On Saturday 20th November, 2010, a new plaque commenorating the ‘Four Orphans’ was unveiled in Hindmarsh Park, Kiama, explaining the provenance of the name.
It celebrates the central role that the Hindmarsh family made in establishing Kiama, as well as the strong civic role that family had made in all facets of Kiama over the next four generations.
The Hindmarsh family got their land grant at Gerringong in 1822, and build Alne Bank in 1855 which has been lived in by 10 generations of Hindmarshes to this day. It is my understanding an earlier ‘Alne Bank’ cottage was built nearby and may still exist on the Chittick farm. If it does I will add a photo.
Michael Hindmarsh had 14 children and the extended family played many roles in Kiama’s life. One of the first structures in Kiama was the Hindmarsh general store, which was supplied by Hindmarsh ships, and the first PostmasIer was Michael’s brother George. The sister Hannah ran a school. In addition later generations served on council, and Nesbit Hindmarsh had the Kiama Motors, and lived in ‘Rosebank’ a Hardy Wislon designed home sadly knocked down.
Here is Dr Michael (the Third) Hindmarsh (with blue folder) of Alne Bank who organised the event with the Kiama Mayor Sandra McCarthy and Deputy Mayor Ben van der Wijngaart, who all spoke to a crowd of the extended Hindmarsh family and the Kiama local history community of over 100. Councillor Monique Dare-Ward, of Jamberoo, who is descended from an old Kiama family herself, the Alexanders, also spoke about Hannah Hindmarsh, but is not in this photo.
Here the plaque is being unveiled by the Mayor and other councillors, including Ben van der Wijngaart and Monique Dare-Ward, and various members of the Hindmarsh family.
Here is Local Historian Fran Whalan talking about Cecilia Rutter, who married into the Hindmarsh family and her sisters married the other prominent landholders of the area, Kendalls and Chapmans. Fran did her local history degree on the Rutter sisters as her main research project.
Here is a copy of the letter which only surfaced on the day, which confirmed that the name change from Central Park to Hindmarsh Park was official by Kiama Council, though I note the letter actually says ‘part of’ Central Park and not the whole park! Well picked up by the Mayor Sandra McCarthy!
Here is the plaque itself.
If you can’t find the plaque in the Park, leave a comment and I will supply a series of three clues, each more cryptic than the last to pinpoint its location.
Here is the Kiama Independent article on the day.
http://www.kiamaindependent.com.au/article/preserving_kiamas_history/
Reading the Hindmarsh family history, most of the Hindmarshes (including Michael Hindmarsh of Alne Bank) came from around Alnwick, in Northumberland, and since the two words seem Danish, I suspect they trace back to a a whole village, which had its name changed by the Norman COnquest.
http://www.hindmarsh.org.uk/
The most famous Hindmarsh was Sir John Hindmarsh, first Governor of South Australia, http://www.hindmarsh.org.uk/page61.htm
http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010498b.htm
who became famous for his bravery at the age of 13 in a naval battle, and was a lieutenant on the Victory under Nelson. He was the son of John the Gunner of Chatham, Kent and his uncle was George, who was hung for murdering his chief mate on a slaver called the Eolus off the West Coast of Africa and was hung on the 6 Jul 1792. He was described as a pirate in the report of the day and the gibbet was set symbollically by the river and the sea.
http://www.hindmarsh.org.uk/page8.htm
I will post more detail on the Kiama history of the Hindmarshes, firmly scuttling any rumours of buried treasure.
Hi, is Paramatta Eels player Nathan Hindmarsh related to the Kiama Hindmarshes?
Nathan comes from Robertson which is just up the Jamberoo pass from Kiama. He is not directly related but from a branch of the same Kiama Hindmarsh family(the Hindmarsh house is in Gerringong). His father Jim Hindmarsh, who was from Bowral and played for Australia 9 times in rugby union attended the plaque unveiling. Nathan’s brother Ian played a lot of games for Parramatta. A number of other well known Parramatta players, like the famous Mick Cronin, come from Gerringong as well. They include Peter Ford and Ron Quinn. All are distantly related to each other, including Hindmarshes!