Poets, Politics and the Pacific Port City That Never Was!
Journey through the early years of NSW as the Halloran family forges alliances with the Governor, a famous poet and a Federation politician, after their serial conman patriarch founded Sydney’s oldest and most prestigious private school. Hear about the city planned in a Canberra style at Jervis Bay.
Come and meet some of the notable colonial and Federation identities of New South Wales as the Halloran family forges its dynasty of land experts and professionals in the early years of the formation of the southern colony. Formidable alliances were bound with Governor Lachlan Macquarie, merchant Simeon Lord, merino magnate John Macarthur, while later connections were made with Father of Federation Henry Parkes and renowned poet Henry Kendall. Hear how the serial conman patriarch of the clan founded one of the oldest and most prestigious private schools in Sydney, while his grandson created NSW estates in the garden city style of Burley Griffin’s Canberra which were marked out but never occupied including a port city at Jervis Bay for Australia’s capital. A number of interesting links with historic Tanilba House in the Newcastle area are also related from the first land grant to the erection of the original homestead. Morning Tea will be served after the powerpoint presentation.