BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

HOBBY’S OUTREACH ISSN 1835-3010 Vol 28 No 6 December 2016 - January 2017

BLUE MOUNTAINS GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES - Brian Fox

It is over 10 years since the last (3rd edition) of the Contents Blue Mountains Geographical Dictionary was 1 Blue Mountains Geographical Names - published. It quickly sold out. Over the subsequent Brian Fox years I have continued to receive requests asking 2 New Book - The Aboriginal People of whether there are any copies available for purchase. the Burragorang Valley - Jim Smith I have also been asked for more information 3 The Waratah in First Fleet Art - Judy regarding particular names. Barham 4 A Research Team at Work A further revision has been on hold due to an 5 In a Morris 8/40 to Wallerawang - and extended and ongoing collaboration with Michael Back again - Paul Innes Keats as we researched and produced The Passes of Narrow Neck, The Upper Grose Valley - Bushwalkers 6 From the President’s Desk Business and the eight-book series The Gardens of 6 Erratum: A 19th Century Ballroom Stone National Park and Beyond. I have also authored Residence in Blackheath numerous articles for the Blue Mountains History 7 Lest We Forget: The Writings of Our Journal. During the period I also released my book Prolific Historians - Peter Rickwood Isaac Barrow, Blue Mountains Map Maker, which has 9 Membership News sold out. 10 Library News Due to the increased interest in Blue Mountains 11 BMHS Calendar 2017 place names I have commenced work on a revised 11 BMHS - The Facts of the Matter edition of the Blue Mountains Geographical Dictionary. With the passage of time, further new as well as older names have come to light. Dedicated

Hobby’s Outreach 1 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY researchers, such as Dr Peter Rickwood, continue to the Blue Mountains area I have submitted seven names to send me naming information as he and other be approved, and proposed another eighteen names for colleagues come across various articles. At present geographical features. the noted Blue Mountain names list is getting close to the 2000 mark. Other current members of the Blue Mountains Historical Society have also added names to the Blue Mountains scenery. These include Keith Painter, 12 names, Jim Smith Some names are just general descriptors, like at least 32 names and Dr Peter Rickwood who has named a Panorama (four place names) and the Australian lookout in Blackheath. Ross Ellis and Erik Halbert have also native Lyre Bird (at least nine entries). Many other been proliic in naming nearly 60 caves and arches in our names honour a person or an event. Blue Mountains area.

Some names beg the question, such as when is a In an endeavour to ensure as many names as possible are mountain not a mountain.? We have two places recorded accurately I am requesting you the reader for where an accepted name does not refer to a hill or assistance. If you have older versions of my place names mountain but rather to a mine adit or tunnel. books and note errors or omissions, please let me know so Examples are Mount Dixon in the Mount York area they can be amended. If you have seen a name in any and Mount Rennie Tunnel under Narrow Neck. publication or new signage that you think should be brought to my attention, again let me know. Please do not assume that I would have that information. A quick phone One of the most proliic people to add place names call, an email, or a letter and you can be part of this on the Blue Mountains was Myles Dunphy, and while massive project. he is held in high esteem his names at times leave a lot to be desired. Using his position on the Place Brian Fox 19 Weeks Place Bathurst 2795 Ph: 6332 2590 Names Committee (the forerunner to the Mob: 0407 067 081 Email: [email protected] Geographical Names Board which was formalised in 1966) Myles quite often overrode other people’s names even when those names had been in use and New Book - THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF were shown on published maps and in publications. THE BURRAGORANG VALLEY – Jim Smith For example his un-Australian Norse names in Mount Victoria such as Asgard Head, Asgard Brook and The beautiful Burragorang Valley, in the southern Ikara Gully were previously named and published, Blue Mountains, is now a ‘lost world’, even though it The former names in this area included Waratah is only about 25 km from Katoomba and Penrith. Creek, Waratah Ridge, Girraween, Robins Eyrie, Most people only see part of it from a distance, from Lamington Creek. McMahon’s Point lookout, south of Wentworth Falls, or from the Burragorang lookout near Oakdale. Are place names controversial? Yes. How about the name of Neale Park which was located within the Jim Smith irst saw stone tools in the Burragorang road loop at the end of Cross Street, Warrimoo. This Valley in 1988, which set him wondering about the area is now surrounded by houses but a Deposited original inhabitants and what had happened to them. Plan No. 32933 subdivision plan 2nd September 1933 This fascination with local Aboriginal life evolved as records 3 acres being transferred to council. The he came across more artefacts, living places and Land Titles Vol. 4613; Fol. 169 dated 27th February artworks on his bushwalks in the area. After twenty- 1934 has a note from the Register General, “that the eight years of research into archival records of local land shall not be used other than for the purposes of Aboriginal families The Aboriginal People of the public recreation.” Interesting. Was that not the area Burragorang Valley is a tribute to the resilience of the in which the bush ires caused havoc in December Gundungurra people of the Valley and their struggles 2001? to stay on the country they loved while maintaining their culture. This moving story is not as bleak as the Any citizen has the right to put forward a name, as histories of other areas, because the black and white they are very important to establishing an identity of residents of the Valley learned to live harmoniously a particular feature, to honour a person or event or together until the construction of Warragamba Dam contribute to a lasting legacy. moved them on.

