The Murrays of Minto

Charles Murray was born in Ulladulla, and married his wife Catherine in 1895. They had a son, Claude Charles and a daughter Gladys Mary.

Charles and Catherine on their wedding day.

Photo - Ancestry 

 In 1901, the Murrays leased out their farm Avondale, at Yatte Yattah, and Catherine took on a mortgage of several portions of Campbellfield, including Dr Redfern’s homestead. The home was re-named Buena Vista, and the family set up a dairy farm. In an article about Minto, J. Hall remembers ‘Mr Murray (Claude’s father), who only boasted one can of milk centred in the body of his spring cart on which he sat, and in rain or heat held an umbrella up, as his old creamy pony jogged along from the Old Redfern home on the hill to the railway station’. Charles passed away in 1912.
Claude went on to become the mayor of Ingleburn from 1934 to 1939, then again in 1948. The farm had grown into a successful dairy, and the Ayrshire cattle they bred were Royal Show winners.  It was reported in the newspaper that Buena Vista Playmate produced 4501b. of butter-fat in 273 days as a mature cow in 1936!

Campbellfield (aka Buena Vista) 1950

Photo - CAHS

The property passed to Claude Charles after the death of his mother in 1958. Claude’s son Jack worked on the farm and also became the local milk carrier, picking up milk cans from the surrounding dairy farms. His friend Bryan Chrystal recalls helping him on his truck, opening the dairy gates for Jack, and helping to unload the empty milk cans and stack the full ones. Most of the smaller dairies would have about six cans of milk. A far cry from the days when Jack’s grandfather Charles would take his one can of milk in a spring cart to the railway station!
The property was sold after 1958, and is now the site of the Minto Marketplace.

Written by Claire Lynch

 Sources
Early Memories of Minto by D. Hall
Grist Mills Vol.4 No. 4 “Minto” by Joan Murphy
Campbellfield, Guernsey Avenue, Minto : a heritage study

How to Renovate and how NOT to Renovate!

Two of Campbelltown's most historic and treasured buildings both underwent renovations in the 1960s. Campbellfield at Minto and Macquarie Field House both had work done to them. In the case of Macquarie Field House, the renovations saved the house from demolition or falling down. In the case of Campbellfield, the "renovations" almost completely destroyed one of the most valuable examples of colonial architecture and construction, not only in Campbelltown, but the entire country.

Campbellfield at Minto was built on a grant of 800 acres made to Dr William Redfern in 1811. Redfern came to the colony as a convict in 1801 and became a medical practitioner and respected colonist. He retired to his farm at Campbellfield after 1816 and built this house before 1820.

In the mid 1960s crude and disastrous renovations were carried out on the cottage. The first lot of alterations and additions saw a detached kitchen and stables demolished as well as closing in of the rear veranda and the house extended at the northern end. Further renovations virtually destroyed the building, leaving only the stone flagged veranda, a chimney and stone cellar intact. Redfern expert and historian Arthur Jones, who was a teacher at nearby Minto Public at the time, was told by his pupils that Redfern's house had been pulled down. When he went to see what happened at recess, he found that most of the building had been demolished.

Now for the good story. Macquarie Field House in the early 1960s was in a sad state of decay. At one stage it faced likely demolition. In fact it had fallen into such a state of dilapidation that it was almost beyond restoration. A melancholy ruin on a lonely hilltop and mercifully mostly hidden by trees. Enter David Jamieson. He leased the property from the Department of Agriculture and between 1962 and 1963 completely restored the house, entirely at his own expense. It was restored to the requirements of the Government Architect and the National Trust. What a pity Campbellfield didn't have the same requirements. It became Jamieson's home and arrangements were made by the Trust to make periodical inspections. Today this grand old colonial house stands proud on that same hilltop adjacent to the new suburb of Macquarie Links.

An interesting fact about the restoration of Macquarie Field House was that the house's missing fireplace mantles were replaced by marble mantles from "Subiaco", one of the finest colonial homes built in Sydney. It was located at Rydalmere and built between 1833 and 1836 and demolished in 1961.

Below are before and after photographs of Campbellfield and Macquarie Field House after their renovations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbellfield, Guernsey Avenue, Minto
A Heritage Study For the Ministerial Development Corporation, February 1996

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, 15.7.1975

Sydney Morning Herald, 22.9.1961

Macquarie Field House and it's restoration- notes from James Munro's Notebook

Macquarie Fields House to be saved- newspaper extract from CAHS Dr I. G. Thomas estate.

Fruit of the vine.

