Engraving: Guntawang, the Estate of Richard Rouse, Esq.
Artist unknown, circa 1874
Artist unknown, circa 1874
Looking Backward (By W.S.) Gulgong, 1870—1937
On the top of the hill, one gets a first sight of Gulgong in the distance, and a wonderful sight it was in 1870. Nearly all of it was calico and bark, and strangely it looked with the rays of a sinking sun on it, and to my boyish eyes and ideas it seemed a wonderful place, and so it was.
But Biraganbil and Guntawang, the home of the Rouses, was our destination, for I was with my father and a couple of stockmen to buy coach horses for Cobb and Co. As I passed those homesteads the other day I could not help thinking what a difference then and to day. Men and stock everywhere and everyone was busy; and the wonderful mobs of horses brought in from the paddocks. Aristocratic enough to bear the well known brand - a capital writing R. The great coaching company would; not have a bad horse and hardly one of the 60 head bought cost less than £40 to £80, and when they were together, what a lot of beauties they were, and hard to hold. Three extra stockmen had to be sent with them on the road. My father said the mob cost nearly £3000.
The name of the Rouses still clings around the two stations. Once when the old place was sold the name was changed to Eumaralla, and the owner was talking of his property, calling it by its new name. A gentleman asked the owner where it was and he told him near Gulgong, and it was once called Guntawang. 'You're foolish, Sir Hugh,' said the speaker, 'the name Guntawang has always gone with good horses, cattle and sheep. It is worth a fortune itself and will still be Guntawang long after Eumaralla and Sir Hugh are dead and gone; and so it will be until the end. The pillars of the front entrance gate seem still to be the same, but those men with their buggies and pairs, and the clamping trotting horses of the four in hand are but memories to the old hands of a grand past when Gulgong was in the heyday of prosperity.
1873 - GULGONG ANNUAL RACES
During my stay I paid a hurried visit to Mr. Richard Rouse's, at Guntawang, but was unfortunately obliged to start on my return to Sydney, without going to Biraganbil, whither I was also invited before coming away. At Guntawang, I saw many improvements, among the chief of which are, of course, the stables, of which the foundation only was laid when I was there before, but which are now occupied by both horses and men. In a large quadrangular courtyard are, on one side, the carriage horseboxes, built on the principle of plentiful light and ventilation, so that each horse, while indulged with plenty of room to himself, looks out over his rails, and is amused with all that goes on in the courtyard. On another side of the court, is another stable, the washing-house for carriages, rooms for the reception and custody of stores of different descriptions; and, besides these, there is a spacious coach house, large enough for several drags and buggies. Then there are quarters for a married coachman, with convenient out-offices at the back, and quite unconnected with as well as out of sight of the stable quadrangle; and also comfortable quarters for the single grooms.
One of the great features of the establishment is the saddle and harness room, with its glass cases for the sets of four-in-hand harness, and I never remember to have seen a room better fitted for the purpose. In the front side of these buildings—that, next the house—is the large entrance gate, and facing this, over the door of the carriage-horse stables, is to be a large clock, fixed in a small turret, built as a clock tower. At the back of the carriage-horse stables, outside and independent of the courtyard is a row of single boxes for racehorses, and these have plenty of light and ventilation, as is the case with the others, and are built with due regard for comfort in every way.
Here I saw Reprieve and Nydia, both commencing a month's spell, and having their shoes taken off, the morning I was there; Lord Lyon who has been doing the otium for 12 months; Brigadier, the imported son of King John, now presiding over the Guntawang stud; and Dabster, the hackney, who is matched to run Italian, for a century, in July. All these are looking well, and are in charge of Finlay who brought Wanderer out on New Year's Day so blooming and well, and has had Reprieve and Nydia since Randwick. Reprieve, Nydia, and Lord Lyon, will most likely join Harry Rayner's string at Mr. Rouse's Randwick training quarters in a month. At the Guntawang Farm I saw a couple of yearling fillies, one a brown of good size, by Kingston from the imported Dundee mare, a very nice filly, who ought from her breeding to be as good as anything in the land. The other is a chestnut, sister to, and very like little Wanderer; and she is herself small, but nice.
