Farmborough Heights - History

Land Grants

Martin Robert Cole   (Captain Cole)
Cole was born in 1788 in England.  At the age of 12 he joined the Royal Navy, and served in France, the Baltic and North Seas, North America and the East and West Indies theatres of war.  In 1815, after becoming ill a number of times, Coles was invalided out of the navy as a lieutenant on half pay at the age of 27.  He was never to return to the navy, but remained on half pay for the next 50 years.  He was  promoted to Commander on 23rd March, 1854, while still on the reserve list and living at Mount Kembla.  Although many Australian documents refer to him as ‘Captain’, Cole he never actually officially attained this rank.  In the Illawarra district though, he was known as ‘Captain Cole’.  (Cole, 1979)
The Cole family arrived in Australia on 10th January, 1842 when Robert Cole was 54 years old.  Cole was eligible for a free land grant of 200 acres of undeveloped land because he was an officer in the Royal Navy with more than 20 years service.  Cole received his first grant of 106 acres in December 1843.
Over the next few years Cole took up adjoining acres.  He built his first home on the 2nd parcel of land he acquired - 100 acres in 1845.  He is said to have called this home ‘Nonsuch’ or ‘Nonesuch’.  The name is said to come from his declaration upon seeing the land for the first time ‘none such view have I ever seen’.  The farm is recorded on the 1855 deeds as ‘Mount Kembla Farm’.  A later owner, Mr John Blackman, gave it the name of ‘Farnborough Farm’ which eventually became ‘Farmborough’ as used today.  By 1855, Mr Cole held 377 acres at Mount Kembla in one holding.   (Cole, 1979; Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin, June, 1980)
Robert Cole subsequently took up 5 holdings in the Illawarra area, some of them located in what are now the suburbs of Kembla Grange, Mount Kembla and Unanderra.  (Cole, 1979)
Mr. Cole also held land at Fairy Meadow (Herme or Hermes Farm, as well as land at Bulli and ‘Mount Corrimel”.   (Cole, 1979)
After the death of his wife, Mr. Cole sold all his land and returned to England.   He was 67 years old.  Robert Cole died at the age of 80 in Brompton, England and is buried at the cemetery there.  Eleanor Cole is buried in St. Luke’s Cemetery, Brownsville.   (Cole, 1979)

George Waples
George Waples was born in Northamptonshire, England.  He was employed as a convict guard and arrived in Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) at a penal settlement on 13 November 1831.  After his arrival in Van Dieman’s Land, George Waples joined the Kings Own 4th Regiment as a private and was assigned as a servant to Captain Robert Westmacott at Government House.  On 28 September 1855, George Waples married Amelia Carlisle at St. John’s Church of England, Parramatta.  When his Regiment sailed for Madras, India in 1837, George bought his freedom for $15 (today’s equivalent).

George Waples and his family settled at ‘Woodland’ in Bulli which was owned by Captain Westmacott.  The family then moved south and settled at Berkeley, before moving to freehold property at Mount Kembla.  Here he was granted 2 parcels of land in 1856.  George and Amelia had 12 children all of whom were raised in the Mount Kembla area.  Amelia died on 2nd June 1876 and is buried at St. Luke’s Church of England, Brownsville.  George Waples died on 27th February 1884.  (Illawarra Mercury, 28/12/1982)

Early residents

John Blackman
Blackman arrived in Sydney on 1st October, 1833.  Blackman had been a pupil at the Kings’ School, Parramatta, and when he left school he worked as a surveyor with the Government Survey Office under Sir Thomas Mitchell, the man responsible for surveying the Illawarra’s major roads. 

In 1855 Blackman moved to the Illawarra and bought the property ‘Nonesuch’ (‘Nonsuch’) at Farmborough Heights from Robert Cole.  He lived in the area until his death in 1914.  He married Lydia Jemima Erskine on 6th June 1849, and Elizabeth Bartlett on 12th October 1871.  He raised a family in the Farmborough Heights area.  While living in the Farmborough Heights area, Blackman worked as a surveyor with the Central Illawarra Council.  He designed the Council’s Seal, now in the Wollongong Museum.   (Illawarra Pioneer Reminiscences, 1988)

John Lindsay
John Lindsay was one of the leaders in the dairy industry.  He received 24 acres of land from his father George.  John was an innovative thinker, willing to take risks in building up his dairy cattle.  He owned a herd of Ayrshire dairy cattle that was the envy of his peers. 