Since retiring from the Lands Department, where I This 332 page book is one of the most detailed spent the majority of my 40 years compiling histories of an Aboriginal community ever written in topographical maps, I have worked closely with the Australia, with 198 illustrations of the Valley and its Geographical Names Board and corrected over 30 people. Available from bookshops and visitors’ centres misspelt Blue Mountains names in their register. In between Glenbrook and Blackheath.

Hobby’s Outreach 2 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE WARATAH IN FIRST FLEET ART greater knowledge of the natural world. One of the Judy Barham early navigators in whom the Society became interested was William Dampier who published A New Voyage Round the World in 1697. Dampier had an intense interest in winds, currents and tides and recorded many of his observations. He was also interested in nature, particularly wildlife which he illustrated whenever possible.

With the maritime exploration of the period, it became obvious that there was a great need for sailors to be able to draw accurate maps and coastal proiles. Painting scenery and nature grew out of this. To achieve the accuracy they required, the Royal Society set up a Drawing School at Christ’s Hospital in 1673. It was here that some boys were trained for the Royal Navy. Drawing was also included in the curriculum at the Portsmouth Naval Academy in 1733. With men of inluence like Christopher Wren and Samuel Pepys supporting this training, the Society was able to get access to information collected from many parts of the world.

When Sir Joseph Banks included Sydney Parkinson as artist and Daniel Solander as naturalist on Cook’s voyage to observe the Transit of Venus, the Royal Navy was so impressed by their work that appointing artists and naturalists became a feature of future scientiic exploration. While there was no oficial The waratahs have inished lowering till next year artist on the First Fleet, George Raper, midshipman on and the Royal Botanic Gardens have developed a new HMS Sirius, has left a ine collection of maps, coastal waratah cultivar (Telopea speciosissima ‘Corroboree’) proiles and paintings. to celebrate its bicentenary, but I wonder how members of the First Fleet reacted when they saw George Raper was born in London in 1769. For their irst waratah. Illustrated here is possibly one of several generations his family had been involved in the irst paintings of a waratah. This is the work of banking and inance. His grandfather was a director Midshipman George Raper. How did a naval man of the Bank of England. His older brother had joined come to be such an accomplished artist? Who was the Royal Navy and he followed as a captain’s servant George Raper? Where is his work now held? in 1783. The appointment was possibly obtained through a family friend, Lord Howe, who was First In 1660, shortly after Charles II was restored to the Lord of the Admiralty. In 1786 he transferred to HMS English throne, a group of scientists gathered at Sirius as able seaman under Captain John Hunter with Gresham College in London to hear Christopher Wren whom he was to remain for the next ive years. Both give a lecture on astronomy. After the lecture they Raper and Hunter were interested in art. While on the met in the college to discuss the formation of a society voyage of the First Fleet, Raper was promoted to ‘for the promoting of Physico-Mathematical midshipman. It was now his duty to produce maps Experimental Learning’. The group who met that day and coastal proiles, many of which are in the had many interests, one of which was navigation and National Library of Australia and the Natural History the problems which faced sailors at the time. Shortly Museum in London. after, they approached the King who was also interested in navigation and shipbuilding as his leet He remained with HMS Sirius on the trip to Cape was depleted following the English Civil War. He Town in October, 1788 to get supplies for the colony. became their patron and the Royal Society was It was on the second trip for supplies to China, in formed. In the early years the Society published March 1790, that HMS Sirius was shipwrecked off ‘Directions for Seamen Bound for Far Voyages’ which Norfolk Island. Hunter and many of his crew, encouraged recording direct observations from including Raper, remained on the island for 11 nature which would make it possible to build a months until a ship was available to take them back to

