a time leased by Ann Jones. Then, in 1890, John Arnold Beattie bought two blocks together, on the corner of the realigned highway and Station Street, on which the Royal Exchange Hotel was built.

Although publicans' records for this period are scant, it has been said that the licence for the Royal Exchange was obtained from the Traveller's Rest. Certainly the two co-existed for a long time, but the Traveller's Rest is referred to as the "Wine Shop" or the "Wine Depot"; the Royal Exchange had the beer. In 1894 Alfred Edward Wamsley had the licence for the Traveller's Rest.

Even if the purchaser of the premises, Alfred Snaith Jaques, did not also obtain a full licence for the hotel when he bought in 1902, it is clear that the sale of alcohol in some from continued despite the competition from the Royal Exchange. Beattie had let the latter to a Mr W Brown from as early as 1897. In 1902 Brown was succeeded by Henry Moore, who handed over in 1905 to one P J Saunders, whose fairness as a football referee was favourably noted in a Gosford Times of June 1906. Moore continued to hold the lease until 1911, when Beattie sold the hotel to a Thomas Alfred Akers. The later details, by way of bringing the story of the Royal Exchange to a conclusion, are that in 1920 one Leslie John Anderson bought the place from Akers, mortgaging it to Resch's and agreeing to an encumbrance to that brewery. In 1925 Anderson took out a further mortgage with Resch's, which took over the hotel in that same year. Resch's went into liquidation and Tooth and Co took over the hotel in 1929. Tooth and Co wanted to transfer the licence to premises at The Entrance, but a "Retention Committee" was formed at Ourimbah to fight against the removal of the beer licence. The brewery's financial resources meant that resistance was futile, however and despite one hearing before three magistrates of the licensing court being decided in favour of the retention group, secretary Pat Pender recalls that the company was prepared to appeal as much as necessary to run the people's group out of funds [Mr Pat Pender interviewed by Ann Eyers and Bruce Jones, 29 October 1984]. The licence was finally transferred to The Entrance in 1944. The building was sold and demolished, the timber being used to build a house elsewhere in Ourimbah.

When A S Jaques moved to town from Ourimbah Creek, he bought a 7 acre block which included the Traveller's Rest. He also purchased the land lying between the highway and railway line, opposite the hotel. Between the following year, 1903, and 1909 Jaques bought up all the land between Brush Road in the north and William Earl's 1883 purchase of 50 acres in the south, except for about twenty acres (later the site of the sports fields) bought by a David Nebon Henry in 1906 and the small block bought by Henry Denny in 1888.

Most of the land on the eastern side of the railway line Jaques used as a dairy run. The wine shop (Travellers Rest) he sold in 1921 to one Alfred Edwin Smith, who let a part of the ground floor to a baker, Gabriel Stanislaus O'Connor. In 1937 Smith sold to Thomas and Hilda Jones. The baker's shop continued to be let, in 1939 John Thomas Hanley taking over that part of the premises. In 1950 the building was destroyed by fire. But we are getting far too close for comfort to the present day ... let us return to our one-pub town of the 1880s.

What with its hotel, sprinkling of houses, state of the art railway station and freshly-painted, white railway crossing gates, the little hamlet would have seemed a quaint and picturesque tribute to the achievements of industry, in the sophisticated eyes of inmates of the capital. The dulcet description of the Traveller's Rest as "Wayside Inn" by the government photographer sent to capture scenes near the new Homebush to Waratah railway line is an indication of the romanticised view taken of these pioneering outposts of Victoriana. Of less contemporary importance than the propagandist purposes of these photographs was their value as historical records. Hence they are frequently inadequately identified to be able to be related to a specific spot. They are not entirely lacking in historical merit, however and supplemented by the commercial postcards and panoramic views of Ourimbah taken some twenty years later, convey an impression of the settlement and outlying parts. One noteworthy aspect of the scenes is the absolute difference between those cleared parts and those where the vegetation is still thick and tangled. In spite of the years of tree cutting, there still were places reminiscent of Ourimbah's original natural beauty. That beauty is extolled in the following newspaper article from the Gosford Times of 9th September, 1898.

OURIMBAH AND ITS SURROUNDINGS

(By A. T. Hawkins)

It seems perfectly evident, judging by the small land boom here of late, that the fact has only quite recently began to dawn upon the outside public of the singularly beautiful country that this line of railway, which connects Sydney with Newcastle - known as the Homebush to Waratah line - has opened up; country, I may venture to say, abounding with the most picturesque features, and in many parts blessed with a soil of unexampled fertility.

