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THE
SHAMROCK INN - BLACK CREEK Edmund Doyle 1839 Henry Joseph Cohen was proprietor of the Shamrock Inn in 1840. He was present when the Inn was raided by the bushrangers early in December of that year. The gang had arrived at the Inn soon after bailing up John Larnach and his companion John Barker on the Maitland to Singleton road. From an 'Organised Banditti' by Colin Roope and Patrick Gregson: ' The Shamrock Inn was a weatherboard building, on a large town sized allotment of land, on what is now the New England Highway in the township of Branxton. It was close to a paddock for horses and bullocks and the good water supply of Anvil Creek, making it an ideal place for travellers and bullock teams to rest on their way up and down the Hunter Valley. A large group of men were gathered at the inn on the day the bushrangers arrived. They would have been dressed in all manner of clothing including the blue jacket and duck trousers (strong cotton cloth) of the English labourer, blue cotton smocks, fustian jackets (dark dyed thick twilled cotton), with greatcoats to protect against the rain. some wore neck kerchiefs or scarves and some none. On their heads they wore straw hats, cabbage tree hats, beaver caps or caps made from untanned kangaroo skin. Most would have been smoking a dudeen or short pipe (Irish clay pipe), with some of the stems reduced to only a few centimetres in length. (28)The Sydney Monitor reported - 'poor Mr. Cohen was in a terrible fright, and it is supposed will not for a considerable time recover the bruises he then received', - and quoting from a private letter they received - ' the only violence used by the bushrangers was breaking a constable's staff over his arms, which were smashed to pieces (29)The bushrangers bailed up Cohen and his servants, his landlord, Samuel Marshall; bullock drivers with their mates; - William Cleary, William Seymour, George Green, and James Kent a butcher from Maitland, George Glew and a young man named Palfrey, whom they had brought up from an adjoining farm. By the end of the raid on the Shamrock, the bushrangers had twenty six men bailed up. Twenty of these were convicts or ex convicts. Several were suspected of being in league with the gang. Mr. Cohen had witnessed them talking and laughing with Edward Davis (the Jew boy) in the yard of the Inn. Two of the bullock drivers had their tickets of leave cancelled after the raid and correspondents to the papers regretted that nothing could be done to the other four as they had pardons. (28)James Watson was innkeeper at the Shamrock Inn in 1842. Next door to the Shamrock, James Bourne a blacksmith, whitesmith and bellhanger set up his business. By late 1843 William Slack was innkeeper. He was in financial difficulty and 'in consequence of the great depression and low prices of all kinds of produce' reduced the charges at the Shamrock in an attempt to attract more patronage. He offered breakfast, dinner and supper for 1/6- each; Bed 1/-. Servants 1/- each. Horses were to be charged 2/6- for the night and a feed of corn or hay would cost the patron 1/--. (26) However these measures were unsuccessful as he was undergoing insolvency procedures by December of 1843 (27) Nevertheless he was issued with a licence for the Shamrock in April 1844. William Slack later moved to the Union Inn in East Maitland and then the Rose Inn at West Maitland. In August 1844, Samuel Marshall was advertising the house at Anvil Creek 'lately known as the "Shamrock Inn" ' for lease. It contained six rooms, a kitchen and stable with a good enclosed paddock attached. (30)In 1845 James Watson, who had formerly kept the Shamrock Inn, announced that he had opened a commodious House built by Mr. Nowland at the Chain of Ponds. (29)Sydney Monitor. 4 December 1840
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© Free Settler or Felon
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