Early Jottings of the Upper Page and Isis River Districts
Adam Stuart Wightman arrived in the Colony of New South Wales in 1828. He came from Dalpedda, Scotland, where the family owned land. The day he arrived in Sydney he secured a position with Colonel Durnaresq, as Superintendant at St. Heliers, near Muswellbrook. Durnaresq also had property on the coast north of Newcastle at Archers Vale.
Adam sent for his family to join him in the Colony. Caroline with her family sailed from Leeds on board the ship Minerva in 1830, her baby John had died shortly before sailing. You can imagine the rigours of the journey in those days. Caroline's daughter Margaret Phillip worked a cross stitch sample on the voyage, with the wording wrought on her journey to New South Wales and the date. We still have this framed sampler.
On arrival in Sydney they caught a steamer to the Green Hills near Morpeth, This was the only way to travel as at this date there was no road to Newcastle, in fact the railway came north from Newcastle and was built before the Sydney to Newcastle one. They lived at St Heliers for a number of years.
There were convict labourers on the property and Caroline hated to hear them being flogged. During their time at St Heliers another son was born, calling him John after the baby who had died. Colonel Dumaresq died and his widow decided to sell up the properties and return to England. This made Adam redundant and he decided to branch out on his own.
He took up country he called Glengarry. It is situated a few miles east of Wingen and about three miles south of Bickham, on the Page River. It is a very nice piece of country and it is still called Glengarry. There have been various owners over the years. I. Boseley, then the Abbotts for a long time, then Charlie Kater, who married Sir Joseph Abbot's daughter Blanche, bought from the Abbotts then Fred Croaker, who had been managing Brenda Station at Goodooga and Walhallow, retired and came to Petwyn Vale, Wingen to live. He also purchased Glengarry. Fred Croaker had a wooden leg and had trouble doing much work himself.
That well known rodeo competitor Jimmy Callinan managed Glengarry for Croaker and after Jimmy died, his son Leo took on the job. It was during this time that my father had an arrangement with Fred Croaker. Fred Haydon providing the cattle and Croaker the country. Fred Haydon lost a small fortune in the big cattle slump. He and his brother-in-law Hilton Doyle bought cattle out on the Mooney River trucking them in to Scone markets by special train loads. He and Fred Croaker shared the profits and Dad was able to eventually clear the debt.
When they came to Petwyn Vale, young Fred and David were both very small children. They are both dead now and part of Glengarry was then sold to Rick Edwards. Adam Wightman was not very successful there and in a few years he was broke. One did not become insolvent or bankrupt in those days ~ you were stone motherless broke. Their furniture was put up for sale and Thomas Haydon bought it all back and returned it to Caroline. During these years at Glengarry, Thomas Haydon began courting Margaret, meeting her for the first time at a party held by Dr Street at Petwyn Vale. There was stern opposition to Thomas. He was a devout Catholic, she was a Presbyterian. They favoured for their daughter Rev George Anderson, a Presbyterian minister who from early 1840 had resided at Glengarry as tutor to their children. Thomas eventually won Margaret's hand in marriage.
They were married at Glengarry by Rev Father Lynch on May 18, 1841, after the ceremony 26 people rode to Bloomfield, where Thomas had recently erected a neat cottage, his own word, on the site of the present home, which was close to a well. Festivities went on for days, everyone was invited. Margaret and Thomas had begun their lives together. Adam was forced to sell Glengarry and the family moved to Bloomfield, where Adam died. Caroline did not stay long at Bloomfield but went into Haydonton, to help her son Alexander run the White Hart Hotel which had just been built on land 1½ acres, bought from Thomas Haydon for £150.00.
Alexander bought 30 acres of Haydonton subdivision and some building blocks. His brother William bought an acre of land for a slaughter house. This site is where the Wilson Memorial Hospital is now. While at the White Hart Hotel, she built Bridge House a lovely old stone house on the river. She did not live in it herself until much later.
William Wightman took over the old Royal Hotel, but he did not build it. William married Mary Anne Teys after William's death. Mary Anne married again, Mr McLean and kept on running the hotel, until they went to Mountainview now Bobadil House. The Wightman brothers ventured much further afield buying Kunopia out on the McIntyre River near Boorni, the Teys family had a property next door.
Alexander married his cousin Louisa Riddle. She and her sister came out to New South Wales after their parents died in Ireland. The father managed an estate, Killymoon Castle for Captain Stewart. Later when she went to Haydonton to live she called her cottage Killymoon. These girls were Caroline's nieces. Alexander, his wife and three brothers went to Kunopia where Alexander died, one brother died after a drinking bout in Tamworth on his way back to Kunopia. The body was brought back to Haydonton for burial. Kunopia was sold to Bishop Tyrrel, the Bishop of Newcastle. His parish extended to the Queensland border, at the same time he bought Brenda Station at Goodooga. The church sold Kunopia, and has recently spent a million dollars on improvements at Brenda Station. Louisa returned, to Bloomfield with her three children, Stuart, Cora and Alexander, always called Toby.
Louisa purchased a small property on Sandy Creek which was called Wurley. They did not stay there long. Stuart went to work for his Uncle John Wightman, the one who was born at St Heliers, at Merrigular. Stuart married a very attractive lady Kathleen Hamilton from Bathurst and they lived in Gunnedah in a very small cottage. He had a wooden leg, having it amputated after a tree fell on him. The first two children Reginald and Doris died in a diphtheria epidemic, John Wightman's wife also died of it.
There were two other daughters Dorothy, who remained single and the other daughter married Mr Story a big storekeeper in Gunnedah. Dorothy and her mother earned their living sewing. Bernard Haydon was very good to them. They came regularly to holiday at Bloomfield, a large hamper went to them at Christmas time and I suspect the odd cheque or two was forthcoming. Allie the youngest son went to Queensland and was on Rockwood Station. I met him once when he was at Bloomfield in 1926.
As age began to creep up on Caroline, she went to Bloomfield to live and later when Bernard Haydon married Blanch Elizabeth Wakeford, Caroline, Margaret and her son Peter and two daughters, Caroline and Mary Louis, went to live at Bridge House, Haydonton. Caroline died there in her 92nd year. She had been part of the development of Haydonion and owned collages and blocks of land there. She was much respected by all, and men on droving trips with stock sought her advice on a variety of matters.
Later, Caroline Haydon was to describe the Wightman men as “bucolic”, the dictionary meaning says “rustic”. If there are still Wightman relatives around we do not know any of them today, except Sheila Flatt who lives in Adelaide.
Boxtree Creek
Boxtree Creek flows into the Page on Bickham, behind Glencoe. It is a small Creek, one of several to drain part of the Upper Hunter Valley into the Page and then the Hunter River, flowing into the sea at Newcastle. The 680 acre blocks were selected by Hunts, Callinans, Shannahans, Wildes, Edwards and Murphys. Hunts had several blocks, and the original two-room cottage they built is still there and in reasonably good order. It outlives the building originally intended to replace it. Brian Hunt recently built a very modern home there and Annette has made a prize garden in a very short time.
Wildes Block is now owned by one of Athol Frith's sons. Shannahan's country is now Homewood, and the home of Noel Edmonds and family.
Glencoe is an area of about 1200 acres and was owned by absentee landholders Edwards, who were not allowed to sell it while certain members of the Edwards family were alive.
The Haydons rented it for a great number of years, and when the family's members died, the Haydons bought it. The early settlers couldn't make a go of it on these fairly small poor blocks of land and had to take other jobs. Dan Hunt worked for the Shire, and as stated before, one of the Hunt girls, Rosanna, and Maggie Mullins worked at Bloomfield and married two Purcell boys. You ride through Glencoe and to get to the country on the other side of the valley to Glengarry, you have to pass through what we called the eye of the needle ~ just enough to squeeze a horse through, and you have to have your feet up on the pommel to prevent damage. Some horses would refuse to do this.
The Page River a few miles down from Bickham is a lovely spot ~ rocks and decent holes, grand to swim in. The country on the south side of the river is hilly and was entirely covered with prickly pear. My father, F. B. Haydon, had this country leased for years. He referred to it as The Ranch, or the Gorge and there was nothing we kids enjoyed more than a few days camping there.
Of the Shannahan boys, Barney, Frank, Clem, and Richard Ambrose, Barney was a bush worker, Clem ended up managing Rothwood Station for Mrs Martin at Coolah. Frank worked at the top end of Barsharn, Amby had a stock and station agency in Murrurundi and lived out past Paradise Park. They were all good stockmen. A sister married Barney Perkins. Murphy's country was worked by the boys Ted and Mick and their home was in Murrurundi.
Not far from Homewood is Sommerset. This was the Watsons. Mrs Watson was a Baker. She had good trotters. There used to be great rivalry amongst the sulky drivers meeting each other on the way into town. They would put their horses to the test, and there were great trotting duels.