Lismore

Lismore station covered an area of some 23,000 acres and was originally taken up by Captain Dumaresq in 1843. The run was originally stocked with sheep herded down from New England by one Scott of Glendon. Ward Stephens took up the run on their behalf in 1843, however the subtropical climate was totally unsuited to sheep grazing and consequently stock losses due to fluke, footrot, catarrh and other diseases led to the abandonment of the run.

In January 1845, William and Jane Wilson took over the run and named it Lismore after a small island in Loch Linnhe in the Scottish highlands. The Wilsons were born near Aberdeen in Scotland and arrived in the NSW colony in May 1833. The Wilsons set sail from Sydney for the Richmond River arriving in Ballina in February 1844. Twelve months later the Wilsons had settled in Lismore and built a house at the far northern corner of the run to the east of the junction of Leycester and Wilsons Creeks.

A second house was built in 1851 near the corner of present Ballina and Molesworth Streets and became known as ‘Lismore House’. Unfortunately, both homesteads no longer exist.

In 1855 surveyor Frederick Peppercorne was instructed by the Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell to determine a suitable site for a township at the confluence of the Wilson and Richmond Rivers. The site chosen by Peppercorne was Wilson’s homestead paddock and this site was proclaimed the Town of Lismore in the Government Gazette on 1 May 1856. At the same time Wilson was able to secure freehold land at Monaltrie and Invercauld (part of the Lismore run) by using his pre-emptive rights. Mrs Francis Girard bought out the interests of Wilson’s cattle station in 1863 including Lismore House.

Mrs Girard took up occupation of the pastoral lease with her two sons Francis Napolean and Alfred Michael Girard.

With the passing of the Robertson Land Acts in 1861, the Lismore Station with its fertile land and river frontage became a prime target for land-hungry selectors. The land grab reduced the size of the Lismore run by half and, coupled with personal disaster and recurring devastating floods, the Girards were forced to abandon their pastoral operations in 1873.

Tunstall run

In 1843 Augustus Adolphus Leycester and his partner Robert Shaw took up the pastoral lease over their run which they called Tunstall. The two partners previously held a run on the Severn River, New England, and arrived overland with their cattle stock via Woodenbong-Urbenville.

The Tunstall lease was described in the New South Wales Government Gazette as follows:

“…Estimated area: 19,200 acres. Estimated grazing capabilities: 1200 cattle. Bounded on the north by a creek known by the name Duck Creek (now Leycester Creek) which divides it from the stations of Messers Fawcett and Lord; on the south by a pine range which divides it from Mr Clark Irving’s station; on the east by a creek running into the north arm of the Richmond River (now Wilsons River), dividing it from Mr Ward Stephens’ Heifer Station known by the name of Virginia Water; on the east by the north arm dividing it from Mr Wilson’s station known by the name Lismore; and on the west by a ridge or spur running from the pine range into the Duck Creek (now Back Creek) on Mr Stephens’ side of a large plain fronting Mr Lord’s station Ellerby.”

In 1847 a protracted law suit commenced between Leycester and Shaw and their neighbour Ward Stephens of Runnymede over a land claim for a large plain between the two runs. The plain became known as Disputed Plain. In the same year Shaw left Tunstall, forcing Leycester to buy out his share, and these costs coupled with the large debts associated with the legal action forced Leycester to finally sell his interests in Tunstall to Henry Garrard in 1849. Leycester remained on as manager of Tunstall until 1850 when he left Australia for the California gold fields.

Garrard used his pre-emptive rights to purchase some 320 acres of Tunstall which he named Twickenham. The property’s homestead was built on the present sight of the Lismore railway station and directly opposite Lismore House on the western bank of the Wilsons River.

Virginia run

The Virginia pastoral lease was taken up by Ward Stephens of Runnymede. The station later became known as Heifer Station and was used as a breeder run for Runnymede.

Ellerby run

The original pastoral lease known as Ellerby was taken out in 1842 by John Lord.

Lord pastured sheep on the run, but as elsewhere in the Richmond valley, the subtropical climate was totally unsuitable. The lease was subsequently taken over by Atkinson and Mackellar and became an outstation of Runnymede.

Blakebrook run

Irving Clark took out the lease on Blakebrook Run in 1848.

In 1856 Mary Garrard acquired 201 acres of Blakebrook and, with her husband Henry, renamed it Booerie and commenced building on the property. John Goodfellow acquired land around the Rosehill and Nimbin areas and subsequently in 1858 sold these holdings to Edward Flood.

The sawyers

Unlike the first squatters in the Richmond valley, the early cedar cutters arrived by sea via the Richmond River. First sawyers arrived at the mouth of the Richmond River in December 1842, the first white men to cross the river bar since Captain Rous in 1828. The arrival of Steve King and others in the schooner Sally heralded the beginning of the cedar cutting industry on the Richmond River with the first cedar being cut at Coraki.

