Black Creek News - 1837

IRON GANGS.

To the Editor of the Sydney Herald, October 27, 1837

Sir,

Several paragraphs having appeared in your valuable paper regarding the Iron Gangs, particularly the one situated at Harper's Hill.  I feel it my duty, as a good citizen, to corroborate the whole.  I frequently have to pass that den of infamy, and find, on most occasions, the Road Party attached to the Iron Gang in a state off great drunkenness, and a number of them prowling about, waiting an opportunity to plunder the drays.  The men in charge of their master’s team being enabled to purchase liquor of the guard stationed to protect the public from the depredations of the most depraved. Such is the scenes daily occurring, that I am compelled to make known the inattention of the Government to the vile proceedings of the party alluded to.

I have been a sufferer by them.  It has been told me by a gentleman who, I cannot for a moment doubt, that he has seen some of the men with the soldiers at Black Creek, at the late hour of twelve o'clock at night. I witnessed myself yesterday two men in a state of drunkenness at Black Creek, attached to the gang, very abusive to parties in consequence of their not being allowed to go in the tap of the Inn kept by Mr. Cohen, he not permitting them to enter, they being prisoners of the crown. Trusting this will meet the eye of the Government, and that we shall feel the benefit of their interference.

I am, Sir,

Your's,

A SETTLER. Maitland. 

Black Creek News - 1835

The Sydney Herald September 1835

John Ryan was indicted for stealing a heifer, value £5, the property of Charlotte Coulston, at Black Creek, on the l6th September last.

The prisoner was overseer to Mr. McDonald, a settler on the adjoining farm to Mr. Coulston, at Black Creek, and was possessed of some cattle of his own. On the day laid in the information he went into the bush and brought home eighteen or twenty calves, which he put into the stockyard, and branded some with his own brand, and some with Mr. McDonald's. Amongst those he branded with his own brand was a strawberry heifer, branded T C No 5, on which he put his own brand J R, and which Mr. John Coulston identified as being his sisters property. It appeared that the prisoner had once purchased seventeen head of cattle from Mr. Collision's overseer, and that he had branded thirty instead of the seventeen ; Mr. Coulston had missed many cattle for some time past, and could never find them out.

The Jury considered a short time in the box without retiring, and found the prisoner Guilty.

His Honor then examined Mr. John Coulston at some length, to elicit whether there was a possibility of the prisoner having branded the beast in mistake; but it appeared that lie must have carried on his practices for some time, as he had not long been emancipated, and had acquired one hundred and fifty or two hundred head of cattle, which he could not have done honestly.

His Honor, in passing sentence, observed that he perfectly agreed with the verdict of the Jury, and was satisfied that the prisoner was guilty.  There was pregnant evidence that he was a very cunning man in branding some of the cattle in Mr. McDonald's name, so that he might the more readily plead a mistake. His Honor hoped the many convictions for cattle stealing would have some effect in checking the gangs of cattle stealers which had infested the country, destroying every honest mans endeavours to rise in the world by honest industry. The prisoner was sentenced to be transported to a penal settlement for life.

The Sydney Herald  December 1835

Thomas Gunning was indicted for stealing one horse, value £20, the property of John Ryan, at Black Creek, on the 25th December, 1835. Mr. Therry briefly stated the case to the Jury. The prosecutor was in trouble in Newcastle gaol, and the prisoner went to him and asked him if he should get in his cattle and sell them, and a horse, his property. The prosecutor said he would not part with the horse, but requested the prisoner to get in seventeen head of cattle and sell them, and he gave the order to take the horse to a person named Murphy residing at Maitland. The prisoner afterwards sold the horse.            

Mr justice Burton said that Mr Therry had stated an excellent case of civil injury, but to constitute a theft there must be a taking against the will, when in the present case it appeared that the horse had been given into his possession.  Mr Therry submitted that it should go to the Jury as a question whether the prisoner obtained possession of the horse with a larcenous intent. There was a case in point that occurred to him.

It was that of the notorious Probert who was connected with Thurtell and Hunt in the murder of Weare. He hired a horse at Godalming for the purpose of a long journey, but when he arrived in London he sold it, and was executed for horse-stealing.

His Honor directed case to proceed.      

