Angus & Family – where they lived in the Illawarra

under construction

According to sources (1, 2, 3)  on the passenger list for the William Nicol of 1837, Angus McKenzie arrived without dependent children. He was allocated to T. Thompson in Wollongong. Angus’ age was given as 50 years, yet in the 1841 Census he is listed as 60 years of age at Springhill (near to Mt St Thomas) – so perhaps he dropped his age to qualify as an assisted Bounty Emigrant.

Eldest son Alexander McKenzie Snr arrived with 4 children and was also allocated to T. Thompson in Wollongong.

The list does not indicate where Alexander McKenzie Jnr nor Neil were allocated – however as each of their first Australian born children were born in the Illawarra in 1839, perhaps they were also allocated to the Illawarra. Donald MacKenzie in his “Over the Sea from Skye” stated that Alexander Jnr had also gone to T Thompson’s in 1837 and that Neil had gone to T J Hughes of MacQuarie Rivulet in the Illawarra.Also there are details for Alexander Jnr at Springhill, ie death of family members in the 1840’s.

Angus and Mary McKenzie also had at least one daughter, Mary, who had married Donald McKinnon in Scotland and that they had also sailed on the William Nicol in 1837. It seems that Donald McKinnon’s sister Flora was the first wife of Alexander McKenzie Snr who perished during childbirth of triplets in the Great Australian Bight in 1837. Further, it has been suggested that Donald McKinnon had a brother who may have emigrated to Australia at the same time.

The above-mentioned passenger list gives two Donald McKinnon’s on the Isle of Skye – one arriving with one child, the other arriving with three children. So far two children of our Donald have been identified as being born prior to arriving in Australia.

It must have been quite a voyage which took its toll on the passengers’ health, especially the children – refer UK Archives for William Nicols 1837.

Tracking down approximately where our McKenzie’s were living … and when … after their arrival in the NSW Colony has been interesting. Below is a summary of records that I have been able to piece together – still a work in progress. The information is drawn from various sources including the Illawarra Family History Group’s Illawarra Pioneer publications (input from Ted Finn), 1841 Census entries, BDM & Baptism certificates where available, NLA’s Trove digitised newspapers collections and the 1825 – 1871 Transcripts of NSW Land Titles records for the Illawarra and nearby regions prepared by Terry and Wendy Nunan. I am particularly grateful to Terry and Wendy for the huge amount of work that they have done which particularly helped with tracking the land dealings of Alexander Snr and Alexander Jnr.

It is clear that they had all moved a great deal from the 1837 arrival.

However I am yet to find the records of Alexander Snr’s earliest purchase of land in Fairy Meadow/Balgownie and of the Ellengowan Estate. Donald Mackenzie reported the 1858 purchase of part of the Balgownie Estate in his book, “Over the Sea from Skye“, but did not have any information on any earlier purchases. Yet there there is evidence of Alexander Snr being both on Ellengowan / Balgownie Estate and being the Freehold owner in earlier years …

• 1852 – birth of Alexander Snr’s son William was publicised in the Sydney newspapers as being at Ellengowan – the first newspaper mention of Alexander McKenzie Snr’s family in regard to Ellengowan – note the local newspaper, Illawarra Mercury, did not commence publication until 1855 – and there are no newspaper notices for the births of earlier children of Alexander Snr and third wife Christina – Margaret Hunter (1848), Christina Mary (1849) nor Alexina (1851) – although perhaps it was the birth of a son that was worthy of a notice in the newspapers ??
• 1854 – Alexander Snr’s purchase of land from Henry Mole Bagster of London is in NSW Land Titles.
• 1855 – Alexander Snr is listed on the electoral roll for 1855-1856 as being a Freehold landowner at Fairy Meadow
• 1856 – Alexander Snr advertised heifers for sale from his Ellengowan property
• 1857 – Alexander Snr of Ellengowan is a subscriber and committee member of the Illawarra Agricultural Society – and he offered an acre of land of his Fairy Meadow holding for the proposed school – reported in newspaper stories
• 1858 – various newspaper reports – Alexander Snr was writing letters to the  Editor and participating politically – all from his Ellengowan address, and in his brother Neil’s obituary he is described as being of Ellengowan
• 1858 – from NSW Land Titles – purchase of land in the Balgownie Estate and transfer of land to the NSW Education Department for the Fairy Meadow school.

