THE KURRAJONG-COMLEROY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

WHO AND WHERE WE ARE

The Kurrajong-Comleroy Historical Society is dedicated to researching, recording, preserving and promoting the heritage of the district north of the Hawkesbury River in the Hawkesbury local government area, New South Wales, Australia. During the early 1800s this district was referred to as “the currijon”, “the Kurryjung Brush”, the “Kurrajong Brush”, or simply as “the Kurrajong”, and comprised the district on the northern side of the Hawkesbury River which today includes the townships and villages of Kurrajong, Kurrajong Heights, Kurrajong Hills, East Kurrajong, Blaxlands Ridge, Colo Heights, Bowen Mountain, Grose Vale, Grose Wold, North Richmond, The Slopes, Tennyson, Glossodia, and Wilberforce. An early map of this district can be seen by clicking here, and the area as it stands today is shown in the map below.

Map showing "The Kurrajong" (shaded grey) and its towns of today, in the western Hawkesbury district, west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. [Map by Greg Upton].

The banner image on the Society's home page shows a view looking north-west from Bowen Mountain Road at Grose Vale near the intersection with Carters Road, and in the middle distance shows the northern end of Bowen Mountain extending across to Kurrajong Hills and Kurrajong Heights in the far distance (photo by Greg Upton).

 

 

FORMATION OF THE KURRAJONG-COMLEROY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Society was formed on Sunday 28 January 2001 at a meeting of approximately 50 people with a common view to raise awareness of the historical heritage of "the Kurrajong", and to ensure that this history is preserved for future generations.

The Society became affiliated with the Royal Australian Historical Society in June 2001 and formally incorporated as an association a few months afterwards. It became affiliated with the Blue Mountains Association of Cultural Heritage Organisations in 2008.

 

The Society's membership has steadily increased, and today has 177 members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE SOCIETY

The aim of the Kurrajong-Comleroy Historical Society is to research, record, preserve and promote the heritage of the Kurrajong district. To achieve this aim the Society commits to the following objectives:

1. To gather, record and preserve items of a historical nature relating to “the Kurrajong”;
2. To present public exhibitions of any such materials as may be held by the Society;
3. To promote respect for the preservation of “the Kurrajong’s”  heritage; and
4. To document and/or publish members’ research projects.

The vision of the Society is to be recognised as a highly competent historical society that seeks continuous improvement with respect to the quality of its research, documentation and displays.

A major ambition of the Society is to establish a permanent dedicated premises within close proximity to the Kurrajong village shopping precinct.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITIES OF THE SOCIETY

The Society is a very friendly group who enjoy a variety of social events intermixed throughout the year with organised historical field trips and other presentations on local history topics with guest presenters. In addition to these activities the Society meets regularly at its scheduled bi-monthly meetings, and these often have an invited guest speaker to talk on topics relating to the Kurrajong district’s heritage.

 

Some of the Society's activities invariably have member sub-committees arranged from time to time to co-ordinate affairs as required. Examples here would include book production and special event scheduling. Participation on a sub-committee can be a rewarding experience

 

The Society produces a bi-monthly newsletter called The Millstone which serves as the Society’s journal. Past issues of The Millstone can be viewed on this website by clicking here. The Society’s official logo (designed by the late Tony Dixon), viewed as the logo at the top left on this page and also at the top of the front cover on each issue of The Millstone, is based on Ben Singleton’s millstones which date from at least 1816 and are considered to be one of the oldest items of European heritage remaining in the Kurrajong district today. The mill is believed to have operated on Little Wheeny Creek near the present Old Bells Line of Road bridge (see May/June 2002 issue of The Millstone). The very first issue of The Millstone notes that the millstones were selected as the logo as they symbolise how the Kurrajong district's history has been treated: “..dumped in the creek (1860), retrieved and used as a war memorial (1920), discarded during road widening (1945), rescued (1958), forgotten, rescued again (1988)..”.

 

Ben Singleton's millstones on display today in

Kurrajong's Memorial Park. [Photo by Greg Upton].

 

 

 

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE OF THE SOCIETY

The Society’s committee consists of an executive of 4 positions (President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) and an additional 5 committee members. Other office-bearers are the Minutes Secretary, Project Officer, Librarian, Grants Officer, Millstone Editor and Webmaster. All current office-bearers in the Society are listed in the table below.

POSITION	OFFICE-BEARER
President	Frank Holland
Vice-President	Airdrie Martin
Secretary	Valerie Holland
Treasurer	Lorna (Peggy) McCarr-Israel
Minutes Secretary	Patricia O'Toole
Committee Members	Carolynne Cooper
	Paul Hulbert
	Patricia O'Toole
	Steve Rawling AM
	Carol Roberts
Projects Officer	Paul Hulbert
Aquisitions/Librarian	Valerie Birch
Grants Officer	Garth Smith
Millstone Editor	Chris Upton
Webmaster	Greg Upton
Bookkeeper	Joy Shepherd
Awards	Airdrie Martin
Publicity	Robyn Fuller

 

 

The Society's committee meets on the first Monday of each month. The various sub-committees meet at other frequencies as arranged individually. General meetings are scheduled on the last Monday of each odd-numbered month (Jan, Mar, May, July, Sep and Nov). The Society's annual general meeting is held in September prior to the September general meeting.