Appendix C - Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment - Peabody Energy

Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment
North Wambo Underground Mine Modification
the district and to assist in the dealings between Europeans and Aboriginal Peoples. Barracks and officers
quarters were constructed in the official village reserve in 1832. In March 1833, the headquarters of the
Hunter River division of the Mounted Police was transferred to Jerrys Plains from Maitland.
A Post Office was established in 1837 and an ex-convict, Robert Thomas Capp, was the first Postmaster.
By this time, Jerry’s Plains had become an important junction between Maitland and Cassilis on the
Gammon Plains near Merton, and further to Bathurst. In 1844, the first school was established in the town
by the Church of England. The residents of the town petitioned the government for a public school in 1847,
however, it was not established until 1881.
5.2.3 Wambo Homestead
James Hale, a former convict, began acquiring the property of Wambo during the 1830s, in individual parcels
eventually amounting to about eight thousand acres. The first buildings of the Wambo Homestead were
constructed in 1832, with major extensions made in the mid-1840s. In 1850, James Hale’s stepson, William
Durham, settled at Wambo with his family and property became known for its Durham cattle. A coal seam
was discovered in 1863 during the sinking of a well, though the property remained pastoral land for another
one hundred years. In 1891, after the death of William Durham, the property was inherited by his sons
William and Charles, who sold it to Benjamin Richards in 1894. It was sold again in 1898 to the Ridge-
Badgery partnership and then resold in 1905 to the Allen-Macdonald partnership and established as a
thoroughbred horse stud.
The property was then subdivided in 1908, with the Homestead and South Wambo retained by the Allen-
Macdonald partnership until 1915 when ownership of the Homestead passed solely to the Macdonald family.
Between this time and 1971, the primary uses of the remaining Wambo land were grazing and dairying. The
Macdonald family then sold the majority of their land to the Wambo Mining Corporation in 1971, maintaining
possession of the Homestead block until it was sold to John Birks in 1983. Birks resold the Homestead to
the Wambo Mining Corporation in 1987 (EJE Heritage 2006:5).
5.3 Historic Registers
Historic registers are used to record items of significance at the National, State and Local government level.
There are no items registered in the National Heritage Database for the project area. However, there is one
item listed on the NSW Heritage Inventory at both State and Local Government level, the Wambo
Homestead.
5.3.1 National Heritage Database
The Australian Heritage Database incorporates: the National Heritage List; the Register of the National
Estate and the Commonwealth Heritage List.
The National Heritage List is now the lead statutory document for the protection of heritage places
considered to have national importance. This list comprises Aboriginal, natural and historic places that are of
outstanding national heritage significance to Australia. Listed places are protected under the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). There are no items within Wambo MOL on
the National Heritage List.
Prior to this the Register of the National Estate was the primary document. While the Register of the National
Estate still exists it is now frozen and from 2012 will no longer have statutory status. The Minister is required
to consider the Register when making some decisions under the EPBC Act. The Register of the National
Estate does not include any heritage sites within Wambo MOL.
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