Chattie’s Woods
Terry Fogarty
3 Valerie Avenue, Chatswood West
10th February 1996
Terry Fogarty
3 Valerie Avenue, Chatswood West
10th February 1996
Most people seem to agree that Chattie’s Wood was the name given to the woods that Charlotte (Chattie) Harnett wandered in. The question is, where were these woods located ?
Charlotte Harnett[i] was the second wife of Richard Hayes Harnett a prominent North Shore landowner who, circa 1860’s, appears to have resided on one of his properties in Willoughby he later named Chatswood Estate. Harnett moved to Mosman sometime before 1893.[ii] Harnett had: “purchased most of the Isaac Nichols Estate. He acquired 1,200 acres of land in Willoughby which he subdivided and sold” [iii]
The original Nichol’s Land extended from Blue Gum Creek to Burns Bay on the Lane Cove River and straddled the Pacific Highway.[iv] The 1840 Manuscript map of the Parish of Willoughby[v] shows two of Nichol’s estates.
1. Nichol’s 200 acre “King’s Plains” estate which was bisected north south by what is now the Pacific Highway and in the west by the Fullers Road. The land on the corner of Edgar and Fullers road was part of this estate.[vi] Later this land became part of the Fullers Estate.
2. An estate of 330 acres extending from about Greville Street as a triangle towards the Pacific Highway plus a portion that straddled the Pacific Highway.
In 1876 Harnett: “opened up the area with a subdivision which he called Chatswood Estate”[vii].
Chatswood Estate, owned by Richard Harnett was “later purchased by the Department of Railways for the construction of the station, railway line and goods yard”[viii]
This means that Harnett then at some stage must have purchased that part of Isaac Nichol’s “King’s Plains” Estate east of the Pacific Highway.
It is reported that Charlotte Harnett used to “wander in the nearby woods”[ix]
The words used indicate that Charlotte wandered in woods not necessarily on Chatswood Estate itself but rather in the nearby woods of Isaac Nichol’s “King’s Plains” estate. Note, it is only Henry Lawson’s poem Chatswood that claimed that these woods were actually on the Chatswood Estate. We will examine Lawson’s claim in detail later.
Kylie Murphy[x] records that Lawson’s poem spoke of a young wife nicknamed “Chattie, ...wandered and daydreamed in the local woods. Thus the wood was known as Chatties’ wood”
Note the words “the local woods”, not “her woods” or the woods on her husband’s lands but “local” woods. Woods nearby.
Local residents have always believed that “Chattie’s Wood” referred to the woods on that part of Nichol’s “King’s Plains” estate to the west of the Highway. This is supported by a recently recorded oral history:
“Enid Cambridge (deceased) of 26 James Street, Chatswood was a descendent (niece) of Charlotte Harnett. When she was alive Enid recounted to Jocelyn of 30 James Street, Chatswood that Charlotte had told her she used to take her afternoon walks through woods down the Fullers Road near James, Jenkins and Edgar Streets”[xi]
There is further evidence that there was a very early walking track through woods near Fullers and Edgar Roads.
“we moved to our War Service home in the gully at the foot of Eddy Road, Chatswood West. Fifteen minutes uphill walk took us to Chatswood Station, past many vacant building blocks covered with native shrubs and gum trees”.[xii]
“when I first came to Chatswood I lived in Edgar Street and walked through the bush to Gordon Road, now the Pacific Highway” [xiii]
Chatswood Estate
So how did Harnett’s Chatswood Estate get its name ?
It can be surmised that Harnett may have named the his estate after his wife’s eccentric behavior of walking in the nearby woods. Council’s heritage report records that a portion of Harnett’s property was:
“known as “Chattie’s Wood” until the railway was about to go through”[xiv]
Harnett owned many properties on the North Shore, Chatswood Estate was the one near the woods where Chattie used to wander - Chatswood Estate near Chattie’s Woods had a portion of it named “Chattie’s Wood”.
What were Chattie’s woods ?
“The higher ridges and main plateau (of Chatswood) is covered by a Wianamatta Shale mantle that weathers to a clay-rich, relatively fertile soil and once had magnificent Blue Gum High Forest, with its tall trees of Sydney Blue Gum, Eucalyptus salinga, and Blackbutt, Eucalyptus pilularis.”[xv]
The woods where Chattie used to wander were the woods of the Blue Gum High Forest.
