Peter Clark Memorial

Featured Image:

The Monument to Peter Clark who was held up and shot by a bushranger; a photograph of Peter Clark’s memorial on Warland’s Range

Note: Near the junction with White Street and Old North Road Blandford there is a signpost for Clarks Monument. The monument is approximately 2.5 kilometres down this road.

Old North Road, Warland Range, Blandford, 2338

GPS Coordinates: Lat: -31.793219 Long: 150.902508

Sadly the monument has been desecrated to some extent by vandals. I even recognise some of the names carved into the sandstone! However it is built to last and will surely endure for at least another 160 years!

Front Inscription

To the memory of the late Mr Peter Clark who was shot by Wilson the Bushranger near this spot on 9th April 1863.

This monument erected by public subscription in honor of the brave deceased who lost his life while endeavouring to affect the capture of that notorious offender.

Prologue

On Friday afternoon 29^th June 2018 my good mate Bill Greer III took Bill Moses and me on an ‘educational excursion’ to his home village of ‘Blandford’. First stop was Kevin Taylor’s fabulous workshop on the ‘back road’. I first met Kevin in 1968 when he worked for Greg Lougher at ‘Cloverleaf Quarter Horse Stud’. Kevin is a multi-skilled bushman of the first order. He has a passion for restoring old horse drawn carriages. It’s a ferocious appetite he shares with Bill Greer. Kevin has exquisite skills and his renovated carriages are legendary. I have never ever seen a more orderly or scrupulously clean shed. It’s superbly appointed with all Kevin’s blacksmithing and leatherwork tools of trade.

Bill then took us along the ‘back road’ where we found the Monument to Peter Clark. This is actually the original ‘Great North Road’. Bill remembers his parents driving along this route heading for Scone and regularly passing the totem tribute to Peter Clarke. Bill’s story was that Peter Clark had ‘cleaned out’ bushranger Harry Wilson at a poker game in his grandfather’s pub in Blandford. Wilson decided to take retribution and recover his losses. Meanwhile troopers from Murrurundi had been alerted about Bushranger Wilson’s whereabouts. They arrive at the Greer pub too late to apprehend and arrest him but followed his trail. There are scenes redolent of Steve McQueen and the ‘Cincinnati Kid’; but this conflict took place 100 years before! Read on!

Continue reading →

This is a tribute to one of the best mates a bloke ever had. As usual ‘I’ve plundered plagiarized and purloined whenever possible’; in this case from Nic Ashman’s insightful article in the Daily Telegraph on May 12, 2016. It captures the ‘essential Pat’ much better than I could ever have done.

I’d also like to include Pat’s late brother Frank (aka ‘Fag’) who was an enormous support to his younger brother and an equally top bloke. The humour is all there. In addition to the eight (8) premierships Pat won he started over 1000 horses covering years of racing at White Park, Scone; many during my years as Club President 1978 – 1984. There  were some ‘hairy’ tales; but Mum’s the word!

I’ve just realised I’ve ‘sandwiched’ Pat between two bushrangers on my website blog! I promise this was an unintended Freudian error. You can believe it; or not?

Pat Farrell was inducted into the Newcastle & Hunter Racing Hall of Fame on Tuesday 18 May 2021.

See: HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES 2021 – Newcastle Racecourse

Veteran Muswellbrook trainer Pat Farrell eyes big-race success at Scone with tough filly Alart

Acknowledge: Nic Ashman, The Daily Telegraph

May 12, 2016 8:17pm

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/superracing/veteran-muswellbrook-trainer-pat-farrell-eyes-bigrace-success-at-scone-with-tough-filly-alart/news-story/a3a9d4758fdc883131a6199a0e0d86aa

HE’S been training for more than 50 years and popular horseman Pat Farrell says he knows when he’ll stop.

As the Muswellbrook trainer prepares to win his fifth stakes race with tough filly Alart in Saturday’s Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes (1100m) at Scone, he reflects on a career that will only end when it has to.

Continue reading →

Professor Coroneo Awarded an AO

Acknowledgement: Ben Murphy 30 2016 – 5:44PM & The Scone Advocate

https://www.sconeadvocate.com.au/story/3696597/professor-coroneo-awarded-an-ao/

Featured Image:

DEDICATED: Professor Minas Coroneo received an AO for his distinguished service to ophthalmology.

Authors Note:

I have tried to record for posterity outstanding achievements by past and present Scone residents in all fields of endeavour. Elsewhere I have written about the Coroneo family of Scone. By any standard Professor Minas Coroneo rates amongst the highest. I am indebted to my good friend journalist Ben Murphy for this tribute in the ‘Scone Advocate’.  My only regret is I am very late with this citation!

Continue reading →

John Kenneth Mackay

Featured Image: John Kenneth Mackay Snr (father of J K Mackay Jnr see below) who died in 1909

In the footsteps of the Dangar, Bowman, White, Dumaresq and other pastoralist pioneers followed the Mackay brothers in the latter half of the 19^th century. John Kenneth, George, Duncan Forbes and Charles all made a highly significant impact on the social fabric of the Hunter Valley and left an enduring family legacy over the ensuing one hundred years. Their tentacles spread much further afield throughout Eastern Australia specifically Queensland.

