The Great Western Road illustrated by Frank Walker FRAHS

The Great Western Boad
rem ain to m ark th e h istoric site.
The property was described as follow s when
pnt up fo r sale in 1847:—
“ R egentville House, su bstan tially b u ilt of
stone, w ith a tasteful colonnade in fron t and
on each side, surm ounted w ith an iron balcony,
from which there is a d eligh tful p rosp ect of
the adjacen t country. It contains an entrance
hall and 15 room s, v i z , tw o draw ing-room s, j
one dining-room , tw o breakfast-room s, one
study, one library and cabinet, and nin e bedroom
s. The prinqipal stairca se is a lso stone
built and circular. A laundry and washhouse
are attached, and there are spacious cellars
under the house. The le ft w ing con sists o f an
im mense coach-h ouse w ith store above. The
left w ing contains the billiard -room . The outofflces
are a lso stone built, and con sist of two
kitchens and a bakehouse, com m unicating with
the house by a covered w ay—a servants’ hall
and seven bedroom s ad join in g; the w hole being
under one roof. A ll the ab ove offices a re con ­
tained w ithin an area o f 180ft. square, enclosed
by a substantial stone w all about 10ft.
high.
•
" t o the rea r o f the foregoin g, adjoin ing the
walls, are the handsom e ston e stables, which
consist of on e 10-stall and on e 4-stall, with
three large boxes, and tw o harness room s. The
lofts a re over the above stabling, and are
160ft. in length by 15ft. in breadth. The stable
is enclosed by a paling fence, and contains also
three loose boxes, slab-bu ilt, w ith lo ft over
them,
“ A djoinin g the stable yard, at the back, lies
the garden, coverin g abou t fo u r acres, fu ll of
choice fru it trees, vegetables, etc., and con ­
tainin g a gardener’ s house. In the rea r of the
garden a shed is partitioned off and railed in
to accom m odate about 30 c o lts ; it is well
secured by a substantial fen ce, and has a paddock
attach ed, w hich contains stockyards and
drafting yards. The vineyard is on the left of
the house, and contains about seven acres o f
terraced vines, and about three and a half
acres of field vineyard. It has also a stonebu
ilt house, containing fou r room s, a large
cellar for m anufacturing wine, w ith w ine press
and s tM ."
Then follow ed a d escrip tion of a large dam,
about 800ft. in circum ference, som e 10ft. in
depth, which had never been dry. It is also
stated that the vineyard w as let fo r £10O a
year, and a portion of the land (com prising
about 150 acres) for £100 a year. The property
Tom prlsed som e 1760 acres, about 600 o f which
were cleared and stumped.
SIB HENRY PARKES AS LABORER.
R egentville is historic in an oth er way. There
the late Sir Henry Parkes was em ployed as
a laborer. He w orked in the vineyard for six"
m onths fn the year 1839-40, and was paid at
the rate o f £25 a year and rations. It is also i
a m atter o f historic in terest that R egentville
was the birthplace o f th e late Sir Thom as
Bent, a form er P rem ier o f V ictoria, w ho was
bom there over 70 years ago.
LAVISH H O SPITALITY.
Sir John Jam ieson was reputed t o b e lavish j
in his hospitality at R egen tville H ouse. In
M arch, 1835, he gave a fancy dress ball, at
which m ore than 300 guests w ere entertained,
at a cost o f between £700 and £800.
An old resident o f P enrith rem em bers the
R egentville coach and fou r, w ith postilion s,
conveying S ir John Jam ieson and a com pany of
guests to the neigh boring ra ces a t Penrith,
W indsor, or Hom ebush, as the ca se m ight be.
The sam e gentlem an a lso reca lls that the s ta ir ­
case at R egen tville H ouse w a s a m arvel of*
staircases. H e says that he saw h orses ridden |
up the stairs on several occa sion s, b y s p o rtsmen
o f his tim e. The stables w e re also r e ­
m arkable in their way, accom m od atin g 40
horses, m ost of them blood stock , as Sir John
was a great horse-breeder and sportsm an . H e
also had a racecourse on th o p rop erty, and it
was h ere th at h e prom oted the first great race
m eeting o f any note in N ew South W ales. A
further instance o f Sir Joh n’s lavish hospitality
is supplied by the fa ct th at o n on e occa sion
he entertained a large gathering o f nearly
5000 persons w h o attended the races.
T he hospitable old knight died on June 29,
1844, and was buried in St. Stephen's ground
at Penrith. H is fam ous hou se w as destroyed
by fire 20 years later.
RECORD O F STEADY G RO W TH .
The grow th o f P enrith has b een o f a steady
nature. In the m id-fifties, accord in g to the
oldest living inhabitant. It com p rised “ not m ore
than 30 houses from top to b ottom ,’ ' but to-day
it has about 5000 inhabitants, w ith a d istrict
population considerably larger. The - staple industries
a re agriculture and fru it-grow in g. The
tow n itself is an im portant railw ay centre, and
num bers am ongst its residents a large p rop ortion
o f em ployees o f the R ailw ay C om m issioners.
The p roclam ation o f P en rith as a m unicipality
took p lace on May 12, 1871, and a t the
first election in the su cceeding m onth the
follow in g nine gentlem en w ere elected ald erm
en:—Jam es John R iley, E dw in Jam es W ilshire,
Austen F orrest W ilsh ire, Thom as Smith,
John M atthews, P eter Sm eaton, Thom as A n ­
drews, John Reddan, and D on ald B eatson. The
first m eeting o f cou n cil w a s h e ld on July 13,
1871, in a cottage (leased fo r cou n cil purposes)
at the top end o f the m ain street, w h ich is
now occupied as a private residen ce. Mr. R iley
was elected M ayor, and Mr. Joh n P rice cou n cil
clerk. A t this m eeting, M essrs. J. T. R yan,
ex-M .L.A ., and T. R. Smith, ex-M .L .A . (now
residing at St. M arys) w ere appointed valuers,
under w hose supervision the first road from
Penrith to Bathurst, a distance o f ju st over
100 m iles, w as constructed in six m onths.
Thirty con victs, under a guard o f eight
soldiers, w ere em ployed in th o work.
A t this tim e, the m unicipality took in M ulgoa
on the south, C astlereagh on the north, and
extended to the Nepean R iver on the w est and
K ingsw ood on the east. L a ter, M ulgoa and
Castlereagh seceded, and form ed m unicipalities
o f their own. The su ccessive M ayors o f P enrith
m unicipality have been A id. R iley, Jam es
M'Carthy (then residin g a t C ranebrook, three