Coal and Shale Mining Near Katoomba

Introduction

As early as 1841 Rev. W B Clarke noted the presence of coal in the Blue Mountains and in 1866 made the first systematic description of the deposits of oil shale in the Hartley area, where its existence had been known from as early as 1824.

Early exploitation of resources

Seams containing both coal and shale outcrops were noticed by the early settlers in the valley walls of the Blue Mountains and in the 1860s the imminent construction of the western railway encouraged considerable local exploration. The most extensive and successful oil shale operations took place in the Hartley region where, prior to the rail connection, bullock teams carted shale to the railhead at Mount Victoria. With the building of the Lithgow Zig Zag rail line and the consequent extension of the railway to the west, the growth of the Hartley-Lithgow region into a large industrial center founded on the local coal and shale deposits was assured. While the Grose Valley near Mount Victoria also attracted some freelance small-scale exploration from the mid 1860s, it was the Katoomba area that was next to profit from the exploitation of the Blue Mountains’ coal and shale resources.

In the 1860's Campbell Mitchell discovered three seams of kerosene shale on the Megalong Valley side of the Narrow Neck Peninsula. With Thomas Sutcliffe Mort he acquired 640 acres here (Portions 14 and 15, Parish of Megalong, County of Cook) and established the Glen Shale Mine. To ascertain whether the shale deposits extended into the adjoining Jamison Valley, he then explored the eastern side of Narrow Neck, including the area of the Ruined Castle Ridge. His investigations revealed profitable seams but the difficulties of transporting it over the rugged terrain to the Western Railway appeared too daunting.

In the 1870's, John Britty North purchased a substantial quantity of land, much of which later formed a large part of the developing town of Katoomba. Included in his purchase was most of the land along the cliff front from Echo Point to Narrow Neck and across to the Ruined Castle. North also rented the substantial home ‘Essendon’ (or ‘Essendene’), owned by the Henderson family and built near the present junction of the highway and Cliff Drive. The building, with a large tower was later used as a school and guesthouse, until destroyed by fire in 1929. He later built his own home, ‘Lassie Brae’, in Katoomba Street, which was eventually demolished as the commercial centre of Katoomba developed.

To exploit the coal seams, which outcropped at the base of the cliffs near the Orphan Rock, North registered a company under the title of Katoomba Coal Mine, in 1870. Once the coal mine was under way, North began an examination of the Ruined Castle area in the Jamison Valley in the early 1880's and, locating two substantial outcrops of kerosene shale, formed another company known as the Katoomba Coal and Shale Co. Ltd. in 1885.

In 1882 a loading depot, known as North's Siding was opened on the Western Railway on the Sydney side of what is now ShelI Corner on the western edge of Katoomba. There developed a whole system of interconnected tramways linking this depot with the various coal and shale mines, which opened up in the Megalong and Jamison Valleys to the south.

With the opening of the Ruined Castle mines, North imported engineers from Germany to construct an elevated tramway known as the Flying Fox from the company's engine bank - now the site of the Scenic Railway - across the Jamison Valley to the Ruined Castle ridge. A fault in construction resulted in a short working life when, after carrying only 500 tons of shale, it collapsed into the valley below where the wreckage still remains. Considerable money had been invested in this project and the disaster spelled the end of the company. Shale mining at the Ruined Castle ceased and while the coalmine continued for a time, the company soon went into liquidation.

In 1890 the Glen Shale Mine in the Megalong Valley was purchased by The Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company, which operated a shale oil industry at Joadja near Mittagong. The following year this company leased the shale mines at the Ruined Castle formerly operated by the Katoomba Coal and Shale Co. Ltd., together with that company's tramway system linking its coalmines near Orphan Rock with North's Siding.

The new company concentrated its effort on the Glen Shale Mine. As well as bringing a large quantity of machinery and transport equipment to Katoomba from their operations at Joadja, they tunnelled through the coalmine at the base of Engine Bank and then through the Narrow Neck to link the Megalong Valley operations with those in the Jamison Valley. A single-track horse tramway was laid out beneath the eastern ramparts of the Narrow Neck Peninsula linking the Ruined Castle mines with the double-tracked skipway before entering the Narrow Neck Daylight Tunnel.

