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Mike Cashman0/7 behalf of the History Sub-Committee.

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CONTENTS

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Foreword.

Message from the Minister for EducationMessage from the Director of EducationSchool History .

Supplementary School History.Special Achievements - Ex-PupilsEarly Days,

Family Histories . . .

Bective Soldiers'Settlement

The Gold Expeditions .

Keepit Dam

Somerton Hotel History ,

Somerton Post Office HistorySomerton Police Station.

Somerton Village. . .

Churches. . .

Halls. . , .

Cricket . . .

Tennis. .

Horse Racing in Somerton.

Tamworth & District Gliding ClubWhat !s a Country Town?

Rainfall Registrations.

Ls

Page No.

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message from the Minister for

Hon. Paul Landa, LLB., M.LC.

Mr. Paul Landa - New South Wales Ministerfor Education - 1980

The year of 1880 was of enormous significance to the structure of education in this State as the passing of thePublic Instruction Act saw the establishment of public schools throughout the countryside. One of those schoolswas Somerton Public School, which this year can claim 100 years of service to its community.

As the years passed and new developments and concepts modified and moulded the Department of Education,these trends were reflected at Somerton.

For small schools like Somerton, the art of survival is woven into the fabric of a school over generations andthis history seems to add something special to the quality of the education it provides. Studies have shown repeat-edly that it is in small schools that children most often reach their maximum potential.

Factors which are beneficial to the type of education a child receives are the non-streamed classes of the smallschoo7, -where children of varying ages have a chance to reach their own level by listening to the lessons given to thesenior students.

It is a family type atmosphere and the teacher can usually give almost individualised attention as he or she isaware of a child's background and problems. Another benefit is the involvement and support of the local commun-ity and the interest of parents and residents in their children and the school.

Somerton school has forged a strong relationship with its community to whom it owes its establishment, exist-ence and improvement. In return, it has repaid that interest by equipping its pupils with independence and resource-fulness, the qualities of good citizens and the sound basics of education to take them through life.

I send by best wishes for the success of the centenary celebrations and all those who are associated with them.

The support and backing shown in the past has laid the foundations for a bright future which extends, I am sure,well into its second century.

A message from the

Director for Education —

n—

Mervyn J. Wasson, B.A.

Mr. Mervyn Wasson - Director of

Education/North West Region.

theS: ho^arlnT ls a lons time in the "fe of a man or woman- but a centwV is ^e "tere flick of . n eyelid in

:^s^SS^=S£=^S;=s?iasE^sss=:^ii^i^^nc^M^ol ^ ^^^^tw^n^^^tt:^^^^S^:^^ s^s^ ^s^^^SEShaveThde^te; ?„ tSo7atcea';ltucrh^Lpnu^c, le^M^,n.h",succeededbeyond ,the wildest -P-tations. Who could^^^^. zr'^^^^ESSSS...-^ ,°:;:;^h;.°:;, :IM,r, ::,zr;:,^::°""'bc"- •"'"- - >«" — -

^5?JE=HSS^=^==ss^b^S^S^:;'1'confidence in the c<uautyof'^-^i^^^cLsZ:;I^^Z

Merv Wasson,Director of Education,

North West Region

Somerton Public School History(Research Branch - Dept. of Education)

Over three years elapsed between the applicationto the Council of Education for a school at Somer-ton and the opening of the school in February 1880.There were several good reasons for the delay, but itdid mean that some of the children who so' badlyneeded a school in 1876 lost their opportunity for alltime.

The first time the Council of Education, whichcontrolled all the government schools of new SouthWales from 1867 until the establishment of theDepartment of Education in 1880, heard from Somer-ton was when it received a letter from the postmaster.Mr M A. Woolaston in January 1877. Asadvised-byInspector Bradley of the Armidale district, Mr. Woola-ston enclosed an application for a Provisional Schooland asked for financial aid towards erecting thenecessary building. Provisional Schools were designedfor areas which could not ensure the minimum averageattendance of 25 required for a Public School. Since1875 the Council of Education had met the full costof Public Schools, but parents were supposed tosupply and finance the building and furniture for aProvisional School, while the Council paid the teacherand provided books and equipment. In special casesthe Council might contribute towards the cost of aProvisional School building.

The application form from Somerton was dated 27November 1 876 and included the names of 27 child'.ren from eight families. The need for a school wasobvious, since the nearest schools were at Carroll(opened 1869) and Keepit (opened 1875), both'som'etwelve miles away. The application was referred toInspector Bradley for report, but the needs of his hugedistrict stretching to the South Australian borderprevented him from getting to Somerton until March1877. He had no hesitation in recommending thegranting of the application, since the number ofchildren both within the accepted travelling distanceof two miles and just over that distance was quiteenough to keep up the necessary attendance. He'alsobelieved that the residents were sufficiently poor tojustify the Council's paying half the cost of erecting acheap building on the site in the township already setaside for a school.

inspector Bradley also recommended that thecitizens be appointed as the local committee

to supervise the building and operation of the school:J,ames Ham'". ^keeper; Thomas Crotty, inkeeper;Richard Rowland, farmer; William Verrier, sawyer,:Thomas Woolaston, postmaster. Possibly M. A. Wool-'

aston had died, for not only had Thomas Woolastontaken over as postmaster but a further application'fora school the following year showed him as the parentor guardian of the children listed under M. A. Woola-stein's name in 1876.

The Council accepted Bradley's recommendations,a"d. forma"y Sranted the application on 5 ApriL1877. After that there was silence, until Thomas'Woolaston wrote late in September, in reply' to 'theCouncil's query, to say that the local people'had notyet called tenders for the school building because ofsevere drought had prevented them raising the 50pounds or 60 pounds necessary for their share of thebuilding cost. Nothing happened over the ensuingthree months, and the Council wrote to Woolasto^again. He replied late in December to say that he hadcollected 30 pounds but the drought was still continu-ing, and there were now ever more children "growing"P in ignorance". "We are badly in want of a school'7he pleaded - could not the Council take allthecircumstances into consideration and pay all but the30 pounds?

After some hesitation, the Council asked Woola-ston to spell out exactly how many children wereguaranteed to attend a school. On discovering that thetotal was 42, the Council now sent an applicationform for a Public School up to Somerton, and Woola-ston^hurriedly collected the necessary signatures and

>, and returned the form late in February 1 878.

Once again Inspector Bradley was delayed, and notwtH August did he visit Somerton again an'd report

that a Public School should definitely"be established^in a building of sawn slabs to accommodate 40 pupils.'The Council therefore granted the application on 16September, and by November the Council's architecthad prepared building plans in accordance with'hisstock plan IB. The schoolroom seated 36 pupils, sixeach at long desks and forms arranged on 'a steppedfloor or gallery. Attached was a teacher's res'idencecomprising three rooms. The building was to haveweatherboard walls and shingled roof.

In March 1879 a tender for 523 pounds wasaccepted from Philip Smith of Manilla, the school tobe^ready for occupation in four months. Unfortun'-at^ely the Council-s clerk of works discovered a coupleof months later that Smith was "not a tradesman'7and ordered him to demolish what he had done so-far.'Then unusually heavy winter rains came, and Smith

had to be granted an extension because he was unableto get his materials along the boggy roads.the building took shape, and m "October 1'8"79""t'^Council's architect had the brass founder C. 'Hallidsend the standard "small bell in frame" up'to Smith7.

The^ building^ was finally read^ for occupationon_2,4 January. 1880> ""d the Council decided" n"ot "topenalise Smith because the wet weather had'continuedand he had in any case allowed himself two litt[e"t'i"r^^l^ "^ct:. AISO- de5Pite^he eariier fea,.;Z

was soundly constructed.

Somerton's first teacher, William Goard, wasappointed on 29 January 1880, but did not arrive mSomenon and open the school until early Februarv.'A 21^ year old bachelor, he was a trained teacher'wh'ohad been in the service for four years. The school "mslucky toget him' and he was very popular "dur'ing'hisrather brief stay at Somerton.

,

,, when Goard left Somerton in 1881 he filled in aninventory of school material as required. He-had"a^ mererlt. re^n8boo^'fmm'^^^^bookslwhlch

were. as far "the overwhelm,^^or!tr LPUP"^went-.They came fron'^o^ie^the '"^National Board books which h'a'd been In'uTe;l№lso. ut^wales since the 1840>s- a"dthe''Austr"^lan Reading Books produced in the'1870^ He'alw-

had. the prescribed sets of old and New Testamentextracts. The only other sources for lessons were threemaps and some reading material on cards. These limit'.

resources were typical of the period, whent,he-overwhelmins ProPortio" °f the school'day'wa's^YOtecLt o dr""ng. PUP"^ i" reading,

"

writing a^arithmetic, ; a little time was devoted "to history andgeography, singing and needlework, and object lessons.or. -elementary s(:ience which was "sually^u!ht;. ILW as. an extremely narrow .'"d-mechan7c'a'lform.. of education. '" which pupils ne7r'ly"al"w^s"s^passively at their long desks.

,... s.omerton. public sch001 had 46 PUP"s enrolled in-ts Rw^ month or two, but after that"there"was "asteadY., declmsLThe enrolment stayed "above' 30"untHthe_end of 1882, during which year a weathershed"wa'sejected a^the_ school, and then hovered in "the" tensanodo.tle nties for the next few years- A~t the"enduo?

the enrolment was only eleven and theattendance five, and not surprisingly the Department^Education decided at the beginning of \ 887 'that'The^hooLwould_not be open that yw- Unfortunateiy'th^ surviving records provide no explanation 7or"th7sdecline, and most of the files for this period'can "notbe located.

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When the school was closed the building was leftin the care of Constable Tubman of Somerton Police

Station. In March 1887 he reported that a violentstorm had knocked the kitchen chimney onto the kit-

chen roof, and the Department agreed to repair boththe chimney and the roof. The care taken of thepremises was justified in 1889, when the Departmentdecided that there were enough children in the districtto justify re-opening as a Provisional School. Unfor-unately, the correspondence files for this year arealso missing, so all that is known is that John Wardwas appointed teacher in November and that by theend of the year the enrolment was fifteen and the

average attendance thirteen. The figures rose to 29and 22 respectively by the end of 1890, and in janu-ary 1891 Somerton once again became a PublicSchool: it has remained one ever since.

Ward was a rather lackadaisical teacher, but he didnot get into serious trouble with the Departmentuntil 1892, when he was suspended and called upon toshow cause why he should not be dismissed for an"intemperate indiscretion in Quirindi". In commonwith other teachers from the district, he had gone toQurinidi for the first week of the mid-winter vacationin order to sit for examinations for promotion. Havingcompleted one paper, he vanished at noon on the firstday and apparently enjoyed a long binge. The Depart-ment at first planned to dimiss him, but in view of hisnine years' service and the need of his wife and three

young children decided to severely reprimand himfor his misconduct in indulging to excess in intoxi-

eating drink", and to remove him to a Provisional

School. The sentence was carried out in October 1892.

For nearly 30 years after that, the records ofSomerton Public School are few in number and

generally of the most routine kind. The buildingadequately accommodated the numbers of children inthe district, Silas Clifton and Thomas Bissell weregood, reliable teachers who remained at Somertonfor many years, and no major problems arose to dis-turb the smooth running of the school. The occasionalrepair work on the building was necessary - forexample, the old shingled roof was replaced by ironin 1911 - but apart from that the Department hardlyhad to think about Somerton. Major changes weremade throughout the State in 1904 to the Schoolcurriculum and teaching methods, but no one fromSomerton commented on the revolution broughtabout by the so-called "New Education". It went along way towards replacing the mechanical drill of thenineteenth century with a more pupil-centred educa-tion, in which children learned by doing and concreteexamples of arithmetic or geography or nature studywere used instead of the bookish learning which haddominated the schools previously

In the meantime the residents of Somerton hadbeen urging the Department to carry out a number ofrepairs to the school building, laying particularemphasis on the need to re-frost the windows to keepthe sun off the children. The Department had put offthe work because of lack of funds, but following apetition late in 1891 - prepared, very unusually, by themothers of the pupils rather than the fathers - paint-ing and repair work was carried out during 1892.

In 1 898 the teacher's residence was enlarged andrepaired, and in 1903 the schoolroom was enlarged byextending it by eleven feet six inches at the front.

As the district inspector explained, the existing school-room seated 36 children and provided air space for34 at the current standard of ten square feet perchild. But in June 1903 the enrolment was 54, and theaverage attendance for the quarter was 41.

Mrs. Mary Richards, who is the oldest living residentof Somerton at 83 years of age. She attended theschool for a short time in the first decade of the cen-

tury. Her mother, Clara Verrier, was one of the origin-a/ 32 enrolments in 1880, at the age of 16,

'/// f

There was more activity at Somerton during StanGallagher's period at the school, from 1929 to 1932.A Parents and Citizens Association was formed during1929, and early in 1930 the men spent a weekendcutting and erecting posts in order to fence off an

area for a school garden. The Department then sup-plied two rolls of wire-netting, which the parents putup: it appears that the main pest to be kept out of thegarden were the local turkeys. A tennis court was alsolaid out and fenced about this time.

A number of repairs to the school and residence

were carried out in 1931. One was the removal of the

old stepped gallery and its replacement by a levelfloor: the added flexibility this change gave schoolshad been recommended among the New Educationreforms of 1904, but it took many years before all theold schools were remodelled. One change which wasnot made in 1931, because the Great Depression hadseverely cut the Department's funds, was the replace-ment of the frosted glass windows with clear glass andthe installation of frames which would enable the

windows to be lowered more than a few inches. It isinteresting that Gallagher and others felt so stronglyabout the dark and ill-ventilated schoolroom in the1930's and yet in 1891 the parents had been so fear-ful about the effects of sun: in the nineteenth centurytoo much light and air was generally regarded asdangerous.

In 1934 the new teacher, Henry Whittaker, pre-pared a careful case for the appointment of an assist-ant teacher. He pointed out that the enrolment of

55, with an average attendance of 48, was divided intonine classes, with the twelve pupils in Seventh toNinth Classes following a secondary course, and thatthis load was too much for one teacher. Whittaker'sarguments were successful, and Somerton's first assjst-

ant, Frank Greer, was appointed in June 1934.

The presence of two teachers in the old, crampedand dilapidated building made school life at Somertonvery difficult, and in November 1934 it was decided

to erect a new school. The P. & C. Association had

first asked for a new building in November 1933,when the secretary Mrs. A. Cooper criticised theexisting building as old, depressing, badly lit andventilated, crowded and badly in need of repair; shealso believed it was a disadvantage to have the resid-ence attached to the school. The Department agreedthat a new school was necessary, but many otherplaces had more pressing needs in this period of De-pression and limited funds. From May 1934 a newsecretary, Mr. F. Allsopp, bombarded the Departmentand the local Member of Parliament with monthlyletters repeating the arguments for , a new school.She also promised that if new buildirig was erected,the 77 members of the P. and C. Association would

Flourishing vegetable gardens in Somerton School of the mid 1950's.

Somerton School in the mid-1950's. Can you find the small tree growing in theforeground in the present playground?

erect a new fence. Her case was considerably strength-

ened once an assistant teacher was appointed, and in

November the Minister for Education approved thepreparation of plans. A two-roomed wooden buildingwith a sliding partition was designed, accommodating56 pupils, and in March 1935 tenders were called tobuild the school and two new toilets, and to removeand re-erect the weathershed. The work was done by

W. Thomas of Sydney for 575 pounds, and the newschool was occupied on 1 November 1935. The P.and C. Association erected the new fence as promised

during the same year; the Department supplied thewire. Nor was that the end of the parents' activities,

for during 1937 they donated two new wall maps and20 pounds worth of library books to the school.

From the time the new school building was

underway, the teacher and the local inspector urgedthe Department also to replace the old residence,which had the same drawbacks as the old school andwas also very damp and unhealthy. The Departmentfinally agreed, and a new residence plus a garage forthe teacher's car was erected during 1937 for some800 pounds. The old school and residence buildingwas sold for 72 pounds early in 1938 to Mr. F. Inchesof the Somerton, who removed it from the site.Somerton Public School therefore finished the1930'sin fine material condition.

(Compiled by Jan Burnswoods)

10

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11

A upplementary History ofSomerton School

Plans were drawn -for the original school by Mr.

Allan Mansfield Arch and sent to the Inspector of

Schools, Mr. Bradley (Armidale) on 23/11/1878, toclose on 1/2/1879.

Several tenders were received, the first from Mr.

W. Dowes on 29/1/1379 for 679 pounds if studs andweatherboards or 639 pounds if sawn slabs. After all

applicants had been interviewed it was found that

some lenderers had hardly ever driven a nail and had

no building experience at all. Decisions had to be

made and finally the tender of 523 pounds irom Mr.

Phillip Smith was accepted, as related in the previousaccount.

An interesting fact is that the school bell and

frame, which still stands at the existing school, waspurchased from the Newcastle Steamship Co. on

16/10/1879 for the sum of two shillings.

The first teacher, Mr. William Goard, taught at

Somerton on a salary of 120 pounds per annum.

Indeed his stay in Somerton was short-lived, as he

moved after about 2 years on to Little Plain in Inverellin November 1881, and later to Currabubula, where he

taught at both places.

Something of the man, his pupils and the times in

which they lived can be gauged from the following

letter, which was written by Mr. Goard to Miss Clara

Verrier (17), later Clara Urquharf - the mother of

Mary Richards, local Somerton resident.

™w. ,

Moving the old School. The building was movedfrom the school block in 1936, to the adjacent(eastern) block to make way for the new school.

Public School,Little Plain,

Inverell.

9th December, 1881.

Dearest Clara,

/ must only repeat to you what I have said to the

other dear girls who have favoured me with letters

since my arrival at my new home, and that is, that Iknow not how to express my deep thank fltlness toyou for all the great favour you have conferred uponme. How pleasing It is to receive letters from friends

at any time, but how doubly pleasing and gratifyingis it for a teacher to receive such genuine expressionsof love and esteem from his pupils, as I have receivedfrom each one of you since last we said "Good Bye"!It is now more than ever that I am experiencing sokeenly the separation from you all. Each day as itcomes seems to add to my burden of sorrow, until

my grief is almost overwhelming. Perhaps it is thewant of friends to comfort me that makes my life sowretched, but I can assure you Clara, my dear girl,that were I placed in the midst of the gayest societyimaginable, there would stiff be the same feeling ofloneliness present. I can't shake it off, do what I will.Anticipating the pleasure of a visit home is buoyingme up at present, but how shall I feel when the holi-

days are spent, and I have to return to this drearyspot! It is the thought of having to do so that makesme look forward to them with little hope of pleasure.Wouldn't it have been nice could I have stayed andprepared you all so nicely for the concert we intend-

ed having at Chirstmas? It was very cruel that we had

to separate at such a time, and I know we should have

acquitted ourselves in a very creditable manner indeed.

Have you forgotten the "Gambler's Wife"? Whenever I

hear it again it will always bring to my mind fond andaffectionate recollections of dearest Clara. Indeed I

intend to learn it off myself, if only for your sake,Clara.

/ am so pleased with you for writing in such a

friendly, familiar manner. Oh, if you could only realisehow I treasure your letters! And the more you takeme into your confidence the more I shall like you.Consider me always your dearest friend, and say to mewhat you would to a brother. How it has parried mesince to think we were not more sensible of each

other's worth, while we were together as Teacher andScholar! Perhaps it was my fault, for I know I failed,alas! too often, to take the advantage of the chances/ had of proving my love and esteem for you all.

12

And your school days are over at last, Clara!

Although I should like you to know a deal more, yet/ feel proud to think you have given me the honour ofbeing your first and only tutor. Indeed it would make

me jealous to think you were under another's care.

And what about Lucie and Edith, and Carrie, dear

Carrie! Are thy still going? If you have left schoolClara, do try the induce your parents to let you entersome profession if they can possibly manage it. Itwould give me the greatest pleasure to see you leada happy life, and I am sure in whatever position youmay be placed, you will be a credit to it, with themany excellent qualities you possess. Ask your motherto grant me this favour, and give you what you want,and what I want so much, and if you obtain your wishbe sure and let me know.

There are many other matters I should like to

speak about, Clara, but I scarcely have time to do soat present. When I reply to your next letter, if youshould ever favour me with one, I may have morecheerful news to communicate.

With kind regards to your dear parents, and Wiltieand Henry, and love to your old schoolmates,

Believe me, dearest Clara,Ever your true friend,

W. 5. Goard.

When the first petition was drawn up amongstlocal residents in 1876 to establish a School in Somer-

ton, the list of children shown to the eligible forschooling at that time were as follows;

Edwin Harris (13), Henry Harris (12), Elizabeth

Harris (10), James Harris (9), Ellen Harris (8), ClaraHarris (6), Arthur Harris (4), Harriett Woolaston (14),John Woolaston (12), Thomas Woolaston (10), SarahWoolaston (7), William Woolaston (5), William Now-

land (10), Lydia Nowland (8), Edith Nowland (4),Ellen McBean (7), Jessia McBean (6), Emily Crotty(12), Clara Crotty (10), Thomas Crotty (7), KateCrotty (5), George Crotty (3), Jane Steeles (8),Joseph Steeles (6), James Steeles (4), Annie Steeles

(3), Edith Alderton (13), Clara Verrier (13), WilliamVerrier (11), Henry Verrier (9), George Gibson (13),Amma Stains (6), Jane Jeffries (12), Emily Jeffires(10), Amelia Jeffries (8), Annie Jeffries (6), ArchieRobson (9), Mary Robson (9), Martha Robson (5),John Elsmere (5), Annie Sims (14), James Sims (14).

Quite a number of those listed eventually attended

the school when it eventually opened a little over 3

years later.

When the School was first opened, a scale of feeswas arranged, which amounted to one shilling perpupil per week, 9d each for two children of one familyand 6d each for three pr more. Many hardships weresuffered in the early period with the result that some

parents asked to be relieved from payment of schoolfees due to failure of crops in 1886.

When the closure of the School on 10/1/1887,due to deminished attendance, -the local policemanwas given the responsibility of ensuring that no harmshould come to the empty school buildings. Recordsshow that the teachers in this early period were notreally happy with their conditions and surroundings,mainly due to the remoteness of the area.

The children of Somerton Public School, taken in 1947. The teacher is Robert Levingston.

13

Attempts have been made to trace the origin of the name Somerton, which appears to have been firstused in the 1850's, at first in conjunction with Summer Hill, and later replacing that name. It is probablyo replica of the Somerton in England which dates back several hundred years, and on enquiring with theHistorical Society in that town, they suggest the origin of the name as "summer dwelling", dating backto the early 17th century.

5 crtengineering

ALAN ABRA 697639

IT ITS MADE IN STEEL WE CAN MAKE IT. BULKSBINS, SHEEP FEEDERS, CATTLE FEEDERS, FIELDBINS, GRAIN AUGERS, SHED FRAMES, PIG FEEDERS,

WEIGH CRATES-

PIG EQUIPMENT SPECIALISTS

?

The first 70 years of the existence of Somerton School in the 1880's saw some big developments inagriculture in Australia, including the invention of the Wolsely shears, and stump-juinp plough andMackay's Combine Harvester. Thomas Mart initiated frozen meat export and the N. S. W. Department ofAgriculture was established, also in that decade.

14

Many years later, the teacher's salary was graduallyclimbing and on 2/6/1916 stood at 216 pounds perannum, less 24 pounds for the use of the residence.Eighteen years later on 16/11/1934, it was 439pounds/5/4 per annum.

Upon completion of the new School building in1935, Mr. H. D. Whittaker was the first teacher toperform duties in the new building, with an enrolmentof 50 pupils and one assistant teacher Mr. Bert King,co-incidentally a great-uncle of one of the presentpupils.

All furnishings from the school room - includingdesks, seats, tables and chairs - were of red cedar. andwere taken by the Department before the demolitionwork started. The cost of demolition of the old schoolhouse was 5 pounds, and the work was carried out byMr. F. Macdonald of Somerton - blacksmith, carpenterand 'Jack of all Trades'. All materials were used byMr. Macdonald to erect cottages on land owned byMr. Frank Inches, adjacent to the school ground andalso opposite the local police station. All demolitionwork was completed by 20/1/1938.

During the first half of the century of the school,many epidemics occurred, including Typhoid Fever,Diptheria and Whooping Cough. The school was closedtwice for short periods owing to the outbreak ofTyphoid one child losing its life and other seriouslyill.

An analysis of enrolment and average attendance atthe School over the years shown the following;

1880 (Enrolment - 32 / Average attendance - 26);1885 (20/12); 1890 (29/22); 1895 (40/34); 1900(36/30); 1915 (40/12); 1920 (28/20); 1930 (46/40);1935 (53/44); 1940 (42/36); 1945 (35/28): 1955( - ,49); 1960 (62/60); 1965 (66/58); 1970 (18/18),1975 (32, -», 1980 (41 /-)

The school has had a total of 2 headmasters/principals over the years, details as follows:

William S. Goard (date of appointment 29/1/1880)Francis H. Muston (4/11/1881); Charles R. Austin(25/6/1883); Grace Hollings (14/9/1885); LillianFrazer (8/5/1886); John P. Ward (8/11/1889); John

The children of Somerton Public School, taken on 27/9/1929, when Stan Gallagher was the teacher.

