Drawing of John from unknown newspaper By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. JOHN Aplitt (Aplett) was born at Castlereagh in April 1852. His father and grandfather were born at Castlereagh on the Nepean River. When his father died at Penrith in 1860, his mother remarried and the […]

Photo Courtesy of Christmas Warehouse Penrith By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. AS early as 1892 the Penrith Superior Public School was being written about in the Nepean Times with a cadet parade under the charge of Lieutenant Milne, headed by the Cadet Drum and Fife Band […]

Regentville Tweed Factory taken from a postcard courtesy of “The Past Present” website By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. IN 1835 Sir John Jamison bought a modified steam engine for irrigation and the four-storey mill that he built on his property “Regentville.” In 1839 he wrote to […]

St Marys Post Office courtesy of National Archives By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. IN January 1884 James Richard Woodland known as “Japonica” wrote in the Nepean Times saying how he longed to see the old faces and their kindly looks again. He  had revisited St Marys […]

Photo of William courtesy of Holroyd Council website By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. IN 1928 William Freame was an avid historian who organised history walks to interesting places. He wrote about a very interesting walk from Doonside to St Marys commenting that Doonside was the first […]

Bennett’s Wharf Nepean River – courtesy of Penrith Library By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. IT is true that the closeness of water and the absence of not being able to swim, does over the years, take its toll on people at our local rivers and creeks. […]

Photo from an unknown local newspaper A History page a while back was about the Railway Institute in Penrith and the various uses it enjoyed. Since then, I came across a newspaper article I had kept that had a connection to the building over 40 years ago. The review was by Lindsay Fisher. “Penrith’s Railway […]

William Fleming courtesy of the Jones Family By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. IN May 1885 a public meeting was held in the Protestant Hall at St Marys to consider the advisability of a petition to the Government in favour of Incorporation. About 200 people were present, […]

By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. THOMAS David Beyer (Jnr) was an Anglican clergyman and Air Force Chaplain who was born in March 1906 at Lakes Entrance in Victoria. The son of Thomas David Beyer (Snr) and his wife Victoria Ruth (Dunk). His father was a well-known […]