Black Creek News - 1834

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Tuesday 11 February 1834

James Welsh was indicted for the wilful murder of Maurice Malone, at Black Creek, near Maitland, by inflicting one mortal wound on his head with a spade on the 8th December last, of which he lingered until the 7th January following, and then died; and James Crawford, Peter Murphy, Brian Eagan, and Patrick Burke stood charged with being present, aiding, abetting, and assisting the first named prisoner to do and commit the said murder.  

A second count charged Brian Eagan as principal and the other four prisoners as abettors in the murder aforesaid.

The prisoners pleaded Not Guilty

.

The SOLICITOR GENERAL, in the absence of the jury who were deliberating on the former case, would move that the whole of the jurors on the list be called over. The number summoned for each week was 36 instead of 48, and out of that number it appeared that only 21 regularly appeared, the remaining 15 being either excused by the Court, or contemptuously refusing to attend.

   

The whole of the panel being then called over the following gentlemen were again found absent viz-:—Thomas Urmson Ryder, Alexander Brodie Spark, and Thomas Mitchell, Esquires.

Mr. Justice DOWLING ordered each of these gentlemen to be fined £10.  Should either of them not be in attendance Monday, he would fine them £100, and teach them that the Court would maintain its proper dignity. Here was an instance f certain gentlemen punctually discharging their duty as good Citizens, no doubt to their serious private inconvenience, while others chose to absent themselves altogether, without assigning to the Court any reason for doing so. The whole course of justice might become arrested from their conduct, but he would endeavour to convince the parties that it should not escape its due punishment.

The SOLICITOR GENERAL rose to observe that the names of the gentlemen alluded to, would not appear in the next week's panel, but in the present instance, he would undertake to levy the fines which had been imposed by the Court.

Mr. ISAAC NICHOLS was excused from attending, on filing an affidavit of the dangerous illness of his wife. The Solicitor General then prayed a "tales de circumstantibus," which was granted by the Court.

The Jury being sworn, the trial proceeded at some length, when it was discovered that a misnomer existed in the indictment, the deceased’s name appearing from the statement of the witnesses to be Maloney, instead of Malone, as stated in the information. Under those circumstances, the Court directed the Jury to acquit the prisoners.

The prisoners were remanded in order to be again prosecuted upon another indictment for manslaughter.

The Court then adjourned until Monday.

The Sydney Herald Monday 31 March 1834

A mysterious occurrence took place at Black Creek a short time ago. Hugh Corrigan, an old man well-known in Sydney, and possessing considerable property, was accidentally discovered on the road crossing the creek, quite dead. His skull was fractured, and several contusions and wounds, supposed by some to be stabs, were observed about his body. Corrigan, it appeared, had been up to Patrick's Plains for the purpose of branding his cattle and after accomplishing his object called at Mr. Brown's Inn, at that place. While there it was observed, that Corrigan had a good sum of money with him, amongst which were some Bank notes, a quantity of silver, and an order of Mr. Pringle's in favour of Nicholas Conolly, for £9. On the road from Patrick's Plains to Maitland the deceased was seen  in company with a person well known on the Plains. When the body of Corrigan was found, the order was not about his person nor the money; ten shillings were lying a short distance in the road, near to which was his hat and one of his boots. Corrigan's horse was also found a short distance from the spot. A coroner's inquest was held on the body but the Jury could not agree, eight were for bringing a verdict of Wilful Murder, and the other four Accidental Death. It is hoped that this melancholy affair will be strictly investigated by those whose duty calls them so to do.

The Sydney Herald Thursday 19 June 1834

A native youth has lately been committed for trial, from Maitland, and forwarded to the gaol at Sydney, on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of a man named Hugh Corrigan, who was found dead some months ago, near Black Creek, under circumstances which induced a suspicion that he had been murdered.

The Sydney Herald Monday 1 September 1834

Henry Ham stood indicted for the wilful murder of Hugh Corrigan, at Black Creek, Hunter's River, on the 11th of March last. The Attorney General stated the case to the Jury, and called a number of witnesses, who deposed to the following effect.

   

In the beginning of March last, a man named Hugh Corrigan, had occasion to go to go to Jerry's Plains for the purpose of disposing of some land and cattle. On his return he was accompanied by the prisoner Ham, who had purchased a farm of Corrigan. They were seen together, at Mr. Johnson's, and at Mr. Brown's, Patrick's Plains; Corrigan left the latter place in company with Ham, having in his possession certain monies and an order on Mr. Jones of Sydney, drawn by Mr. Pringle in favour of one Connelly, for £9.

