Oaks Estate, Australian Capital Territory
Encyclopedia
Oaks Estate is an urban village situated immediately on the northern side of the NSW
-ACT
border abutting the township of Queanbeyan
in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia
. The estate covers an area of approximately 40 hectares and is bound by the Molonglo River to the north, 'The Oaks' to the east and the Queanbeyan-Cooma railway to the south. The village is located 12 kilometres from the centre of Canberra
. The village is also noteworthy as the nucleus of Queanbeyan's industrial development during the second half of the 19th century. Oaks Estate takes its name from 'The Oaks', which was part of Duntroon
, Robert Campbell's farming estate. This makes Oaks Estate one of only a few place names in the ACT with significant connections to early colonial times.
Timothy Beard, a pardoned convict and former innkeeper from Campbelltown
in New South Wales
was the first European to occupy the area. In the mid 1820s he drove cattle from Liverpool to graze near the junction of the Molonglo and Queanbeyan Rivers. His station huts which he named ‘Queenbeeann’were located two kilometres downstream from the Molonglo/Queanbeyan River junction in what is today the abattoir paddock. The township of Queanbeyan was established in 1838 about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south east of Oaks Estate.
In 1877 John Bull, a farmer and grazier from Tarago NSW purchased from Charles Campbell, the son of Robert, 100 acres of land including the building known as ‘The Oaks’. He operated the inn as the ‘Elmsall Inn’. In the same year John Bull established Hazelbrook Works, a wool washing works and fellmonger near the junction of the Queanbeyan and Molonglo rivers.
In 1885 George Tompsitt bought Hazelbrook Works and renamed it the Hazelbrook Wool Scouring Works, Tannery and Wholesale Produce Warehouses. With a major business expansion Oaks Estate became the nucleus of Queanbeyan industry. The Queanbeyan Railway Station opened in September 1887 and the auction of the sale of the first residential allotments in Oaks Estate took place a few months later. In the early 1890s a local businessman established the Queanbeyan Roller Flour Mill in the Oaks Estate
,the Federal Capital Territory
was brought into existence on 1 January 1911. The Goulburn-Cooma railway line was prescribed as the eastern territorial boundary, Oaks Estate was excised from Queanbeyan by the federal Act of Parliament and a 20 metre long railway bridge. The Queanbeyan station is located on the southern side of the tracks adjacent to Oaks Estate and a road bridge links Oaks Estate to Queanbeyan.
The Oaks burial ground was Queanbeyan's first cemetery established in 1838 until the Riverside cemetery was opened in 1846. The existence of Queanbeyan's earliest burial site was lost to time until 1991 when old human remains were unearthed. The earthly remains of more than 40 Queanbeyan settlers are buried there.http://www.interment.net/data/aus/act/oaks/
Located there is:
period and consist of chert
, phyllite
and quartz
rich mica
ceous sandstone
. This area of the ACT is structurally on the Cullarin Horst, an uplifted area.
A small patch of black Acton Shale
is in the south east end of the settlement.
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
-ACT
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
border abutting the township of Queanbeyan
Queanbeyan, New South Wales
Queanbeyan is a regional centre in the Southern Tablelands in south-eastern New South Wales adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory. The city's mixed economy is based on light construction, high technology, manufacturing, service, retail and agriculture. It is the council seat of the...
in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The estate covers an area of approximately 40 hectares and is bound by the Molonglo River to the north, 'The Oaks' to the east and the Queanbeyan-Cooma railway to the south. The village is located 12 kilometres from the centre of Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. The village is also noteworthy as the nucleus of Queanbeyan's industrial development during the second half of the 19th century. Oaks Estate takes its name from 'The Oaks', which was part of Duntroon
Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory
Duntroon is a suburb of the city of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.-History:Robert Campbell's property Duntroon was situated on the limestone plains of New South Wales in the area that is now covered by the ACT....
, Robert Campbell's farming estate. This makes Oaks Estate one of only a few place names in the ACT with significant connections to early colonial times.