Hobby’s Outreach 3 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Port Jackson. Finally, Hunter and his crew were able A RESEARCH TEAM AT WORK to return to England where they faced Court-martial, a formality that was required when a ship was lost. Historical research carried out by our members, both George Raper continued his naval career but died within and without the History Centre, is our unsung strength. It doesn’t always attract particular attention, but from fever in 1796 at the early age of 27. it is there, happening in the background on every day that our research centre is open. Raper was at Port Jackson for two extended periods, January to October, 1788 and May 1789 to March Although a good deal of this research is conducted on an 1790. It would be during the spring of these two individual basis, focused on the research specialties and periods that most of the paintings of wildlowers projects of particular members, increasingly we are seeing examples of collaborative research where two and would have been done. Captain John Hunter has many sometime more people get together to pool their resources very similar paintings in his sketchbook which is part and efforts in tackling a speciic task. of the Rex Nan Kivell Collection at the National Library, Canberra. Some of Hunter’s paintings appear One such research group is the team comprising Joan to be copies of Raper’s work. In this case the Captain Steele and Lorraine Stacey. was making the rare gesture of complimenting his Midshipman on his excellent work.

Raper’s paintings are held in the Ducie Collection in the National Library, Canberra. This collection includes 19 paintings of birds as well as 34 lower paintings and 3 paintings of African birds and several smaller works. The story of the acquisition and authentication of this collection is told in Chapter VII of Linda Groom’s book First Fleet Artist: George Raper’s Birds and Plants of Australia (785.45). This story makes interesting reading. It shows how works of this kind are held in collections in Britain and just occasionally become available for sale. When they do, there are many dificulties tracing the provenance and authenticating the work. These two members specialise in researching the lives of individual citizens who played a prominent role in the Blue Raper’s paintings of lowers are delicate in their Mountains region in times gone by. Tenacious in their quest detail. The one of the lovely blue Fringe Lily to verify facts and suppositions they go to great lengths (Thysanotus tuberosus) with its ine hair-like fringe is using global electronic archives to delve into the most particularly ine. While Raper’s painting of the remote corners of the lives of their research subjects. Leads waratah illustrated here may not be the earliest one are followed to their ends, with facts and associations in existence, it is certainly one of the irst. sometimes proving to be fallacious and consigned to the “never mind” shelf, but there is always another possibility

to be investigated, so they continue on until the task is as Lomas, Robert The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry complete as it can possibly be. The thrill of the chase is and the Birth of Modern Science London 2002, p. 23 ibid. p. 210 infectious and it is impossible to work in the same area Preston, Diana & Michael A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Life of without becoming somehow engaged with the piece of William Dampier London 2004, p. 229 detective work they are pursuing on the particular day. ibid. p. 234 Their current project is to closely deine the life and family ibid. p. 231 Smith, Bernard European Vision and the South Paciic Oxford 1989, linkages around the world of Thomas Rodriguez, a p. 9 businessman of considerable note and inluence in the ibid. p. 54 upper mountains more than a century ago. Before this Groom, Linda First Fleet Artist: George Raper’s Birds & Plants of team got cracking on his case, Thomas’ life and connections Australia, Canberra 2009 p. 1 beyond the mountains were little-known. This is no longer ibid. pp. 4-5 the case. Joan and Lorraine don’t like unsolved mysteries ibid. pp. 24, 141 and problem solving is a specialty. They both draw on their ibid. pp. 35-37 considerable skills and research experience to achieve a ibid. p. 55 well tried and truthful outcome from whatever Groom, Linda A Steady Hand: Governor Hunter & His First Fleet investigation they tackle and are adding signiicantly to our Sketchbook, Canberra 2012 pp. 57-60 Groom, First Fleet Artist p. 98 knowledge base relating to past people of the mountains. bid. p. 121

Hobby’s Outreach 4 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN A MORRIS 8/40 TO WALLERAWANG - AND BACK AGAIN - Paul Innes

On his 21st Birthday in 1977, a young man was given a large red cloth-bound book from his mother.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s your father’s diary,” she replied.