From 1895, the shale mining activities at the Ruined Castle and Glen Shale Mines gradually decreased. The seams were becoming exhausted and the returns from sales were reduced. By 1903, the shale industry at Katoomba ceased to exist. Most of the equipment was transferred to the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company's operation at Torbane. The lease at West Katoomba expired in 1906.

Miners' Settlements During This Period

1. Settlement in the Engine Bank/Katoomba Falls Area.

Several streets of weatherboard cottages extended from the Engine Bank to the intersection of the road now known as Golf Links Road, (the location of this raod is currently unknown). A hotel, The Centennial, later known as The Falls House, was destroyed by fire in 1973. A small store also existed but has long since disappeared. When the mine closed the miners’ cottages were bought by Paddy Mullaney who rebuilt them at the lower end of Leichhardt, Clissold and Vale Streets, Katoomba where many still stand.

2. Nellie's Glen Settlement.

At the foot of Nellie's Glen existed a sizeable mining settlement with a large hotel, butcher's shop, bakery and public hall but this settlement did not survive the end of the shale industry in 1903. In 1904 the hotel was moved in sections by bullock team and re-erected in Lurline Street where it became a guesthouse known as ‘Maldwin’.

3. The Ruined Castle Settlement.

The settlement here was predominantly made up of quarters for single men. The building materials used consisted of bush timber, bark, kerosene tins and whatever was at hand. This settlement also faded away with the end of the shale works.

Later Mining Operations at Katoomba

In 1925 there occurred a revival of North's long abandoned coalmine below the cliffs at South Katoomba. A local syndicate formed the Katoomba Colliery Ltd. and resumed mining activities on a lease of 160 acres. The old workings supplied a substantial quantity of coal, which was sold on the local market, principally to the Katoomba Electric Power House and in smaller amounts to the hotels, guesthouses and local residents.

During the Depression however, capital costs increased and the local market was reduced. Despite its decreasing viability, the mine continued to operate until the Second World War. However as the company progressed toward liquidation, one aspect of its operation had a parallel rise in fortune, and helped to augment the mine's declining income. The rehabilitation work carried out on the coal haulage system up the cliff face opposite Orphan Rock integrated into the booming Katoomba tourist industry of the 1920's and 1930's. The "Mountain Devil" of the early 1930's became eventually the "Scenic Railway" of today.

The exploitation of the coal and kerosene shale deposits in the Jamison and Megalong Valleys brought the Katoomba region to wider public notice than its earlier use as a stone quarry and began to establish it as a population centre. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, Katoomba was known principally as a coal-mining town. However the influence of the mining operations upon Katoomba's early development coincided with another vastly different trend, which began to make itself felt at about the same time: the development of the Blue Mountains as a tourist and recreational destination and recognition as a valuable natural and wilderness area, culminating in its recognition as a World Heritage Area in December 2000.

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
(c)2009 Blue Mountains City Library

Reference
Blue Mountains Heritage Study 1982, Croft & Associates in association with Meredith Walker for Blue Mountains City Council

The Anvil Rock, Blackheath, NSW

Anvil Rock, Blackheath, NSW

Anvil Rock is a weathered sandstone rock formation, situated on the top of the cliff line above the Grose Valley. It is accessed by Hat Hill Road, Blackheath that runs north along Anvil Ridge. At 900m before Perrys Lookdown there is a left hand intersection and 500m along this is the Anvil Rock car park.

Anvil Rock was so named as this rock formation resembles the shape of an anvil. The Rock is a popular location for overseas tour groups as the local road to this site allows an easy and short walking access to one of the best views of the Grose Valley. Blackheath Council had named this rock formation, Anvil Rock in 1938 - the same year that an access road was constructed to this picnic area.

