Budgee Budgee Location and History updated

Norman wrote three columns about Budgee Budgee published on 13th, 20th and 27th April, 2009.
Jack Stanford, now living in retirement in Mudgee with his wife Edna invited Norman to visit him.

Jack was born in Budgee Budgee and lived most of his life in the area around Black Springs Road where he and Edna raised their family on an orchard property. Black Springs Road was named for springs of water close to a house owned by Tudor Allen. In one spring the water is black whilst in another it is blue.

As Jack reminisced about his life Norman made notes: Jack thought that Budgee Budgee was Aboriginal meaning “plenty, plenty” or plenty of water.

The reason “five corners” can no longer be found in the Budgee Budgee locality is because the farms in the early days of settlement usually had flocks of sheep. The sheep ate the “five corners” to the root stock whereas cattle did not touch them. The plant mainly grew on the side of a hill.

In 1930 there was an extreme drought and a lot of local vegetation died. Jack recalled when he was aged about 18 the temperature was 100 degrees Fahrenheit for a month. Apparently St John’s Wort is a recurring curse but can be eradicated by persistently spreading pure salt on new growth.

The names “Pipeclay Creek” and “Pipeclay Lane” appear to have been called after the area once known as “ Pipeclay” but it may have previously been another name now unknown. How it came to be called “Pipeclay” is also unknown but it may have been because the clay in the creek was suitable for making clay pipes used to smoke tobacco.

Jack had an interesting story to relate about the Ulan Road Pipeclay Creek Bridge. Before the bridge was built there was a ford crossing about 50 metres on the western side of the bridge. The remains of the crossing are still visible. On at least three occasions when Pipeclay Creek was in flood people were drowned whilst attempting to cross. Their horse and buggies were swept away. Jack thought they were a Mr Box, a Mr Brack and local poet Kevin Pye’s great grand parent.

Jack recalled that a teacher who taught French at Mudgee High School and his wife, a teacher at Mudgee Public School, were often stranded when the creek flooded. Often they had to travel to Mudgee via School Lane joining up with a road to Mudgee to the West.

Jack was able to pin point the exact location of the Huxley Butcher shop. It still exists in a building which in the 1980s was the scene of a herb farm and shop next to what was then Bramhall Winery.

The story of gold being found close to the Budgee Budgee Inn valued at £3000 was confirmed with the added anecdote that many believe gold can still be found in the vicinity but he was never lucky enough to find any.

Jack was asked about his ancestors. His mother was from the Roth family and he attended the family re-union in 2008 held in Mudgee.

Subsequent to Norman talking to Jack Stanford he met up with Lee Paine who reminded him that her family lived in Budgee Budgee when they migrated from England in 1950. Her parents, Jack and Norah Hodgkinson lived with their family in a little old house in a paddock near what is now Box Lane. Only the chimney remains standing today.

Jack was a carpenter and builder who renovated the house to make it habitable. Lee lived there for approximately six months before she left to become a teacher at Newcastle Teachers’ College.

Lee recalled that on one occasion the school bus could not make the Pipeclay Creek crossing due to a flood. Lee thought the bridge was built in the 1960s after the family had moved to a house in Eurunderee.

Budgee Budgee Location and History

Budgee Budgee on the other side of Mudgee is not a village. It is a locality.

The name first appeared on old maps. How the name originated is not known. The name or a close related one does not appear in dictionaries or in lists of “Wiradjuri” (the local clan) or other Aboriginal place names.

Budgee Budgee and surrounding areas.

The locality is bounded by Pipeclay Creek in the south and ends a few kilometres to the north. It is mainly centred on either side of the Ulan Road (once called the Cassilis Road and many residents still do) and the various lanes that are connected to it.

In 1993 Gil Wahlquist, who was the owner at that time of Botobolar Winery and marketed a white wine named Budgee Budgee was unable to give a definition. Likewise Ross Webb who had restored the Budgee Budgee Inn was unaware as to how the name Budgee Budgee originated.

Sketch of Budgee Budgee Inn, courtesy of Ross Webb

One local thought the dual Budgee Budgee meant ‘a lot of’ and related to flocks of small parrots or ‘budgerigars’ which once inhabited the area. Another, Belle Roberts, who lived in the area many years ago, recollected it meant a small bush, therefore, lots of small bushes.

Further research led into a strange by-way—the likely interpretation that the 1870s was the era of the rhyming slang of the early settlers and the miners. This was spoken in particular by the Irish larrikin types, teamsters and bullockies who were noted for this method of talking a large number of whom had settled in the area. They simply used Budgee to rhyme with Mudgee.

None of these explanations account for the fact that Budgee Budgee seems to have been on old maps and documents since the early days of settlement when Mudgee was the second oldest white settlement west of the Great Dividing Range.

One of the lanes is Church Lane and an Anglican Church constructed of wood was once there. Likewise there was a school in School Lane.

An entry in Government Schools of New South Wales—1948 to 1998 lists a provisional school at Budgee Budgee from September 1889 to October 1891. From November 1891 until February 1954 it was a public school. At one time it was apparently known as Black Springs until 1905.

Travelling Down The Cudgegong, 3rd edition 1997, page 126, provides additional information on Black Springs and Budgee Budgee schools. There are references to Mr. James Foley the first teacher and John Tierney who recommended him for the position. There is also a photograph of James Foley and pupils at the school.

A big slab dance hall once existed in Black Springs Road. Also a tennis club, one of two in the village, flourished in Black Springs Road. All traces have long disappeared.

In the 1880s, the Budgee Budgee butcher’s shop was the centre of much local activity. In 1896, Elizabeth Tierney who lived at Hill View in what is now Tierney Lane, recorded in her diary that Mr. Huxley, a local butcher killed a pig for her to salt down. A year later, he paid Elizabeth £6 for 3 cows for him to slaughter and sell the meat. Those were simple times when the butcher called weekly with meat for sale in his horse and cart. Country killed meat was much prized.

Today, small clusters of farm homesteads are centred around the Budgee Budgee Inn, the old Budgee Budgee butcher’s shop, and on the Pipeclay Lane where development in recent years has expanded.

The mystery of how Budgee Budgee was named and what it means remains unsolved.

On the fringe of Budgee Budgee

Norman McVicker writes:

The locality of Budgee Budgee is surrounded by other fringe localities. They are not villages. They are Botobolar, Cooyal, Linburn, Buckaroo and Eurunderee. These localities date back to the early days when Mudgee was first settled.

There are many untold stories telling of cattle duffing, gold fossicking, bushrangers, and descendants of pioneer families who can trace their roots to early settlers. Then there is Henry Lawson and his years in Eurunderee and his days at Eurunderee School.

This was patently obvious to me on the Monday after my book ‘Tales from along the Wallaby Track was launched the previous Friday, March 27, 2009 at FairviewArtSpace. I was at the Mudgee Guardian office for a further book signing. It was a morning when seniors came and I was regaled with stories of past events they remembered. Their vivid memories will be recorded on this page as soon as I can write them down—it all takes time.

Henry Lawson country