Continue reading →

John Kenneth ‘Ken’ Mackay MBE

Featured Image: Scone ‘A’: Winners of the Countess of Dudley Cup, 1969. A. W. Bragg, J. K. Mackay, J. C. Gilder (Captain), A. R. Munro

This was arguably the prelude to a grand finale of a long and distinguished career in polo by Ken Mackay. He had won a record number of six (6) Dudley Cup Championships with this win. He won again in 1974 playing in the same Scone team with his son Jaime. The first five (5) wins were with “Wirragulla” in 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1954.

During his time at the RAS of NSW Ken Mackay was a great mentor to team mate Arthur Bragg AO who led the RAS of NSW as President for the relocation from Moore Park to Sydney Olympic Park in 1997 – 1998. At the invitation of Alex Braid Ken Mackay chaired the very first formal meeting of the Australian Stock Horse Society at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1971. The name ‘Mackay’ is indelibly imprinted for posterity at Sydney Olympic Park. The principal set of horse stables is the ‘Mackay Pavilion’. The main arena is acknowledged as the ‘J. K. Mackay Showground Arena’.

Continue reading →

New England Highway bypass of Scone

See: https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/new-england-highway/scone-rail-level-crossing/index.html

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/hunter/new-england-highway/scone-rail-level-crossing/index.html

See: https://www.sconeadvocate.com.au/story/6262740/its-an-advertisement-for-the-town-says-mayor/?cs=1533&fbclid=IwAR312JMGmQBsK86pmXdxczMSLKWgpeBt2-w1XElEave3pPqLfTOWwNAaSC0

Updates and announcements

The contract to build the New England Highway bypass of Scone has been awarded to Daracon Group.

The Australian and NSW governments have committed $120 million for construction of this major upgrade to the New England Highway.

Work is expected to start mid-2018 and be completed by late 2020, weather permitting.

We will keep the community and road users informed of progress including any changes to traffic throughout the construction period.

Project background

The New England Highway south of Scone carries 8,400 vehicles a day, peaking in town at 14,000. Around 8,000 vehicles use the Kelly Street crossing every day, including 1,200 heavy vehicles.

There is a poor crash history on this four kilometre section of highway, with 26 crashes in the five years to December 2015.

Continue reading →

Australian Stock Horse Journal Bicentennial Edition 1988

Featured Image: Australian Stock Horse Journal Bicentennial Edition Front Cover April/May 1899

David Dial riding his Australian Stockhorse PARKWAY RENEE

It doesn’t really seem all that long ago? John Green was ASHS Chairman and Mike Rushbrook was Executive Manager and Managing Editor. The contents included some fascinating vignettes on ‘The Waler’, ‘Quarter Horse Influence’, ‘Nat Buchanan’, ‘Rivoli Ray’, ‘Abbey’, ‘History of the Australian Stockhorse’, ‘Nabinabah Breezette’, ‘Rannock’ and many others.

Continue reading →

SCONE BYPASS HISTORICAL HERITAGE ASSESSMENT November 2015 Pages 90 – 94

See also VIRTUS HERITAGE BYPASS STUDY

See: http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/projects/hunter/new-england-highway/scone-rail-level-crossing/scone-bypass-ref-appendix-i.pdf

This study should imbue some confidence into the community as we are about to embark on the construction of the new Scone Bypass? The following is a summary of the management recommendations identified by consultants Virus Heritage.

It’s intriguing to speculate that the proposed Scone Bypass (about to begin) will be constructed along a ‘green space corridor’. Impact on heritage will be minimal. Conversely an in-town overpass would inevitably cause ‘destruction-by-construction’ of valued built heritage and infrastructure?

Continue reading →

Cricket @ Thornthwaite c. 1855

Featured Image: Cricket @ ‘Thornthwaite’ c. 1855

Joseph Docker was an enthusiastic early photographer. This was the very newest technology available at the time. The cricket match he captured was in progress at his homestead paddock at ‘Thornthwaite’ just to the west of the emerging Scone town. It may have been staged for the camera as a ‘still’; but no matter. It’s widely reputed to one of if not the first photograph of a cricket contest anywhere in the world? It is celebrated each year with a ‘period’ costume match each year in the same location.

See also: Biography – Joseph Docker – Australian Dictionary of Biography (anu.edu.au)

See also: Joseph Docker – Wikipedia

Railway Resumption Plan Scone 1868

Featured Image: Railway Resumption Plan Scone 1868 for Scone

The railway eventually arrived in Scone in 1871 and was opened by the then Governor of NSW the Earl of Belmore. The railway actually ‘bisected’ the 230 acres of land purchased by Mathew Barber Miller from William Dumaresq in 1856. This must have caused him some consternation although he was on the organising committee. He even celebrated the arrival of the railway by naming his house ‘Belmore House’ (now ‘Geraldton’) in honour of the visit by the Governor. Similarly the surrounds were known as Belmore Estate and Belmore Heights. The single story Railway Hotel constructed by Mathew Miller was renamed the Belmore Hotel which title it retains to this day.

The dismay and trepidation aroused in 1868 – 1971 must be similar to those sentiments experienced as we approach the construction of the Scone Bypass in 2018!