he served as on assistant surgeon at Norfolk Island, and received a pardon from
Governor King. He returned to Sydney in 1808, and was appointed assistant sur·
geon after satisfying a special tribunal of his competence (being unable to produce
documentary evidence that he hod ever actually qualified in England). He
established a lso a Iorge private practice, his patients includ ing Governor and
Mrs. Mocquarie. He attended the Iotter on the birth of her son Lachlan, and
received many marks of the Governor"s confidence and favour, both professionally
and personally. His report on conditions in convict ships (18 14) resulted in many
improvements in conditions and a great reduction in mortality on the voyage
from Eng land.
On the resignation of D"Arcy Wentworth as principal surgeon, Mocquorie
recommended the appointment of Redfern to succeed him, but the home authorities
refused, whereupon Redfern resigned as assistant surgeon. Mocquorie appointed
him to the magistracy, this appointment, and Redfern persona lly, becoming the
targets of Commissioner Bigge"s most bitter and malignant criticism.
In 1 82 1 Redfern and Edward Eager were sent to present a petition to the King
on beha lf of the emoncipists of the colony. On his return he retired from medical
practice, and spent his lost years on his estates in the district wh ich now bears
his nome, and at Campbell Fields, Minto. He d ied in 1 833.
He hod token o prominent port in many organisations, including the Bene·
volent Society and the Bonk of New South Wa les, of which he was one of the
first directors and was in many ways one of the outstanding figures of early New
South Wales.
AN EARLY " FREE"
DISTRICT NEWSPA PER:
W ith the recent advent of two new ·"free"· weekly newspapers ··south
Coast Advertiser" " and ''South Coast Express" memories of on early free
sheet ore revived.
""The Wollongong Argus and llloworro and South Coast Districts Advertiser "
(now " The South Coast Times"" ) in 1899 was published on Saturdays at a price
of one penny. It was of four pages sized 17 t"' x 23".
The issue of 1 3/5/1 899 carried o notice:
""A Special Issue of the 'Argus' will be published next Wednesday morn ing .
3000 copies will be circulated free. One will be sent to every house from
Shellhorbour, Albion Pork and Tongorro to Helensburgh. Advertisements for this
Special Issue must reach the 'Argus' Office not later than Tuesday night."
The "Argus" of 24/6/1 899 stated 5 ,000 copies were being printed of the
free sheet and the issue of 8/7/ 1 899 announced it would be double the size
it has been hitherto.
The free issue of 7/6/1899 was sized 9 " x 12 " and was of four pages. It
was headed " The Wollongong Argus·· - Wednesday Issue Free.
The " Argus" of 30/ 12/1899 announced that the plant hod been sold to
Mr. J. Little (tra d ing as Little & Co. ) and the paper would be henceforth known
as "The South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus" , to be published once per
week on Friday evening. This apparently was the end of the free issue.
Many readers will remember the old ··south Coast Advertiser"" and " Wollon·
gong Advance"", which papers were circulated free for many years.
The "South Coast Times" some years ago revived the ""Advertiser" for a
few months a nd the current journal is a further revival. A.P.F.
ALL THE FACTS ABOUT WOLLONGONG (1866) :
WOLLO NGONG, 34 deg. 25" S. lot., 150 deg. 59 · E. long. (Co. Camden). is a
postal and seaport town in the parish of Wollongong, electoral district of llloworro ,
and pol ice district of Wollongong. It is situated on the Mocquorie rivulet, on
the head of on inlet called Wollongong Harbour. Wollongong and the entire
district is justly celebrated for the beauty of its scenery and the salubrity of its
climate. Mounts Keiro and Kemblo ore the principa l mountains in the district,
13
and overhang the township. lake llloworro is about 9 miles distant. It is saline,
and is one of the most beautiful in the colony. There are 2 steam flour mills in
opera tion in the town. The district is an agricultural and coal mining one, to
which may be added in a few months the mining for kerosene shale. Bulli lies
about 9 miles N.; it has a sow mill and one of the prettiest Wesleyan churches
in the district; Charcoal and Dapto, 6 miles S.; Woonona about 6 miles N., a
promising little village, w ith a Church of England school a nd mechanics' institute.
