History Notes - some of the early settlers

History Notes

Another busy week at the museum but not quite as busy as we have been. The markets are on again this Saturday in conjunction with the Claypan who have a big day and evening planned.  We just hope that the weather holds.

We have Urquhart descendants visiting next weekend - descendants of Andrew Clarence and his wife Mary Lorimer.  Some residents might remember Bluey Urquhart, a son of the above couple.  Unfortunately, I am not sure which days.

The Urquhart family are of course one of Barraba’s early families but as I have been asked for some of the very early settlers of the district, I need to go back to the 1830’s when settlers and their flocks crossed the Liverpool Range and settled on the rich Liverpool Plains.

The NSW governments tried in vain to stop the settlers crossing beyond the boundary of the nineteen counties so they introduced Pastoral Licences and asked that the settlers pay for grazing their stock “beyond the boundaries of the Colony”.

Not everyone paid up at first but a list of those who had paid was published in 1837 and there are a few familiar names in the list.  Otto Baldwin who settled near Manilla, John Hoskisson at Barraba Creek, William Newton, whom I think was related to Esther Hughes, although she did not appear on that list, and Robert Pringle who settled at Rocky Creek.

The next list appeared in the Government Gazette in 1840 and had the state divided up into 7 or 8 districts.  Barraba was included in the Liverpool Plains district and Archibald Bell, as in Bell’s Mountain appears although he never lived in the area and he sold Cobbadah Station to the Eaton family about this time.  William Cox was at Burindi instead of Esther Hughes.  F.G. Foote was at Piedmont and John Hoskisson was still at Barraba Creek.  Robert Lethbridge was at Currangandi and Robert Pringle was still at Rocky Creek.  Joseph Thomas Threlkeld was running Barraba Detatched (north-east of Barraba) and Armitage is not mentioned at Barraba Station although he was mentioned in the 1840 “Census”.

Barraba appears in the Liverpool Plains in the 1848 Government Gazette and more of the familiar names are also there – ready for next week’s notes.