Licensees
1854-1860 – John Wilson, Mary Ann Wilson – Bells Paddock1Museum of History New South Wales. https://mhnsw.au/indexes/publicans-hoteliers-innkeepers/publicans-licenses-index. Accessed 9 October 2023. 21858 | Citation: NRS 14403 [7/1510]; Reel 1240 | Licence: 802 | Place: Bells Paddock, District of Braidwood.
Dec 1860 – February 1862 – Thomas Brettell, Bell’s Paddock 3Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 8 December 1860, page 2
1862 – George Quinn. Bell’s Paddock 4Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 22 February 1862, page 2
1864-1866 – Michael Nugent, William Nugent, The Plains, Araluen5New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 7 August 1866 (No.152 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 1878.
1867-1868 – Ellen Leahy, The Plains6New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 13 August 1867 (No.136 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 1893 7New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Wednesday 26 August 1868 (No. 208 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 2871.
Location
Bells Paddock, Bells Creek, and The Plains, Araluen, on the plain above Crown Flat, or Middle Araluen.
The Plains, Araluen – On very early maps (c1830s) the area on the east of the Araluen creek is simply labelled ‘Reedy Flat’, and may have become the area referenced as ‘the plains’. The use of the location “Plains” was prevalent in the early 1860s, but was gradually replaced by locations named as Crown Flat, Redbank and Newtown, as the mining population followed the gold, and moved further along from Mudmelong. As the Freeman’s Journal noted in 1862,8Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Wednesday 5 February 1862, p 3. ‘It is the opinion of experienced miners that the claims on the Crown Flat and ground lower down are exhausted, and that a considerable area of fresh ground will be opened and remuneratively worked on the plains higher up.’
At mining sites during the ‘rush’, diggers sometimes referred to ‘the plains’ as the mucky, watery ground that had been levelled and extensively used for panning, as opposed to the area for digging, or where infrastructure was built to sift out the gold. This means ‘the plains’ may have moved along the Araluen valley as the panning area expanded.
The Limerick Inn location, on the Plains, could refer to a spot anywhere between Mudmelong and Upper Araluen, however it is thought to be more likely located, on the plain above Crown Flat, or Middle Araluen. The Goulburn Herald in 18629Goulburn Herald (NSW : 1860-1864), Wednesday 27 August 1862, p 2. reported ‘The plain above Crown Flat or Middle Araluen as it is called is now the centre of business, and some of the old localities towards Mudmelong are numbered with the glories of the past.’
In the News (at Bells Creek – 1854-1860)
In August 1854, the Private Commissioner for the Seymour and Hawker estates, H. Moreing, Esq. ‘met with a severe accident when returning home from Bell’s Creek, near Wilson’s public house, his horse stumbled and he was precipitated to the ground upon a heap of stones, and had several ribs broken, and [was] otherwise severely bruised‘, reported the Freemans Journal10Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Saturday 19 August 1854, p 11.
The Sydney Morning Herald11Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Saturday 25 June 1859, p 4. noted in June 1859, ‘Mr. Wilson, of the Limerick Inn, who is the principal gold buyer in this locality, did not purchase so much dust last Saturday, as he did on the Saturday previous, when he bought to the amount of £300.’
In July 1859, the Empire12Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Saturday 16 July 1859, p 3. detailed ‘At Mr. Wilson’s, the “Limerick Inn”, there has been great rejoicing throughout the past week, on the occasion of Mr. George Hyland’s wedding. Never was so joyous a ceremony so joyously kept up. The house was thronged during the whole time and the utmost hilarity prevailed. The diggings about here have not yielded any very noticeable quantity of late.’
In September 1859, the Sydney Morning Herald13Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Thursday 8 September 1859, p 3. reported the death of Mr. John Wilson (aged 31)14https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176719149/john-wilson. Accessed 14 October 2023. of the Limerick Inn, which occurred on Wednesday, 31 October, at his house at Bell’s Paddock. The report detailed ‘He has left behind him many living witnesses who can testify to his good deeds, and of his every-day kindness to the needy. To the deceased gentleman’s kindness of heart many, this day, owe their comfortable homes; many are there who can, and do, tell how, when destitute they first came on Bell’s Paddock, and were supported and helped through the first and necessary outlay of a digger’s life by Mr. Wilson.’
The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, reported in the NSW Government Gazette October 185915New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 18 October 1859 (No.212), p 2289. advising that goods, chattels, credits, and effects of …, [John Wilson, late of Bell’s Paddock, …, innkeeper] may be granted to Mary Ann Wilson …, the widow of the said deceased. Also noting letters of Administration of the goods, chattels, credits and effects …, be granted to John Hendricks, and Henry Jacobs, of Braidwood aforesaid, storekeepers, Creditors of the said deceased‘.
An advertisement was placed in the Braidwood Observer 16Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 21 January 1860, page 1 dated 15 December 1859 by Mary Ann Wilson, advising of the re-opening of the Limerick Inn, Bell’s Paddock, following some informalities in license renewal after the death of her husband John Wilson.