In 1948 an anvil was donated by Stan Miller, Company Secretary, Bradford Kendall Industries Pty Ltd. Stan was an ardent bushwalker and used to take his holidays at Blackheath. The anvil was a standard size manufactured by this company and made at the Number 1, Botany Plant, 340 Botany Road, Mascot. After the anvil was placed at Anvil Rock the company appointed a Custodian of the Anvil in the person of Mac McCarthy, paymaster of the Botany Plant and resident of Leura, (he used to travel from Leura to Botany every day). He continued his role as custodian for a number of years. In the 1950s a brass directional plate was made and attached to the anvil.

Sometime in 1970 that the anvil disappeared, probably pushed over the cliff.

Local historian and author Brian Fox interviewed Kevin Browne, a former National Parks Ranger on the 26th August 2001, who had this to say:

The anvil was carried to Anvil Rock on a stretcher type construction by four people owing to its weight. Jack Grady and Ted Smith were two of the people carrying it. (Kevin could not remember the other two) about 1940. Jack Grady at the time was a council worker.

Geoff Bates, another local historian had mentioned that the Police Rescue Squad conducted a training day (no date given) at Anvil Rock with the intention of looking out for the anvil, but it was not located.

On the 26th February 2005 the Police Rescue Squad had the unpleasant task of conducting a body recovery at the base of Anvil Rock. Through the local grapevine Brian was informed by David West and Peter Rickwood of Blackheath that during the recovery the anvil had been located.

On Saturday 21st May 2005, Brian and his brother John walked in to the base of the cliff and finally located it. The anvil was lying at the base of a tree which had stopped its fall.

The anvil had remained completely intact despite being dropped onto sandstone from a height of 300m. This was no surprise as, being made of hardened steel; it had been designed to be pounded with a blacksmith’s hammer. It was light grey in colour and inside an ellipse was engraved the letters: “BK/Sydney/Aust” and below that “6 CWT”. This denoted the manufacturer, Bradford Kendall, where the anvil had been manufactured and its weight (672 lbs or 305 kg).

In 2008, thanks to a joint effort by NPWS, Blackheath Rotary, local police and community members, the anvil was retrieved, restored and re-bolted to the Rock.

Reference:

Article by Brian Fox 2005, with additional information supplied by Mike Keats.

Blue Mountains Geographical Dictionary, Brian Fox 2006
Photo: Blue Mountains City Council, publicity photo, 1960

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
(c) Blue Mountains City Library, 2008

William Andrew Murphy (1846-1927) the Hermit of Hat Hill Road, Blackheath,

Murphy at his hut holding one of his brooms
photo courtesy of Charlie Drane

The following article utilises an oral history recording held by Blue Mountains City Library: "Mr Murphy as remembered by Jack and Ted Harris". The Harris boys, during their schooldays, became acquainted with the old solitary who lived at the foot of Hat Hill overlooking the blue expanse of the Grose Valley.

"At this particular spot there was an old gentleman, an old Irishman, by the name of Murphy who with his own hands had built himself a stone house. The stones he collected from the area, a very very rocky area. He used the local soil and mud mixed together for mortar and he built himself what was quite a weather proof and comfortable little cabin.

Now I don’t really know how Mr Murphy took up residence there. I first remember him in 1913 but he was a man, I think, who would be known as a remittance man. I think he probably had been sent out here to Australia because of the fact that maybe he had disgraced himself in his homeland. However, he lived out there, he made his daily trip into Blackheath, which was a five mile trip return, to pick up his money and to buy his provisions.

He was a great nature studier and he fed all the animals and birds in the area and, of course, they became more or less dependent on him for food. And a most interesting man to talk to and one of the attractions of a Sunday afternoon was for our tourist coach to take people, tourists, out to see Mr Murphy just about sundown, all congregate at his stone hut and then he would bring out the food and whistle and call up the animals and they would come – wallabies, possums, all sorts and sizes of birds – and it was something which you would liken to a miniature Taronga Park.

