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THE MUSE
Published by the Mudgee Historical Society Inc
PO Box 217, Mudgee, NSW, 2850
Website: www.mudgeemuseum.com
Email: [email protected]
President and Editor : John Broadley 02.6372 3365
Secretary: Pauline Bassingthwaighte 02.6372 3078
NUMBER 166
MARCH 2012
The Mudgee Historical Society Inc meets on the THIRD Monday evening of every month,
except December, at the Colonial Inn Museum at 7.30.pm (DST 8pm)
VALE: LAURA WALLIS and EDNA STRIKE
The Mudgee Historical Society Inc has recently lost two of its Honorary Life members: Laura Wallis
and Edna Strike. These two ladies made considerable contributions to the Society during the extensive
years of their membership. At the February committee meeting a minute’s silence was observed in
memory of these ladies who will be greatly missed.
Laura Wallis
Edna Strike
Laura Wallis was born in 1908 and during her long life lived in Uarbry, Gulgong and Mudgee, before
moving to Mudgee where she remained until her death in Pioneer House in January 2012, aged 103. A
keen traveler, Laura always had a camera with her and the Mudgee Historical Society is indebted to her
for many photographs from her collection. For many years Laura conducted much valued family
history research for the Society, while she was also archivist for St John’s Anglican Church in Mudgee.
Edna Strike, nee Taylor, was born in 1920 and lived all her life in the Mudgee district, first at Buckaroo
and then in the town of Mudgee where she died at Kanandah Hostel in February 2012. Edna followed
her father’s interests in beekeeping, the Mudgee Show and the Western District exhibit at the Royal
Easter Show, and she donated many items of her family’s beekeeping and Show memorabilia to the
Colonial Inn Museum. Edna served successively as Secretary, Treasurer and Roster Secretary of the
Mudgee Historical Society Inc and derived great enjoyment from her association with our organization.
THE MUSE: No 166. March 2012 Journal of the Mudgee Historical Society Inc
LAUNCH OF HISTORIC HOUSES OF MUDGEE
On Saturday 25th February 2012 John Broadley, President of the Mudgee Historical Society Inc, staged
the launch of his book Historic Houses of Mudgee at Putta Bucca House, Mudgee, one of the houses
featured in the book. The sprawling Putta Bucca House, set in magnificent gardens established by
noted landscape gardener Paul Sorensen, was the perfect venue for the crowd of circa 300 people who
listened to speeches by the author and the guest speaker, Dr Judy White (both featured above) of
Belltrees, Scone, who wrote the Foreword for the book and also has family associations with three of
the houses featured in it.
The book is available at the Colonial Inn Museum or directly from the author (02.6372 3365).
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THE HOTELS OF MUDGEE (cont.): The Mudgee Hotel
This hotel should not be confused with its predecessor
in Market Street, nor with its more illustrious successor,
the Hotel Mudgee on the corner of Church and
Mortimer Streets. Similar in appearance to many corner
hotels in Mudgee with a chamfered corner, the hotel
was built with a narrow cantilevered balcony on the
upper floor which was replaced in the late 1800s by a
deep two-storeyed verandah to the curb.
This hotel was situated on the south-western corner of
Mortimer and Court Streets on parts of Allotments 9
and 10 of Section 20. In 1855 Allotment 9 was sold to
Alexander John Macdonald for £4/11/-, while
Allotment 10 was sold to Duncan Macdonald for
£4/2/-. Richard Crossing, storekeeper, purchased
Allotment 10 for £60 in 1860 and Allotment 9 for £60
in 1864. A street alignment plan of Mudgee drawn in 1862, showing some of the town's major public
and commercial buildings, shows several substantial buildings on Allotments 8, 9, 10 and 20 of Section
20. These buildings include Richard Crossing's Settler's Store, believed to have been built circa 1858, a
soap factory and a tannery. The prices paid by Richard Crossing for the two allotments suggest that he
had some arrangement with Duncan Macdonald and Alexander Macdonald whereby he constructed his
buildings under a lease agreement with the right to purchase the land later.
