Early Residents - James Tanner

Although it is generally claimed that Thomas Boland was Springwood’s first stationmaster and this occupation is listed for him on some family documents, it was James Tanner, his son-in-law, who was the first officially appointed Stationmaster, taking up this appointment on 1 January 1883 at an annual salary of £150. Prior to this date Springwood was only listed as Springwood Platform with E. Fishlock in charge.

James was born in Temple Bar in about 1831, parents James, a hairdresser, and Eleanor, nee Higham. He married Ellen Louisa Boland in 1864 in Sydney and commenced working for the Railway in 1876. Ellen and James were said to have had 8 children although we can only find 7 listed in the birth registration records: Ernest J. 1866, Maude Mary 1870, Frank 1872, Paul 1875, Ellen Ruth 1878, Roger Bede 1880 and Naomi Agatha 1883, all born in Sydney.

Reading through the Springwood reports in the Nepean Times, however, there is often mention of James Tanner junior. There is also mention of a Master Edgar Tanner captaining a cricket team in 1883 and adding to the success of the Springwood Literary and Debating Club concert in 1887. We can find no official record of an Edgar Tanner either. Were the Bolands continuing with their habit of swapping names?

In 1883, James was in trouble with public education authorities and appeared in court in February, charged with failing to send to school a female child for whom he was a guardian. He pleaded not guilty, stating that the child was in his employ with the permission of her parents and his agreement with them was that she was to receive clothing and accommodation with no mention of school. He said that he was certainly not her guardian. She was receiving basic instruction in reading, writing and arithmentic from members of the Tanner family. The schoolteacher, Mr Schowe, said she was not educated to the required standard, but the magistrate ruled that James had done his duty by her and dismissed the charge.

In 1885, James was promoted to Rylstone and De Carteret Lockie replaced him at Springwood on 27 October of that year. It appears, however, that some of the family continued living in Springwood with Frank Tanner being mentioned in the cricket news in 1890 and 1891. Frank was also lost with another young man in Sassafras the same year, but it was not until April 1892 that it was reported that ‘an old time resident has returned to reside here’. James had retired from the Railway and he and his family were occupying a cottage opposite the Station.

James Tanner now became involved with the Springwood Progress Association and was elected to a Committee to find a suitable site for a hall, and was later elected to a Committee of Management. He and several of his children were very musical and he is often mentioned as being the accompanist at concerts, as well as at the Hughes’ surprise party. At concerts Frank and Roger played the piano and Paul the violin and singing, while James junior played the piccolo. One concert report referred to him as James Tanner KTW (Knight of the Tin Whistle). In April 1895, the Times reported:

A party of our enthusiastic young residents started on Tuesday night by train to Katoomba from which point they intend ‘stumping’ it to the Jenolan Caves and back—Percy Croucher, Pat Ryan Jnr and Jas Tanner. They have gone fully equipped with a penny whistle and a banjo, so they will march with martial music.

The Tanner girls had their share of musical talent, too. At a Cricket Club concert Miss May (Maude Mary?) performed the ‘Skipping Rope Dance’ and the ‘Fan Dance’. On another occasion it was said that Miss Naomi Tanner sang very sweetly ‘Hazel Dell’. The reporter awarded her first place for singing.

In April 1902 the Nepean Times reported that Mr Tanner was very ill and unable to leave his bed. He died a few days after this at the age of 71. Ellen died in 1925. 

From The Making Of A Mountain Community, A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District.

More on James Tanner

His death was recorded in the Sydney Morning Herald 8.5.1902.  The newspaper stating that James Tanner, a native of London, died at his Springwood residence.  He was connected to the ‘mechanical staff of the Sydney Morning Herald’ before entering Government Service.  He was a stationmaster at Springwood where he remained for 14 years before removing to Rylstone. 

Sketch of first Railway Station at Springwood

Goods Train at Springwood Railway crossing c1880

Newspaper Articles of Interest

The Sydney Morning Herald dated 11 February 1896 mentioned that Anthony Lettellier, a Frenchman, pleaded guilty to stealing a quantity of articles to the value of seventeen pounds from the residence of Honore Marie at Springwood.  Lettellier came to the house of the victim declaring to be a French Patriot hoping to get to Newcastle and thence catch a ship for home. 