Within the diary were many entries, photographs, cards and newspaper cuttings, etc. For the young man it was a window into his family’s life when they lived in Harbord, near Manly, between 1956 and 1963.

In one entry, dated 11th September 1957, the man’s father described a trip across the Blue Mountains to Wallerwang, and back again to Harbord. This is what Jack (Tony) Barnard wrote ...

“Bought a 1945 8/40 Morris Tourer last Monday week 2nd September for £235, will be handy to get around in to visit our friends and relations. You were taken with us both to Wallerawang a week ago to-day for a few days to stay with Mrs Arkinstall, with whom I boarded before getting married. While up there you took your irst step.

It was your irst long trip by car, we left here about 9am and went via Frenchs Forest to Pymble and then to Pearce’s Corner on the main road to Hornsby across to Castle Hill on to the Windsor Road to Richmond and Kurrajong, to Bell through Lithgow and then Wallerawang arriving at 1 O’Clock. Slow but sure.

Coming home, we came through Lithgow to Bell and then down the Mountains through Katoomba to Penrith, Parramatta, Chatswood over the Roseville Bridge through Frenchs Forest arriving back home 3.30pm after leaving Wallerawang 10am, with a few small stops.

One stop near the turn off at Lennox Bridge at the very foot of the Mountains was for you to have a little while lying on the front seat, while we ate our lunch. You were a good traveller really, had a few grizzles.

In nine days you will be a whole year old, and so far you have been to Wamberal, Austinmer and up to Wallerawang.

We are trying to get you to walk, but the best you can do is to stand all square with the good intention of moving off, but you just can’t make it, so you go down very slowly on your knees, and make off.”

Sadly, Jack Barnard died in December 1963, but his wife Shirley remarried in 1966 – a Naval Oficer called David Innes. By 1977, the new family lived in Canberra, where the diary was handed over.

I’m very grateful my mum gave me my father’s diary that year – with the entry of my irst trip across the Blue Mountains.

Hobby’s Outreach 5 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

The events and celebrations associated with the 70th anniversary of our Society are now behind us. As the dust of it all settles we relect on what we derived from it, both as individuals and as an organisation. For most of us it was a chance to get together with other members and to meet those from the Society’s past. Almost without exception our past members had stories to tell and we have done our best to gather these recollections as we now embark upon the writing of the second phase of the BMHS history from 1996 to the present.

I am pleased to be able to tell you that the BMHS now has operational a squad of three members who are concentrating their efforts on the recording and presentation of oral histories. In previous issues of the newsletter I have mentioned that one of the important tasks our Society undertakes is to enlarge and improve the now sizeable wall of knowledge of the history of the Blue Mountains region and its people. Although a good deal of progress has been made in recent years, the more we achieve the more we come to realise just how many gaps there are in this wall. There are bricks missing everywhere, many more than irst thought. A staggering amount of information dwells within the BMHS archives and collections, but nevertheless we continue to be both amazed and concerned at how frequently we receive queries from both members and the general public to which we can give no adequate response because the necessary information is simply not at our disposal.

As part of a longer term strategy to diminish this problem, and having talked with a wide variety of Blue Mountains folk, we have realised that an enormous fount of information resides within the minds of people from all over the region and beyond. Recognition is one thing, but successfully capturing whatever we can of this embedded knowledge and successfully organising it in a useable form is quite another prospect altogether. Our strategy lies in the formation of a group from within our ranks which can sit down with people from within our community of historians and the wider populace of the region and simply talk to them about their lives and their recollections of people, places and events from the past. This informal method of enquiry almost always yields a treasure trove of information of all kinds.

It is a process which requires patience and skill in its execution. Our oral history team needs to be able to elicit information from people in a relaxed manner and, in addition, needs also to include some who have experience with sound recording and editing. Our Society is fortunate to have members who, in their various ways, can perform these tasks successfully. The BMHS oral history team of Stephen Davis, Peter Brownlee and John Hill are now planning a campaign of informal chats which is emerging as one of the Society’s focal projects for 2017. If any of our members are interested in sharing their knowledge and recollections with us and helping in a small way to place another brick in the wall, or perhaps can recommend others from the broader community who might reward us with information in this way, please talk to us about it.