15

M. Brown (12/10/1892); Henry Thomas (15/7/1896);Silas Clifton (24/6/1905); Benjamin Freeman(19/6/1915); Thomas Bissell (27/9/1916); StanGallagher (17/1/1929); William Bruce (30/5/1932);Henry Whjttaker (13/12/1933); Norman McLaren(15/7/1940); Valentine Kesby (14/1/1944); RobertLevingston (9/1/1946); John Payne (2/2/1954);John R. Tooher (27/1/1959); Ralph T. Dark(2/5/1959); Lindsay Harris (29/1/1963); KeithKimber (2/2/1972); Neville McDonald (28/1/1975);Mike Cashman (29/1/1979).

The school gained its first assistant teacher (Mr.Greer) in 1934, and since then the following assistantteachers have taught at the school:-

Mr. McLaren, Mr. Gary, Mr. Agnew, Mr. Mahony,Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Mein, Mr. Neilson, Mr. Woiher-spoon, Mr. Bruce, Mr. King, Mr. Greer, Mr. Mathews.Miss Carlos, Miss Tapp, Miss Forbes, Mrs. Alywin,Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Bearup.

At different stages over the years there were near-by schools at Bective Soldiers Settlement, Carroll Gapand Bona Vista the latter being the closest, and theclosure of these schools led to increased enrolment atSomerton.

A continuing part of the school activity calendarsince 1936 has been the participation in the BectiveSports. Somerton School managed to win the T. H.Woolaston Trophy for Smalls Schools Competition inthe years 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1979 and1980, against apposition such as Byamee, BectiveSoldiers Settlement, Bithramere, Tintinhull. andLimbri.

Hockey has been a feature of the school sportsince 1975, the school winning Tamworth (Saturday-morning) Competitions in that time, and producingseveral North West and State representatives. Severaltalented cricketers have also emerged from the schoolover the years.

The reminiscences of a number of ex-pupils, asrelated in the questionairres distributed prior to theCentenary Celebrations make interesting reading.

One of the earliest memories of school life comesfrom Mrs. Marjory Pearson (nee Alderton),

^»»< <i.

v"set

Somerton's first school hockey team - 1976

Back. ~ Anthony Abra; Darren_swain, Thorn Archer, 'Yogi'McGrath, Nev McDonald (Coach)Front - Scott Swain, Lonnie Gardner, David Gardner, ~ 'Bruce Swan. 'Russel'l'Swan, Tony Heywood.

16

One of the earliest memories of school life comes

from Mrs. Marjory Pearson (nee Alderton), who

attended the school from 1904 to 1913. A most

memorable event was the sighting of the first motor car

to drive through Somerton from Tamworth to Gunne-

dah in about 1908. The children were allowed out of

school to watch it drive slowly past.

Clarrie Moffat, who started School in 1910, has

provided a wealth of information. He recalls that a

child had to be 6 years of age to start school, and

that the main examination was for the Qualifying

Certificate (QC) at the end of the Primary grades.

Empire Day provided the year's biggest school cele-

bration, and the sports held on that day were graced

by the Lolly Man, who was eagerly sought after by the

children. Boys and girls were strictly segregated in

the playground. .

Mrs. Phyliss Guascoine, who attended from 1926

to 1935, says that Arbor Day was a memorable event

in those days and that the Gould League meant an

enjoyable day walking along the banks of the PeelRiver to identify different birds.

One teacher of the 1930's is remembered in the

affection by William Fletcher and Russell Blaxland,

among others. He was Mr. Bill Bruce and was appar-

ently kind and considerate, always striving to make

lessons interesting. Russell Blaxland writes: "A great

many memories of this teacher come to light and I

will enlarge on one of them which consisted of a

nature study afternoon along the Peel River to Bective

Station. First, we had a lecture and inspection of the

old convict ruins below where the Allsopps lived on

Bective and then Mr. Bruce strode ahead, under a big

straw hat and the head of his charges, every now and

then stopping to point out and describe a lot of inter-

esting things. It is quite possible that this method of

teaching, at the time, may have been contrary to the

rules of strict educational systems, but I would

maintain that he knew it was a very good part of what

a proper education is all about. I do not remember

him losing his temper, either inside or outside of theclassroom".

Mr. Whittaker, an Enlgishman who afso taught atSomerton in the early 1930's tried to encourage an

English accent in the children's speech, says ex-pupil

William Fletcher, and was also a strict disciplinarian,

according to Mrs. Lucy Wickham (1937-1942).

Una Goldthorpe remembers Mr. and Mrs. McLaren

as kind teachers who Took much interest in the pupils

towards the close of the 1930's. Nothing was trouble

to them and you could always turn to them for help

and advice, she says Mrs. Lucy Wickham agrees with

this, adding that Mr. McLaren played the violin, had

many tales of his adventures on the Clarence River and

organised Red Cross concerts for the War effort.

Ronald Mortimer (1935-40) recalls a Reverend

Battersby motoring from Manilla every Thursday in

is Capitol Chevrolet to give scripture lessons. He

usually gave young Ronald and his bicycle a lift home

on the running board.

During the second world war, according to David

Blaxland, many parents met each Wednesday to form

a knitting circle for the war effort and at the end of

the war says Reg Wilkinson (1942-50), the schoolpupils marched down the main street beating tin-cans.

The publicans, Mr. & Mrs. Alan Roach, then shouted

all the pupils a lemon squash.

Fay McDonald (1937^0) and her twin sister

delighted in playing tricks on their headmaster, Mr.

Whittaker, who could not tell them apart.

Peter Walker (1949-50) and Nola Bulkeley (1950-53) both recall the notorious mock hanging of three

boys while they attended the school. Peter WalkerClaims to have besn one of the 'victims' while Geoff

Swain was also a victim. The perpetrators of the crime

had. best remain anonymous. Nola goes on to speak

of building a 'cubby', with friends, from dried limbs

and leaves and then proceeding to cook potato chips

on a primus inside the 'cubby". She says they were

lucky not to be burnt.

Sisters, Pam Garret (1953-59), Jenny Ford (1955-

60) and Diana Russell (1961-67), all nee Woolastons,

have varied memories of school days. Pam won 1st

place in the 33yds. infants sprint at the first P. S. S. A.

carnival ever attended by Somerton Primary at No.

2 Oval, Tamworth. Jenny remembers that a schoolcouncil was formed while she attended the school

and Diana remembers being taught in the Somerton

Hall due to renovations to the school building.

Somerton School Hockey Team (Girls) -1980Back - L. Miller, L. Reid, F. Avard,Middle - R. Swain, M. Abro, j. McGrath, K. AvardFront - L, Cannon, L. Dowe, F, Dowe, T, Faint,

K. Swain.

17

Several ex-pupils have also described how theschool grounds have changed over the years.

Mrs. Ethel Nutman (nee Ettie Maxwell), a pupil ofthe decade of this century, says that the'^choolgrounds were, at that time. rough and unmown.In 1923 Mrs. Berths Roach (nee Harwood) remembersthat the school had a post and rail fence. By 1930,writes William Fletcher, the grounds were grassy withan enclosed vegetable garden at the northern end.There was an old 'ant-bed' tennis court and paddocknear the school was used for pasturing horses duringthe day.

In 1933, Norma Pankhurst (nee Avard) remembersthat the grounds had become neat and tidy and thatthe vegetable plots were maintained by the pupils Thiswas o become a long-standing tradition. Accordingto Ronald Mortimer the original school buildingdated 1879, was still in use until1935 when the pupilsmoved into a new building. The original schoolbuilding was moved east one hundred yards behind thehouses of Norman Wise, Ernie Chalker and" Mr"McGrath. Laurie Gardner was one of 'the' tractordrivers who helped move the old school.

During the early years of World War II, say NevilleCupples and Mrs. Una Goldthorpe, the pupils'bu'iitand air-raid shelter at the rear of the school and'aflower garden had been added to the front of'theschool. The school grounds may have deteriorateda little in the ensuing years as by 1950. Mrs. Noia

Bulkeley (nec Swain) says that much of the groundswere barren or with long, dry grass. However^hatsituation has obviously been remedied as the schoolgrounds of 1980 must be some of the most attractiveand well-kept to be found in any public school.

It istelieved that in its 100 year history, SomertonPublic School has had around'1000 school~chil'd^npass through it. during their primary education. Thereare possibly as many as 700 of these ex-pupils stillliving today in the Centenary Year.

At the date of pubNcation the school has 41 pupilsenrolled, comprising 24 girls and 17 boys. Of These^ are in the Infants class and 25 in the Primary class"School captains are Lynda Miller and Julie Mc'G'rath^whilst teaching services are provided by Mike Cashman"rincipal) and Pam Bearup (Assistant). The-P &"'C

Executive comprises Geoff Swain (President)/HeatherAvard (Secretary) and Edna McGrath (Treas'urer')1,whilst John Penman is the District Inspector "of

Some^special features of the school in 1980 are theSchool Parliament, School Choir, Explorers" Clubenvironmental Education) and the Mature Area.

im portant dates on the calendar are for Presentation•light, Anzac Service, Open Day and Year 6 Farewell".

M&st of the children move on to Peel High Schooltheir secondary education.

Somerton Pri^ry School ,n a picturesque ground setting, 1980. The school bell isall that now remains of the original school.

18

The Present pupils are—

KINDER:

Robert Heywood, Michael Welsh, Mark Bearup,Tammy Miller, Mathew Hodges, Caroline Dowe.

YEAR 1

Nicole Mower, Phillip Swain, Jason Verning, MelanjeO'Sullivan, Anthea Cooke, Fiona Abra.

YEAR 2

Nicole Moffat, Sonya Swain, Kylie Avard, RoslynSwain.

YEAR 3

Leesa Cannon, Heidi Hodges, Michelle Abra, TaniaFaint, Cheryl Jones, Kylie O'Sullivan, Kerri Swain.Alien Bearup.

YEAR 4

Craig Elson, Mark Woodward, Paul Miller, HayleyMower, Fiona Dowe, Louise Dowe, Trevor Swain,Byron Verning, Fiona Avard, Rosalie Swain.

YEAR 5Adam Mower,Julie McGrath.

Damian O'Sullivan, Wayne Faint,

YEAR 6Lynda Miller, David Jones.

Pupils and Staff of Somerton Public School in Its Centenary Year, 1980.L to R. Back row - Mark Woodward, Trevor Swain, David Jones, Wayne Faint, Byron Verning.

Heidi Hodges, Michelle Abra, Fiona Avard, Lynda Miller, futie McGrath, Rosalie Swain,Kent Swain.

Mark Bearup, fason Verning, Paul Miller, Craig Elson, Todd Coleman, Glen Bearup, PhillipSwain, Robert Heywood, Mathew Hodges, Michael Welsh.Tommy Miller, Anthea Cook, Roslyn Swain, Tania Faint, Kylie Avard, Leesa Cannon,Nicoie Moffat, Sonya Swain, Fiona A bra.Mrs. Pam Bearup and Mr. Mike Cashman.

Oamian, Ky lie and Melanie 0 'Sullivan; A dam, Nicole and Hay ley Mower and Cheryl Jones.

Third row —

Second row —

Front row -

Teychers -

Absent —

19

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23

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Special Achievements — Ex-PupilsEx-pupils of Somerton Public School have entered

into many vocations. A few of them have been remem-bered by their contemporaries as having done particul-arly well in their chosen sphere.

John Whitehead, who attended the school brieflyduring the early years of World War Two, is now be-leived to be an Air Commodore in the R.A.A.F. inCanberra.

Tim Walker, who attended the school during the

late 1920's, was decorated for bravery, receiving theGeorge Louis Trophy, while a member of the NewSouth Wales Police Force. Later he became the State

Liberal Member for Sutherland and Miranda and sub-sequently served as Government Whip in the admini-stration period of Tom Lewis.

Keith Swan and Arthur Gore have both made

notable achievements in the racing world. Arthur Goreattended the School from 1914 to 1922 and became

a horse trainer in 1946. He was the leading trainer in

the North West for nine consecutive years, from 1964to 1973. He has trained the winner of every cup race

in the N. N.W.D. R.A. and is the only trainer to ever

train the Grafton Cup winner and the South GraftonCup winner in the same year. His other major winshave been that of 'Scottish Crag' which won theLightning in Brisbane and 'Dewaroy' which won theNewcastle Cup. He has also trained the winners ofmany metropolitan races.

Keith Swan attended the school in 1941 and

became a horse trainer in 1950. He trained his first

winner at the age of nineteen. He was the leadingtrainer in the North West in 1973, 1974 and 1976and has been runner up on many occasions. Amonghis most prominent wins have been that of 'Nirangi'in the Tattersall's Cup and 'Nuit Jean' in the Country

Cup.

Other notable achievements in the field of sport

have been those of Charles Moffat in cricket, Phillip

Coleman in rugby league, Thomas Woolaston in rugbyunion and John Stanton in rodeo.

Many ex-pupils of the Somerton School have goneonto tertiary education with varying degrees of successbut those who have attained the highest distinctions

in this area have been Don Wark, Lynnette Chaffey

and Robert Woolaston. Don Wark completed on

Honours degree in Philosophy at the Australian

National University gaining highest marks in the thirdyear Honours exam. He went on to work as in assist-

ant secretary to the Minister for Community Develop-ment, Mr. Earner, in South Australia and is now inan administrative position with the organizationknown as Community Involvement Through Youth.

Lynnette Chaffey gained a Doctorate of Philo-sophy in Modem History and Robert Woolaston aDoctorate of Philosophy in Wool and Pastoral Scienceshaving gained highest overall marks in his undergradu-ate degree at the University of New South Wales.Robert is now working as a farmer and grazier in theSomerton district.

Though these were the only ex-pupils drawn to ourattention as having done particularly well in somesphere many ex-pupils expressed the sentiment thatmost of their peers became worthy Australian citizens.

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25

One source has it that Ben Bridges "the last of the recognised bushrangers" once resided in Somerton,living where Mr. and Mrs. Col Cupples now reside in Brooke Street. Others would have us believe thatthere are still some modern "bushrangers" active in Somerton.

THE FARMERS <~G GRAZIERS

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Executive positions of the Somerton School P &C Association in 1980 are:- Patrons - Bill Scott andBernle Lye; President - Geoff Swa/n^ Vice-Presidents - Geoff Cooke and Barbara Swain; Secretary'-Heather Avard; Treasurer - Edna McGrath. Meeting attendance In the centenary year has varied from'10to 15.

28

EARLY DAYSTHE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE

The Aboriginal people in this area were a group ofsub-tribes, which people themselves called theKamilaroi. The origin of the name is intriguing. Inthis part of Australia, the aborigines were known toeach other by the way they used the word "not" or"no", and as far as the people from this district were

concerned, their word for the negative was "kamil".When they pronounced the word, the aboriginestended to almost miss the sounding of the thirdsyllable, with an accent on the first syllable (pro-nounced "Komilroy"),

There seems to be no certainty regarding the orig-in of these aboriginal people. Some possible clues canbe found in the Wallabadah manuscript; an exercisebook that somebody discovered many years ago atWallabadah Station. It was written by William Telfer,born in 1843, possibly the second white boy to beborn in this area. He lived here all his life as a stock-man, and was in contact with a number of fullblood-

ed aboriginals. His manuscript refers to the localaboriginals is a result of what they told him, thegeneral conclusion of which are as follows;

The ancestors of the Kamilaroi people wouldappear to be the Kuring-gai people, who inhabited anarrow strip of land between the sea and the GreatDividing Range, from Kempsey to Sydney. Accordingto legend, away back in the Dreamtime, one wave ofthe Kuring-gai, possibly the Awabakal, migrated upthe Hunter Valley over the Ranges, down the Mueler-indi or Namoi River, as far as the "Great Wide AwfulRiver' which we now know as the Barwon River.Other Kuring-gai people who had come over themountains from near Port Stephens were met on theCalala (Peel) River a Goora, which we now know as

Somerton. Goora has two possible meanings - 'Kang-aroo' or 'wind'. The fusion of these two sectionswould appear to have produced the Kamilaroi people.The Kamilaroi people never seemed to actually fightas a tribe. They spent most of their time fighting eachother, although as far as known in this particulararea, they were a fairly peaceful group of people.There was not the conflict that was reported fromcertain parts of New England, and perhaps down onthe Breeza Plains, and further out around Narrabriand beyond. Whether this degree of peacefulness mayhave been attributable to any wisdom on the part ofthe newly-arrived white settlers, would be an interest-ing question to pursue.

Although quite a number of aboriginal implementshave been found in the Somerton District over the

years, the knowledge of any significant aboriginalsites (occupation, art, burial, ceremonial etc. appearsto have long since passed into oblivion, at least in theEuropean consciousness).

Some idea of the number of aboriginal dwellersin the Goora (Somerton) district may be gained fromthe recorded estimates of Edward Mayne, the firstCommissioner of Crown Lands and 'Protector' of

Aboriginals in the Pastoral District of Liverpool Plains.

Soon after setting up his isolated outpost at Goora(Somerton) in 1839, he reported having sometimesseen as many as 700 blacks encamped together, andestimated a combined aboriginal population ofbetween 2,000 and 3,000 through the region boundedby the Peel, Namoi and Gwydir Rivers, all within hisarea of responsibility. In 1842 he estimated a popula-lion of around 4,000 in an increased supervision area,which he claimed was around 80,000 square miles.His estimate of tribal groupings was from a minimum

of 10 to a maximum of 150. He commented that the

majority of the aboriginal population were in thenorthern part of his district, as the southern part hadbeen in the possession of white people since the mid1830's, and he did not believe that more than onethousand aboriginal natives could be found in thedistrict up to 200 miles north of the Liverpool Range.This would lead us to believe that, by the 1840'sperhaps no more than a couple of hundred aboriginalswould have been active in the Peel Valley at any onetime.

Taken in the 1930's, this photograph shows the ruinsof the convict compound erected to provide convict

labour for the Summer Hill Station nearly 100 years

before. Alas, the ruins were pulled down to use in

the foundations for the present Somerton Bridge.

27

WHITE SETTLEMENT

To the best of our knowledge it was not until thefirst day of Spring in the year 1818 that the firstgroup of 'white-European' explorers came into thevicinity of present-day Somerton. Led by the N.S.W.Surveyor-General of Lands John Oxley, a party of 14men, up to 19 horses and a number of hunting dogs,entered into the Peel Valley at a point near where theSomerton-Breeza Road now crosses the Peel Range.Included in the party were the eminent George Evans(deputy Surveyor-general), Charles Frazer (ColonialBotanist) and Dr. John Harris (Medical Practitioner),and also 10 convicts, who all eventually gainedpardons and were given land grants following the epicjourney. The party had set out from Bathurstinfune,1818 to attempt to prove the existence of an inlandsea. Deterred from their purpose by an encounter withthe Macquarie Marshes the group struck eastwards,encountering the Warrumbungle Range (which henamed the Arbuthnot Range). Later, to avoid climb-ing the Melville Hills (Peel Range) he proceeded to thenorth-east for a time, which eventually brought himto a suitable crossing-point to enable him to enter thePeel Valley.

His journal reads—

"We pursued our course to the E-N-E, windingthrough rich valleys bounded by lofty, forest hills forseven'miles, when by a gentle descent we entered arich and spacious vale, bounded on the east by veryhigh hills, and on the west by others less elevated.At twelve miles we'stopped at some ponds near thecentre of vale. (This would have been on Sandy Creek,about 7 km upstream of its junction with the PeelRiver). The hills were very stony, of various species -granite freestone and pudding-stone; They were,however, well covered with grass and quite clear andopen; The valleys and levels excellent with good tim-ber, chiefly apple tree, box and gum. On the higherridges of the hills and occasionally on their sides, weremany fine cypresses; There was nothing grand orimposing in the scenery, but it was simple and attract-ive from its richness and extent. The hills sometimesrose into singular forms, which were continuallychanging in our progress and appeared well calculatedto afford an ample range of sheep pasture. The exten-sive vale in which we stopped was named GoulburnVale. in honor of the Under-Secretary of State for theColonies".

Oxley went on to describe his three-day journeythrough the Peel Valley, crossing the Peel River justabove its junction with Tangaratta Creek. The partymade its way east to the coast at Port Macquarie,and then survived a difficult trip back to the smallPort Stephens settlement from whence they returnedto Sydney by boat. It was this first epic-journey ofOxley and his men that led to further exploration andeventual settlement of the Liverpool Plains, includingour own Somerton District about 1 5-20 years later.

In the years following Oxley there was someisolated 'squatting' along the Peel (Calala) River. Prob-ably the closest to Somerton was one Joseph Brownwho ran a cattle station (1600 cattle) at Wallamoula few kilometres downstream of the presentTamworth, who had apparently moved into the dist-net in the late 1 820 's.

It is debatable who was the first white man to haveset foot in the vicinity of the present Somerton vill-age, but the major contenders would probably beJoseph Brown himself, his overseer Cann, Sir ThomasMitchell (Oxley's successor as Surveyor-General)or Henry Dangar (Oxley's assistant surveyor andrepresentative of the Australian Agricultural Com-pany). Support for the Brown or Cann theory wouldspring from the fact that Mitchell obtained informa-tion at Wallamoul on December 11, 1831, soon afterentering the Peel Valley, that the Peel River turnedwes..«v<irds to join a stream known locally as theMuelerindi (Namoi) coming from the north-east. Thiswould suggest that either of these men, or possiblytheir stockmen, may have explored along the Peel toits junction with the Namoi, which would have takenthem through the site of present-day Somerton.

Of Mitchell we have stronger evidence that heactually passed through Goora (Somerton). He set outfrom Sydney in November, 1831, mainly to checkthe claims of the colourful George Clarke (alias"George the Barber"), a convict who escaped from hisassigned station near Singleton, and joined an aborig-inal tribe in the Boggabri District. He taught thenatives to raid the squatter's stations in the LiverpoolPlains/Breeza Plains area and to steal the cattle. Thereis strong evidence that he stole some of JosephBrown's cattle at Wallamoul, probably in 1830 or1831, which may well have brought him throughSomerton en route, making him the first white manto do so. On returning to white civilisation Clarke toldan amazing story about the "Kindur River", a massivestream that he claimed he had discovered, flowingaway to the North-West.

28

The theory of an inland sea, or perhaps a mightystream dissecting the entire continent, was still strong-

ly held, and it was Major Thomas Mitchell who setout to try to find this river.

Travelling via Werris Creek and Currabubula, at thehead of a 14-man party, Mitchell entered the PeelValley in the gap to the east of Mt. Duri (then 'Turi' -aboriginal for 'water-weed'). As previously mentionedhe visited Brown's station at Wallamoul, describing it

as 'The lowest cattle station upon this river', which

indicates that he came upon no other white settle-ment as he moved further downstream towards Goora

(Somerton). On December 13, 1831, he set out intowhat he called 'terra incognita' (unknown land) insearch of the 'Kindur". He did not follow the Peel

River the entire way, as he could see that it made big

sweep to the north and west and south, and thengenerally west again. He cut across country and thencame on to the Peel River and eventually crossed a

gully which he found very hard to his bullocks anddrays to negotiate, which was probably Sandy Creek,about 4 km from Somerton. The party saw several

kangaroos but the grass was so tail that the dogs hadno chance of catching them. At one time Mitchellsaw a kangaroo squatting, took careful aim and fired,but to his surprise he saw it bound away. Going toinvestigate, he found the kangaroo dead. It was themate which had bounded away. One of the nativeswho, significantly, had met some white people pre-viously, was greatly impressed with Mitchell's marks-manship, but of course Mitchell realised that therifle he was using was much better than the oldmuskets that the squatters could have had.

Continuing on. Major Mitchell reported in hisjournal about a strip of limestone containing fossil-ised crynoids (a type of water-lily). This same rock-layer can be seen at the present Keepit Dam turnofffrom the Oxley Highway, a white strip running alongthe southern part of the road.

Mitchell followed the Peel to its mouth on the

Namoi, realising that the surroundings tallied closelyto George Clarke's description. He then came upon'a very large stockyard and the ruins of a dwelling,surrounded by "numerous (aboriginal) encamp-ments and the bones of bullocks". It was here that he

identified the brand of Joseph Brown on some of the

remaining hides. Identified by his aboriginal guides,this was the site of George Clarke's community,

situated in the vicinity of the present Wean Race-course. Mitchell continued on to the Gwydir,

Mclntyre and Barwon Rivers, before returning toSydney. His good news of excellent pastureland gavefurther encouragement to further settlement.

Six years before Mitchell, in 1825, Henry Dangar,assistant-surveyor, had been instructed by Oxleyto investigate the newly discovered 'Goulburn Vale'(Peel Valley) as a potential site for the land grantsought by the newly-established AA Company. In adifficult trip, completed on foot when their horsesdied of exhaustion, the party was able only to dissectthe south-east corner of the Peel Valley. Soon afterMessrs. Nowlind, Baldwin, Macqueen, Singleton,Palmer, Loder, Onus and Williams became the firstsettlers on the Liverpool and Breeza Plains, to thesouth-west of present-day Somerton. Drought years(1828-29) in the Hunter Valley gave added impetusto this movement north.