However, Lettelier was a convict liberated from New Caledonia where only habitual criminals were sent.  The prisoner had various aliases and incurred two years hard labour in Parramatta gaol for his crime. 

Pamela Smith

Early Residents - William Martyn Publican

 William acquired the license of The Springwood Hotel c1870, whereby he acted as both publican and postmaster until the postal service was moved to the railway station c1880.

Springwood Hotel

In March 1882 he applied for an extension of the hotel license to enable him to hold a sports day and dancing on Easter Monday. He assured the bench that ‘only married people would be present’. The extension was granted without objection enabling him to open the hotel between 6am until 8pm.

William was involved in July and August 1882, with several other Springwood residents (including Thomas Boland) in a proposed coal exploration scheme, and subscribed five pounds. However the scheme remained just that!  In 1883 a John Marsh applied for the license to the Springwood Hotel but the license was refused because of bad behaviour at previous hotels.  The license remained in the hands of William.

Mrs Martyn died in May 1884, casting a gloom over Springwood. A news article at the time said that she was beloved by all who knew her for her kindness of heart. It is uncertain when William died or if they had children.

Pamela Smith

From: The Making Of A Mountain Community, A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District

Military Stockade Springwood - Graves

The Sydney Morning Herald dated 20 June 1877 carried an article headed New South Wales Parliament.  It would appear that a recent sitting of the Legislative Assembly Mr. Macintosh asked the Secretary of Lands:
1. If he was aware that the 'old stockade at Springwood had been used as a burial ground and that there are graves still to be seen there. 
2 If he was aware that the land had been improved at the date of 'Boland's conditional purchase, in 1862 and 1876, by clearing, fencing and waterholes to the value of one hundred pounds.
3. Will he cause an investigation of the foregoing to be made, and take the necessary action should the statement prove correct.
A Mr. Driver answered:
1. The selection is known to have included the old stockade; but attention has not been called to the fact of there being any graves upon it.  The selection would not have been invalidated thereby,
2. The improvements formerly upon the land are understood to have fallen to decay or been removed.
3. Reference will again be made to the papers in the case, which are not at this moment accesible, and should any ground appear for further action or inquiry, it shall be taken.

There is no indication if any further action was taken, however, Springwood Cemetery does have a headstone that is thought to have been taken from that area.

Mr. Driver is thought to have been Hon. Richard Driver jnr. who was Secretary for Lands in Sir Henry Parkes ministry (1877) while the other gentleman is thought to have been John Macintosh who was at one time the Minister for Lands.

Other ministers in Parkes 1877 ministry (which lasted from 22 March 1877 until August 16 1877 a period of 147 days) were:
Hon. William Piddington MLA - Colonial Treasurer
Hon. Francis Suttor MLA - Minister for Justice and Public Instruction
Hon. James Hoskins MLA Secretary for Public Works
Hon. William Windeyer - Attorney General
Hon. George Lloyd MLA - Secretary for Mines & Representative of the Gov. in Legislative Council
Hon. Saul Samuel MLC - Postmaster General

Pamela Smith

The Beginning - Springwood

From Our Correspondent

Thursday, 21^st June 1832 – It is said that the military barracks recently erected on the mountain road at Springwood and the  Weather-boarded Hut (or more properly speaking, “Jamison Vale”) from which the detachments have lately been withdrawn, will shortly be put up for public sale. The buildings, their position and appurtenances render them peculiarly well-adapted for road-side inns or public-houses, and being regular and old-established halting places will no doubt be sought after with avidity.  Another great consideration in favour  of their eligibility is the certainty that the line of road between Springwood and Mount Victoria can never be changed from its present course. From the latter, where the new road commences, the work proceeds rapidly, and it will be well worth the while of two or three enterprising persons to bear in mind the extraordinary advantages which naturally accrue from the establishment of the first houses of accommodation.  The old line has always been deficient thereof; between Collet’s and Bathurst, a distance of 50 miles, there is not one licensed house.  The traffic between the Capital and Bathurst is daily increasing; and when the route of travellers is made uniform by the completion  of one good road, no doubt can exist of the success of such speculation.

