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John Thomas Smith known as Tom Smith was born on 12th October 1849 in Essington ie Native Dog Creek. His baptism certificate says he was baptised on December 1st 1850. His parents were William Richard Smith listed as farmer of Native Dog Creek and Mary Ann Barsden listed on the baptism certificate as residing at Campbell River. The baptism was performed by Henry Tingcombe Church of England in the Bathurst district. By this time W.R and Mary Ann would have had their 100 acres. Tom was their fifth child and 4th son. His big sister was Mary Ann. All of his siblings were alive at the time of his birth, 3 sisters were born after Tom and did not survive their first 5 years but his next siblings Victoria Adelaide, Edwin Spencer and Emma Amelia did. His last sibling Charles died in his first year. So Tom would have grown up into his late teens with a big family of 8. Tragically when he was 17 and 18 two of his brothers Joseph Barsden aged 22 and Charles Richard aged 20 and his sister Margaret Jane aged 13 succumbed to typhoid fever and TB.
Tom married Catherine Murray on 17th September 1870 at the Wesleyan Church in Rockley. Tghey were married by Rev Monahan. Catherine was known as Kate. At the time of her marriage she was under the age of 21 years ie consent and required the consent of her father to marry, which was given. Both Tom and Kate were illiterate. Witnesses to the marriage were Kate’s brother John and her mother Celia both illiterate. Notably Kate and Tom are both listed as residing at Brisbane Valley at the time of their marriage. Tom being a farmer. It is not far from either Essington Park nor Native Dog Creek where Tom and Kate grew up.
Catherine was the daughter of Hamilton Murray and Cecilia / Celia Ruffel. Catherine grew up with her father reoffending in 1833 and 1842 but it seems his wife Cecilia and children kept him in the district.[1] See the Murrays for more on their line. Catherine was one of 8 children and the third youngest. She had 5 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. Her younger sisters died early. Her sister Mary aged 13 died in 1866 and her youngest sister Elizabeth aged 9 died in 1865. Given these dates it is likely they too succumbed to typhus like the Smith siblings. The birthplaces of the Murray children give a good indication of Hamilton’s assignments as a convict! Catherine was born in 1851 at Essington Park the property of the Kings where her father had been assigned as a convict. Her parents married there in 1857 presumably when Hamilton got his Ticket of Leave. It is most likely Catherine grew up on Essington Park , with her Irish Catholic family.
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National Advocate [Bathurst] Sat 12th November 1910
We can get some further glimpses of what Rockley was like when Tom and Kate married from newspaper articles. It had only been gazetted as a town since 1851.
The whole area had been the subject of gold mining since the 1840’s see Native Dog Creek section so would have been a thriving hub bub of activity in 1870.
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1860 announced a steam flour mill was being built in connection with Buddens Stores. This article identifies that Messrs Stranger and Budden had also “some time back” opened the general store and given “ impetus to our little town”. Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1904), Saturday 30 June 1860, page 2
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1860: The estate of Rockley, comprising about two thousand acres of forest and plain, and from which our township derived its name, offers from the first ascent of the Charlton-hill, a pretty sketch for an artist. The comparatively low hills in the immediate background of the residence (in itself of no large dimensions, but still an exceedingly neat structure) seem over hung in the distance by lofty mountains, and thus form a pleasing perspective. The creek, generally known as Pepper's Creek, running through the estate, forms on one side, a dividing line between this and the estate of Charlton; on the other side, the Campbell's River encloses the estate as far as it extends to wards Summer-hill, and then, I believe, Government land forms the remaining boundary. And here, from Mr. Brownlow's late farm, up wards to Summer-hill I imagine will be found (if not now), at some future day, some very rich surface 'diggings, particularly on the ridges in the immediate neighbourhood of the creek that runs through the back part of the estate, and forms a junction with the river between Messrs. Brown low and Kidd's farms. This article identifies that Mr Levey is running the Rockley Inn. Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), Tuesday 11 September 1860, page 3
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1861: Mr Arthur Budden is running the Rockley Stores but is yet to build the Buddens of today. On 4th May 1861 a daring robbery of Mr Buddens store took place. Information of the attack was forwarded to the nearest police station (at Pye's, Campbell's River). Trooper John Evans was the sole police person stationed at Pye’s we learn. The troopers sent for by MK Keightly, arrived about 1 p.m ; in the mean time that gentleman and Trooper Evans, in conjunction with some of the inhabitants, commenced an active search for the malefactors, which it is devoutly to be hoped, will prove successful. This is the more desirable, as the late outrages at Caloola and Colo, followed again by this murderous attempt, prove that the neighbourhood is infested by some desperate characters, and nothing but the speedy capture of them will allay the feeling of distrust and insecurity which now prevails everywhere in the district The police protection at present afforded us, is scarcely better than nominal, and will certainly not assuage these feelings. Whether or not, the authorities will consider that enough mischief has now been done to entitle us to some con-sideration in this respect, or whether it will be necessary to see some stilt more enormous out-rage committed, remains to be seen. Clearly some in the community were not happy with the level of policing they had and a February 1861 article had asked for the lock up to be moved from Campbell River to Rockley. Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1904), Saturday 4 May 1861, page 2
The following article gives the best view of what life was like in 1861 in Rockley and potentially what Rockley was like when Tom and Kate were married:
I never found the follow up article as this was around the time of the Riots between the Europeans and Chinese at NDC. The below seems to indicate an evacuation but there may have been a war of words between papers on just how good the diggings were or were not.
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In 1872 copper mining leases were opened up on Charlton.
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1872 Mr Budden built the General Store in Rockley we know of now as Buddens.
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Grevilles Post Office Directory of Rockley 1872 only lists William Smith miner of Native Dog Creek.
So from these amazing descriptions of Rockley and with the Native Dog Creek descriptions we can see that Tom and Kate had their teenage years and early married life in a bustling yet somewhat isolated [see background photo] community as they resided at Essington ]along the Sewells Creek Rd between Rockley and Oberon. Essington itself was a bustling place in the 1860’s with gold fever and was a multicultural village with tensions between the Europeans and Chinese. We know Toms father William was taking advantage of the mining boom probably in copper, tin and gold as well as grazing.
Tom and Kate had 12 children. 6 boys and 6 girls and we know Kate was a midwife for the area.
Refer to Native Dog Creek and Charlton pages for details of what it would have been like for Tom and Kate. Refer to the children's page for details of their lives.
Catherine [Kate] died on 9th Nov 1910 at Charlton after a prolonged and painful illness. She had lived there for 27 years. Tom died 29th November 1934 presumably at his little brick cottage. He was described in the obituary for his son Walter Barsden Smith as a pioneer of the Rockley district.
[1] Gemmell-Smith Phillipa , Mountain Beings- Relationships with land in the Oberon district, 1800-1900 2018. Page 130
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