Well, Mr Murphy lived on there for many years and he was no trouble to anybody. He was always happy to interview people, talk to them, discuss the local environment and so on. Then he set his hands to making what would be a millet broom out of a particular shrub which grows in that area and he made a machine to make what looked like a very, very good replica of our millet broom today. But unfortunately for Mr Murphy, although his machine worked wonderfully, as my dad always said, when his brooms dried you had to have another broom to sweep up the mess that his broom left.

Murphy's hut at Hat Hill
photo courtesy of Charlie Drane

However, Mr Murphy was burnt out in a bushfire very similar to the Grose Valley fire of November 1982. He was completely wiped out and we up here on the top end of Hat Hill Road thought for sure that Mr Murphy must be incinerated. That bushfire occurred somewhere around 1918-1919. When the fire cooled off I can remember quite plainly a party of us set out to find what we thought would be his remains and what we found was his stone house still standing, red-hot, no roof, nothing at all left inside it, everything charred and Mr Murphy missing.

Scouting around we found the old gentleman, only just barely clad, standing underneath a little waterfall which was his shower, his own private ablution, and he was alive. So a voluntary party set out to make his stone house habitable again. Of course, the old gentleman had received quite a great shock over this fire and he was not able to get about as he did before. He was given a horse as transport but that didn't work out and the horse escaped. From then on we feel that Mr Murphy was picked up by some of the welfare people and taken to a home.”

Murphy's grave at Woronora cemetery
photo courtesy of Charlie Drane

Mr Murphy appears in the Blackheath electoral roll in 1913, occupation labourer, apparently living in Hat Hill Road. He would then have been aged about 67, he left Blackheath around 1926, the date of the photo. He was then taken in by family friends, Mrs Helen Drane and family of Kogarah, where he died on November 30th, 1927 and is buried in the Roman Catholic section of Woronora Cemetery. His grave has been recently restored by Helen Drane’s son Charlie and his daughter.

Charlie Drane writes:
“I must have been 5 years old when our Dad took us to this place called the Hill. My brother Bill would have been 7 years old. After all these years I can still hear our Dad saying you will have to be quiet as it’s time for Mr Murphy to feed the birds, what a great sight is was.”

Although his brooms were a main source of income, he augmented this by fortune telling, although just what kind is unknown. His drinking water came from a spring near his hut, but he used the waterfall on a nearby creek for bathing, it was probably the latter that saved his life in the bush fire. His horse was given to him by the Byron brothers who ran a dairy in Blackheath.

Murphy's house site at Hat Hill with restored signage
photo by the author 

His obituary reads:

"HAT HILL’S HERMIT DEAD

Lived life of loneliness for years

Why did Mr W Murphy turn recluse and live a life of almost complete isolation in a
little wooden hut which he constructed amid the rugged splendour of Hat Hill?
For years he lived there and in his loneliness won the affection of many
plumaged birds in the adjacent bush. The wild thrush used to perch on his
shoulder and eat meat from his hand. He had a fine, generous nature, it is
said of him. But he didn’t die in his little hut in the foothills. Instead he
died at the residence of Mrs Drane, Wallace Street, West Kogarah, on Wednesday
night. Those who knew 'The Hermit of Hat Hill' will regret to hear of his
death."


Note: 2013, Blue Mountains musician and songwriter Jim Low has recorded a song based on Mr Murphy's life, see - http://acrossthebluemountains.com.au/lyrics/Old_Mr_Murphy.html

Please contact the author if you can add any more information or corrections to this entry.

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
2009, 2017 Blue Mountains City Library

Ref. The Mud, the Millet and the Magic of Mysterious Murphy, John Low 2006.

Thanks to Charlie Drane and Lynne Mallard for extra information.

Links: the Harris brothers' oral history recording is now online at the library website https://bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/search/asset/1000142/0

Everyone Ate Meat - Butcher shops in the Blue Mountains

Everyone Ate Meat – The Butcher Shop

Butcher shops in the Blue Mountains in the early 1900s were an important and vital part of the community. These were places where the sight and smell of raw meat was pervasive, quite different from the packaged meat at the supermarket counters of today. Butchers were men of influence and closely associated with the life of the local community. At the funeral of the Blackheath butcher Nick Delaney in 1928 it was said “It would be difficult in the future to know or appreciate Blackheath without his kindly face and fine figure. He never tired of doing good deeds, and extending a helping hand to people in trouble, without thought of reward.”