The vegetation between Gosford and Cooranbong, a distance of about 30 miles by road, which highway has long since been designated the Maitland Road, is especially beautiful to behold, such as the gigantic palms (bangalow and cabbage tree), with colossal timber trees and a dense carpet of every conceivable variety of dwarf ferns. Near the creeks and in the humid valleys many of the trees are covered with majestic specimens of bird's-nest, stag-horn, hare-foot, and other climbing ferns. Orchids are abundant high overhead upon the tree stems, while the rocks and boulders are covered with mosses, ferns and rock lillies.

Practically speaking, very little has been attempted as yet in the way of cultivation, and that chiefly noticeable near Gosford, Ourimbah and Wyong. Hitherto the energies of the scattered inhabitants have been devoted to timber-getting and to its conversion into girders, sleepers, telegraph poles, etc. The settlers are therefore greater experts with the axe than the spade, and indeed may be justly counted amongst the best axemen in the world.

The whole district abounds more or less in bluegum, turpentine, ironbark, mahogany, and a dozen other giants of the forest. Though the more accessible parts have been levied upon pretty extensively for the primest timber - the trade of the timber-getter dating back from the earliest days of the district - there are still large tracts of country unexplored, difficult of approach, and bearing timber which for many years to come will give remunerative employment to hundreds of timber cutters. As the timber lands of Narara, Ourimbah and Wyong Creek districts are clearing, the plough of the husbandman will certainly follow, and a vast district which now lies in a dormant state will in a short time be smiling with fields of waving corn and flourishing orchards.

The railway places us within two hours of either of the two great commercial cities - Sydney and Newcastle - so the merchant or tradesman may easily enjoy his country home within an easy ride of his place of business. The land fronting the creeks above-named are specially blessed with soils of the richest description, and enjoy a rainfall singularly in excess of that recorded in any other part of New South Wales, and besides the creeks named - which might fairly be called rivers, as rivers go in Australia - there are many minor tributary streams which vein the whole district. With irrigation - and the ever running creeks give abundant water supply through the year - the whole country between Gosford and Cooranbong may be easily converted into the garden of the colony.

The orange, lemon, apple, pear, peach, apricot, nectarine, plum and cherry grow luxuriantly, and maize in many parts yields from 60 to 80 bushels to the acre, and nearly every vegetable used for the table grows with extraordinary vigour, the system of artificial watering seldom having to be resorted to. The special suitability of the district for fruit trees is shown in the orchard of Messrs Heyde and Todman, Thomas Jenkins, and John McNeil, orchards which in themselves bear me out in my report concerning the suitability of this district for fruitgrowing.

Of late speculation in land has been very rife in the districts described, and now once started the travelling public will soon learn of the charms and advantages of the country they are passing through. Space does not admit of the enumeration of even a tithe of the many beautiful flowers and climbing plants which light up the bush with their vivid coloring, or mount to the top of the highest tree hanging in festoons from branch to branch. Why, the whole district is a perfect "bird's home".

The bell-bird, regent-bird, lyre bird, the black and white cockatoo, and dozens of varieties of parrots; the wonga wonga, bronze-wing, and flock pigeons in their season abound everywhere. The prettily marked "dollar" bird and scores of winged songsters make the creek margins merry with their love calls and frolics. And while viewing all this pleasantry one may reasonably ask why the writer who refers to our country as the dry and woodlands of Australia should not make at least a few exceptions.

But it is to the botanist or naturalist that the whole region has special charms, and the artist may revel in the abundance of "bits" of characteristic scenery with which he may enrich his sketch book. So now, in conclusion, let us wish those who are endeavouring to advertise the advantages of our district by the land speculations, all sorts of prosperity in their undertakings.

But ere I lay my pen to rest I feel in duty bound to make some slight reference to our beautiful pleasure resort - the charming Tuggerah Lakes - where hundreds of people during the summer months avail themselves of every possible opportunity of visiting; and is there any wonder, situated as it is bordered with the swamp-oak, green mossy banks and sparklings and banks, while floating serenely upon its silvery crest can always be discerned the ever numerous swan, pelican, duck coot and various other sea birds, with abundance of fish always available, being constantly fed by means of a beautiful entrance to the sea. In fact I think we might justly agitate its inclusion as one of the most lovely pleasure resorts of New South Wales.

