Sunday 29 April 2007

Richmond, NSW

The rain cleared today so we took a run to Richmond. I wanted to take some photos for the This is how I see it: Sydney group on Flickr. Each month they vote on a suburb to visit and photograph and as I was one who voted for Richmond, I at least had to make the effort to go.

Richmond is in the Hawkesbury River valley, which was first explored in 1789.

In 1794, 22 farms were marked out from South Creek to Wilberforce and, within four years, the area was populated by 600 free settlers as well as convict labourers.

In 1810, Governor Macquarie established five towns in the area - Windsor, Richmond, Wilberforce, Pitt Town and Castlereagh.

These towns are commonly referred to as "Macquarie towns"

The Hawkesbury Show was on this weekend, so the commercial end of town seemed fairly quiet (or maybe that's normal for a Richmond Sunday)

We stopped at St. Peters cemetery first, again for photos, because I started a Flickr group for Sydney cemeteries then realised all my cemetery photos were on film and weren't scanning well. I could have spent more time there, I need more practice getting 'arty' type photos.

St. Peters burial ground was laid out in January 1811 - together with the site for the church and schoolhouse - under Governor Macquaries direction.
The cemetery contains graves of many well known pioneers, including John and Honour Bowman (George Bowmans parents), Paul Randall (the original proprietor of the Black Horse Inn) famous midwife Margaret Catchpole, William Cox Senior of "Hobartville" and Joseph Onus Junior (who was mayor from 1873 to 1875).

St. Peters Cemetery, Richmond, NSW

St. Peters Cemetery, Richmond, NSW

St. Peters Cemetery, Richmond, NSW

Out of the cemetery and into Richmond town - just loved the way the war memorial had the cannons pointed straight at the train stop - it really is the end of the line!

Richmond, NSW

and where else can you get a cosmopolitan spread like vietnamese bread, thai takeway and a tandoori restaurant and STILL drive your tractor to town

Richmond, NSW

There are more photos in the Richmond set on Flickr, I'll leave you with these entry floor tiles at the School of Arts, a nice quilting inspiration

Richmond, NSW

3 comments:

shula said...

Cemeteries.

I love them.

Anonymous said...

These are great photos. I particularly like the canon & train , and your commentry on the shops & tractor, how diverse. Ux

Erica said...

thanks Shula, I like wandering around old cemeteries, glad you enjoyed Richmond

Related Posts with Thumbnails