In 1827 the explorer Allan Cunningham unsuccess-fully sought an entrance to the Peel Valley, north-westof Currabubula, and skirted westward before resuming

his northerly course. He crossed the great bend of theNamoi River at Carroll and passed northward throughthe site of present-day Bingara, continuing on to theDarling Downs. On his return journey he crossed theNamoi downstream of Gunnedah, travelling west

of Curlewis, en route via Segenhoe (Scone) to Sydney.Had Cunningham found a way through the range nearCurrabubula, he may well have laid claim to be thefirst European to tread on Somerton soil.

At the same time that Mitchell was travelling

westwards along the Peel (December, 1831), HenryDangar was himself in the Peel Valley on a later )ourn-ey, unbeknown to Mitchell, to carry out a detailedsurvey of soil types, pastures, water resources andtimbers on the orders of Edward Parry Commissioner

of the AA Company. Unfortunately no detailed mapor records of Dangar's journey has been located, butit seems evident that he explored in detail the Peeland Mooki River systems. It is improbable that hetravelled north of the line of the Peel River and thusit is quite likely that he may also have set foot inwhat is now Somerton, also in December, 1831.

Soon after, in March 1832, Edward Parry, afterwhom the Parry Shire was named, set out from PortStephens with Dangar, Charles Hill and William Telfer,a Scottish shepherd, to inspect the Liverpool Plainsand the Peel Valley. Proceeding via Quirindi and Cur-rabubula, the party travelled a route between Duri andDunover Mountains - following Major Mitchell's pathof the previous year along the present stock routebetween Duri village and Duri Peak. The report of thetrip mentions that they 'fell into Major Mitchell'sdray track'. The party travelled across the valley,through present-day Bithramere, over TangarattaCreek towards Uriari Mountain. They came across thePeel River probably between the present Bectivehomestead and Somerton village. The report mention-ed that a recent fresh in the river had made a river-

29

crossing impossible, and after proceeding along theriver for a couple of miles, they camped on a "prettygreen" a little upstream point of Somerton village,which Charles Hall (who was employed at the AACompany as an overseer of sheep) "caught two fish,which proved to be excellent eating". A further ex-tract from the diary on March 27, 1832 related"Very fine clear night. Several native dogs about. Wesaw two large birds today, new to us. Mr. Hall thoughtthey might be the bittern".

Continuing down-river to the junction of the Peeland Namoi, they followed the Namoi upstream toManilla and then turned back eastwards, stopping todine and stock up on provisions at Wallamoul Stationbefore returning back to Port Stephens via CrawneyPass. During the six-week journey Parry had beenpleased by the 'much good country, with excellentapple-tree patches in all the valleys, and recommendedcertain tracts (later Warrah and Goonoo GoonooStations) to the AA Company!

EARLY SETTLEMENT

In 1830 Governor Darling had issued an orderwhich forbade anyone settling north of the LiverpoolRange, placing the Peel Valley/Liverpool Plains'outof bounds. His reason for this decree was in theorythat he could not provide sufficient police to affordprotection against the aboriginals. Although notdefined, another obvious reason was that he couldnot provide sufficent surveyors to survey the land thatpeople would want to settle on, so that their claimscould be properly noted.

Supported by the views of Major Thurnas Mitchell.Darling's successor, Governor Bourke, was reluctantto grant all of Parry's requests for the land he hadrecently explored. Mitchell argued that Parry's claimswould cause hardship to the 'poor people'Squatting,ableit illegally, on the plains and that it would retardfuture settlement. Eventually Parry won his case andthe AA Company took possession of the new propert-

,.,.^10/^^^T"15/" 5cor/o"rf 5^f-n'^" rte ^rtc^" ^^" Ao^built by jesseA^rd nearly 100 years ago, and typical of the type of residence'in 7he"last7enctury.

30

ies in 1834. Much of the delay was caused by thepresence on both sites of sheep and cattle belongingto illegal squalters which the AA Company had d\ff\-culty in removing. After his 1832 journey withDangar, Parry had listed six squatters on the Peel,caring for a total of 3600 cattle and 1700 sheep.These land holders were Joseph Brown, George andAndrew Loder, Gostwyck Cory, W. Warland andWilliam Dangar (Henry's brother).

However, in 1836 the act was changed to legalisesquatting and hence to bring it for the first time undergovernment control. Settlers could now take up largetracts of land for ridiculously small rentals. A fineseason was reported in 1837 on the Peel holding (PeelRiver, Land and Mineral Company) in which it wasstated "though the streams were deficient of waterfrom the late want of rain, the adjacent country wasclothed with excellent grass, and the pastures wereabundant".

Wheat and maize had been planted as early as1834, but results were not encouraging. Another dis-appointing harvest in 1835 was folowed by a betterone in 1836. Encouraged by the new Act and by theimproving fruits of farming, the population of the Peel

Valley began to increase. It is difficult to believe thatsome of the better land along the River around Somer-ton was not taken up by prospective squatters by themid 1830's, but we have no official record of anylandholder before Cobcroft (Menedebri) and Pringle(Summer Hill).

A further Act in 1839, under Bourke's successor,Governor Gipps, made stock returns compulsory andlevied and annual tax of one half-penny per'sheep,a penny-halfpenny for each head of cattle, and three-pence for each horse pastured north of the LiverpoolRange. The money was to be used manily to financethe operations of the Border Police, a new law-en-forcement body under the control of the 7 Commis-sioners for Crown Lands, whose task it was to issuelicences, collect fees and prosecute offenders.

The Liverpool Plains District Commission, includ-

ing the Peel Valley, fell to Edward Mayne, based atInvermein, in late 1838. With a further change inboundaries in 1839, Mayne moved his headquartersto Murrurundi. His area extended north and west

'indefinitely' from the Liverpool Range. However,soon afterwards he found it necessary to set up anoutpost for his roving Border Police at Goora, laterrenamed Summer Hill and later still Somerton. Thebuildings were located on the rise overlooking a pointabout 300 metres downstream of the present Somer-ton Bridge, and the outpost was later under the con-

trol of the Commissioner, John Durbin. Elderly resi-dents of Somerton can recall that many years ago, thebuildings were in a fair state of repair and that themanacles o.f the prisoners were still in the walls (Note -photograph of the crumbling compound taken in the1930's). On the same rise were located stone stablesand Summer Hill homestead, residence of the district'sfirst farming settlers. The stone for the buildings wasreportedly quarried from a point within a kilometreor two south-west of the site (lckeringill's) and someof the stone blocks can still be seen in their originallocation. Alas, however, a severe blow was dealt to our

heritage in 1947, when the foundations were beinglaid for the approaches to the present SomertonBridge. What remained of this historic police outpostat that time the most northerly in New South Wales,was removed to use 'readily available' stone for thisjob.

Mayne had not been long at his new headquarterswhen he was severley castigated for choosing Goorato establish his buildings. The Governor was verydispleased and demanded an explanation as to why aplace situated on a more prominent road was notchosen. The mounting pressure eventually led to thetransfer of the headquarters to Tamworth, whereMayne set up his buildings in the vicinity of the pres-ent Prince of Wales Park.

Part of the duty of Mayne's stockkeeper, a mannamed Kelly, was to take possession of all unbrandedcattle over 1 year of age, which automatically becamegovernment property. Since circumstances and per-haps laxness often meant delayed branding mustersin parts of the large, unfenced runs, a squatter couldfind himself with cattle which he believed to be hisown, but which technically were not his at all. ThusKelly was kept busy.

However, many of the squatters found that Kellyhad one real weakness, which was his fondness for"the bottle". It has been reported that, because ofthis "Kelly made many trips for nothing". When thestock-keeper arrived at a cattle run on one of hisspecial missions, he was soon being most hospitablytreated by the owner or manager. The "amber liquidflowed freely" and when Kelly was inebriated "thenext ruse was to hide his horse". When Kelly wasrecovered from his drunken stupor, he was still im-mobilised because he had no horse to ride. In themeantime all available men in the neighbourhood hadbeen recruited, cattle had been mustered, and thecattle in question had received the owner's brand.When there were no "cleanskins", the stock-keeperwas able to recover his horse and return to his head-quarters, probably assuring Edward Mayne that nounbranded cattle could be found.

31

With the establishment by Edward Mayne of this

outpost) court hearings were held at Somerton for theWestern section of the Liverpool Plains District. It

was not until later, with the survey of a town site at

Tamworth and mining of gold at Nundle and Hang-ing Rock, that the Commissioner moved his LiverpoolPlains headquarters from Somerton to Tamworth,probably around 1 844, where the succeeding Commis-sioners were Francis Allman, Roderick Mitchell and

John Durbin.

When first established in 1 839, Commissioner

Mayne had at his disposal a total of 10 white con-

stables, some of which were Peninsula War veterans,

and a number of black troopers. Much time was

reportedly spent 'pacifying wild blacks on theMclntyre and other cutback rivers' and later it wasfound necessary to establish a further more remote

outpost at Warialda Convict bushrangers also poseda problem to the Border Police during the 1940'sin the Peel Valley (eg. Edward Davis, Wilson, Bradish,Branigan, "Coxen'sTom', 'Long Ned').

There were 28 people in Mayne's original establish-ment at Somerton (27 male, 1 female). All were single,except 2 males and 1 female, who were married.Only 2 of the group were free men, the remaining26 being under some state of bondage. The 1841census states that the group lived in one stone andsix wooden buildings, only one of these being un-inhabited at the time (presumably the stone gaol).

Edward Mayne's offical return for the period Julyto December, 1840,showed that there were 1,154whites living on 130 stations under his administrationin the Liverpool Plains (1078 male/77 female) of these513 were convicts (507 male/6 female). Also listed

in his report were 1197 horses, 110529 cattle and

267107 sheep, a tiny 388 acres only under cultivation,

and a total tax assessment of 1262 pounds. The more-

accurate 1841 census listed 1598 resident Europeans(1424 males/174 females), but the survey methodswere very primitive indeed. In 1846, the number of

white inhabitants of the Liverpool Plains was surveyed

in an official census as 2110, living in 233 dwellings.

Amongst these were 29 convicts, employed on proper-ties, some of whom were providing labour on Summer

Hill Station.

The survey also quoted 600 acres being sown towheat and 200 acres to corn.

In August 1848, the Government Gazette gave thefirst comprehensive list of Peel Valley holdings, withtwenty properties mentioned, under the control of

sixteen lessees. These included the largest single hold-ing of Bubbogullion (now Bective), occupied byRobert Pringle.

It is interesting to note that in 1839, the only

places in the whole North West/New England regionthat had been officially proclaimed as villages were

Somerton and Armidale, both proclamations occurring

in that year. Town proclamations were then to follow

for Armidale (1849), Tenterfield (1851), Glen Innes(1852), Gunnedah (1856), Tamworth (1859) andDungowan (1860). (Somerton was proclaimed a town46 years later, in 1885, 5 years after the opening ofthe local school).

Members of the Somerton Light Horse in 1930. Left to Right - Tom A vard,Cliff Crewes, Pat Harwood, Clarn'e Moffat, Ernie Grewes, Stan Harwoood,

Arthur Gore, Archie Woolaston and Joe Lawson,

32

Possibly the first person to take up land in thispart of the valley, close to Somerton, was Onus,perhaps as early as 1 833. An Onus family had squattedin the Quirindi-Blackville area and were dispossessedwhen the AA Company took over the title as part oftheir Warrah grant. It is quite possible that this familymay have moved in to squat temporarily along Onus

Creek, near Somerton.

Almost-co-incidental with the establishment of

Edward Mayne's outpost in 1839, was the commence-ment of Summer Hill Station with its homestead

located on the same site overlooking the river at the

northern end of the present Somerton village. Theinstigator was one Robert Pringle, whose influence

was felt in the valley for many years to come. Pringlewas born in Scotland in 1800, arrived in Sydney in1824 and first squatted at Rocky Creek, near Killar-ney Gap, in 1834. Pringle moved into the Peel Valleyas early as 1839, his first holding appearing to beSummer Hill Station, which he named the 1841

census lists 30 people in his household, 8 of them

children, and the majority of the rest seeminglyassigned (ticket-of-leave) convict servants working hisever-expanding estate. The original Pringle Stationhomestead (1840), predating the current BectiveStation homestead (1862), was built by the assignedconvicts. These men worked on the station during theday, returning to the settlement in the evening. Onthe river flat between the homestead and the present

bridge, was an impressive orchard, also worked by

convict labour. Which bore prolifically up until the

turn of the century. The English Blue Fig trees were a

feature of this orchard, and their fruit was oftenenjoyed by people travelling by horse or coach fromTamworth to Gunnedah. The 1864 and 1910 floods

destroyed much of the orchard, but the remnants

can still be seen (see photograph). There are signsof a further orchard a further kilometre or so down-

stream, close to the river. Mayne's buildings may wellhave been taken over for use by the occupants ofSummer Hill Station in subsequent years, which mayexplain the discrepancy between opposed claims that

the stone building down from the hill was used as astable or as a convict compound, (probably both areright, at different periods in time).

The road north from Murrurundi branched off

from the lower side of Duri across the Peel Valley to

Summer Hill, thence across the Peel River to Manilla

and beyond. The river was probably crossed at what isknown as Blaxland's Crossing, downstream of thepresent bridge. There was also a road through to Tam-worth in the 1840's, the forerunner of the OxleyHighway, the Somerton section of which was knownas the Summer Hill Road. The original road wouldappear to have followed the river flat between Bloom-field Street and the river. Bloomfield street later

became the main Tamworth-Gunnedah Highway, with

a road branching off to Summer Hill Station (laterScotland Street), about 1914; and later still BrookStreet, in 1937, now the present Oxley Highway.

^

K'-'I"'

s

! "I

All that remains today of the magnificent Summer Hill orchard, managed by convict labour inthe early days of the Somerton settlement. Most of the English Blue figs were washed away in

the 1864 and subsequent floods.

33

Pringle installed James Muggleton or possiblyMcLeod as manager of Summer Hill Station soon aftertaking up occupancy, apparently then residing himselffurther upstream at Bubbogullion, at the site of thepresent Bective Station complex. The property name issaid to be an aboriginal corruption of "Bobby'sGunyah", referring to Pringle's residence on thebanks of the Peel, sited on a bend in the river so that

he could look both up and down stream.

It is recorded that the AA Company carried outsome of its 'boiling - down' operations for the produc-tion of candle tallow on Pringle's property as early as1846. but it is uncertain whether this took place on

the Summer Hill or Bubbogullion section of his land.As sheep were selling for sixpence a head in the early1840's, and around 6 shillings could be gained frommelting down an average carcass, it was certainly asound economic proposition.

The name Summer Hill remained in regular use forthe village at least up until 1858, although by this timeit was also known by the alternative name of Somer-ton. The latter name was possibly first used as early as

1848.

Possibly the next resident of Summer Hill Stationwas John Freeman, who had been Potter MacQueen'sstockman near Breeza in 1832. It was Freeman whocountersigned Commissioner Edward Mayne's censusof the Liverpool Plains and the Peel River on July 20,1841, which would indicate that he was at least in theDistrict, possibly on Summer Hill Station, by thattime.

The Wells Gazetter of 1847 shows him as the

owner of Summer Hill Station, and it would appear

that by that time the property may have passed out ofthe control of the Pringle family.

In 1847, the tenure of a land lease was increased

to 14 years, so that anyone who had land leased in1847 had it tied up to 1861.

German's 1852 survey map shows "Bubbogullion,

R. Pringle" about where the present Bective Home-stead now stands, and a fenced paddock about 1. 2km

x 0. 3 km to 0. 6 km in width, extending from the

'gunyah' upstream on both sides of the river. Thisseemed to defy the law and that nobody was allowedto 'straddle' a stream.

Further, in German's 1 852 survey, he marks a linedue north from the mouth of Sandy Creek (4kmupstream from Somerton Bridge), labelled Menedebri-Bubbogullion boundary on the northern side of theriver. He has a note to say that the western boundary

of thp Bubbogullion run on the southern bank of thePeel was in dispute and is not yet decided on. Gormanmarks "Summer Hill, John Freeman" on the western

confines of the present Somerton village. Freeman'shouse, possibly that used earlier by Edward Mayneand the Border Police, was in the middle of a triang-

ular shaped paddock, the base being the river, aroundwhich the road had to deviate. About half a kilometre

from the river, around which the road had to deviate.

About half a kilometre from the river, and about one

••OflBB HBB8 B BO'B BBB a B B VS-STSWWS 8 66 fl B-B VS s's'sws'wvws < a a-a-8-B-ff'a-6-a-(»-fl-rimTfl-Ta-B-

Almost 400 people plan to return to Somerton for theCentenary Celebrations, comprising ex-pupils and ex-

teachers of . the school; ex-residents of the district,and their families. These include several from inter-

state — eg, Doreen Tivendale (Runaway Bay, Queens-land), Nev Cupples (Brisbane, Queensland), Margaret,William, Rosemary and {anelle Fletcher (Millmerran,Queensland), Nola Bulkeley (Mulgrave, Victoria),Pam Garrett (Brisbane, Queensland), Maurice Chalker(Hendra, Queensland) Ronald Porter (Elizabeth,South Australia), E, Stewart (Brisbane, Queensland),Dave Hey wood (The Gap, Queensland), Anne andGraham Bowtell (Page, A. C. T. ), Doreen Snellin(Stradbroke Island, Queensland),

Twelve months before the Somerton CentenaryCelebrations, in October, 1979, an Afternoon TeaGet-Together was arranged in the grounds of the localschool as a centenary promotion activity. Invitedwere a number of the older members of the Somerton

Community still residing in the district and amongst

those who attended were Clarrie Moffat, Col Cupples,Brace Cooper, Mary Avard, Mary Richard, Lucy

Harwood, Irene Cupp/es, Phy Ills Gore, Ena Scott,

Irene Baker, Eva Pettit, Barbara Maunder and MirrieHarwood, as well as a number of the present P & C

Association,

B.fl B B.t.U « a ^<L»JI ooBBBnanBBaa qjtft«_« oo a a o o a a an aJ{o o.K.M.ff » ».•-•-• BB. BBBBffBB 9.9.9.9 999.

34

kilometre on the Tamworth side of Somerton (aboutwhere the present Highway deviates from the formerone), Gorman marks on the edge of a small knoll"Sheep Station - R. Pringle". This was still in thebounds of the Somerton Reserve, so although Free-man was controlling Summer Hill, Pringle still had asheep station nearby.

It is significant that Summer Hill is not included asa run or station in the 1848 official GovernmentGazette. Only Menedebri and Bubbogullion are men-tioned, although Summer Hill was between them.Perhaps Pringle originally established his headquartersat Summer Hill, then moved his headquarters up-stream to Bubbogullion, whilst intending to retainSummer Hill. Cobcroft, the original holder on Mene-debri may have taken the opportunity to install hisown manager at Summer Hill as an outstation ofMenedebri,~thus the disputed boundary issue, as bothCobcroft and Pringle claimed Summer Hill.

john Freeman, co-signatory on Edward Mayne's1841 Census of the Liverpool Plains was perhaps thefirst manager of Summer Hill Station. He was later tobecome licensee of the Liverpool Plains Arms, Somer-tons first hotel.

It is interesting to note that John Freeman islisted as still being a resident of Somerton in Greville'sofficial Post Office Directory (1875-1877).

In August 1848 the Government Gazette providedthe first "comprehensive list of holdings in the PeelValley area, showing 20 runs under the control of 6lessess. Pringles Bubbogullion spread over 147,200acres around the proposed Bective village, and bythe early 1860's his leaseholdings mushroomed to amammoth 425,000 acres. However, during this timePringle must have encountered financial difficultii:sas'the Bank of Australia took over the title of both hisBobbogullion and Comoo Comoo runs from 1848 to1852.

Pringles 1848 holding would have included^ allcountry" bounded by Menedebri to the West, thej'eelRange to the South and the AA Company to the East.The Bubbogullion-Goonoo Goonoo boundary wasnear the 14 mile peg (22.5km) on the Tamworth-Gunnedah Road, near the present Campbell's Corner.The fence-Iine went from near Attunga right throughto Duri Peak.

An extract from the supplement to the N. S.W.Government Gazette of 19/9/1848 shows RobertPringle's claim to the lease of Bubbogullian as foll-ows:—

"Bounded on the east by the estate of the Austral-ian Agricultural Company, on the southern side of thePeel River, and by Attunga Creek on the northern sideof it; on the south by the Duri Range of mountains;on the west by a line thence to Peel's River, striking

. .^,e p^ T^en aro^ W ^^wsthe^^9 of50mertw •s fir5t pioneer'residence on Summer Hill Station, built in the early 1840's.

35

it at a point about 1 mile east of Mr. Cobcroft's hut(Menedebri) and by a line running north from thepoint where it receives Sandy Creek, to the range ofmountains dividing the Peel and Namoi Waters; and tothe north by that range".

In spite of the 1847 orders about straddlingstreams, the land extended across the river as far asthe top Attunga - Somerton road. On the total147,200 acres, all of which was leased, Pringle ran 70cattle, 11 290 sheep and paid an annual rental of27pounds-10-0 (about t800 in our present spendingpower-1980).

Pringle's water frontage was given as AttungaCreek. This information is intriguing because unless

his boundary was situated north of the present At-

tunga-Manilla Road, which is unlikely, his AttungaCreek frontage would have been supplied by Pringle,this water frontage may have been given to draw atten-tion away from the fact that he straddled the Peel.Pringle may have cunningly listed Bubbogullion northas one station (frontage - Attunga Creek) and Bubbo-gullion south as another (frontage - Peel River), mak-ing no mention of the fact that the two stations act-ually met at the Peel River, his land-holding thusstraddling the Peel River. Station-owners listed in theTamworth-Gunnedah-Manilla triangle in 1858 were

Cohen and Levy ('Tuckeraman'), Jenkins ('Woolo-moul'), Pringle ('Bubbogullion' or 'Bective'), Cobcroft,Dight ('Hunary Hill' and 'Carrolt'), Hamilton, Bell('Keepit'), and Baldwin.

In 1861 there was a land Act passed which enabled

any person to select 40 acres of land already leasedto a station, providing you could 'prove' that you

had made up a certain amount of 'improvement' to

the land. You could buy the 40 acres of land for 5

shillings deposit, with the remainder of 15 shillings peracre. Payable on fairly generous terms. Pringle was then

forced to buy some of the land that he was leasing

by a process of 'peacocking' - i. e. buying up all of the

most valuable pockets of land, and pieces with best

water-frontage etc. This placed other prospective

buyers at a disadvantage, and left much Bectiveintact. The Parish maps from around the turn of the

century show that much of the land was actuallybought by Pringle. By 1861, or soon afterwards, Prin-gle had purchased all of the land immediately adjacentto Somerton between the road and the river, both upand down stream and on both sides of the river. There

might be some truth in the story handed down thatPringle at one time was practically selling the shirt offhis own back toget money to buy more land.

The Robertson Land Act came into operation in

October 1861, but Pringte's land preservation strategy

was well established by that date. Prior to that date

he had pre-empted a total of 2,931 of some \<terystrategically placed land, giving him control of Bubbo-gullion's permanent water, as well as buying up all thesuburban farms and town allotments in the Somerton

reserve and later other areas from his run fronting the

Peel. Within a few months of the operation of the Act,

he made further pre-emptive 'purchases on Bubbo-

gullion, totalling 2334 acres, in seven portions ranging

from 209 to 773 acres at 1 pound per acre.

In this way, Pringle regained Summer Hill, and his

manager appears to have been one of his in-laws. JohnPritchard Inches, a grazier of Summer Hill, was a

brother of Mabella Inches, who was Mrs. Robert

Pringle. He had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Inches,who died of croup at 2 years 5 months in 1861

and was buried in the old Bobbogullion cemetery,

near the present Bective Station entrance. Frank and

Jim Inches, well-known names in early Somerton,

were both sons of John Inches, and hence nephews of

Robert Pringle. Frank was a bachelor, but Jim had a

daughter, Lillion Inches, who died a spinster in the1860's.

The first entry in the St. Pauls Church (West Tam-worth) Marriage Register records the fact that on Sept-ember 21, 1849, the Reverend E. Williams performedthe marriage of Batemour Smith and Euphemia Arnottat Summer Hill.

The Squatting Directories of 1865 and 1884shows that following acreages for the large holdings

in the District. (1865 acreage listed 1st, 1884 acreagelisted 2nd).

Attunga (42,240^3,700), Bective (80,000; 107,900), Carroll (28,000 ; 61,500), Durham Court( - ; 96,500), Keepit (25600 ; 83,480); Klori( - ; 17,800), Menedebri (40,320 ; 34,000), PRLMCo. (313, 298 ; 313298), Woolomoul (11,520 ;12,800), Piallaway (38,000 ; 177,600).

German's 1852 survey map marks, but does notname a rectangular reserve measuring from north to

south about 6 km and from east to west about 3 km,with the Peel River running just north of midway. The

western boundary is about 2km west of the presentPolice Station and the south-western boundary is

about 3 km south of the river. In 1855 part of thereserve was set aside for the town of Somerton. The

river formed the northern boundary and the dimen-

sions of the other boundaries were - western/2.25 km,souther/1.72 km and eastern/1.32km.