To download an Excel version of the following table – click McKenzie’s where were they when

	Event	Angus	Alexander Snr	Alexander Jnr	Neil	Mary McKinnon
1837	Arrival in Sydney & Distribution	Angus to T Thompson Wollongong	Alexander Snr to T Thompson Wollongong	Unknown – although Don MacKenzie believed that Alexander Jnr had also gone to T Thompson of Wollongong	Unknown – although Don MacKenzie believed that Neil McKenzie had gone to T J Hughes of MacQuarie Rivulet Illawarra	Major Lockyer or Stephen ESQ St Vincent – although Don MacKenzie believed that they had gone to Stephen’s
1839	Birth			Daughter Mary Ann at Fairy Meadow	Daughter Sarah Ann at Hearne (Heron/Herne) Farm – at Keira Vale
1840	Birth					Daughter Flora at Berkeley – on Jenkins land ?
1841	Birth				Son Donald at Hearne Farm (Heron/Herne Farm at Keira Vale)
1841	Census	Spring Hill, Illawarra – leased from CC Innes – (note Don MacKenzie read CC as “LeLe “- however checking Trove suggests it is more likely “C C”)	Fairy Meadow on property of McKay	Spring Hill Illawarra – leased from CC Innes	Heron / Herne Farm on property of James Shoobert	Berkeley Estate on property of W W Jenkins
1841	For Sale		Ellengowan Estate – not yet owned by Alexander Snr			Son Angus at Charcoal
May 18 1842	Birth			Daughter Catherine at Berkeley – perhaps Berkeley Estate of Jenkins family ?
July 2 1842	Insolvency legalities			Springhill Illawarra
1843	Births			Son Angus Daughter Agnes – said to be at Spring Hill
1844	Birth				Daughter Jessie at Barkly (Berkeley Estate)
1845 – 1846	Birth  – Death					Son John at Charcoal
1846	Birth				Son Angus at Barkly (Berkeley Estate)
1846	Presbyterian Church				Neil of Berkeley contributed to paying off the debt
1847	Birth  – Death					Daughter Mary at Charcoal
1848 – 1849	Birth		daughter Christina Mary – said to be at Ellengowan Fairy Meadow		Son Alexander at Lake (Lake Illawarra on Berkeley Estate ?)	Son Charles at Berkeley part of Jenkins Berkeley Estate ?
1850	Birth			Daughter Elizabeth at Balgownie	Daughter Mary at Lake Illawarra (on Berkeley Estate?)	Daughter Mary at Charcoal
1851	Birth			Son Robert at Balgownie
1852	Birth – Death					Son John at Springhill
1852	Death					Daughter Catherine at Spring Hill Illawarra
1852	Birth		son William at Ellengowan Fairy Meadow – newspaper notice
1853	Birth				Son Hugh at Lake Illawarra (on Berkeley Estate ?)	Another Daughter Catherine at Spring Hill Illawarra
1853	Public Notice			Straying Cattle at Stanwell Park placed by Donald McKenzie of Fairy Meadow – note Alexander Snr’s son Donald may have left the area by this time ?
1854	Land Purchase / Sale		Land purchase from Henry Mole Bagster at Balgownie Estate Keera	Woonona land purchase from Campbell’s (Speering Grant) – Alexander’s abode given as Fairy Meadow at time of purchase  and also at time of sale of some land to Thomas Hale – some of Thomas Hale land on – sold to Charles Throsby Smith, Charles Fairs, Devenish Matthew Mears
1854	Birth			Son Thomas at Bulli
1855	Land Sale			Woonona sale of some land to Janet Thomas – discharge of mortgage
1855 – 1856	Electoral Rolls	No mention of Angus McKenzie in this electoral roll	Freehold near Fairy Meadow Road	Freehold near Bulli	Leasehold – Illawarra Lake	Freehold near Bulli Road – was this our Donald  ? Or the other Donald ?
1856	Birth				Son Duncan at Lake Illawarra (on Berkeley Estate ?)	Daughter Annie at The Oaks
1856	Public Notice Sale of Heifers		Alexander at Ellangowan
1857	Land Sale			Woonona land sale to Ebenezer Bourne
1857	Subscribers & Committee of Illawarra Agricultural Society		Alexander of Ellengowan on committee & a subscriber	Alexander of Bulli on Committee & a subscriber
1857	Meeting for School at Fairy Meadow		Held at Alexander Snr’s home in Fairy Meadow & he offered land for the school
