Horsley - History

Land grants

Lieutenant William Frederick Weston and 'West Horsley'

An area of 500 acres on Mullet Creek was occupied in 1818 under a promise of a grant by Governor Macquarie to Lieutenant William Frederick Weston. Lieutenant Weston named the property 'West Horsley' after his home in Surrey England. He died on the property on the 25th April 1826 aged only 33. (McDonald, 1976, Berkuta, 1997)

Elizabeth Weston and Augusta Brooks, 'Horsley' and 'West Horsley'

The grant of land for the above property was issued by Governor Gipps in 1841 to Augusta Brooks and Elizabeth Weston - Lieutenant William Weston's daughters. Elizabeth Weston married Andrew Thompson and by a deed of partition in 1848 the Brooks took the eastern half of the property and the Thompson's the western half. The Brooks half was named 'West Horsley' and the Thompson's half simply 'Horsley'.

Andrew and Elizabeth Thompson built 'Horsley Homestead' and combined to work this land until their deaths.

In 1876 'Horsley' came into the possession of John Lindsay who five years later also purchased 'West Horsley', after his death the properties were divided again, 'Horsley going to his son George and 'West Horsley' to his son John. (McDonald, 1976)

Edward Robert Stack was granted 300 acres fronting Mullet Creek on the 20th May 1837 which was called 'Reed Park' (Lindsay 1994)

George Molle was granted 300 acres in 1817,some distance upstream from West Horsley, also on Mullet Creek. (Lindsay 1994)

Early residents

Lieutenant William Frederick Weston of 'West Horsley'

Lieutenant Weston (also known as William Francis Weston) was born at West Horsley Manor in Surrey England in 1792. He arrived in Australia aboard the Larkin, from India on the 22nd November 1817. (Berkuta 1997)

He and his wife Elizabeth took possession of 500 acres promised by Governor Macquarie in 1818 and named the property 'West Horsley'. "He did not live long to enjoy his property, dying there on the 25th April 1826 aged only 33." (McDonald 1976, p. 10) The Weston's were the first free settlers to personally take up land in the Illawarra.

Elizabeth was remarried in 1830 to convict Thomas Williamson. The 1841 census records Elizabeth Williamson living at Horsley and being landlady to 21 tenants on farmlets. The farm was now a small village with 84 people, some free, some convicts, in 21 slab houses. (Horsley - Historic Homestead, 1980)

Augusta Brooks of 'West Horsley'

The grant of land originally promised to William Frederick Weston was finally issued in 1842 to his daughters Elizabeth Weston and Augusta Brooks. Augusta was the wife of Richard Brooks of Merriwa. By a deed of partition in 1848 the Brooks took the eastern half of the property and named it rather ironically 'West Horsley'.

Elizabeth Weston of 'Horsley'

In 1842 the above grant was also issued to Elizabeth Weston. The next year Elizabeth married Andrew Thompson and in 1848, by a deed of partition, they received the western half of the property. The Thompson's built a house on this property which very closely resembled 'Horsley Park' at Smithfield - the property of Lt Weston's brother George E N (Edward) Weston. It is thought that Horsley was modelled on it. "The bricks were made and burnt on the property and all the woodwork including the roof battens is cedar - an example of the lavishness with which this timber was used in the early days." (McDonald, 1976 p. 10)

John Lindsay of 'Horsley'

In 1876 'Horsley' was sold to the Lindsay family who also bought 'West Horsley' and who renamed the whole property 'Horsley'.

For many years John Lindsay was the Illawarra's outstanding dairy farmer. In 1878 he surprised local dairymen by buying a fine Ayshire Bull; he also bought two other bulls, 2 cows and 2 heifers all Ayshires. These purchases enabled him to make his herd outstanding in the Illawarra and to breed Honeycomb, the Champion New South Wales cow. In 1876 along with James and Thomas Wilson of Victoria he established a cheese factory at Brown's old flour mill. See Horsley - early industry for more details.

George Lindsay

John's son George was made the manager of Horsley which he converted into a dairy farm completing it in 1880. He established an excellent dairy herd, mostly Ayshire cattle, after visiting Victoria and examining the high grade stock. He also purchased a butchering business for his son and later bought three other shops as well as shares in the Illawarra Meat Company. He was also the Town clerk of Wollongong at about 1909. He died in 1947 at the age of 91 at Horsley. George's brother John was also a successful dairy farmer at West Horsley. (Cousins 1994)

Early industry

Dairying was the early industry at Horsley. The area was established as a dairy farm in 1880 by George and John Lindsay with one of the finest herds of Ayrshire cattle in the Illawarra. George became a successful exhibitor at local and Sydney shows. (Cousins, 1994)

According to George Lindsay, "In 1878 my Uncle James Wilson and his brother came over from Victoria and opened a cheese factory at Brownsville. The milk supply came from Kembla Park (his fathers property) was taken there for cheese making at first by bullocks and dray afterwards by lorry and two horses….Butter at the time was only 6 pence per pound and the brought milk at 3 ½ pence per gallon. For some time afterwards butter rose in price to one shilling per pound. The farmers failed to supply milk when butter advanced and the factory was closed. My Uncle and his brother then returned to Victoria…" (McDonald 1976, p. 52)

The cheese plant was then purchased by the Lindsay's and taken to Horsley where they started making cheese and butter with great success, they won prizes for both at local shows and a first prize for cheese at the Royal Easter Show.

The Lindsay's contributed greatly to the improvement of breeding of dairy cattle within the Illawarra. One of the most famous cows was Honeycomb, of whom George Grey of Greyleigh said "It was Honeycomb's performance that became fixed in the minds of dairymen as the type of cow to aim at breeding for their herds." (McDonald 1976, p. 54) The quality of the cattle was improved significantly through the Lindsay's and other Dapto dairy farmers such as the Evans' of Penrose, and this quality filtered down through the district to the smaller farms.

In 1887 the Brown's old mill was transformed into a butter factory. Three years later a milk depot adjoining Dapto station was built, the cream was separated at the depot and sent to Sydney to be made into butter. By 1892 there were up to two milk trains daily.

Early transport

See also, Kembla Grange History Page

The earliest road through Horsley was the West Dapto Road which branched off the old Dapto Road from Kembla Grange station and ran through the Veterans grants. There was also a road that ran through the centre of Horsley which joined the ill-fated 'Bong Bong Pass'. Bong Bong Pass was superseded by Macquarie Pass in 1897-98, however Bong Bong Road through Horsley remains today. (McDonald 1976)

In 1887 the South Coast Railway was extended from Wollongong to North Kiama and the railway station at Dapto was established one mile south from the low-lying ground at Brownsville.

In 1895 the Australian Smelting Company was established and the Illawarra Harbour and Land Corporation became responsible for establishing a railway to the coal mine in the escarpment. This railway ran through the Reed Park property and was to interconnect with the Illawarra Railway. A branch line was to be built from the IH&LC rail line to the Smelting Works site. "The interconnection of the IH&LC rail line to the Main South Coast Railway passed through the now demolished Clarke's Sawmill in Marshall Street Dapto… and over the South Coast railway to service the rapidly developing West Dapto area. The connection to the South Coast line was opened on 12 December, 1895. (Reynolds 2002, p.7)

This railway no longer exists and Fowlers Road would have been built on the foundation of the railway line.