The Braidwood Dispatch in 1926 published an article called ‘Old Braidwood’, with excerpts from the Braidwood Observer of 29 February 186017Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Friday 12 February 1926. stating ‘Two hotels were offered for sale — “The Dog and Stile Hotel” in Mackellar-street, owned by Peter Steward, and the “Emu Inn” at Mudmelong, owned by James Watt. At that time John Gilligan kept the Erin-go-Bragh Hotel at Crown Flat, Araluen, while Mary Ann Wilson ran the Limerick lnn at Bell’s Paddock, Bell’s Creek‘.
In April 1860 (reported the Braidwood Dispatch) an accident of a very serious nature occurred to a digger named Toole, who resides at Jembaicumbene. ‘Toole and some friends were at Mrs Wilson’s Limerick Inn, Bell’s Paddock, when [leaving] a … horse kicked out violently … causing a very severe fracture. He was conveyed into Mrs. Wilson’s public house, and an express was immediately sent off to Braidwood for Dr. Codrington.’18Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Saturday 7 April 1860, p 4.
The Braidwood Observer 19Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW : 1859 – 1862), Wednesday 18 April 1860, page 2 in April 1860 reporting on the Annual meeting regarding of Publican’s Licenses held at the Court-house, Braidwood, listed ‘Mary Ann Wilson, Limerick Inn, Bell’s Paddock.’ In December 1860 the Braidwood Observer 20Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 8 December 1860, page 2 reported ‘The adjourned licensing meeting was held on Thursday. The following transfers were granted: … Thomas Brettell from Ann Wilson; Limerick Inn, Bell’s Paddock.‘ It further reported in February 1862 21Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 22 February 1862, page 2 on the ‘transfer of the license held by Thomas Brettell of the Limerick Inn, Bell’s Paddock, was on the application of Mr. Fell, duly endorsed to George Quinn.’
A report was published in the Braidwood Observer 22Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 23 February 1861, page 2 in February 1861, titled a narrow escape. ‘On Wednesday afternoon about three o’clock, as Mrs Wilson, formerly hostess of the Limerick Inn, Bell’s Paddock, was on the road to Lambing Flat and crossing the Shoalhaven, the cart by some misadventure was tilted and one of her children fell into the water. Mr. Fairhurst who was on the spot managed to lay hold of the child’s clothes which were kept up by a heavy swell that was running, and it was taken to Mr. Stephens’s, the Cottage of Content, where everything was done to bring the child round, which was after some delay effected and the journey was resumed.’
In May 1885, an advertisement was placed in the Australian Town and Country Journal23Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870-1919), Saturday 9 May 1885, p 1. under Missing Friends, asking James or John Wilson, sons of the late John Wilson, Innkeeper of Bell’s Paddock, to contact their Uncle, George Wilson of Major’s Creek.
In the News (on the Plains – 1864-1868)
The List of Licensed Publicans in Police District Araluen, dated 1 January 1864, and subsequently updated,24Accumulated resources and research notes on parishes and churches of the Archdiocese collected by ‘Father Brian Maher’, Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Series CG1021: Braidwood File 1 / Item 11/1. noting the licensee of the Limerick Inn as Michael Nugent in 1864, with the location given as the Plains Araluen.
Michael Nugent, born in Limerick Ireland, (1836 – 1894) arrived, as assisted immigrants, in Australia, on the ship Tudor in August 1860,25Museum of History New South Wales. Assisted immigrants (digital) shipping lists – Tudor 17 Aug 1860, https://mhnsw.au/indexes/undefined/assisted-immigrants-digitised-shipping-lists-1828-1896/?query=Tudor&page=1 Accessed 15 October 2023. with his wife Mary (Downey) and their children Michael (1857-1880) and James (1859-1863), noting Michael has a sister Mary, in Lower Araluen. Their children Patrick (1861-1938) Mary (1861-1947) Cornelius, (1863-1914) Daniel (1865-1932) James, (1868- ) Ellen, (1871-1935), Catherine (1873-1875) William (1874-1897) and Johanna (1876-1877), were born in Araluen. By the time of his daughter Ellen’s birth in 1871, Michael Nugent’s occupation is given as a miner in Araluen.
Michael’s sister Mary Ann Nugent married Pierce Costello in 1857, and his sister Catherine Nugent married Martin O’Sullivan in 1863 in Braidwood. Pierce Costello was the licensee of the Star Inn (1863-1867) and 1875, and Martin O’Sullivan was the licensee of the Star Inn from 1868 until his death in 1875, when Mary Costello (Mary Ann Nugent) became the licensee from 1876-1892.
In July 1863, the New South Wales Government Gazette26New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 7 August 1863 (No.153), p 1731. detailed the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction for Thomas Leahy, late of Araluen, gold miner, noting the goods, chattels, and effects of the Thomas Leahy, be granted to Ellen Leahy, of Araluen, the widow of the said deceased. The NSW Government Gazette reported in 1867, Ellen Leahy as the licensee of the Limerick Inn.27New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 13 August 1867 (No.136 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 1893.
In June 1869, the Empire28Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Wednesday 9 June 1869, p 3. published details of the Insolvent Estate of Ellen Leahy, of Araluen, widow, an innkeeper, in the District of Braidwood, with the causes of insolvency given as losses in business, sickness of family, and pressure of creditors.