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OLD MARULAN FAMILIES Residents of the old town 1841 Census Mid-century The question ‘who lived in Marulan’ does not have an Only three records of Marulan inhabitants have There is a long gap before the next set of easy answer. We have good information about who survived - Joseph Peters, William Drovers and information becomes available in the 1860s. owned land in the town at different times but this is James Strachan – and their households. This period saw the rise of native-born whites not the same as being a resident. Apart from promi- [‘currency lads and lasses’] as a major part of nent locals, such as publicans Joseph Peters or the The 1841 census only contains three surviving the population, the aging of the ex-convicts, scandal-plagued Mary Ann Winter and William records that relate to Marulan. These are for three the rise of significant free immigration, and Hawthorne, records that list town residents are few men. The data for County Argyle generally was for the gold rushes. and ambiguous until the 1850s. an imbalanced gender ratio of 2434 males and 963 females. There were more than 400 married Electoral information 1863-64 Initial town lot owners couples in this total meaning that about 2000 single men were matched by about 500 single The 1863-64 electoral roll for the Argyle Land records document the first owner of each town women. electoral district lists 28 men who were eligi- lot sold, mainly in the late 1830s. Some of these ble to vote because of a Marulan connection. names are well-known from the history of the Joseph Peters’s household at the Woolpack Inn At the time all males who had lived in the Goulburn and Southern Highlands, while others [AB lists 15 people total, with 5 men and 10 women. electorate for 6 months previously were Spark and Charles Nicholson] were prominent Sydney His household, broken down by sex and age, had eligible as long as they were British subjects, citizens. Others are either unknown or have only the five men aged between 21-45, while six of the or had been naturalised at least five years sketchy biographical details. What was their motiva- females were less than 14 years old, one between previously with two years’ residence. Police, tion in buying a block in a small town in remote 14-20, and three of 21 or above. Peters had eight serving military, paupers and prisoners were Marulan? children, all girls. not eligible to vote. 1839 Post Office Directory William Drovers household contained him, aged 1871 Census between 45 and 60, and a boy between 7-14 years This was a listing of people serviced by different post old, which we can presume was his son. Drovers The 1871 census unfortunately does not con- offices in the colony. At Marulan if we exclude people had a ticket of leave and the boy arrived free. tain records of individuals. The village of who are located outside the town the following in- Marulan is listed as having 54 males and 58 habitants remain. James Strachan lived in a household of three females, for a total of 112 people. There males and three females. The males were all aged were 44 under twelve years old, another 26 Drover, John Blacksmith 21-45, while there was one female in this range, between 13-18 years and 23 males and 19 Dwyer, Edward Settler and two under 7 years. females 19 years old and above. By compari- Ellis, William Settler son Goulburn had 4453 individuals and Bun- Peters, Joseph Innkeeper One of the men had a ticket of leave, while the gonia had dwindled to 71. Powning, William Schoolteacher others came free. All of the three females arrived Vine, Ernest [no trade given] free. The men were all artificers. OLD MARULAN FAMILIES Greville’s 1872 Directory The oldest married couple in the world The 11 possible candidates that remain are: This directory is very important as it lists the oc- According to a report in the 25.11.1863 edition of Burne, James [age 33. Ship Scarborough] cupants of both Marulan and Mooroowoolen. the London Times, reprinting an item from the Clark or Hosier, James [or John or Charles] [age Sydney newspaper Empire, Marulan was the 33. Ship Scarborough] Greville also published a directory in 1875. This home of the oldest married couple in the world. Fuller, John [also known as William Saxby] [age only contained an entry for Mooroowoolen, and 35. Ship Scarborough] none for Marulan. 135 individuals are listed, but ‘There are living in Marulan, in this colony, two Hortopp, James [age 34. Ship Charlotte] the entries are less informative, mainly omitting persons, husband and wife, aged respectively 111 Page, Paul [age unknown. Ship Alexander] trades or exact residential location information. and 107 years. They are extremely feeble and Parr, William [age unknown. Ship Alexander] As a result it is not clear whether the increased bedridden, but are in possession of both sight and Sampson, Peter [age unknown. Ship Scarbor- numbers reflect a prospering town or a larger hearing. The old man arrived in the first fleet in ough] postal district taking in the old town as well. 1788, and has consequently been for 75 years in Smith, William [age unknown. Ship Alexander] the colony of New South Wales.’ Squires or Squire, James [age 33. Ship Char- Marulan had 30 households listed, while lotte] Mooroowoolen had 52. Interestingly a third of Lets leave aside all the suspicions that arise when Strong, James [age 34. Ship Alexander]Watson, the Marulan households were headed by women. people change their age, such as avoiding military John [age 33. Ship Alexander] This may reflect the demographic of a dying service and assuming different identities. If the town, where the male heads of households have man was 111 years old in 1863 then he would None of these names pops up elsewhere in the died or may have left for the goldfields and never have been 35 or 36 at the time of the First Fleet. records of Old Marulan. Was this just another returned. The women would have not had many Can we track this marathon pensioner down? journalistic tall story from the Antipodes or can options as land values for townfolk would not we shed more light on this mystery? have been high. Using the First Fleet convict biographical database maintained by the University of Wollongong Can you help? The population of the two towns differs also in [http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/objectv.html] we can the mix of trades. Many of the Mooroowoolen firstly narrow our search to exclude all females We have already been contacted by family men are carters and labourers, presumably tak- and males outside the age range of 33-37 at the history researchers who have Old Marulan ing on casual work that would come with the rail time of their departure from England. We can ancestors, and they have kindly passed on their line, while Marulan was more closely tied to pas- further narrow this down to exclude those known own research to flesh out our knowledge of the toral work. to have died or subsequently left the colony. This living town. If any of these names is familiar to leaves six men of the right age and a further four you and you have some background on their life for whom there is no age recorded whose deaths at Marulan, or perhaps what brought them her or have not been recorded as part of the database. what happened afterwards, we would love to It is also possible that the elderly man was one of hear from you. the ships’ crews or marines but there is no information readily available. WHAT KILLED OLD MARULAN? Railways? Rust? Land reform? And which farmers hadn’t made it? A decade earlier the Robertson Land Acts were passed in In the early 1870s Louisa Calvert, a gifted ama- New South Wales, which allowed small holders to teur naturalist and writer born in Berrima, wrote claim and start farming lands that had previously in her regular newspaper column about travelling been held by grant and grace by the squatting in the Southern Highlands: interest. Louisa’s own father, James Atkinson of Oldbury, was a founding member of the pastoral What has become of the former popu- elite, and had written a book on farming practice lation? Is the idea which constantly in the infant colony in 1826. He was very scepti- presents itself as the traveller passes cal of the ability of small holders, at that time along the highways. Towns deserted, mainly ex-convicts, to make a go of it, and his little homesteads in ruins, fences fal- daughter repeated his misgivings fifty years ling to the ground. The people have later: ‘it does not follow because the Land Bill moved on! But where? – in all my enables a man to secure a few acres of land that wanderings I have never overtaken he should instinctively become a farmer’. the tide; the wave of population was ever ahead. The Southern Road, be- Old Marulan sat at the edge of Louisa’s rural tween Berrima and the Hanging Rock, rides and firmly within her vision of the changing offers numerous texts for such reflec- landscape. The original Marulan became old pre- tion. cisely because the railway had bypassed it, creat- … ing a new centre of gravity that drew the farm A few miles beyond Hanging Rock is and road traffic that sustained the town, and Paddy’s River, with its almost deserted eventually drew in its businesses and residents.

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