The festive season fast approaches and in the weeks ahead we will all be busy making the preparations which have always attended this time of the year. Although the pace of activity at Hobby’s Reach will slacken somewhat in late December and early January, it certainly will not cease. The History Centre will be closed on Friday, December 23rd at 2pm and will reopen on Tuesday, January 10th 2017. This year is almost complete and it seems to have passed so rapidly. I take this opportunity to thank the many people who have given the Committee their support and volunteer hours during 2016, and wish all our members a safe and happy Christmas.

Wayne Hanley - President – BMHS

Erratum: In the last Hobby’s Outreach, in their article A 19th Century Ballroom Residence in Blackheath, Peter Rickwood and Bruce Dunstan acknowledged the research contribution of fellow member Ruth Eslake. Ruth had scrutinised Real Estate advertisements in detail. However, the authors and/or the Editor had not paid the same attention to detail in compiling the newsletter, and Ruth’s surname was spelled incorrectly. We offer a collective apology to Ruth.

Hobby’s Outreach 6 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY LEST WE FORGET: THE WRITINGS OF OUR PROLIFIC HISTORIANS Peter C. Rickwood

The Society recently passed its 70 year milestone when it was appropriate to recall the names of those who had contributed to its success. Most were oficers or committee members but some gave material aid either physically or monetarily or by signiicant donations of documents or artefacts. Those members helped in varying ways to maintain and/or expand the activities of the Society and/or its premises and are rightly to be thanked for their input.

But there are members (past and present) who have contributed to the knowledge of the history of the Blue Mountains by writing and publishing and that surely has to be one of the main aims of BMHS. From 1946 to 1990 the Society did not have a print outlet in which members could publish some of their research but then Hobby’s Outreach was started. Prior to 1990 the contents of some of the talks given at Society meetings were iled [BMHS Compactus Section 1, Shelf 5: Occasional Papers] but almost never published. However the Society did publish a few booklets many of which are still available (some even recently reprinted) at the book stall run by Joan Edwards. Some members have published privately usually under their own name but sometimes using their own publishing outlet e.g. Den Fenella Press. But there are also publications issued by other organisations and publishing companies that have used texts prepared by our members. Publications of note that have handled the texts of researches undertaken by our members are the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, the Newsletter of the Royal Australian Historical Society, and of late the BMACHO newsletter Heritage and their Blue Mountains History Journal - but there are many others.

From the irst 60 years of our existence (1946-2006), the names of proliic writers amongst our membership that spring to mind (with apologies to those who have been overlooked) are Joseph Bennett, George Bergman, Isabel Bowden, Brian Fox, John Low, Andy Macqueen, Keith Painter, Frances Pollen, Mary Reynolds, Geoff Sadler, Gwen Silvey, Jim Smith and Alan Tierney - some now deceased but some still publishing. But often their contributions have been, and still are being, overlooked so as reminders of the topics that they tackled I have listed those that the Society handled (i.e iled and/or published) up to the end of 2006.

Joseph Bennett (1952) Blue Mountains Newspapers, 1876-1962. 16pp. [BMHS 800.22 PT] (1968) Excursion into History. First Edition, April 1968. Revised Edition, December, 1972. Joseph Bennett & Sons Pty. Ltd., Katoomba in association with the Blue Mountains Historical Society. 55pp. Dedicated 27 April 1968. [BMHS 134.01 PT] (1972) Katoomba Coal Mine. Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls. 36pp. (unpaginated) [BMHS 510.11 PT]

George Bergman (1951) Blue Mountains Transport. 18pp. [BMHS: Occasional Papers] (1953?) Blue Mountains History in Governmental Despatches (Part 1 :1788-1815). 19pp. [BMHS 605.01 PT] (1953?) Blue Mountains History in Governmental Despatches (Part 2 - 1816-1819). 11pp. [BMHS 605.01 PT] (1954) John William Berghofer. The Life of a Blue Mountains Pioneer. 24pp. [BMHS: Occasional Papers] (1958) Thomas Hobby: William Cox’s Assistant: 1814-15. 31pp. [BMHS: Occasional Papers] (1964) Barnett Levy (1797-1837). 11pp. [BMHS 212.20/20 PT] (19??) Blue Mountains Through the Eyes of the European Traveller in the 19th Century. 24pp. [BMHS: Occasional Papers]

Isabel Bowden (1963) Linden to Woodford : the most historic three miles of the Blue Mountains road N.S.W. 19pp. [BMHS 131.01/01 PT] (19??) The Pioneer Way Through Wentworth Falls - Early Glimpses. 4pp. [BMHS: Occasional Papers]

Brian Fox (2005) The Mystery of the Anvil. Anvil Rock, Blackheath. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (2): 1-2. (2006) Who Was the First to Reach the Base of Govetts Leap. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (5): 7-8. (2006) Vera Falls, Valley of the Waters. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (6): 1 & 9. (2006) Where Does the Water Flow? Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (1): 3-4. (2006) Wentworth Falls the Waterfall. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (3): 3.

