Carpenter Lane.

Please email the Shoalhaven Council council@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au, supporting the name Carpenter Lane by COB 2nd June
Quoting reference: 33591COB  

The HWCV asks Shoalhaven Council staff and Councillors to:

  1. Reject the name Avoca Lane for the unnamed lane off Owen St, Huskisson. Reasons include the overuse of the name in NSW, the fact that the Avoca Guest House was not sited on the lane and importantly, the missed opportunity to recognise local Aboriginal heritage.
  2. Name the lane Carpenter Lane. This would acknowledge a famed Indigenous local resident, Queen Mary Carpenter. A case for the proposed name was tabled at our meeting and is attached.
  3. Contact the Jerrinja LALC for endorsement. This HWCV request is subject to the JLALCs approval.
  4. To confirm regrettable advice quoted at the meeting that the Geographic Naming Board no longer accepted two-word street names. The meeting preferred Mary Carpenter Lane.

The motion above was passed unanimously by the Huskisson Woollamia Community Voice Meeting on 29/5/23

We encourage submissions on naming the lane to be made
to council@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au, by COB 2nd June
Quoting reference: 33591COB  

The unnamed lane has a sightline that connects the village centre with the burial resting place of Mary Carpenter.

Queen Mary Carpenter was a famous Huskisson resident. Her funeral in 1928 was widely reported as a scene which will live long in the memory of those who were privileged to witness it. [Nowra Leader 2nd March 1928]

She was buried in February, 1928 on the northern side of the Currambene Creek at Bilong. Later the name Bilong, used by traditional custodians and early settlers, was changed to Myola.

We are told Bilong is regarded by local knowledge keepers as a womans place. Mary’s husband, King Budd Billy AKA James Golding) is buried in the churchyard at the top of the laneway. It is said that she was instrumental in having him buried there because she anticipated she would be buried within site of his grave.

Naming the unnamed laneway with its view across the creek Mary Carpenter Lane would be a respectful acknowledgement of her important role in Huskisson history. Mary Carpenter has hundreds of descendants in the Shoalhaven and throughout NSW.

While her regard as “Queen” by the local settler community has colonial overtones, there is no doubt that she was a highly regarded, influential and much loved member of both the settler and Aboriginal community.

The evocative postcard of King Budd Billy 11 and Queen Mary, captioned Royalty at Ease, [see below Fig. 3] was sent all over the world by visitors to Huskissson. It is present in postcard collections in many countries, not just Australia. It is arguably one of the most distributed photos of South Coast NSW.

Naming the lane after her acknowledges Huskisson is, was and always will be, an Aboriginal place.

News of her death included not only in The Nowra Leader and the Shoalhaven Telegraph, but also in:

The Daily Telegraph, The Sydney Morning Herald, The  Land, The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser, The Worker (Brisbane), The Maitland Daily Mercury,  The North Western Courier, The Maitland Weekly Mercury, The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal, The Braidwood Review and District Advocate, Barrier Miner, The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser, The Canberra Times,  The Gundagai Independent and Pastoral, Agricultural and Mining Advocate , Western Argus (Kalgoorlie), Mullumbimby Star.

  We encourage submissions on naming the lane to be made
to council@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au, by COB 2nd June quoting reference: 33591 
 
Fig 1 The Nowra Leader 2 March 1928.
Fig 2 The Shoalhaven Telegraph 29 Feb 1928
Figure 3 “Royalty at Ease” Postcard C S Moss, Nowra. c1905 Taken in Huskisson.
Figure 4 This photo of Mary Carpenter (AKA Queen Mary and Mary Golding) aged around 105 appeared in the Sydney Telegraph 29th November 1927. Mary died three months later and was buried with much ceremony at Bilong (now Myola) across the Currambene Creek from Huskisson.
Figure 5 From: Research Report: Connecting with Budd Billy II (Raymond C Nelson) Australian Aboriginal Studies 2008/2 p102
Figure 6 From: Research Report: Connecting with Budd Billy II (Raymond C Nelson) Australian Aboriginal Studies 2008/2 p103
Figure 6

With regards the Avoca Guesthouse

Photographs show the guest house was on the corner of Owen and Hawke Streets, not on the laneway corner.
The guesthouse was a feature of life in Huskisson and was originally the home of James Dent. The Dent Family sold the property in October 1938.
Alan Clarke has written a 2-page history, Remembering Huskisson’s Avoca Guest House in the May 2023 edition of the SHS quarterly journal The Chronograph.

Fig 7