36

The first-known town map had three streets parall-el to the river — Bloomfield (the present Police Sta-tion), Scotland (the present Post Office) and Brooke(the present Highway). There were four cross-streets -Milkmaid (the present school), Joshua (the presentroad to the bridge), Grant (in which the SomertonHotel was situated) and Echo Street (west of Grantstreet). Other minor streets included Echo Street andPeel Street, but these latter names hardly survived pastthe surveyor's board and were not in common usage.Later maps (eg. 1891) showed, in addition, RockebyStreet, Yesterday Street, Chillon street, RochesterStreet and Chrarles Street, all running parallel toMilkmaid Street, all but two of which have now been

closed off.

The original map marked the teamster's routes.As mentioned earlier the main road divided at thewestern end of the village, one track going to SummerHill homestead and beyond, and the other to thesouth of the house. A shop (Swain's) was located onthe corner of Milkmaid Street and Bloomfield Streets

for many years after the highway had shifted toScotland, and later Brooke Street. Both tracks re-join-ed a short distance to the west of Summer Hill Home-stead, and continued parallel to the river for another400 metres, then divided again. One track continuedparallel with the river, and was labelled "To theNamoi etc. " — and the other crossed the river at a

point about 500 metres north-west of the hotel. It wasmarked "Good Ford", and was labelled "From Borah

Creek and Bingara", thus justifying the claim thatSomerton was a direct route to the North West.

Suburban lots were drawn up to the west of thetown while north of the river, and approxmiatley westof the present bridge, there were 67 suburban lots,ranging in size from 18 to 75 acres. Robert Pringlebought most of these in the north and western area,although in the latter part he had some competitionfrom James Swain and John Perfrement.

The earliest Post Office Directory listing house-holders in Somerton is that of 1867, which lists 14

names, as follows:—

Both Inches and Mccarthy were brothers-in-law of

Pringle.

The following description is made of Somertonin Greville' official Post Office Directory if 1875 -1877. " a post town in the electorate of LiverpoolPlains, police district of Tamworth, is distant fromSydney 273 miles northward. Routcsteam to New-castle, rail to Murrurundi, coach to Tamworth, thence22 miles. Office post only. Mails close at the G. P.O.on Thursdays and Saturdays at 9.30 p.m. and arriveon Saturdays at 11.00 a.m. and on Tuesdays at 5.30p.m. ; leave for Sydney on Tuesdays and Fridays at4.00 a.m. and arrive on Wednesday and Saturday

mornings. The district is a pastoral one, but manyselectors have taken up land there for farming pur-

poses.

The (male) householders listed as being resident inthe district at that time were as follows;

1875Jesse Avard jun; Alexander Anderson (Keepit);

Francis T. Adams; James Barnes (Farmer); JamesBendle (Carpenter); Thomas Benerd; John Bla^land(Squatter-Keepit); Thomas Bond (Bootmaker); W.Borthwick (Squatter); T. Brattan (farmer); DavidBrown (Menedebri south); Richard Brown (squatter),Thomas Brown (Bective); William Baker (sawyer);Arthur Blaxland (squatter-Keepit); Donald Cameron(Peel river); Dugald Cameron (stockman); ThomasCannon (shepherd-Bective); Benjamin Chapman;Richard Chapman (drover-Bective); John Coligan(Keepit); Michael Connolly (farmer-Peel River); j.Crotty jun. (carrier); John Crotty sen. (farmer-PeelRiver); T. Crotty (carrier); Edward Conlon (farmer-Keepit); Alexander Chapman (farmer); John Cupplessen. (farmer); John Cupples jun. ; Thomas Cupples;John Coolahan (selector-Keepit); W. Eggeston (boot-maker); Phillip Ewing (farmer-Attunga Creek); J.Falkner (store-keeper-Summer Hill); John Fitzgerald(carrier-Keepit); John Freeman; Charles Frindle(Keepit); R. F. Franklin (grazier); George Gardener(farmer); Thomas Gibson (sheperd); Rev. F. Gough;

r<nTB-r<nrB a 6 a ••'re a a B a « a-aTaTrinnnnrBTnn

David Arnott (shepherd - Bective), James Barnes(carrier - Somerton), Phillip Ewing (labourer - Bective),Joseph Freeman (labourer - Somerton), John Inches(farmer - Cawall Gap), Thomas Keating (labourer -Summer Hill), Thomas Mabbott (blacksmith - Somer-ton), Martin Murphy (labourer - Bective), HerbertMccarthy (superintendent - Summer Kill), RobertPringle (grazier - Bective), John Perfrement (grazier -Menedebril), Edward Swain (squatter - Menedebril),David Wiison (labourer - Bective), Thomas Woolaston(labourer, Somerton).

The question of relative size of floods always excitesan active debate. The following flood levels (max.heights) were recorded on the Namoi River at Gunnedahin the period 1900-1974.7 - Feb. 26, 1955 - 9. 06m, 2 - Jan. 16, 1910 -9. 40m, 3 - Feb. 2, 1971 - 8. 97m, 4-July 25, 1900 -8. 96m, 5 - Feb. 11, 1956 - 8. 84m, 6 - Jan. 15, 1964- 8. 59m, 7 - March 18, 1908 - 8. 65m, 8 - ] an. 8,1974 - 8. 52m, 9 - Oct. 26, 1955 - 8. 47m, 10 - July23, 1950 - 8. 33m, I 1 - July, 3, 1924 - 8. 23m.

S BOB 0 6 BO 0 00 CO » C B 00 OJU> B 0 OB <»,» B B Mjjf«f

37

Alexander Gardner (grazier-Keepit); John Gardner(grazier-Keepit); William Gayner (farmer); HumphreyGayner (farmer); Edward Hunt (farmer-Keepit)';James HOPkins (sawyer); John Inches (farmer-PeelRiver); W. Irving (squatter- Tulcumbah); William Irwin(selector), John Johnson (storekeeper-Keepit);Thomas Jones (carrier-Mount Seir); Robert Johnsto'n(selector); Thomas Keating (overseer-Bective); ThomasKelly (stockman-Bective); William Kingscott (squatter)Hugh King (farmer-Keepit); James King (farmer-Keep^it), John Lomey (Keepit); John McBean (driver-Bective); B. McCaffery (Farmer-Peel River); BernardMcCaffery (farmer-Peel River); Herbert 'Mccarthy(squatter-Summer Hill); John' McGrath (Keepi't)';John Maher sen. (farmer-Keepit); Martin Mahe'r(carrier-Keepit); John Maher jun. (farmer. Keepit);Michael Maher (farmer-Keepit); John Mulholland(shepherd); Thomas Mabbott '(blacksmith); DenisMcPhillamy^ Michael McCosker (farmer^Keepit)-;Thomas O'Brien (farmer-Peel River); Frank O'Har'a(butcher-Carroll Gap); James O'Neill' (farmer-Namoiriver); Robert Oness (shepherd-Keepit);'R. H. O'Kelly(selector); George Porter (farmer-Keepit);' GeorgePerfrement (farmer-Peel River); J. Perfrement (squat-ter-Menedebri north); Robert Rodd (squatter-Keepit);Joseph Reeves (carrier-Namoi River);-William Roberts'(grazier); Richard Rowland (storekeeper); JamesSmith carrier); Thomas Smith (stockman-Keepit);James Swain (Innkeeper); R. Skews; William Sander[sawyer); Phillip Smith (wheelwright); BenjaminSingleton; John Sims (carpenter);- John Skelton(teacher-Keepit), John Skelton jun. (farmer-Keepit};George Swain (squatter-Oakey Creek), James Swai'n(squatterOakey Creek); John Swain (farmer-OakeyCreek); Thomas Tattam ( selector); Joseph Verrie'r(sawyer); Patrick Walsh (shepherd-Bective); SamuelWard (carpenter); Jesse Wenban (carpenter) FpeterWiley (wellsinker-Bective); John Wilson (ga'rdener-summ6r Hill); George Woodley (sheperd-Bective);W. F. Woodley (Innkeeper); Thomas Warden; ThomasWoolaston; Thomas George Woolaston (selector);Charles Watson (selector).

By contrast, the resident householder listed in sub-sequent periods are as follows; (all taken from copiesof the N. S. W. Post Office Directory).

1906

Jesse Avard (farmer); G. S. Baker (farmer); RobertBaker (Somerton Hotel); Thomas Bowman '(farmer);David Brown (station owner); Richard Brown (graz-'icr); Capel Brothers (Menedebri north station);Thomas Chaffey (grazier); Thomas Cunneen (farmer);Thomas Cupples (farmer); Joseph Hatch (stockdealer); William Hood (farmer); F. John and JamesInches (graziers); N. C. Lawson (store); W. Leach(farmer); Fred Mabbott (farmer); Harold Mabbott(farmer); E. S. Man- (farmer); E. W. Marr (farmer);

H. Marr (farmer); Jason Marr (farmer); H. J. Maxwell(grazier); Geo. Miller (farmer); C.' Arthur" Neil(farmer); W. A. Nicholson (grazier); T. Nisbett(farmer); Jason Perring (farmer); Patrick Phelan(farmer); E. G. Ratliff (farmer); Wilfred Russell (farm-er); Thomas Sims (carrier); Harry Smith (farmer);Thomas Smith (farmer); William Verrier (farmer);Geo. Watts (farmer); Robert West (farmer); JamesWood (grazier); Geo. T. Woolaston (grazier);'JohnC. Woolaston (farmer); M. A. Woolaston (postmis-tress); A. & H. Woolaston (farmers); Sarah Woolaston(dressmaker); William C. Woolaston'(farmer).

The headstone on the grave of Robert Pringle,the driving force behind the early growth of

Bective Station.1914

Jesse Avard (farmer), E. C. Berthon (station manager);Herbert Betterson (farmer); David Brown (stationow"er); Richard Brown (grazier); E. A. Brown (pm);G W. Brown (store); H. Burling (Somerton Hotel);Thomas Carr (station manager); Thomas Chaffey(grazier); G. Coombes (farmer); Thomas Cunneen(farmer); Thomas Gore (farmer); G. G. Graham(farmer); Joseph Hatch (stock dealer); David Heugh(store): William Hoad (farmer); J. B. Inches (butcher);F. Inches (grazier); J. W. Lawson (grazier);W. Leach(farmer); G. S. Lister (farmer); L. L. Lloyd (grazier);

38

J. B. McGovern (farmer); Fred Mabbott (farmer);Harold Mabbott (farmer); J. A. Moffat (sawyer);Patrick Phelan (farmer); Pinnacle Dairy Co. ; G. Poet-schka (farmer; Thomas Smith (farmer); WilliamUrquhart (grazier); William Verrier (farmer); R. D.Walker (farmer); George Watts (farmer); Joe Watts(farmer); Mrs. H. Wilkinson (farmer); H. S. Wood(farmer); Jason Wood (grazier);W. J. Wood (farmer);Don Woolaston (farmer); G T. Woolaston (grazier);C. Woolaston (farmer); C. William Woolaston (farmer);

1934Jesse Avard (farmer); Thomas Avard (farmer); J. E.Brandon (farmer); A. Bright (farmer); R. N. Bright(firmer); C. R. Brown (grazier); David Brown (stationowner), j. S. N. Brown (grazier); ). 0. Brownhill(farmer); W. E, Bruce (teacher); E. A. & A. T. Chaffey(graziers); E. P. Chaffey (farmer); Keith Cooper (farm-er); Cowell Brothers (farmers); 0. Cruwys (farmer);William A. Davidson (farmer); Mrs. M. Dawson (farm-er); Keith D. Doyle (farmer); W. Druce (teacher);A. R. Ford (farmer); E. E. Goldfinch (farmer); F. L.Hoad (farmer); Joseph Hatch (stock dealer); A. H.lckeringill (farmer); F. H. Inches (grazier); J. B. Inch-es (auctioneer).

1948Thomas Avard (farmer); J. Barrett (farmer); F. Blax-land (farmer); J. E. Brandon (farmer); C. J. Bright(farmer); C. R. Brown (grazier); J. S. N. Brown (graz-ier); A. Burell (farmer); E. A. & A. T. Chaffey (graz-iiers); E. P. Chaffey (farmer); Keith Cooper (farmer);William A. Davidson (farmer); Mrs. M. Dawson (farm-er); Keith D. Doyle (farmer); F. Fullbrook (farmer);E. E. Goldfinch (farmer); F. L. Hoad (farmer); N.Horniman (farmer); A. H. lckeringill (farmer); F. H.Inches (grazier; J. B. Inches (auctioneer); WilfredKong (butcher); Joseph Lock (farmer); ). B.McGovern (farmer); A. J. Mcllroy (farmer); D. Morti-mer (farmer); T. Newman (farmer); Chas T. Norris(farmer); D. Pearson (farmer); Alien E. Roach (farm-er); William H. Roach (farmer); W. Scott (storekeeper)A. Sharp (farmer); P. Morgan (publican); W. Stewart(farmer); S. Swan (farmer; W. J. Tapp (farmer);G. L. Taylor (grazier); V. Thibault (farmer); R. D.Walker (farmer); R. Walsh (farmer); Joseph Watts(farmer); Thomas H. Woolaston (grazier); R. J. Wor-cester (farmer).

Jesse Avard was born around 1859 in the Singleton

area, and came from there to Somerton around 1873,

when only 13 yeears of age. He is believed to havetravelled up on his own, although his relationship with

Hannah Avard, wife of of James Swain, the local

publican from the early 1860's is not clear. It is re-

ported that he was held up by bushrangers on the way

north. He travelled in a cart pulled by horses and the

bell which was on the horse-team is still in the posses-

sion of the family. One of his sons reports that the

only tools he used to build his slab-hut were an adze,

handsome, home-made spirit level, hammer and nails.

The old slab-hut, part of the original residence prob-

ably built just short of one hundred years ago is stillstanding in Scotland street, but problems of finance

have thwarted an attempt to preserve the building asthe centre-piece in the grounds of Somerton PublicSchool.

The hut was built of hand-cut cypress pine slabs,with a corrugated iron roof, the timber being obtainedlocally. The residence was originally in 2 sections -living and eating area, joined by a catwalk. Most ofthe living area was blown down in about 1968, andthe rest has now disappeared. An interesting feature ofthe remaining portion is the gap cut into the topverandah beam to allow for jesse Avard to pass

through without hitting his head - he was about6'4".

He was a very clever man with his hands and could

play musical instruments, including the violin. Hisleatherwork was also a speciality, and he worked for

some time as a saddler and blacksmith in Somerton,as well as carrying on farming activities. He remainedilliterate throughout his life. Horses were indeed oneof his great loves and he trained several race-horses

over his lifetime, the stables being situated at the

western end of his building block (since disappeared).Two race-horses that come to mind are Odd Warren

and Hard Times, and it is recalled that he sometimes

led them behind a sulky to race-meetings held atCamden Park near Duri. 'Pop' Gore usually rodeOdd Warren. The return trip was approximately 60miles.

The first man mentioned in all but the last of

these Directory lists was Jesse Avard, of which I canhere give a pen-picture, which may throw furtherlight on the times through which he and many otherslike him lived in Somerton.

The first Tam worth-Gunnedah mail car, driven

by Mr. Greeson.

39

It is recorded in the Bective ledgers that JesseAvard was employed on Bective Station as a shearerand boundary rider in 1891, commencing in Januaryhe was paid 15 shillings a week, and for a period of4 weeks and 3 days he was paid a salary of 3 pounds-7-6. The manager at the time was Guy Smith and theoverseer James Starr.

Jesse raised a large family at his home in Somerton.Following his death in 1940, the house was left to hisson Tom Avard who later sold it to Bert Barnes. Geo.Avard is still alive, approaching 100 years of age atAllandale Private Hospital, Cessnock, and is the oldestliving ex-pupil of Somerton school. Other ex-pupilsof the school who lived in the house at some time

during its history, were Valerie, Heather and NyallCampbell and Denise King. The present owner of thehut is Mr. Barnes' niece, a Mrs. Potts.

Peter Avard, grandson of Jesse is a current residentof Somerton and he currently has two children (Fiona

-Year 4) and (Kylie - Year 2) attending the school atSomerton

Charles and Emily Wilkinson were also interestingresidents of Somerton, and like many other families,they had their share of hard times. Emily Wilkinson,to many of her friends "Toots" or "Aunty Toots"

was a hard-working Christian woman and midwife.

Although she bore eight children of her own, she wasalways on call, day or night and in that era probablyattended more confinements than any other doctor

in the district. Many times leaving home by horse andsulky, she kept late hours and was sometimes away

for days at a time, mostly for little or no fee. Manypeople owed their lives and thanks to her. CharlesWilkinson, or "Old Charlie" was a shearer and contractfencer. He and one of his sons held shearers stands for

some years in Bective shearing shed and two othersons were employed as shed hands. Bective shearingshed was one of the largest in the state in the earlierpart of the century, consisting of 32 stands. With hissons, he also carried out many fencing contracts onBective Estate and surrounding properties. Onecontract was for 8 miles of rabbit-proof fence, for60 pounds a mile, this being the Bective boundaryfence fronting the Tamworth-Gunnedah main roadfrom one mile wast of Somerton to one mile east of

Bective homestead. Charlie was also an old-time

musician and many times helped out at Somertondances with his button accordion and concertina. In

his younger years he also played the violin and mouthorgan. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson had three sons serve inthe A. 1. F. during World Warr II and during those yearsthey themselves moved to Tamworth.

"-•. -.^

The present Smith residence at Campbell's Corner, midway between Tamworth and Somerton.It is a renovation of the original 'stopover' Inn, buillt in 7876, for the Cobb and Co. coaches

travelling between Tamworth and Gunnedah.

40

Another perspective of Somerton history can begained from a study of the Somerton cemetery. Thereare reports of a grave having been unearthed on thenorthern side of the river, which may belong to anearlier burial site, but burials at the present towncemetery date back to a least 1886, and probably earl-ier, as there is some visual and verbal evidence thatunmarked graves were not uncommon in the earlierdays. The oldest recorded burial was that of ThomasC. Woollaston in 1886, aged 18 and the cemeterywould appear to have been last used in 1851 for theburial of Evelyn 0. Chaffey, aged 56.

Somerton cemetery is situated about a mile southof the village and was dedicated on July 30th, 1875.It contains about V/i acres. As buggies and sulkieswere the only forms of conveyance and no hospitalwas available, most of the Somerton residents died athome.

It is recalled that a horse-drawn hearse was beingused as late as the 1920's, with the burial of Mrs.Verrier (no headstone).

The hearse would be a sprung coach and the burialservice would be read by a mourner and then the bodywould be interred in the Somerton cemetery.

Others to be buried in the in the cemetery over theyears include;

Hugh Cameron - 1889 (60); George Ernest Woola-ston - 1890 (1 year 10 months); Thomas Woolaston -1891 (83); Clara Urquhart - Mary Richard's mother -1898 (33); Martha Setchfield - 1899 (74); SamuelJohn Woollaston - 1901 (40); Mary Ann Woolaston -1905 (70); David James Maxwell -1 908 (45); HannahCoombes - 1909 (37); Gordon Woolaston - 1910 (7);Frederick Wood - 1913 (5 months); John CharlesWoollaston - 1922 (57); Eliza Wood - 1922 (75);John Wood • 1923 (77); George T. Woolaston - 1929(71); Alice E. Woolaston - 1944 (82).

The first mail service passing through Somertonstarted around 1855. John Gill had the contract fora mail service once weekly by horseback from Tam-worth to Carroll to Gulligal (on the western bank ofthe Manoi between Gunnedah and Boggabri -virtuallydestroyed in the 1864 flood). The contract was for144 pounds a year. (approximately $3800 at today'sprices).

66 YEARS OLD AND RAPIDLY

APPROACHING OUR OWN CENTENARY!

MAX & KIM STEWART OF

.^.SfewWS^.A UCTIONEERS, STOCK & STA TION AGENTS

Congratulating Spmerton on attaining its centenary andthank the Somerton folk for their support over the years— We look forward to a continuing association for'the

next one hundred years.

41

A coach service from Tam worth to Gunpedah

possibly started in the 1870's. The present Campbell'sCorner, about midway between Tam worth and Somer-ton, was a stopping point, and the House (hotel) therewas built in 1 876. The coach also stopped en route atBective homestead and Somerton, before travellingon to Carroll and Gunnedah. By 1883 the coach ser-vice ran three times weekly - down one day and backthe next. A total of 1, 141 pounds was spent on road-work between Tamworth and Somerton in 1891. and

another 768 in 1892. The coach continued to oper-ate until around World War 1, Jim Pool being thecoachdriver, after which it was replaced by motorisedtransport, (see photograph of Greerson's Mail car).The original coach was drawn by four horses, andtravellers could embark at the Somerton Hotel for a

meal. The team of horses was changed at Mr. Inchesstables, in Joshua Street, while Miss Wood 'boiledthe billy' Mail was dropped off at the Post Office/Store on the corner of Grant and Scotland Streets.

The advent of the railway to Tamworth on Oct-ober 17, 1878 and to Gunnedah on September 16,1879 opened up marketing facilities for a large tract ofhigh-potential farming land in the North West, andwheat-growing districts like Somerton, now had im-

proved access to the coastal markets. Local district

consumption had not permitted anything near maxi-mum cultivation levels, and record acreages were seed-ed with wheat in anticipation of the arrival of therailway.

Older residents will remember well the visits of thePicture Show Man to Somerton. Mr. Gordon arrivedin his old-covered truck about every 2 months and theshows were very popular. The films were shown in theold hall which stood as late as 1946 in Hagan'sPaddock on the highway (Brooke Street). The hall wasconstructed of corrugated iron, and comprised an aud-itorium, stage, 2 dressing rooms and a supper room.The hall was usually packed out, accommodating about60 people, and the films were shown directly off theback of the truck. Silent movies were the order of the

day and included Charlie Chaplin movies.

Mr. Gordon's advertising slogan was "North,South, East and West - Gordon's Pictures Still the

Best". Clarrie Moffat can recall rewinding the film forMr. Gordon for the sum of one shilling when he was ayoung boy. The Magic Lantern Show was another thatvisited Somerton occasionally.

One of the more interesting variations in the farm-ing history of the district was the tobacco-growing onMenedebri, Old Menedebri and Bectjve Stations, whichcommenced in the early 1930's. Irrigation was pro-vided by an old charcoal fired suction-gas pump (12"bore) on Menedebri Station. Water was pumped from

the river along tarred wooden irrigation pipes andearth channels. A number of Chinese labourers wereemployed on the tobacco project at Old Menedebri.Good quality tobacco was produced, but the ventureproved eventually unprofitable, being unable tocompete with the American product. Amongst thoseworking on the tobacco were Herb, Garnett, Walter,Ernie, Tom and Frank Wilkinson, Bill and Carl Smith,Charlie Aiken and Charlie Mook.

A little-known fact is that the first hanging in theold Tamworth Gaol, on June 23, 1876, was that ofa Somerton resident, Michael Connolly, listed as a'farmer. Peel River, Somerton in the 1875 Post OfficeDirectory. An extract from the Tamworth Observer of28/6/1876 reads - "The morning of Wednesday last,23rd June, will long be remembered in connectionwith the history of Tamworth. On that date was,carried into effect, for the first time in the district,the extreme penalty of the British law, the subjectbeing the body of one Michael Connolly, who wassentenced to death at the last Quarter Sessions byacting - Judge Davis, for the murder of his wife atSomerton. Connolly had been transported toTasmania in 1848 as a convict for 14 years penalservitude. After serving his sentence he became a free-selector.

R. & 1. SCUTT

FARM & STATION SUPPLIES

233 Manilla Street,

Manilla.

Telephone: 85 1565

Congratulations Somerton from

COHEN'S CHEMIST396 PEEL STREET,

TAMWORTH. - Ph. 66 2091

For all presciption dispensingRevlon, Orlane & Mary QuantCosmetics

Photographic and Photo fin ishing.

42

/ . r- '€^ ;

i. - • . ^ ^^

Probably the oldest standing residence in the Somerton district - an old brick cottage ithe Peel River on "Murrami" dating back to the 1870's.

Phone 697567

SOMERTON MOTORSOXLEY HIGHWAY SOMERTON

REPAIRS TO ALL TYPES OF MOTORVEHICLES

On Farm Repairs to Farm Machinery,Oxyand Electric Welding

Diesel Engines and Stationary Engines

V. A. JONES, Prop,

43 [

! I

i ?!!

A section of the map of the Colony of New

South Wales drawn by Sir Thomas Mitchell

(Survey or-General of New South Wales) in1834. It shows the Liverpool Plains and Peel

Valley region, largely explored by Mitchell in1831, Somerton is listed by the aboriginal

name 'Goora', and the Muluerindie River wasthe original name for the Namoi.

\

\-..

^'y. '\W'l. ^ ' ^•\ ^^Y

/ \^ . ^,. .JC"st'f^W^U.h^.^^w

-'--;<" fx\-> " ^"

'V

'\

44

FAMILY HISTORIES

The Swain Family The Woolaston Family

Along with many other pioneer families, the nameof Swain has been synonymous with Somerton districtfor a very long time.

