Denizens of Oolong Creek

Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and John Alchin (1821-1901).

Land on Oolong Creek was first made available for sale by auction in 1851, although several farmers had already taken up selections there prior to that year – men such as Simeon Lord (land grant) and Thomas Brown (land purchase).

Announcement of Land Auctions,
Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle
Advertiser, 25 October 1851, p. 4.

The location of land in these years was always described according to creeks, for example, near “Blackeney [Blakney] Creek”, “commencing at Pudman Creek”, “at Jerrawa Creek, near the head of Oolong Creek” or “at Oolong Creek or Chain of Ponds”. It was valuable to know where these and other water courses started and finished.

Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and his sons John Alchin (1821-1901), William James Alchin (1827-1918) and Charles Alchin (1837-1908) were active in land transactions from the 1850s and into the 1860s at Oolong Creek. Dalton and Oolong Creek were the “seats” of the Alchin family in the district well into the later part of the nineteenth century and into the years following Federation.

Map, c. 1864, Showing Land Portions on Oolong Creek - Ambrose Alchin & John Alchin (circled)

During the Dalton-Oolong Creek period the Alchins spread further afield to Gunning, Chain of Ponds, Manton’s Creek, Jerrawa and Bowning where farming, grazing and labouring were family occupations.

Other Early “Denizens” of the Dalton-Oolong Creek District:
Charles Alchin (1837-1908) and William James Alchin (1827-1913)

Ambrose Alchin: the x3 great grandfather of Garry Norman Smith; John Alchin: x2 great uncle; William James Alchin: x2 great uncle; Charles Alchin: x2 great grandfather.

Garry Norman Smith is a regular guest contributor to the Gunning & District Historical Society's blog. If you have an idea for an article or photographs you are willing to share, please contact us at gunninghistory@gmail.com.

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