Dalgety – a local history study

Step 2 – Find a map

Next I looked at some parish maps to ascertain the names of some early land holders in the town and the surrounding area. By the end of this process I had established a brief history of the town, I had the name of the first surveyor and some names of early settler families.

Village and land owned by Richard Barnes, August 1881. NRS 13870 Map 45938

Step 3 – Search our online sources then visit in person to view the records

I now started to look for other archive records. I started by searching our catalogue and online indexes using Dalgety as the search term.

I then continued drilling further into the online Indexes using the surveyor’s name and the other family names I had discovered in my first general search using Dalgety. This provided me with more maps, school files, hall files and records relating to business, mining, Conditional Purchase, probate and deceased estate, insolvency and files on Dalgety as a possible Federal site.

After searching the available online sources visit the reading room to view the records.

The facts and figures discovered

A brief history of Dalgety

Dalgety is a small village situated on the banks of the Snowy River near Cooma, in southern New South Wales. The location was a river crossing on the Stock Route between Gippsland in Victoria and the Snowy Mountains High Country.

The settlement was originally known as ‘Buckleys Crossing’ after Edward Buckley who had a farm nearby in the early 1830s. Later, it was also known as ‘Barnes Crossing’ after Richard Barnes who settled in the area in 1848. It was Surveyor JR Campbell who laid out the town in 1874 and named it Dalgety, the maiden name of his wife.

When Campbell laid out the village its population was 23. The town was supported by a farming community and some gold miners. The population was largely Catholic and a Catholic school was opened in 1874. Dalgety was once considered as a possible site for the new Federal capital. Today Dalgety is the only remaining town on the Snowy River in NSW and has a population of 75.

Establishment of village

My research led to the first official survey of the Buckley’s Crossing site and the establishment of the village of Dalgety. The records include:

Instructions from the Surveyor General to Surveyor RJ Campbell for laying out the village. The design needed to include a reserve for the Police station and a Punt Reserve.
Sketch of proposed village layout by Surveyor RJ Campbell, 1873
Letter by Surveyor Campbell, 1874 – reasons for choosing the Punt Reserve as the site
Letter by Surveyor Campbell, 1874 (cont.)
Recommending site for village, 1880
Official notification of the establishment of Dalgety (Government Gazette) laying out the boundaries
Government Gazette declaration of the reserve at Dalgety
Tracing showing allotment for sale.

1873 memo to RJ Campbell with instructions for a village layout at Buckleys Crossing. A reserve for the Police station and a Punt Reserve had to be included. Campbell returned his sketch to the Surveyor General in Sep. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195

Sketch by Surveyor Campbell is his proposed layout for the village at Buckleys Crossing. It includes the Punt Reserve of 50 acres (red) as the proposed site. The police paddock (green) is set out along the Snowy River. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195

Page 2 of a letter dated Sep 1874 that may have accompanied the sketch. Campbell sets out his reasons for choosing the Punt Reserve as the site for the future village of Dalgety ie the only safe ford across the river. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195

Page 3 of Campbell's letter re using Punt Reserve as the village site, stating a Post Office and public house already exist plus the stock route. He notes Barnes' alienation of land making it hard to site the village elsewhere. NRS 8258 10-35517 93-10195

This is the recommendation that 58 acres be set aside for the establishment of Dalgety, dated 17 September 1880. NRS 8258 10-35519 letter 93-10195

Official notification of the establishment of the village at Dalgety as published in the NSW Govt Gazette in Oct 1880. It lays out the official boundaries for the village. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195 copy of entry from Govt Gazette

This is a copy of the declaration of the reserve at Dalgety, which includes the former Punt Reserve (that had been notified in 1867). This was published in the NSW Govt Gazette. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195

Tracing showing allotments for sale, no date. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195

Village Buildings

Featured here are some of the famous landmarks of Dalgety:

Dalgety Memorial Hall and the Imperial Hall, built by JH Quill in 1889 (later the Dalgety Post Office).Both would have hosted a number of community events
Police Station built in 1876 – the first public building in Dalgety
A number of hotels in the village.