The "small land boom" would refer to the initial half-dozen or so sales of small farming lots on the Fountaindale Estate. The largest of these first blocks to be sold was one of forty acres bought in 1886 by one James Artis, who immediately signed the land over, unencumbered, to one Elizabeth Annesley West. Mrs West was the widow of a Doctor West. She had a two-storey house built on the land at about the same time as the railway was under construction. The building was originally intended to be a girls' college. It is this 40 acre lot which includes the site previously the object of speculation by this Writer as to the possibility of being the scene of the first permanent European dwelling on Manning's grant. The land passed through several hands until, in 1916, with plans for the renovation of the house in train, the structure burnt down.

In 1886, the owner of the Fountaindale Estate, barrister John William Cliff, transferred half his interest in the land to one Edward Bennett, warehouseman of Sydney. Bennett died c.1892, however and full title appears to have reverted to Cliff, although only a couple of years later, in 1894, the mortgagee, the English, Scottish and Australian Bank, began forcing the sale of blocks on the Estate. Then, in 1895, the E. S. & A. foreclosed on the mortgage and became the proprietor of the remaining land. The Fountaindale Estate continued to sell well, particularly in the first decade of the twentieth century. This was also the case elsewhere in the district wherever land became available. The small town allotments in the eastern part of Holl's grant sold strongly during the same decade and Macquoid's grant, which the Sydney Permanent Freehold Land and Building Company Ltd. had divided into small farming blocks also proved very popular during that period.

The popularity of the district at this time is borne out by the comment from the Gosford Times, that "Ourimbah is undergoing quite a change. Land is being taken up in all directions".

The 1890s depression had given way to a genuine air of optimism among the settlers enticed by the fertile land on offer at Ourimbah. Some wealthy local men, notably Frederick William Stoddart, saw the trend at an early stage and were on hand to take the opportunity of buying up large portions of the subdivisions as they became available. Stoddart, later to be voted Patron of the Ourimbah School of Arts, secured land at Palmdale, Fountaindale, Ourimbah Creek and in a subdivision just north of the "town". F. J. L. Measures of Narara bought many lots in the east of Holl's grant from Edward Wamsley. He also purchased all of the Land Company of Australasia's holding, about 1,400 acres, in the west of Holl's, when the L.C.A. went into liquidation in 1907. Measures subdivided that latter parcel in the same year, as the Beckford Estate. He sold about half that land before disposing of the remainder to one Frederick Hart King, who virtually completed the process by the end of the 1920s. Henry Wilcox built up significant holdings in the Beckford Estate prior to 1920, as did members of the Bailey family in the area at the south end of Manning's grant. Put simply, by 1920 close to all of the subdivided land had been bought up and Ourimbah had taken on the character of a rural community made up of farms of forty to one hundred acres or combinations thereof, with an area of town-size blocks encompassing a "business" district between the railway station and the wine shop. Also, to the north of the town an area of many five to ten acre blocks had been subdivided from the south eastern corner of Macquoid's grant.

During the time that all this land was being sold, farming enterprises were starting up and timber getting was still a profitable activity; Ourimbah might be said to have been enjoying its heyday. Particularly so during the first decade of this century. Cut timber was arriving at the railway goods yard in such quantity that a gantry crane was installed to cope with the loading. In 1902, 20,000 sleepers at the railway had been brought in by twenty or thirty bullock teams. Another 200,000 sleepers were said to be waiting in the bush to be carted out. A School of Arts was formed which purchased land in 1902 and opened its hall in 1904. The Rugby League team kicked off in 1906 (with a loss to Wyong) as well as a local Band. Two-up was popular, although frowned on. A branch of the Northumberland Timber Cutters' Union was formed to offer insurance benefits to its members.

In 1907, H. McKenzie Pty. Ltd. of Glebe leased about half of the six acres between Glen Road and King Street. the land had been left to Georgina Wamsley by her father Edward (the younger). McKenzie's erected a large sawmill which operated until c. 1925. It was one of several and the biggest, as recollected by Mrs Daphne Simon of Ourimbah:-

McKenzie's, Tooby's, Brownlee's, Preston's . . . cut all kinds of timber. West's, Taylor's, Denton's and Sinclair's cut mainly case timber and made the cases as this was a big orchard district. They supplied other districts as well.

McKenzie's was the biggest mill ... They had over thirty men working for them.

[Personal reminiscences of Mrs Daphne Simon (unpublished)]

Mrs Bertha Morris tells that her father, Jack Brownlee, came to Ourimbah in c.1923 with a brother, Bill. Another brother, Bob Brownlee, had previously come to Ourimbah and had already built a sawmill (in Brownlee Street) which began by making cases for the well known firm of Arnotts Ltd [Mrs Bertha Morris interviewed by Ann Eyers and Bruce Jones, 22 October 1984]. Other mills recalled by some Ourimbah residents were operated by Keft (Ourimbah Creek), Kennedy (a felloe mill on the site of Ballinger's Garage [cnr of Pacific Hwy & Ourimbah Creek Rd]) and "Splinter" Morris. Mr Pat Pender concurs with the figure of thirty employees at McKenzie's mill. He also recalls about twenty men working at Tooby's and ten to twelve men at West's case mill in Dog Trap Road.

