The Wool Road

In 1831, Robert Futter of Bungonia and George Galbraith of Nerriga formed an expedition to find a path from Nerriga to Jervis Bay. The others making up the expedition were William Ryrie, James Holman—who was known as the 'Blind Traveller'—and two Aboriginal guides[18] whose names are not known.

Holman later recounted—in his book ‘A Voyage Round The World: Including Travels In Africa, Asia, Australia, America Etc. From 1827 - 1832' , published in 1834-1835 —that the route they had taken from Yerock Flat (west of Sassafras Mountain) to the coast was taken against the advice of the Aboriginal guides, who had strongly suggested following the range further to the north. Holman later recognised that had they done so they could have found a far easier route for a road to Jervis Bay[18] (such as that of the longer but less steep Turpentine Road). However, the explorers had passed through rugged and difficult country and, having reached Jervis Bay via what was apparently the shortest route, did not search for any longer but easier route.

In 1839, the owner of Yarralumla, Terence Aubrey Murray, also explored a route between Nerriga and Jervis Bay, which may have been similar to that followed by the Futter expedition.[19][20]

After at first failing to obtain government funding for such a road in 1839,[21] landholders from around Braidwood and Nerriga decided to fund and build their own road from Nerriga to Jervis Bay. The principal advocates and financial backers for the new road were John Mackenzie of Nerriga and Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson of Braidwood. Others on the committee advocating the road were landholders Terence Aubrey Murray and the Ryrie family (William Ryrie, his brother Stewart Ryrie, Junior, and their father Stewart Ryrie).[22] Wealthy and influential colonists Alexander Berry, Robert Campbell, Thomas Walker and James Macarthur were also supporters of the new road.[21]

Edward Deas Thompson—at the time the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales—was a backer of the road,[22] but also stood to benefit from its construction. He owned 2,560 acres of otherwise useless land on the western shore of Jervis Bay south of Moona Moona Creek,[23] Thompson had been attempting to dispose of this land as late as August 1839[24] but it was not suitable for agriculture. Explorer and surveyor, John Oxley, had said of the land on the western shore, in 1819, "We saw no place on which even a Cabbage might be planted with a prospect of success" and that "perhaps a more miserable sterile Country was never traversed by man".[25] However, an east-facing point—now known as Plantation Point—provided shelter from the south and a safe port—the 'Inner Harbour'—and there was enough land on which a port township could be situated.[26]

The route of the new road was surveyed by a government surveyor, James Larmer, who delivered his final report on the route in August 1840. Larmer advocated the same basic route followed by the Futter and Murray expeditions and—apparently in ignorance—dismissed any route descending to the coast further north than his surveyed line. His report reads, "In conclusion I beg to add that on so great an extent of Road less obstructions and difficulties in the formation could not be met on any other line of Road of the same extent in the Colony—and from enquiries I have made both from whites and Aboriginals and from my own observations I am fully convinced that it would be impossible to discover a more practicable line than the one now Surveyed. On the North it is a bold and continuous range but totally unfit for Drays to pass down to the Coast—and on the South numerous deep rocky gullies that are impassable."[15]

Seventy convicts were assigned to Nerriga landowner John Mackenzie, under the command of Captain John Coghill, in February 1841, and work commenced.[27] In June 1841, another fourteen men, to work on the road, arrived at the new port of South Huskisson aboard the steamer Tamar.[28] The Bulee Gap was created by blasting away a narrow neck of sandstone rock to bring the road onto the plateau of the Pigeon House Range. Blasting was also needed to create a pass for the descent through the Wandean Gap. The Wool Road covered a distance of approximately 37 miles (60 km) and it was built at an estimated cost of £997.[29] As the road neared completion, the road gang became a nuisance at the Jervis Bay end of the road; a report stated that, "Scenes of debauchery and violence are of daily occurrence, there being no magistrate or constable to control them."[30]

The road from Nerriga to Jervis Bay, The Wool Road, was completed in October 1841.[27]

In 1842, an existing primitive track linking Nerriga to Arnprior—the Ryrie family's property, in the Braidwood district, at what was then known as Kurraducbidgee, now Larbert[31][32]—was substantially upgraded, also using convict labour assigned to John Mackenzie.[29][33] Arnprior was already linked to the township of Braidwood via the road that carried traffic from that town to Bungonia—and ultimately to Sydney—which crossed the Shoalhaven River,[32] near the Arnprior homestead. The road, from Braidwood to Nerriga, was a government 'parish road', created under an act of the Governor and Council.[34] By late 1842, there was a road capable of taking wheeled traffic to Jervis Bay from Braidwood and beyond.