The Swain children who at present attend theschool are seventh-generation Australians, the originalSamuel Swain having arrived in Australia around 1832.His grandsons George and James Swain followed thebuilding of the railway line through as young men,setting up business at jump-Up Creek near Lochinvarand later at Wallabadah. James married Miss HannahAvard at Murrurundi.

The two brothers set up partnership and purchasedthe property of South Menedebri, Somerton. Theydisposed of the property in 1869 and purchased theSomerton Inn, which was managed by Mr. and Mrs.James Swain, George Swain and his family moving toMoonbi.

Mr. and Mrs. James Swain left Somerton to iive ontheir property at Carroll for a while but later returnedto Somerton Inn where Mr. Swain died. Mrs. Swaincarried on the business for many years. She died inTamworth in 1930, but she lived long enough to seeher son return to the family property "Kilphysic".This property is still carried on by her great-grandson.

It is interesting to note that James Swain'sdaughter Adelaide Kate was married to Samuel JamesPerfrement at St. Mark's Church, Somerton, in1878. S. j. Perfrement was the owner of North Mene-debri. After the marriage they went to live on "Oak-leigh" Piallaway which is still owned by their descend-ants.

The present six Swain pupils at Somerton Schoolare the great-great grandchildren of George Swain,one of the partners who owned the Somerton Inn inthe 1800's.

In 1808 John Woolaston, cabinet maker of Bir-mingham, England, and his wife had a son Thomas.Thomas emigrated to Australia and married MaryAnne Baker who was born in Gloustershire in 1835.They settled at Narrabri. Each time Mary Anne wasabout to have a child she rode a horse to Maitland,staying with the Clift family at Breeza on the way.It was little wonder that the first few babies did notsurvive. A daughter Mary Anne survived for threemonths in 1855 and in 1858 George Thomas wasborn followed by Samuel John, in 1861, Harriet(later Hatch) in 1863, John Charles in 1865, ThomasClaverdon in 1868, Sarah (later Lawson) 1870, andWilliam Capewell in 1873. Thomas and Mary Annesettled for a time at Wandabar Station, Curlewis butcame to work at 'Menedebri', Somerton when many oftheir cattle died of anthrax. They later opened atstore in Somerton, near to where Swans now live,which has since burnt down. Mary Ann was to beSomenon's first Post Mistress. Thomas and Mary Annewere both finally buried in Somerton.

George Thomas, their eldest son, was to marryAlice Evelyn Bignall, who was born at Dungog. Theylived miles from Somerton on the property 'War-minster'. George was a teamster who carried woolfrom Walgett to Maitland and station supplies in tnereverse direction, AtWarminster the following wereborn - Ethel, 1883, Thomas Henry, 1885 (marriedLillian Heugh), Amy 1886 (married Ken McLennan),Ernest (dec. ), Elsie, 1889 (married Guy Proctor).The family then moved to the property 'Caloola'on a land settlement plan of 5,000 acres. There thefoliowing were born - Gladys (married David Web-ster), Evelyn (married Ernest Chaffey), Florence(married Graham Hardacre), Amelia (married KeithCooper) and Gordon (dec. ). Later the property'Keelendi' was bought from Bective and GeorgeThomas built there. The property 'Stratharlie' wasthen acquired.

The Woolaston family is represented in Somertontoday by Thomas and Robert and their families. Theboys are grandsons to Thomas Henry and LillianWoolaston and Robert's children, Emma and Alex the

sixth generation of Woolastons to live in the Somertondistrict.

45

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46

The Brown FamilyIn 1868, the well known Somerton district prop-

erty was purchased by brothers Richard and DavidBrown. Richard was to have three children, Noel(born 1885, died 1951), Roy (born 1887, died'197-3)and Dorothy (born 1890, still living). Noel, Roy andDorothy zll attended the Somerton Public Schoolfrom 1890 to 1899. Noel and Roy together with theirfather, later bred trotting horses and were very suc-cessful racing one particular horse in New Zealand.

During the 1940-s they bred blood horses havinga very successful sire called 'Final Victory'. Noel wasto marry Ida May Wightman in 1910 and five children:Joyce, Cyril, Nigel, Sheila and Nancy were born.'

Roy Brown married Lilla Brown in 1927 andMargaret, Merryll and Jean were born. Roy Brownsold his portion of 'Menedebri' in 1958 and retired toSydney. Dorothy Brown married Stewart Beit andPeter (dec. ), Donald and Patricia were born.

Noel Brown settled at Weabonga for twelve yearsfoliowing his marriage and was President of CockbumShire for a time. Noel's two sons, Cyril and Nigel,attended Somerton School from 1924 to 1928. NigelBrown died while a prisoner of war in Borneo'in1945. Cyril Brown married Elizabeth Dowe andLynne, Robert and James were born in 1949, 1951and 1954 respectively and attended the SomertonSchool from 1954. Lynne has since married PatrickElliot and lives in Sydney with daughter, SalleyElizabeth. The Brown family is represented in theSomerton district today by Robert, his wife Narelleand son Daniel at 'Kilmeston' and James, wife Deniseand daughters Rachel and Michelle at 'Moorawara'.

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47

The Chaffeys fromLottery Va/e

Lottery Vale was first settled in 1887 by ThomasA. Chaffey in what was believed to be the first landballot in N. S.W. He was a son of William AdolphusChaffey who was born at Martok in Somerset, Eng-'land, emigrated to Australia and settled at Rock View,KootingaL Thomas married Patience Swam whosefather was licencee of the Somerton Hotel. They hadfive children; Earnest, born 1890 who went of livingat Lottery Vale after serving in the A. l. F. in WorldWar 1; Hannah Amelia, born 1892, married WilliamDavidson and lived at Clermont Park, Somerton;Colin, born 1. 896, died 1898; Arthur, born 1899who married Marjory Chenery and lived at Trelawney(where John Morgan now lives) had three daughters,Gwen, Peg and Wendy; Edna, born 1904, marriedDwurt Stone and lives in Sydney.

Lewis William Gardner was born at Combogolongin 1859 and married Elizabeth McDonald who wasborn at Young in 1 862. The couple had nine children,one of whom", Hilton (known as George) moved toSomerton district from Muswellbrook. He wasborn^atGulargambone in 1892 and married a Somerton girl,Olivia Hatch who was born in 1895.

This couple had seven children; Laurence (dec. ),Arthur (dec. ), Thelma (Coles) Mack Una and Fay(Goldthorpe and McDonald) and Ronald Theirmother Olivia Gardner passed away in 1971 havingbeing predeceased by her husband Hilton, in 1964.Laurie'married Laurel Wilkinson. Laurie passed awayin 1974 and his widow (Laurel) has now settled inTam worth.

Earnest married Evelyn Woolaston from Keelendiand they had four children who attended Bona VistaSchool; Max, now living at Donggala after serving inthe R. A. A. F. in World War 11. He had five children,Lynette, Robert, Wayne, Carmen (dec. 5 days), andSonya, all of whom attended Somerton school andRobert has settled at Donggala. Ross, who lived atTrelawney after Arthur moved to Tamworth, hadthree son's, David, Roger and Peter, who all attendedSomerton school. Ross sold Trelawney to John Mor-gan and moved to Nebo in Queensland where he drewa block of land. Joan, who now lives at Kyeambanear Wagga. lan, who continues to live at LotteryVale had" two sons, John and Kim who attendedSomerton school. John has now returned to LotteryVale.

The Gardnet FamiSy

The Gardner family are represented in Somertontoday by their two sons Barry and Noel, their wivesMary and Jancie and four children, Maria, Lonnie,David and Donna. A third son Gary, resides inTamworth with his wife jenny and their two childrenTeresa and Leslie.

Justin and Robyne Flannery wouldlike to congratulate Somerton Schoolon obtaining their centenary and wish

all pupiis well for their future:

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48

BECTIVE SOLDIERS' SETTLEMENTAs one travels west from Tamworth along the

Oxley Highway, at the foot of the ten mile hill, thereis a sign on the left pointing south which says - "Bect-ive Soldiers' Settlement". Sixty Three years ago thatsign was not there as it was all Bective Station.

As the Diggers returned from the 1914 - 1918

war, our Government decided to resume parts of thevast stations that land-locked towns and villages andsettle returned soldiers on these blocks.

Bective Station controlled large areas of land sothe decision was reached to throw open the land onthe southern side of the Oxley Highway extendingfrom the thirteen mile (approx. ) to the twenty milepeg. There were forty three blocks each eager to makea success of their block. There was no easy way. Theycame with their axes, picks and shovels and fencedtheir blocks. They built their homes, brought theirwives and reared their families. They formed anAssociation called the "Bective Soldiers Settlers".

Their meetings were held under a large apple tree inKeith Doyle's block near Sandy Creek. Here theydiscussed their grievances. In 1922, the Right Hon-ourable William M. Hughes the Prime Minister ofAustralia, attended one of their meetings andaddressed . the settlers. The soldiers felt very honouredby his visit.

The men endured many hardships at that time -carting water, bad roads, coping with horse teams,furrow ploughs, kerosene lamps and hessian coolsafes. Some prospered and some did not, but allwere united in a spirit of friendship and comradeship.Today this land is one of the most productive in theTamworth District. There are only eight blocks stillowned by the families of the first settlers - Cooper,Doyle, Avard, Roach (2), Heyman, Rowland andOrman. Two of the old Diggers still live on — OscarScott and Orlando Heyman. Mrs. Myra Dawson,whose husband died in 1928, carried on with workingthe farm and made a success of it. All three live in

Tamworth and all are well up in their late eighties.

Footnote:

Bective Station owner J. S. Vickery had sold off22,000 acres (44 farm blocks) in 1910, followed byanother 2,000 acres in 1911, prior to the 30,000 acresresumed for the Soldiers' Settlement in 1918. Subse-

quent sales reduced the size of Bective still further,so that Vickery's 90,000 acres and 100,000 sheep atthe turn of the century, had been reduced to a little

more than 5,000 acres and 3,000 sheep in the mid1960's. By 1960 his great-grandson, J. R. Vickery hadabandoned sheep altogether to concentrate on cattle,for which he has introduced lot-feeding.

SOLDIERS' GROUP PURCHASEAREA No. 15, 1918-19

Purchase number 1 Ernest W. Campbell, Portionnumber (160); 2 William E. Stringer (162), 3 JamesH. Horneman (162); 4 Cullen J. Browne (163);5 JohnH. Bryant (166); 6 W. G. H. Orman (167); 7 OrlandoS. Heyman (168); 8 George A. Heyman (169); 9 J. M.Heyman (170); 10 Ernist A. Roach (171); 11 ErnestK. Cruwys (172); 12 John 0. Harding (173); 13Archibald Anderson (174); 14 Joseph Lock (176);15 Percy Nicholl (178); 16 George Rowland (179);17 Alec Hole (181); 18 Oswald Pankhurst (182); 19Edmund Isaacs (183); 20 William Lane (184); 21Robert Miller (171); 2 Clifford Cruwys (172); 23Frank E. Wilkinson (173); 24 Gore E. Stewart (174);

25 William H. Roach (175); 26 Keith D. Doyle (176);27 Oscar C. Scott (177) 28 Keith Cooper (178);29 Thomas H. Avard (183); 30 James 0. Brownhill(184); 31 William W. Stewart (185); 32 Arthur Moeller(186); 33 Arthur J. Mcllroy (187); 34 James E. Smith(189); 35 William J. Ward (190); 36 Norman C. Scott(191); 37 Darcy C. Baker (192); 38 Richard Dawson(193); 39 William A. Girdler (195);. 40 William R.Morriss (196); 41 William K. Nolland (135);42 JamesA. Jenson (136); 43 Hilton A. Wilkinson (63).

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The peace and quiet of a country road was shattered one day in 1908. A horse-drawn lorry was taking60 dozen bottles of cordial to Lister's store at Somerton. When passing through Somerton Gap the horsesbolted and of the 720 bottles only two remained unbroken.

49

The Go/d Expeditions of1903 and 1935

On July 28, 1903, Mr. Joe Hatch of Somerton, asone of the Van Strake Expedition, started from AliceSprings with camels to explore the McDonald Rangesand the barren country that lies between there and themining centres of Western Australia. On ChristmasDay, 1903, after five months of incredible privationMr. Hatch and another member of the party staggeredback to civilization at Duketown near Laverton. TheParty's leader. Miller, had perished in the desert.

It was during the worst of the party's hardshipsthat )oe Hatch "stumbled on his El Dorado,^ whichfrom all accounts may have been the wonderful findsupposed to have been made by Lassetter and knownas' 'Lassetter's Reef. )oe had been desperatelysearching for water and detached from the others,came across a fabulous reef of gold which stood outof the ground to a height of two feet and stretchedaway for a distance of perhaps half a mile until it lostitself in a mountain. In desperate need of water, )oecould do nothing beyond picking up a nugget the sizeof a potato, carving his initials in a nearby tree andtaking stock of the general geographic Features of thearea.

]oe Hatch slept on his dream of returning forthirty two years until in 1935 a Tamworth Syndicatewas formed for the purpose of relocating his find.The 1935 expedition, led by Joe. Hatch, comprisedIvan Jensen, Jim McNight and Laurie Gardner. Theytravelled to the sight via Broken Hill, Port Augusta,Kalgoorlie and Laverton in two specially recondition-ed utilities. After almost a month of searching in anarea three hundred and fifty miles from Laverton theyreturned to Tamworth, unsuccessful but greatlyenriched by their adventure.

George Thomas Woolaston (left) and hisbrother-in-law Joseph Hatch who led

the gold expeditions.

In 1938, )oe Hatch by now an old man, returnedwith an expedition led by Frank Maher. This party,plagued by dry waterholes, unmanageable camels andthe illness of )oe Hatch was also forced to returnempty-handed.

Members of the expeditlonary party which searched for gold in Central Australia,'including Mr. Joseph Hatch (Somerton Resident), second from right.

50

KEEPITDAMThe function of "firing the first shot" in the

construction of Keepit Dam was performed by thePremier of N. S. W., the Hon. Alex Moir, on April30th, 1938. About 300 people were present. Alreadya good serviceable road, including a high-level bridge,had been constructed from the Oxley Highway,beginning at a point mid-way between Carrol I andSomerton, over the Peel River to the site of the dam.

A number of cottages, barracks, workshops and officeshad been built.

After the opening ceremony construction workproceeded a pace and by 1941 between 300 and 400

men were employed on the job. At this junctureJapan threatened Australia with invasion and the

building of dams was forgotten for nearly four years.During the war much of the work done disintegratedand became useless or nearly so. Further, the problemof sitting created a necessity for recasting constructionplans.

Keepit Dam was finally completed in October,1966, after monumental delays stretching over twentyyears.

A lot of Somerton men were employed on theworks and at one time there were only four workingmen in Somerton, the rest being involved in work onthe dam. When work on the dam's site re-commenced

after the war in 1945 most of the Somerton men

worked their periods from three to seven years. Thisgave a real boost to Somerton.

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51

HISTORY— SOMERTON HOTELThe earliest record of a public house in Somerton

goes back to 1848, it being the Liverpool Plains Arms,the licensee being John Freeman, presumably also theoriginal manager of Summer Hill Station. In that yeara licensing court was set up for the first time in Tam-worth and a total of nine hotels were licensed in anarea extending from about Barraba to Currabubula,including the afore-mentioned. This was a mere 30years after John Oxley had found his way into thePeel Valley.

Freeman's Inn would appear to be the fore-runnerof the Somerton Hotel, which came under the controlof James Swain at least as early as 1865, and remainedin his hands for many years thereafter. It wouldappear as though James Swain employed licenseeswhile engaging in farming activities ar Carroll. AlfredMcKenzie was listed as publican in 1869, during re-presentations for establishment of a Post Office, aswas Thomas Crotty in 1876, during representationsfor the establishment of a school. Crotty was thecentre of a well-publicised court case held in Tam-worth. Both he and William McFarlane, anotherSomerton resident were charged with stealing a

' bullock from the somewhat unpopular squatter

Alexander Rodgers, of Attunga Station. The jury aslocked up until midnight and emerged to pronounceboth defendants guilty, a surprise decision in thosedays as the verdict in these 'selector v squatter'courtcases invariably went in favour of the former, whichusually had popular public support.

Thomas Barr may also have been a licensee in thisinterim period, prior to James Swain taking overoccupancy again in th el ate 1870's, remaining until hisdeath in 1884. Mrs. Hannah Swain (nee Avard) thencarried on in the business for many years.

An interesting story has been handed down fromwhich is recounted here;

^w.^. :".."One June day, James Swain was in Tamworth

serving on the jury, leaving his wife in charge of thehotel. A young man, who Mrs. Swain barely knew,came in to cash a large cheque which he claimed wasfor his Keepit Station wages. Although she had hersuspicions, Hannah Swain cashed the cheque. As theday wore on her suspicions deepened, so at about4.30 p.m. she saddled a horse to ride to her husbandin Tam worth.

Having ridden for about 9 miles, it was completelydark. The horse shied and twisted around several times

so that she completely lost all sense of direction, theroad then being no more than a track winding throughscrub. After a while she perceived a light and rocFetowards it. It was the home of Mr. and Mrs. JamesWhinfield. They persuaded her to stay for the night,and at her request, woke her about 4.30 next morning.After a quick breakfast she resumed her journey toTamworth; reaching there just as the sun was rising.She made for the Post Office Hotel where her husbandwas staying and told him the story. Also staying there

52

Somerton Hotel in the early 1900's on the corner of Grant and Bloomfield Streets.The Police Station can be seen in the (left) background.

!. _ -> ... . .. . - -. -..^'aui - ^ ^^ •

AV^-

Part of the Historical Display at the Somerton Centenary Celebrations is on exhibition of period costumein the Primary classroom. It has been arranged by Stewart Halbisch, an art teacher at Peel High School,who was been collecting the fashion of yesteryear for about six years. Hisextensive collection dates backto the 1830's and most of the pieces have been restored by Mr. Halbisch to near original condition.

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Congratulate the SomertonSchool on its 100 years ofvaluable public service.

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Robert Pringle had a family of two daughters, Mabella Winton Pringle and Catherine jeanette Pringle.The former 'married Herbert McCarthy and they are believed to have lived in the stately stone homesteadat Summer Hill. After the death of her husband, she married a grazier, Philip Parker Macarthur King,o son of Philip Gidley King - grandson of Governor King, superintendent ofGoonoo Goonoo Station andTamworth 's first mayor.

53

v

€v "-*.

u

^

*•».(

i*f

was John Perfremeni. The young man under suspicion

had already arrived by coach and was staying at the

same hotel, waiting to catch the train to Sydney.James Swain went to the man's room, and while he

was speaking to him, within the room, John Perfre-

ment kept pacing up and down the corridor just out-

side the young man's room with a heavy, rhythmical

tread of which any policeman would have been proud.

The man confessed — the cheque was a forgery. Ashe appeared to have a genuine hard-luck story James

Swain allowed him to keep enough money to pay his

hotel expenses to buy a ticket to Sydney and to stay

at a boarding house till he found work but recovered

the rest. Hannah Swain returned to Somerton bycoach, the horse tied on behind."

(Although not having an exact date for this inci-dent, it would have been post - 1878, as this was

the year that the railway arrived in Tamworth).

During the Swain occupancy local legend stronglysupports that the well-known bushrangerThunderboltpaid a visit to the Somerton Inn and received a meal

there. It is recorded that in December, 1865, Thunder-

bolt engaged in a brief but spirited shootout atGriffin's hostelry at Carrollj wounding one of two

policemen in the arm.

Following James Swain, William Jones became

licensee, and during the 1890's the licensee wasThomas Flett. Hall's Post Office Directory of 1901lists T. Tickle as the licensee, whilst Robert Baker is

listed as licensee by the N. S. W. Post Office Directory

of 1906. This was the year that the hotel was burnt

down, being rebuilt by Frank Inches who also ran the

business. The 1914 Post Office Directory lists H.

Burling as the licensee.

In 1891, there died at Somerton a very old resident

in the person of Thomas Woolaston who had conduct-

ed the Somerton Hotel for many years and was a veryprominent resident of the town.

Somerton was of course on the old coach-route

between Tamworth and Gunnedah, the coach makinga daily trip, in alternate directions - i. e. to Gunnedah

one day, back to Tamworth the next. En route from

Tamworth the coach stopped at Campbell's Corner,

Bective Station and Somerton, before proceeding on

to Carroll Gap and Gunnedah. Meals for the travellers

were provided at the Somerton Hotel, while the horses

were being changed.

Somerton Hotel was also a regular accommodation

stopover point for horse-travellers between Tam worth

and Gunnedah in the early days. An instance of this

was the Tamworth Cricket team, travelling byWakely's Horse Bus, stopping off at the Hotel enroute to Gunnedah on the Friday night and again late

on the Saturday night (on the return trip), followingtheir match in Gunnedah.

Licensees other than those listed above were (notin chronological order) - Messrs. Dooley, Winter,Brady, Arneil, Woolaston, Dowe, Mills, Magill,

Morgan, Spicer, Myers, Wilson, Roach, Wrigney,Chappel, Ellis, Renfrew, Dalgleish, Waterman, Reid,

Nagle and Hayes.

An attempt was made to transfer the hotel license

elsewhere in 1941-42, but a court case was won bylocal residents Harold Swan, Wilfred Kong and NormHorneman, retaining the license in the village.

It is believed that the Somerton Hotel was one of

the first buildings in the village to be lit by electricity,with an imported 240 V power plant being used there,at least as early as the 1930's.

Somerton Inn, when William Jones was the proprietor. The woman with the two children is Mrs. Jones and the tallestchild (on her right) is Sarah Woolaston (who married Bill Woolaston). The woman in the white apron is Mrs. Kong

(Wildred's mother). On Mrs. Kong's right is Joe Mabbott.

54

Prior to World War 1, two of the most regularvisitors to the Somerton Hotel were Bruce Mabbot and

Joe Brown. Mr. Mabbot a bachelor lived with his

parents on a farm between Hoads, and Chaffeys on the

Attunga Road and was employed in seasonal work.

When not working he rode to Somerton Hotel every

afternoon, arriving around 1.30, and remained untilabout 5 in the winter or until 6 o'clock (closing time)in the summer. During the war he got a job out at

Keelendi, and from then on he came every Saturdayevening, returning on Sunday around 11.30, and stay-ing on for the midday meal and leaving again around

3 p.m. to tend to the calves and milking at Keelendi.When there was a dance or any entertainment on aSaturday night he would pen the calves up before heleft and have his evening meal at the hotel.

Between the two wars on the main entertainments

at the Hotel was the playing of cards (usually euchreand crib), especially on a Saturday nightj and it was

quite common to see 3 or 4 games going on at once.The games were played for drinks, losers to 'shout'. In

those days a beer cost sixpence and if the winnerwanted to buy a more expensive drink, he had to paythe difference. Some of the regulars were B. Moffat,J. Brown, F. Inches, J. Inches, J. Avard, A. Roach,A. Woolaston, ). Hatch (Jnr.), 1. Cupples, S. Swan,J. Harwood, C. Wilkinson, J. Brownhill, ). Gore, J.Lawson, C. Moffat, D. Willis and N. Campbell. Onoccasions Messrs. J. McGovern and F. Inches playedchess for hours at the hotel.

to find that someone had unharnessed the horse, taken

it into the adjoining paddock, and reharnessed it withthe sulky on one side of the fence and the horse onthe other. It is not recorded what response this evoked

in the unfortunate patron!

A less savoury tale came from much earlier times

when local legend is strong that a man on horseback

killed himself in colliding with an iron gate at theHotel, as he galloped, away from a dispute that had

broken out in the Hotel, the rider dying instantly.

After this event, parents were able to use the scarytale of the 'Headless rider' to effect in discipliningtheir children.

Alas, about 130 years of history came to an endwhen the old Hotel was burnt to the ground in De-cember 1972. A temporary bar was put into service

over the following 4 years. The needs of the Districtare now being served by Cathy's Tavern, which haspride-of-place on the Oxley Highway.

Another popular game at the hotel from days goneby was called 'Pitch'. It was played in front of thehotel near a big tree. Iron saucer-shaped coits, eachweighing around 11/2 Ibs., were pitched towards, twoiron pegs about 11 yards apart to see who could getclosest. Each player was allowed two throws at a time,and again the loser 'shouted'.

In the bar a game took place called 'Nearest theWall". From a line on the floor each player would tossa penny at the opposite wall to see who could getclosest. The closest would be allowed to throw all the

pennies in the air and take all the coins that came

down heads! The second-closest would throw the

remainder up, taking all the 'heads' again, etc., and sothe game progressed until all the pennies were used up.

Humorous tales abound from life at the old Somer-

ton Pub, including the following; 'one of the regularswas in the habit of driving his horse and sulky to thehotel, then proceeding to tether the horse to the fenceoutside. One New Year's Eve, this particular patronemerged from the hotel a little 'under the weather'

and stumbled towards his means of transport, only

A fter the fire. The old Somerton Hotel burnt down on

December 3, 1972, the original hotel building havingalso burnt down in ] 906,

55

Somerton Post Office HistoryPostal records of Somerton date from July, 1869,

when residents petitioned for the establishment of apost office. Mrs. T. W. Woolaston was appointed aspostmistress in 1869 on a salary of 12 pounds perannum. Mrs. Woolaston remained as Postmistress for36 years until her death in 1905. Over the years hersalary had been progressively increased - in 1874it rose from 12 pounds to 15 pounds, in 1875 to18 pounds, in 1884 to 26 pounds and in 1894 to29 pounds 10 shillings.

