The history of Braidwood, New South Wales in Australia dates back to the early nineteenth century. The historic nature of the town has been recognised with the listing of the entire town on the former Register of the National Estate on 21 October 1980 and the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 3 April 2006.

History

Early European settlement 1822–1839

Exploration

Europeans first entered the upper Shoalhaven River basin in 1822 under instruction from the new Governor, Thomas Brisbane, to investigate the possibility of a track between the Limestone Plains and Batemans Bay. The reports of good country would have stimulated land selection in the area.

Land

The system of land grants available in the 1820s were attractive to settlers. A free grant of 640 acres of land (one square mile) was given to a selector for every £500 of money or stock held, with a limit of 2000 acres, shortly afterwards increased to 2560 (four square miles). Captain Duncan Mackellar, one of the earliest settlers in the area, was granted 2000 acres in 1822 with which he selected the property "Strathallan". However it appears he didn't move onto the land until about 1829.

County and parish settlement model

When Governor Darling succeeded Governor Brisbane in 1825 he brought from London a new set of Instructions providing for the colony to be settled according to the English pattern of counties (approx 40 miles by 40 miles). The county boundaries were to generally follow natural features such as streams and ranges and were to have a county town and be divided again into hundreds (11 square miles) and parishes (25 square miles). The parishes were to be, as they were in England, a support for the Church of England that would eventually have a church, burial ground and parsonage in each parish. When the number of people allowed, parish local government of the English kind could be adopted.

The Church and Schools corporation was to have one seventh of the land in each county for support of the Church of England. However it soon became apparent that the sparse populations in outer-lying areas would not support such a system, unlike in the densely populated areas such as Sydney.

Early survey instructions to Hoddle

Survey of the County of St Vincent had commenced in 1824 in the most northerly area. By December 1827 Assistant Surveyor Robert Hoddle (who later surveyed Melbourne) reported that the Shoalhaven had been traced to its source. Earlier in October that year Surveyor General of New South Wales John Oxley instructed Hoddle to mark out land grants for intending settlers in the County of St Vincent.

The Anglican Church received priority treatment being allocated one seventh of the whole county consisting of the best land on the east bank of the Shoalhaven River. The Church and School Estate comprised approx 42,000 acres on the east side of the Shoalhaven River with a straight north–south boundary as the estate's east edge. This boundary line had significant ramifications for the subsequent land settlement pattern with Strathallan, Braidwood Farm and Coghill's land all granted east of this line. Even though the Church and School Estate was resumed the legacy of its land allocation remains clearly visible in the landscape today. Other settlers authorised to take possession of land were:

Dr Wilson RN 2560 acres grant, Mr D Mackellar 2000 acres grant, Mr Coghill 2000 acres grant Mr Coghill 4000 acres purchase Mr Ryrie 2560 acres grant Mr Francis Dixon 2000 acres grant Mr Francis Dixon 2000 acres purchase Mr George Bunn 2560 grant Mr D Mackellar Junior 640 grant

Oxley's instructions stated "These are the only settlers who have any title to land in the vicinity of Mt Solus (Mt Gillamatong)".

According to the census of October 1828 there were approximately 90 Europeans living in the area however few property owners were resident on their grant. After 1831 free grants of land ceased but the remaining land suitable for pastoral development was soon sold.

Early European Settlers

Captain Duncan Mackellar Three property holders feature significantly in Braidwood's establishment. Captain Duncan Mackellar and family joined his identically-named nephew, Duncan Mackellar, Junior, at Strathallan in about 1829 and to their combined land grants of 3250, added another 4000 by purchase. Mackellar had one of the larger and more centrally located properties in the 19th County (St Vincent) and played a key role in the area until he sold the property in 1836. The bulk of the land was sold to John Coghill who owned the property on which Bedervale now stands. A small portion of land adjoining the "Jellamatong" (spellings vary) village reserve was sold to Dr Thomas Braidwood Wilson whose land adjoined Strathallan to the south.

Thomas Braidwood Wilson Wilson had selected 2560 acres earlier, but it was not until 1836 that he settled on "Braidwood Farm" with his wife and two children. Wilson had been a Surgeon Superintendent of ships taking convicts to NSW and Van Diemen's Land. He was first granted land in Van Diemen's Land in 1824, which he exchanged for land near Lake George in 1825. In addition he was given 2560 acres which he selected in the "new country" on 2 tributaries of the Shoalhaven, Monkittee and Flood creeks. Surveyor Hoddle was instructed in 1827 to survey it before all other grants promised in the area.

In 1833 the western end of Wilson's grant was resumed and reserved for a future village and a similar area added to the eastern end in compensation. Wilson was a humane and progressive thinker and it would seem that his settling in the area was encouraged by the administration. Wilson visited "Braidwood Farm" when he was in the colony but it was not until late 1836 that he settled there with his wife and family. He became a community leader and amongst other things contracted to build the first courthouse in 1837–38. In 1840 Wilson petitioned the government to build a road from Braidwood to Huskisson (The Wool Road) to enable faster and cheaper shipping of the wool clip to Sydney and, with Col John Mackenzie, supplied the materials and labour for the Braidwood to Nerriga section.