As the roadwork neared completion there was optimism about the future. In June 1841, it was predicted that, with the completion of the road to Kurraducbidgee (Arnprior), "at least half the wool now exported from Sydney, will in a few years be shipped at Jervis Bay"[35]

The first cargo of wool from Nerriga was carried over The Wool Road and loaded at South Huskisson in late 1841;[36] it was sent from Nerriga by John Mackenzie,[36][37] who also shipped his wheat crop using the port in 1842.[38] At first, the drays were taken to the beach and the wool bales and other cargo were carried out on small boats to a waiting ship[39] but, after a company was formed to do so—in March 1842 [40]—a wharf was built[41] during late 1842.[38] The auxiliary steamship Sophia Jane made her first trip to the port of South Huskisson in June 1841[42] and provided a monthly[43] and at times twice monthly service between the port and Sydney.[39] The barque Cygnet visited the port in December 1842 to load a cargo of wool for London.[44]

The town of South Huskisson[26] grew around the port, located on land granted in 1830 to Edward Deas Thompson.[23] A wool store capable of storing 2,000 bales of wool[45] and an inn were built. At least 200 building allotments in the private township were sold[46][47][48] during 1841, at high prices[49] on an assumption of the success of the road and port, and in anticipation of large future capital gains.[50] The total of the prices of the 100 allotments sold in June 1841 was £3,519.[49]

A 'government township' was also surveyed to the north of Moona Moona Creek, which became Huskisson.[26] Allotments were sold in Huskisson in February 1843.[51]

Five 'townships' were planned along road from Braidwood to Jervis Bay. Two of these, Larbert and Marlow, were to be between Braidwood and Nerriga; Larbert was at the Shoalhaven crossing, near the Arnprior homestead and Marlow was to be at the crossing of the Mongalowe River. The settlement to be known as 'Narriga' was to be located at the road's crossing point on the Endrick River,[52] some distance further east and at a lower elevation than the modern-day village of Nerriga. Tianjara was to be near Tianjara Falls. Farnham was to be at 'Jerrawongola' (Jerrawangala),[12][15][53][54][52][55] near Wandandian Creek,[56] after the descent to the coastal plain (in a part of the modern day Parish of Farnham).[57] In addition, it seems that reserves were envisaged at other points along the road, where the bullock teams could be rested.[15]

Sydney wool merchants and shipping interests, and businesses along the road to Sydney, were opposed to the road and the new port. Soon after the road opened, in January 1842, an anonymous report of difficulties using it appeared, which included a prediction that, "it is doubtful if ever it will be completed and when finished, a constant thoroughfare to the sea coast; inasmuch as the route is chiefly barren scrub, and badly watered."[33] A year later, in January 1843, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that, "The township, the wharf, and the road, have all still to contend against the evil reports which have been so industriously circulated respecting them by interested parties".[58] There was some factual basis for such negative views.

Geographic and economic difficulties affected The Wool Road and these, rather than the 'evil reports', caused it to fall into disuse after a relatively short time.

Bullock dray, similar to those used in the early days of The Wool Road, with the bullock team being unhitched in pairs (c.1853).

The steep descent proved a problem for the cumbersome bullock drays of the day. Although the distance was short, the slowness of the fully laden bullock drays descending the steep route led to ships being delayed at Jervis Bay and on at least one occasion leaving without taking on a cargo there. With hindsight, the route of The Wool Road via the Wandean Gap had been a poor choice; far better routes for roads over the coastal escarpment would be found later.

The truth about the road—and the country through which it ran—was very much contrary to the apparently exaggerated claims that had been made, when town allotments in South Huskisson had been sold for high prices in 1841.[50] The country atop the Pidgeon House Range was infertile land that was unsuitable to provide grazing for the bullock teams, with the exception of the natural clearing at Yerock (or Yarrock) Flat—known as 'McKenzie's Paddock'[59]—and the nearby area of volcanic soil around Sassafras. Fodder had to be carried. Water was also limited.[60] The planned villages along the route did not eventuate. The wharf at South Huskisson, although viable, was small when compared to the numerous wharves of Sydney Harbour.