The Campbelltown area is not the first that comes to mind when considering vineyards and winemaking. Although the Macarthur family was producing wine throughout the first half of the 1800’s at Camden Park, and indeed, took wine to the Paris Exhibition of 1955, other winemakers in the Campbelltown area were also busily trying to grow grapes and produce good wine. 

Campbellfields

Dr William Redfern was transported to New South Wales, arriving in 1801. His good reputation as a doctor gained him a free pardon in 1803. He eventually became physician to Governor Macquarie and his family, and also to the Macarthur family. He was granted 1300 acres in the Airds district near Campbelltown in 1818, naming the property Campbellfields, in honour of Mrs Macquarie.

In 1821 William Redfern went to England, and on his return voyage, spent some time at Madeira, studying the vineyards and wine industry there. He engaged vine dressers and procured vines at considerable expense, and returned to New South Wales in 1824, receiving a further grant at Campbellfields, where he introduced the white grape variety ‘Verdelho’ to Australia from Madeira.

He lived at Campbellfields and devoted more and more time to his farming activities, which included cultivating the vine as well as fine wool and cattle, gradually withdrawing from his medical practice, which he entirely gave up in September 1826. Two years later he took his son William to Edinburgh to be educated. Though he intended to return, he died there in July 1833.

Varro Ville

1811 Dr Robert Townson was granted 1000 acres at Minto and called it 'Varro Ville', after the Roman agriculturalist Marcus Terentius Varro, whose only complete work to survive is the Res Rustica (“Farm Topics”), a three-section work of practical instruction in general agriculture and animal husbandry, written to foster a love of rural life.

Dr Townson was living off his capital since arriving in Australia, and, fearing financial ruin, devoted himself to developing Varro Ville to the exclusion of everything else.  Varro Ville became a showpiece and its vineyard was 'second only to Gregory Blaxland'.  (Gregory Blaxland had a vineyard at Brush Farm on the Parramatta River, taking wine to England in 1822, and again in 1827, the latter earning him a Gold Medal from the Royal Society of Arts.)  After the death of Dr Townson in 1827, Varro Ville was advertised for sale and described as follows “The Estate was the Residence of the late Dr. Townson, and possesses one of the first Vineyards in this Colony, planted with the choicest Grape Trees, together with an Orchard, having a great variety of the best Fruit Trees in it.”

Eschol Park

The original 50 acre grant to Mark Millington was enlarged to 1,300 acres by Thomas Clarkson, who also erected a house on the property in 1817. After changing hands again, it was sold to William Fowler in 1858. He originally named it Eshcol Park after the Promised Land of Eshcol in the Bible, but it was continually misspelt, and is now known as Eschol Park.  William built the existing main house, and in about 1860 erected a three story winery and adjoining still room. He also established a 15 acre vineyard, and within a decade or so, it was producing 2000 to 3000 gallons of award-winning wines. William Fowler sold the property to a Mr Milgate, who continued the vineyard with Fowler acting as agent for selling the wine. The property changed hands again, and was again listed for sale in 1885, with the listing boasting  ‘15 acres of valuable and well-cared-for vineyards in full-bearing’ and ‘in the cellars are nine 700 and one 1,100 gallon casks, besides a large number of lesser capacity; these together with the valuable plant and about 15,000 gallons of wine, varying in age from six years downwards’. Vineyards across the region were badly hit in the 1890s when the Phylloxera disease struck, and Eschol Park was devastated. The suburb bearing the name Eschol Park has its streets named after varieties of grape grown in Australia, as well as wine types, methods and terms, and the early vigneron of Eschol Park himself is remembered by William Fowler Reserve.

Eshcol Park c1870. Photo courtesy of Campbelltown & Airds Historical Society

 

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources:

Wineries in Macarthur – A Historical Perspective by Steve Greaves

Vineyards of Sydney – by Dr. Philip Norrie

Australian Dictionary of Biography   http://adb.anu.edu.au/

Campbelltown City Council www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au

Trove

The Murder of Ellen Hyndes

On the afternoon of Friday January 22, 1847 a man by the name of James Fitzgerald was walking towards a house on the Campbellfields Estate at Minto when he noticed a number of cattle gathered round in the scrub with their attention focused on something on the ground. Thinking that it might be the saddle and bridle that he came to look for he suddenly realised to his horror that it was the body of a young woman. The woman was lying on her back with the face and upper part of the body smeared over with clotted blood, which had recently flowed from a long and deep gash across the throat. He recognised the woman as 20 year old Ellen Hyndes.

Ellen had been married to a man by the name of Thomas Hyndes. He was killed the year before at the age of 33 when he fell from his horse. Although the devastation of her loss of her beloved husband and father of her two children was obvious to the locals, it didn't stop one particular admirer from making advances to the young widow.