1857	Bulli Road meeting			Held at Alexander Jnr’s home
1857	Land Purchase discharge of mortgage			Woonona land from Janet Thomas to Alexander Jnr
1858	Public notice – lost cow			Alexander McKenzie and John Alexander McKenzie of Bulli mentioned
1858	Bulli Road		Letter to Editor by Alexander Snr of Ellangowan
1858	Political Support Committee		Listed as being at Ellengowan	Listed as being at Bulli
1858	Neil’s death – Obituary	No mention of Angus nor wife Mary in Neil’s Obituary	Mentioned as brother to Neil living at Ellengowan in Obituary	Mentioned as brother to Neil living at Bulli in Obituary	Lake Illawarra Farm – as Dr Grover was in attendance according to obituary points to being on Berkeley Estate of Jenkins	No mention of sister of Neil in Obituary
1858	Land –  licence for Tramway			At Bulli on Bellambi Estate part of Lots 2 & 3 – nr Nth bank of crk & running ESE to SW cnr of Sarah Stoney’s 100a farm  from Alexander Jnr to Thomas Hale for 14 years
1858	Contract of land related to coal mining			From Thomas Hale to Henry Osborne – extensive lands including some from Alexander Jnr’s Bellambi Estate holding
1858	Land Purchase		Land purchase Balgownie Estate from Goulburn’s and Campbell’s
1858	Land Sale		From Balgownie Estate Keera to Dept Education
1858 – 1862	Land Sale			Woonona Land sale to John Stewart – Foreclosure on Mortgage
1858	Birth			Daughter Annie at Bulli
1859	Horse to stand for breeding			Alexander McKenzie of Bulli	Julius Martin (husband of Neil’s daughter Sarah) organised the ad but no address given
1859	Death				Probate of Neil’s estate sought by his widow Christina who was living at Lake Illawarra – On Berkeley Estate ?
1859 – 1860	Political Meetings & Committees		Alexander Snr signatory to newspaper ad	Weekly meetings on Thursdays at Alexander Jnr’s home in “Bulli” – signatory to newspaper ad – John McKenzie also on Bulli Committee
1859	Public Notices			John McKenzie of Bulli calling for debts to be paid as closing business then resuming Butchery – Alexander Snr’s son John may have left the district by 1859 ?
1860	Land Sale		Part of Balgownie Estate of Buckland grant to Robert Owen			Land at Bulli transfers between Charles McKinnon, Neil McKinnon, Norman McKinnon and Donald McKinnon – but our Donald McKinnon was at Pictin so was this the other Donald McKinnon
1860	Land Purchase		in Wollongong from William Frost
1861	Land Sale		Some land in Balgownie Estate to David Johnston and Michael Hindmarsh
1860	Death				Neil’s widow Christina at Wollongong ?
1861	Birth			Son Charles at Bulli
1861	Board and Lodgings offered		By Christina wife of Alexander Snr at Ellengowan
1862	Birth		Son Alexander John at Ellangowan – newspaper notices	Son Archibald at Bulli
1862	Meeting for National School			Alexander Jnr is part of organising committee
1862	Land Sale Transfer			From John Stewart to Thomas Hale, William Somerville, Thomas Collaery for Bulli Bellambi School of Arts
1862 – 1863	Land Sale			Some Bulli land to John Stewart on – sold to William Hemming, John Hardy,  Peter Griffin, Charles Throsby Smith, William Mills (who on-sold to Robert Owen), then on-sold to Henry Fry
1863	Birth			Daughter Christina at Taralga
1864	Land Transfers			of what had been part of Alexander Jnr’s farm between Stewart, John & Hemming, William & Hardy, John and Hewen, John
1864	Political meetings and ads		Alexander of Fairy Meadow signatory to ad			Donald McKinnon of Bulli – but our’s had moved to Picton so the Bulli Donald McKinnon is not our’s
1864	Farm for rent			Henry Fry advertising a farm for rent formerly Alexander Jnr’s
1874	Public Notice		Trepass warning by Alexander at Ellangowan
1875	Death		Alexander Snr at Ellengowan
1894	Dairy Health Notice		Alexander (Snr’s son?) at Ellengowan
1896	Council notice		Thomas Farrell has purchased Ellengowan recently