What is the likelihood that there were still woods on the eastern portion of the “King’s Plains” Estate after 1860 ?
“Farming developed in central Willoughby in the mid-nineteenth century, after the Blue Gum High Forest had been logged”[xvi]
In the 1860s when Harnett moved to Willoughby the district was a small community (with a population around 400) made up of farms and orchards of up to five to ten acres. Development had proceeded at such a pace and to such an extent that in 1865, sixty-seven householders petitioned the Governor of the day for the district to be declared a Municipality. In 1871, Richard Harnett became the fourth Mayor of Willoughby. It is said of Harnett “he quietly drove visitors around to see the viewpoints - many of which he had opened out by clearing away patches of forests which obstructed the view” [xvii]
In 1876 when Harnett opened up the Chatswood Estate the population had grown to over 500.
Unlike Harnett, Isaac Nichols may not have been as active on his properties such as “King’s Plains”. Nichols variously held positions as postmaster to the Colony and later became Overseer of Government Works, shipbuilder, trader, innkeeper and trusted friend of Governor Macquarie. He lands were grants (Harnett purchased his holdings from Nichols). Nichols then was very likely an “absentee landlord” for most of the time.
Initially most of the district was bush. In the early 1800s there were many busy sawpits active in the area. Most of the bush was cleared by the early timber-getters. By 1865 it is reported: “most of the countryside in this part of the North Shore was still in its native state; it was covered in sections by thick bush, undergrowth, scrub, trees, stumps of trees left by the timbergetters, rocks, gullies, creeks, waterholes and other natural obstacles to make traveling difficult”[xviii]
In 1866 Council started the construction of roads including Victoria Avenue within the original “King’s Plains”. The area at the time was being used for orchards and vegetable gardens.
The likelihood is that most of the original Blue Gum High Forests along the ridge near Chatswood would have been cleared by the 1860s. Fortunately patches of the forest survived on the slope down the Fullers Road.
Henry Lawson & Chatswood
Henry Lawson’s poem titled Chatswood suggest that Harnett named his estate after a little wood that was on it: “And a little wood was on it, and the trees were tall and good,
And his young wife used to dream there, so they called it “Chatties Wood”[xix]
Lawson goes on in his poem Chatswood: “Chattie’s Wood” has long since gone, and shops are standing in a row, Where the young wife went a dreaming in the days of long ago”
I suggest that Henry Lawson as a poet may have taken some poetic license in the poem. His poem Chatswood was written and published in a small journal called “Lone Hand” in 1919. Richard Hayes Harnett had died in 1902 (nearly twenty years earlier). There are further apparent inconsistencies in Lawson’s poem. Lawson suggests that Hayes went to his small place in the country to be “carefree”. All other evidence points to Harnett being exceptionably energetic and industrious.
Unfortunately Henry was right about one thing. The eucalyptus have certainly gone from the heart of Chatswood. Fortunately we have been able to preserve portions of our heritage in patches throughout Chatswood West in our “Chattie’s Woods”.
CHATSWOOD
So, how did Chatswood get its name
In 1879, following a request from Willoughby Municipal Council: “A post office was established in the area and given the name Chatswood after the Chatswood Estate”[xx]
“that (Chatswood Estate) being the name of the property on which the greatest amount of improvements are being made in the immediate vicinity”[xxi]
“It is quite possible that Richard (Harnett) named is property (Chatswood Estate) after her (his wife Charlotte known as Chattie) and later the suburb (Chatswood) was named after the property (Chatswood Estate).”[xxii]
Thus a third solution to the puzzle posed by Murphy of the derivation of the name Chatswood emerges.
Chatswood was actually named after the trees of the original Blue Gum High Forest being the “Chattie’s woods” of Chatswood West Ward that Charlotte Harnett used to wander and dream in.