The Wool Road was used for wool grown around Nerriga and Braidwood but it proved to be impractical for those places further away, like Yarralumla[61] and the Monaro beyond. As a result, some of those who had supported the building of the road, such as Terence Aubrey Murray, did not use it once it was completed. In late 1843, it was advertised that wool could be shipped to Sydney from the new port of Boydtown on Twofold Bay.[62] Although in time the port of Boydtown too would be a failure, it was in competition for wool cargoes with the port of South Huskisson,[63] and it lay much closer by land to the Monaro. The absence of wool cargoes from the outer areas meant that the volume of wool shipped via The Wool Road and its port was much less than had been expected.

In 1842, after the road was completed,Terence Aubrey Murray and others, including Major William Sandys Elrington and Captain William Oldrey, attempted to raise subscription funding for a rival private road, from Bellalaba to the port of Broulee, that was not built. Such a road would have connected the area south of Braidwood, and perhaps as far away as Queanbeyan and the Limestone Plains, to a rival seaport on the coast.[64][65]

The road needed regular maintenance work and repair, especially after wet weather, to keep it open. Money became short when New South Wales entered an economic depression in the 1840s. The causes of the depression were complex; it was probably triggered by a lengthy drought in the period 1839–1841.[66]—which reduced wool production[39]—followed by falls in the prices of wool and sheep,[67] and was exacerbated by the cessation of convict transportation in 1840—the assignment of new convicts to private service ended on 21 July 1841[66]—which created a shortage of low-cost labour,[66] at a time when landholders and business people had significant debts. In 1842, there were numerous insolvencies and in 1843 some bank failures.[67][68]

Being privately owned, the port and The Wool Road received no assistance from the government.[39] By June 1842, some of the people who had subscribed to fund the building of the road could not meet their commitments to pay costs already incurred in its construction.[69] A petition was made in October 1843 to recoup from the government a quarter of the £2400 in debts that had been incurred to build the road and quay to that date.[70] This may indicate that the backers of the road and port were already in financial difficulty.

Two main backers of the road and port, John Mackenzie of Nerriga and Dr. Thomas Wilson of Braidwood, were ruined financially as a result of the 1840s depression,[71] Wilson died in November 1843—probably by his own hand—leaving debts of £15,264 with a deficiency of £14,439,[72] colossal sums at that time. Mackenzie was bankrupt in 1849,[73] and all his land at Nerriga was sold in 1851.[74] By 1853, he was reduced to asking permission to live in a house in South Huskisson belonging to Edward Deas Thompson.[71]

It had been envisaged that wool would be exported direct to England from the port at South Huskisson[75] but the port more typically was serviced by coastal steamers. Any wool carried by these steamers needed to be transshipped for export at Sydney. Shipping operators were only interested in servicing Jervis Bay, if the trade was profitable.[46] By late 1843, some woolgrowers had found that the coastal sea freight costs were too high to justify using Jervis Bay, and were again taking their wool by bullock dray over the land route to Sydney,[76]

The first wool auction in Sydney was held by T.S. Mort in 1843[62][77] Soon afterwards, Samuel Lyons[78] and other Sydney auctioneers[79] also entered the wool auction business, and the practice rapidly became widespread. The introduction of the wool auction system—and the better prices that could be obtained—had the result of increasing the dominance of Sydney as the export port for wool, because the wool had to be sent first to Sydney to be auctioned.

The Sophia Jane was still calling at Jervis Bay in early June 1844[80] but in mid-June it went only as far as Wollongong,[81] and after that seems to have been on the run to Morpeth. Although small coastal ships still visited the port, the days of South Huskisson as a major port had ended and no more wool was loaded there after December 1843.[82]

The steep part of The Wool Road, passing through the Wandean Gap and on to Wandandian, fell into disuse and became overgrown in parts, as early as 1848.[83] In 1854, the road to Jervis Bay—The Wool Road—was described as being in a state of "total abandonment".[84]

The last portion of the road from Wandandian to South Huskisson (now Vincentia) seemed to remain in local use but only in parts, as private roads and tracks across private land.[85]

The decline of the port town was rapid. South Huskisson was described by a visitor in 1851 as a "village on a small scale". and of its buildings it was said that "some of them still stand".[86] The town allotments in the private township of South Huskisson—and the nearby 'government town' of Huskisson—essentially had become worthless, by the mid-1850s.[87] By 1867, South Huskisson was deserted[88]—any buildings were just ruins by 1885[89]—and, by the early 1930s, all that remained of 'the old township' was a solitary Norfolk Island Pine.[90]