A Sign of the Times?

 

You never know what you might find on a leisurely stroll. This is the inscription on a plaque I found recently . . .

This is the site of the first settlement on 10th January 1792
By
William Careless and James Weavers
in the locality set up by Governor Phillip as
farms of the eastern boundary (later called Kissing Point)
where rose our first church and school in 1800.
Slightly eastward were Squires’ famous brewery, wharf and hop gardens
and Bennelong’s grave.
Westward were Squires’ Inn and old Ryde Wharf as well as the
Shepherd’s “Thorn Farm” and meadow with the noted orangery and vineyard.

THIS TABLET COMMEMORATES OUR PIONEERS,
“DECENT, SOBER INDUSTRIOUS MEN
WHO, LIKE OUR ABORIGINAL WALLUMEDEGAL, WERE
A MOST BIGOTED RACE OF PEOPLE TO THE GROUND
ON WHICH THEY DWELT

Andrew West

 

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