Samuel Terry

 On the 25^th March, the hottest day of the year so far, our group went to a site at Cranebrook. The Council has been working there and discovered some building remains which may, or may not be the site of Samuel Terry’s demolished house.

The house was built in 1820 by Samuel Terry and his wife Rosetta and had been demolished in 1950. They called the house and the estate Mt Pleasant, after which the current suburb is named. 

 As the site was fenced off and no one was there, we could only see where they had been digging the trench and had discovered the remains.  Even so, we took some photos of the site.

            

We also had a look on the hill where Council had planted the replacement olive trees that had been mistakenly cut down. We were happy to see that at least three of the original trees planted in the 1820’s had regrown.

 

Professor Ian Jack, a Archaeology Professor from Sydney Uni had been in touch with us, and came to our workshop seeking any information we had on Samuel Terry. He was writing a report on the site, and we were able to provide him with some maps and papers for which he was grateful. 

He has since sent us a copy of his report and It is available to be read at our workshop.  

 

 

Open Day November 2015

We had another open day on the 8th of November, and for the first time we had it on a Sunday.

 

A lot of people came to the workshop and they all appeared to enjoy the displays, again there was a mixture of all ages. The younger children were really more interested in the snacks.

 

Our new bottle collection which was only just recently donated to us was a big hit, and as soon as we have cleaned them all up we will have them on permanent display.

 Several people who have liked us on Facebook also attended and made themselves known, it was a pleasure to meet them face to face.

The first price for our raffle was a painting of the old Emu Plains Police station, kindly donated by renowned local artist Joe Cartwright.  This was won by Kevin S, Second prize a BBQ set went to Rachel W.

Werrington House

 Werrington House had an open day on the 18^th October and several of our members attended. The house was built by Robert Copland Lethbridge and his wife Mary King, the youngest child of Governor King. It was started in 1829 and completed in 1832 and was on two combined land grants, which made up the original 1291 acres.

            

 

 

 

We did not go into the house as the queue was 100m long and only eight people at a time were admitted. Instead we explored the grounds and the outbuildings. These ranged from the original kitchen to several sheds   situated on the now 5 acre area.

 

It  was an enjoyable way to spent a nice sunny day wandering the grounds, and we are looking foreword to the next time it will be open.

 

 

                                        

Open Day 8th November 2015

 

William Cox Day rolled around on the 19^th of July again, and as always it was a very enjoyable day for all concerned. We were there early and had our archaeology display set up and ready for the opening.

 

 

It was a pleasant surprise that so many people turned up early as the morning was a bit cold. We were in the same location as before and people now are looking for us and our display.

On the night of 22^nd July, several members attended a different form of outing to our normal archaeological one. We went to Penrith Library where there was a talk on the history of the meat pie by Anne Arthur, and the equipment used in making pies by local Tom Lindsay. Both were very interesting and knew their subjects, there was also a musical interlude provided by a Coral group, very entertaining.

 

The evening was very enlightening, entertaining and the pies delicious. 

Our AGM was held on the 1^st of August and everyone was re-elected to their positions.

Several subjects were discussed including some amendments to our Constitution bringing it into the 21^st Century.

Fees were changed from $10.00 a year, to $20.00 a year.

The 12^th September was Penrith’s Bi-Centenary and the celebrations were centred around the oval at Thornton, a new estate on the northern side of Penrith Railway Station.

There were stalls, jumping castles for the kids, dancing by local dance groups, music, food and various information stalls. A very entertaining day.

 

 One hopes that members of the Archaeology Group will attend the Sestercentennial Celebration of the foundation of Penrith.

We had also been invited to participate in the Richmond Jubilee Celebrations, so one week later on the 19^th September we were again in a stall, this time, in Richmond Park in the centre of Richmond. It was a very hectic day, Richmond being a very historic town the people had a lot of information to share with us, and a lot of questions to ask.

There were plenty of stalls with food, plants, bric-a-brac, locally produced goods, a farmers market and historical interests.  There were also 2 double decker buses and a steam train giving rides to Clarendon and back. 

 

 

We are planning to have an open day at our workshop in Station Street Penrith on Sunday the 8^th of November this year, so are starting to plan this now. We will be placing an ad in a local paper as the day gets closer and letting people know by Email.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historic Papers

The historic documents from Emu Hall donated to us last year have been inspected and sorted. These documents dated from the late 1800’s until the 1940’s. Some of the maps of early Penrith where donated to Penrith Library.

 The documents were mostly correspondence between the owners of Emu Hall and a cattle and sheep station near Bourke called Boora. Both properties were owned by the same family, the McGraths.

  There was also what we would call junk mail from shops in Sydney selling equipment and supplies to farms and larger properties. This included tinned food, toys and everything needed to run this type of station.

 The papers and letters were dated from the late 1800s up to 1940s,  and were a snapshot into life out there, and the problems they encounted being so far from everything. 

  We have been in touch with the Bourke library concerning these papers and the historic ties to their area, and in early July, Chris and Frank took the sorted papers and drove all the way to Bourke with them. They presented them to the library who were overjoyed to receive them.   

                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nursing Home Visit

On the 18^th June Members of NDHAG, Chris, Ros, Amanda, Anne and Richard went to Newmarch House Anglican Nursing Home at Kingswood. This followed a request from the Nursing Home asking could we bring some artefacts to the home as the patients were unable to come to our recent open day. Bricks, bottles, trays of artefacts and photo albums were taken and shown to the patients.

As some of the people were in wheelchairs or used walkers, the members took the displays to the people, sat down and explained the article that they were showing them. It was a very good morning and the people and staff were happy with our presentation. It was a very rewarding exercise for them and us.

In case anyone has forgotten, below are our contact details.

                                       

 Postal Address     NDHAG. PO Box 874 Penrith 2754

Email,                      Nepeanarchaeology@gmail.com

Facebook                www.facebook.com/nepeanarchaeology    
 
Blog                          Nepeanarchaeology.blogspot.com