Mysterious Rock Throwing

I recently came across an unusual story that I was unaware of. In the winter of 1901 a local family suffered a traumatic experience at their home on the Glenlee Estate near Menangle. The family was terrorized by rock throwing that lasted for at least three months. The disturbance appears to have stopped as suddenly as it started.

James Carroll, a respectable and well-to-do dairy farmer, was overnight the focus of media attention. His family first noticed rocks being hurled at their farmhouse in May 1901. These missiles were hurled from the foot of the steep knobby hill next to their home. All attempts to identify the culprits failed, despite large groups of police and civilians camping out each day and night to catch them in the act. What puzzled everybody was that James and his family had no enemies or any cause to attract them. He was popular with all who knew him.

The house was attacked mostly at night, often in the small hours and almost always from the adjacent hill. The rocks landed on the iron roof but occasionally on other areas of the house and sometimes striking members of the family. The matter was reported to the police after a week. The missiles still continued, even after the police kept guard. Large search parties were formed to scour the surrounding land for miles around but nobody was ever found. The Evening News reported that "For weeks men formed a cordon along the hill, six at a time, and watched in relief of four hours each, crouching in the frost behind bushes and stumps, but without result." The newspaper went on to describe how "One evening one of the employees, going outside, sang out, as a challenge, "Give us a stone now!" Swift and sharp came the reply, as a stone struck the wall of the house beside him with a loud knock".

Damage to the place included broken windows, a hole knocked in a corrugated iron tank and roof damage. A state schoolgirl named May Ryan, living at the house, had her temple cut open as she was carrying wood. As soon as stones were heard crashing into the house, police and family members would rush out to find and hear nothing but "the moaning of the wind in the trees".

On one or two occasions unidentified people were seen on the hill. Each time they disappeared as soon as they were persued.

James Carroll later believed that someone was determined to remove him from his property. He told media outlets that he suspected why but this was never published. James was quoted as saying "They can make it as hot as they like, and I'll stand my ground all right with them, until they get tired".

The reports in the media suddenly stopped after 16 August when they reported that it had been a week since the last incident. I could find nothing else in the library's records about this episode. James Carroll's property was called Hillside Farm and he later bought Sugarloaf at Menangle. He died in 1936.

I'm not sure if the house still exists but I'd like to find out more about this story. Perhaps one of our readers knows more or know descendants of the Carroll family.

A sketch of the house in the Evening News

Written by Andrew Allen

Coronial Inquests - Dr Arthur Scouler

It was customary in the 1800s as it still is today, to hold coroner's inquests on unusual and accidental deaths. These required a coroner and medical witnesses to give testimony. One of these was Dr Arthur Scouler, who gave evidence at inquests in Campbelltown, Camden, Picton and Liverpool.
Born to William Scouler and Janet McArthur in Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, Scotland, on March 10th 1810, Arthur went on to study medicine. He became house surgeon at the Glasgow Eye Infirmary under William Mackenzie.
In 1838, Arthur departed Scotland on board the barque "Renown", which departed from Greenock on June 11th, coming to Sydney via Hobart and arriving in Sydney on November 23rd.  Arthur wasted no time on his arrival in Sydney, advertising his services in the Sydney papers.


Dr Scouler's advertisement in the Sydney papers on his arrival

In 1839 and again in 1843 he was given eligibility as a medical witness at coroner's inquests and inquiries in New South Wales, having the necessary testimonials and qualifications.
Arthur found himself in the Campbelltown area, perhaps because his services as a medical witness were in high demand. As inquests were often reported in the newspaper, we are able to see the sort of incidents Dr Scouler was called to be witness to. In 1842 an inquest was held upon Mary Warner who suffered from "excessive indulgence in habits of intemperance". The jury's verdict was "Died by the Visitation of God". Others over the years included witnessing to assault cases, the accidental death of Thomas Hynes and later the murder of Thomas Hynes wife Ellen; the fall from a horse and resulting death of John Duross; Peter Finnamore's death from apoplexy; the early death of Catherine Hurley; the death of Patrick Tighe of asthenic apoplexy; the death of James Booth who fell from his horse and died from injuries exacerbated by a debilitated state due to intemperance; the railway accident of John Dawson losing both his legs; the murder in Picton of Elias Trapand; and perhaps one of his biggest cases - the murder of Constable Raymond at Picton.
Dr Scouler was also in practice looking after broken bones, amputations, accidents, and visiting the Immigrants Home with medicine and attending the sick. In 1845 he married Harriet Blackburn in Campbelltown. They had three children, Jane, James and Emma.
Arthur also took part in local affairs - donating to a reward for finding the person responsible for the burning of John Hurley's stables in 1851, attending local political meetings, appointed commissioner for Campbell Town's Water Works and appointed Medical Referee for the Australian Mutual Provident Life Assurance Society.
Dr Arthur Scouler passed away on Boxing day in 1868, and his library, which contained about 500 volumes, which included about 120 bound medical works, his museum of anatomy, his surgical instruments and a large collection of medicines and other requisites for a man in a large medical practice were sold by auction. His widow Harriet died in 1886. Both are buried at St John's Anglican Church Cemetery, Camden, but do not have headstones or a marker.