This appeared in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Tuesday 26 June 1832 on page 3. The article is interesting because there was acceptance even then that the course of the road could not be altered.  In fact, the present alignment of the Great Western Highway - over the Blue Mountains - varies little from those early roads and even the railway follows the same course.  Also, it would seem that Wentworth Falls had been known as Jamison Vale perhaps in honour of Sir John Jamison who accompanied Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his party on a tour of inspection of the new road in April 1815. 

Springwood encampment 1815 - Painting J.W. Lewin

Others in the party were:

Jno. Thos. Campbell, Esqr. Secry.
Captain H.C. Antill, Major of Brigade
Lieut. Jno. Watts, Aide de Camp
William Redfern Esquire., Assistant Surgeon
William Cox Esquire., JP
Jno. Oxley Esquire, Surveyor General
Mr. Jas. Meehan, Deputy Surveyor General
Mr. Geo. W. Evans, Deputy Surveyor
Mr. J.W. Lewin, Painter & Naturalist

Early Residents - Thomas William Garrett

Braemar c1892

 Thomas Garrett, his wife Helen and their family of three girls and four boys probably arrived in Springwood during the first half of 1898. In August of that year his name appeared for the first time in the columns of the Nepean Times, when he was elected a Vice President of the Springwood Cricket Club. He was born in Wollongong on 26 July 1858, the second son of politician and newspaper proprietor the Hon. Thomas Garrett and his first wife Mary Ann Elizabeth (nee Creagan). Educated at Newington College, he later studied law and was admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court, eventually becoming registrar of probates in 1890, curator of intestate estates in 1896 and public trustee in 1914. It was, however, his talent as a cricketer that brought him to a wider public notice. After showing early ability at school, he went on to play with distinction for both New South Wales and Australia.

      

In 1877 the 18-year-old Garrett was chosen to play for Australia in Melbourne against James Lillywhite’s team of professionals, a match that has come to be considered the first Test against England. He went on to tour England three times—in 1878, 1882 and 1886—and represented Australia in seven Test series at home, scoring 339 runs and taking 36 wickets. On the 1882 tour of England he played in the famous match at The Oval when Australia defeated England for the first time on English soil, provoking the Sporting Times to report the death of English cricket in its next issue. ‘The body’, it declared, ‘will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’.

      

Bearded, tall and lean, Garrett was primarily recognised as a right-arm, slightly more than medium pace bowler with an ability to swing the ball either way. But he was no slouch with the bat and also proved a shrewd and successful captain of New South Wales. At the age of 38 in 1897 he scored 131 runs against a South Australian team that included the champion fast bowler Ernest Jones.

      

In 1879, Thomas married Helen Alice Maude, the daughter of sea captain John Applewhaite. Between overseas visits he fathered several children: Mary Emily was born in 1880, Lucy Alice in 1882, Maude in 1884, John H. in 1888, Eric R. in 1890 and Frederick C. in 1892.

      

The Garrett family seems to have resided in Springwood for a period of about ten years. When they first arrived in 1898 they moved into Braemar on the Western Road (now Macquarie Road). By 1908, however, the family had moved to the western end of the town, to Stanway in Railway Parade (now also part of Macquarie Road).

      

During their time in Springwood, judging by reports of their activities in the Springwood news columns of the Nepean Times, the Garretts were actively involved in the life of the community. Father and sons were members of both the cricket and rugby football clubs. Thomas served as a Vice President of both and also helped to establish a golf club in the town in 1905. In 1909–10, when Springwood Cricket Club won the Nepean District premiership, three of Thomas’s sons were in the team, one of them as captain. Records of the Springwood Progress Association list Thomas as a member in 1893–4 and again in 1905–6.

      

Mother and daughters, too, were reported in various capacities at fetes organised by both the Christ Church of England and Springwood Ladies College, where the girls attended school. Thomas Garrett also acted as honorary auditor for a number of local organisations including the Anglican Church, the Progress Association and the School of Arts.

