The naming of American Creek, Mt Kembla
For hardcore local history lovers on Kembla Jottings, how exactly a creek on the Illawarra escarpment came to be known as the "American Creek" has been a continuing discussion that has been going on in the Illawarra for decades. Newspapers, articles and publications have put forward various versions, and while the jury may still be out for some, for me the scales have tipped firmly towards Kevin Stone's suggestion that it was named after the 1840 American Exploration Expedition (Stone 1974:1).
The earliest depiction of American Creek. 'Waterfall at American Creek 5 Dec 1859' by Eugene Von Guerard,
from the collections of the State Library of NSW.
The debate centres around identifying which Americans or even Canadians mistaken for Americans first camped near this mountain creek in the early 1840s and so forever after the creek became known as the creek the Americans camped at, or the American Creek. What this creek was called by the original Dharawal people is as yet unknown. There is some evidence to point towards the creek being referred to as the Fig Tree Creek by early settlers. This is not surprising given that the large fig tree that gave the Wollongong suburb of Figtree its name stood as a landmark on the lower stretches of this same creek. Several creeks merged before the creek reached the landmark fig tree: these are now known as American Creek, Brandy and Water Creek and Branch Creek. In his reminisces published in 1863, Charles Throsby Smith, an early Wollongong resident and nephew of Charles Throsby, mentions the Fig Tree Creek and the Charcoal Creek as having to be crossed over by the Military camped at Red Point. Keep in mind that Charles Smith also mentions that Gregory Blaxland (the Blue Mountain's explorer) had selected the Keelogues estate in Figtree to grow tobacco "for the purpose of keeping away the American tobacco" (Illawarra Mercury 9.2.1863).
The first attempt at an explanation as to where the name American Creek came from seems to come from an elderly Robert James in 1924. Robert was the son of William James who had purchased Lot 128 in the heart of Mt Kembla in 1847. Robert was born in 1839 in Berkley and came to Mt Kembla with his parents at the age of 9. He grew up and lived in Mt Kembla his whole life and witnessed most of its early history watching it transform from rural properties carved out of the rainforest into a coal mining community. In the article discovered on TROVE and shared to Kembla Jottings by Helen Upton titled REMINISCENCES OF ILLAWARRA, Robert said it was Americans growing tobacco on a large scale along the banks of the creek circa 1850s that gave American Creek its name (Illawarra Mercury 16.5.1924).
Illawarra Mercury, excerpt Reminiscences of Illawarra 16th May 1924
Another version is that the creek was named after a group of Americans harvested red cedar from its banks using a broad axe. Kevin Stone in his book 'A Profile History of Mount Kembla' postulates that these Americans could have been part of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1840 who were camped nearby at Keelogues Estate through which this same creek flows (Stone 2002:8). The Americans were on an exploration expedition led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes and had anchored in Sydney spending time exploring the region, describing both the natural landscape and the manner in which the inhabitants both Indigenous and European lived. A smaller group including geologist James Dwight Dana (1813-1895) and artist Alfred Thomas Agate (1812-1846) travelled to Wollongong by steamer in January 1840 and were made welcome at Mr John Hubert Plunkett (1802-1869) the Attorney-General of the colony's farm in Keelogues. The Keelogues Estate was an original selection of 1280 acres belonging to Gregory Blaxland, but had been been purchased by Plunkett on the 12th of March 1837 (after Blaxland had failed in his tobacco growing endeavours), he was in process of selling it off for a tidy profit. The Americans noted that Mr Plunkett had purchased his farm for 700 pounds but had sold it two years later for 1400 pounds. They described his farm as "about two hundred acres, and it is exceedingly pretty. The residence of Mr. Plunket is a neat cottage, built after the manner of the settlers, and is well adapted to the country. It is surrounded by the most luxuriant foliage, nearly all of which has a tropical character, and includes palms, cabbage-trees, and several varieties of tree-ferns, all growing to a great height." (Wilkes 1845:243).
The most popular and persisting theory though, is that it was French Canadian/American political prisoners exiled to Australia as convicts who later settled in the Illawarra that gave the creek its name. "Beside the road to Mount Kembla, flows American Creek which gets its name from the cedar getters (actually Canadians) who made camp behind Mount Kembla and harvested the valuable red timber in the 1840’s." Wollongong Heritage & Stories. This version was circulating from at least 1954 as this letter to the editor by Ethel M Harris in the Sydney Morning Herald shows.
Ethel is correct, there was indeed a French Canadian rebel, Joseph Marceau, who settled in the Illawarra in the early 1840s. He was one of 58 prisoners from the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-38 who arrived in Sydney in February 1840 and was sent to work in a convict gang on Parramatta Road. Meanwhile, the American prisoners from the same rebellion were sent on to hard labour in Van Deimen's Land. Marceau and his fellow French Canadian prisoners received tickets of leave in 1842, then in January 1844 after international condemnation, Queen Victoria granted all the political prisoners pardons. With his freedom attained, Joseph Marceau married Dapto girl Mary Catherine Barrett on the 9th of October 1844 and settled in the Dapto area of the Illawarra where they raised 11 children. He later bought lots 217 and 216 in the Cordeaux River Valley (McNamara 2007:33). We can't say for certain when Marceau first came down to the Illawarra, but even if he had made it before 1844, being a French Canadian his accent could have hardly been confused as American.
