AGY-3047 | Rooty Hill Agricultural Establishment

Full description

Although the Rooty Hill Stock and Agricultural Establishment formally began with the appointment of George Blackett as Superintendent on 2 October 1823, the Government had operated a station for the purpose of raising Government owned stock at Rooty Hill for some years.(1) Blackett replaced Josh Nettleton who had been the Principal Overseer of Government stock at Rooty Hill from August 1820.(2) As Superintendent, Blackett’s income was ten percent of the estimated value of labour, and one Spanish Dollar for every five animals supported on the Establishment. He was also entitled to rations from the Government Store.(3) Rooty Hill was one of the Agricultural and Stock Establishments in the colony and during the 1820s others included: Emu Plains, Grose Farm and Longbottom, Bathurst, Wellington Valley, and the Crown Stock Establishment.(4) The early 1820s was a period of expansion for the Establishments and part of the rationale was their "preference to the location of the better sort of Convicts in towns".(5) There were 59 convicts at Rooty Hill on 1 April 1827 and the average number in the following year was 48.(6) Rooty Hill Station was located ten miles from Parramatta on the great Western Road and in 1823 consisted of six thousand acres of land "of a very superior description".(7) Fifty acres of this land was enclosed in four paddocks. The area had been used by the Government for some years for grazing Government owned horses and horned cattle. The station at Rooty Hill had developed over the years prior to it becoming an official stock establishment and by the end of 1821 it consisted of a brick house of two stories for the residence and accommodation of the Superintendent and Principal Overseer of Government Stock and temporary log huts or barracks to accommodate twenty stock keepers.(8) There were nine Government employees at the Station in December 1821 and by March 1825 the number had increased to 103.(9) The Rooty Hill Establishment was discontinued from the end of 1828. The 8138 acres comprising the Establishment was transferred to the Trustees of the Clergy and School Corporation.(10) Endnotes:
1. Returns of the Colony 1826.
2. Colonial Secretary, Copies of Letter sent within the Colony, 31 July 1823 - 18 Dec 1823, SRNSW Ref 4/3509; HRA, vol 10, p580. The establishment of the Rooty Hill Agricultural and Stock Establishment is based on there being no entry in the Returns of the Colony for Rooty Hill prior to 1823 but there was clearly a Government station in existence for some time prior to 1823.
3. Returns of the Colony 1825, p131; HRA, vol. 12, p437.
4. HRA, vol. 12, p773.
5. HRA, vol 11, p79.
6. HRA, vol 18, p305; HRA, vol 14,p637.
7. HRA, vol. 10, p695.
8. HRA, vol. 10, p695.
9. HRA, vol12, p549.
10. HRA, vol. 14, p640.