Popran Valley

Popran Valley
Popran Valley
Highest point
Coordinates	33°25′48″S 151°10′48″E / 33.4300°S 151.1800°E / -33.4300; 151.1800Coordinates: 33°25′48″S 151°10′48″E / 33.4300°S 151.1800°E / -33.4300; 151.1800

Popran Valley is in the Central Coast region to the north of the Hawkesbury River itself fifty kilometres to the north of the city of Sydney, Australia. Popran Creek flows through the valley which includes parts of Glenworth Valley and Mount White. Popran National Park was created in 1994 ^[1] and is for the most part made up of sandstone cliffs and gullies. The creation of the park is indicative of the value the area has because of its unique fauna, flora and geology. The Park takes its name from Popran Creek which rises in the locality of Central Mangrove and then flows for approximately 24 km in a mostly southern direction till it reaches Mangrove Creek.^[2]

After initial exploration by Europeans primary industrial activities included timber getting, small farming, dairying and fishing. Some of these settlers remained in the Mangrove and Popran Valley locality for at least five generations.^[3]

History

The history of the Popran Valley includes pre and post-European settlement. Indigenous people from the 'Daruk' and 'Darukijung' people populated the lower Hawkesbury region- migrating between valleys hunting and fishing. The Dharug and Guringai Aboriginal peoples in particular are known to have been present in this area ^[1]

European settlement

Early European settlers included emancipated convicts as well as free settlers and records indicate land was taken up from the mid 1820s . The sale of land in NSW during Colonial times changed in 1825 when the sale of land by private tender began and then six years later by public auction (1831).^[4] There are numerous instances of land sales recorded in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) in the Popran. One of the first to be recorded occurred in December 1835 with the sale of 50 acres at 5 shillings an acre.^[5]

Sydney was an important market for both forestry and agricultural products although most families were nearly self-sufficient. Crops included corn, vegetables and fruit. Hardwoods were logged well into the 1980s. In the early days contact with settlements on Mangrove Creek, the Hawkesbury and Sydney was almost exclusively by boat due to the difficult terrain.^[6] Both sides of Popran Creek have collections of rocks at regular intervals. These rocks were the ballast from boats arriving from Sydney to collect timber from the Valley. Thrown out of these boats onto the tidal, muddy foreshores they served as temporary jetties when the timber was loaded onto the boats for the return trip to Sydney. Some two miles up Popran Creek is Spurt Island named so by poet Henry Kendall.^[7]

Kelly family

In the upper reaches of the Popran land was first taken up by Edward Kelly in the year 1826.^[3][8] Kelly had been convicted for stealing a cow and was transported from Cork, Ireland in 1818. Kelly served out his sentence and the colonial records indicate he worked as a labourer. His original land grant was 50 acres and was located around four miles from the mouth of the Popran where it flows into Mangrove Creek. Edward Kelly had left behind in Ireland his wife Mary and five children. In 1842, twenty two years after his conviction in Ireland his wife and two of his sons arrived in Sydney aboard the Royal Saxon. The descendants of Edward Kelly occupied this original property until the mid nineteen hundreds.

See also

• List of valleys of Australia

References