The Ash Island history archive
Twenty-five years of research, scanning and interviews lived on our old history site, ashisland.org.au. This index accounts for every one of its 67 pages, so the whole archive has now moved into this new home with nothing lost. Every page below lives here.
67 pages on ashisland.org.au · 65 migrate (the empty Blank Page stub is retired, and the duplicate gallery hub is consolidated) · the two pages duplicated from kooragangwetlands.com merge into this site's Wetlands wing · 1,175 media-library items move to new storage, nothing left behind on the old server.
Named contributors whose credits travel with their pages: Cherylanne Bailey · Beatrice Brooks · Vera Deacon · Morrie Fenton · Catie Gilchrist (Dictionary of Sydney) · Fran Dorey (Australian Museum) · Dr Anne Llewellyn (University of Newcastle) · Edward James Sparke (A Remarkably Fine Place) · Williams, Watford & Balashov (NSW Fisheries) · John Turner · Marian Ord · radarreturns.net.au.
Two to start with
One farming family and one boat-building family, a taste of how the archive reads in its new home. The full index below links every page.
William Milham
Sussex emigrant, tenant farmer, then one of the island's first freeholders, and the man whose herd the 1893 flood reduced to fourteen cows.
The Towns Brothers
Eight decades of fine boat-building on Dempsey Island, and George Towns junior, twice champion sculler of the world.
The full index
The Scott family · 14 pages
- A.W. Scott, part one and part two
- Harriet + Helena Scott by Cherylanne Bailey · feature built: the Scott sisters
- Harriet + Helena Scott 2 by Catie Gilchrist, Dictionary of Sydney
- Harriet + Helena Scott 3 by Dr Anne Llewellyn
- The Scott Family Story
- Helenus Scott
- Robert and Helenus Scott
- Augusta Maria Scott
- Patrick Scott
- Harriet Calcott by Fran Dorey, Australian Museum
- Rose Scott
- David Scott Mitchell
- James Mitchell
Settler families & islanders · 13 pages
- William Milham
- Towns Brothers by Cherylanne Bailey
- Sparke Family draws on E.J. Sparke's A Remarkably Fine Place
- Franz Josef Schuck by Cherylanne Bailey
- Robert Schuck
- James Ford by Cherylanne Bailey
- Peterson Family by Cherylanne Bailey
- Daniel Lintott
- Croese Family
- Jordan Family
- Rommel Family
- George Tongue
- Francis Hughes
First Peoples of the estuary · 2 pages
- Indigenous Inhabitants by Cherylanne Bailey + Beatrice Brooks · migrated verbatim, never paraphrased
- Moscquito and Dempsey island naming history · same rule where it touches Aboriginal history
Island & estuary history · 12 pages
- Ash Island History
- Ash Island
- A Land of Plenty
- Development Timeline also built: the interactive timeline
- Pre Industrial ten islands before reclamation
- Timber Getting
- Farming
- Estuary the archive's biggest page
- Butcher Boats
- Island Settlement
- Moscheto Island
- Visitors Leichhardt, the Goulds, Conrad Martens
Wartime · 1 page
- 131 Radar Station editor credit Morrie Fenton · full article PDF, courtesy of radarreturns.net.au
Photo galleries · 14 pages, 1,175 media items
- Photos gallery hub and general gallery
- Schoolmasters House Restoration, five galleries PA01 series · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · also a curated set is built
- 131 Radar Station Restoration PA14 series, 1995
- Historic Photos HF series, scanned prints
- Ash Island Regeneration, five galleries PA04–PA05 series · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5
Reference & site pages · 11 pages
- Home · About · Information · Contact archived; this unified site is now the live front door
- Heritage Worimi/Awabakal custodianship framing · verbatim rule applies
- Kooragang Wetlands · History cross-site duplicates · merged into the Wetlands wing
- Maps historic + trail maps · also built: the trail map
- Links external resources, including the Vera Deacon material
- Gallery redirect + Blank Page stub · retired, nothing on it
FOTSH archive scan
FOTSH archive scan
From the Sparke family page
FOTSH archive scan
The library
The working documents behind the wetlands: species lists, fact sheets and the radar history, all hosted right here so no link dies with an old server.
Species lists (PDF)
Fact sheets & guides (PDF)
- Saltmarsh in the Hunter estuary
- HBOC birding route for Ash Island credit: Hunter Bird Observers Club
- 131 Radar Ash Island 1942–46 courtesy of radarreturns.net.au · editor Morrie Fenton
Elsewhere, worth your time
- 3D Virtual Hunter · Scott's homestead reconstructed
- Ludwig Leichhardt diaries guide · University of Newcastle
- Vera Deacon, remembered · her recollections run right through this archive
Ask us about visiting, volunteering or the island's history
We're a small volunteer team at the Schoolmasters House. Send your question through and we'll reply as soon as we can.