A Migration Heritage Project report by Zofia Laba states that "Before he moved to Dapto, Marceau met Ira Polley and Hiram Sharpe in Sydney two Americans who took part in the Canadian Rebellion... When Polley and Sharp had been granted their freedom, they decided to join Marceau and moved to the Illawarra. Using American axes, all three men cleared the bush and cut cedar near Mount Kembla (in the area known as American Creek which had been named after them)." (Laba 2012:10 & 13). If the quote above is true then the earliest date all three men could have been in the Illawarra together cutting red cedar along the creek needs to be determined. Ira Polley left Tasmania in October 1844 and received his pardon on the 18th of December 1844; Hiram Sharpe left Tasmania for Sydney in August 1846 (Carter 2014 ). Therefore the earliest all three could have been down in the Illawarra could not have been before 1846. Local historian Dr Joseph Davis focused in on the American Ira Polly as likely giving his nationality to the creek based on his earliest finding at the time of his publication, of the name "American Creek" being published in 1844 (Davis: 2018). However, Kevin Stone points out that the name American Creek was already in use by 1842, so this version cannot be the original reason for the naming of American Creek.
To confirm Kevin Stone's date of 1842 and put aside all doubt, I visited the NSW Lands Department in Sydney to see for myself the earliest deeds for land grants in Mt Kembla and find out just how the properties were described. The area at that time was part of the Great Reserve in the County of Camden, but the Parish had not yet been named Kembla. In describing the parcels of land, the land grants listed the properties as having a boundary adjoining the"American Creek". These properties were sold by Public Auction on 11th of October 1842, confirming Stone's statement that the name American Creek was already in use by 1842. Below is the very first recorded land purchase of 43 acres in what we now know of as the village of Mt Kembla, sold by public auction for fifty five pounds and eighteen shillings on the above date to Henry Gordon as Lot 10, later know as Lot 93.
First land purchased in the Village of Mt Kembla by Henry Gordon from the NSW Lands Department.
When I shared my findings with Dr Joe Davis he shared with me his latest discovery of the earliest known published mention of "American Creek" in the New South Wales Government Gazette also dated 11.10.1842.
There were five lots for sale on the American Creek at the first Public Auction of land at Mt Kembla on this date. Four were purchased by Henry Gordon of Sydney, and one was purchased by Patrick Lehaey (Leahaney) of the Illawarra (see previous post for more on the Leahaney family). These parcels of land are highlighted in yellow below.
First publication of the name "American Creek",
Annotated 1916 map showing American Creek through the first land grants sold in Mt Kembla and the adjoining Keelogues estate, from the collections of the National Library of Australia.
With the American Expedition being hosted at Keelogues through which American Creek flows only two years prior to the name "American Creek" appearing on land deeds, it seems they were the most likely people for whom the creek was named. This doesn't mean that there isn't truth in the other versions. In fact it may be a case of "Chinese whispers" with all three elements: tobacco, cedar and Americans all being involved. The American Expedition could very well have harvested the red cedar/timber with their American axes during their explorations. The later visits by Canadian and American nationals could also have cleared the ground, harvesting red cedar and growing tobacco on Lehaey's land. Blaxland failed tobacco venture to discourage American tobacco imports might have been an early catalyst for others following suit. The later American/Canadian arrivals would have simply reinforced the name American Creek in the minds of locals and possibly confused later early settlers like Robert James as to the origin of the name American Creek.
Researched and written by Georgina - Feb 2019, updated March 2019.
References:
Carter, John C, 2014 They Left Jefferson County Forever.. published on Thousand Islands Life.com
City of Wollongong, ON A QUIET AFTERNOON IN MOUNT KEMBLA, Wollongong Heritage & Stories, accessed January 2019
Davis, Joseph, 2018, THE MAN WHO LIKELY GAVE HIS NATIONALITY TO AMERICAN CREEK, Academia, accessed February 2019
Deeds, 1843 Henry Gordon and Patrick Lehaey accessed at the NSW Lands Department, Sydney February 2019.
Laba, Zofia, 2010, Identifying early Illawarra Pioneers from diverse cultural backgrounds from settlement to the 1940s, A Migration Heritage Research Project, accessed February 2019.
McNamara, J L, 2007, Revised Edition, Life at Cordeaux River.
Stone, KC, 1974, 1st edition, A Profile History of Mount Kembla.
Stone, KC, 2002, Revised Edition, A Profile History of Mount Kembla.
Wilkes, Charles, 1845, 'Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition: During the Years 1838 to 1842'
