Early Residents - More on Thomas Boland

There has been some speculation about Thomas Boland and his role as stationmaster of Springwood Railway Station.  There are some locals that discount the fact while others are conviced he did even if it was in a non official role.  A recent article located while trolling through TROVE online newspaper archives seems to suggest the latter.  A report from a 'special correspondent' in The Sydney Morning Herald dated 24th August 1874 stated that "...Springwood, where there is a neat little station kept by Mr. Boland who was for years the Boniface of Springwood in the good old times, when, as he himself told me, no better house for business could be found between Sydney and Bathurst."  

It is difficult to determine in what context the correspondent meant that Boland was the Boniface of Springwood but given his occupation (innkeeper) it was probably the latter.

It would seem that Boland may have in fact acted in an unofficial role at a time when the railway station comprised of a weatherboard shed and a single track that accomodated trains going in both directions.  A more permanent structure was built some years later and revamped again when the line was duplicated.  

Boniface \b(o)-nifa-ce, bon(i)-face\ as a boy's name is of Latin origin, and the meaning of Boniface is "fortunate, auspicious". Boniface was the name of an innkeeper in a 1707 play "The Beaux' Stratagem" by Fahrquarm. Since then, it has been used as a name for a host. Name of a number of early popes.  

Pamela Smith

Early Residents: Mark & Ruth Thew

The 1868-70 electoral roll listed Mark living at Faulconbridge.  He was born at Port Stephens in 1828, and in 1857 married Ruth Slapp in a double ceremony with brother Thomas who married Mary Ann Slapp.

Ruth, Mary Ann and parents arrived in Australia in 1841 aboard the Canton.  Mr. Slapp was a gardener by trade but is reputed to have owned the Springwood Inn c1865.  However, recent evidence confirms that Robert Slapp had a 3 year lease on the Springwood Inn owned by Thomas Boland c1863.  Boland was in the process of selling the property but was unsuccessful. The family moved to a property at Rylestone in 1877.

Mark and Ruth moved to Lambing Flats to witness the riots that occurred there in 1861.  Twin boys, John Thomas and Robert Mark, were born in Springwood in 1865.  Kerry Thew, who operated a chemist shop at Faulconbridge for several years, is the grandson of John Thomas Thew.  Mark and Ruth settled in Blackheath c1895.

* This article was taken from The Making Of A Mountain Community: a Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District