Paterson, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Paterson is a small township in the lower Hunter Valley
of New South Wales
, Australia
. Located within Dungog Shire
it is situated on the Paterson River
. At the 2006 census
, Paterson had a population of 345 people. It is in the middle of what was once dairy, timber and citrus country and is now more significantly a feeder town for the nearby mining industry in the Upper Hunter and the city of Newcastle
.
It is approximately 15 minutes drive north along either Tocal or Paterson Roads from the nearest major township of Maitland
. The Paterson railway station
lies on the main North Coast Railway Line
between Sydney
and Brisbane
with daily services north to Dungog
and south-east to Newcastle.
Adjoining areas include Duns Creek
, Martins Creek
and Vacy
.
named in his honour.
As with so many colonial settlements, timbercutters, after local supplies of red cedar, followed in the footsteps of the explorers and surveyors. Indeed, the Paterson River was then known as the Cedar Arm due to the abundance of timber.
in 1822-23, was the true genesis of rural settlement outside of the Sydney basin. It grew to eight farms along the river by 1818, six of them belonging to convicts. This fledgling farming community subsisted under the oversight of the locality's military station and lock-up established at the river's crossing point. Commandant Morrisett established (c.1818) the first Magistrate's Court above Newcastle in his Commandant's Cottage that he constructed at Old Banks on the farm of Pell (d.1815).
However, from the early 1820s, the prominence of Old Banks as the Government's primary frontier seat of Government, and the 'original' Paterson, waned as a consequence of the establishment (from c.1818) and prolific growth of the Government's rural settlement and township at Wallis Plains (now East Maitland
) ten kilometres to the south. With the construction of an overland route direct to north-western Sydney in 1823, Wallis Plains became centre of the Lower Hunter Valley's connections with Sydney and the penal settlement at Newcastle. Even so, the miltary outpost at Old Banks (along with a similar facility 14 kilometres to the east at Seaham on the Williams River) continued to provided for the interception of escaped convicts from Port Macquarie, the imposition of law and order for the Paterson region and the oversight of a most important centre for transportation of goods, chattels and people.
The first land grant in the area was made to Captain William Dunn in 1821 on land a few kilometres to the north of Old Banks. In 1822, when the area was formally opened up to settlement, James Webber established "Tocal" on his land grant immediately to the north-east of Swan's farm; Tocal to become among the most successful of the farming establishments on the lower Paterson River. In 1823, Morrisett's Government Cottage and associated infrastructure was made available to Timothy Nowlan as the base for his Government-sponsored sheep breeding 'experiment', and family home. A one-mile square area situated to the west of the river at Old Banks (and about 800m distant from the river and to the south of Tocal) was identified as a possible township by the early 1830s. However this was not developed in favour of the present township site.
and hence a Presbyterian Church preceded an Anglican establishment. Indeed St Ann's, built in the late 1830s, is said to be the oldest Presbyterian Church on mainland Australia. The river trade began to decline in the 1850s as the road to Maitland improved. Timber mills were established by the 1870s. In its heyday Paterson had four stores, five hotels, two shipyards, a sawmill, a tannery, four blacksmiths, two butchers, a bakery and a boarding school for girls. Shipbuilding also commenced with the development of the river trade and considerable supplies of tobacco were grown, as well as grains, grapes, wine, citrus fruits and cotton were transported by steamboats to Morpeth, Newcastle and Sydney.
By the time the railway arrived in 1911 the long-term decline of river transportation had taken its toll. With ironic symbolism the railway line passed directly over the wharf and a mishap during the construction of the railway bridge in 1909 sunk one of the local boats, the Anna Maria, which had been contracted to carry the BHP
made girders. The boat was salvaged but was nearly destroyed again when a spark from a steam train set it ablaze. The last steam boats visited the area in the 1930s.
Throughout the 20th century agriculture has been the major source of local income. Citrus production was particularly strong at the turn of the century, with an estimated 30,000 cases being handled at the port each year.
During March Paterson holds an annual festival at Tucker Park, with market stalls and local produce. The nearby Tocal Agricultural College holds a small farms Field Days on the first weekend in May, showcasing the college and local agricultural interests.