Richard Crossing was born in South Brent in Devon in 1822, and arrived in New South Wales per The
Forth in 1841. In 1845 he married Frances Griffith and lived initially at Singleton before moving to the
Mudgee goldfields in the early 1850s where he operated stores and an inn called The Travellers' Home
at Long Creek. Richard prospered considerably from his goldfields exploits and after settling in Mudgee
he proceeded to establish himself as one of the leading citizens and entrepreneurs of the town. By 1858
he had constructed his two-storeyed Settler's Store and ultimately conducted a tannery, soapworks and
a brewery which were adjacent to the store on the western side, while a flour mill and several mill
workers' cottages were located further west of the brewery. Nothing now remains of this extensive
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industrial complex except for the Settler’s Store which is much extended and altered and which from
the 1880s to the 1980s was used as Stoddart’s joinery.
Richard Crossing advertised in the Mudgee Liberal on 1 November 1861 that he was leasing his store and
also would lease 'a first class hotel adjoining, in course of construction'. The hotel was not complete by
1862, as it does not appear on the street alignment map of Mudgee drawn in that year. In the Western
Post and Mudgee Newspaper on 16 September 1863, Richard William Heard announced that he was ‘late of
the Mudgee Hotel, Market Street, opposite the Court House, and has removed to the new premises of
the Mudgee Hotel, Mortimer Street, adjoining Mr Crossing's store and premises’.
Richard Crossing’s commercial and industrial site viewed from the north circa 1880. The Mudgee Hotel is to the left, the
Settler’s Store in the centre, and the mill is to the right
Circa 1863 Richard built a two-storeyed house at Enfield on the Gulgong road where his daughter
Elizabeth was tragically burnt to death in 1864, aged eleven. In the late 1860s he built Tattersalls Hotel
(now the Lawson Park Hotel) on the south-eastern corner of Church and Short Streets in Mudgee and
bought the Imperial Hotel on the north-eastern corner of Church and Market Streets in Mudgee (now
the site of The Property Shop). Richard died in tragic circumstances in New Zealand in 1872, but
shortly before his death he assigned all his holdings to his wife and children in trust; his estate was not
wound up until over thirty years later, after the death of his wife, Frances. It is not known at this stage
when the hotel passed out of the ownership of the Crossing family.
Attached to the western end of the hotel building were two-storeyed premises which, at one stage, were
occupied by Crossing and Cox, stock and station agents. Richard Crossing's eldest son, Henry Crossing,
was ultimately a partner in the firm of Crossing and Cox with Vivian Cox, a son of Mudgee pioneer,
Henry Cox.
The following article on the Mudgee Hotel was written by local historian, Lillian Woolley and was
published in the Mudgee Guardian on 26 February 1988:
Large and commodious, with wide balconies, it extended from Crossing's store into Court
Street; the stables, feedsheds and carriage houses with the resting paddock ran halfway up the
block. In Mortimer Street, fronting the large billiard room, were the large water troughs and
hitching rails under tall pepper trees, and wrought iron seats on the verandah. Charles Harper
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was the last licensee of this hotel and took over in 1890. He arrived in the colony under
contract to the firm building the railway from Redfern to Parramatta (1850-55), and later
worked as a contractor for roads and bridges in the North West, settling at Maitland Bar to
the west of Mudgee to run the hotel of the same name. Harper moved to Mudgee to take
over the Holyoak Inn (at the junction of the Cassilis and Lue roads) in the late 1870s for 8
years, and was licensee of Tattersall's Hotel until his last business venture. The Mudgee Hotel
closed about 1914 and was run as a private hotel by his daughter; her father living in
retirement until he died in 1929 at the age of 95. The building stood until 1935 when it was
demolished by local builder E. C. Aburn.
A 1970s cream brick house now stands on the corner site formerly occupied by the hotel.