Chatswood or Chatsworth
There is an interesting aside about the naming of Chatswood: “The Department of Lands in printing a set of Rate Books requested by Willoughby Municpal Council following the establishment of a new west ward in error used the name Chatsworth instead of Chatswood. These books were used from 1889 to 1895. The next set was given the correct title”.[xxiii]
“The higher ridges and main plateau (of Chatswood) is covered by a Wianamatta Shale mantle that weathers to a clay-rich, relatively fertile soil and once had magnificent Blue Gum High Forest, with its tall trees of Sydney Blue Gum, Eucalyptus salinga, and Blackbutt, Eucalyptus pilularis.”[xv]
The woods where Chattie used to wander were the woods of the Blue Gum High Forest.
What is the likelihood that there were still woods on the eastern portion of the “King’s Plains” Estate after 1860 ?
“Farming developed in central Willoughby in the mid-nineteenth century, after the Blue Gum High Forest had been logged”[xvi]
In the 1860s when Harnett moved to Willoughby the district was a small community (with a population around 400) made up of farms and orchards of up to five to ten acres. Development had proceeded at such a pace and to such an extent that in 1865, sixty-seven householders petitioned the Governor of the day for the district to be declared a Municipality. In 1871, Richard Harnett became the fourth Mayor of Willoughby. It is said of Harnett “he quietly drove visitors around to see the viewpoints - many of which he had opened out by clearing away patches of forests which obstructed the view” [xvii]
In 1876 when Harnett opened up the Chatswood Estate the population had grown to over 500.
Unlike Harnett, Isaac Nichols may not have been as active on his properties such as “King’s Plains”. Nichols variously held positions as postmaster to the Colony and later became Overseer of Government Works, shipbuilder, trader, innkeeper and trusted friend of Governor Macquarie. He lands were grants (Harnett purchased his holdings from Nichols). Nichols then was very likely an “absentee landlord” for most of the time.
Initially most of the district was bush. In the early 1800s there were many busy sawpits active in the area. Most of the bush was cleared by the early timber-getters. By 1865 it is reported: “most of the countryside in this part of the North Shore was still in its native state; it was covered in sections by thick bush, undergrowth, scrub, trees, stumps of trees left by the timbergetters, rocks, gullies, creeks, waterholes and other natural obstacles to make traveling difficult”[xviii]
In 1866 Council started the construction of roads including Victoria Avenue within the original “King’s Plains”. The area at the time was being used for orchards and vegetable gardens.
The likelihood is that most of the original Blue Gum High Forests along the ridge near Chatswood would have been cleared by the 1860s. Fortunately patches of the forest survived on the slope down the Fullers Road.
Henry Lawson & Chatswood
Henry Lawson’s poem titled Chatswood suggest that Harnett named his estate after a little wood that was on it: “And a little wood was on it, and the trees were tall and good,
And his young wife used to dream there, so they called it “Chatties Wood”[xix]
Lawson goes on in his poem Chatswood: “Chattie’s Wood” has long since gone, and shops are standing in a row, Where the young wife went a dreaming in the days of long ago”
I suggest that Henry Lawson as a poet may have taken some poetic license in the poem. His poem Chatswood was written and published in a small journal called “Lone Hand” in 1919. Richard Hayes Harnett had died in 1902 (nearly twenty years earlier). There are further apparent inconsistencies in Lawson’s poem. Lawson suggests that Hayes went to his small place in the country to be “carefree”. All other evidence points to Harnett being exceptionably energetic and industrious.
Unfortunately Henry was right about one thing. The eucalyptus have certainly gone from the heart of Chatswood. Fortunately we have been able to preserve portions of our heritage in patches throughout Chatswood West in our “Chattie’s Woods”.
CHATSWOOD
So, how did Chatswood get its name
In 1879, following a request from Willoughby Municipal Council: “A post office was established in the area and given the name Chatswood after the Chatswood Estate”[xx]
“that (Chatswood Estate) being the name of the property on which the greatest amount of improvements are being made in the immediate vicinity”[xxi]
“It is quite possible that Richard (Harnett) named is property (Chatswood Estate) after her (his wife Charlotte known as Chattie) and later the suburb (Chatswood) was named after the property (Chatswood Estate).”[xxii]
Thus a third solution to the puzzle posed by Murphy of the derivation of the name Chatswood emerges.
Chatswood was actually named after the trees of the original Blue Gum High Forest being the “Chattie’s woods” of Chatswood West Ward that Charlotte Harnett used to wander and dream in.