Dalgety Memorial Hall, built in 1952, opposite Buckleys Crossing Hotel. Photo taken by Suzanne Upton, August 3, 2009

This letter, by Constable MacKellar, outlines a number of films shown at the Imperial Hall in Dalgety. The Licensee of the hall, Catherine Anslow, also appears as the publican over the road at Buckleys Crossing Hotel in the mid-1920s. NRS 15318-1-T115

Closure of the Imperial Hall, 1954. This is the official notification that dated May 1954. NRS15318-1-T115

Dalgety Police Station and Court House. Photo taken by Suzanne Upton, August 2009

This sketch from May 1874 differs from the earlier sketch above. The Police Paddocks have been moved from right on the river to further up in the township at their current location. NRS 8258 10-35517 letter 93-10195

Buckleys Crossing Hotel was built in 1889 by JH Quill. Photo taken by Suzanne Upton, August 2009

There was another hotel in Dalgety, the Horse and Jockey. This entry from the NSW Government Gazette from August 14 1889 lists Richard Barnes as the publican. Later publicans include John Hayes (1895) and John Keating (1896). NSW Govt Gazette Aug 1889

Publican's license card for the Imperial Hotel (Buckleys Crossing Hotel) lists Jerome Quill, Joseph Parker, Catherine Anslow and Arthur Rolfe as the licensees from 1926-1936. Quill built the hotel in 1889. NRS 9521 3-7884

School records

School records contain the correspondence between individual schools and the Department of Education. They can sometimes contain information about teachers and students. The records shown here are:

Inventory for Buckleys Crossing School, 1878
Inventory for Buckleys Crossing School, 1878 (cont.)
Map showing public school site, 1881
Plan for Dalgety school
Photo of Dalgety schoolhouse, 1940s
Plan for classroom, for up to 50 pupils
Application for a school, listing parents and school-age children
Dalgety school students, c.1900 (no names listed)

Inventory submitted by school teacher Mary Barnes, co-signed by husband, Richard Barnes and Rueben Rose, School Board members in 1878. Buckleys Crossing School operated variously between 1877-1889 when the Dalgety school opened. NRS 3829 5-15140.4

Page 2 of the inventory shows the types of resources available to students and teachers in a small country school such as lesson books for Scripture, English and General lessons, maps, slates, slate pensilc, pens, ink and chalk. NRS 3829 5-15140.4

This is one section on a large sheet of sketchs showing the plan of Dalgety School. This sketch shows the west elevation for the school house and bares a strong resemblance to the photo from NRS 15051. NRS 3829 5-15640

This photo of Dalgety School c.1940 is a mirror image of the coloured sketch. Digital ID 15051_a047_003739

This sketch shows the proposed layout for the classroom at Dalgety School. It can accommodate up to 50 pupils. NRS 3829 5-15640

Extracted from an application for a public school at Dalgety. It includes a list of parents and school age children who would be attending the new school. NRS 3829 5-15640

Dalgety School Students, c.1900. Digital ID 15051_a047_003740

Colonial Secretary records

The Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence can provide a wealth of information about many aspects of Colonial life.

Page 1 of a petition to the Colonial Secretary NRS 905 1-2231 letter 73-7867 for the mitigation of the gaol sentence of Thomas Toser, previously convicted of stealing a bullock from Timothy O'Mara in 1873. Three pages of signatures include Dalgety

This is from the third page of signatures on a petiton about Thomas Toser. It includes Richard Barnes of Long Corner, Buckleys Crossing (half way down page). Nicholas Hoffman and George Rolfe have also signed the petition. NRS 905 1-2231 letter 73-7867

Land Records

Land records can provide lots of details about the early settlers of a township and the surrounding districts. The records below are:

Land Lease, Jimenbuen – Government Gazette 1848 for Amos Crisp Jnr
Depasturing license, 1845 for Amos Crisp Snr (allowed settlers to graze stock “beyond the limits of location”)
Condition Purchase, 1873 for Richard Barnes (large landholder and businessman)

Searching land records

This can be a time consuming and sometime futile endeavour. I started this research with a letter number (74/48) and notation of a tracing sent to the Surveyor General by Surveyor JR Campbell on 31 May 1874 (from Map 2653 Village of Dalgety, 1874).