The parties were afterwards seen at the House of a man named Ward on the Maitland Road within four miles of Black Creek, and left that place on, horseback together. On the following morning

Corrigan was found at Black Creek dead, the body, having the appearance of being dragged along the ground with great violence to the stump of a tree where it was found. No money or orders were disco-vered on the deceased, but 10s. were lying near the body, also his hat, a spur, and one of his boots.

A stirrup iron was on one of his legs which came up above the calf, and some slight scratches were on his face; a day or two after, the body was taken from the coffin for the Coroner and Jury to look at, when two small holes were discovered in the stomach, but in such a state of putrescence, that none could tell by what means they had been inflicted, no Surgeon having examined the body. The Jury returned a Verdict that the deceased had been accidentally killed by his horse. A short time after Corrigan's death an order was presented to Mr. Simpson of Maitland, of the same description as that in the possession of Corrigan when he left Mr. Brown's, and which turned out to have been sent to Maitland for the purpose of being cashed, by Ham himself. This circumstance excited suspicion, as being the last person seen in company with Corrigan, a warrant was issued by the Patrick's Plains Bench, when Ham gave himself up. Nearly the whole of the witnesses for the prosecution swore that they believed from the manner in which Corrigan was found, he must have been thrown from his horse, and by that means met his death. This was the substance of the evidence for the prosecution, when Dr. Wardell rose, and contended that there was no case to send to the Jury; the foreman of the Jury also stated that his brother Jury men could collect nothing from the evidence against the prisoner, and he was discharged.

Black Creek News - 1833

The Sydney Herald Thursday 11 April 1833

MARRIED - On Good Friday, by the Rev. Dr.Laing,

Mr. William Coulson, of Black Creek, Hunter's River, to Miss M. Cameron.  

The Australian Friday 21 June 1833

The Bushrangers who robbed Mr. Harper at Winter's River, are at length captured.  Mr. Thomas Coulson, a gentleman residing on his farm at Black Creek, having received information that a dray belonging to Alcorn the publican had been robbed, he immediately sent an express to Maitland for the Mounted Police. On the arrival of three Policemen Mr. C. procured two Blacks, who with himself and one of his men set out in search of the fellows. The party had not proceeded far from the place where they were informed the dray had been robbed, when one of the Black Fellows cried out 'I smell Bull' the Black fellows took the lead, and they had not proceeded much farther when they came upon a Puncheon 'of Rum and a 36 gallon cask of Brandy, which the robbers had rolled from the dray into the bush.

The party then proceeded to the house of a suspicious character in the neighbourhood, and by divers of threats forced him to tell them where the robbers were encamped. The party went to the place described by the man, and found them sitting down and their horses grazing near the spot.  They made some show of resistance at first, but finding that they were surrounded, they threw down their arms and surrendered. They were armed with double barrelled guns, and two of them had pistols. They had saddle horses for each of them besides pack horses, and about one hundred pounds worth of property of different descriptions.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Saturday 24 August 1833

MARRIED,

On Thursday, at the Scotch Kirk, by the Rev. WILLIAM McGARVIE,

Mr. JOHN LEEDS, of Black Creek, to Miss RACHAEL AARON, of George-street, Sydney.

Black Creek News - 1831

The Sydney Monitor Wednesday 25 May 1831

THE LATE FLOOD AT HUNTER'S RIVER

To The Editor of the Sydney Monitor

Maitland,

13th May, 1831.

On Sunday the 1st instant the waters rose so fast as to cover the crops and fill the houses.

On Wednesday morning the flood was at its highest. Mr. Cox the publican's house was four feet deep on the ground-floor. Mr. Stone's was three feet deep. About a dozen of small settlers' huts have been washed away in the neighbourhood of Maitland alone. The damage done to great settlers is not so serious to them in its consequences, though considerable in itself, but scores of little settlers are ruined.

The rain penetrated a good many stacks, proving how badly they had been thatched. Mr. Coulson has lost a hundred bushels of wheat this way. The lands on the banks lately sown and the second crop of potatoes are both gone. All the stubble corn in the field' was three days under water. Mr. Campbell calculates on losing 500 bushels. This gentleman's hospitality and exertions in entertaining and relieving the' drenched traveller and the washed-out settler was most meritorious. He is a real gentleman. Mr. Yeomans also paid four men, free, to go about and pick up the settlers when the latter fired guns of distress. A cutter building by Mr. Yeomans was nearly sucked off the stocks. The native blacks say they never remember the flood so high.

