Talk:Fairfield, New South Wales

Separate page for the Local Government Area

As per discussion at Talk:List of Sydney suburbs, I have created a separate page for the City of Fairfield, the Local Government Area. -- Ianblair23 06:36, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

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Is it relevant to have such detailed info regarding shopping centres;

"Fairfield has shopping malls such as Fairfield Forum, Neeta City and Fairfield Chase. Fairfield Forum has major stores such as Coles, Kmart, Lowes, Food for less and a food court. Neeta City has lots of major stores such as Big W, Lowes, best&less, Woolworths, Millers, Go-Lo,Dick Smith and restaurants including McDonalds, Gloria Jeans, chicken express and Oporto. Chase doesn't have major stores, but does have Cash Converters and some continental stores and Grocery stores."

I have edited the page to give a more general and clear view of Fairfield.

Me living in Fairfield, also note there is also increase of African, Middle Eastern migration coming into Fairfield

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I consider that the section on ‘European Settlement’ needs rewriting. It contains many errors of fact and the first 4 paragraphs need improvement. Re Para. 1, a visit may be recorded in a journal, but cannot take place in one. Re Para. 2, the grant of 100 acres is mentioned twice. There are other egregious errors- Of what relevance, other than the date of grant, is the matter of De Kerrileau and his marriage? His small grant did not cover the full Fairfield area and ownership had changed hands 4 times by 1814, from DeK to Moore, to Rowley, to Burgan, to Horsley in 1814, swamped in a parcel of 699 acres (280ha.). Castel Paul had been absorbed by 1814. The final sentence of the paragraph is completely inaccurate (see below). Re Para. 3, the State Treasurer may have built Fairfield House, but he did not build it on Castel Paul (See above). It is not even certain that Fairfield House was built on ‘Mark Lodge’, the name of Horsley’s Estate through the ownership of Horsley and Bland, a period extending to the 1860s. Re Para. 4, By what name was Fairfield Railway Station known when it opened?

Now to Mr John Horsley: Some 2 years ago I tried to have the currently 'accepted' version of the derivation of the name Fairfield brought into line with fact. At the outset I admit that I do not know who was responsible for naming the area 'Fairfield', but I can show that it did not come about in the way described in the current 'Wikipedia' article. In my research on the matter I found that the writers of Fairfield History and its European settlement, who were then being quoted as 'sources' had it wrong. Specifically, John Horsley was in no way connected with Fairfield, Somerset. I also found that Fairfield Council had multiple versions of the derivation of the name on its own website. The Geographical Names Board relied on the 'sources' and declined to alter the 'status quo'. My attempt to 'fix the error' in Wikipedia was removed, possibly because the facts were not common knowledge. My 'edit' may be assessed on my ‘Contributions’ page. See: Oct 2009. Some time has passed and it may be worthwhile raising the issue again. I hope that the following, though lengthy, will indicate the need for revision of the Fairfield entry. I leave the issue of 'wording' to others more acquainted with Wikipedia requirements.

John Horsley arrived in New South Wales as a ‘free’ settler on the ‘Broxbornebury’ in July 1814. [Refs 1,2] Soon after arrival he purchased a 699-acre (280 ha.) estate in the present Fairfield area for 70 pounds from a Mr Burgan. Largely uncleared land, the property had already had two owners before Burgan. It included at least most of the original ’Castel Paul’ 100 acres, but also included the area of original grants to Hanson, Gossen, Thomas, Tewfell and Lewis. John Horsley had named the estate ‘Mark Lodge’ by 1816 and proceeded to develop it, building a substantial residence [for its day] and clearing land for agriculture, with the help of convict labour. As a ‘gentleman settler’ he received a 1200-acre (481ha.)grant in the Illawarra from Governor Macquarie in 1817. He remained living at Mark Lodge and took a leading part in society of the day. His development of the Mark Lodge Estate is noted in the Bigge Report of 1821. [Ref 3] In 1823 he sold his Port Kembla grant to Dr D’Arcy Wentworth, to permit further development on Mark Lodge. Horsley was appointed to the Bench of Magistrates for the Liverpool District and in 1825 became Coroner of Liverpool and District. His progress to the Bench and Coronership is noted in the Colonial Secretary’s Papers. [Ref 4] Horsley continued to live at Mark Lodge until his death in 1834. [Ref 5] His funeral service was held at St Philip’s Church, York Street, Sydney, on 8 Feb 1834 and he was buried in the grounds of St Luke’s Church, Liverpool. His grave may be seen in what is now the Pioneers’ Memorial Park. [Ref 9] Horsley’s family continued to live at Mark Lodge until his widow’s death in 1840. She was buried with her husband and shares his grave. Mark Lodge was sold in 1840 to one of Sydney’s leading Surgeons, a former Naval Surgeon/Convict who rose to prominence, Dr William Bland. [Ref 6] Bland lived on at Mark Lodge, using it as a country retreat, until 1868. Please note that the Estate, then of 599 acres (240ha.), remained named ‘Mark Lodge’ during Bland’s occupation and the name was reported as being remembered in the District into the 1950s. [Ref 10] After Bland’s death the property passed into the hands of a developer, John Hamilton, who subdivided it. It went to public auction on 19 Dec 1885. Poor response at the auction resulted in the property remaining largely unoccupied, until acquired by the Housing Commission of NSW after WWII. [Ref 8]

• There was a suggestion that the name Fairfield was attached to the Estate by one of Horsley’s trustees, who allegedly used his own birthplace, Fairfield, Somerset, as his inspiration. That suggestion is refuted by Bland’s retention of the name ‘Mark Lodge’. Horsley’s trustees would have had no input to the property transfer from Bland to John Hamilton. The reported circumstances may have applied to developer Hamilton.
• John Horsley had no known connection with any family estate in Somerset.

On the contrary, he was associated with family properties in Essex, known as Nazeing Park, Park Lodge and a neighbour’s Mark Hall. [Ref 7]

• Were the information given here to be accepted, perhaps the prominence given in the Fairfield Article to Castel Paul, etc., would be of questionable value, it having been a relatively small grant, subsumed well before 1860.

References:

1) Hook, Elizabeth: ‘Journey to a New Life’: the Story of the ships ‘Emu’ in 1912 and ‘Broxbornebury’ in 1814, Including Crew, female Convicts and free Passengers on Board', 2000.

2) Bent, J.H.: Journal of a Voyage Performed on Board the Ship ‘Broxbornebury’; Original Journal, 1814; Australian National Library.

3) The Bigge Report, Appendix, 1821; Mitchell Library, NSW

4) Colonial Secretary’ Papers Index 1814 to 1825, ‘H’, Horsley, John: www.records.nsw.gov.au/.../indexes/colonial-secretary/index-to-the-colonial-secretarys-papers-1788-1825

5) Registrar General of NSW: Death Index, See: V18341819 18/1834; Horsley, John. www.bdm.nsw.gov.au

6) Aust. Dictionary of National Biography online. abdonline.anu.edu.au

7) *‘Five miles from everywhere, the story of Nazeing’, Pt. 1 ISBN 0 9537135 0 4, The Nazeing History Workshop, 2000, David Pracy and ors.

8) Horsley, Michael: ‘Unmarked Graves’ ISBN 0 646 07635 3, 1991.

9) Pioneers’ Memorial Park, Liverpool, Index of graves.

10) Vance, George: A History of the Fairfield District, 1982.

Additional references: Censuses of NSW, 1814 and 1828. Fransiscosan (talk) 08:02, 30 May 2011 (UTC)