As early as 1869, a rail platform had been built on the old Neale grant under the name Macquarie Fields Station. This was in tribute to the huge Macquarie Field property that lay to the north. But the year 1881 saw part of this property subdivided to become the new village of Macquarie Fields. Confusion resulted and it was decided to find another name for the platform. So in August 1883, a new name of Ingleburn Station became official, called after the nearby house. And when a village later evolved around this site, it adopted the station’s name. Simple.
But this neat conclusion becomes complicated if research by the late Genevieve Tregear is taken into account. Before her death in 1995, this well-known Ingleburnian compiled a history of her home town.
Her research took her to the historical section of the NSW Railways Department, where she found evidence that a Mr Goodchap, Commissioner of the Railways in 1883, had renamed the platform Ingleburn “after an English town”.
Mrs Tregear wrote to English authorities, but no trace of a town called Ingleburn could be found – not even in Kent, where Goodchap hailed from. “It’s all a bit of a mystery,” she concluded.
Whatever the case, the nucleus of Ingleburn township was born in 1885 when a large slice of land west of Bunbury-Curran Creek was purchased by an auctioneer and developer from Sydney call FitzStubbs, who resold in small portions. And with the residential subdivision came a host of new streets and names.
Ingleburn Road noted, of course, the old house and platform name. Most other streets honoured English localities and counties such as Chester Road, Cumberland Road, Cambridge Street, Oxford Road, Suffolk Street, Carlisle Street and Norfolk Street. Even Raglan Avenue, Belford Street, Salford Street and Phoenix Avenue were probably named under this theme as there are towns called Raglan, Belford, Salford and Phoenix Green in England.
Macquarie Road noted the early Governor of NSW, while Redfern Street recalled Dr William Redfern, the owner of Campbellfield estate, from which a part of the township was subdivided (see Minto).
Unfortunately, no records have survived to explain why many of the other early streets got their titles. The exact motive behind Nardoo Street, Flint Street, Euroka Street, Carinda Street and Drumalbyn Street can only be guessed at. Jaclyn Street no doubt honours the Jaclyn Park property of the Wells family.
The Duke of Wellington, one of England’s greatest military heroes, is almost certainly the target of Wellington Avenue, while Ivanhoe Street may recall the classic novel by Sir Walter Scott. Sackville Street is another old thoroughfare, although where the name came from is uncertain. (It is interesting to note that some 1920s newspapers referred to it as “Sagville Street”.)
Many of the remaining roads in the old town subdivisions appear to list Christian names – Gordon, James, Albert, Brenda, Rupert, Aubrey and Lionel. Whether they were early subdividers or family names remains to be discovered.
But the theme seems to have been a popular choice. An early rural subdivision a kilometre from the railway station called The Glen estate created Percy Street and Gertrude Road. It was described by agents as “a beautiful romantic spot suitable for country residence, fruit or vine growing, or poultry” within the “rapidly improving district of Ingleburn”. Lyndia Street was later formed nearby as well.
New families began arriving and new homes to house then were built. Within only a few years a thriving village had evolved and Ingleburn Public School opened in 1887, followed by a post office in 1889. William Collins was the first postmaster and storekeeper. He and his well-known family were later honoured by the naming of Collins promenade.
Ingleburn’s most impressive home was Milton Park Homestead. This was built in 1882 for hotelier David Warby. By 1909 it was owned by Thomas Hilder, manager of the silver mines at Yerranderie in the Burragorang Valley. Later this century it fell into disrepair and the owner, Campbelltown Council, demolished it in 1992 after being unable to secure a financial offer for the building.
“Campbelltown’s Streets and Suburbs – How and why they got their names” written by Jeff McGill, Verlie Fowler and Keith Richardson, 1995, published by Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society.
Reproduced with permission of the authors.