As soon as word reached other cedar cutters working on the Clarence River they travelled as fast as they could to cash in on the abundance and quality of the region’s cedar. The cedar cutters required a licence, costing $8 per year, to fell trees on unallocated Crown land. However, the licence only gave them the right to cut and export timber and not to settle nor build permanent homes on the land. Consequently, the sawyers and their families were forced to live in temporary camps. Larger camps were established at Bexhill (formerly Bald Hill) and Gundurimba.

Initially the cedar was felled adjoining the river and as the river flooded the owner-marked logs were floated downstream towards the first sawmill located at Shaw’s Bay, Ballina. As the timber close to the river was exhausted, the sawyers were forced to move further up river towards Kyogle and deeper into more inaccessible country called the Big Scrub. The clearing of timber in these areas created land for pastoralists and brought the introduction of bullock teams to transport the logs overland to the new and prospering sawmills located at Wyrallah, Coraki and Lismore.

In the second half of the 19th century the primary industries of the Richmond valley and the Lismore region in particular continued to be cattle grazing and timber. These primary industries supported a growing economy and population and the development of secondary industries including ship building, transportation, saw milling, tallow manufacturing and other associated business.

The last 50 years of the 19th century evidenced the rapid commercial expansion of Lismore and its development into the regional centre for the far north coast area of NSW. The population grew unabated from a mere 93 in 1871 to 4542 by the year 1901, the year of Australian Federation.

This frontier period of the town’s development was heralded by some enterprising cedar getters who established stores in the front part of their huts to provide the basic necessities for the other sawyers, particularly those working around Bald Hill (now Bexhill). These basic provisions included sugar, flour and tea, and some clothing, which was shipped from Sydney on the return leg of the timber trade.

With the passing in 1861 of the Robertson Land Act, much of the land around Lismore was opened up for free selection. The same land that was unsuitable for running cattle because of the dense forest (the Big Scrub) was now eagerly taken up by free settlers who undertook subsistence farming. Agriculture included sugar, maize, corn and the pasturing of the first dairy cattle.

The original selection, survey and naming of many of the streets which now form the central business district of Lismore was undertaken by licensed government surveyor Peppercorne. With ocean-going ships being able to navigate as far as the confluence of Leycester and Wilsons Creeks, Lismore became the natural crossroads for transportation in the region. By 1875 the first bank had been established, the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, and was followed in May the next year by the opening of the first newspaper. The Northern Star and Richmond and Tweed River Advocate was first published by William Kelleway and survives today as The Northern Star.

In 1879 Lismore was incorporated as a municipality with James Stocks, a chemist, elected as first Mayor and William James Harman appointed as Town Clerk. Council set about developing the basic infrastructure needed to support its growing population, including drainage and the provision of kerosene lamps on street posts. By 1879 there were at least three schools in Lismore: the public school, a commercial school for boys and a day school for young ladies. In 1880 the government wharf was built just south of Leycester Creek on the southern bank of the Wilsons River. By the next year the population had increased tenfold.

1883 saw the opening of the Lismore Hospital and the expansion of other government services including police, mail and land administration along with regular church services and the ever-growing commercial enterprises. A devastating fire of 1883 saw many of the pioneer businesses within the central town area destroyed, including the properties of James Stocks, Glasgow, Drew, Trattens and others as well as two private residences.

Much fanfare accompanied the second opening of Fawcetts Bridge in 1884. A disappointing turnout for the first opening led Council to hold a second opening and the declaration of a public holiday to fully commemorate the event. That year also saw the opening of the Winsome Hotel just north of the bridge. The following year, the bridge over Leycester Creek (Colemans Bridge) was completed and finally north, south and east Lismore were connected. The government-run punt, which previously supplied a somewhat irregular service, was discontinued. This decade also saw the opening of the first Council Chambers in 1887 and the introduction by the Council in 1888 of gas lamps to replace the existing kerosene street lighting.

By 1891 Lismore had a population of 2925, with much of its economy based on the flourishing dairy industry and the expanding of dairy cooperatives throughout the region. The district was also ravaged by numerous floods and in the last half of the decade was caught in the jaws of drought, which did not break until the second year of the new century. In 1894 the railway was extended to the Tweed, but still no connection had been built to the main Sydney line passing through Tenterfield some 160Km to the west of Lismore. By the end of the 19th century Lismore boasted a population of over 4500, a new post office (completed in 1898), a proud involvement in the Boer War in Southern Africa and an overwhelming vote for Federation and the formation of the new Commonwealth of Australia.

Source

Read more about Lismore’s history from 1879 to 1929


River Towns