Hunter Valley
The Hunter Region, more commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney with an approximate population of 645,395 people. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within of the coast, with 55% of the entire...
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Located within Dungog Shire
Dungog Shire
Dungog Shire is a Local Government Area in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated in the Barrington Tops region and consists predominantly of very rugged to hilly country which becomes less rugged from north to south.- Incomes :...
it is situated on the Paterson River
Paterson River
The Paterson River, a tributary of the Hunter River, is a significant river in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Its headwaters are in the Barrington Tops National Park and it flows to join the Hunter River between Hinton and Morpeth...
. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Paterson had a population of 345 people. It is in the middle of what was once dairy, timber and citrus country and is now more significantly a feeder town for the nearby mining industry in the Upper Hunter and the city of Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
.
It is approximately 15 minutes drive north along either Tocal or Paterson Roads from the nearest major township of Maitland
Maitland, New South Wales
Maitland is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle...
. The Paterson railway station
Paterson railway station, New South Wales
-Neighbouring stations:- References :...
lies on the main North Coast Railway Line
North Coast railway line, New South Wales
The North Coast Line is the primary rail route in the Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers regions of New South Wales, and forms a major part of the Sydney-Brisbane rail corridor....
between Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
with daily services north to Dungog
Dungog, New South Wales
Dungog is a country town on the Williams River in the upper Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Located in the middle of dairy and timber country, it is the centre of the Dungog Shire Local Government Area and at the 2006 census it had a population of 2,102 people. The area includes the...
and south-east to Newcastle.
Adjoining areas include Duns Creek
Duns Creek, New South Wales
Duns Creek is a rural residential suburb in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, located near the historic village of Paterson in the north-western corner of the Port Stephens Council Local Government Area....
, Martins Creek
Martins Creek, New South Wales
Martins Creek is a small country town located between Dungog and Maitland in the Hunter ValleyThe town is centered on Cory Street, which snakes its way through the centre of the town....
and Vacy
Vacy, New South Wales
Vacy is a rural locality of the Dungog Shire Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated between Gresford and Paterson, the village of Vacy was founded in the 1820s as a private town by John Cory, the owner of a large land grant. Vacy began to prosper in the...
.
History
The area was once occupied by the Gringgai clan of the Wanaruah Aboriginal people. The first known European in the area was the man whose name the town was to adopt, Colonel William Paterson, who, in 1801, surveyed the area beside the river that Governor KingPhilip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
named in his honour.
As with so many colonial settlements, timbercutters, after local supplies of red cedar, followed in the footsteps of the explorers and surveyors. Indeed, the Paterson River was then known as the Cedar Arm due to the abundance of timber.
Early settlement of Patersons Plains
In 1812/13, three convicts (Swan, Pell and Davis) and John Tucker were permitted by Governor Macquarie to commence farming on the "Patersons Plains" at a location that came to be known as "Old Banks", provided they supplied the Government with 500 cedar logs. Old Banks, in an area first surveyed by Henry DangarHenry Dangar
Henry Dangar was a surveyor and explorer of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He became a successful pastoralist and businessman, and also served as a magistrate and politician...
in 1822-23, was the true genesis of rural settlement outside of the Sydney basin. It grew to eight farms along the river by 1818, six of them belonging to convicts. This fledgling farming community subsisted under the oversight of the locality's military station and lock-up established at the river's crossing point. Commandant Morrisett established (c.1818) the first Magistrate's Court above Newcastle in his Commandant's Cottage that he constructed at Old Banks on the farm of Pell (d.1815).
However, from the early 1820s, the prominence of Old Banks as the Government's primary frontier seat of Government, and the 'original' Paterson, waned as a consequence of the establishment (from c.1818) and prolific growth of the Government's rural settlement and township at Wallis Plains (now East Maitland
East Maitland, New South Wales
East Maitland is a suburb in the City of Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. It is on the New England Highway and it has two stations, Victoria Street station and East Maitland station , on CityRail's Hunter line.It is also home to a major commercial district called Greenhills, which includes...
) ten kilometres to the south. With the construction of an overland route direct to north-western Sydney in 1823, Wallis Plains became centre of the Lower Hunter Valley's connections with Sydney and the penal settlement at Newcastle. Even so, the miltary outpost at Old Banks (along with a similar facility 14 kilometres to the east at Seaham on the Williams River) continued to provided for the interception of escaped convicts from Port Macquarie, the imposition of law and order for the Paterson region and the oversight of a most important centre for transportation of goods, chattels and people.
The first land grant in the area was made to Captain William Dunn in 1821 on land a few kilometres to the north of Old Banks. In 1822, when the area was formally opened up to settlement, James Webber established "Tocal" on his land grant immediately to the north-east of Swan's farm; Tocal to become among the most successful of the farming establishments on the lower Paterson River. In 1823, Morrisett's Government Cottage and associated infrastructure was made available to Timothy Nowlan as the base for his Government-sponsored sheep breeding 'experiment', and family home. A one-mile square area situated to the west of the river at Old Banks (and about 800m distant from the river and to the south of Tocal) was identified as a possible township by the early 1830s. However this was not developed in favour of the present township site.
Present township of Paterson
The present township of Paterson, situated six kilometres to the north of the original military station at Old Banks, was the third to be surveyed in the Hunter Valley after Newcastle and Maitland, but was not proclaimed until 1833. With the continuing settlement of the district, Paterson soon became an important tidal river port and service centre to the surrounding community. Many early settlers were ScotsScottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
and hence a Presbyterian Church preceded an Anglican establishment. Indeed St Ann's, built in the late 1830s, is said to be the oldest Presbyterian Church on mainland Australia. The river trade began to decline in the 1850s as the road to Maitland improved. Timber mills were established by the 1870s. In its heyday Paterson had four stores, five hotels, two shipyards, a sawmill, a tannery, four blacksmiths, two butchers, a bakery and a boarding school for girls. Shipbuilding also commenced with the development of the river trade and considerable supplies of tobacco were grown, as well as grains, grapes, wine, citrus fruits and cotton were transported by steamboats to Morpeth, Newcastle and Sydney.
By the time the railway arrived in 1911 the long-term decline of river transportation had taken its toll. With ironic symbolism the railway line passed directly over the wharf and a mishap during the construction of the railway bridge in 1909 sunk one of the local boats, the Anna Maria, which had been contracted to carry the BHP
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
made girders. The boat was salvaged but was nearly destroyed again when a spark from a steam train set it ablaze. The last steam boats visited the area in the 1930s.
Throughout the 20th century agriculture has been the major source of local income. Citrus production was particularly strong at the turn of the century, with an estimated 30,000 cases being handled at the port each year.
Present day Paterson
There is an active historical society that maintains sites of historical importance in the area. The society has a museum collection in the Paterson Court House that is open once a week. The area is also serviced by Paterson Public School, and the local newsletter The Paterson "Psst".During March Paterson holds an annual festival at Tucker Park, with market stalls and local produce. The nearby Tocal Agricultural College holds a small farms Field Days on the first weekend in May, showcasing the college and local agricultural interests.
Notable identities
- BushrangerBushrangerBushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
Captain ThunderboltCaptain ThunderboltFrederick Wordsworth Ward was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushranger" and his lengthy survival, being the longest roaming bushranger in Australian history.-Early years:Frederick Ward was the son of convict...
's wife, Mary Ann BuggMary Ann BuggMary Ann Bugg was one of two notable female bushrangers in mid 19th century Australia.-Early years:Mary Ann Bugg was born at the Berrico outstation near Gloucester in New South Wales, Australia...
(one of two known women bushrangers), was tried at the Paterson Court House during the 1860s. - John Nowlan - NSW Parliamentarian (1866-1874), son of Timothy Nowlan.
- The poet Dorothea MackellarDorothea MackellarIsobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar, OBE was an Australian poet and fiction writer.The only daughter of noted physician and parliamentarian Sir Charles Mackellar, she was born in Sydney in 1885...
spent some time during her teenage years at a nearby property.