CHAPTER III. 

 THE BIRTH OF ILLAWARRA. 



The year 1816 brings us to the birth of Illawarra. The solitudes 

 of this romantic and picturesque district had no sooner become familiar 

 with the sound of the bushman's axe, the crosscut saw, and the swish 

 and distinctive knock of the pit-saw and tiller from the -lonely sawpit, 

 together with the crack of the whips in the dexterous hands of Messrs. 

 Throsby and Badgery's stockmen, than a new and more progressive 

 system was adopted by the Government in establishing a cattle sta- 

 tion at the '' Five Islands." Great promises were discerned, even at 

 that early date, in the abundant and succulent pasturage of this open 

 country. Space compels us to refrain from details of Illawarra be- 

 ginnings, and to be content with the grouping of leading events till 

 1828, a point at which Australia was claiming the attention of enter- 

 prising men throughout Great Britain and Ireland. If he who causes 

 two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before is a bene- 

 factor to his kind, what shall be said of the early Illawarra settlers 

 who cut a path through the bush with axes and brush-hook.s, and 

 cleared spots on which to erect shelter houses of bark, cabbage-tree, 

 and mud, and afterwards caused grass and cattle to grow and increase 

 where none grew or existed before. 



In the year 1817 we are confronted with the sales of " land grants," 

 as Mr. Simon Lord, one of Sydney's early auctioneers, sold a number 

 of land grants, together with several herds of cattle numbering from 

 five to twenty head. The following gentlemen were mentioned as 

 being interested in cattle stations in the counties of Cumberland, 

 Camden, and Argyle : Messrs. Brooks, Browne, Badg&ry, Allan, Jen- 

 kins, Hughes and Hoskins, Johnston, Horsley, and Throsby. At this 

 period most of these gentlemen were interested in business in both 

 Parramatta and Sydney. 



In 1818, 1819, 1820 the whole cf the coast from Port Hacking to 

 Jervis Bay, on the South Coast, was being settled by a class of settlers 

 Known as sawyers and timber g'etters, who were as a rule in the 

 employ of the Sydney merchants who were in search of cedar. These 

 men were often joined in their bush seclusion by convicts escaping 

 from their misery, and sailors from the coastal whaling stations, 

 which in those days were very plentiful. 



In 1821-22 Mr. Commissioner Bigge was in Sydney investigating 

 matters connected with the working of the new settlement. He after- 

 w,ards issued three .reports, which were published by order of the 

 House of Commons, England. At this period the Government had 

 three farms to provide food for cattle : No. i, Grq.se Farm, containing 

 280 acres, situated on the Parramatta-road (now University Grounds); 

 No. 2, Longbottcm Farm, containing 700 acres, situated on Parra- 

 matta-road, at a distance of ten miles from Sydney ; No. 3, Emu Plains 

 Farm, situated on Nepean River, cqntaining 269 acres. Mr. J. T. 

 Campbell was in charge of No. i farm, Major Druitt tyad charge ctf 

 No. 2 farm, whilst Mr. Fitzgerald had charge of No. 3 farm. Ac- 

 cording to Commissioner Bigge's report, dated 1822, Mr. Samuel Terry 

 owned 19,000 acres of land, 1450 head of cattle, and 3800 sheep 

 Messrs. D'Arcy Wenthworth and Captain John Macarthur were cci- 

 sidered to be equally wealthy in land and stock, the gatherings of but 

 a very few years. 



The early twenties bring us to the dawn of our coastal dairying 



the clearing of brush and grass growing. With the grass and the 



27. 