In 1841 Braidwood Farm had 141 residents, twice the number on Coghill's combined properties of Bedervale and Strathallan. Although the drought had broken in 1840, the subsequent depression sent Wilson bankrupt and he died in November 1843. His land was sold to John Coghill for (Pounds)2,000 who now owned all the land on the south, east and north of the town. Before his death, Wilson had purchased the block immediately to the north of Braidwood. He was buried on this block, high on the hill overlooking the town. A memorial and large pine tree clearly mark the site, from which there are superb views of the town.

John Coghill John Coghill was an astute businessman and manager. He had also managed a property for John Oxley, Surveyor General, near Camden, from which he ran a merchandising depot. Coghill had acquired the Bedervale property -28 and visited frequently. He occasionally sat as a magistrate on the bench with Duncan Mackellar and made submissions to the colonial secretary on matters that affected the future of the area. In the mid to late 1830s Coghill engaged John Verge, well known colonial architect, to draw up house plans, and the house was completed by about 1842. It was also in the mid to late 1830s that Coghill purchased Strathallan.

While on a trip overseas John Coghill's daughter Elizabeth married Robert Maddrell, who came from the Isle of Man and was studying medicine at Heidelberg University. They returned to Australia and inherited Bedervale on Coghill's death in 1853. The property included Braidwood Farm which Maddrell renamed Mona, the original name for his birthplace, the Isle of Man. Under Robert Maddrell's management the estate expanded to 33,000 acres, much of it farmed by tenant farmers. By 1860, Robert Maddrell had 84 tenants on the three large Maddrell properties that surrounded Braidwood. Portions of these farms were eventually sold to the tenants, but in 1882 Robert Maddrell still had 52,000 acres.

Most significantly however, the ownership of the land on the north, east and south of the town by one family resulted in the town boundary on these sides remaining virtually intact and the landscape remaining large open paddocks, although there has been some recent subdivision and modification to this cultural landscape.

Nineteen Counties

The Colonial Office in London attempted to impose a policy of closer settlement in the Instructions given to the incoming Governor Darling in 1825. The size of free grants was limited to 2,560 acres and purchases to 9,600 acres. Settled land was to be surveyed, and land was not to be granted before the area was surveyed. The arrival of these orders threw the administration into confusion. It had no such surveyed area ready, and no surveyors available. On the other hand, it had promised land to many recently arrived settlers who could not now be denied it or kept long in waiting. To meet its promises it had a line, the "Limits of Location", drawn around the outlying patches of settlement. Within this line settlers could select their land without prior survey. The area within the "Limits of Location" was subdivided into nineteen counties, however further division into "hundreds" was abandoned outside the County of Cumberland. Parish boundaries continued to be surveyed until 1830. Each county was to have a county town being the chief market, and administrative centre, with major courts for civil and criminal justice. However most counties did not have sufficient population to support such a town. The Nineteen Counties were not finally proclaimed until 1835.

Survey Grid

The preferred method of land survey at the time was effectively to lay a rectangular grid over the land surface, preferably in advance of settlement so that selected blocks could be accurately located. This was the system adopted earlier in the United States and such a survey system commenced in NSW in 1821. However, Governor Darling's instructions from London of 1825 required that the natural boundaries of the counties (rivers and ranges) be surveyed for valuation purposes before any more land could be alienated. Consequently, the few available surveyors were set to mapping rivers and ranges directly, rather than by plotting them in the course of extending a series of grid lines as was done in much of the United States.

In NSW grid lines, often of one square mile, were drawn on the maps that had been made from surveying natural features, and transferred to the ground piecemeal and as required by persons selecting isolated areas for purchase. At the time, there was a shortage of skilled surveyors and equipment and irregularities appeared. Rather than determine true north, surveyors usedmagnetic bearings, which changed each year, and locally, according to compass deviation. This was further complicated by worn equipment and as a consequence of this piecemeal approach certain boundary lines failed to meet at right angles. This probably explains why Braidwood's town boundary does not run parallel to the street grid, particularly on the eastern side.

Village reserves set aside

In the settlement model of the time, there was to be a village to each parish (twenty-five square miles) and so surveyors allowed for village reserves approximately 5 miles apart. Hoddle set aside reserves for future townships including one near Kurraduckbidgee (Arn Prior), one centrally located (the present site of Braidwood) and another further south where Jembaicumbene Creek enters the Shoalhaven. The central village reserve, known as "Jillamatong" after the nearby mountain, was sited on Thomas Braidwood Wilson's land grant adjacent to the church reserve. Wilson's block was extended on the east boundary to compensate for the loss of the reserved land.

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