These were times when most Australian families ate meat at every meal, in the 1890s per capita meat consumption was 2.6 kg per week compared with 1 kg in Britain. Meat was widely available, fresh and local, because unlike most other shopkeepers of the time, many butchers retained control of the whole supply process. Fom selection and purchase of livestock from local farmers, some even ran their own sheep and cattle, to slaughtering in or near their shop, butchering of the carcase and preparation of sausages and corned meats, personal service and home delivery.

William Rayner, Springwood’s first butcher, opened his combined butcher shop, general store and bakery in Macquarie road in 1877, now the Old Bakery Arcade. Rayner had slaughter yards at Yellow Rock and prepared tallow for sale from trimmings and poor quality carcases In December 1892 Rayner bought up a shipment of cattle that had been killed and maimed in a goods train derailment just west of Springwood station and proceeded to boil them down at his shop. The weather was hot and the stench pervasice, eau de cologne was said to be at a premium and after two court sessions Rayner was forced to move his operations to Cable’s Spring near St Columba’s, a sparsely settled neighbourhood at that time.

Katoomba’s early butchers included George Davies who advertised his state of the art refrigeration in 1912, George Shaw and Sons and ‘Honest’ George James, who opened his first shop in Main Street in the 1890s and had shops in Katoomba Street 1913, Leura Mall 1905, and Wentworth Falls.

George James was not only a butcher but a prominent citizen, businessman, man of property, alderman and twice mayor of Katoomba Council - in 1909 and1914. As a member of the Council Parks and Reserves Committee he was also active in establishing many of the lookouts and walking tracks we enjoy today. Among the many buildings he owned and erected in Katoomba, he considered James’ Building 1925, still standing opposite Katoomba Station, his proudest achievement for the town. His home, McClintock in Abbotsford Rd, is now a B&B. Four of his five sons also became butchers and operated James Bros Quality Butchers at Circular Quay in the 1920s.

Transformed during the 20th century by refrigeration and electric cutters, mincers and saws; the traditional butcher's offerings have diversified to include chicken and game, which was once never sold by the butcher, along with fancy sausages, marinades and seasonings. Although we now eat less meat, the greatest threat to the traditional butcher is the supermarket, which now accounts for over 70% of meat sales. Yet butchers do survive and continue to offer quality and service to their customers, many of whom they still know personally, something few supermarkets could claim.

Photos from Blue Mountains City Library
Centre

Delaney's butcher shop, Mount Victoria, from left - a police trooper, Charles Delaney, the horse, Dave Barosse a Solomon Islander, Tom Baster, Adeline Delaney, Reg Delaney, Nick Delaney, unknown, c.1890. Nick Delaney also operated a butcher shop in Govett St Blackheath for over 50 years and was a prominent member of Masonic Lodge Blackheath.

Top

The butchers' picnic at Berg's Falls Hotel, Katoomba 1910

Bottom
Two photos of Shaw's Butchery, Katoomba 1930s: the staff in the chiller room; behind the counter - Tom Porter, Bill Gilroy, George Shaw, Ern Howard, Eric Shaw, Jack Breen.

The Earliest Butchers
In fact when you think about it, butchery is one of the oldest human skills and may even predate hunting by our human ancestors; because evidence suggests they may have scavenged kills from other more powerful carnivores such as lions. When we look at the massive bone smashing hammer stones and cleavers from Bed II at Olduvai Gorge made by Homo ergaster, this layer dates to around 1.5 million years ago, we can see the importance of bone marrow, and later meat, in the diet. There could well have been specialists, with advanced skills in dismembering carcases for ease of transport back to base camp - how's that for a line of descent to modern butchers.

