Kiama, Australia, Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution

Start : Kiama railway Station

(S/E) Exit Kiama railway station (A) walk along Railway Parade on your right (North-East) and at the junction, turn right (South-East) at Terralong Street. Walk past the Court House and Police Station. These would have been known to George Weightman.

(1) Cross Terralong Street and follow the path to the Pilots Cottage Museum (B). Follow the path up past the lighthouse (C) to the blowhole.

(2) Back to the lighthouse, continue in an anticlockwise direction (North-North-West) around the headland then along the waterfront (D) back towards the town.

(3) Follow the path around the shoreline to the path up to Shoalhaven Street. Turn left down Shoalhaven Street then cross to walk through Hindmarsh Park to Collins Street.

(4) Take time to browse the heritage cottages in Collins Street and Collins Lane (E). Take lunch in one of the many eateries located in Collins and Terralong Streets or fish and chips at the café on the waterfront. Head back to Kiama train station via Terralong Street (South-East) On the way, visit the Kiama family History Centre if you have the time. (S/E)

Urban walk. Take care crossing all roads
Start: Kiama railway Station

Public transport : Take the train from Central Station, Sydney to Kiama.

More information at Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution here.

This is a day’s outing from Sydney, with a lengthy train ride and a short walk in Kiama. Take the train from Central Station, Sydney to Kiama. On the way down take note of the forest country and escarpments, similar to the country George Weightman would have passed through on his way to Kiama. Just past Bombo station look right to see the cemetery where George Weightman is buried.

In September and October of 1818, fourteen of the men sentenced to be transported arrived in Australia. One of these men, George Weightman, spent time in Port Macquarie from 1823 where he helped in the establishment of the settlement. While there he received his Ticket of Leave. Soon after, he returned to Sydney then moved to the Illawarra where his skills as a sawyer were invaluable. He lived in Kiama and the surrounding district until his death. He received a second Ticket of Leave in 1827 and a third for the Illawarra District in 1833. In 1834 he petitioned Governor Bourke for his pardon stating that he had volunteered his services at Port Macquarie at its foundation on the promise of receiving a Conditional Pardon. He was given an Absolute Pardon on New Year’s Day 1835. This walk visits the site of the house where he lived then visits some of the highlights of the town.

(A) On the way down take note of the forest country and escarpments, similar to the country George Weightman would have passed through on his way to Kiama. Just past Bombo station look right to see the cemetery where George Weightman is buried.

(B) Before passing under the railway line, note the plaque recognising George Weightman as a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’. The round plaque was provided by the Pentrich Historical Society, Derbyshire for the 150th centenary. To quote from the adjacent plaque: ‘Where you are standing was once a general store owned by Joseph King. The attached house was where George Weightman lived for some time until his death in 1865. The building was demolished about 1900 to make way for the railway.’ George is buried in the Anglican section of the Kiama cemetery, though no head-stone remains.

(C) Spend some time to learn about the cedar cutting industry of Kiama. Red cedar was a very valuable timber which was prevalent in the Kiama district. George Weightman was a sawyer with considerable experience so would have been of value to the industry. He arrived in Kiama around September 1823. As an experienced sawyer, he undoubtedly would have been ‘top dog’ when the logs were being sawn. The procedure was to dig a pit over which a log was rolled so that it could be sawn, being held in place with iron dogs. One man would stand above (the ‘top dog’) with the other down in the pit. The cross cut saw was then pulled and pushed up and down to cut the length of the log.

George would have owned the tools and would have erected a hut nearby. The sawn timber would then be hauled by bullock teams down to the port. Judge Barron Field visited the district in 1822 and wrote: ‘the cedar planks, as they are formed by the sawyer at the pit, are carried on men’s backs up to the mountain summit, where carts convey the planks to all parts of the colony, or they are carted to the shores of Illawarra and navigated to Port Jackson (today’s Sydney Harbour) in large open boats.’ For more information on the cedar industry at Kiama, refer to http://kiamamuseum.com/Cedar/index.htm which also has a number of relevant photos.

(D) The light was established in 1887, 10 years after the creation of the Robertson Basin, a man-made harbour to service Kiama, The Kiama Blowhole, a sea-cliff cavern that spouts seawater skywards, an awesome natural spectacle, the Kiama Blowhole is one of the largest blowholes in the world. The sea-cliff cavern spouts sea water 20 metres or more into the air, the tremendous display is fuelled by southeast ocean swells.

(E) Note the various plaques referring to the use of the port for the transport of bluestone from local quarries. These plaques give some idea of what the area would have looked like when the port was being used for the shipment of cedar.

(F) various plaques some of which date from the bluestone era which followed the cedar cutting.