History Notes - about Plumthorpe
History Notes
Recently I was asked about the Wilson family who lived at Mayvale for many years from the early 1900s. The early couple, William Arlington Wilson and his wife, Emily Catherine Wright, married in 1869. They lived at Rosedale in Murrurundi for most of their married life and their nine children were born there.
Their first son, William Plumpton Wilson, was born in 1872. He took up Plumthorpe in 1888 at the tender age of 16 years. In 1901 he married Florence May White, and they settled down to married life at Plumthorpe – they had three sons before William became ill and tragically died in 1915.
Clifford Phillip, second son was born in 1873, and he lived at Mayvale after it was purchased from Blagdon Chambers about 1904. The Mayvale house was relatively new at that time. Clifford married Margaret Cadden, and they were the parents of Phillip Arlington Wilson – Barraba Shire President for many years. Sadly, Mayvale was sold to the Vickery family soon after Phillip (P.A.) died in 1962.
The younger Wilson children were Muriel who married Stan Nicholas in 1900, and Mary who was born and died in 1977.
The girls were followed by another son, John Hubert, who married Blanche Southey in 1902. He owned Long Arm with his brother, Ken, until 1906/7. John then went to Woodton, Wallabadah and Ken settled on land down in the Horton Valley.
Guy Wilson, 4th son, had land at Berrigal Creek near Narrabri in the 1930s.
Dorothy Wilson was born in 1881, and she married Henry Wood in 1902 and the youngest child, Margaret/Marjorie married Norman Burdekin in 1908, and they took over Plumthorpe in 1916 and built the present-day homestead.
During C.P. Wilson’s ownership of Mayvale, a new house was built, “The Villa”, and the old homestead was allowed to deteriorate until the property was purchased by the Vickery family and managed by Bill & Liz Graham. The old home was renovated by the Grahams and made into a comfortable home once again.