The Rockley Mill (dating from 1864)

 

Rockley
Beautifully preserved town full of late nineteenth century buildings.
Located 239 km west of Sydney via the Great Western Highway and Bathurst, Rockley is one of those remarkable villages where, because it is away from the main road, time has stood still. There can be few towns in New South Wales which so simply, and with so few alterations, capture rural life around the turn of the century. It is hardly surprising that it has been listed by the National Trust as a Historic Village.

The first European into the Rockley district was Surveyor Evans who arrived in 1813. By 1818 land in the area had been granted to William Lawson, who, along with William Charles Wentworth and Charles Blaxland, was responsible for the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by Europeans in 1813.

William Lawson (1774-1850) was trained as a surveyor and arrived in New South Wales in 1800. By 1813 he was a prominent local citizen living in a gracious 40-room, early colonial mansion on 500 acres at Prospect. Lawson was invited to accompany Blaxland and Wentworth as the Australian Dictionary of Biography observes: 'Lawson's knowledge of surveying made him a particularly valuable member of the expedition. His journal, with its accurate record of times and distances, enables the route to be precisely retraced.'

The actual townsite was not granted. It was held as a stock reserve until, on 21 February 1829 Governor Darling it was granted, as part of a parcel of 1,920 acres, to Captain Watson Augustus Steel who named his property 'Rockley' after his birthplace in Wiltshire, England.

Copper was found in the late 1840s and the Summerhill Copper Mine, located 8 km south of the village, was opened in 1848. Rockley was officially gazetted in 1851.

The discovery of gold in the Campbell and Isabella Rivers and around Abercrombie Caves in the late 1840s drew settlers to the area. At its peak the town was home to around 3,000 people. The town's prosperity is reflected in the solidity of its churches and public buildings.

Time passed Rockley by. Around the turn of the century the copper mine closed and slowly people drifted away. As a result the village remains largely untouched. It is this near-perfect preservation which has resulted in the whole village being listed by the National Trust.

Things to see:  

In Search of Bushrangers
Rockley has an interesting connection with Ben Hall's bushranger gang. On 24 October 1863 Hall and his gang arrived at the home of Harry Keightley at Dunn's Plain near Rockley. Keightley had little time for bushrangers and a fierce battle broke out in which one of Hall's comrades, Mickey Burke, was killed. Unfortunately Keightley ran out of ammunition and was captured by Hall who forced Keightley's wife to ride to Bathurst and claim the £500 reward for killing Burke.

If you want to see where Burke was killed take the Trunkey Creek road out of Rockley and, after about 1.3 km, turn right towards Newbridge. About 2.8 km along this road is Dunn's Plain property (it is on the left). It is not open to the public but, from the road, you can see a collection of non-native trees and some sheds which indicate the place where Burke was shot.

 

Rockley Mill Museum
A handsome red brick building over the road from Pepper's Creek. The Mill was built in 1864. It is a typical small town museum with displays of historic mill machinery, historic clothing, old police records for the district and old newspapers. It is open from 11.30am - 4.30pm on Sundays and Public Holidays. For more information contact Janet McKibben on (02) 6337 9624.

 

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church (1870) and St Peter's Anglican Church (1867).
Both these buildings were designed by M. E. (Edward) Gell, a prominent local architect who designed a number of important buildings in Bathurst including the gates of Bathurst Gaol. Gell's design for St Patrick's is typically High Victorian Gothic. It uses local rubblestone and a slate roof to great effect and is a fine example of this style of church. For St Peter's Gell used decorative brickwork and combined it with an iron roof and a slate steeple.

 

Exploring the Town
The Bathurst District Tourism Management Committee has produced a rudimentary sheet titled Discover Rockley. It can be obtained at the Bathurst Tourist Information Office. The sheet provides a map which directs visitors to all of the important historic buildings in town.

There is the local Post Office which was built in 1879 although it did not open for six months after its completion because the furniture and fittings were not transported from Bathurst where they had sat on the railway station. Other buildings of interest include the Club House Hotel (1872), the former Butcher's, Baker's and Saddlery (1871) which is now used as a tea room, the former Bank of New South Wales (1878) which was once held up by the bushranger Ben Hall, the Methodist Church (1859), the School of Arts (1890) and the Police station.

 

The former Abercrombie Shire Chambers (1912) constructed of local marble, now called Abercrombie Hall it is a private house

 

Of particular interest is the former Abercrombie Shire Chambers (1912) which are now a private home. The much-loved Australian Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, was president of the Abercrombie Shire Council from 1937-40 and regularly travelled from his home in Bathurst to attend the council's fortnightly meetings.

 

Picnics By the River
The parklands near the weir on Peppers Creek are delightful and shady. Rare for an Australian country town, they are very similar to an English village green. There are a number of barbecues available and the pools in the creek are safe for swimming. If you want a day in the country this is an ideal place to have a picnic.

 

 

 

 

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Rockley