When was morpeth nsw founded

Explore the Hunter Valley. Things to Do and Places to Stay Loading. Events 20 Nov. This November, Morpeth celebrates its Bicentenary. In November Edward Close occupied land promised to him in what is….

The Sunday Muster is a roundup of creative people; artists, crafts persons, and designers, in a boutique artisan market…. Sign up to our newsletter Plan the trip of a lifetime. First name Email address. Sign me up. Retrieved Newrg South Wales Electoral Commission. Australian Electoral Commission. Department of Lands - Spatial Information eXchange.

New South Wales Department of Lands. The Age. Australian Explorer. Cancel Save. RDF feed. Locality of nation. Locality of nation-subdiv1. Short name. Universal Conquest Wiki. The main street, Morpeth, NSW. Postcode :. Coordinates :. Elevation :. At that time a Mrs. Luke had a young women's boarding school in the town. Since then Morpeth has grown somewhat but compared with Newcastle or Maitland, it has stood still. Some of the allotments which brought the big price mentioned were never built upon.

The trade gradually drifted away from the town. Maitland became a more important centre; and when the railway was opened between Newcastle and Maitland, Newcastle became the seaport of the north, and Morpeth's sun had set. White says there were several reason why people did not settle at Morpeth in numbers. One was that Molly Morgan and Joe the Mariner two veteran settlers at Wallis Plains were living at the time in what is now West Maitland, and were practically giving land away.

Another thing that contributed to the commercial ruin of Morpeth was the fact that the teams coming down country for loading and returning, stayed at the site of West Maitland for preference, as the place was swampy, and there was plenty of water and feed. They would camp at Maitland overnight, travel to Morpeth the next morning unload anything they may have brought down, and taken in fresh loading for the return journey and then get back to Maitland for the next night's camp.

The whole of Louth Park was practically a swamp at that time, drained by Wallis Creek, and the place presented in fine weather an ideal camping ground for the teamsters. Many teams were on the roads in those days. There are stories extant of as many as coming to Morpeth at one time; but Mr.

White says that it is not true. He had seen a dozen teams in Morpeth at one time in the early years of his residence there, and it was not till later that the wool teams made their appearance. The chief business in the early days was in connection with the carriage of wheat to Morpeth to be ground. In the mill belonged to John Portus, and Mr. White worked there at that time. It was the central mill for the districts above Maitland, and so the farmers and others brought wheat down to Morpeth had it ground and took the flour and other loading back again.

Later, Mr. Hickey built a mill a Swan Reach but he did not do well with it. When Mr. White landed in Morpeth a good deal of farming was done around the place, for the earliest settlers and also the commandants at Newcastle had recognised the value of the soil at Morpeth and Maitland for agricultural purposes. At that time, however Phoenix Park was in a rough state. Much of the timber and brushwood had certainly been removed, and some of it was under cultivation, but scarcely a stump had been taken out.

A man named Robertson had a farm across the road from where Mr. White now lives and practically on the site of the railway station, and a Mr. Robertson a brother of Sir John Robertson had a farm further back. As mentioned above, Mr. White came to Morpeth in he thinks it was in the month of April , and since then he has witnessed the growth of Newcastle and Maitland and no one knows these towns and Morpeth better than he does.

He was in the big flood of and has seen every flood that has swept down the Hunter River since that time; and has also seen the many droughts that have afflicted the district. He can remember well the days when the small steam vessels - the King Billy, William IV, Mary Nichols, Clonmel and Cornubia traded regularly between Sydney and Morpeth; and although they were small they helped to make Morpeth a busy place.

He knew Newcastle before it had started to grow, and he can remember when Mr. Archibald Hay and Mr. Joseph Creer, and other old residents first came to the place. Soon after coming to Morpeth, Mr. White entered upon the cabinet making business, and in this connection his name is known throughout the State.

In the early days he supplied much of the cabinet work needed in Newcastle and he also built the cedar seats to be seen in St. James' Church, Morpeth. White says the wood for those seats was cut in the district, and he considers that the cedar to be found on the Hunter, Williams, and Paterson Rivers in the early days was the best timber in the world.