EARLY MAILS

In 1869 Somerton was served by the following mailcontract: Catherine Hume of Gunnedah. Tamworth,Carroll and Gunnedah twice a week, on horseback,140 pounds per annum. The first mention ofSomerton in the contract occured in 1873, when thecontract was described as:

A. L. jannison ofTamworth.Tamworth, Somerton, Carroll and Gunnedah twicea week, by four-wheeled coach, two or four horses,90 pounds per annum.

POSTMARK NUMBER

Following the introduction of the first adhesivepostage stamps in N. S.W. on 1st January 1850, anumber was alloted to each post office. The post-mark number of Somerton was 546.

Following the death of Mrs. Woolaston her daugh-ter Mrs. Sarah Lawson became Postmistress in 1905on 23 pounds per annum. In 1907 she became tele-phone operator as well as Postmistress, and was paidat scale rates, depending on the number of subscrib-ers connected, calls handled etc. In 1908 her allow-ance was increased to 35 pounds per annum.

Postmasters since 1910: G. W. Browne 1.3.1910;Mrs. G. W. Browne 6.5.19U; ). F. Hoban 30.9.1915;J. W. T.awson 1.6.1918; A. G. Mann 14.3.1936; Mrs.K. 0. Mann 1.6. 1 940, G. W. Scott 6.4. 1 942.

NEW PREMISES

On the 7th January, 1943, the post office wasremoved from the premises owned by the latePostmaster,, Mr. Mann, to the residence of the currentpostmaster, Mr. G. W. Scott. Mr. Scott had to paypart of the cost of removal as it was unlikely that therevenue gained from the office would cover theexpense involved in moving it.

TELEPHONE - The first telephone exchange openedonTs'th" November, 1913. On 28th October 1953a" rural" automatic exchange replaced the manualswitchboard previously in use.

Today the Somerton Post Office serves 120 house-holds and mail services from the Post office covers264 kilometres a week.

In 1953 the telephone exchange became automaticand now there are over 100 subscribers connected tothe annex. After the bombing of Darwin in 1942,the Post Office became a reporting office for theVolunteers Air Observers Corps. When a plane was

sighted or heard day or night a direct telephone callwas put through giving the direction, time and possiblenumber of engines. For this purpose the Post Officewas given a Certificate of Record and appreciationfor the service.

When the Somerton Banking Agency was openedat the Somerton Post Office, a depositors list wascommenced. The depositors are shown in the orderin which they opened their banking accounts with theagency.

D. M.Proctor, L. ). Leach, V. Watts, C. K. Bur-wood, S. T. Miller, A. T. Woolaston, Henry Lee,A. T. Chaffey, R. McGrath, E. McGrath, ). R. Hatch,C. ). Moffat, W. M. Wood, R. E. Woolaston, T. W.Dawson. L. Rushbrook, K. R. use, H. S. Wood, E. A.Chaffey, C. Creeveys, C. M. Woollett, H. L. Avard,R. M. Kelleher, W. H. Roach, John Konz, ). A. Ryan,Somerton Rec.Sp.C/tee, F. M. Crump, A. R. Gore,J. W. Crump, R. P. Woolaston, A. Rose, T. Wilkinson,E. Wilkinson, W. W. Wilkinson, F. j. Wilkinson, Somer-ton Pres. Church, R. Richards, H. McGrath, L. 0. I.Wilkinson, H. E. Stranger, H. H. J. Roche, N. M.Harwood, R. Tickle, A. W. Stewart, C. J. Stringer,H. ). Harwood, A. M. Gray, N. N. Brown, S. V. Har-wood, J. T. Hatch, E. M. Cupples, j. W. Crump, G. M.Stringer, S. M. Harwood, M. C. Harwood, 1. Cripps,J. Kyle, B. M. Harwood, E. G. Harwood, E. L. Har-wood, C. A. Stringer, T. M. Watts, W. A. Mcllroy,). A. Chaffey, F. W. Hoad, H. Brown, 0. R. Wilkinson,1. Turner, F. M. Allsopp, H. M. Woolaston, A.Mcllroy, C. D. Hoad, F. E. Wilkinson, E. A. Cooper,Somerton Lodge, S. I. Chaffey, E. Chalker, F. N.Frost, F. A. Chaffey, ). Yeates, N. Matheson, H. R.Swan, T. Moore, E. Cruwys, A. B. Bowman, K. A.Cooper, M. Ellis, B. M. Roach, D. M. Harwood, L. E.Harwood, L. Larwood, K. D. Mortimer, ). Harney,P. W. Harwood, B. D. Head, A. A. W. Vickery, Somer-ton Tennis Club, J. K. Ellis, H. A Gore, I. D. Cupples,I. M. Watts, F. Allsopp, F. R. M. Greers, R. S. & S.Imp. League of A., D. Allsopp, ). Young, Olive Law-man, K. 0. Mann, T. Fitzgerald, T. Fitzgerald, R. W.Stephens, A. C. Mann, H. E. King, E. M. Wilkinson,L. V. Inches, E. J. Wilkinson.

56

FOR ALL LIVESTOCK, REAL ESTATE &PROPERTY SALES

WOOL & INSURANCEMERCHANDISE & BUILDING SUPPLIES

275 PEEL ST.. TAMWORTHAVRO ST., TAMIND

CNR. AVRO & JEWRY ST., TAMINDA

FOR SERVICE AND PRESCRIPTIONS

HALL'S PHARMACY342 PEEL STREET.TAMWORTH

PHONE 662895

57

Somerton Police Station

Apart from the fairly brief stay of CommissionerEdward Mayne's Border Police from 1839, at whichtime Somerton was the most northerly police out-post in N.S.W, police were first stationed at Somertonon a permanent basis during 1879. In 1898 alterationsand repairs were recorded as having been carried outon the'police station indicating that a building ownedby the department had been standing for some time.The names of early Somerton policemen are not re-corded, many records having been lost or destroyedover the years. However, it is known that a ConstableJohn Byrne was stationed at Somerton between Aug-ust and November, 1884; that Constable 1st Class J . C.Adams was there from 28/6/1888 to January, 1890;Constable Roderick Fraser from December 1895to March 1907; and Constable 1st Class RichardYoung from 6/7/1907 to September, 1915.

It was during Richard Young's term that thepres-ent'police station on the corner of Joshua and Bloom.fielcf Streets was built. It originally contained a rew-dence"an office and a separate cell. This^layout,"emains"except that a separate two^stall stable andforage'room'has now fallen into disrepair. The oldseparate cell has also been replaced by a portablewooden cell with an iron roof.

Somerton Police Station was closed temporarilyin 1943 as a war economy measure. It reopened^ \nOctober, 1946 but was closed again from May, 1955to")uiy, '1960. During this time the station was stillused"as a residence "for police attached to nearbytowns.

Police attached to Somerton since 1933: con-stable"V/c~Samuel H. Lawman from 12/9/1M3^;Constable" 1/c Leslie Hungerford from 4/4/1941Station closed march 1943 - OctobeM 946Co"nstable"Frank Morgan from 25/1/1947; Constable)am'es"C Millington from 15/7/1950; Station^ closed

"1955 to July 1960; Constable 1/c M. ]. Mulliganfrom "1/7/60, ; Constable 1/c J. i. ^eedsman from

>; Constable 1/c (later senior <-onstaDie;, w. n.Moriey' from'18/4/1966; Constable 1/c (later_ SeniorConstablefl. Hi'll from 3/7/69; Constable 1/c D. A.

Cam'pbell'fror" 21/6/73; Constable 1/c_R. ). Halt fromU/7'/75; Senior Constable H. G. Tunnicliff from10/6/78.

No account of the history of policing in Somertonwould be'complete without mentioning some of theexploits" of the policeman who possibly served therelonger than any member of the force.

Roderick Fraser was the Constable at Somertonfor almost twelve years and later in his career attainedthe rank of Inspector 3/c before retiring in 1928.While being attached to the district he participatedin the hunt for the Governor brothers and also carriedout some valuable rescue work during the Tamworthfloods. Earlier in his career he arrested one of twocriminals who had robbed a bank at Barraba andmurdered its manager, Mr. Mckie. This arrest led tothe apprehension of the other wanted man and bothwere subsequently executed at Tamworth goal.

Ex-lnspector 3/c Fraser died at Earlwood on 27thMay, 1940, aged 72.

Police were first stationed at Somerton on a per-manent basis during 1879. In 1898 alterations andrepairs were recorded as having been carried out onthe police station indicating that a building owned bythe department had been standing for some time. Thenames of early Somerton policemen are not recorded,many records having been lost or destroyed over theyears. However, it is known that a Constable JohnBy me was stationed at Somerton between August andNovember, 1884; that Constable 1st Class J. C. Adamswas there from 28/6/1888 to January, 1890; Con-stable Roderick Fraser from December 1895 to March1907; and Constable 1st Class Richard Young from6/7/1907 to September, 1 915.

ASHERS-JEWELLERSOF 301 PEEL STREET

TAMWORTH

Extends best wishes toSomerton on their

Centenary Celebrations

Telephone662057

58

Somerton VillageOne early reference to the village of Somertoii

(previously known as Summer Hill) is from a Gaz-eteer, dated 1866, and is probably correct to about1863-64, and this would be the first description ofSomerton. :—

"Somerton, County Inglis, is a small roadsidehamlet on the Peel River, lying 12 miles north-eastof Carroll, and 21 miles north-west of Tamworth.There is an inn, the Somerton, Swaine's, in the hamlet.The surrounding country is flat and lightly timbered".

German's survey map (1852) marks but does notname a rectangulai reserve measuring from north tosouth four miles, and east to west two miles, with thePeel River running just north of mid-way. The westernboundary is about 1% miles west of the present policestation and the south-western corner was 2 miles southof the river. In 1 855 part of the reserve was set asideas the town of Somerton. The river formed the north-ern boundary and the dimensions of the other bound-aries in chains were - western, 112; southern, 86;eastern, 65%.

The town had three streets parallel to the river,Bloomfield (the present police station and old hotelsite), Scotland (the present hall and Post Office Store);and Brook (the present high). There were four cross-'streets, Milkmaid (the present school); Joshua (thepresent road to the bridge); Grant (the old hotelcorner); and Echo (12 chains west of Grant Street.Bloomfield Street continued a couple of chains pastEcho Street, west towards Gunnedah. There wasanother one, a short one, Peel Street, which went fromthe Grant/Scotland Street corner south-west towardsthe present highway. No one seems to be able toremember Echo, Peel or Brook Streets actually exist-ing beyond the surveyor's drawing-board. On theabove street plan, land for school and police stationwas set aside in their present positions.

The map marked the teamsters' routes. The trackfrom Tamworth came along Bloomfield Street, thendirectly below the school it went between BloomfjeldStreet and the river just below the old hotel it divided- one track going direct to Summer Hill house andbeyond, and the other to the south of the house.Both tracks re-joined about four chains west of thehouse and continued parallel with the river for anotherfifteen chains, then divided again. One track continuedparallel with the river, and was labelled - "To theNamoi etc. " - and the other crossed the river at'apoint about '/< of a mile north-west of the hotel (oldsite)._l was marked - "Good ford", and was7abell"ed^-,'.Tr°^ B?rah creek and Bingara"; thus justifyingclaims that Somerton was on the direct route to thenorth-west.

Apparently Bloomfield Street - Summer Hill Roadwas designed as a Tamworth - Somerton Road.Although no-one can remember it in use, older resi-dents have been told that the road did go that way.As far as they can remember, the main road wentvia Scotland Street, and soon after World War D,the present highway was laid down through a paddockalong what had been the old Brook Street survey line.The former highway is still trafficable.

The old and new roads meet a mile east of thevillage and on the western side of the reverse slope ofa hill on which Somerton stands.

RAILWAY

It must have been a great disappointment when therailway line was not extended to Somerton. Thecoming of the railway opened up marketing facilitiesfor "an immense area ofback-country" from Barrabain the north-west to Moonbi in the north-east, as wellas centres surrounding Tamworth like Cobbadah,Manilla, Somerton and Bective. All of the large wheat-growing districts for which local consumption had notpermitted anything like the cultivation which waspossible. In fact before the turn of the century, whenconsideration was being given to building a branchline from Duri to Somerton, passing through thepresent Bithramere and Winton, record acreages ofwheat had been planted in anticipation of the rail-way's arrival. (The railway arrived in Tamworth on the17th October, 1878). The line to Somerton reachedthe stage of a tentative route being set out. Howeverthe coming of motor transport made such a line econ-omically unsound.

. te: ^

A load of wool on Joe Lawson's Truck

59

SOMERTON BRIDGE

Keepit Progress Association was largely responsiblefor the erection of Somerton bridge and the openingof a road from Keepit to Manilla and another roadfrom Keepit to Somerton. This association made amove in 1901 to have a bridge erected over the PeelRiver at Somerton. The agitation went on for severalyears for it was not until 1910 that work commen-ced. The bridge was not actually opened until 1911.This first bridge proved too small and too low but itwas not replaced until the present one in about1949-50. Unfortunately for our heritage the builderof the second bridge (a contractor, said to have beenA. Gam) used, as foundations for the approaches tothe second bridge, the ruins of CommissionerMayne's 110 year old headquarters.

GARAGES

From about 1930 onwards an elderly Mr. McDon-aid conducted a garage (workshop only). There arestories that there had been a coachworks there yearsbefore. Mr. McDonald died post-World War II. In 1958

Neville Alien Jones and Leslie George Jones, twoSomerton farmers, established Somerton's first servicestation. It was first an Ampol Service Station, thenEsso and about 1977 became a B. P. Service Station.Noel and Janice Gardner run the present service sta-tion and shop with provision for the sale of meals andrefreshments, bowsers, spare parts and lubritorium.Neville )ones still runs his workshop at the back of theservice station.

The most recent commercial venture in Somertonis "Somerton Engineering" run by Alan Abra. Hespecializes in all types of stock feeders, and metalfabrication.

Perhaps one of the oldest commercial ventures(apart from the hotel) would have been the sawmill.From late last century George Moffat had a sawmillnear the present Presbyterian Church. In about 1900he removed it to near the river.

The opening of the old Sorr, erton Bridge in 1911. Work was "edoutMt^w^0^d^p^^au^'by^e 'flood on^atyear. It was located a little upstream of the present bridge.

/' '^ ^M. ^^^ ^<?s

60

The open ng ceremony for the old Somerton Bridge in 1911. The two standing tallest areG, T, Woolaston and (on his right) Harry Levien, the local member at the time. Who is the little girl

in the foreground, and what is she thinking about?

"OLLYDENE"Poll Hereford Stud

Somerton

Sires in use —Jayenn Senator by Inverary Comrade

Ollydene Commando by InveraryCommandoOllydene Spitfire by Jayenn Senator

Stud'and Commercial Bulls always available

HEYMAN PARTNERSHIPPHONE (067) 697516 Enquiries

Welcome

61

Commercial

There have been a baker, butcher and blacksmithas long as people can remember.

BAKERS

For several years, from early this century, but atbroken periods, bread was baked in Somerton by Mrs.Frank Miller, formerly Susan Carey, daughter ofRobert Carey, until she and her husband moved toTam worth.

In February 1923, James (a rural worker) andCaroline (nee Davis) Harwood, came from Carroll andMrs. Harwood began baking bread to supply localneeds. Her son Herbert James Harwood, recalls that itwas a family affair in that her children helped 'mum'mix the dough. However when Clifford Lawson beganto run the baker's cart from Attunga to Somerton inthe early 1920's the needWas no longer there and Mrs.Harwood discontinued baking. TheHarwoods rentedthe baker's shop from J. B. Inches. It was about wherethe horse stables now are.

Prior to Mrs. Harwood's baking, Mrs. Inches usedto bake the bread. (The Inches had rebuilt the hotelwhich had burnt down, hence the change of manage-ment).

BUTCHERS

From World War 1, until about 1935, Somertonpeople depended for their meat on people such asWilfred Kong (afterwards a horse trainer). Also LaurieGardner and John Hatch (as partners) and JamesHarwood. The butcher's shop was apparently next tothe baker's shop (near present horse stables) and wasowned firstly by Wilfred Kong.

In 1935 G. W. & ). E. Scott bought the butcherywhich they conducted in conjunction with their store.The butchery continued until about 1948 duringwhich time it supplied meat to Keepit Dam. (Mrs.Scott was postmistress at Keepit Dam). The reason forclosing the butchery was the amount of money whichwould have been needed to have been spent on theslaughter yards out near the cemetery, would havemade the undertaking unprofitable.

GENERAL STORE AND POST OFFICE

Somerton Post Office has been invariably associat-ed with the general store. In July 1869, the residentspetitioned for the establishment of a post office in thevillage and recommended that the postmistress beMrs. T. W. Woolaston, who, with her husband con-

The original Somerton Store. A commericai postcard showing Somerton General"StorTandfost 'Office. The photograph was taken around World War 1. Note the

"variety of transport. Printing on the front of the store includes the words -Grocery, Drapery, Ironmongery, Boots.

62

dueled the store. Mrs. Woolaston assumed officeon October 1st, 1896, using part of her general store.The store was thought to have been near the presentpolice station but a few years later was shifted to thecorner of Grant and Scotland Streets (about a blockwest of the present Post Office).

Mrs. Woolaston remained as Postmistress until herdeath on October 5th, 1905, when her daughter (Mrs.Sarah Lawson) succeeded her. The store and postoffice passed out of the Woolaston family on March1st, 1910, when Mrs. Lawson sold out to G. W.Browne and then followed several short periods ofownership of the store.

The front of the Somerton General Store and PostOffice which was destroyed by fire in the J930's.This store was situated on the comer of Grant

and Scotland Streets

In the 1930's (according to one report) the oldPost Office and store was demolished and some of thematerials may have been burned on the site. (Othersreport that this store was burned down). A new build-ing was erected and business as usual was carried on.The owner during this period was a Mr. A. G. Mann.According to this report it was this new store whichMr. Mann built which was destroyed by fire.

Mr. Mann brought a shed from Bective in which tocarry on his business until the store was rebuilt. Itwas rebuilt only as a Post Office, because during the1930's depression, store-keeping at Somerton wasscarcely profitable.

Mr. Mann joined the A. I. F. during World War IIand was later killed in action holding the rank ofCaptain.

In 1937 Gordon William and Ena Scott openeda store at the present site and in 1942 the Post Officewas transferred there too.

BLACKSMITHS

The first. recorded blacksmith was James Mabbott,who was the son of a Joseph Mabbott, a blacksmith ofTamworth and whose name is listed in the Post OfficeDirectory of 1867. Another very early blacksmith wasThomas Barr, a selector from what is now Kootingal.(This was somewhere in the 1870's). The blacksmith'sshop was next to the old hotel and when the latter wasdestroyed by fire in about World War I time, theformer was burnt down also but not replaced.

In more recent times Mr. McDonald was the black-smith. He was known only as "Old Mac" - no firstname. According to one report Mr. McDonald came toSomerton driving on Oakland car, about 1926-27vintage, and set up business as blacksmith, wheel-wright, farrier and general odd-job man in an old slab-sided blacksmith's shop that some years before hadbeen run by an old gentleman with a foreign accent(name unknown). This shop was situated on the north-west side of Mr. G. W. Scott's Store and Post Office.

One of Mr. McDonald's regular customers to havehis horse shod was Mr. Bruce Mabbott, a bachelor,who worked for many years on "Keelendi" (at thattime owned by Mr. G. T. Woolaston). Mr. Mabbottperhaps could have been a relative of the first recordedblacksmith, Mr. James Mabbott). In later years whenthe blacksmith trade became slack, Mr. McDonald,then built an addition on to the blacksmith's shop andopened a garage (workshop only) in partnership witha Mr. Tom Fitzgerald. After a few years Mr. Fitz-gerald left Somerton to take up a position in a garageat Telegraph Point on the coast. Mr. McDonald carriedon the business himself, for a while, then went intothe building trade carrying out some contracts for Mr.Frank Inches which included the dismantling of theold school and residence and re-erecting same ascottages on vacant land adjacent to the Public School.Mr. McDonald died post-Worid War II, reputedly whileout shooting with friends.

The most recent blacksmith was Samuel Higgottwho died in the early 1970's. There is no blacksmithnow.

OTHER STORES (From 1900 onward*)

There was one situated on the north-eastern sideof the old main street (the residence may still remain),hear the concrete culvert on the south-eastern endof the village. This was a grocery and produce storerun by Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Lister, who later shiftedto Farley near Maitland, (both deceased).

63

Another grocery and produce store built of con-crete by a Mr. Scholes, faced the approach of the PeelRiver Bridge. This was later sold to a Mr. Hughes andagain in later years to a Mr. Harry Higgins. The rearend floor of this building was, and still could be, ata higher level to facilitate the handling of produce onand off what ever conveyances were used. This wasdone through double doors nears the rear of the build-ing.

In later years this building was owned by Mr. andMrs. Frank Wilkinson Snr. and after some alterationswas used as a residence. Mr. Wilkinson later passedaway, and Mrs. Wilkinson now lives as Moss Vale.

Another small store on the western end of thevillage was run by Mr. )im Buck who used to sellfruit and vegetables, confectionery, tobacco, cigarettesetc. In later years this building was occupied by Mr.Arthur Gore, horse trainer. This building was direct-ly opposite the old site of Lawson's Store and PostOffice.

B B 0 0 0000

ManHla conned a Sports Day on Bo. ing Day, 1886. A foot ce fo^O po. nds a side r. n ^een"G. 'Bi'gnal'loVManilla and 0-Neill of Somerton, and was won by the latter.

Roy Wallace of Son,erton is rerr.e^ere^a^^^'hlym"o'neuy'bag'. Aufw the'fioodhad passed he went diving for his money bag and found it!

FAY AND CARL JAMIESON WELCOME ALLCENTENARY VISITORS TO

LAKE KEEPIT KIOSK(DAM WALL END)

•Take away food•Hot and cold drinks• Hire Boats — Canoes — Catamaran•Groceries• Petrol and Oil _ . , ..• Souveniers — Mariner Motors and Equipment.

LICENSED LIQUOR DEPT.Choice selection of sparkling and table wines

Tooheys'rT oothsKB - interstate-beer ayiscount prices.Dink and Eat Well at the Kiosk

PHONE (067) 697606

64

CHURCHESThe first regular church services held in Somerton

appear to have been conducted by Tamworth clergyof the Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican denom-inations, from 1868 onwards. Ministers travelled on

horseback to attend services in halls, at homesteads

and private residences and in the case of the Anglicanminister, to the first St. Marks' present War MemorialHall, in about 1880.

The first recorded Anglican service in Somertontook place from the Manilla Parish on Easter Day,10th April, 1898, in St. Mark's Church. The church isknown to have been blown down around 1900 and to

have been later replaced. Services were held atSummer Hill homestead in the interim.

Around 1903 the parishioners of Somerton weretrying to raise money for the erection of a new build-

ing. On the 18th March, 1903, a dedication service

was held, which was attended by 110 people - 78adults and 32 children. The offertory from thisservice was donated to the church building fund.Again on 21st January, 1904, with the Reverend A. R.Pegler in attendance, it is noted in church records,Harvest Festival offertory was donated to the purchaseof seats.

It is believed that the present St. Mark's was

completed and opened in late 1904.

A harvest festival was a common occurrence in

many rural areas, and consisted of each congregationdecorating the church with the best examples of theirown harvest, including grains, vegetables, flowersand fruit. At the conclusion of the service, the results

of harvest were sold and the proceeds of the sale were

donated, in the above-mentioned case, to the purchaseof new seats.

No Catholic church was ever built in Somerton,

as families preferred to worship in Gunnedah.

However district services were held periodically at

Bective Station. During the construction of Keepit

Dam, a priest came from Gunnedah to say Mass at thepublic hall at Keepit Dam and many of the Somertonresidents attended.

As with the Catholic denomination, the number of

Wesleyans, or Methodists, were never sufficient to

warrant the building of a church in Somerton. How-

ever the spiritual needs of these people were looked

after by more of those "travelling ministers". TheReverend Joseph Hopkins, the first Wesleyan minister

St. Mathew's Presbyterian Church Somerton. A commercial postcard, the photograph having beentaken in the early 1900's.

; -. /: ? ••' -.

'.. . ^-."'.- ' ; .... . 65

to be appointed to Tamworth, recalled while he washere in 1868-71, he preached at Somerton and receiv-e'd hospitality from the Swain and Perfrement families.He had also preached at Carroll where the publican,a Mr. Griffen, welcomed him.

Early services for Presbyterians would have beenas for the Anglicans with ministers travelling out toSomerton from Tamworth and later from Manilla.As far as is known, in the late 1890's the Presbyteriansbought the old Somerton private hall and used it forworihip until around 1904, when the present St.Matthew's, part of Manilla charge, was built along sidethe hall, opposite the present store.

