This is a page within Roger and Linda's Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site.
Bunhybee Grasslands is a 49 hectare / 120 acre conservation property 35km south of Braidwood, in southern N.S.W.
You can follow through the internal links, or you may find it easier to use the Site-Map.
This page commences with some general historical information about the district.
A separate page provides information about the history of the property itself.
 |
 |
 |
District Map Bunhybee is SSW of Braidwood, between Ballalaba and Jerrabattgulla |
Local Map Click a Map to enlarge it |
Property Map Bunhybee is between Ballalaba and Jerrabattgulla, just west of Bunhybee Peak |
Braidwood lies 200km SSW of Sydney, 60km ESE of Canberra and 40km NW of Bateman's Bay. It is on the plateau, 20km west of the coastal escarpment.
The Wikipedia entry and a page on the Visit Braidwood site both say that European explorers by the name of Kearns, Marsh and Packer reached the Braidwood district in 1822. They were sent to investigate the possibility of a track between the Limestone plains (the current site of Canberra) and Batemans Bay.
The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1820s, and the town was surveyed in 1839. In 1841 Braidwood Farm had 141 residents. The primary activity was, and remained for the following century, the production of wool.
"Braidwood was the subject of the nation's first Royal Commission in 1867, inquiring into the activities of police officers and managers in the district, concerning the extent to which bushrangers had been shielded and assisted by police connivance and inactivity. The Commission identified several instances of misconduct and found the superintendent of police had failed to exercise 'strict and proper control over his men'". (There have been many since, and there should have been a lot more).
"Gold was discovered in 1851, and for the next two decades the district's population swelled to about 10,000. Supplies and produce to support the workforce on the gold fields came from as far afield as the Canberra region. This prosperity lasted for several years, during which some substantial commercial buildings including banks and hotels were constructed". [This is irrelevant, but fun: Local legend has it that Mick Jagger wrote one of his major hits while on location to make Ned Kelly; but there is no agreement as to which one.] Here is the town's own history-page, and here is the Braidwood Museum and the Historical Society.
According to Major's Creek's own history page, this nearby area was first settled by Major William Sandys Elrington, who received a free grant in 1827 of 2650 acres.
On the road south from Braidwood towards Bunhybee, is Jembaicumbene. Among other things, it was the birthplace of Archer, winner of the first two Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862. "Foaled at the 'Exeter Farm', it was also his last home where he was retired to stud, and where he is believed to be buried. Several other Melbourne Cup winners were also bred in the district. Horse racing was the most important leisure activity for the miners in the old days, and the social life for the settlers centred largely around the race meetings, held on courses which have now disappeared". Jembaicumbene has a further, although more remote brush with horse-racing fame in that it was the birthplace of trainer T.J. Smith. However, a Tallaganda Shire history document attributes Archer to T.J. Roberts at Ballalaba rather than Jembaicumbene. And it says that two more Melbourne Cup winners were bred there – Tim Whiffler (1867) and Bravo (1889).
To the south and west of Bunhybee, the Shire document says that Tallaganda was an 1828 grant of 200 acres to the emancipated convict John Tarlington. Tallaganda is thought to be the Aboriginal name for all of the valley within 20 miles of the rising of the Shoalhaven River. Krawaree was an 1840 grant to Captain Grant, of H.M 61st Regiment of foot.
A place-name close to Bunhybee is Ballalaba, which appears to be an area of fairly flexible extent, 4-10km north. The property Ballalaba was a grant of 1840. St Pauls Anglican Ballalaba, built in 1913, is some distance north, just north of the Shoalhaven crossing and 12km from Bunhybee.
The property adjacent to Bunhybee, over the ridge-line to the east, is Oranmeir, previously spelt Oronmear. This was an 870-acre property purchased by William Tarlinton in 1838. He had taken the name of his stepfather (the grantee of Tallaganda mentioned above). On 7 Jul 1859 in 'The Empire' in Sydney, a request for a Post Office at Oranmeir was supported by the statement that "large populations are growing up at ... Oranmeir".
M.N. O'Connell of Oranmeir wrote an excellent letter to the Sydney Morning Herald in August 1860, arguing that what became the King's Highway was being put in the wrong place. He has a point.
An article in the Maitland Mercury of 18 March 1862 located a descent into the Big Hole (10km south and across the Shoalhaven) by reference to Oranmeir.
