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All history can seem romantic if well told. The early days of Coolongolook are as romantic as any with pioneers who are, or who deserve to be, legendary. Famous names like those of James Cook, Matthew Flinders, John Oxley and George Evans are associated with this area; the first two on the sea and the other two on land expeditions. They explored and mapped the coastline and then the major landforms of the area.
After these trail-blazers came the timber-cutters in the early 1800s. They explored and pioneered along the coastal fringe and the coastal rivers looking for timber, especially Red Cedar. These 'gentlemen' were as romantic as you could wish; the first cedar getters were convicts who worked in gangs close to Sydney. Later there were independent crews who worked for long periods in isolation, often only in pairs, acquiring a reputation for toughness, roughness, hard drinking (when they did return to 'civilization') and also generosity. They were really 'rough diamonds' who protected their own. The development of the cedar industry provided history of the opening up of this part of the North Coast: –
Their licenses entitled the cutters to take
certain amounts of cedar, to build huts for shelter, but not to cultivate the
land, as the governor of the day wanted to restrict the spread of settlement.
These rough pioneers took, then moved on.
In 1824, the Australian Agricultural Company (AA Company) was formed in England. A Grant of land was made to the company, taking in all the land between Port Stevens in the south, to the Manning River in the north, from the coast in the east to a line close to where Gloucester stands today. In 1826, Henry Dangar made a survey of the land in the Grant, and in 1828 the map was published. A.A.Company ships sailed up the rivers in the 1830s investigating for navigable passages. The Wallamba, Wang Wauk and Coolongolook Rivers were, in later years, used extensively for the movement of the area's products and bringing in supplies. Farming was tried by the A.A. Company, concentrating mainly on sheep, but much of the area was found to be unsuitable. Finally the coastal fringe, including Coolongolook, was excluded from the Grant and returned to Crown control in the 1840s.
True settlers followed in a few years. At Coolongolook these included George Worth, Thomas Bennett and James Batchelor who settled there in the 1860s. Family names of other early settlers include Platts, Kennedy, Fenning, Kearns, French, McDean, Bunt, Wilson and on the other side of the river John Booth, the Kennedys and John Mills made selections and settled. Many of these names live on today. Cureeki saw the names of Paulson, Ireland, French, Worth, Bell and Tagg while Willina saw the Avery, Murray, Tagg, Worth, Toms and Griffis families as early settlers.
VILLAGE OF COOLONGOLOOK PROCLAIMED (1891) A.F. Hall completed the survey of Collongolook on 30 September 1890. The village included reserves for a Public School, Police Station, Hall, Recreation Ground and numerous streets and building sites which have not filled their destiny. The village was officially proclaimed in September 1891 and gradually took over from the village of Teleraree as the centre of local population.
VILLAGE OF TELERAREE PROCLAIMED (1885) Teleraree was a village which stood on the banks of Cureeki Creek. It was originally to have been named Cureeki but the name Teleraree was adopted. The village survey was completed in 1879 and the proclamation made on 20 March 1885. Reserves for a School, Police Station and Post Office were allowed for, as well as other public facilities. Tonnos Paulson and A.F. Ireland were early landholders there. Other family names associated with Teleraree were Stewart, Donaldson, Robinson, Carlson, Beecham, Braxie, Nihill, Gifford, Lang, Sales, Lulham, Thomas, Schooler among others.
Teleraree grew and flourished because of gold. When the gold began to dwindle and diggings became less commercial, the village began to decline. Of the fifty dwellings, bakery, store, two-storied hotel and mine machinery which once stood there, there is now virtually nothing. Gold is said to have been discovered by the three Worth brothers; George, John and William, who were sons of George, Snr, (mentioned earlier). Donald McCrae of Buladhelah opened a mine proper in 1878 or 79 and installed a crusher. Before long there were many miners, and of course, quite a few accidents. There was apparently only one fatality, when a miner was killed by a fall of rock.
After Coolongolook outgrew Teleraree and gold was becoming a less important product locally, timber and agriculture came to the fore. John Booth was engaged in timber early in the piece, John Donaldson built a mill about 1885 and other small mills were soon to be established. Log punts and flat-bottomed boats called droghers took logs, pit-sawn timber and later mill-sawn timber and agricultural products to Tuncurry by river for loading and transportation to Newcastle and Sydney.
