Huntley - History

Land grants

George William Paul was granted 600 acres of land on 18 April 1824, commencing 1st January 1831, as recorded in the Colonial Secretary’s Office, Sydney, 23rd October, 1832. (McCaffery)  The southern boundary of this land is Mullet Creek. 

Alexander Stewart, an early Illawarra resident, gave an account of the owners and occupiers of land in the Illawarra in 1828, which was first published in 1894.  Describing the area, which includes the present day Huntley, as West Dapto, he stated that “neither man nor cattle lived on [George William] Pauls’ property then”. (Stewart, 1987)

There are no references to G. W. Paul ever occupying the land.  He is described as a “Sydney merchant” (Ali, 1980) and an auctioneer from Sydney (Stewart, 1987) so it is likely that he was an absentee landholder of means who lived in Sydney.  In the Ali manuscript it mentions that the land was disposed of before the grant was issued and a series of subdivisions and conveyances then followed.  (Ali, 1980)

G.W. Paul’s original 600 acre grant is now divided between the suburbs of Huntley and Cleveland. 

Early residents

On the land that was originally granted to G.W. Paul, Dr. Thomas Jessett built a substantial colonial Georgian style home called “Cleveland”, which was completed in 1845.  Dr. Jessett successfully worked the property for several years producing hops, raising pigs, cows and poultry, winning prizes in the local shows.  Dr. Jessett was a steward and committee member of the Show Society and a member of the Illawarra District council from 1848 – 1850.  (Ali, 1981) (McCaffrey, 1922)

Early industry

Cedar cutting

Most of Huntley was covered with forest and was very sparsely populated in the early nineteenth century. The land was probably used for grazing cattle and certainly for cedar cutting.  There may have been temporary camps associated with those industries. 

The cedar industry was very important to the regional economy in the early part of the nineteenth century.  It was highly prized as a premium furniture timber and building material.  Cedar wood is soft, easy to work plus resistant to the attack of white ants. 

Cedar cutting probably started with illegal harvesting by convicts or ex-convicts.  In 1820 the first permits were issued to the cedar cutters in an attempt to control the expanding industry. (Hagen, 1997)

Coal mining

Huntley Colliery was opened in 1946 by 3 brothers, Phil, Frank and William Waugh as a small hand worked mine.  In 1951 it was purchased by the Joint Coal Board.  The Electricity Commission of NSW purchased the mine in 1955 to supply the newly constructed Tallawarra Power Station on Lake Illawarra.  Coal was transported to the power station by road.  The production continued to expand, reaching its peak of more than 1 million tons in 1966, the first of any Australian mine to do this. 

In 1983, Huntley Colliery incorporated the adjacent Avondale Colliery into their leasehold.  This coincided with a reduction of demand to supply the Tallawarra Power station to 450,000 tons per annum. 

In June 1989 the Electricity Commission of NSW announced that both Tallawarra Power Station and Huntley Colliery would close.  On the 17 July the entire Huntley workforce was retrenched.  

Early transport

The Illawarra district is naturally isolated.  In the west there is the steep Illawarra escarpment and the coast has few natural harbours. 

The NSW Calendar and Directory of the year 1835 describes the progress of settlement in Illawarra at the time as follows:

Hitherto the coast mountain has separated this rich tract from the rest of the Colony, and in the absence of a carriage road to Sydney there has been no means of travelling through it except by roads of the worst kind, accidentally opened where the brush permitted.  This has been a great drawback to the cultivation, and even settling, of the district.  This the finest farms, though so near Sydney, have continued in a primitive state.  (Lindsay, 1994 p. 35)

By the early 1820’s, the District of Illawarra and the new county of Camden, which was on the tablelands above the Illawarra escarpment, were becoming more populated and industries were developing.  It was recognized that a road connecting the interior to the coast and ports was essential.  In 1820 Charles Throsby wrote to Governor Macquarie:

I have fully established the practicability of a short communication between the coast, at the District of Illawarra, and the new country, in the County of Camden, by a pass in the mountains, several miles to the southward of the original road behind Bulli, discovered and made by me, where I have succeeded a few days since in driving a herd of my cattle in the short space of one day, having been at some expense in cutting bush to clear a sufficient road by the same route and direction I passed in February 1817. 

This track was described as reaching the “coastal district behind Dapto”. In 1831 the Surveyor Jacques described the “pass” as being precipitous, very steep and dangerous for even horses and cattle.  The next year it was referred to in the “Sydney Monitor”, a Sydney newspaper from 1826-1841, as a well beaten path that could be improved.  (McDonald, 1976, p. 38)

No reliable road was built and in September 1842 a local meeting was held where George Underwood Alley proposed a route up the escarpment to the tablelands.  The meeting concluded that it would cost £150 to make a bridle track and £1000 to make a good road.  This meeting was followed up with a dinner at the top of the escarpment, presumably where the proposed road was to emerge, where all present were urged to contribute funds to its construction.  By December £490 had been raised towards its construction.

When Surveyor Burke made an official report the following year (1843) Alley’s line of road was considered too steep for anything but a bridle track and the cost of building had been seriously underestimated. (McDonald, 1976, p. 38-39)