MUDGEE MECHANICS INSTITUTE
After a long period of decline and concerns about its future, one of Mudgee’s most important public
and iconic buildings, the former Mechanics Institute, has undergone a transformation into a boutique
hotel, the De Russie Suites. Although it has been open for several weeks, its official launch was hosted
on Saturday 17th March 2012.
The Mechanics Institute movement spread throughout the Australian colonies in the 1800s with the
aim of improving the education for the working man (or ‘mechanic’). Many towns, no matter how
small, prided themselves on having a Mechanics Institute or a School of Arts. These institutions played
an important civic role in providing a venue for lectures, meetings, entertainment of all sorts (dances,
concerts, circus, theatres, films), as well as very often providing a library. Planning for Mudgee’s grand
Mechanics Institute, indicative of Mudgee’s wealth and importance at the height of the gold rushes,
began in the late 1850s. Sydney-based architect, Thomas Rowe, was commissioned to design the
building and tenders were called in 1861. James Atkinson, who had recently built St John’s Anglican
Church in Mudgee, lodged the successful tender at a
cost of £2500. The foundation stone was laid on 8th
October 1861 by local squire George Henry Cox of
Burrundulla and was officially opened on 29th
September 1862.
The front facade in Perry Street was built without a
verandah, despite a French door being installed in
the upper floor; the ornate verandah was not added
until the 1880s. In the early 1900s a two-storeyed
addition was made to the south-western corner,
while the upper part of the verandah was eventually
enclosed in timber shingles; this enclosure detracted
from the building’s appearance considerably.
The Mechanics’ Institute continued to fulfill its
intended educational and social roles for the next
ninety years. In the mid 1950s control of the
building passed from the Committee of the
Mechanics' Institute to the Mudgee Municipal
Council, which then assumed responsibility for
providing library services in the building for the
town and district.
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In the 1970s Council considered
moving the library, which was
eventually re-located to the former
Mudgee Town Hall in 1979.
Various uses were proposed for the
Mechanics' Institute building but a
Council deficit and no forthcoming
government funds ultimately led
Council to put the building up for
auction in 1984. The building failed
to sell until 1986 when it became a
private residence. In 2008 the
current owners, Mark and Lisa
Madigan, purchased the property
and commenced plans for its
adaptive reuse.
It should be noted that at various times the Mechanics' Institute has been used as premises by Mudgee
Public School. In the mid 1870s, while a new school was being built, the boys' section of the school
utilized the Mechanics' Institute, while the girls' section was housed in the former Wesleyan Church on
the south-western corner of Church and Mortimer Streets (now Mudgee Bookcase). Again in the 1970s,
the Mechanics' Institute was used by Mudgee Public School which suffered from overcrowding. This
problem was not resolved until the construction of Cudgegong Public School in the 1980s.
The revitalized building retains its exterior relatively
unchanged, with a restored eastern verandah, while the
interior has been refurbished to accommodate 13 selfcontained guest suites. The soaring cathedral ceiling of
the upper floor has remained uncompromised and is still
visible above the first floor guest suites.
Congratulations to De Russie Suites Mudgee on the
imaginative adaptation of this important historic
building.
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THE MUSE: No 166. March 2012 Journal of the Mudgee Historical Society Inc
OUR COLLECTION: TAXIDERMY
The Colonial Inn Museum has tens of thousands of exhibits on a variety of themes. Our gentleman’s
room has numerous fascinating displays, but the most ‘Victorian’ of all displays are the taxidermy
cabinets: stuffed or preserved native animals and birds. As Europeans colonized the globe in the 1800s
they became fascinated by the exotic creatures of the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Coupled
with a tradition of hunting game birds, boar, deer, and foxes as an aristocratic pastime, taxidermy
became an integral part of the decoration of upper crust Victorian households. Consequently, tanneries
existed in most sizeable towns across the world to meet a market for leather products and also to deal
with the demand for taxidermy. From the 1850s to the early 1900s the Australian Tannery existed in
Lawson Street, Mudgee, and was long operated by the Thomas family whose boots were renowned
throughout the Mudgee region and the north and north-west of the state.