      

Their residency came to a temporary end in 1902. On 3 May 1902 the Nepean Times announced the departure of the family, who had been residents for four years. On the day of their departure a large number of friends gathered on the railway platform to see them off and wish them well for the future. However their absence was short lived and it was announced again, via the Nepean Times (April 1903), that Tom Garrett the veteran cricketer was coming to reside again in the mountains somewhere between Valley Heights and Springwood. Helen, Lucy and Mary Elsie are listed on the 1903 electoral roll. In May 1903 the Garretts settled into Braemar once again, entering quickly into the social and sporting life of the town.

      

At some point in time after 1903 they appear to have moved back into the Crane’s residence Stanway, as a 1908 Nepean Times advertisement for Springwood Heights Estate indicates that the property subdivision was located between Hoare’s (Homedale) and Garrett’s (Stanway).

      

Over the next few years Thomas acted as the registrar for the area. Together with Mr J.D. Ewens he was auditor for the books of the Progress Association, and in 1909 he audited the books of the Springwood School of Arts Institute. During that same year the Blue Mountains Echo was full of praise for the sons of Thomas and Helen Garrett when they reported that a cricket match played between Emu Plains and Springwood resulted in a win for the later. The paper stated that the ‘Garrett brothers’ had played most successfully for Springwood.

      

While it is unclear exactly when the family left Springwood it was possibly some time in 1912, for the Garrett name does not appear in the local electorate on the 1913 Commonwealth Electoral Roll.

      

Thomas William Garrett died at Warrawee in Sydney at the age of 85 years on 6 August 1943. He was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium after a service at St James Church, Turramurra.

John Low

From: The Making Of A Mountain Community: A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District

Early Residents - Madeline Boland

 Madeline Boland, second daughter of Thomas and Mary Boland, was born in the Bathurst district in 1840. The church registration showed her as having been named Johanna. In various records after that her name is variously spelt Madaline, Madoline and Madeline. We favour the Madeline spelling as it has been used most frequently She was probably originally named for her father’s mother, and the name Johanna was used on her mother’s death certificate where the informant was her father Thomas.

      

She was an early land owner in Springwood, taking up portion 60 in 1875 and also portion 66. As neighbours she had John Davies, who we believe to have been the husband of her older sister Mary, and the Hon. Charles Moore, with whom she was never on good terms. A copy of a hand-written letter by Madeline regarding land boundaries is in existence. Just before she made her selection, some of the land had been zoned as a reserve. She finally agreed to relinquish this section and was allocated 41 acres outside the reserve. She understood this had been satisfactorily settled and went ahead with building a cottage, outhouses and fences, and planting an orchard and flower gardens to the value of about £750. She was also planning to build butcher and bakery shops. She was then told that a gentleman had reported her as building on a government road. She asked if it was Mr Charles Moore, and was told that it was. At one stage in the letter she wrote bitterly of him as a ‘person who has long opposed me’. She tried very hard to avoid any encroachment on what she believed to be her land, visiting Sydney, speaking to men in authority, and writing in great detail and length in this letter, but we do not think she was successful. The letter is incomplete, undated and there is no indication to whom it was addressed. One can guess from various references in it that it was written in the late 1870s and that the reserved land was meant for the school.

      

Madeline never married and appears to have supported herself by building and letting cottages. She was a devout Roman Catholic, perhaps one of the reasons for the antagonism between her and the Hon. Charles Moore. Prior to the Catholic Church being built, services were held at her home for the small Catholic community. In 1892 she was reported to be building a store and, before it was open for business, two concerts were held in it. The first, in October, was to raise funds for the Church (which was opened in 1892) and the other, in November, was a benefit for Fettler Benmore who was stricken by rheumatism. In December it was reported that the store was stocked with groceries and that there were now two stores in town, the other one being Rayner’s. In August 1899 she started to build another 4-room cottage and was rumoured to be building another store. Madeline also worked at bazaars to raise funds for St Thomas Aquinas.

      

Fergusons Store foreground, Homeleigh in background c1908
Scene is crowd watching start of bicycle race

She died in November 1909. Her estate was valued at just over £2,209, most of this being the value of her real estate. She owned 3 houses: Homeleigh, Glenview and Innisfail. Each of these was rented at approximately £5 per month. Her nephews Frank, Paul and Rodger Tanner were her executors. Madeline Glen, at the end of Boland Ave was named for her.


Shirley Evans
From The Making Of A Mountain Community; A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District