Refs:
1) Richard Rouse of Rouse Hill - an early pioneer - facts gathered together by his great granddaughter, Mrs VLB Haigh (nee Leila Rouse)
2) Rouse Hill House and the Rouses by Caroline Rouse Thornton (1998), self-published, Nedlands, WA.
RICHARD E ROUSE (pronounced 'ruse' as in 'Bruce') was one of the wealthiest early landholders in the colony of New South Wales.
Born in Oxford, England in 1774, he married Elizabeth Adams in 1796 before they arrived in the colony as free settlers in 1801.
The Rouse family history says they had seven children, but NSW Births Deaths and Marriages only has four registered:
*1809 Jane; *1813 Eleanor; *1816 George (drowned in the Hawkesbury River); *1818/19 Elizabeth Henrietta (married Robert Fitzgerald).
The others were Mary, John Richard, and Edwin.
According to BDM, Edwin Rouse married Hannah T Hipkins in 1840 in Sydney and died in 1862.
There is no BDM marriage record for John Richard, but he died in 1873 at Windsor.
He became bankrupt and was rejected by his father as a result.
Richard's own father had been bankrupt in England.
SQUATTERS ON LAND WEST OF BLUE MOUNTAINS
In 1822 RICHARD ROUSE sent his two sons, John Richard and Edwin, in search of good pasturage north west of the Blue Mountains.
They took over land owned by the Cox family near Gulgong when the Coxs wanted to pull out as result of trouble stirred up with the local Wiradjuri people by one of their stockmen over a gin.
They also established Ewenma on the Castlereagh River.
In 1847, Rouse was the lessee of nine runs in the county of Bligh:
Mundoran (Castlereagh River), Naran (Talbragah River), Ganber Ganber (Talbragah River), Mangranby, Breelong, Billobla, Mumberbone, Medaway and Bourbeen.
At that time, Breelong consisted of 32,000 acres capable of grazing 3,000 sheep.
Rouse was a 'squatter', a farmer who could lease crown lands beyond the settled districts.
Squatters only had to pay the Crown 10 pounds a year for each of these properties.
This 'free for all' approach to pastoral land was later replaced a more ordered system of 'selecting'.
By 1883, when John Mawbey selected the 'Breelong run', his neighbours were fellow selectors.
ON GOOD TERMS WITH ABORIGINALS
The Rouse family appears to have good relationships with the local Aboriginal people.
Jimmy Governor's father, Tommy, worked on a Rouse property and once asked a Mr Rouse to intercede for him with government authorities.
Richard Rouse gave most of his properties beyond the Blue Mountains Aboriginal names.
Most of the Rouse Runs were in the Bligh Pastoral District 1847.
The 1830s was a boom time for 'squatting'.
1837 first official pasturage licence had been issued for occupation of Crown land befond the 'limits of location'.
The list of individuals who obtained licences was published in the NSW Government Gazette on 18-1-1837.
Richard Rouse had licence no. 94.
He paid the prescribed sum of ten pounds sterling to be returned annually.
No fixity of tenure.
Squatters Act 1846-47 gave tenure limited to 14 years.
Richard Rouse lived at his property 'Rouse Hill' near Windsor.
Guntawang was his centre of stock operation.
In 1848, District 13 - Breelong on Castlereagh River 32,000 acres and nearby Mundoran on Castlereagh River 16,000 acres.
After Richard's eledest son John Richard went bankrupt, he bequeathed his land to Edwin and George as tenants in common.
1) Richard Rouse of Rouse Hill - an early pioneer - facts gathered together by his great granddaughter, Mrs VLB Haigh (nee Leila Rouse)
2) Rouse Hill House and the Rouses by Caroline Rouse Thornton (1998), self-published, Nedlands, WA.
RICHARD E ROUSE (pronounced 'ruse' as in 'Bruce') was one of the wealthiest early landholders in the colony of New South Wales.
Born in Oxford, England in 1774, he married Elizabeth Adams in 1796 before they arrived in the colony as free settlers in 1801.
The Rouse family history says they had seven children, but NSW Births Deaths and Marriages only has four registered:
*1809 Jane; *1813 Eleanor; *1816 George (drowned in the Hawkesbury River); *1818/19 Elizabeth Henrietta (married Robert Fitzgerald).
The others were Mary, John Richard, and Edwin.
According to BDM, Edwin Rouse married Hannah T Hipkins in 1840 in Sydney and died in 1862.
There is no BDM marriage record for John Richard, but he died in 1873 at Windsor.
He became bankrupt and was rejected by his father as a result.
Richard's own father had been bankrupt in England.
SQUATTERS ON LAND WEST OF BLUE MOUNTAINS
In 1822 RICHARD ROUSE sent his two sons, John Richard and Edwin, in search of good pasturage north west of the Blue Mountains.
They took over land owned by the Cox family near Gulgong when the Coxs wanted to pull out as result of trouble stirred up with the local Wiradjuri people by one of their stockmen over a gin.
They also established Ewenma on the Castlereagh River.
In 1847, Rouse was the lessee of nine runs in the county of Bligh:
Mundoran (Castlereagh River), Naran (Talbragah River), Ganber Ganber (Talbragah River), Mangranby, Breelong, Billobla, Mumberbone, Medaway and Bourbeen.
At that time, Breelong consisted of 32,000 acres capable of grazing 3,000 sheep.
Rouse was a 'squatter', a farmer who could lease crown lands beyond the settled districts.
Squatters only had to pay the Crown 10 pounds a year for each of these properties.
This 'free for all' approach to pastoral land was later replaced a more ordered system of 'selecting'.
By 1883, when John Mawbey selected the 'Breelong run', his neighbours were fellow selectors.
ON GOOD TERMS WITH ABORIGINALS
The Rouse family appears to have good relationships with the local Aboriginal people.
Jimmy Governor's father, Tommy, worked on a Rouse property and once asked a Mr Rouse to intercede for him with government authorities.
Richard Rouse gave most of his properties beyond the Blue Mountains Aboriginal names.
Most of the Rouse Runs were in the Bligh Pastoral District 1847.
The 1830s was a boom time for 'squatting'.
1837 first official pasturage licence had been issued for occupation of Crown land befond the 'limits of location'.
The list of individuals who obtained licences was published in the NSW Government Gazette on 18-1-1837.
Richard Rouse had licence no. 94.
He paid the prescribed sum of ten pounds sterling to be returned annually.
No fixity of tenure.
Squatters Act 1846-47 gave tenure limited to 14 years.
Richard Rouse lived at his property 'Rouse Hill' near Windsor.
Guntawang was his centre of stock operation.
In 1848, District 13 - Breelong on Castlereagh River 32,000 acres and nearby Mundoran on Castlereagh River 16,000 acres.
After Richard's eledest son John Richard went bankrupt, he bequeathed his land to Edwin and George as tenants in common.