Destroyed by Fire

With the sad news this week of fire destroying much of the iconic General Gordon Hotel at Sydenham, I was thinking about buildings in Campbelltown destroyed by fire over the years. While most buildings that have vanished fell victim to the bulldozer, a small percentage were burnt down. I've researched four such buildings.

Denham Court Rectory

This impressive two story building was built in 1847. It was described as a "beautiful old English Parsonage". It was closed as a rectory in 1882 upon the retirement of the Rev. George Napoleon Woodd, who had been the incumbent for 26 years. The building then became Miss Gordon's Boarding School for Girls. The school later closed and the building was leased out.

Severe bushfires broke out in early September 1895 as a result of hot and dry winds. On Saturday, 7 September the occupant of the parsonage decided to bake scones. The wooden shingles of the roof caught alight and in the hot, dry conditions the fire could not be extinguished and the parsonage was gutted.

A second rectory was built in 1922 utilizing the lower story of the original rectory. A private residence now occupies the site after the second rectory was demolished in the 1960s. Bricks from the second rectory were used in the house's construction.

Denham Court Rectory after it was gutted by fire in 1895 (Denham Court Collection, Campbelltown City Library)

Glen Lorne

At 11pm on the Thursday night of 9 July 1981, Campbelltown Fire Brigade was called to a fire on Appin Road. This was the empty and derelict house known as "Glen Lorne" that dated back to 1823. The timber house had been empty for fifteen years and was owned by Lady Dorothy Macarthur-Onslow. It was built on land granted to George Woodhouse in 1823. It was purchased by an architect named G A Mansfield in 1876 and then followed a succession of owners. The house was long admired by Campbelltown residents and a landmark on Appin Road for many years. No official cause was given for the fire, although vandals were suspected.

Glen Lorne pictured around 1981, shortly before the fire (Turner Collection, Campbelltown City Library)

Glen Alpine

What was it about fire-destroyed houses that started with Glen! Glen Alpine was the home of Campbelltown's first clergyman Rev. Thomas Reddall and dated back to the 1820s. Glen Alpine House was built on land south of Campbelltown in today's suburb of the same name. It was a brick and stone house, probably single storey, with a verandah and French doors opening to the garden.

After Rev. Reddall's death in 1838, three of his daughters lived in the house until the last daughter Amelia died in 1900. The house and surrounding 375 acres of land was sold in 1902 to James Sheil.

According to local tradition, the house was burnt down around the turn of the century. Local severe grass fires in 1902-1904 were thought to have been the culprit.

The site today is in Heritage Park, a reserve in Glen Alpine suburb.

 

Members of the Reddall family standing in front of Glen Alpine; with an inset photograph of two unidentified people beside a horsedrawn buggy (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Hope Inn

The Hope Inn stood opposite the Court House in what is today's Mawson Park. A licence for the inn was granted to Isaac Rudd in 1841. William Rixon had the licence in 1847 and to William Phipps in 1850. The inn burnt down in 1854.

In 1898 The Cumberland Mercury ran an article about Campbelltown. A line from the article reads "old hands say that the stocks, which were part of the punishment inflicted upon the drunken and incorrigible, were erected on the reserve near the old "Hope Inn"."

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

HIGGINBOTHAM, Edward
Historical and Archaeological Analysis of Glen Alpine, Campbelltown, N.S.W.

'Historic Home Razed"
In The Crier, 15 July 1981

The Story of St. Mary's The Virgin Anglican Church, Denham Court, N.S.W.