By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc.

THE first inhabitants were the Dharug aboriginal people. Fourteen tribes or “mobs” made up this language group and the people who inhabited both sides of South Creek were known as the Gomerrigal-Tongarra clan and they called the Penrith area “Mooroo Murak”. They lived in open camp sites along the creeks in simple gunyahs that were constructed from three leaning poles lashed together at the top and covered on two sides with bark. Until the 1840’s aborigines still lived in the Penrith area as they were listed in the Penrith returns as the “South Creek Tribe”. They had a habit of smearing mud on their skin to protect them from the effects of both weather and insects. In winter they wore animal skins to keep warm. Very little is known of their cultural and ceremonial life. According to researcher and writer James L Kohen the Gomerrigal-Tongarra clan had rights to the ridges at Plumpton and the gravels of Eastern Creek. From these areas they used red silcrete rocks to make sharp flakes which were then fashioned into tools or used as barbs on spears. The establishment of farms forced the Dharug off their land. They could no longer move freely across their country according to the seasons, visit their traditional campsites or access the full range of traditional food especially along the waterways that was the land most valued by the settlers. Violent clashes occurred as the Dharug tried to resist the takeover of their land. The McLaurin family who lived at Mamre said that the bodies of the dead were not buried but wrapped in bark and placed on platforms elevated in the branches of trees. Emily McLaurin described a meeting place on South Creek at Mamre at a point where the Creek takes in a small stream from the west and the right bank reaches into the creek in a narrow finger. It is thought that despite the arrival of the Reverend Samuel Marsden in 1804 ceremonies continued to be held at the spot for some time. By 1816 however the Gomerrigal-Tongarra people together with the rest of the Dharug clans had been ravaged either by clashes with the settlers or by contracting European diseases. They became increasingly dependent on the settlers for their survival. Although they had always maintained a camp on or around the Mamre estate, Samuel Marsden sought to encourage them to work in exchange for food and clothing. He was obviously successful in this endeavour. Today there are many descendants of the Dharug tribe still living in the district. In 1835 the Quaker missionary James Backhouse wrote in his journal after a visit to Mamre that “the South Creek Natives may be considered as half-domesticated and they often assisted in the agricultural operations of the settlers.” After sales of some early land grants in the South Creek area, homesteads and small farms began to spring up along the road then known as the Western Road. This road crossed a creek known as the “Wianamatta’’ by the local aborigines and “South Creek” by the white settlers so it is not surprising that the village of St Marys was originally known as South Creek. The early crossing of this creek was by a shallow area that was impassable when under flood conditions that occurred frequently. As this was the only route over the mountains to the west it became quite a busy road and in 1860 a wooden bridge was constructed but was flooded and washed away.  Further building of wooden bridges over the creek also had the same problem until the construction of the bridge now standing. A journey in those days from Sydney to Bathurst took 15 days by horse-drawn coach so it was natural that South Creek’s early development centered on the traveler. Many a thirsty traveler found several licensed inns around the district with names such as The Oddfellows Arms, (known later as the Commercial), The Fitzroy Inn, The Royal Exchange, The Harp of Erin, The Cottage of Content, The Traveler’s Rest, The Sir Maurice O’Connell, The Green Linnet, The Strangers Home, The Mud Hut, The Woolpack Inn and The Shanes Park Inn. After a meeting in 1885 the members of the community changed the name of South Creek to St Marys after the St Mary Magdalene Church on the hill.  Before the change there were several names for this area such as “the road” “but my personal favorite is “The Crick”. Slowly industries such as wood cutting and shingle splitting later required sawmills that gained momentum. One of the main industries was tanning because of the wood bark available within the district. One of the largest was situated in Saddington Street and belonged to St Marys Master Tanner Andrew Thompson, also in Saddington Street was the Saddington tannery, followed closely by Martin Brell’s tannery on the Western Road at Werrington.  James Bennett established his Wagon Works in St Marys where the famous heavy horse drawn wagons were later carried on by his sons moving to Queen Street, having two separate wagon works. With the rush to goldfields like Hill End and Sofala some of the men of the town tried their luck, but after having no luck they returned and the town prospered by the trade on the western road passing through the town where they could buy what they needed on the way to the gold fields. The railway arrived in 1862 giving these industries, along with cattle sales and timber mills a chance to move their products outside the district. The drawing shows a group of Aboriginal people standing around a fire at South Creek by James Wallis courtesy of the State Library of NSW. James was a Soldier who was in Australian between 1814 and 1819. He arrived in 1814 on the same ship as convict artist Joseph Lycett and worked with him on views of the colony. In 1816 he led the regiment responsible for the Appin Massacre. From later in 1816 he served as the commandant of Newcastle.

Sources: Nepean Times Saturday 12 October 1889, Trove.