One case contains four creatures which
were once widespread in the Mudgee
district: a water rat (pictured left), a shy
nocturnal creature which is still
occasionally sighted in the Cudgegong
River; a diminutive sugar glider; a koala,
now virtually disappeared; and a quoll, a
native cat, now rarely seen. An adjacent
case contains an extensive collection of
exotic Australian birds, some local,
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although the majority of them are coastal. One day last year, while conducting a group of eager
Kindergarten children through the museum, the editor of this journal was horrified to be confronted
with a question from a boy who was evidently shocked by my explanation of taxidermy. I was asked
bluntly and accusingly: “Did you kill all of these birds and animals?” I diplomatically explained that I
hadn’t in fact been responsible, because I wasn’t around in the mid 1800s when these poor creatures
were dispatched or expired.
Quoll
Sugar glider
Koala
GARAGE SALE
Our two annual garage sales held in autumn and spring are important fundraisers for the Society. Our
next garage sale is planned for a Saturday in April, date as yet undecided. Donations will be gratefully
accepted ASAP.
HARMONIUM
Ken and Judy Charter of Mudgee have kindly donated a harmonium in working order which had
previously been used in the Methodist (now Uniting) Church in Mudgee. This ornate piece is now on
display in the Church in the Museum grounds.
NEW SHED
It was pleasing to finally see
the completion of the new
three-bay shed at the rear of
the Museum grounds just
before
Christmas.
In
galvanized
iron
to
complement the adjacent big
shed and the church, the shed
is in two sections, with two of
the bays intended for use by
our curators for storage and a
conservation work space. It is
proposed to use the remaining
bay as a changing exhibition
space. This shed was partially
funded
with
generous
contributions from the Mid-
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THE MUSE: No 166. March 2012 Journal of the Mudgee Historical Society Inc
Western Regional Council and Peabody Energy and the Mudgee Historical Society Inc wishes to
express its thanks to these two organizations for their generosity. Once insulation has been installed,
the shed will be ready for full occupation.
JORDAN’S COTTAGE, WOLLAR
The Mudgee Historical Society Inc is
currently liaising with Peabody Energy, the
owners of Wilpinjong Coal, and the MidWestern Regional Council to re-locate a
cottage currently in Barrigan Street, Wollar,
to the grounds of the Colonial Inn
Museum. It is hoped that this project will
come to fruition in the near future and the
addition of this rustic but robust structure
would be very much welcomed to provide
additional display space and also to
showcase the history of the Wollar district
which is an area in transition from
pastoralism to mining.
At this stage it is not known precisely when the cottage was built, although in style it is typical of the
late 1800s/early 1900s. A simple four-roomed cottage circa 7.4m x 7.4m plus front and rear verandahs,
it originally featured a detached service block which has disappeared. The steeply-pitched hip roof is
covered in iron, and although the roof is exposed on the interior, there is evidence of calico or hessian
ceilings which were once common in such rustic structures.
NATIONAL SENIORS WEEK
On Tuesday 20th March, a beautiful Mudgee autumn morning, the Mudgee Historical Society Inc
hosted a morning tea in the grounds of the Colonial Inn Museum for our senior citizens as part of the
local celebrations for National Seniors Week. This is the fourth successive year that a morning tea has
been held and is a gesture by our Society to our valued senior citizens who greatly enjoy the social
occasion and the opportunity to in inspect our wonderful museum. It was especially pleasing to
welcome groups from Kanandah and Pioneer House.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ‘THE MUSE’
The Editor welcomes suggestions from members on the nature of articles for inclusion in ‘The Muse’.
Contact John Broadley : Email [email protected] or PO Box 217, Mudgee, NSW, 2850
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