The Prime Ministers' Corridor of Oaks, Jackson Park, Faulconbridge

Faulconbridge was the maiden name of Sir Henry Parkes mother, and the name he chose for his mountain property after he purchased land near Springwood in the mid-1870s.  The first house he built was given the name 'Stonehurst', the second and principal residence was called 'Faulconbridge House'.

In the early 1870s, Parkes began to consider ways to unite the Australian colonies and in 1883 a Federal Council was set up to consider a Federal Constitution. Things moved slowly, however, and little more than discussion took place until 1889 when, with the encouragement of the Governor, Lord Carrington, Parkes entered upon a strenuous campaign for federation. This was the year of the famous Tenterfield address on the need for the Australian colonies to federate into one nation. Parkes' diplomatic skills in handling the often suspicious colonial governments led to a Federal Convention which met in Sydney in 1891 and to the drafting of a proposed federal constitution. The depression of the early 1890s slowed the movement down and Parkes did not live to see the first Australian Commonwealth Government sworn in on 1 January, 1901. He died in April, 1896 and was buried beside his first wife in the family's plot in Faulconbridge Cemetery.

In 1917 the Parkes' residence, Faulconbridge House, was purchased by Mr Joseph Jackson (1874-1961), a businessman who was to become a long-time resident of Faulconbridge and the member for Nepean in the NSW Legislative Assembly from 1927 until he resigned in 1956. He possessed a keen interest in Australian History and was a great admirer of Sir Henry Parkes.

Both Jackson and his wife, Mylora, involved themselves enthusiastically in the local affairs of Faulconbridge and, in 1932, they purchased a parcel of land opposite their home and offered it to the Blue Mountains Shire Council for use as a park. Much of the early care of Jackson Park was undertaken by him and, in following years, he made several further donations to extend its area.

Having established the park, Joseph Jackson conceived the idea of inviting each of Australia's Prime Ministers, or their surviving relatives, to plant an oak tree there. A tree planting precedent had already been set in Faulconbridge when, in 1881, their Royal Highnesses Prince Albert and Prince George (later King George V) each planted a tree in the grounds of Faulconbridge House whilst breakfasting with Sir Henry and Lady Parkes.

Jackson wanted to build on this precedent and envisioned, as the trees grew in size and number, a grand Avenue of Oaks forming opposite the home of the Father of Federation. This would serve, not only as a memorial to Sir Henry Parkes, but also to remind visitors of the importance of what had been achieved when Australia became a federation.

The first oak tree was planted on Wednesday, 12 September, 1934 by the then Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Joseph A. Lyons.

Up to July 2017, twenty seven trees have been planted.

LIST OF PLANTINGS

12 Sept, 1934 The Rt. Hon. Joseph A. LYONS C.H., M.P., in person

The Rt. Hon. Sir Edmund BARTON, G.C.M.G. by Lady Barton

The Hon John C. WATSON, in person

The Rt. Hon. Sir George H.REID, G.C.E., G.C.M.G. by Lady Reid

The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph COOK, G.C.M.G. in person

17 August, 1935 The Rt. Hon William M. HUGHES, C.H., M.P. in person

The Hon. Alfred DEAKIN, by Mrs H. Brookes (his daughter)

4 March, 1939 The Rt. Hon. Stanley M. BRUCE, C.H., M.P. in person

9 Sept, 1939 The Rt. Hon. Andrew FISCHER by Mrs Andrew Fischer

The Rt. Hon. James H. SCULLIN, M.P. in person

17 May, 1941 The Rt. Hon. Sir Earle PAGE, C.H., G.C.M.G., M.P. in person

11 Oct, 1941 The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert G. MENZJES, K.T., C.H., M.P. in person

6 Dec, 1947 The Rt. Hon. Sir Arthur FADDEN, M.P. in person

The Rt. Hon. John CURTIN, M.P. by Mrs E. Cole (his daughter)