Lindsay was born in Ireland, in 1832, arriving in Australia in 1841 on the Orestes.  His parents, George Lindsay and Jane McCauley, settled in the Illawarra area and became landholders.  John Lindsay married Jane Musgrave and raised a family who were all born at his property Kembla Park, Farmborough Heights.  In 1859 Lindsay had bought ‘Kembla Park’ where he built a home.  At the same time he also purchased 200 acres and 60 cows from the Berkeley estate as well as 2 other areas adjacent to Kembla Park, of 105 acres and 45 acres. 
In 1878, John purchased “The Earl of Beaconsfield’, an Ayrshire bull, for 100 pound ($200).  Local farmers thought this was foolish and extravagant.  At the same time, he bought 2 bulls, 2 cows and 2 heifers (all Ayrshires) from his brother-in-law James Wilson.  These cattle enabled him to make his herd outstanding, producing prized dairy products and show animals for many years. 

In 1876, Lindsay and Thomas Wilson of Victoria established a cheese factory at George Brown’s old flour mill, Brownsville, but the venture was short lived.  Lindsay died at Kembla Park in 1894 and is buried at St. Luke’s Church of England, Brownsville.  (Cousins, 1994 ; Illawarra Pioneers, 1988)

In 1969, the buildings of ‘Kembla Park’ were demolished and a bottle containing several items was found which included a copy of the Wollongong Argus dated 1st September, 1886, and a letter headed ‘Kembla Park, Unanderra” dated 2nd September, 1886.  The letter stated:
‘This dairy was built for Mr. John Lindsay, J.P. by Mr. William Newson for one hundred and ninety pounds.  He was the largest ‘Ayrshire’ breeder in the colonies and was the largest prize-taker both for cattle and butter.’  (Illawarra Pioneers, 1988)

The site of Kembla Park is now occupied by the Farmborough Grove Retirement Village, the village having been built on the part of the farm known as the ‘pea paddock’. 

Early industry

Farming

After the 1820s the richer land owners had brought cattle into the area.  As more
land was cleared and more people settled the land, milking and butter making gradually replaced the timber getting as a way of making a living. The newly cleared land was very fertile and supported many more people than is possible today.
 
The Illawarra district also supplied meat for district settlements, sending large numbers of cattle to the Sydney Sale Yards.  Usually, the settlers killed their own meat, often the farmers taking turns to kill and butcher an animal, then distributing it to neighbours.  Any surplus meat was salted and stored to be used later.  Early farmers had to be self supporting, and meat was plentiful. 

Small farms grew wheat, maize, potatoes, pumpkin and other vegetables.  The growing of crops and vegetables was vital for the farmer’s existence.  Reaping of crops and thrashing of grain took up a lot of the time.  Maize crop cobs were pulled when ripe and carted to the barn for husking.  A corn bag was ½ filled with cobs of corn, tied and then beat on the barn floor with a flail.
 
Small farms kept cows and pigs and many farm holders in this area collected wattle bark for the tanneries which were located at Charcoal Creek (Unanderra), Wollongong and elsewhere.  Wheat was ground at the flour mill at Brownsville, which had been opened up by George Brown in 1839.  (Old pioneers reminiscences, 1989 ; Cousins, 1994)

Dairy farming
Up to the 1880s most dairying was quite primitive with the exception of the larger properties.  For wealthy landowners, Ayrshires were favoured after being brought into the district by John Lindsay.   (Cousins, 1994; Old Pioneer reminiscences, 1988)

Both the Illawarra and Sydney had a market for butter and most farms had their own dairy and churns.  The larger holdings churned butter and transported it to Wollongong on a daily basis, while the smaller farms churned and transported their butter up to 3 times a week.  From the Mount Kembla and Farmborough Heights areas a packhorse was in use to cart butter and one or 2 kegs were hung in bags specially prepared, from each side of a horse.  (Old Pioneer reminiscences, 1988 ; Cousins, 1994)