John Kean was a ticket-of-leave man living in the same neighbourhood as Ellen Hyndes. Kean had become a frequent visitor to Ellen's house ever since the death of Thomas six months previous. After much persistence, Kean obtained her consent to become his wife, in return he would have to buy her some furniture and put it in her house. For reasons unknown she later refused to have the marriage solemnised, and returned his furniture to him which he sold off. Some time later they reconciled and he repurchased some of the furniture and returned it to her in the belief that she would accept his proposal. She expressed no interest this time which greatly upset Kean.

By coincidence a Constable McAlister was at Campbellfields with a warrant for John Kean for horse stealing, when Fitzgerald made his gruesome discovery. Whilst at the house of a man named Thomas Sharpe, he heard the voice of James Fitzgerald call out from the bush. He went over to investigate and an examination of the scene was carried out. The body lay about a half a mile from her house.

Later that day John Kean made his way to Reeve's Public House at Narellan with intentions to leave the district the next day. He knew the police would be on his trail. Constable Charles Bamford of Campbelltown made a statement "I had information that he (Kean) had been charged with horsestealing and murder; I went on Saturday morning, the 23rd, to Reeve's public house at Narellan; Kean was sitting under the verandah, the moment he saw me he ran through the house into the bush."  After running about a mile, Kean was apprehended and brought to the watch house at Campbelltown.

John Kean made a confession to the murder of Ellen Hyndes on the 29th of January. He declared:

 I murdered the woman and wish to suffer for it. I came to Campbelltown on Thursday, and went to James Hogan's house in which his mother resides. I arrived there about two or three in the afternoon. We began talking about Ellen Hyndes, and about a brother of his named Michael Hogan marrying her. We talked about nothing else that evening. I remained there that night, and next morning pretty early James Hogan and I left the house together, taking different roads, and we both met in the bush, not far from Ellen Hyndes house, and after waiting some time we saw her coming towards us. James Hogan first took hold of the woman and threw her down, and tore her shawl ; she got up and ran away, and I got hold of her and threw her down again, and James Hogan then gave me the razor that he had purposely brought to kill the woman; I then cut her throat. The night previous we had arranged how we were to murder her—that one was to hold the woman, while the other cut her throat. The reason for Hogan joining with me to murder the woman was, that he did not wish his brother to marry her. After we had murdered her we both returned by different roads to Hogan's house; I got to the house first, and he about ten minutes after; this was about 11 a.m.; after I had cut her throat with only one cut of the razor, I gave the razor back to Hogan; no blood came on my clothes; the mother of Hogan came into Campbelltown that day, and on her return, said there was a report about my stealing a horse; I then left the house and went over to Reeves's public house on the Cowpasture road, and remained there until the next day, when I was taken and brought into Campbelltown by constable Charles Bamford; no one knew of the murder but our two selves; Mrs. Hogan did not know of it, and Michael Hogan was not at home; I was aggravated to the deed by the jeering of the ogans (sic) and others.

James Hogan was initially taken into custody on the suspicion that he aided and abetted in the murder. He was later cleared of any involvement as the only evidence against him came from the confession of John Kean. He was later put on trial for misleading the police. The charge was proven and he lost his ticket of leave.

During Kean's trial it was brought up that he became jealous when he received word that Ellen was about to marry a man by the name of John Cremer. This was the real reason behind her refusal to marry John Kean.

A number of witnesses were called up at the trial and each gave damning evidence against Kean. One stated that he had heard Kean make several threats as to what he would do to Ellen if she did not marry him. One such threat was that before he was humbugged any longer by her, "he would go on the Sydney gallows". Another witness claimed that Kean came to her shop the day before to buy a knife and a handkerchief- the same patterned handkerchief that was at the scene of the murder and presented in court.

John Kean made no other defence other than the assertion of his innocence, declaring that the confession attributed to him was made while he was in a state of excitement from drink, so that he did not remember anything about it.

The jury, after having retired for a few minutes, found a verdict of guilty. The judge addressed the prisoner "solemnly as to the heinous nature of the crime which he had been proved, beyond all manner of doubt, to have committed."

John Kean was executed at Darlinghurst Gaol on April 30. He was reported to be penitent, and his conduct and demeanour uniformly pious. Since his confinement he became very corpulent. His appetite never failed him right up to the day before his execution.

Ellen Hyndes was buried in the same grave as her husband at St John's Catholic Cemetery, Campbelltown. The grave can be seen in the photograph below.

Written by Andrew Allen