The communication is by mail conveyance every night except Saturday night to
Woanona and Buill, and Sunday to Dapto and Charcoal. With Sydney, 64 miles
N., the communication is by steamer, and by mail conveyance every night (probably 65 miles), 33 by ra il. Wollongong ha s a hospital , known as the Albert
Memorial hospital; also a post and money order office, telegraph station, and
branches of the English, Scottish, and Australian, Commercial , City, and Savings
banks; and the Victoria, United, Sydney, liverpool and london and Globe, and
Australian Mutual Insurance companies; also a branch of the New Sovth Wa les
Bible society, and a Masonic lodge (lodge Unan imity and Concord, No. 620 E.C.).
The Queen's, Royal, and Brighton are the principal hotels. There are also the
Harp (better known as Mr. Davis's), Cricketers' and Settlers' Arms, and Osborne' s
Family hotel. There is a booking office at the Cricketers' Arms (Ryan' s), whence
start a 4 -horse coach between Sydney and Wollongong , and a 2- horse double
American buggy between Wollongong, Dapto, Kiama, and Shoalhaven. Wollongong
has 2 local papers, the illawa rra Mercury and the lllawarra Express. The population numbers about 1500 persons, and the geological formation is carbonaceous
sandstone, shale, and limestone. Wollongong municipal ity was proclaimed 22nd
February, 1859. The estimated annual value of rateable property w ithin it is
£9138, from wh ich (includ ing Gove rnment a id) it derived in 1 864 an income of
£850 1Os. 4d. Its expend iture during that year was £857 Os. 1Od. The extent
of its roads and streets is 11 i miles, and the number of registered electors, 1 66.
Wollongong is a pol ice d istrict, embracing a N.E. portion of the county of
Camden, and a S.E. portion of the county of Cumberland; and bounded on the
N. by a line S.W. from the Coal cliff to the confluence of the Cataract creek with
the Cataract river, and bythatriver, downwards, to the confluence of Wallandoola
creek; on the W. by that creek, upwards, to a point d ue N. from the confluence
the Cataract river and by thor river, downwards, to the confluence of Wallondoolo
thence by a line S. to mount Murray in the lllawarra range, and by that range
S. to the source of the Macquarie rivulet; on the S. by that rivulet to the lllawarra
lake, and by that lake to the sea, and on the E. by the sea to the Coal cliff, aforesaid. The place of petty sessions is Wollongong . - (From Bo illiere's " New South
Wales Gazetteer", 1 866).
AND SOME IMPRESSIONS (1872):
As I have sa id, Wollongong is the largest Township in the district. It abuts
on two little bays, and lies on a sandy fla t, followed by undulating rising ground,
which slopes towards the mountains; in front are the sea and the dock, the wharf
and the lighthouse, the Pilot's hill and a couple of strands; to the right, the
Racecourse, Mount St. Thomas, and Tom Thumb' s lagoon, Gordon' s Hill , Keira
Vale, Berkley, a nd the lands of " Charcoal;" to the left, Smith 's upland and Fairy
Meadow; and Keira and Kemble, w ith the intervening ridges, form the noble
background. Most of the streets have been laid out at right angles to one another,
but the traffic-the thoroughfare--is confined to two of the sides of most of the
squares, so that the streets through wh ich one passes from the wharf to the
Sydney road have a very zigzag appearance. Except in the main street, many of
the houses and cottages are detached--apart--and not a few of them are deserted
and dilapidated; but there are some good, substantial dwellings--an Hospital,
which serves its purpose; and a School of Arts, or Mechanics' Institute, which
scarcely does; five or six Churches--a gaol and a Court-house. The population
is about 1300; and they enjoy the luxury both of a District Court, and of a
Court of Quarter Sessions. Of the trade of the place, and of the other seaports
of lllowarra, mention shall be made hereafter. - (From " llloworra and Monaro"
(sic), by Judge Alfred McFarland, 1872) .