Tribute should be paid to those courageous mi nist-ers 'who'travelled out to Somerton in those earlyyears to care for the spiritual needs oftheir flocks.As the roads were poor and in some cases, non-exist-ent,"the journeys were often long and tiring. Hospital-ity'was gratefully received by them at the homes oftheir parishioners. Nor were they daunted by thetrials of nature. The Reverend W. A. E. Parrot whotravelled to Somerton from Manilla, recorded onMay, 1903: "River up, crossed on horseback'

HALLSThe first two halls to be built in Somerton, were

owned, with old hands believing the first oneto'have been established in the early 1890-s on the siteof 'the' present Presbyterian Church. This hall wasowned and built by Mr. J. B. Hatch, and was used forbazaars, dancing and concerts.

When a Presbyterian Church was found to benecessary in the early 1900-s, ). B. Hatch d°"atedriiehallTand to the Church and the hall was demolished.The exact date of demolition is not available butjt isktwwn~that Sunday School was taught in_the Pres-byterian"Church where it now stands, i"J9 11-, _wit11Ethel"and~Gladys Woolaston as teachers. These ladiestravelled in every Sunday morning from "Keelendi'by buggy

The second hall was owned and built by Mr. Frankinches, and was situated just off the Oxley Highway(then"'known as Brooke Street) on the corne^o^Isshua Street (which leads to the bridge). Itronsistedof"a"galvanised iron roof and walls, the floor andstage being of cypress pine. The supper room had anea'rthen floor. All food and water for dances washeated on an opengalley which comprised two up-rights with a steel bar across from which two 4 gallonbuc kets hung. All heating was from a wood fire. In

winter there'was always a roaring log fire with, oneimagines, always several backs being warmed.

Front view of the War Memorial Hall, officially opened 14th July, 1954.

66

Older residents can recall silent picture shows being

shown in the hall several times a year, Penn's Pictures

being one of them, with the operator travelling aroundby horse-drawn wagonette, on the side of which wasdisplayed a large picture of a pen with ink dripping offthe nib. Possibly this could have been around 1910as Penn's are recorded as showing in Tam worth aroundthen. The wagonette used to do a circuit of the districtand sometimes Somerton was visited twice a year.

Local identities Clarrie Moffat and the late RonMcGrath Snr. as young lads were often called on toassist the operator by rewinding the films someafternoons while the carbons were checked. If they

were required to help at night in the showing of thefilms, the patrons should have been able to assume justwhich films held the interest of the young boys - theexciting, interesting ones were wound through slowlyto enable the two boys to savour them to the full.Dull, uninteresting ones were fed through at a muchfaster rate. Later on, the horse-drawn wagonette was

replaced by motor lorry, and the silent pictures by"talkies"

Displayed on the front section of the War Memorial Hall,these names are of those who fought and those who fell.

The projector and associated equipment was notpermitted to be set up on the floor of the hall, onepresumes for safety reasons, so a small room had to bebuilt on the left-hand side of the front entrance.

People remember during the years of the SecondWorld War each soldier being given a send-off in thehall and being presented with a watch and band. Ifone peruses the Honour Roll mounted on the front ofthe present hall one can see there must have beenmany such send-offs. The local ladies also held their"knitting bees" for the soldiers, and in the hall duringthose difficult years. As well as being used for manygeneral functions this hall was also used by theSomerton Agricultural Bureau to hold its meetings.

Displayed on the front section of the War MemorialHall, these names are of those who fought and those

who fell in the Great War.

67

1 <

The present hall was built as a memorial to thosewho fought and fell during the two World Wars, andstands on the comer of Joshua and Scotland Streets.The land was donated by Mr. Jack Morris of Manilla.Mr. Morris had been canvassing for donations for anR.. S. L. Club in Manilla and called on brothers Stewart

and Harold Swan for a donation. He was told thatSomerton-ites were in need of a hall in Somerton andperhaps he'd care to donate to that! Mr. Morris toldthe Swan brothers that if they could get a donation of50 pounds he himself would donate the ground for thehall. It is presumed they acquired the 50 pounds,because soon after, construction of the present hall

was commenced.

The bricks were second-hand, supplied by PeelShire and were carted from Werris Creek by voluntarylabour with trucks. The bricks were later cleaned andstacked. Cypress logs were donated by Mr. FrankJones, the Keniffs, Mr. Len Strand ring and Mr. andMrs. William Swain, cut by axe and carted by volun-tary labour in trucks to a sawmill in Tamworth wasput down with the help of voluntary labour. Localsstarted the building and the Shire sent out builders tocomplete it.

The hall was offically opened on July 24, 1954,by the President of Peel Shire Council Councillor ). E.Mills, the same time as the electricity supply to thevillage was switched on. The hall has been the focalpoint of most of the village's social activities, eversince.

Several balls are held during each year, togetherwith luncheons, darts, 21st birthdays, and weddingreceptions are just some of the varied functions whichare held in our hall.

The Honour Rolls displayed at the hall commemor-ate those men and women of our district who foughtand died during the two World Wars. There are alsotwo Honour Rolls which display the names of thoseof Bective and district who served. These two Rollswere brought and mounted in the Somerton hallafter disposal of the old Bective hall.

An active Hall Committee, led by President NoelGardner, attends to the care and maintenance of the

hall during the year.

THE SOMERTON CRICKET CLUB ISPLEASED TO BE INCLUDED IN THISBOOKLET AND WISH SOMERTONSCHOOL EVERY SUCCESS ON ITS

CENTENARY.AS FAR AS WE CAN ASCERTAIN CRICKET HAS BEENPLAYED ON AND OFF AT SOMERTON FOR OVER 100 YEARSBUT IN CASE THE GAME HERE ISA BRIEF RESUME:-

WHAT IS CRICKET?Cricket is quite simple. You have two sides — ours and theirs. One out in thefield and one in.

Each man in the side that is in goes out, and when he is out he comes in andthe next man goes in until he is out.Then when they have all been in and are all out, the side that has been out inthe field comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get outthose coming in. Sometimes there are men still in and not out. Then whenboth sides have been in and out, including not outs, that is the end of thegame.

It's really simple although sometimes it has some people stumped!

68

CRICKETCricket made its appearance in Manilla and district

in the early 1870's so it probably could be assumedthat Somerton cricket made its debut about the same

time.

The first mention of a Somerton cricket team was

in 1894 where, in a match against Carroll, Somertonmade 154 runs whilst Carroll replied with 75 and 65.

Somerton is recorded as being one of several district

teams, others being Keepit and Wongo Creek. Keepit'steam had no less than five Brady's as players, with

the mainstay of the Somerton team being recordedas the Moffats. while Gardners and Abberfelds dom-

inated the Wongo Creek team. (It could perhaps bementioned that of the total of 19 players in the

present Somerton team, 10 of them are Swains,

with 9 of them being brothers.)

The first cricket pitch, which was made of dirt,

at Somerton was established presumably in the late1800's on the flat in front of the old hotel, near the

river. The boundary ran right to the edge of the oldtennis court, near the old fig trees. It is assumed

that this ground was used by the local cricketsrs

and visiting teams up to the First World War, whichcaused a general suspension of competition cricket,together with most other sports, one assumes.

Cricket was resumed after the War, with Mr. Vince

Watts recalling his first game in 1918, along with Mr.Clarrie Moffat, both youngsters playing for many

years thereafter.

Aroung the time of the First World War, thepresent older residents and ex-residents were onlyyoung children so much information of this timeis lost, but some of the earlier cricketers are remem-

bered as being:—

Roy and Noel Brown, Tom Woolaston, Bert

Perfrement, Harold Spencer, Dick Hatch, Alex Moffat,Tom Hatch, Jos. Watts, Mr. Gaffney (schoolteacherfrom Carroll Gap), Stewart Swan, Ernie Moffat,Don Woolaston, Charles Moffat Snr., Mr. Clifton(Somerton schoolteacher) and Davey Willis.

In 1920 the Manilla Cricket Association was re-

formed with the competing teams named as - Half-Holiday, Somerton Independents, Upper Manilla,Wongo Creek and Saturday Half-Holiday. The refer-

&*.. ^.. it•^ -- -. "c ^

SOMER TON CRICKET TEAM OF YESTER YEA RBack Row.-- (L to R) - Joshua Watts, Vince Watts, Tom Woolaston, Sam Lawman, StewartSwan, Cyril Brown, Harold Quick.Front Row:- (L to R) - Lionel Watts, Henry Moy, Clarrie Moffat, Tom WiWnson, Nigei Brown.

69

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ence to the teams named as "half-holiday" appar-ently referring to the associations that were formedto press for a half-holiday on Saturdays as opposedto Wednesday half-holiday.

The pitch was moved in the early 1920's for thesame reason as the tennis court was moved, possiblydue to the purchase of the ground in front of the oldhotel. The pitch was re-located to the recreationground. A major working bee was held with all play-ers assisting in the putting down of the ant-bed pitch.

After the First World War, some of the playersremembered as being part of the Somerton teamwere:—

Stewart Swan, Stan Harwood, Ken Worcester,Clarrie Moffat, Allan Roach, George Wilson, BillScott, Cecil Woolaston, Jos. Watts, Tom Woolaston,Frank Blaxland, Ernie Wilkinson, Paddy Harwood,Pat Worcester, Don Woolaston, Reg. Woolaston,Roy Colguhoun, Herb. Hardy, Jim. Gore, BertPerfrement, Cecil Swan, Vince Watts, Sam Lawman

(the local policeman, with a very appropriate name)Neville Newman, Alex Tapp, Norman Swain, PatKenniff, Davey Willis, Harold and Bob Quick, Frankand Sam Ingham, Nigel Brown.

As can be seen by the number of players, the clubwas very active and many social and competitionmatches were played both " at home" and away.The only means of transport being by horse, it isimagined many early mornings were spent saddlingup and travelling to such places as Piallaway, Carroll,Manilla, Wongo Creek and Keepit Dam. After theadvent of the car Hall's Creek was also visited.

The first motor transport for the team is recalledas being supplied by Mr. Harold Spencer who owneda Ford T motor lorry, then later on Mr. Joe Lawson(from the old Post Office) and Mr. Bert Perfrement,who both owned Ford T cars, carried the membersof the Somerton club to their "out-of-town" matches.

After the Second World War, the club was re-

formed again in 1948 and has continued off and onsince then.

The oldest Minute Book available gives the club asbeing re-formed again in September, 1963, withmembership fees set at 15,- per member. Those pres-ent at the meeting were:—

R. Chappell, Chas. Moffat, L. Moffat, ). Swan,). Rowley, B. Gardner, G. Baker, M. Brady, B. Jenner,R. Heyman, J. Brown, A. McKnight, N. Cupples, G.Noad, P. Harwood and R. Wood.

In the Minutes dated 29th July, 1964, an applica-tion to the Shire for assistance in the way of a loan toconstruct a new pitch had not been granted. Howeverthe Shire agreed to provide men, materials and equip-ment to construct a new pitch of 6" re-inforced con-

crete. Volunteers from the club dug out the existingpitch, carted sand and formed the new pitch.

The first game played on the new pitch was thePresident's 11 versus the Secretary's 11. It is notrecorded as to who the winners were.

Many donations of various items for raffles are

recorded, among them being "a raffle to assist in thecost of practice nets; First Prize - sheepdog pup". Thiswas won by K. Corbett.

On the old Recreation ground, in the riverside paddock oppos'tethe Somerton Hotel.

70

The club was currently re-formed again in Septem-

ber, 1976, with 14 people present at the meeting and

9 apologies, with membership set at $5 per adultplayer. There are now 19 members, with two teamsplaying; one in the Tamworth Sunday Morning Com-petition, and one in the Gunnedah Saturday After-noon Competition.

An end-of-season presentation is held each year

with trophies being presented at a ball held in theMemorial Hall. The club is indebted to Mr. G. W.

Scott and Mr. Brian Rhodes for donations towards

their presentation.

Current members are:—

Geoff, Ray, Max, Graham, Douglas, Stuart,

Maurice, [an and Noel Swain, Terry Swain, Mike

Cashman (Somerton schoolteacher), Sid Byrnes,Stuart McLeod, Peter Norris, Hal, Peter and Kevin

Burke, John Hibbart (schoolteacher from Carroll)and Keith Orth.

ODDS AND SODS ABOUT CRICKET

Oldtimers recall cricket being played on Sundaysup until the appointed time for church, and the sightof the minister's car coming over the bridge, when all

on the ground downed "tools", hurried up to the

church and took part in the worship. At the end of the

service, the players made their way back to the

ground, took up where they had left off and proceed-

ed on with the game.

Somerton Cricket Team of 1980

Back - (L to R) - lan Swain, Graham Swain, Noel Swain, Geoff Swain, Peter Norris.Front - Stuart Swain, Maurice Swain, Harold Burke, Mike Cashman, Peter Burke.

Absent- Terry Swain, Stuart McLeod.

71

A TRIBUTE TO OURPIONEERS

We honour them, our early settlers in this ourCentenary year. "Theirs were .thehea^to^Dare'^They fought floods, fi'res and droughts and the village <Somerton was founded.

For forty five years we have been privileged toser^the people'of'Somertonand we cherish-the friendshipswe have made.

We trust we have served you well in the Post Office, o^General Store and Newsagency, and especially inWelfare of the village.

We thank you for your loyalty and friendship.

G. W. & J. E. SCOTT."The Friendly Store

SOMERTON

72

TENNISThe first tennis court built in Somerton is thought

to have been a private one built by Mr. Jim Inches for

his daughter Lilian in the early 1900's. It was situatedon land across the river from the old hotel in Bloom-

field Street, close to the river and next to the old

cricket ground.

General feeling on the desirability of a public courtled to a meeting being called by Mr. Stewart Swan andit was decided to put in a court on the recreationground. This court was approximately on the spotwhere the children's playground now stands and wasin use in 1917, and could possibly have been for afew years before. The exact date of the re-locationcannot be brought to mind by the older tennis play-ers who would have used this court. There is an idea

that the tennis court and the cricket ground were

re-located about the same time, possibly due to the

ground being purchased.

Players who would have used the court about thistime were:—

Stewart Swan, Clarrie Moffat, Stan Harwood, Mr.& Mrs. Bissell. Mr. & Mrs. Don Woolaston, Mirri

Harwood, Stella Harwood, Bertha Harwood, NellHarwood, Robert Quick, Mr. & Mrs. McGovern,Lil Inches, Cliff Crewes, Cecil Ruse, Doris Ruse (Mrs.Fred Hoad) Paddy a& Lucy Harwood, Mr. GeorgeGardner, Joe Hatch, Mr. & Mrs. George Cupples,Mabel Swan, Cecil Swan, Bert Swan, Arthur Gore,Phyle Gore, Doug Walker, Frank Ingham, RonaldMcGrath, Flow McGrath, Les McGrath, Ernie Chalker,Vince Watts and Norman Cupples.

Tennis was enjoyed by a large number of peopleat that time, with many private courts about havingtheir own teams which would often participate in

tournaments at Somerton and vice versa.

As membership became too great for one court itwas decided to build two courts and face them in thealternate direction. This work was done by a plough,scoop and dray - all horse-drawn by Mr. Archie Woola-ston and Mr. Herbie Avard, curring away the top bankand levelling the surface. Ant-bed was carted by horseand dray for the topdressing, all work being done bya team of voluntary workers, led by President StewartSwan. Owing to a lack of water, a pipeline was laidfrom the recreation ground tank supply to the court,to supply the much-needed water.

The club has had many enthusiastic helpers duringthe years, with Stewart Swan a tireless worker, con-stantly rolling and working on the courts. (He isrecalled as being the main one to re-start both tennisand cricket again after the War.)

When he left the district, the club lapsed until

June 1958, when Mr. Laurie Gardner called a publicmeeting and the club was re-formed with Mr. Gard-ner as President. The meeting was attended by 38people where the fee for the year was set at 5/- permember, plus 1/- ball fees. Those present at the meet-ing were-

Played on the Recreation ground courts where they are now located.Note the cars in the background. Playing costume has changed, since

those days!73

i I-

C. Cupples, Mr. L. Harwood, K. Mahoney, G. Lane,C'. J'. Moffat, N. Cupples, R. Carpenter, G. Baker^ W.Power, B. Guascoine, W. Hicks, C. G. Moffat, H. j.Moffat, Mrs. M. Hatch, Mrs. N. Swan, Mrs. L. Gardner,Mrs. P. Guascoine, Mrs. Baker, Mill L. Inches, Mrs.A. 'Hatch, Mrs. E. Wilkinson, Mr. Reg Wilkinson, Mrs.F.' Wilkinson, Miss B. Cooper, Mrs. G. Lane, Mrs.G. W. Scott, Miss C. Baker. Miss A. Wilkinson, TrevorChalker , Mrs. M. Harwood, Mrs. A. Gore, AnneChalker, Mrs. ). Hatch, Mrs. E. L. Hatch, L. Watts,L. Gardner, Mrs. E. McGrath, G. W.Scott.

The club has continued since 1958 with a total of26 persons attending the last Annual General Meetingin February, 1980. Yearly championships are held forsenior and junior players and numerous tournamentsare "held throughout the year, with many playersparticipating.

There is also an active Ladies Social Tennis Clubwhich'plays one day a week during the winter, withmany enjoyable days being held.

Players participating in the club are:-Max'&Velma Brady, Jan & Noel Gardner. ^ )im

Pauline and joanne, Heywood, Col Cupples, Stuartand Chris Swain, Edna McGrath & Ronald, DianeMoffat, Graham & Pauline Swain, Anthony Abra,Bryan Cupples, Ron & Wendy Cupples^ Peter Noms,Douglas and Barbara Swain, Maurice & Sharon Swain,

Bob & Lorna Heyman, Gary Aylett, lan and NoelSwain, David Gardner, Olive Thompson, Sue & LeisaMcGrath, Chris & Doug Perrett with several new localresidents intending to join the club.

In recognition of Stewart Swan's service to tennisin the area,"a move has been made to see that Memorialgates are 'erected at the recreation ground in hismemory. The intention is to unveil these gates duringthe Centenary Celebrations.

What a pity there cannot be some recognition forall those many, many people in bygone years whoworked and toiled to establish the recreational andother facilities which are in all small villages over thecountry for us all to enjoy.

There are probably many, many incidents whichoccurred on the tennis court over the years, but whichhave faded from memory but one that is recalled by Mrand Mrs. Bill Scott was the day Tommy Gore and hisfather, plus two others decided they were going toshow the young ones there was "no art in playingtennis". A game was quickly organised (the otherparticipants not remembered) and they all met on thecourt. The exact outcome is not remembered butapparently all players retired with the unanimousdecision that "yes, there was an art in playing thegame of tennis .

1' ;

I

m

-TIDYSCHOOL AND WORKWEAR CENTRE

"Shearer Centre"

Cnr. Peel & Fitzroy Streets, Tamworth.

WE WISH SOMERTON SCHOOLEVERY SUCCESS"IN iTSCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS, AND ARE

PLEASEDYO BE INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION.

74

"I f -t „ '„ "^JE-&>J. 1^<A:uKi.&fc^.-A^^y, ^ ^.;-*A^«LaL. ^^^

Horse-Racing in SomertonFrom the earliest days of Somerton it has always

been rich in Racing-lore, and many are the tales toldof owners, horses, trainers and race-meetings.

The first organised racing new recalled was theAll Height racing or Bridle racing that took place fromat least the turn of the century. The main venue forthese annual meetings was the Dry Cow Paddock,about 2km from the village centre, to the left of theSomerton-Manilla Road. This was then a part ofVickery's Bective Station, and permission was soughtto conduct the meeting there each year. The area wasrelatively clear and flat and there was sufficient roomto hold races from 2 furlongs to half a mile (400 to800 metres). Prior to this some racing may have occur-red as part of the Sports fixtures held along the rive^flat adjacent to the junction of Onus Creek and thePeel River.

The early meetings were held to raise money forcharity (e.g. Tamworth Base Hospital) and also for theWar Effort (World War I), and were held under therules of the Australian Racing Club. The meetingswere held in conjunction with the traditional Sportsdays, involving such activities as bending races, flagraces, Step the Distance, Drive the Nail. brnnm thr^,>,-

ing, etc. These various sports activities were heldduring the morning, with the horse-racing being pro-grammed in the afternoon. The day was mainly alocal district function, there being obvious difficultiesin transporting horses long distances in those days.However, there were usually people and horses inattendance from such centres as Attunga, Manilla andTamworth, the horses usually being led to Somer-ton at the back of a sulky. Entrants did not need to beregistered with the A.J.C. to compete in All HeightsRacing, and any horse competing that was so register-ed was barred from racing at A. J.C. meetings for 12months. There were, however, quite a few examples ofhorses that commenced racing at A. J. C. Meetings,turned to All Heights racing, and then later returnedto racing at registered meetings. An exception to theA. J. C. rule was for those horses who measured 14.2hands or under, which could compete at either A. R.C.or A.J.C. meetings.

Horse-trainers were well to the fore in theseearlier days, with custodians such as Frank Inches,Jim Inches, Jesse Avard, Archie Woolaston, WilfredKong and Joe Lawson (Vet.) being involved prior toWorld War I. Included amongst those who rode at theAll Height Meetings were Arthur Gore, Frank Cameron

•The original club committee at Somerton 's first race meeting in 1937Back row - (L to R) Nigel Brown, C. Brown (Treasurer), K. A. Cooper, N. D. Horneman, K. Doyle,

W. Kong.

Front row - ]. f. Mills, A. Chaffey, H. R. Hawker, {. S. N. Brown (President), W. Nogell (Secretary)H. Swan.

75

Reg Ford, Stan Harwood, Jim Hardman and PatRyan. Arthur Gore, well-known racing identity nowtraining in Somerton, recalls riding his first winner ona horse called Tiddy Turn at the old Dry Cow Paddockcourse in 1923. Some useful performers going roundat the time in All Heights Racing in Somerton were

Ngoora (trained by jesse Avard) and Solong (trainedby Joe Lawson). Some top A. j.C. performers were alsotrained in Somerton in the early years of the century.

In January, 1902, Cast Iron Beauchamp - Little Nell),bred at Durham Court (Manilla) and owned by ). B.Inches at Somerton, won the New Year's Gift and theCarrington Stakes at Randwick. In 1908 F. H. Incheswas the owner - trainer of Royal Merv, which won thefirst 2 year old race ever decided at Newcastle, andwent on to win the Stradbroke in Brisbane. Another

top performer was Golden Wire, owned by F. H.Inches; and trained on the reserve near Old Menedebri.Ridden by Les Winters, a Gunnedah District jockey,Golden Wire was rated by his trainer, Wilfred Kong, as

possibly his best-ever horse.

One of Wilfred's most consistent performers wasTwo Rings, who he also trained for Frank Inches. In10 years of racing Two Rings had an amazing total of232 starts (covering 211 miles) on 22 different coursesbetween 1924 and 1933, winning a total of 47 races.They certainly bred them tough in those days!

Wilfred Kong also trained some top AII-Heighters,including Odd Warren, Pickford and Oddress.

AII-Heights racing was popular in the districtaround the turn of the century, with Clubs active atTamworth, Gunnedah, Carroll, Breeza, Piallaway,Rushes Creek and Manilla (Durham Court), as well asSomerton. The nearest registered A. J. Clubs were atTamworth and Gunnedah.

Nothing visible appears to remain of the AII-Heightactivities in the Dry Cow Paddock. For a couple ofyears the Sports were held at an alternative site, on thenorthern side of the river, immediately on your leftas you pass over the present Somerton bridge travell-ing towards Manilla, now a part of 'Swanton'. Someracing was also held at this new site.

Around the mid 1920's All-Height racing wastransferred to the Somerton Common, adjacent to thepresent training track. The area afforded a biggertrack, and a combined Sports-Racing programmecontinued to be held on the unsurveyed track. Later,during World War II, rules were relaxed to allow All-Heighters to race side by side with registered (A.).C.)race-horses at the Patriotic Meetings, and these were

very well attended.

A thrilling finish in the Somerton Cup, held at the Somerton Racecourse on May 25, 1963. On the rails is thewinner School Prince, trained by Arthur Gore, defeating the grey Blue Stone, with Boisand third.

76

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se^-'-1-1"•^&^&^S^&£^^s€i, ^^asi ~i.

In 1937 a meeting was held at the Somerton Hotelto form the Somerton Jockey Club, affiliated with theA. j.C., to promote racing in the district. TheCommittee elected included R. Hawker (Patron),). Brown (President), W. Nagell (Secretary), CyrilBrown (Treasurer), A. Roach, K. Cooper, N. Horne-man, K. Doyle, J. Mills, A. Chaffey, H. Swan, W.Kong, R. Woolaston and N. Brown - all members nowdeceased with the exception of Cyril Brown. The firstmove of the Committee was to acquire a suitable site.The Department of Lands was asked to grant the Cluba site on the Somerton Common and have it surveyed.The grant was not received kindly by some of theCommoners, however preparations went ahead. ArthurBurrell ploughed the track and the local SportsAssociation made their funds available for the use ofthe newly-formed jockey Club, in return for a promiseof assistance with the Sports fixtures. Donations andmembership fees were also relied upon for early fund-ing the initial membership fee being one guinea. Aftermuch hard work, mostly voluntary labour, the Clubgot on its feet.