A Note on Rech-tub Kla-tay the Secret language of Butchers
Butchers’ back slang originated in Smithfield Market in around 1850 and was used by the meat traders to insult each other without offending members of the public and to speak about the prices, age or quality of the meat without letting on to customers that they might be being sold something sub-par. It was also used to make comments about customers, be they old men or young girls, and in this way it is similar to Cockney rhyming slang as a thieves dialect; they wanted to keep their conversations private but still be able to shout to each other in public.

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
(c) Blue Mountains City Library 2015

Mr Evans, the Felixman of Echo Point

The Lillas family at Echo Point with the Mountain Devil 1960;
Ron Lillas, son Timothy, Robin Lillas (sister of the donor, Colin Slade)

John and Jim Low with their parents May and Basil, Echo Point, about 1954

Unknown

Jan Koperberg with her mother

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Jim and Gladys Ryan on their honeymoon, Nov. 1950

Iris Cammack, Neil and Carol Roberts, Enid Schneider, c.1948
Image courtesy of Carol Roberts

Eileen, age 19 with her parents Elsie May &  Horace Kelly
from Peakhurst, NSW, 1952
Kindly donated by Stephen and Michael Kelly 

Eileen Kelly, 1952
Kindly donated by Stephen and Michael Kelly

Stephen Crawshaw with his cousin, 1952 

Dan Evans at Echo Point, 1950s

Mr Evans, the Felixman of Echo Point

Dan Evans, also called the Felixman, was a widely known local identity at Echo Point, Katoomba from the 1920s to the 1950s, with his Felix the Cat and later Mountain Devil props. Visitors, mainly families with children, would pose for a souvenir photograph which was developed on the spot. A number of these surviving photographs are in the Local Studies collection of the Blue Mountains City Library.

One early photo in the collection is a tintype, the rest are printed on photo paper and mounted in a card frame. Few facts of Dave Evans' life are known; he was apparently Welsh and lived in Darley St Katoomba, within walking distance of Echo Point. His income would have been highly seasonal and dependent on weather and holidays, never large enough to warrant a shop or staff and professional darkroom setup.

One witness says he would be at Echo Point taking pictures 'rain, hail or shine'; so his business address was right there in the open air where his customers were - what a workplace. A little draughty perhaps, but in the absence of customers one always has the view, or the mist, or both.

The early photos from the 1920s and 1930s show the child size Felix the Cat mannequin accompanying one or more children or family groups, some kids needed mother close by as their looks of apprehension suggest. The later images from the 1950s show the large Mountain Devil doll. This may be a response to the commercial success of Felix and concern with copyright.

The majority of his surviving photographs are taken at Echo Point and they cover few other subjects but tourist portraits; although he may possibly have also operated at the Scenic Railway and there is a group portrait of working men at the Hydro Majestic with a Felix figure. He was quite unlike a photographer such as Harry Phillips who took few intimate photographs and published widely and commercially on landscape subjects.

The 1891 Welsh Census shows Dan was born the second of seven siblings about 1883 in Ferndale (Glynrhedynog), Glamorgan, Wales; his father, William, was a miner and his mother was Naomi Owens.  Dan emigrated to Australia about 1927 and is shown as a property owner in council’s rate records from 1937 – 1957, residing in “Cartref” Darley St, Katoomba, occupation - photographer. Records show he married Edith Anne Taylor, her second marriage, in 1932 at the Registrar General in Sydney, their residence was in Liverpool St in the inner City. Dan had been previously married in Wales to a Minnie Griffiths in about 1905. A 1933 commercial directory lists him as D Evans, photographer of Katoomba.

In April 1932 the Blue Mountains Times newspaper reported that Mr Evans, the Felixman at Echo Point, had complained to Katoomba Council of unlicensed persons plying a somewhat similar business without paying a fee. Katoomba shopkeepers were also complaining of the many street musicians collecting from passers by – they had ‘become so common as to be quite a nuisance’. The Great Depression produced many unemployed men who tried their hand at busking for a few coins.