Hobby’s Outreach 7 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY John Low, OAM (1996) John Dexter - Katoomba’s Bellman. Hobby’s Outreach, 7 (2): 5-7. (2005) Albert Edward Aldis: A Research Project in Progress. Hobby’s Outreach, 16 (6): 4. (2006) Albert Edward Aldis: Landscape & Botanical Artist. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (5): 1 & 4-5. (2006) John Muir’s Visit to the Blue Mountains in 1904. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (4): 1-2.

Andy Macqueen (2000) Blue Mountains Explorers - Myths and Realities. Hobby’s Outreach, 10 (6): 4.

M. Dorothy McLaurin (1946) Old Katoomba. 8pp. [BMHS 131.06/16 PT] (Two versions) (1946) Early Katoomba. 8pp. [BMHS 131.06/16 PT] (Reprinted 2016 as ’Old Katoomba: the 1860s to the 1900s’ with an explanation and an index. 34pp.] [These papers, together with other documents of similar title and content held by the Society, relate to a project being researched by Erik Halbert and Joan Edwards.] (1949) William Romaine Govett. Typescript, foolscap 7pp. [BMHS 207.16 PT] (1950) Some Personalities Associated with Blue Mountain Names. 5pp. [BMHS 131.06/16 PT] (1953) The Story of Queen Victoria Homes, Wentworth Falls. 4pp. [BMHS 747.11 PT] (1953) The Story of Wentworth Falls. 9pp. [BMHS 131.05/19 PT] (19??) David Lennox - Bridgebuilder. 7pp. [BMHS 212.19 PT]

Frances Pollen, OAM (1991) How Mourning Became Fashionable. Hobby’s Outreach, 1 (3): 4. (1991) Lucy Osburn - Our First Professional Nurse. Hobby’s Outreach, 2 (1): 3-4. (1993) Cook Triumphant. Hobby’s Outreach, 4 (4): 6. (1994) Buying and Selling. Hobby’s Outreach, 5 (2): 5-6. (1995) Bidding One Welcome in Brewarrina. Hobby’s Outreach, 5 (5): 4-5. (1996) Early Days in Sydney’s Buying and Selling. Hobby’s Outreach, 7 (1): 7.

Geoff Sadler (2005) The Lanes of Wentworth Falls. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (1): 5. (2005) Goat Island. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (2): 2-4. (2005) Lapstone Zig Zag. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (1): 1-3. (2005) Government House. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (1): 3-5. (2005) Highlights of the Dining Table. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (2): 5-6. (2005) Old Darlinghurst Gaol. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (2): 7-8. (2005) A Way of Exploring the Parramatta River. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (2): 8-9. (2005) Historic Alignment Markers. (with Peter Rickwood) Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (4): 1 & 4. (2006) Travelling West from the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, 1830-1930. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (6): 3-4. (2006) Rydal & Sodwalls. Hobby’s Outreach, 17 (6): 5-6. (2006) A Tribute to Ernie Constable. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (1): 1 & 9. (2006) In the Footsteps of Ernie Constable. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (2): 3-4. (2006) Vaucluse House. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (3): 7-8. (2006) Bowenfels - It’s 19th Century History and People. (with Peter Rickwood) Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (3): 4-5. (2006) The New Guard. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (4): 5-6. (2006) Hambledon Cottage and Elizabeth Farm. Hobby’s Outreach, 18 (4): 7-8.

Gwen Silvey, OAM (1990) “Chalet Fontenelle” (later Whispering Pines). Hobby’s Outreach, 1 (2): 7. (1991) Did You Know? (re the Hydro Majestic Hotel). Hobby’s Outreach, 1 (5): 3. (1992) Nancy Marion Melville Douglass (Née Johnson) 1914-1991. Hobby’s Outreach, 2 (3): 3-4. (1992) Gearin’s Hotel. Hobby’s Outreach, 2 (5): 3-4. (1992) McLaughlin Family. Hobby’s Outreach, 2 (6): 4-5. (1993) News in the “Naughty Nineties”. Hobby’s Outreach, 4 (2): 5-6. (1994) Notes on North Katoomba. Hobby’s Outreach, 4 (5): 6-7. (1994) The Importance of Blue Mountains History. Hobby’s Outreach, 5 (3): 6-7.

