Spencer Hawkesbury River History in Spencer, New South Wales | Sport & recreation

Spencer Hawkesbury River History

Locality: Spencer, New South Wales

Phone: +61 404 418 288

Address: Wisemans Ferry Road 2775 Spencer, NSW, Australia

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22.01.2022 Grace Karkens book - The People of the River has been published! Historian Grace Karskens has been working with a team of researchers to uncover the 'Lost worlds of early Australia' and along the way discovered a long list of Aboriginal names associated with the Hawkesbury River - over 170 of them. Local experts, Darug researchers, Hawkesbury historians and archaeologists have contributed to this bigger story reconnecting the name list to living Aboriginal knowledge through deep exploration of the languages, ecology, geography and material evidence of the Hawkesbury River. Quoting Grace Karkens: 'Such words remind us of something obvious, and profound: if Aboriginal people are to be at the centre of this story, we need to look beyond European history and landscapes, beyond European knowledge and ways of thinking'.

20.01.2022 The Hawkesbury River Mail Boat and Shop, a fore runner to todays Riverboat Postman?. Shown here in 1938 at Brooklyn, I would guess the boat would have been very... important in the days when rowing boats were the norm. Todays Postman doesn't carry the selection of goods but still delivers goods and services for residents on the river. ACP SLNSW See more

15.01.2022 Stories of Dyarubbin project....sometime in the future

14.01.2022 Interview with Richard Glover

07.01.2022 Les Boeck & Stan Dunn in front Spencer Store 1970 with 37lb fish caught by Les

01.01.2022 THROWBACK THURSDAY | In 1816 Solomon Wiseman settled at what was then called Lower Portland Head, and now is Wisemans Ferry. Only nine years earlier, Wiseman ha...d been convicted of stealing timber from barges on the Thames, and was transported to New South Wales. His wife Jane and their young family accompanied him. An astute and wily businessman, he managed to have himself assigned to Jane, and while still a convict he began to carve out a business empire mostly shipping timber along the coast. He also had inns in Sydney and on the Hawkesbury. In 1827 he obtained a lucrative contract to supply provisions to the convict road gangs working in the area. At the same time the Great North Road was under construction and Wiseman was granted a seven year lease to operate the ferry to transport people and stock across the Hawkesbury River. He was allowed to charge fees to all private passengers and goods but he had to carry government men and supplies free. This he did grudgingly and over the years there were many complaints about the quality of the service he gave to people on government business. Finally, in 1832, the government bought the ferry service for 267 and put in their own ferryman. The ferry crossing at Wisemans is the oldest in Australia, having operated continuously since 1827. For more historic pictures, documents and stories from Hornsby Shire check out http://www.hornsbyshirerecollects.com.au