Rylstone

On the 21 May 2023 I drove out to the small country town of Rylstone NSW. This was my first visit to this beautiful heritage town and I was able capture some beautiful autumnal photos with the local yellow & gold coloured sand stone buildings that are scattered around the town. I found Rylstone very easy to drive to with signage the whole way. Rylstone is about 1 hour and 15 minutes (99km) from Bathurst or Lithgow.

Rylstone History

The district was originally known as Dabee (under various spellings). There are a number of newspaper articles on Trove referencing to the town as Ryalston in the period 1846 to mid-1850s then referred to as Ryalstone during the late 1850s.

In 1846 the town of Rylstone was laid out by Surveyor W R Davidson to service the local pastoral properties that were taken up 20 years earlier. Within 5 years Rylstone had become a well-established village with mills, post office, school and police lock-up. The Rylstone district was declared as a police district in 1854 and was formally proclaimed a town on 20 March 1885.

Constable’s Residence & Lock Up - 1895

From 1 July 1852, One District Constable (Samuel Taylor) and two Ordinary Constables (Thomas Owen and John Llyod) were allowed for Rylstone. Each man kept a horse at his own expense because of the long distance to travel on duty, serving summonses and escorting prisoners to Bathurst Goal.

The first police office and lock up was a slab timber building on the other side of the street. Being somewhat insecure, risky prisoners were handcuffed to one end of a bullock chain that passed through a wall into the policeman’s bedroom. The policeman would shake it during the night to check if the prisoner was still there.

The current building complex includes a residence with decorative verandah, police office, lock up and exercise yard. The old cells and yard are no longer in use. The cells at the police station were use until 1990.

Surveyor General Walker Rannie Davidson

While I doing my research (searching the internet) to try and learn more about the history of Rylstone to share on my blog one name kept popping up Surveyor Davidson but not a lot of information on who this Surveyor Davidson was. So typical me gets sidetracked and starts searching the internet to try and learn more about this mysterious Davidson.

Surveyor General Walker Rannie Davidson was born in Perthshire, Scotland. Son of James Davidson and Mary Butty, he was Christened at Perth, Scotland on March 15 1808. Davidson immigrated to Australia in 1829, aged 21, and married Christianna Sarah Murray seven years later on July 19 1836, at St James Church, Sydney, Walker and Christianna and had nine children.

Names of Walker and Christianna childern: 1. James Henry, 2. Mary 3. Eleanor Margaret, 4. Walker Rannie, 5. Elizabeth, 6. Murray, 7. Christianna Sarah, 8. Emily, 9. Maud.

A number of Davidson childern were born and christened in Bathurst NSW, which means he was either living in Bathurst or in the surround areas.

Surveyor General Walker Rannie Davidson was Surveyor General of New South Wales from 1862 to 1868, succeeding Alexander Grant McLean. Davidson was succeeded by Philip Francis Adams as Surveyor General of New South Wales. In 1846 the town Rylstone was laid outby Surveyor Davidson. I have not been able to find offical documents of this event.

Walker Davidson died on 20 November 1876 (aged 68) at his property Warbreccan a former sheep station on Wakool Road Deniliquin NSW. Warbreccan covered 25,500 hectares and ran 50,000 sheep. Warbreccan was first leased to John Phillips and John Graves in 1845. Walker Davidson was buried at Deniliquin Cemetry, Edward River Council, New South Wales, Australia. On Friday 1 December 1876 in The Argus (Melbourne, Vic) paper in the death section stated “Deaths DAVIDSON — On the 20th ult, at Warbreccan, in his 69th year, Walker Rannie Davidson, formerly Surveyor General of New South Wales.”

In 2009 Walker Davidson grave site was restored by the office of the NSW Surveyor General and the institution of Surveyors NSW inc.

Rylstone Train Station - 1884

Folkologie

Post Office - 1880

The Bridge Hotel - 1871

Rylstone Historical Society

As always please leave a comment below if I have any information incorrect so I can amend it or if there are any key factors I have missed that I should add to this blog post.

Nadine Travels West.