Kerewong Estate

In 1906 the NSW Government passed legislation to enable the construction of a railway connection from Maitland to South Grafton.¹ Many owners of large land holdings along the route saw this as an incentive to subdivide their property.

One such enterprising individual was Albert Edwin Smith, Manager of the Commercial Bank in Taree.² In 1910 he had in his possession some 5466 acres of land situated between Cundle and Lansdowne which, with the expectation of a railway station nearby, he subdivided into farm lots.

The unsold portion of the holding was sold to William Christian Daish in 1912³ and was further subdivided, but buyers were scarce. Daish was a medical practitioner and a somewhat colourful character who had just divested himself of a large pastoral property in western NSW. Not confining his interests to medicine, he dealt in land and became Mayor of Nyngan.⁴

No stranger to law courts, he devised an unusual defence argument when called upon as an expert witness in a criminal case⁵ and, on two occasions when young women died from unexplained causes, his personal involvement raised questions.⁶ Dr Daish died in Mosman (NSW) in 1947 aged 83 years.⁷

The area marketed as Kerewong never fulfilled its potential and is now known as Melinga.

Author: Penny Teerman