Information on some place names not found on maps. part 1
Many towns, places and parishes are mentioned on the various pages of this family history book, but firstly, a brief, basic outline should be given as to how such places originated.
Australia is divided into states or territories. Each state is then divided into large areas called counties and each county is then divided into parishes. The name of a parish was usually derived from local aboriginal words. Properties within a parish, were originally allocated as land grants by the government on the proviso that such properties became commercial farms and/or livestock breeding stations, etc. Those properties varied from small (maybe 30 acres) to very large (1000’s of acres). Prosperous landowners often purchased other surrounding properties (you will read later on, Molonglo and Carwoola were prime examples). To put a stop to such expansion, the government created a new land act during the 1880’s, which then restricted an individual’s land ownership to 300 acres. Each main community area would eventually need a Post Office, Shops, Police Station, School, etc. An area of land would then be resumed/purchased by the government, surveyed and subdivided residential land eventually sold, thus forming a village or town.
Some property names such as Carwoola, Willeroo, Primrose Valley, Muttbilly, Lumley, Currawong, Yarralaw, Inverary and Molonglo are usually not printed or mentioned on maps. They were usually parish names, or large multi-acre grazing properties/homesteads or grain food properties, commercially breeding cattle, sheep and/or horses or wheat/grain growing. Some of the properties had servant’s huts, stone cottages and large cultivated areas, growing vegetables, fruits, etc. Some properties eventually had a town built on them. Normally, the name of the town was the same as the parish name (for example – Bungonia, Goulburn, Nowra, Gundaroo, Menanglo, Cassawary and a slight exception which was originally called Quinbean, now known as Queanbeyan).
A large property located between Sutton Forest and Marulan, was called Bumballa. It was also known as Bombarlow and Bumbollaway. Those variations were probably due to pronunciation and illiteracy. Bumballa was quite often mistaken for Bombala (located near Cooma NSW). The property name of Bumballa was the same as the parish name.
Inverary Park was originally a large farm property and homestead, mainly growing wheat and had a flourmill on the property and incorporated several workers and their families. Lumley Park was another large homestead property located near Inverary Park. Those two properties were established in the 1820’s and located in the parish of Inverary. Workers and their families usually lived on such properties and those original workers would normally comprise mixed groups of bonded servants, assigned convicts, aboriginals or ex-convicts.