Thus Mr. Monitor, your repeated prognostications are fulfilled in part. Time will show whether this flood is the first of two or three more. The old veteran soldier settlers at Maitland and the Wollombi are greatly injured. Mr. Wiseman jun. of the Inn there was very kind and hospitable; I mean exclusive of his obligations as an Innkeeper. I am a Native, Mr. Editor, and I beg to say, that Mr. Campbell was brought up in Australia; and as to Yeomans and young Wiseman they are both Natives. Mrs.Wiseman jun. is also a Native, and is esteemed as much as her husband. But Mr. Campbells one of the principal swells, and no native, his conduct has endeared him to all classes, the poor prisoner even not excluded.

Mr. Editor, I must now go to another subject. I had to pay 9s. the other day  to redeem a cow out of pound. She had committed no damage and the 9s. was merely the charge for the Gazette advertisements. The cow was worth 25s. at the present time. Thus Sir are we poor settlers made to support the Governor's paper, by the confiscation of our cattle under the name of poundage. The Impounding Act has often been described Sir by you, but its infernal effects are not half understood even by you. The Councilmen who passed it ought to be ashamed of themselves. They fit to make laws ! They are fit only to pass Acts to put down the press.

I wish you would suggest to Captain Dumaresq to build another family bridge over Black Creek. The loaded drays go through a great body of water in showery weather, and goods are spoiled annually to an amount which would build half a dozen bridges. .It is strange that when funds are made at the expense of thousands of pounds per mile to accommodate the family and other friends in their gigs and on their fine saddle horses, that a one-hundred-pound bridge cannot be built over a creek?  Why do not the Council pay attentions to things like these Mr. Editor in lieu of passing a lot of Acts such as those that decorate the Colonial Statute book?

The fact is, the Members do not understand their trade. They meet in secret, and mystery and' ignorance are displayed in all their proceedings. No wool, grain, pork, bacon, butter or cheese, beyond Maitland, can be shipped for Sydney, without crossing the Black Creek. And yet, while thousands upon thousands are expended on the road from the Hawkesbury, which can never be used for carrying produce, the Black Creek is left without a bridge for all the produce from Darlington and sixty miles-beyond to be immersed in. The curing of bacon is now much practised. The Rev. Richard Hill, Minister of St. James's, Sydney, has been up here curing a good deal of bacon, and better there is not in the country. Mr. Singleton alone crossed the Black Creek this year with a thousand bushels of wheat. And as the rains will prevail more or less the next three years, you may judge Sir of the loss in produce, and also in stores brought up from Sydney, which must ensue in rainy weather from want of a bridge. Hoping you will insert these particulars in your universally read if not universally subscribed to Journal.

I am your obedient servant,

JACK BLUNT, A NATIVE.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser THURSDAY", NOVEMBER 24, 1831.

You now start from Maitland for St. Patricks Plains. Being favoured with a fine morning, and the season of the year being between spring and summer; enjoying, moreover, the company of a lively and chatty fellow traveller, well versed in the history and topography of the districts through which you have to pass; it will be your own fault if the journey be not a pleasant one.

The road is condemned by the Surveyor General as a most bungling piece of workmanship, its line having been laid down with so stupid a disregard of scientific principles, as to bear no small resemblance to a ram's horn. But to the traveller who neither criticises by the laws of Macadam, nor is impatient to reach the end of his journey, but consults merely the comfort and recreation of the moment, it appears, in fair weather atl east, not only unexceptionable, but excellent.

Its surface is in general firm and even, seldom encumbered by steep ascents or precipitous declivities; though, as it is composed only of the native soil, which is for the most part a rich loam, in rainy seasons it must of necessity be somewhat disagreeable. You encounter two passes, however, formidable in all weathers, Black Creek and Mudie's Creek, each of considerable depth, and having steep and rugged banks, but neither of them provided with a bridge.