Colonial
Campbelltown, New South Wales
Campbelltown is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campbelltown is located 51 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Campbelltown.- History :Campbelltown...
in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
was the first European to occupy the area. In the mid 1820s he drove cattle from Liverpool to graze near the junction of the Molonglo and Queanbeyan Rivers. His station huts which he named ‘Queenbeeann’were located two kilometres downstream from the Molonglo/Queanbeyan River junction in what is today the abattoir paddock. The township of Queanbeyan was established in 1838 about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south east of Oaks Estate.
In 1877 John Bull, a farmer and grazier from Tarago NSW purchased from Charles Campbell, the son of Robert, 100 acres of land including the building known as ‘The Oaks’. He operated the inn as the ‘Elmsall Inn’. In the same year John Bull established Hazelbrook Works, a wool washing works and fellmonger near the junction of the Queanbeyan and Molonglo rivers.
In 1885 George Tompsitt bought Hazelbrook Works and renamed it the Hazelbrook Wool Scouring Works, Tannery and Wholesale Produce Warehouses. With a major business expansion Oaks Estate became the nucleus of Queanbeyan industry. The Queanbeyan Railway Station opened in September 1887 and the auction of the sale of the first residential allotments in Oaks Estate took place a few months later. In the early 1890s a local businessman established the Queanbeyan Roller Flour Mill in the Oaks Estate
After federation
Two years after the passing of the Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909
The Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909 is an Australian Commonwealth Government act, that in conjunction with the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909 transferred land from the state of New South Wales to the Commonwealth for the creation of the Federal Capital Territory .The act was signed on...
,the Federal Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
was brought into existence on 1 January 1911. The Goulburn-Cooma railway line was prescribed as the eastern territorial boundary, Oaks Estate was excised from Queanbeyan by the federal Act of Parliament and a 20 metre long railway bridge. The Queanbeyan station is located on the southern side of the tracks adjacent to Oaks Estate and a road bridge links Oaks Estate to Queanbeyan.
The Oaks burial ground was Queanbeyan's first cemetery established in 1838 until the Riverside cemetery was opened in 1846. The existence of Queanbeyan's earliest burial site was lost to time until 1991 when old human remains were unearthed. The earthly remains of more than 40 Queanbeyan settlers are buried there.http://www.interment.net/data/aus/act/oaks/
Place names
The street names in Oaks Estate village mark the name of some significant historic figures in its development over the past 150 years.| Street name | Probable origin |
|---|---|
| Florence Street | Florence Bull was John Bull’s daughter |
| Railway Street | Proximity of street to the railway easement |
| George Street | George Tompsitt purchased a portion of John Bull’s land which included the ‘The Oaks’ and the wool washing works and fellmongery |
| Hazel Street | Hazelbrook Works was a wool washing and fellmongering industry established in 1877 by John Bull and purchased by George Tompsitt in 1885. |
| Hill Street | Road name in use for many years |
| McEwen Avenue | Former Prime Minister and Minister for the Interior, John McEwen was instrumental in extending Canberra's water supply to Oakes Estate. The water tank is located at the end of this road |
| River Street | The road leads to the Molonglo River |
| William Street | In 1885 William Price, a Sydney merchant, purchased the remaining portion of John Bull’s land |
Amenities
Oaks Estate has a population of about 330. The village supports a mixture of industrial and commercial uses in storage, warehousing, light metal fabrication, liquor storage and retailing as well as some ACT Government public housing.Located there is:
- allotment gardenAllotment (gardening)An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
- the water pollution control centre,
- council city nursery,
- saleyards,
- electricity substation,
- a sportsground,
- several horse holding paddocks,
- an abattoir,
- a tannery,
- a Local Liquor store,
- an antiques restoration workshop.
Geology
Under Oaks Estate are rocks from the Pittman formation. These are from the OrdovicianOrdovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
period and consist of chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, phyllite
Phyllite
Phyllite is a type of foliated metamorphic rock primarily composed of quartz, sericite mica, and chlorite; the rock represents a gradation in the degree of metamorphism between slate and mica schist. Minute crystals of graphite, sericite, or chlorite impart a silky, sometimes golden sheen to the...
and quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
rich mica
Mica
The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
ceous sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. This area of the ACT is structurally on the Cullarin Horst, an uplifted area.
A small patch of black Acton Shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
is in the south east end of the settlement.