Hobby’s Outreach 8 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY (1994) The Importance of Blue Mountains History (continued). Hobby’s Outreach, 5 (4): 5-7. (1995) The Importance of Blue Mountains History (continued). Hobby’s Outreach, 5 (5): 5-7. (1995) Early Photographers. Hobby’s Outreach, 6 (1): 4-5. (1995) Some Interesting Houses in Blaxland Road, Wentworth Falls. Hobby’s Outreach, 6 (2): 6-7. (1996) Mount Wilson. Hobby’s Outreach, 6 (5): 5-7. (1996) Convict Graves - Pulpit Hill. Hobby’s Outreach, 7 (3): 3-5. (1996) Hat Hill Road, Blackheath. Hobby’s Outreach, 7 (4): 4-5. (1996) McLaughlin Family & Tarella. (with Brian Craven) Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls, 1996. 9pp. [BMHS 213.19 PT] (1996) A Brief History of the Township of Wentworth Falls. (with Jack Austin & Brian Craven) Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls, 1996. 25pp. [BMHS 131.05/01 PT] (1998) TB or not TB, that is the question! (with Brian Craven) Hobby’s Outreach, 9 (2): 3. (2000) The Story of Wentworth Falls (part 1). (with Brian Craven and Michael Burge) Hobby’s Outreach, 10 (4): 3. (2000) The Story of Wentworth Falls (part 2). (with Brian Craven and Michael Burge) Hobby’s Outreach, 10 (5): 3. (2000) Historic North Katoomba. (with Jack Austin) Hobby’s Outreach, 10 (6): 5-6. (2000) The Rouse Family’s Connection to the Blue Mountains. Hobby’s Outreach, 11 (3): 5-6.

Jim Smith (1991) Ross Fitzpatricke 1939-1990. Hobby’s Outreach, 1 (5): 4-6. (2000) Kedumba Valley and the Maxwell Family. Hobby’s Outreach, 11 (1): 3.

Alan Tierney (1996) Blue Mountains Historical Society: a golden jubilee history, 1946-1996. Blue Mountains Historical Society. 84pp. [BMHS 806.03 PT] (1997) Conan Doyle in the Blue Mountains. Hobby’s Outreach, 8 (2): 5. (1999) Melvin Vaniman: Photographer. A Biographical Note. Hobby’s Outreach, 10 (2): 3-4.

The research undertaken to gain the information that is in these publications was mostly done by labour intensive searches in libraries, Government institutions and in societies such as ours. Sometimes printed copies were inspected, but often those were made available on microiche of microilm to protect the originals. Books were searchable if they had an index and newspapers only by inspecting every single page as many of us know well from the days and days spent in front of optical readers that led to eyestrain. Publications held overseas were rarely available to our predecessors except by Interlibrary Loans and then it was common for photocopies to be delivered for non trivial costs and after an appreciable delay running into several weeks.

But since 2006 a lot of historic documents have been captured electronically and made available on the internet, maps for example at the NSW Land and Information site (http://www.lpi.nsw.gov.au/ ). Many books and newspapers have been digitised and subjected to optical character recognition (OCR) so now are searchable online at sites such as the National Library of Australia’s Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ ) which was started in 2007 and at which newspapers have been added from 2010 and the Government Gazettes more recently. Moreover, many such documents held in other countries are now available online and one of our members with a command of Spanish has recently been searching newspapers published in the Dominican Republic. Accordingly most of the publications listed above are in need of revision, sometimes to include additional information and occasionally to correct inferences and interpretations. But these publications are excellent starting points for modern day historians so members are urged not to overlook them.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS - Jeanee Robertson - Membership Secretary A very warm welcome is extended to:

Paul Young – Bullaburra Maureen Norris – Katoomba Peter Brownlee – Katoomba Gary & Laurel Anthony – Wentworth Falls Les & Ann Margulis – Wentworth Falls Fiona & Glenn Smedley – Wentworth Falls Wishing all members a happy and safe festive Patrick Leonard – Katoomba season and looking forward to seeing many of Adrian Colebrook – Hazelbrook you at our first meeting in February.