The Rt. Hon. J.B. CHIFLEY, M.P. in person

24 July, 1954 The Rt. Hon. P.M. FORDE, P.C. in person

4 Oct, 1967 The Rt. Hon. H. HOLT, M.P. by Mrs Zara Holt

28 March, 1969 The Rt. Hon. J. McEWEN, M.P. in person

15 July, 1971 The Rt. Hon J.G. GORTON, M.P. in person

22 April, 1974 The Rt. Hon. W. McMAHON, C.H, M.P. in person

3 Sept, 1976 The Rt. Hon. E.G. WHITLAM, Q.C., M.P. in person

30 March, 1979 The Rt. Hon. J.M. FRASER, C.H., M.P. in person

2 April, 1987 The Hon. Robert J. HAWKE, M.P. in person

30 August, 1995 The Hon. Paul KEATING, M.P. in person

7 April, 2000 The Hon. John HOWARD, M.P. in person

8 Oct, 2012 The Hon. Kevin RUDD, M.P. in person

27 July 2017 The Hon. Julia GILLARD, M.P. in person

*****

Images from top:
1. The Corridor of Oaks c.1940
2. Mrs HL Brooks, daughter of Alfred Deakin, planted her father's tree on 17 August 1936
3. Stanley Melbourne Bruce planted his oak tree on 4th March 1939. Next to him is Joseph Jackson (1874-1961) former Lord Mayor of Sydney, State MP and founder of the Prime Ministers' Corridor of Oaks.
4.  The Rt Hon Joseph Benedict Chifley, the former locomotive fireman and driver, knows how to handle a  shovel, 6th December 1947.
5. William and Sonia McMahon with Mayor Dash at the microphone, 22nd April 1971.
6. Our only red headed PM, until Julia Gillard, and first Roman Catholic Prime Minister - James Scullin founded the Commonwealth Literary Grants, played the violin, and was a lifelong teetotaler and non-smoker. Joseph Jackson MHR, founder of the Prime Ministers' Corridor of Oaks at Jackson Park, Faulconbridge, looks on, 9th September 1939.
7. Kevin Rudd shoulders the spade, 8th October 2012.


All images from the Local Studies Collection.
John Merriman
Local Studies Librarian, 2012



Eurama & Weemala at Faulconbridge

Eurama
This burnt out building ruin on the side of the south side of the Great Western Highway at Faulconbridge, was once a grand house with a tower, built for a wealthy businessman named Andrew McCulloch, in the early 1880s. The stone used in its construction was quarried nearby and the work was carried out by a well known local stonemason, Patrick (Paddy) Ryan. McCulloch furnished his country house using the exclusive Sydney firm of Lyon Cottier and Co. The property boasted a tennis court, flag-staff, landscaped gardens and an ornamental lake, made by damming a gully.

McCulloch named his new residence “Weemala”, an Aboriginal word said to mean “expansive view”, and spent the next few years developing the grounds. However, at the end of the 1880s, he began to experience financial difficulties and sold the property to J.W. Cliff in 1889.


When Cliff sold the property, then totaling about 113 acres in 1907, the new owner, a solicitor named George Evans, changed the name to “Eurama”, said to be a Greek word meaning much the same as the earlier Aboriginal one. Evans had also purchased the neighbouring house, “Numantia”, a wooden cottage adjacent to the railway line with its own rail platform, It had been built in 1877 by Sir James Martin, and to this he transferred the name “Weemala”. This has proved to be a source of great confusion and many people today still refer to “Eurama” as “Weemala”.


When George Evans died “Eurama” passed to his daughter, Mrs Emily Ethel McLaurin. It was later sold to Mrs Katherine Nathan in the 1920s and around 1930, to Mrs Daisy Brown. Following Mrs Brown’s death the building was left vacant for a time and suffered from some vandalism. Over the ensuing decades many owners had their dreams cut short. The Great Depression, the Great War, and other hard times, falling on the owners. In the early 1960s, the then owner, Mr Adams, set about restoring the decaying property. Restoration had been completed just prior to the disastrous bushfires of 1968. The fire consumed the house in all its grandeur and the building remains a ruin today.

As a postscript to the “Eurama” story, the Blue Mountains City Library was given permission by Mr. Watkins, the then owner, to stage an open air children’s adventure theatre performance among the ruins during the Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. With the ruins as a backdrop the property proved a most effective site for this project.


Numantia - Weemala
The site of "Numantia" later "Weemala", is now situated close to the rail line behind a high stone wall. The cottage originally on this site was erected about 1877 for Sir James Martin K.C.M.G. It was to be his country residence which he named "Numantia", the name being a region in Spain. It has been said that Sir James thought the countryside here similar to that of its Iberian namesake.

It was a wooden house set behind a high stone wall on land Sir James had acquired from Sir Henry Parkes, and it was his intention to build a huge mansion after he had built this small wooden cottage. The grand mansion never eventuated - the foundations only were laid. They were later removed  c.1914-18 and reused in the foundations for “Banool”, now “The Bungalow” on the corner of Martin Place at Linden.

In 1876 a railway platform was erected to service the well-to-do residents of the area. It became the Numantia Platform, but ceased operation in 1892 with the platform being removed in 1897.

In 1898 Adolphus Rogalsky purchased Numantia and it was he who changed the name to Weemala. This coincided with the name change for the other Weemala to Eurama.

The high stone wall of “Numantia”, later “Weemala”, still stands. The cottage was destroyed by bushfire in December 1977. Since then a new three bedroom brick veneer cottage has been erected behind the stone wall.

To summarise:
Weemala (1880s) became Eurama (1907)
Numantia (1877) became Weemala (1907)






Photos from the Blue Mountains City Library collection, from the McLaurin family album.
1. Ruins of Eurama after 1968 bushfires
2. Ornamental lake, Eurama
3. Emily Ethel McLaurin
4. Eurama in its heyday
5. Map of Eurama and Weemala c1920, Local Studies map collection.

Link to Weemala Heritage Listing

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian 2015, Blue Mountains City Library