Postal facilities have been provided in Coolongolook in an unofficial capacity for just over a hundred years, with the office situated in private homes around the village. Earlier services were provided through a mail contractor who followed a route from the Myall River to Clarkson's Crossing (the old name for Nabiac) via Bunyah Station. In January 1878, the first Post Office was established at Coolongolook. This was sited in the old hotel which stood near the banks of the creek at Cureeki and the old Bulahdelah Road (the building being now Geoff Morris – (in 1980s)). Mrs. James Willis ran an office from the small house opposite the hall (now the McDonald home) then Austin Worth was in charge from a house next to the Church of England (Jack Kelly's house). Aub Thompson, followed by Tom Dooker, ran the office from the old store opposite Dan Platts' home (the site is now Joan Rawson's Golden Fleece Station ). Tom Dooker built and moved into the other shop (now Don Fraser's Mobil Station) and took the Post Office with him. Tom Raftery, Ian Hamilton, 'Bert' Burgoyne and Don Fraser acted as Postmasters until finally the office was moved again, in 1976 this time to its present position in Dan Platts' home, being under the charge of the present Postmaster, Mr. Gordon Fenning.
The pioneer families sought to have a church in each village. When a proper church was not to be had, they held services in private homes or community halls. At Coolongolook services were held in the Worth's home originally. On 8 November 1904, Bishop Stanton of Newcastle consecrated St. Luke's Church at Coolongolook. F. Munro, D. Platts, W.T. Batchelor, H.T. Thompson and H. French were church Office Bearers. The following ministers have been in charge of the Wallamba Parish: -
The Parish was once part of Port Stephens, then part of Wingham. In 1903, it was called the Parish of Wallamba/Myall. The Rectory once stood near the church in Nabiac. In 1922, another building was acquired opposite the church. In 1979, a new Rectory was established in Tuncurry.
The cemetery at Coolongolook was dedicated on 14 October 1892. The earliest burials are said to have been those of William Munro, Frederick Bennett and Edward Eastbrook. Gravestones record the names of the following: -
It is thought the first school in Coolongolook was established sometime in the 1870s and was sited opposite the Kennedy's farm. The building was make-shift and teachers by the names of Jeffries and then John Moylan taught there. After the 1880 Act, when education became compulsory, the people of Coolongolook made an application for the establishment of a Public School. The application was presented in 1882 and approved by the new Department in 1883. A building was erected and opened in 1884 with an enrolment of thirty six children. Numbers stayed between thirty and fifty until around 1935, when increases necessitated the appointment of an assistant teacher. Overcrowding caused the Department to decide to erect a new building with two rooms. This was opened in 1941. In the 1950s a bus service was introduced to take pupils to high school classes at Bulahdelah and with these children the numbers began to fall. The school was relegated to a one teacher school in 1958. Further building work was completed in 1973 with the erection of a brick septic toilet block. Lowering of class sizes by the Education Department allowed for the appointment of a second teacher again in 1976 and the school has remained a two teacher schools till 1980 when it is to be reclassified as a third class school and a Principal will be appointed to take the place of the Teacher in Charge. Head Teachers have been: -
Assistant Teachers have included: -
Sewing teachers have included the wives of some teachers plus Miss Beryl/Mrs Ede and since 1976 Mrs. Neryl Gordon. Teacher George Platt, had both his first and his last years in education at Coolongolook School. He was enrolled as a pupil, then later, after becoming a teacher, returned as Head Teacher prior to his retirement.
Two hotels have operated in Coolongolook; the earlier one near Cureeki Creek being run by James Fenning, then George Worth; the latter being sited in the middle of Coolongolook and run by Steven Worth. The hotel ceased operation some time around 1910. At Teleraree, John Donaldson and then son Stuart, operated the imposing two storied hotel which saw more gold than any of the small operators or mine workers ever had the chance of seeing.
Avery, Batchelor, Bell, Bennett, Booth, Bunt, Fenning, French, Griffis, Ireland, Kearns, Kennedy, McDean, Mills, Murray, Paulson, Platt, Tagg, Toms, Wilson and Worth.
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