All this timbercutting activity was dependent on a diminishing resource, however. The Ourimbah timber men were gradually putting themselves out of work. The Ourimbah State Forest was proclaimed on 16th December, 1916. It included 17,400 acres and comprised what had previously been Forest Reserves proclaimed in 1882, 1891 and 1909. It was divided into four Sections for administrative purposes. Sections 1 (behind Palmdale) and 4 (Ourimbah Creek) were the easiest of access from Ourimbah, but had already provided huge amounts of timber. An internal Forestry Commission report in 1917 included the following paragraph:-

The local situation insofar as timber supply is concerned is rather acute. Good mature timber is scarce and difficult of access and forests which have been considered to be cut out years ago are still being gone over again and again and more inferior timber taken out at each succeeding time.

[Forestry Commission of NSW (Wyong Forestry Office), unpublished report, 7 December 1917.]

This same report notes that four mills were operating at Ourimbah. The situation had altered somewhat by 1929, when a report on Section 4 contained the following remarks:-

The main products from the area are mill logs - Hardwood and Brushwood. Sleepers, Girders, piles and poles were some times removed in large quantities but no operations for these products are now being carried out due to low market prices and inaccessibility.

[Forestry Commission of N.S.W. (Wvong Forestry Office), Piggott's Report (unpublished), 17 September 1929.]

The report notes that Brownlee & Co. of Ourimbah took brushwood while J. P. Tooby of Ourimbah and T. C. White of Ourimbah Creek took hardwood. That is to say, Tooby had used to take hardwood. The report shows that Tooby's hardwood usage from this Section had dropped off rapidly to nil, while White's mill progressed from accepting 156,000 superficial feet in 1926/1927, to over 300,000 superficial feet in only a few years. The report continues:-

Local teamsters are all definite in stating that they will not draw logs to Ourimbah while they can sell them at Palmgrove to T. White as the former sawmill cannot pay the cost of the extra 7 miles haul.

The point is made that a new road up Ourimbah Creek increased the amount of activity in this Section. Then, again referring to Tooby's mill-

The Sawmill in Ourimbah is at present working approximately two days per week, it is obtaining a small supply of logs from Section 1 of this Forest and surrounding Private property and Crown Lands.

It is not expected that many logs, if any, will be drawn to this Mill from Section 4, unless present circumstances of the timber trade alter.

Circumstances for the timber trade did not alter. From this period, any Ourimbah sawmill desirous of milling quality timber had first to obtain a quality log from a forest further afield. Citrus orchards had supplanted the timber industry as the major source of employment in Ourimbah.

During the decade of the twenties, one third of approximately 250 fathers who enrolled their children at Ourimbah Public School gave their occupation as "orchardist". More than twice as many men were working on orchards as in the timber industry. There were nearly as many men employed on the Railway at Ourimbah as there were in the timber trade. And there were certainly just as many engaged in the local dairy industry. Together, dairy farming and citrus orchards were to provide the basis for Ourimbah's continued existence over the next several decades. Further, the continuation of employment prospects for local men during the Great Depression and beyond was due to the advanced stages the dairy and citrus industries had attained by end of the twenties.

Mine props and railway sleepers continued to be cut and several little sawmills utilised poor quality and smaller sized timber, producing fruit boxes for the orchards. Much of the fruit was railed out to the markets, but a significant number of local men were engaged in carting produce by truck. Bullock teams, though few in number, were still in use hauling logs. The condition of the tracks at the heads of the valleys prevented lorries from making bullocks completely redundant.

During the Depression a small quarry in Teralbah Street was re-opened to supply stone for roadworks.

The range of employment thus on offer insulated the local community from the harshest effects of the 1930s Depression. As with the two previous major depressions, the inhabitants of this unpretentious community had no illusions to shatter, no great wealth of which to be deprived. Rather, it was a self-reliant community which provided sufficient by way of work and social activity to permit the inhabitants to maintain a reasonable quality of life, despite the economic troubles elsewhere.

The School of Arts and the Rugby League and Cricket Clubs were the main indicators of community spirit at the time. School of Arts functions were invariably well-attended and successful affairs, while the reputations of Ourimbah's sporting clubs extended far beyond the district's boundaries.