Duncan Campbell - Granville

Duncan Campbell arrived in Australia in 1838 from Scotland with his parents, brothers and sisters. He started droving as a young man, and became one of the great pioneer drovers of Australia, successfully droving cattle from as far north as Cooktown to Victoria. He was a drover for 40 years.

The 'Cumberland Argus" noted the death of Duncan Campbell with: "Who amongst old Parrmattans did not know the great overland drover, Mr Duncan Campbell, the man who probably blazed more stock routes through Australia than any man who ever lived."

He had a wonderful memory. He was interviewed on the night before he died and his interview was recorded as by-gone events of history.

He was well and hearty on Saturday night, on Sunday morning he collapsed on the floor, passed away.

Duncan Campbell died at the age of 88 on 2nd December 1917, in Brisbane Street, Granville.

Lackey Family – Granville

 

William Lackey and John Lackey were brothers natives of the North of Ireland arrived in New South Wales in early 1800s. William Lackey was a constable in Sydney and married Mary, the only daughter of John O’Dowd. Mary and William had a son John born on 6 October 1830 He later became Sir John Lackey.  In 1830 William Lackey was appointed as Gaol Keeper at Parramatta. At that time gaol was located on the west side of Church Street. Now it is Alfred Park Square. When the new gaol was opened, he was appointed as head gaoler.

In late 1830s William Lackey saw the opportunity to set up a business. He acquired land in the County of Cumberland and held the licences of several hotels; one on the Dog Trap Road near Guilford called Maurice O’Connell Inn. This Inn was locally known as “Lackey’s Pub”. William’s older brother john Lackey was managing the property. John Lackey was a constable on the Shoalhaven River. Hotel was not at a very good location. With the road diversion, clientele was limited to wood cutters, pedestrians, teamster or swagman. Lackey’s Club was the main revenue generator.  Industrial depression in 1840s and all timber cut out, forced the closure of Lackey’s pub. Customer numbers steadily dropped. John gave up the liquor licence and later on hotel was turned to wood carting. William Lackey disposed of most of his property to the O'Dowds before he became insolvent in 1843.

In the early 1860s William’s son John took over the hotel on the Dog Trap Road and most of the adjoining land (Granville) which he laid out as a vineyard and farm. In 1879, ‘Dog Trap Road’ was renamed as a Woodville Road to reflect John Lackey’s estate.

William was appointed as overseer on the Moore Bank Estate near Liverpool. He remarried and had a son and daughter by his second wife.  He lived there up to the time of his death, 30th December 1880. 

References
Terry Kass et al, Parramatta, A Past Revealed, Parramatta City Council, 1996
 John Watson, Granville, from forest to factory, 1992

Thomas Fowlie, History of Granville, 2001

Granville brotherhood, Progressive Granville: Its Brotherhood, 1915

Parramatta Heritage Centre Photos LSP00687

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lackey-sir-john-3978

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/0/DA7E28977A2A76F6CA256CBC0001C1CB

The Timber Industry - Granville

The history of Granville dates back to the first settlers in 1788. Captain John Hunter reached the banks of Duck River on one of his exploration trips. At that time Granville was a dense forest of the native fauna, gum trees. Three of the old saw-pits related to timber industry can be traced to the south of Park Hill.

Granville was named in Honour of British foreign Minister in 1881. At the time, the population of Granville was 372, 176 males and 196 females.  Two district court judges called Granville their home; E.B. Docker who lived in William Street and Charles E. R. Murray in Woodville Road.

Granville became a municipality in 1885 and Mr John Nobbs was Granville’s first mayor. In the same year, its first newspaper “Granville Express” was started by Messrs. Davey and Withers. In 1888, the Granville Town Hall was built.

The history of Granville can be divided into four periods:

• The Chase
• The Timber and Charcoal
• The coming of railway, settlement, fruit growing and meat industry
• Manufacturing

Timber - In the late 1700s and early 1800s timber e.g. cedar & mahogany were cut from the Hawkesbury district. As a result supplies were reduced for building and shipbuilding by the early 1820s.

Red cedar was first logged at the Kowmung River in the Camden district in 1818 and developed into small profitable enterprise. Some other timber producing areas were Burragorang Valley, Badgery's Creek, the Nepean district and Liverpool.

Mr Nevett was the first wood contractor in Granville. He employed number of men for years to cut great ironbark trees that characterised the forest of Granville. There were other timber contractors – Pat Finnigan, John Tunk, Scott and Jolly to name a few. Timber contractors cut ironbark on the Duck River in the 1830-40s whilst Scott & Jolly purchased the timber rights to Newington Estate in the 1840s. In 1855, the Australian Timber Company was established to collect the timber at Newington.

Granville had really fine trees and its surrounding area was covered with the dense forest. Timber from the Granville and Blacktown areas was used to supply steam engines. Following the construction of the railway line in outer Sydney during the 1860s, timber was gathered for railway sleepers and building materials and many commercial timber cutters and yards were established.. Werrington and Kingswood sidings were situated close to prosperous timberyards. Later in the nineteenth century, timber yards were established in the Fairfield & Smithfield areas along the railway line. Timber cutting became a big business in 1870s, the timber was mainly used as firewood. The timber industry drew migrants to work on various projects such as in 1852, John Fear migrated from England to work on the railway project. He stayed in Granville district carting wood.

In 1880s, industries like Hudson Brothers engineering works were being established in Granville. In 1890s, due to financial problems Hudson Brothers closed down and reformed as Clyde Engineering in 1896. James Niblett lived in Granville since 1860s and built the Granville Hotel in 1881. As a growing area, many young families were living in Granville. Granville Public School was opened in 1881. Granville had 6 factories, 2 banks, 3 hotels and 787 houses by 1888.

Ship Building - Initially the Government forbid the construction of any vessels however Governor King was in favour of ship building. The Hawkesbury district was for some time the most industrious settlement in NSW and the main form of transport and communication was via the Hawkesbury River. It became necessary to construct cheap boats locally and the Hawkesbury and surrounding (including Granville) area had a good supply of suitable timber.

Several of the early settlers were involved in the industry of boat building along the Hawkesbury district. The most prominent were Jonathon Griffiths, Alexander Books and William Grono.