Dan died in Katoomba Hospital in October 1961, aged 78 years and was cremated at Rookwood Crematorium, the informant was his older brother William from Newport in Victoria. In 1962 the ‘late D Evans’ photographic license was transferred to Souvenir Snapshots of Katoomba.

It is likely that Dan retained his Welsh lilt all his life: "Sit you down by your Mam and I will take your photograph, now look you at the dicky bird!"
Links
Ferndale - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferndale,_Rhondda_Cynon_Taf

1932 'Katoomba Council', The Blue Mountains Times (Katoomba, NSW : 1931 - 1937), 8 April, p. 3. , viewed 12 Jan 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194856771

Thanks to the many people who have donated copies, or originals, of their family photos to the Blue Mountains City Library, Local Studies Collection. Without their kindness, this page would be the poorer. 

Please contact the author if you have more information about Dan Evans The Felixman, or have any of his photos you would like to donate as originals or copies.

© 2009 Blue Mountains City Library, revised 2016.
John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian

The Sidneys of Megalong Valley, Blue Mountains

The Sidneys of Megalong

Isaac Walter Sidney was born in Bristol, England (circa 1857) and emigrated to the U.S.A. There he took up building as a trade although he described himself as a "skilled labourer" on his marriage certificate. He became an American citizen but later moved to Australia and Megalong where he purchased land neighbouring Donald Boyd's "Yaralta" (Parish Kanimbla Portion 25).

On Australia Day 1903, Isaac married Eliza Ann Campbell, described as a domestic servant from Hartley, at the home of Edgar Chapman, with the Reverend Pratt, Congregational Minister, officiating. Eliza had been previously married to a man by the name of Campbell but was known by her maiden name of Hunt. Eliza purchased land (Parish of Kanimbla Portion 170 & 166) and later her daughter, by her first marriage, Doris Fennell, took up land with Isaac and Eliza's son, and only child, Isaac Junior (Parish of Kanimbla portions 20 & 171). Isaac senior and Eliza built a pise cottage on their land which is still extant.

They were known as "poor" farmers as they had little stock. He did some building in the Valley and is chiefly remembered for his long and bitter arguments, for the British side, at the time of the Irish "troubles".

Eliza acted as the local midwife and was responsible for seeing some of the present residents of the Valley into this world. She died in 1943 aged 78, and is buried in an unmarked grave with her husband Isaac in Blackheath cemetery.

Isaac senior’s step daughter, Doris Fennell and her husband Harold, built a pise cottage near her mother and stepfather. She is alleged to have taken a stock whip to her husband, quite frequently, lashing him around the ankles, "because he moved too slow!". Harold died, aged 53, in May 1948 and Doris lived alone in her cottage until she too died in August 1960, aged 73. They share an unmarked grave in the Blackheath cemetery.

Isaac Walter junior (1905-1982), known as Ike, enlisted in 1942 and served as a private in ordnance during WW2; he married late in life to Esther Mildred Cox in 1957 and moved to Faulconbridge where he died, having sold the property to William and Joy Pringle in 1963 which is now named “Yapunyah”. Ike junior is also buried in Blackheath Cemetery in an unmarked grave.

Note on the photo: in the early 1900s Ebenezer Vickery of Kanimbla Station established a freezing works on Blackheath Creek to process rabbit carcasses which were transported to the railway at Mt Victoria for sale at the Sydney markets; it is said over 1 million rabbits were processed out of the Megalong Valley.

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
© 2008 Blue Mountains City Library
Photo: Blue Mountains City Library Collection

Ref: Historic Megalong Valley (1988) Mary Shaw

Harry Peckman - the poetical whip (1846-1934)

HARRY PECKMAN, THE BLUE MOUNTAINS POET (1846-1934)

Harry Peckman was a true ‘Blue Mountaineer’. Born at Kurrajong in 1846, he lived the whole of his life in the Blue Mountains region and died in Katoomba in 1934. As a young man, in the days before the western railway line was built, he drove wagons and coaches on the road between Penrith and Hartley. Then, when the Mountains developed its reputation as a tourist destination, he began taking visitors to the local scenic attractions.

