Hurley Park

The beautiful and peaceful Hurley Park is often overlooked in comparison with Mawson and Koshigaya parks. I find myself regularly drawn to it. It has a history that dates back to the early days of Campbelltown's settlement with it's convict-built reservoir and cattle tanks the dominant attraction.

Locating information about Hurley Park that was not associated with early water conservation construction proved a challenge. Much has been written about this aspect of the park and I will concentrate on the rest of the park in this post.

Hurley Park was either named for the well-known pioneer John Hurley or his son P.B. Hurley. John Hurley, a convict, had arrived in Campbelltown by 1832 and was listed as an innkeeper at the King's Arms. He was also a successful pastoralist and politician. John has been incorrectly identified as the man who saw Fred Fisher's ghost in 1826, probably because it sounded like John Farley who actually saw the apparition.

A 1948 aerial photo of Hurley Park

Besides the occupation of the cattle tank and reservoir, the park was originally a paddock where cattle grazed. According to Jeff McGill in his book Campbelltown's Streets and Suburbs, the park appears to have been used as a "common", however in 1897 it reverted to the Crown. Jeff further writes that Alderman Charles Bull led efforts to have the paddock declared a park. Hurley Park is mentioned in the Daily Telegraph in 1889 where it discussed how the residents of Campbelltown were very indignant at the state of the park. It wrote that some time ago the council tried to get the care of it vested in them, and they intended petitioning the Government on the matter.

Not much is written about the park until 1918 when the reservoir was the scene of a regatta that is referred to as Jack's Day. Most of the town went and there is a photo of boats and swimming to mark the occasion.

Jack's Day Regatta on the reservoir in 1918

Starting in the 1920s the park was a popular moonlight rendezvous for young lovers in Campbelltown. During the 1920s through to about the 1950s, it was common for teenagers attending dances at the Town Hall in Queen Street to be seen taking an alternate course home through Hurley Park. Apparently, old timers recalled after chilly mornings that horses were regularly found without their winter rugs after the teenagers moved them to the frosty ground! 

In 1926 Hurley Park was leased to Vince Tripp for one pound a year and for three pounds the following year. In 1933 debate raged in the town about whether or not cattle and bulls should be allowed to graze in the public park. The threat of bulls charging at people terrified the locals.

Former local historian Ed McBarron wrote about the trees in the park. He claimed that the trees came from the State Nursery in Badgally Road. The park was and is still home to Moreton Bay Figs, Canary Island Pines, Stone Pines, Bunya Pines and various gums and eucalypts.

According to Ed, the drainage gully in the park was once used as a favoured place to play two-up on Sunday mornings. There was always one bloke posted to act as "cockatoo"!

The park was the scene of a tragedy one day in 1961. Six year-old Greg O'Brien from nearby Allman Street drowned in an excavation that was dug for a new playing field. It added to other drowning tragedies in the cattle tank in the 1920s and 30s.

There was even a rubbish tip in the park. Maps show the location adjacent to Lithgow Street, not far from where it meets George Street. It was quite small and no traces remain. The park was also home to an early inn where Dumaresq Street once met George Street.

In the 1960s the park was reconfigured for sporting fields. Baseball was played regularly on the new sporting field and football and cricket were later played.

Baseball on Hurley Park  in 1970

Do you have any interesting memories from Hurley Park that you would like to share?

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

McBarron, Ed

The Trees of Hurley Park 

In Grist Mills Vol. 2, No. 2, April 1984

Daily Telegraph, 12 August 1889, p5

Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 1961

McGill, Jeff et al 1995

Campbelltown's Streets and Suburbs: how and why they got their names

Campbelltown: Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

McGill, Jeff 1993

Campbelltown Clippings

Campbelltown: Campbelltown City Council

Hurley's "Smash" Hit

As we are in the middle of the cricket season, I thought I would dig up a local news article that I came across a while ago. In 1926 A Mr Bland Clayton of Minto spoke to a reporter from the Campbelltown News about a cricket match that he remembered in Mawson Park around 1865. He explained that he was the person responsible for introducing round arm bowling to Campbelltown that year. This new method of bowling was met with much resistance from the locals however. He went on to say "the batsmen contributed no small share in disapproving of the new bowling, claiming that the ball was literally thrown at the batsmen and wicket." In this particular match between the locals and a Sydney team, one Sydney player refused to bowl round arm to the batsman John Hurley, a local business identity and ex-convict. He said he would demonstrate the way it should be bowled. This brought a smile to Hurley. His reply was to lift the ball with an almighty swing over Howe Street (this was a street that used to run between the park and St Peters Church) and it crashed through the window of the church. One wonders if the bowler considered giving round arm a try after this!

       Cricketer Alfred Mynn in 1853 bowling with the controversial round arm action

I noticed in an article from the same paper two weeks later there was a petition to have cricket played in Mawson Park again. Alderman Gamble was behind the push. Apparently the wicket had been destroyed in favour of a garden. However Gamble argued that "The reserve in its present state was nothing but a bird's nest, full of swallows and sparrows, it is an eyesore to the town and a disgrace to the Municipality, and the pitch was ruined for nothing but petty spite." Gamble's motion was lost in council and a cricket pitch was never made in the park again.

                     An undated photograph of Mawson Park (Clissold Collection)

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 22 January and 5 February 1926

McBarron, E.J.
Mawson Park, Campbelltown NSW: Notes on History and Trees

Early Banking Days in Campbelltown

There were no banks in the early years of the town's settlement. Most business was conducted using the exchange of promissary notes as there was little cash in circulation. By the late 1830s John Hurley was virtually Campbelltown's private banker mostly because of his connection with John O'Sullivan the manager for Goulburn's Commercial Banking Company. From the mid-1860s post offices accepted deposits for the government savings bank. By the 1870s there was a need for branches in the larger towns like Campbelltown.

George L. Jones opened the Campbelltown Branch of the C.B.C Bank in October 1874. Banking was originally done from 282 Queen Street, now one of the four historic Queen Street buildings located opposite Campbelltown Mall. Records reveal that the manager was the only employee for several years, and was paid a salary of £12/10 a month.

In 1877, an assistant was appointed to the branch on a salary of £6/5/ a month. Conditions for the manager had improved, he was supplied with a horse and carriage and in increase in salary to £25 a month. In addition, he was given an extra monthly allowance to provide for servants, fuel, feed for his horse and entertainment.

Life in Campbelltown could not have been easy in those days. Bank records reveal hardship with an entry in a ledger, "Purchase of pair of spectacles for use by customers, 1/ (10 cents).

The first purposely built bank building was erected in 1881. This is today's Macarthur Advertiser building. The building was used as a bank until 1985. Quaint stables at the rear were demolished soon after.

The Commercial Banking Company Bank in Queen Street photographed in 1881, the year it was built.


The Bank of New South Wales opened its Campbelltown Branch in February 1878. Its first manager was William Hurley, a son of the local member of parliament and publican, John Hurley, who for many years acted as a private banker. Hurley's Royal Hotel was later leased to John Graham and became the Family Hotel. The Bank of New South Wales opened in these premises. The building was located in Queen Street almost opposite Lithgow Street but a little to the south.

The Bank of New South Wales taken in 1894. It was still standing in the 1960s although much altered.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Liston, Carol
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History, 1988

Campbelltown Ingleburn News July 1976