Chatswood or Chatsworth
There is an interesting aside about the naming of Chatswood: “The Department of Lands in printing a set of Rate Books requested by Willoughby Municpal Council following the establishment of a new west ward in error used the name Chatsworth instead of Chatswood. These books were used from 1889 to 1895. The next set was given the correct title”.[xxiii]
References
[i] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4.
[ii] Heritage Report, Willoughby City Council, February 1996 re DA 1994/0927.
[iii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p24
[iv] Doyle C, A Respected Colonist, William henry of Lane Cove, The William and Jane Henry Association, 1987 p17 (Map of Lane Cove)
[v] Russell E, Willoughby, A Centenary History of the Municipality from Earliest Times, The Council of the Municipality of Willoughby, 1966 p.17
[vi] Heritage Report, Willoughby City Council, February 1996 re DA 1994/0927.
[vii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p24
[viii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4.
[ix] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4.
[x] Murphy K, Lawson poem may have wood on suburb’s naming, Advocate, 15th January 1986.
[xi] Leslie, L. 33 Jenkins Street, Chatswood, 9th February 1996.
[xii] McDonald M, “Sixty years holds a place in memory, in Phillips, V. The good old days, The Council of the City of Willoughby, 1983 p.17
[xiii] Howe H. The Fuller’s Road Story in Phillips, V. The good old days, The Council of the City of Willoughby, 1983 p.49
[xiv] Willoughby City Council papers, Item 18, 12th February 1996
[xv] Benson D & Howell J. Taken for Granted, The Bushland of Sydney and its suburbs, Kangaroo Press and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 1990 p.134
[xvi] ibid p135
[xvii] Leplastrier C. Willoughby’s Fifty Years, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1915. 1988 edition p26
[xviii] Russell E, Willoughby, A Centenary History of the Municipality from Earliest Times, The Council of the Municipality of Willoughby, 1966 p.21
[xix] Lawson, H. An Illustrated Treasury - poem entitled Chatswood.
[xx] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p24
[xxi] Murphy Kylie, Lawson poem may have wood on suburb’s naming, Advocate, 15th January 1986
[xxii] Murphy Kylie, Lawson poem may have wood on suburb’s naming, Advocate, 15th January 1986 quoting local historians Nick Manfield and Deidre Newton.
[xxiii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4
[i] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4.
[ii] Heritage Report, Willoughby City Council, February 1996 re DA 1994/0927.
[iii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p24
[iv] Doyle C, A Respected Colonist, William henry of Lane Cove, The William and Jane Henry Association, 1987 p17 (Map of Lane Cove)
[v] Russell E, Willoughby, A Centenary History of the Municipality from Earliest Times, The Council of the Municipality of Willoughby, 1966 p.17
[vi] Heritage Report, Willoughby City Council, February 1996 re DA 1994/0927.
[vii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p24
[viii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4.
[ix] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4.
[x] Murphy K, Lawson poem may have wood on suburb’s naming, Advocate, 15th January 1986.
[xi] Leslie, L. 33 Jenkins Street, Chatswood, 9th February 1996.
[xii] McDonald M, “Sixty years holds a place in memory, in Phillips, V. The good old days, The Council of the City of Willoughby, 1983 p.17
[xiii] Howe H. The Fuller’s Road Story in Phillips, V. The good old days, The Council of the City of Willoughby, 1983 p.49
[xiv] Willoughby City Council papers, Item 18, 12th February 1996
[xv] Benson D & Howell J. Taken for Granted, The Bushland of Sydney and its suburbs, Kangaroo Press and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 1990 p.134
[xvi] ibid p135
[xvii] Leplastrier C. Willoughby’s Fifty Years, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1915. 1988 edition p26
[xviii] Russell E, Willoughby, A Centenary History of the Municipality from Earliest Times, The Council of the Municipality of Willoughby, 1966 p.21
[xix] Lawson, H. An Illustrated Treasury - poem entitled Chatswood.
[xx] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p24
[xxi] Murphy Kylie, Lawson poem may have wood on suburb’s naming, Advocate, 15th January 1986
[xxii] Murphy Kylie, Lawson poem may have wood on suburb’s naming, Advocate, 15th January 1986 quoting local historians Nick Manfield and Deidre Newton.
[xxiii] Booker N & Bennett I, The West Ward, Willoughby Municipal Council, 1988 p4
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