Restoration of 'Yovelton'.

Shellharbour Council recently completed more than $100,000 in upgrades to the heritage listed home 'Yovelton' in Albion Park Rail.

George Bonsor married Kezia Gillard in 1861 and farmed for many years at Peterborough (Shellharbour) and Croome.

In 1921, their son Edwin, and daughter, Ida Ann (Annie), purchased 189 acres on Lot 6 of the Oak Flats subdivision estate and built ' Yovelton', a lovely weatherboard farmhouse. ‘Yovelton’ was named after their mother's village, Yeovilton, in Somerset, England The silo on the property was built c.1930 to store silage for feeding cattle.

Edwin died in 1947 and Ida ran the farm until 1950, and then leased it until her death in 1968 aged 81 years.

Restoration works at 'Yovelton' August 2014.

Council staff inspecting restoration works at 'Yovelton' in August 2014.

Yovelton c.1890
Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries.

 

 

 



The Albion Park Rifles - Remembering our Anzacs

This week marks 100 years since the start of World War One. In this post we remember our local Anzacs.

 

In 1870, Captain Edward H Weston of Weston’s Meadows at Albion Park, together with a band of men from the Macquarie River joined the volunteer movement with forty men enrolling at a meeting at the Albion Park Hotel. A further twenty-three men from Shellharbour Village later joined the movement.

 

The Illawarra Light Horse Corps was supplemented by the formation of a reserve rifle corps and civilian rifle club. In 1892 Captain Weston and the Illawarra Cavalry resigned,  however the Corps was soon reformed and carried on through the years until the outbreak of World War One in 1914.

 

During this time, the Light Horse Company camped at Sydney Showground only 24 days after the war had been declared. The Corps at this time was led by local Dunmore resident Captain Colin Fuller.

 

In 1917, a further 250 Albion Park men went into camp with the Light Horse Company.

 

The first soldier to arrive home from war was Trooper Robert Parkinson who was wounded at Gallipolli in 1916, and on his arrival he received a soldier’s welcome when he stepped off the train. The station yard was full of horse drawn vehicles and there were even two motor cars, one in which he led a procession from the station to the Agricultural Hall at Albion Park.  A dinner was held in his honour and speeches were given by the Mayor, Headmaster, Station Manager, Post Master and Bank Manager.

 

During the Second World War the Light Horse carried out patrols, rifle drills and trained new horses from their camp at Oak Flats.

Albion Park Rifles in the early 1900s
Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries.

'Rosemont' farm

Rosemont farm on the old Princes Highway at Dunmore was the home of the James family.

 

Thomas James married Rachel Welbury Arnold in 1890. They lived for a time at 'Bravella', the home of Thomas' parents William and Elizabeth James. William, a stonemason, arrived in Australia in the 1850s. He settled in Shellharbour at Dunmore and built his home “Bravella”. He purchased breeding stock from local farmer Andrew McGill and established the James Family dairy herd. The James family was known for their kindness and generosity to others.

 

In 1909 Thomas built 'Rosemont' on 210 acres, just north of his parents’ farm.

 

Thomas' brother John built another neighbouring farm 'Kurrawong' just across the road.

 

Thomas and Rachel raised their family at 'Rosemont'. Three of their daughters Eva, Miriam and Beatrice James were Red Cross nurses during World War One. Thomas was an Alderman on Shellharbour Municipal Council for 12 years and Mayor for 5 years. He was secretary of the Illawarra Dairy Cattle Association for many years.

 

Upon his Aunt Ellen Arnol'd death in 1965, John Thomas James (son of Thomas and Rachel) inherited her property at Shellharbour Village including her hom 'Aronda' still in Mary Street today.

Rosemont farm on the old Princes Highway at Dunmore

Kurrawong Farm, Dunmore.
Tongarra Museum collection.

Bravella Farm, Dunmore.
Tongarra Museum Collection.



The 'Rangoon'

The Rangoon, one of the largest sailing ships to grace Shellharbour waters was wrecked in heavy seas off Rangoon/ Stack Island 22 March 1870.  She was built in 1853, 114 feet long.

 

Stormy seas and poor visibility confused the ships Captain who thought the entrance to Minnamurra River was the entrance to Kiama Harbour. Tragically the Rangoon sailed straight into Stack (Rangoon) Island and became stuck fast between two large rocks.

Captain Samuel Charles, the owner of a nearby Minnamurra property raised the alarm and all crew were rescued safety along with all their personal belongings. 

 

‘On Tuesday morning last, about ten o’clock….authentic intelligence confirming the report of a wreck at the mount of the Minnamurra was speedily brought to town by Captain Charles.  Early in the morning, that gentleman was preparing to ascertain the casualties of the storm on his estate, bounded by the coast for several miles when a message was brought to him to the effect that a vessel was wrecked on the rock island which divides the entrance to the Minnamurra River. He at once proceeded to the north-easter extremity of his estate, and   beheld at some four or five hundred yards distance the said spectacle of a fine barque, apparently of 300 or 400 tons burden, stranded on the rocks off the centre of the island, to seaward, and seven men ashore, some engaged repairing a boat, the remaining on other occupations.  A signal of distress was hoisted on the summit of the island, about one hundred feet above the level of the sea, but in such a manner that he, an old sailor, feared some life had been lost.  This fear happily proved groundless, for all hands, ten in number, were safe’.  (Kiama Independent  24 March 1870).

 

Captain Charles secured the service of the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company’s boat for the purpose of rescuing the men.  The boat arrived on Captain Charles' bullock-dray, and was launched into the river about three o’clock in the afternoon.  Captain William Wilson of Shellharbour was involved in the rescue of the crew. The Rangoon anchor now lies near the Ocean Beach Hotel at Shellharbour Village on land once owned by Captain Wilson.

 

The McCabe family home in Shellharbour Village was partly built of the wreckage recovered from the Rangoon shipwreck.





Stack Island, Minnamurra.
Shellharbour Images Shellharbour City Libraries.




Anchor of the Rangoon outside the Ocean Beach Hotel at Shellharbour Village.
Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries.




The McCabe House at Shellharbour Village.
Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries.
 




The McCabe House at Shellharbour Village.
Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries.