THE famous Henry Lawson poem The Roaring Days is displayed prominently on a wooden panel outside the main homestead of Mulgunnia Station at Trunkey Creek – and it is easy to see why.
The former sheep station, about 60 kilometres south-west of Bathurst, evokes the very essence of a traditional Australian property.
It features one of the oldest authentic colonial homesteads in Australia, with one building dating as far back as the 1820s, and indeed, the term ‘roaring days’ is apt at describing what life must have been like on Mulgunnia Station in those “days of gold”.
The property is currently owned by Wendy Savill, who purchased it in 2005 after the homestead had undergone an extensive restoration by its previous owner, James Lindsay, earning the property a National Trust Heritage award.
And like Mr Lindsay, it is the history of the property which Mrs Savill has taken a keen interest in, consulting with a descendant of the original family Noel Gunness, a great-great-grandson of one of the property’s earliest owners, Elizabeth Smith, who lived on Mulgunnia Station in the early 1800s.
Mr Gunness said the first owner of “Mulgunnia” was Thomas Arkell who was originally from Gloucestershire in England and thought to have served in the Royal Navy.
Arkell arrived in Australia in 1804.
He had received early land grants east of the mountains, including 100 acres at Richmond.
In the 1820s, Arkell moved west over the mountains where he was appointed the principal overseer of government stock.
Following the decision of the Bigg Commission to open up land to large pastoralists instead of small settlers Arkell resigned from his post and went hunting for such land, Mr Gunness said.
In 1825, Governor Brisbane gave Arkell a special warrant to pursue 1000ac (405 hectares), and he established his head station, “Charlton”, on the Campbells River near Rockley.
By 1829, Arkell had established two other stock stations, one of which was the 640ac (260ha) grant at Trunkey Creek, which came to be known as “Mulgunnia”, the property today covering 252ha (622ac).
At its peak in the 1860s and 1870s, Trunkey Creek had a population of 5000 and – a good indication of the thriving nature of the area – five hotels.
Concentrating on properties west of the mountains, Arkell sold his property at Richmond, and also at Bargo, and consolidated his holdings; by 1840 Arkell had land totalling 7491ac (3030ha).
The property’s most impressive feature is undoubtedly the homestead, actually three separate buildings built at different stages and now connected by an enclosed, covered courtyard.
The original slab cottage is thought to date from the 1820s, while the main portion of the homestead was constructed in 1857.
Thomas Arkell died in 1848 and his adopted daughter Elizabeth Smith inherited Mulgunnia Station.
Elizabeth and her husband Samuel Smith had 13 children, with the property passed down to another generation of Smiths until 1967 when it was sold to Francis Dowsett, ending about 140 years of Arkell-Smith family ownership.
Throughout the Arkell-Smith ownership the property had been predominantly operated as a sheep station, and was also the scene of bushranger visits with Ben Hall’s gang said to have passed through the area.
Another visitor thought to have visited the station was the Reverend James Adam, a Presbyterian minister known as “The Apostle of the Saddle”.
One story, (whether it is fact or fiction is unknown) recounts a visit in the early 1860s when he was attacked by members of the Ben Hall gang near the station, though the attack did not go as planned for the bushrangers; instead of the gang running away with the loot, Rev Adam conducted a roadside service with the gang’s hats off and their heads bowed in shame.
And the good reverend was able to keep his gold watch.
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