In 1856 when Responsible Government was introduced into NSW, the Surveyor General’s Dept came under the ministerial control of the Secretary of Lands. In 1867 the clerical branches of the Lands Dept and the Surveyor General’s Dept were amalgamated so that the correspondence formerly dealt twith by the Surveyor General’s Dept was now dealt with by the Ministerial, Miscellaneous, Roads and Alienation Branches of the Lands Department. Therefore, I had four sets of correspondence to search for letter 74/48.

I began my search with the Index and Letter registers for all four branches and searched for the letter number and the date as a cross check. I had no luck in the Roads and Alienation Branch but did locate other references to Campbell in the Ministerial Branch Index, including his monthly report for May 1874. On further checking though, the report was found to have been “destroyed under vide min 05/263”. I continued onto the Miscellaneous Branch and once again could not locate letter 74/48 but I did find other references to Campbell and Buckleys Crossing/Dalgety. I then followed the letter numbers through to the Correspondence Registers until I reached the ‘put away’ stage. I now had four letter numbers but found only three letters. Eventually in one of the letters I did find a tracing of Dalgety from 1874.

You could say that perseverence won in the end!

View land letter search as a flowchart (PDF, 40kb)

Lease in a list of Claims to Leases of Crown Lands beyond the Settled Districts, 1848. Amos Crisp Jnr and his father, Amos Crisp, appear in several records re Dalgety. This lease shows a large run that backs onto the Snowy River. Govt Gazette, 1848, No 38

A depasturing licences permitted settlers to graze stock on Crown Lands "beyond the limits of location". This licence, from 1845 is for Amos Crisp Senior on the Jimen Buen run. NRS 14363 4-106 No 920

Early maps show the land around Dalgety was owned by Richard Barnes who came to the district in 1848. His ran the general store, operated the punt and was a publican. He donated land for the local Catholic church to be built. NRS 8109 7-2756 CP 73-12606

Village personalities

While many of the records on this page illustrate how the town of Dalgety developed over the years it is the more personal records, such as the ones below, that can give an indication of how the people in the township may have lived their lives.

Quill and Wellsmore, General Storekeepers

Entry from the Register of Firms

This entry from the Register of Firms shows the details for Quill & Wellsmore, who ran a general store in the village. Jerome Quill has already popped up in a number of other business records throughout this page. NRS 12961 2-8537 p.558

William Freebody – insolvency

Declaration of insolvency of William Freebody, the ferryman in Dalgety. After many years, Freebody finally sold some land at Cooma to pay back his debts.

This is the declaration of insolvency of William Freebody, the ferryman in Dalgety, made in January 1884. It appears that it took William several years to pay back his debt. NRS 13654 2-10040 No 18493

Although William Freebody was officially sequestrated in 1884 this is the final payment of debts in 1904. After many years, Freebody finally sold some land at Cooma to pay back his debts. NRS 13654 2-10040 No 18493

James McMahon – deceased estate

At the time of his death McMahon had over 400 acres of conditionally purchased land. From this list you can see the livestock and farming implements used. He had a four bedroom slab hut on his farm, the furniture is described below as “very old and dilapidated”

James McMahon died 9 Dec 1904. A glimpse of farming life can be seen in his Deceased Estate file. He had over 400 acres of conditionally purchased land. This list shows the livestock and farming implements. NRS 13340 20-258 Duty Paid 18-3-1905

Page 2 of James McMahon's belongings. He had a 4 bedroom slab hut on his farm which is described in other papers as being in a bad condition. The furniture is described below as 'very old and dilapidated'. NRS 13340 20-258 Duty Paid 18-3-1905

Receipt from James McMahon's deceased estate. An outstanding bill from the Dalgety Federal Smithy NRS 13340 20-258 Duty Paid 18-3-1905

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