From 1862-67, "the Clarke gang of bushrangers led by brothers Tom and John Clarke of Ballalaba with uncles Pat and Tom [O']Connell of Oranmeir stole horses, robbed travellers, stores, hotels, homesteads". They were captured in April 1867 and hanged in June 1867. Here is one rendition of the story, and here is an 1866 newspaper report on a related matter.
Michael Hart, an ex-convict who had arrived in 1827, had land in the area (including one-third of Bunhybee for a short time), and a daughter who married Thomas Clarke in 1863 and had his child, but disowned him soon afterwards, when he becameso infamous that he has an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Crown Land Sales in the area were reported in The Queanbeyan Age in April 1869.
The death of a "well-known and prosperous farmer" Henry Warren was reported on the property in 1907. 21 votes were cast in the 1918 election. A D.M. O'Connell was there in March 1920. A dingo's death was widely reported in 1937. In 2011, Oranmeir is still owned by an O'Connell.
Bunhybee lies on the upper slopes of Jerrabattgulla Creek. However there are mentions of it also as Jerrabattgully. According to a list of NSW rivers, Jerrabattgulla Creek was previously Oronmear Creek. A report exists of the upper Jerrabattgulla Creek / Krawaree West area as seen from a regolith science (i.e. mining company) perspective in 2004.
The place-name Jerrabattgulla, is 3km to the south of Bunhybee. There is little to be found on the Web in that name, although there is mention of the Jerrabattgulla Public School, 1892-1957. There are mentions in earlier times of its older name, e.g. in 1875, Mr George Szarka, half-time school teacher at Oranmeir and Jerrabatgully, "met with an accident of a most extraordinary character".
The centre section of the Jerrabattgulla valley was occupied by the Warragandra property. Warragandra's history, and how Bunhybee came to be carved off from it, is discussed on a separate page.
On the western side of the Jerrabattgully, SW of Warragandra and 2km from Bunhybee, is the Gilston property. It has been owned for some years by a member of the O'Connell family. A Hart, who died in1877 is mentioned in the context of Gilston. Hart's Rd runs E-W to the south of Bunhybee and the adjacent Parlour Grasslands, between Warrangandra and Oranmeir. A page of the Whaite family history identifies a Joseph Hart (1837-1910) b. Liverpool 1837, whose family migrated to Australia 1840. He was married on 25 Sep 1856 in Braidwood to Honora (Anna) (Kane) (from Tipperary 1831/35-1925), Burial Witnesses: P G Kain, E Torpy.
Another reference to Gilston is intriguing, saying that an Ellen Ross was married on 1 May 1847 in Presbyterian Church, Gilston near Braidwood, NSW. No other mention of a Church on the property has been found. A preacher from Braidwood or Queanbeyan might have brought his portable altar with him perhaps? This page also mentions a 'Monaro Pioneers Database'.
In the Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser of 13 February 1847, it was reported that, at the Berrima Assizes on 4 Feb 1847, George Beaton was found guilty of the wilful murder of John Kelly, at Ornmeir Creek, on the 24th December. The prisoner attacked the deceased's house in the night without provocation, and when deceased came out to remonstrate with him, prisoner attacked him, and stabbed him in the belly with a knife. Prisoner, in defence, said that deceased had followed him and beat him with a stick till he was insensible, and he did not know what occurred afterwards. Mr. Justice Therry passed sentence of death on him, holding him out no hopes of mercy.
These days, Gilston is an official rainfall monitoring station. The homestead is subject to heritage constraints.
The sole reference found to date for Bunhybee Peak is in "a Schedule of Principal Mts., etc", in the Qeensland Geographical Journal including the proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Queensland, Volumes 5-10, 1889 (cover digitised from the Uni of Michigan Library).
Gundillion Cemetery (also known as Emu Creek Cemetery) is 10km SE, as the crow flies, on the eastern side of Snowball Rd. The Inscription List includes a number of Harts and O'Connells. I'm not aware of any other nearby cemeteries.
Searches on the longstanding placename of Togganoggera have found almost nothing, although the Braidwood Times noted on 02 Jul 02 that "Proposals to have the Tallaganda Shire Council's Works Department account for a $47,000 overspend on the Togganoggera Bridge and to address the wider problem of project overspends, were defeated at the June meeting of Council".
A separate page provides information about the history of the property itself.
Created: 23 February 2009; Last Amended: 30 September 2011