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“CROOBYAR AND MURRAMARANG.
“Alexander Macleay, a man of high scientific attainments, who was born in Count Ross, Scotland, arrived in Sydney as Colonial Secretary to the Government of New South Wales in 1825, and died, as the result of a carriage accident at Government House gates, on 19th July, 1848, in his 81st year. He established the settlement at Croobyar in 1828, and in December of that year, Surveyor Hoddle noted in his field-book (No. 296, p. 4) the presence of huts forming the homestead.
“The Croobyar Estate was purchased by Mr. David Warden in September, 1849. Croobyar is regarded as a native name, and a local blackfellow (Tommy Cooley) used to say that in the forest land to the south of the homestead ‘possums were very plentiful, and that their noise or call was something like a rapid, guttural repetition of the word ‘cooroo,’ hence the spot became known to the blacks by some such name as Croobyar, the place of the ‘possum.
“In regard to Murramarang, the Lands Department records give the following information :- ‘Portion 105, Parish Termeil, 1920 acres, ‘Mount Edgecombe,’ being the land promised to William Gurney Morris, which he was authorised to take possession of on 13th January, 1829, as a Primary Grant. Being also the land inserted as No. 104 in the Government notice of 29th August, 1836, in favour of the said Sydney Stephen, at the request of the promisee. Date of order 10th October, 1828.’
“Morris and Stephen established their headquarters on the north and south sides respectively of the clear or limpid lagoon mentioned by Surveyor Florance, and positions occupied by some of the buildings and yards can be traced at the present day.
“It would seem, therefore, that closely following the arrival of Mr. Kendall, the Croobyar and Murramarang estates were founded, probably in the order named, though the exact date of the commencement of settlement in either case cannot be stated. All, however, were subsequent to the formation of the settlement at Buckenbowra.
“In a few years other settlers began to establish themselves, among them being Mr. Robert Garrad, who left many descendants, his daughter Elizabeth, who was born in December, 1830, and, as Mrs. William Cork, became the mother of a family, and who is still living (1916), being the first white baby born in the Ulladulla district, while her brother, John Garrad, is understood to have been the first white boy born in the locality. On the 9th November, 1841, the day King Edward VII was born, the Woodstock Estate, of 2,560 acres, Parish of Ulladulla, formerly known as by the native name of Woolomolan, was obtained from the Crown by William Hood Wason, after whom John Booth named a street in Milton when he established the village in 1859. In September, 1863, the northern portion of the estate containing the homestead, was purchased by William Walter Ewin.”
Cambage, R.H., Captain Cook’s Pigeon House and Early South Coast Explorers, Samuel Lee, Sydney, 1911. pp. 23-24.
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