Central Western N.S.W. - Geoff Svenson

Central Western New South Wales – McKinnon’s Spring

The Central West of New South Wales [Australia] is located west of Sydney, immediately inland of the Blue Mountains. However, the pages to be found here relate to the archaeology and history of a very small section of the whole – just one landholding – and the various people who have been directly associated with it since 1823. The land involved – now named McKinnon’s Spring – is located approximately 27 kilometers from the city of Orange.

The history presented looks at aspects of European expansion into the area after 1813, through the gold rush years of the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s, to the turn of the 19th Century. However, in one instance the research developed a tail extending to the year 1934, while to adequately explain another topic, research backtracked to events that occurred in London’s Old Bailey in 1787 and on Norfolk Island in the 1790s.

The outcome has been to cast a different light on a few aspects of Australian history that are generally accepted as fact and upon some assumptions or tales that have floated around for almost two centuries. In raising these doubts, I trust that readers will understand that the purpose, as always, is to clarify the history rather than detract from the extremely valuable effort made by others. As stated elsewhere in these pages, the advent of the internet has made monumental changes to the accessibility of information.

These Central West pages are arranged as a chronology, meaning that, as the events that led to naming of Larras Lake took place between 1785 and 1830, these are discussed first. Next, those that relate to Percy Simpson’s Marked Line commence in 1823 and, for the purposes of this research, end in 1860. Then come the pages that relate to the ‘Welcome Inn’ on Caleula Creek, William Coomber, Catherine and Donald McKinnon (1839 to 1891). Pages on Samuel George Gerrish and Charles Frederick Lance (1886 to 1934). will come next. Of course, within each subject events are also presented in chronological order, and the subjects themselves form a time series. Individual presentations can be accessed via the links below, or through the “Contents” heading in the Index bar above.

Part 0. Introduction to the McKinnons Spring research

*Charles Lance’s stables on a frosty morning (2005)*

Part 1. Naming The Parish of Larras Lake (1776 to 1830)

*Creeks on the east bank of the Bell River (1829)*

Part 2. Percy Simpson’s Marked Line from the Wellington Valley to Summer Hill (1823 to 1851)

*Partial route of Percy Simpson’s Marked Line (1823)*

Part 3. William Coomber and an introduction the Welcome Inn of 1857 (1839 to 1874)

*Moses Bell’s slab-built inn at Hill End (c1870) – probably similar in construction to the original* Welcome Inn on Caleula Creek

Part 4. Donald and Catherine McKinnon (1830 – 1898)

*The graves of Donald McKinnon – Bathurst (1862) & Catherine McKinnon – Orange (1898)*

Part 5. Samuel George Gerrish (1886 – 1934) (under construction)

Part 6. Charles William Lance (1890 – c1810) (under construction)