We crossed them, under the most favourable circumstances, and yet found them scarcely passable: what must they be after heavy rains? Not many weeks ago, a fatal accident occurred, which but too clearly proved the dangerousness of their condition. A dray, in crossing Mudie's Creek, was over-turned, and two females precipitated to the ground in the most violent manner, one of whom died of her wounds in the course of a few hours. The Executive Government conveyed to the proper quarter its desire that bridges should be forth-with erected, and the only reason we have heard assigned for non-compliance was, that the line of road was not worth mending', since it must ere long be superseded by a new one. The reason was good enough so far as applied to repairs on any large and expensive scale, but was hardly sufficient in reference to the erection of a couple of small bridges, which half a dozen men could accomplish in as many days, and the want of which endangers life and limb.

The chief officer of the road department has lately performed a tour in that part of the country, and we doubt not that when he came to see with his own eyes this serious obstruction to the King's highway, and the trifling expense at which it might he removed, his zeal for the public accommodation would lead him to take the necessary steps.  

Black Creek News - 1829

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Thursday 5 November 1829

A human skeleton, we understand, was discovered a few days ago, at a place called Black Creek, Hunter River, but no idea is as yet entertained as to who the deceased was, or how he came by his death. It may have been some unfortunate runaway who died in the bush, and of whom all traces are lost.

The Sydney Monitor Saturday 14 November 1829

At a place called Black Creek at Hunter's River, the skeleton of a man has been found; along with which, was a piece of a jacket, a leather belt, and a piece of rusty iron; enquiries have been set -on foot to discover whose these remains are.

Black Creek News - 1825

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Monday 10 October 1825

Intelligence has reached town, within the last week, of the capture of two desperate bushrangers, and the death of a third. On the 21st of last month three of these ruffians paid the quarters of Leslie Duguid, Esq. a marauding visit, and took from thence 200 weight of flour, 100 weight of  pork, 12lbs. of tea, 40Ibd. of sugar, 11lbs. of tobacco, a blunderbuss, a powder-horn with a quantity of powder and shot, a silver watch, and sundry  wearing apparel.

The fellows observed that they had associates in waiting to assist in removing the plunder. To show how the system of bushranging is maintained in that part of the Country, perhaps it is as well to state, that a correspondence is kept  up with these robbers by nearly all the Crown servants assigned to the settlers in that neighbourhood. The gentry that visited Mr. Duguid's estate directed the acting overseer to the identical spot where the watch, and other articles of value, were deposited; in fact, they said they were in want of certain articles, and issued their directions accordingly, to which prompt obedience was afforded, on pain of destructive consequences. This is one instance, selected from innumerable others, which convinces us of the facts already stated, namely, that the servants of the settlers, and the bushrangers, are engaged in one common cause.

Immediately subsequent to the robbery of Mr. Duguid's premises, several of the military were despatched

from town in quest of the gang, and at a place called the Black Creek, about eight miles from Patrick's Plains, the soldiers fell in with three armed bushrangers ; they exchanged three rounds each, when one of the bushrangers named Riley, who was sheltered behind the stump of a tree,  received the contents of a musket in the eye, and fell dead on the spot; his associates then surrendered, one of whom was reported to have his right hand dreadfully shattered, occasioned by the bursting of his piece. The bushranger that was shot, was formerly in the employ of Mr. Vickers Jacob, and constituted one of that gentleman's Irish brigade. We have every reason to believe that the measures resorted to by the patriotic settlers, conjunction with the promptitude of Government, will soon put an end to the dreadful system of bushranging in the neighbourhood of Hunter's River.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Monday 17 October 1825

The particulars regarding the recent capture of the bushrangers at Hunter's River, are represented to us by a Gentleman residing near the spot, to be as follows :-

The four men that have committed the late atrocities, viz. Reilly, Cleary, Clinch, and Price, were fallen in with at the Black Creek, by Sergeant Wilcox, and two privates of the Buffs.  Before Reilly was shot dead on the spot, three rounds were exchanged, and Price was immediately taken prisoner. Clinch and Cleary effected their escape-the latter supposed to be wounded. It has since been reported, however, that these two latter prisoners intended to surrender themselves to Mr. Scott, an active Justice of Peace, in the neighbourhood; but they were shortly afterwards apprehended by two free men, fencers on the estate of Mr. L. Duguid, and have since been forwarded to Sydney, where they are lodged in the county gaol. For the apprehension of the gang of desperadoes, the patriotic inhabitants of Hunter's River, and its vicinity, have offered a reward of 800 dollars, which no doubt, has ere this been awarded to those who so valiantly hazarded their lives.