In the early 1880s he and his brother, John, established livery stables in Parke Street, Katoomba, at the back of the Carrington Hotel. Their business flourished. Both men were expert horsemen and knew the Blue Mountains intimately and their patrons soon included a growing number of holidaying dignitaries and their families. In 1887 Lord and Lady Carrington were taken over the newly opened Six-Foot Track to Jenolan Caves1 while, in 1893 the Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos was entertained with a billy tea and damper picnic at Govetts Leap2.

But knowledge of horses and the bush were not the only skills Harry possessed. To the many visitors who engaged him he became known as ‘the poetical whip’ who would take them to places off the beaten track and entertain them en route with selections from his repertoire of mostly self-penned songs and recitations. As more than one observer commented, his verses, performed in the midst of a grand, open landscape, provided visitors with a glimpse into the heart of the Mountains that no other driver could offer.

While no one could claim that Peckman was a great poet, it is clear that his skills as a performer made up for any deficiencies in craft. “No free verse for this poet”, observed cartoonist and journalist Hal Eyre in 1922, “but rhymes tuned to the beat of his horses’ hoofs.”3 His subjects ranged over the Blue Mountains itself and included dramatic and patriotic war ballads and heart-felt ‘farewells’ to friends who had died. There were also tributes to popular heroes like the sculler Edward Trickett, the first Australian to win a world sporting title, and the popular aviatrix Amy Johnson who visited Katoomba in 1930.

Like many self-educated men, Peckman was clearly a wide reader and his verses are dotted with various literary and Biblical allusions. He was also acquainted with a number of Sydney literary figures who sought him out when they visited Katoomba, among them the poets Roderick Quinn and Henry Lawson.

Though he performed for the gentry his audience was in the main a popular one and his work, when published, appeared almost exclusively on privately printed broadsides and later, when a newspaper became established in Katoomba, in the local press.

It seems that he was performing his songs and poems and peddling his broadsides from the time he worked as a young labourer and coach driver in the Hartley area in the 1860s and 1870s. In some of his reminiscences, recorded by local journalists, he mentioned the lively sessions of song and recitation he participated in at this time, particularly at ‘Kelly’s in the Glen’ halfway to Jenolan Caves.

Some of his work attained for him what is possibly the highest accolade a popular audience can bestow, a passage into the anonymous oral or ‘folk’ tradition that carried it to places far removed from the Blue Mountains.

Towards the end of his life Harry Peckman experienced hard times and, though visitors still often sought him out even in the late 1920s, he watched as the age of the motor car gradually rendered his coach and pair obsolete. At the time of his death he had become something of an icon, a symbol of a past era. On a slow news day the local journalists would seek him out and trawl his still alert mind for reminiscences of the ‘old days’.

For his 88th birthday, in August 1934, his friends organised a party. He performed his poems for the last time and, some seven weeks later, died. His grave in Katoomba Cemetery looks out over the tributaries of the Grose River that flow into what he once described as “the Hawkesb’ry silver Rhine”.

His name is publicly remembered in Peckmans Plateau and Peckmans Road, both in Katoomba.



Note: In 1993, nearly 60 years after his death, a small biography and collection of Peckman’s surviving poems and songs, The Prince of Whips: The Life and Works of the Blue Mountains Pioneer Harry Peckman, Jim Smith and John Low, was published. Copies of this book are still available, for more information contact Blue Mountains City Library Local Studies.

© 2008 John Low

1 For an account of this trip see Smith, Jim. From Katoomba to Jenolan Caves: The Six Foot Track 1884-1984, Katoomba: Second Back Row Press, [1985], pp. 33-4.
2 Duchess of Buckingham & Chandos. Glimpses of Four Continents, London: John Murray, 1894.
3 Hal Eyre wrote of his experiences touring with Peckman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of 13th September 1922 and 26th September 1922. Three caricatures of Harry were also included.