Hobby’s Outreach 9 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY NEWS - Amanda Maples-Smith, BMHS Library HAVE YOUR HISTORY AND EAT IT TOO!

Even more than food, I love recipes. I collect them avidly – and sometimes even cook them. But this book is not just a recipe book. Eat Your History – Stories and Recipes from Australian Kitchens by Jacqui Newling, the curator and resident gastronomer at Sydney Living Museums, offers stories about Australians – both Aboriginal people and the immigrants who arrived from 1788 onwards – the food they ate and how our tastes and culinary practices have evolved.

You will ind that this book does not adhere to a chronological timeline. Nor does the author follow a conventional cookbook style. Instead, she focuses on our connection to our food sources. The stories that unfold are interspersed with more general historical anecdotes and are very much about domestic cookery and its inluences.

Did you know that, at one stage, there was such a glut of peaches that pigs were released into peach orchards to eat the fallen fruit? That oysters were almost a throw-away by-product of oyster shells which were so needed for mortar in building products? That during wheat restrictions Governor Phillip would invite people to dinner and to ‘bring your own bread’ (except for Elizabeth Macarthur – there was always a roll for her, according to Watkin Tench’s account). Or that in 1839, ice was imported from frozen lakes in Boston, USA and that just over 50% arrived in Sydney still frozen. For the Macarthurs, dinner was served at 4pm while the Macquaries, the colony’s leading family, dined at 5pm with tea drunk at 7pm and bed at 9pm. It is intriguing to read about the importance of native foods and of Victory Gardens during World War II. And the descriptions of what is meant by such foods as devilled eggs, milk cream, pease, maize, kedgeree and sago pudding answered a few of my questions.

Particularly meaningful are the insights into daily life gleaned from the family cookery books, household journals and handwritten recipes from the Sydney Living Museum properties, notably Rouse Hill House & Farm, Meroogal at Nowra and Susannah Place in the Rocks.

Maybe Penny and Ross, when next they ire up the Tarella stove, might consider the recipe at page 74. Reproduced from the Rouse family’s edition of Isabella Beeton’s The Book of Household Management (1863) (food splotches and all), the baked carrot pudding sounds delicious. Please save me a slice.

You will ind Eat Your History – stories and recipes from Australian kitchens by Jacqui Newling at 760.25 in your Library.

Hobby’s Outreach 10 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

BMHS Calendar 2016 DECEMBER MEMBERS XMAS LUNCH Music Before Midday Saturday 3 11am in the Meeng Room followed by lunch at midday JANUARY BMHS Open Day at the History Centre Sunday 29 All volunteers welcome

FEBRUARY MONTHLY MEETING Saturday 3 Speaker - Brian Fox Maps and History

Sunday 26 BMHS Open Day at the History Centre

BMHS – the facts of the matter

2016 Management Committee Other Responsibilities

Executive : President - Wayne Hanley (4787 5728) Membership - Jeanette Robertson (8004 9475) Vice-President - Stefan Indyka (4782 7008) HO Editor - Lindsay Duncan (0419 439 024) Secretary - Ross Ingram (4787 5589) [email protected] or [email protected] Treasurer - Anthea Mitchell (4757 3824) Hobby’s News - Joan Edwards (4757 2317) Publicity/Catering - Robyne Ridge (0419 985 546) Welfare - Ruth Eslake (4782 6534) Grounds Supervisor - David Bradley (4758 6151) Committee: Alan Foster (8004 9475) Hobby’s Reach Research Centre (02 4757 3824) Robyne Ridge (0419 985 546) www.bluemountainshistory.com John Pike (4788 1046) Email: [email protected] Erik Halbert (4787 6089) Ted Szafraniec (0404 631 774)

HOBBY’S REACH RESEARCH CENTRE: Open Tuesday and Friday 9am till 2pm for members & the Public

MONTHLY MEETINGS: Held at Hobby’s Reach on the 1st Saturday of each month, unless otherwise nofied. Morning tea 10am. Meengs start 10.30am. Visitors welcome.

Hobby’s Outreach 11 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Blue Mountains Historical Society Inc Hobby’s Reach, PO Box 17 Wentworth Falls NSW 2782

Hobby’s Outreach 12