THE WILDER COLONIAL BOYS:
(Regular readers of our local press will, of course, recall Captain Starlight
galloping over the cliffs of the lllawarra Range. (What a manl What a harsel)
But there were other heroes who played their port in our national tradition,
and the forthcoming centenary of the end of the Hall gang lends special interest
to this hitherto unpublished manuscript, found in a rat" s nest at the back of
the Mitchell Library and pieced together by touch during a blackout) .
Bushrangers were for many years a familiar feature of the Australian
roadsid e scene. In New South Wa les the best-known were Sam Hall , Gilbert,
Sullivan, a nd Gardiner-Garden, who established a reign of terror in the Weddin
Mountains, where the only rule was that of the shotgun. All efforts to bring
them to justice failed until at last they were betrayed to the pol ice by Sullivan's
grandmother, Dame Carruthers, who thereby secured the hand of Sergeant Meryl!.
In the dead of night, a fter she had immabilised them by drenching their breeches
while they slept, the outlaws were surrounded by the pollee and summoned to
surrender. Gilbert, exclaiming " Heaven is as near by water as by Iandt"' sprang
into the billabong and was never seen again. Sullivan escaped in his nightshirt,
and avoided capture by passing himself off as a choirboy singing " Onward
Christian Soldiers", but without Gilbert he could never stage a successful hold-up.
Sam Ha ll's fate is known to everyone, and will not bear repetition. GardinerGarden was captured and incarcerated in Cooma Gaol , but escaped after his
w ife had visited the prison on the eve of his execution and changed clothes with
him. He concealed himself in a underground hideout between Tom Thumb Lagoon
a nd Hat Hill, and as the authorities could not agree on where either of these
places were, escaped recapture.
The most notorious bushranger of a ll, however, was Kelly, whose exploit in
holding up the coach at ::ooma will never be forgotten by the lllawarra Historical
Society. He staged many other successful hold-ups, and from a ca ptured bag
of chain letters made himself a suit of chain-mail which filled all who saw him
with superstitious dread.
His downfall resulted from his plan to wreck the Victorian Railway's crock
train, the Bullroarer, by \eaving a bullock-dray across a level crossing. He was
frustrated by the local .choolmaster, who was wa iting at the level crossing to
photograph the Bullroarer with a timetable and his ears, with his horse warmed
up and ready to race the train to the next crossing. Although, like the rest of
the local people, he wa s ready to condone highway robbery and murder, he drew
the line at train-wrecking, and drove off furiously. Kelly tried to pursue him,
but the bullocks were cold and took so long to start that he was unable to overtake
him. Kelly then went to refuel at the Glenrowan Hoel , where he was surrounded
by police. Emerging, he tried to crash through the road-block in the bullockdray, but turned it over. He then tried to shoot his way out on foot. His suit
of chain- mail was proof against ordinary bullets, but the police used incendiaries
and shot him down in flames.
On his being brought to trial at Townsville, charges of robbery under arms,
train-wrecking and murder were dismissed under Section 556A of the Crimes
Act, but on charges of driving a bullock-dray while under the influence ond
fail ing to stop after an accident he was sentenced to be hanged, drown and
q uartered and to life plus 999 years' penal servitude, the sentences to be
cumulative. On a further charge of negligent driving he was remanded to the
Monday after his execution (when, on his failing to appear, his bail was forfeited).
He left numerous descendants, most of whom are in business along the Hume
Highway, where they still keep his memory green, while his head, hands and
heart a re preserved in Canberra as on inspiration and example to our legislators.
W. G. McDONALD,
President,
Yates Ave.,
Mount Ke ira .
2-6161
MISS P. de JERSEY,
Hon. Secretary,
17 Corrimal St.,
Wollongong.