The first racing date granted to the Club by theNorth & North West Racing Association was October23, 1937. With makeshift buildings and flags flying theSomerton Jockey Club was born. The first meeting

proved to be a big success. However, country racingceased when the War broke out in September, 1939.An A. J. C. exemption was granted, allowing a Somer-ton Branch of the Peel Shire Patriotic Fund to be

formed, and racing was able to continue. Arthur Gorewas elected President of this Club, with Wilfred Kongthe Secretary, and the Club had the distinction ofraising more money than any other branch of the PeelShire towards the war effort.

After the war the Somerton Jockey Club was thefirst to revive racing in the N. N. W. R. Association.Whilst awaiting re-licensing of their race-tracks someother nearby Clubs held their meetings at the Somer-ton race-course - namely Keepit Diggers, TamworthPicnics, Tamworth jockey Club and Gunnedah Jockeyclub. This period immediately after the war broughtprobably the biggest crowds of racegoers to Somerton.However, as other Clubs commenced racing, more andmore of the racing dates previously allocated toSomerton were allotted elsewhere. By 1967 the Clubwas left with only one date and the Committee de-cided tha the expense required in maintaining theRacecourse facilities for one day's racing a year was

beyond the Club's assets, and in 1968 the Club ceasedto race.

During the 31 years of A. J.C. racing the village ofSomerton became famous for the racing honours thatwere shared by owners, trainers and horses. The lateWilfred Kong, one of the first committee, was leadingtrainer of the N.N.W.D. R. Association for nine years.One of the horses that he trained was De La Salle who,

Three of the modern 'stars' of horse-racing in Somerton. Up-and-coming jockey Sue McGrath isflanked by trainers Keith Swan and Arthur Gore (her grandfather - recently deceased).

77

I )i

after winning 11 races in the country, went on to winthe Epsom Handicap, the Caulfield Stakes, and alsoran third in the Caulfield Cup - arguably Somerton's

greatest protege. Wilfred Kong died in 1952. He wassucceeded by Arthur Gore, who started out as a jock-ey and then headed the trainer's list for many years,training many notable horses including Poinsiana,Granada, Merry Jack and Dewaroy (a Newcastle Cupwinner). Arthur was still leading in winners up untilhis very recent death, including the current localchampion Drop-A-Note who has 3 consecutive Rand-wick wins to his credit in 1979-80, as well as a string

of Cup wins in the North to his credit. His best trainingeffort was leading in 84 winners in one season. Thelate Archie Woolaston was well-known as a trainer

and will always be remembered as one who did muchto foster racing in Somerton, Keith Swan is currently

the leading trainer in the N. N.W. R.D. and has broughtmuch fame to the village with many winners each

year. Long-serving Committee members have includedEdgar Mills (President - 12 years), Ena Scott (Secre-tary - 15 years). The ladies of the village, headed byMr. Phyliss Gore and Mrs. Charlette McGrath conduct-ed the refreshment booths at the race-meetings and

raised over 100 pounds toward the building of theSomerton Hall.

Another star on the Somerton racing horizon is

Sue McGrath, who is currently pioneering the rela-

tively new field of women jockeys with substantialsuccess. Daughter of Edna (ex-Club Secretary) andMax (local trainer) and grand-daughter of Arthur andPhyliss Gore, Sue is certainly part of a racing family

Tamworth & District Gliding ClubThe Tamworth and District Gliding Club was

inaugurated at a meeting, held in Tamworth, on 5thJune, 1961, and chaired by Alderman Stan Cole, whowas, at that time, Mayor of Tamworth. A Committeewas elected, consisting of Max Kokegei (President),Alan Wall (Vice-President), J ill Thackray and RonMortimer (Joint Secretaries) and Max Cathcart (Treas-urer). Also present at the Meeting were John Riley andPat Carter (E. W.A. Executive), Paul Levin and CharlesWillis (E. W.A. Staff) and eleven others.

On 4th July, 1961, a. Constitution was adopted andby 22nd August negotiations had commenced forpurchase of a T31 (Slingsby Tutor) two seater gliderfrom R.A. N. Gliding Association at Nowra. Construc-tion of a winch had also commenced.

By 19th September, 1961, the T31 glider hadarrived in Tamworth, and on 13 October it waslaunched, by winch, at Tamworth Aerodrome. Flyingcontinued at that site for over a year.

In December, 1962, following negotiations by RonMortimer, flying commenced from a field on theNorth side of the river at Somerton, across the road

from Max Chaffey's house. The glider was towed outfrom the aerodrome each day, initially by road, butlater aerotowed by one of Airfarm's Tiger Moths, byarrangement with Basil Brown.

Following negotiations with the N. S.W. LandsDepartment, permission was obtained in July, 1964,to establish a gliding strip on Somerton Common;during the same month a Kookaburra glider was order-ed from Edmund Schneider of Gawler, S. A. and a

deposit of 250 pounds forwarded.

On 16th December, 1964, the Southgate Trophy,donated by John Ives, was presented to Bill Bruyn asan initio Pilot of the year. Assisted by sponsorshipfrom E. W. A. and T. A. A., John Wakefield was able to

attend the National Gliding School at Gawler.

Following demonstration flights at Narrabri inFebruary and March, 1965, the T31 glider ws sold tothe Maoi Aero Club in May of that year. This sale

assisted in financing purchase of the Kookaburraglider, which was towed by road from Gawler in June,1965. Flying of the Kookaburra at Somerton com-

menced in July, 1965, and continued until December,1971, when it was severely damaged in an outlandingin the village. The two pilots, )im Miller and AlwynFrancis, were uninjured.

During the period the Kookaburra was in operation

many pilots learned to fly and went solo in it. These

included Paddy and David Baldwin, Dick, Kath andPatricia Buckley, facquie Dean, Debbie Miller, PeterMuldoon, Colin Alston and David Alderdice.

The Kookaburra was sold as a wreck and a second

hand Bocian purchased from a club at Gladstone,Queensland. Delivery was immediate and little flyingtime was lost.

In October, 1970, plans for a hangar were sub-milled to Peel Shire Council, and in November, 1970,Paddy and David Baldwin were made Honorary Life

Members of the club in appreciation of their effort in

building and donating a new winch. This is still in use.

78

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The Bocian two seater was seriously damaged in a

landing accident on the Somerton strip early in 1973and the club was without a training aircraft for somemonths. About August, 1973, a Blanik all metal twoseater glider was obtained from Bill Riley of Tocum-wal. The damaged Bocian was sold to John Wakefieldfor 1. 1,000. When some doubt devloped regardingownership of Blanik (The previous owner attemptingto repossess it), negotiation with Riley resulted in itsbeing replaced with another Blanik, VH-G1K, which isstill in use by the club.

During the years 1970-73 theTamworth Branch ofthe Air Force Association sponsored gliding trainingfor some Air Scouts and Air Training Corps members.Of these Philip McFarlane, a Senior Air Scout, wentsolo and is now training with Tamworth Aero Club asa power pilot, and Kevin Pottinger, a former A.T. C.cadet, is now an Equipment Officer at AmberleyR.A.A. F. Base and a member of the R.A.A. F. Gliding

Club at Amberley.

In May, 1970, Warwick Deane leased his "Mucha"single seater glider to the club for use by senior pilots.

It is worthy of note that from the time that JimMiller took over as Treasurer, in August, 1968, the fin-ancial position of the club seemed to stabilise, in spiteof a number of mishaps which could have wrecked it;also. thanks were recorded in the minutes to Nev

Jones and H. Reid for running raffles to assist theclub.

In August-September, 1972, David Baldwin attend-ed a Gliding Instructors' Course at Wagga and wasawarded an Instructor Rating.

On 2nd December, 1975, Kath Buckley was thefirst member of the T. & D. Gliding Club to completethe requirements for the Gold "C" gliding badge witha flight of 308 kilometres, Quririndi Aerodrome -Binnaway - Somerton - Quirindi Aerodrome. InJanuary, 1976, Graeme Baldwin had his first soloflight.

The "Mucha" Single seater glider was bought bythe club in early 1976, from Alwyn Francis, who hadbought it from Warwick Deane when he purchased thelater "Cobra" in 1973.

A Blanik g/ider towed by a Piper Super Cub at Somerton Common.

79

In April, 1976, negotiations commenced with theLake Keepit Park Trust which ultimately resulted inthe establishment of the new gliding strip at KeepitDam. Since flying commenced at Keepit on 16thDecember, 1977, the popularity of that site has beensuch that it was decided to unite the New EnglandArmidale, and Tamworth Clubs, the club now beingcalled Lake Keepit Soaring Club.

Other members of the club who have completedthe Gold "C" gliding badge are Dick Buckley andGraeme Baldwin in December 1976 at 60 and 17 yearsrespectively, the oldest and youngest members to gainthat badge, and, on 31st December, 1979, JabezNichols and Bill Smith.

After the death of Paddy Baldwin, early in 1977,his family presented a "Paddy Baldwin MemorialTrophy" to be awarded to the Pilot of the Year select-ed by popular vote each year. Coincidentally, thisTrophy was awarded to Graeme Baldwin in 1977.It was awarded to Bill Smith in 1978 and Dick Buck-

ley in 1979.

Somerton has not seen the last of gliding activities.A successful Glider Engineers Course was conductedat the Somerton Memorial Hall at the end of April,1980. This was attended from places as far apart asCanberra and Lightning Ridge.

rmnnrm • <TBT»'B a • • a ana » • » BTnnnnmT

A tragic event took place during the early days of Bective. Some aboriginal women were so fascinated by'the white-women 's clothing on the clothes line at the station headquarters, that they attempted to remove'some 'one night. The dogs 'were aroused and attacked the women, killing one and badly mauling the other'before the whites could beat them off. To prevent a repition of the tragedy, Robert Pringie built a veryhigh fence around the compound.

A tribute to the early settlers and to all those whoserved in the forces.

MAX, MERLE AND ROBERT CHAFFEYOF "DONGGALA" THE HOME OF

POLL DORSET RAMSHEREFORD BULLS

PRIME LAMBS AND VEALERSwe also grow grain and lucenre hay.

PHONE (067) 697533

80

'^

Somerton Braille Book ClubSomerton has become well known to educators of

the blind; world wide. In 1957 the Somerton BrailleBook Club for Children was formed following anarticle in the Sydney press about the need for illustra-ted stories for blind children.

It is still the only known organisation of its kindand annually tactile books for blind children arerequested and donated to schools for the blind inAustralia, New Zealand, England and Zambia.

For many years illustrated Braille books wereproduced for schoolage blind children but morerecently pre-school blind, deaf-blind and multi-handi-capped blind children at North Rocks. N. S.W. Centrefor blind children have known the joy of picturebooks and tactile reading aids donated by the club.

Productions from the Somerton Braille BookClub will be presented this year at the World Confer-ence for educators of the visually handicapped atHamburg in Germany by Mr. G. Smith, Principal, M.H. School for Blind Children at North Rocks.

To members of the community of Somerton, pastand present, who have contributed to and encouragedour chosen project I extend my grateful thanks formuch research and pioneering was required for booksto reach their present standard of perfection.

(Mrs. ) Nell Woolaston,President, Somerton Braille Book

Club for Children.

A very successful Bridal Display Concert was held inthe Somerton Hall in November, 1979, as a Centenarypromotion. An enthusiastic crowd of around 160'persons was present to witness proceedings. Included^on the program was the modelling of around 40wedding gowns, originally worn from as early as 1921through until 1979. A total of 19 women offered theirservices as models, and $157.00 was raised towards theCentenary from the evening's activities.

It is reported that the first car to be owned in .Somer-ton belonged to ]. B. Inches, around 1915. It was ared vehicle which seated 2 in the front, with access

through doors at the back. Somerton School ex-pupil Phyliss Pearson, now in her 80's in Tamworth,recalls how the teacher, Silas Clifton, took thechildren down to Bloomfield Street (then the mainhighway) to witness the exciting moment of thefirst motor-vehicle to ever travel through Somerton,in the year 1908, driven by a Mr. Wills-Allan.

Altogether, there are 23 schools, in N. S. W. (including^Somertonj, sharing their Centenary year in 1980with the N. S. W. Department of Education (Depart-ment of Public Instruction). They are - BourkeStreet. Bunnaloo Street, Castle Hill, Comleroy Road,Concord, Graman, Granville, Holmwood, Junee,Krambach, Lake Cargelligo, Mosman, Mount Pleasant,New Lambton, Sutton Forest, Tambar Springs,Temora, Uranquinty, Wagga Wagga North, Wilber-force, Windellama and Woolbrook.

Special guests speakers at Somerton Centenary meet-ings over the past 18 months have been Lyall Green,well-known Tamworth historian who assisted greatlyin providing information towards the eventual com-pilation of this booklet; Terry Miles, Principal ofAttunga School, who told us about their Centenaryorganisation in -1978; and Mrs. Walter, from theTamworth Musical Society who brought out a varietyof period costumes to help initiate our PeriodCostume Competition.

The present (1980) school-captains of SomertonPublic School - Lynda Miller and ]ulie McGrath -were privileged in May of this year to accept an invita-tion by the N. S. W. Minister for Education to attendo special ceremony at Observatory Hill, Sydney, tomark the centenary of the N. S. W. Department ofEducation. The school-captains and Principals of eachof the 23 schools in N. S. W. celebrating their centen-aries this year were invited to attend. Accompaniedby Principal, Mike Coshman, they also found time foro guided tour of the Opera House, as well as an inspec-tion of several points of interest in The Rocks area.

Horse-drawn coach services in the Peel-Valleycommenced in the 1840's and operated for the foil ow-ing 70 years. In the Tamworth • area the changing'stations'seem to have been about every 14 miles(23km). One changing station was near Goono°Goonoo station, another near Moonbi, one at Kloriand one at Thomas Sciilly's place on the GunnedahRoad.

81

Some idea of the increasing volume of traffic passing through Somerton may be gained from the followingannual, average daily traffic figure, recorded at a point 10km west of Tamworth on the Highway.7959- 740; 1964- 1100; 1968- 1270; 1972- 1450.

II

I I

KEN'S KITCHENLOCATED AT "CATHY'S TAVERN"

— REGULAR MENU OFFERSOVER TWENTY VARIETIES OF

EAT-INORTAKE-AWAYDISHES.

ALSO CATERS FORPARTIES IN FUNCTION ROOM

Enquiries Welcome!PHONE: 697505

uOOD SERVICE - REASONABLEPRICES!

Were you at the /ast Somenon Cup Meeting held at the local race-course (May 22, 1968)? The starterswere Mydalla, Ancestor, Excellent Queen, Doughline, Tausigny, Income Tax, Step High, Rozshah, andBencfemeer Boy. The winner was Doughline, trained by Arthur Gore and ridden by C. Foster.

82

What is a Country Town?A country town is a collection of houses built

in pure air so rarely found in cities.

Country towns are of all sizes from one-pub-one-store village which is known as a one-horse town, to

the larger ones which have their own municipalities,hospitals etc.

But, all have one thing in common and that is the

partisanship of its people for their own bit of world.

The people who live in country towns are called

residents. They spend much of their time sitting at

meetings about this and that and the only reward for

their efforts is that of being referred to in the localpress as prominent citizens.

They know all about one another's affairs andwhose cheques are good and whose husbands are bad.They share one another's joys and sorrows and givegenerously to every worthwhile and not-so-worthwhilecause.

They may quarrel amongst themselves, but quicklyband together against outsiders who dare to criticiselocal affairs.

They hate red tape which always seems to bebound more strongly around country needs that thoseof the cities.

They pity people forced to live in the rush and

bustle of metropolitan areas and treat with tolerance

the city visitors who try to partonise them.

They dislike the ex-resident who returns, full of hisown importance and attempts to lord it over them.

They enjoy their sport, their wireless serials and

their own newspaper, which, no matter the title given

by its proprietor, is affectionately known as "the

local rag" and read with eagerness and attention never

accorded to other papers.

In a country town, a man is judged not by his

clothes, or his bank balance, but by his sincerity and

worth to the community

Who would wish to live in a city?d'I

I

An aerial view of Somerton,

83

Rainfall Registrations

IIII;li

The rainfall measurements are expressed in millimetres (ie. metric measurement). If converting to points of rainfall,multiply by 4 (Note - 25.4mm = 1 inch of rain).The registrations were the official recordings at Somerton Post Office (31-0 S, 150 - 39 E, Elevation 366m), withthe exception of the period from 1891 to 1902 inclusive, and the years 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 1970 and 1973,where there were no Somerton statistics available. The recordings taken at Bective Station, a few kilometres to theeast; have been substituted for these years, giving a complete record for the period.

fan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. July Aug, Sept. Oct Nov. Dec. Total

1891189218931894189518961897189818991900190119021903190419051906190719081909191019111912191319141915191619171918191919201921192219231924

1925192619271928192919301931193219331934

Rainfall (mm) 124664069

11635

142103702634171516

10323893741

3501214354431866166211735828692271

934459182250389

16580

2515

153

7

913

550

0

5871

10142 28936 0

134 4520180

557131

10117582512

133183108414894130494226163835650

98

591615

283131

6

53916164112153n

622053836814206

4527

1

1052

3

14

508928

1412141

17 11720 5312 20n6 0

337271599

350

4

1216936535794175281340424

100

472027662

19183185254

52

0

385363463457384

25

23562230295032518

82600

106384519n

12

251224139137372

2

5

5321873

5

22

70648

123

111021626

1

9140802822298663629924

45335727100

77

17247034

9 65 56

28 10220 1623 1249 1434 2097 2893 4712 4779 7074 9225780583118

17470279135

1226256727

11695185726

2574532133139662734056

26252

55194545279972

45333862816503238830

9141425034

107393699412346100

3765311251278214

14

3420125

711825162156

731241334612842305430241895282

987

64361540143910477198235

94313739

39 109

4

574

5

322317885945

291081168239285918190

70568884363939224937267848465355

2

642697853346

142

8

55127

888368258941

1

3616111468403734117928683451301912498

7845 205

531028541268

178

845

33 12126 3222 3996 26

8680104

33 667

91 79218 82561 774

119 54654 52992 59044 51322 48299 5960 458

29 32882 64935 72066 648

21 577

186 663103 73842 736

87 801

51 58917 44584 639

152 512118 520

67 671710579355742798

509

108 34

358

489712410778 39736 753

28 47486 470

149 50814 73914 44719 48684 68965 48595 78889 651

i i 84

^ .1

1935 Rainfall (mm)19361937193819391940194119421943194419451946194819491950195119521953195419551956195719581959196019611962196319641965196619671968196919701971197219731974197519761977197819791980

fan.

12741115327016

174161335872638387696931235881493140624119

146no162

0

1819

19710516127872892061022501442014082

Feb. Mar. Apr. May

24542933

1

6656623878711033

124156429113458

3192668834144

7

8074296

15268

307939127

0

380

151170119

3

3

0

4

498512864413561483

1213743

4

58727

0

0

272213689

9325m

665

12944276130

1

8

4

552466356416

2622122057425

0

161837282960701931111330614823376231242870224

n

362460

1

0

3441

409349144444362175810

44147

Jun. )ul. Aug Sept.9 43 22 61

11 62 34 3734 51 45 21

80

6827359

24129616

180 43o ns

90 6345 100

4233642

1568 1290 56

76 100 112

2

174

290

7

35379

6736268

6420817410759480

433465192611274

4

45241348624

3821128

248

638

24913535

41160

171682144285

2822

11918

439

1410479951

1

13792852

32 13827 7018 16383522n

4148512024636

8

5

5527

1

461

282421480

524

451131690

3256546824326039786227,95

4724246

153116

178

469

13478

0

4662

1325833151817

158196

703927114630574251113429

107652050173527217462

Oct Nov.

57 133

695644

3

364541197981S30

189

\\128

346

56531865466195

130 228

0 1571 1229 51

133 12568 7574 130

7454

104

41

65 10574 176102 54478737

62n

1655 12082 036 2896 12654 11015 74

11166475746236724

7569533644339490

Dec. Total

65 46388 43832 5535 436

17 42160 3450 59636 56039 55833 46012 47831 28642 56122 8700 10053 39094 7100 4506 485

93056 823126 410102 53575 59837 49571 67486 65977 76011 64099 29346 46530 39144 665

62 852150 73844 74252 41483 539

1 47745 59125 7306 648

123 8270 429

Monthly rainfall record (highe^ov^e ^. ^ _ (289mm); April 1905 - (175mm)jMay ^^

^ii^Si^S^^^,^;o^s .a,n .ad fa,,en . one calendar ye., t. e re.st.tion wou.d .,ve .een a .an^ 2444.. (.6 .c.es),;:;:r~,:d^^r-^""'^r»=^"94'<"o-)'4'h •'•" •Msm"1's'b -'"'±^ ,„ - „« l,BS»,.l, ..- - «» I"'-!. "- - "»2 '32"nm)' 4tt - "" 1"5"'""-"1' - 1'"'(355mm).

85

Market prices quoted in Manilla March 1899, byH. I. Fenwicke, who opened an auction market:-Butter - 9d/}b; ducks - 4/-/pair; eggs - Sd/doz. : bacon -Sdflb; cheese - 5d/lb, honey - 2d/lb; lemons - 4/-f case;grapes - I'/Sd/lb; pineapples - 8/-f case; lucerne hay-501-1 . ton, chaff - J/6/bag, barley - 2/6, bushel;fowt-wheat - 2/6, bushel; potatoes - 4/6, cwt; storepigs - 151-each; The price of meat in 1900 was 3d to4d per Ib, and haircuts were advertised at 6d.

Letter from Parent to Teacher - 1902

Sir,Will you in the future give my son easier somes to

do at nites? This is what he's brought hoam two orthree nites back: 'If fore gailins of here will fill thirtyto pint bottles how many pints and half bottles willnine gailins of here fill? Well, we tried and could makenothin of it at all, and my boy cried and laughed andsed he didn't dare go back in the mornin without doinit. So I had to go and buy nine gallin barrel of herewhich I could ill afford to do, and then he went andborrowed a tot of wine and brandy bottles. We fill

them, and my boy put the answer down for an answer./ don't know where it is right or not as we spilt somwhile c/oin it.P. S. Please let the next some be in water as I am notable to buy more here.

From the "Golden Days" of Education.

7. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneysbefore beginning work.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water andscuttle of coal for the day's session.

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibsto the individual taste of the pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each weekfor courting purposes, or two evenings a weekif they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, teachers may spend theremaining time reading the Bible or other goodbooks.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemlyconduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay agoodly sum of his earnings for his benefit duringhis declining years so that he will not becomeo burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form,frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved ino barber shop, will give good reason to suspect hisworth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labour faithfullyand without fault for five years will be given an

increase of two shillings and sixpence per week inhis pay providing the Board of Education approves.

yb

Organisation for the Somerton Centenary Celebrationscommenced with the holding of the initial publicmeeting in March, 7979, and since then a total of 16public meetings have been held. Chief executiveelected on the organising committee were NoelGardner (President), Geoff Cooke (Vice-President),Elizabeth Woolaston and Mike Cashman (Secretary& Assistant Secretary}, Ecfna McGrath (Treasurer).Sub-Committees were formed for History (Research),Publicity, Ceremony, Ball, Fete, School Sports,Community Sports and Procession, and these metregularly up until the date.

Did you know that there are at least 6 other Somer-tons throughout the world, and we have been in touchwith all of them to advise, them of our CentenaryCelebrations. Their details are as follows:-

* Somerton County Council, County Hall Taunton,England, TA 1 40 Y.

* Somerton, Shire of Whittlesea, Epping, Victoria,3076, Australia.

* Somerton, Arizona, U. S. A., 85350.* . Somerton, Ohio, U. 5. A., 43784* Somerton, St. James, Jamaica.• Somerton, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., 19116.

Many ex-pupils of the school will rememberCompeting in the Bective Sports, which have beenheld since 1936. Somerton school was this year the

winner of the T. H. Woolaston Trophy for the small

schools competition as the Bective Sports and thevarious winners inscribed on this trophy are as follows;

1936 - Byamee; 1937 - Bective Soldiers Settlement;1938-39 - Byamee; 1940 - Bithramere; 1946-47-48 -- Byammee; 1949-50 - Bective Soldiers Settlement;

1955-56 - Byamee; 7 95 7- 58-59-60-61 -6 2-63-64 -Bithramere; 1965 to 1969 no record; 1969-70-74 -

Somerton; 1972 - Limbri; 1973-Somerton; 1974-75-

no record; 1976 - Tintinhull; 1977 - Somerton; 1978 -Tintinhull; 1979-80 - Somerton.

In the first W years otwdiication at Somerton School,the following occurred -1880 - Public Instruction Act was brought into ex-

istence; Water Supply Act established.1881 - Female students admitted to Sydney iiniver-

sity; Smallpox discovered In Sydney.1883 - Silver discovered at Broken Hill.

7 887- Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.7 888 - Centenary of Australia's colonisation; Centen-

nial Park established in Sydney.

1889 - Henry Parkes speech for Federation; Hawkes-bury River Bridge opened. Also, during thatdecade, rail links were established betweenBrisbane - Sydney - Melbourne; Telephoneexchanges were set up in all capitals and theFederation movement gained momentum.