Leaving the horses, I saw a lot of really good Shorthorn heifers, which are well worth a journey to look at, not only looking, but being, remarkably well bred. These are all descended from the original stock purchased from Mr. Robert Lowe, and they show all the marvellous quality of head and horn for which the stock of the old Lowe cows are so remarkable. I've seen nothing better among the show youngsters than some of these; and some by the imported Monmouth, who unfortunately died, do their sire great credit. Monmouth has left behind him some young bulls that are very good, and uncommonly fine in the horn. The lot of young cattle I saw at Guntawang, I consider very good. They are of good colour, with fine heads, clean horn, and no speckled muzzles; are generally good in brisket, crops, back, and handle, and do not fall away behind the shoulder. Some of the heifers are like cows, in back, hips, and flank. Time pressed me sore; and so, after a look at the imported Clydesdale "Lofty," for whom Mr. Rouse gave 800 guineas the other day, I had to close my hurried visit to Guntawang. Lofty is a short-legged compact, very strong, active horse, with tremendous depth and slant of shoulder, and wonderfully short below the knee. He has a beautiful head and neck, kind temper, walks and trots well; and he may very fairly be pronounced about as good as anything of his breed that we have seen here.
I sadly wanted to go to Biraganbil, and see Teddington, who I hear has grown into a splendid fine horse, without a superior, among the young colonial bred stud horses of the day, all which I am quite prepared to believe of him; for I don't think there's a nicer horse in the colony, and he ought to be much sought after this coming season, for there's no better-bred horse in the country. I was, however, unable to put my intention into force, as I left the neighbourhood before the races concluded on Friday afternoon, and hadn't a moment to call my own.
Source: Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919) Sat 24 May 1873 Page 25
1871 - Death from Poison
We (Gulgong Guardian) have to record a sad case of self-destruction. It appears that Mr. Thacker, an old respect a servant of Mr. Rouse, at Guntawang, whilst labouring under temporary insanity, took strychnine at 2 o'clock last Wednesday afternoon. Several remedies were applied but it was half past 8 o'clock at night before Mr. Ramsay was called in, and too late to be of any avail, as the unfortunate man died half-an-hour after the doctor's arrival. An Inquest was held on the following morning, before Dr. Rowling, coroner, resulting in a verdict "that deceased died from the effects of strychnine, taken while labouring under temporary insanity,"
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Wed 20 Sep 1871 Page 5 and NSW BDM 4521/1871
Charles Thacker, an overseer in the employment of Richard Rouse, of Guntawang, on the 13th instant, poisoned himself with strychnine, and died the same day. For years he was a hard drinker, and of late had carried the habit to great excess. When he was found to be suffering from poison, he admitted that he had taken strychnine, and did not desire that a doctor should be sent for. Dr. Ramsay, of Gulgong, however, came to see him and after some resistance administered some sulphate of copper. It had no effect, and deceased expired in about twenty minutes thereafter.
1876 - A Contrast.
On Monday last (says the Western Post) a young girl, who had just left a situation at Guntawang, lost her purse, containing a £14 cheque, and £1 2s. 9d. in cash. Fortunately for her, Mr. Thacker, overseer for Mr. Rouse, found it, handed it to Mr. Rouse to restore to the girl, and generously refused to take any reward whatever although a reward of £1, 10s. hud been offered for it in this paper. As a contrast to the above, a youth in town having last week found the cap of a buggy wheel, waited till it was advertised for, and then had the impudence to ask 30s. as compensation for restoring it to the owner.
1875 - GREVILLE'S OFFICIAL POST OFFICE DIRECTORY
Source: Greville's Index 1875
Source: Gulgong Pioneers Museum
