Cleveland - History

Land grants

Cleveland is composed of parts of a number of early Illawarra land grants

Colonel George Molle

The suburb contains at least part of “300 acres … granted to Colonel George Molle on 11 September, 1817, by Governor Macquarie. This was a very modest allotment in comparison with the large areas granted by Macquarie to others in Illawarra. [Molle] was Lieutenant Governor of the Colony and Commandant of the Forces at that time, and Macquarie and he had been fellow campaigners in the Peninsular Wars” (Lindsay, 1934, p. 19).

This small allocation was possibly due to Molle’s “strained” relations with Macquarie as a result of the latter’s “humane and generous policy towards Emancipists” which brought Macquarie “into conflict with Army officers” with whom Molle “strongly sided” (Lindsay, 1934, p. 19). Molle did reputedly secure significant allocations elsewhere, “1800 acres at Cook, 1550 acres at Minto” (Cousins, 1994, p. 41)

E.R. Stack, Fitzgerald family, James Blanch, George William Paul.

Other early grants either partly or wholly contained within Cleveland are “E.R. Stack (300 acres, on 20th May 1837); Fitzgerald family (75½ acres, Court of Claims grant); James Blanch (200 acres, granted on 20th February, 1839)”; and “an area of 600 acres .. granted to George W. [William] Paul on 1st May, 1833”, “portion 59, Parish of Kembla” (Lindsay, 1934, p.19; McDonald, 1976, p. 77) on which stands the historic homestead of Cleveland. Mr Paul was quite probably the same George William Paul who had earlier been superintendent of the Carter Barracks for convicts in Sydney (Archives Authority of New South Wales, 1989, pp 3863-3864).

Early residents

Various road surveys conducted during the mid-19th century confirm that the recipients of the grants either quickly disposed of the land to willing buyers, or installed tenants with varying degrees of success. Owners and tenants associated with the original G.W. Paul grant were

Maurice Fitzgerald, reputedly the builder of Cleveland homestead,

Hercules Watt, who sold to Cornelius Wholohan in November 1841,

Cornelius Wholohan, who mortgaged the property to Thomas Jessett,

Thomas Jessett, who exercised his power of sale on Wholohan’s death, and then re-purchased to work the property successfully for several years, “becoming a steward and a committee member of the Show Society, and for 3 years, a member of the Illawarrra District Council” (McDonald, 1976, p. 77)

Thomas Wholohan, son of Cornelius, then ousted Jessett by way of an equity suit in 1853. Wholohan was later listed as a subscriber to the Illawarra Agricultural Society of 1854 (McCaffery, 1922, p. 158) and sold on to William Speer.

William Speer, who sold in 1856 to William Howe.

William Howe, son of William Howe of “Glenlee”, survived only two years, and with his family residing elsewhere, a succession of tenants followed, including King Barton “who had been Governor FitzRoy’s private secretary”.

The Madden family purchased the property in 1888 and “held [the property enclosing Cleveland] till 1912” (McDonald, 1976, p. 77).

Some occupants of other properties in the area through the mid to late 19th century were Andrew Thompson, Richard Marshall (on Colonel Molle’s grant) and Mr McDouglass (Plan of an occupation road from Dapto Post Office to Rudds 60 acres)

Early industry

Also see Dapto

 Development of Cleveland

Cleveland has remained essentially farmland since European settlement, the main South Coast railway line and Mullet Creek seemingly barriers to urban encroachment. However, the 1970’s saw the wider agricultural area in which Cleveland resides become the focus for planning for the urban expansion of the City of Wollongong.

Since that time, Wollongong City Council, in conjunction with other government and non-government agencies, has undertaken numerous studies of Cleveland and environs. As a consequence, local environmental plans were drafted. Some were finally approved by relevant authorities to guide the proposed developments, and land was acquired by the Council in anticipation of expansion.

Although NSW government agencies did not share the enthusiasm of their local government counterparts for widespread urban expansion in West Dapto, which would have incorporated Cleveland, limited penetration by residential development was permitted in the suburbs of Horsley and Penrose (Strategic Planning Section, Wollongong City Council, 1989, p.1).

In 1996 the joint local-State government West Dapto Task Force was formed to “examine the environmental and funding issues for the suburb’s future development”. The Task Force recommended further development and that decision was endorsed by the State Planning Minister in 1999 (Iliffe, 1999, p. 6).

Despite that endorsement, it was not until 2004 that Wollongong Council “put West Dapto back on the State Government’s agenda because economic circumstances were right” (Field, 2006b).

Subsequently in early April 2006, Wollongong City Council endorsed for public exhibition a master plan for the urban development of an area which includes Cleveland, to be staged over 40 years (Field, 2006a).

Intended to accommodate 19000 homes of which 3666 will be within Cleveland, the anticipated population will be around 55000. The population will be serviced by more efficient transport corridors constructed to pass over the century-old physical barrier represented by the South Coast railway (Field, 2006b).

Early transport

While the history of transport in the area is almost inseparable from that of Dapto, some points of interest are particular to Cleveland.

 Alley’s Line

The close proximity of the properties that constituted early Cleveland to the so-called Alley’s Line of road in the 1840’s, is noteworthy. Alley’s Line “was much discussed locally in 1842” as a viable route by which a road could be driven from Dapto over the Illawarra escarpment to Bong Bong, near Moss Vale. Then, as now, the economic benefits of an effective transport corridor between the mountains and the sea was not lost on the locals, nor the value of land adjacent to such a corridor (McDonald, 1976, p. 38).

Intense community interest was generated, funds promised, surveys conducted and a road of sorts operating. However the Macquarie Pass route was preferred, then constructed in 1897-98, condemning the old roads to oblivion, and Cleveland to remaining a strictly rural backwater (McDonald, 1976, p. 40)

 Illawarra Harbour and Land Corporation Railway

The only noticeable alteration to the rural character during the 19th century was the construction of the Illawarra Harbour and Land Corporation Railway, which passed across the northern portion of present day Cleveland (O’Malley, 1968, map).

The line was constructed in 1895 originally to transport coal “from a colliery, later known as Fleming’s Mine, in the range behind West Dapto” to a proposed “harbour works at Lake Illawarra”. The track, “about 5 ½ miles long … was built at a cost of about £42,000 and some relics of it can still be seen .. at various points around … West Dapto”. “By the time the railway was opened the original scheme had been abandoned” (McDonald, 1976, p. 69-70).

The Dapto Smelting Works became the new focus for investors, and once operational, the works used coal “from collieries further north, not from West Dapto … so the greater part of the … railway proved a white elephant. The crossing over the main line was removed in 1902 [and] local farmers moved in and squatted on the road bed”.  Remnants of this remain visible (McDonald, 1976, p. 70).

Cleveland Road

Bisecting the suburb, Cleveland Road is the only significant thoroughfare and remains essentially the country lane originally sought from the colonial government by way of a plan submitted in 1861 for “an occupation road from Dapto Post Office to Rudds 60 acres”.

This section was part of a plan which included “an occupation road from Daisy Bank to the Avondale Estate” which later became Avondale Rd & Off Avondale Colliery Rd.

 The plan incorporated “a road through that estate uniting the above lines” which is now the western end of Cleveland Rd (Plan of an occupation road from Dapto Post Office to Rudds 60 acres … ).