Mulholland Parkway, McMillan Avenue, Neville Dawson Drive, Meranda Place, Eyre Close and Astley Close, Windradyne

Charles St John Mulholland 
Born 1903 
Died 1984 

Born in Bathurst in 1903, Charles St. John Mulholland was educated at St Stanislaus College, where he became forever known as ‘Tim’ to friends and family. In 1925, following study at the University of Sydney (B.Sc. 1924), Tim Mulholland joined the NSW Department of Mines as a geologist with the Geological Survey. He would remain with the department until his retirement in 1963, establishing a highly regarded reputation as a hands-on geologist. Early in his career, he successfully undertook the search for groundwater sources throughout the state. During the Great Depression, with unemployed men encouraged to try gold prospecting, Mulholland returned to the Bathurst Region to offer practical assistance. In the late 1930’s, his survey of Snowy Mountains geology helped lay the groundwork for the Snowy Mountains Scheme. In 1947, he was appointed the NSW State Geologist, with subsequent promotion to Assistant Under-Secretary for Mines (1954-57), and then Under-Secretary (1957-63). From these positions, Mulholland oversaw a number of significant departmental projects, including work for the Snowy Mountains Scheme, pioneering airborne radiometric surveying and detailed geological mapping of the State. Away from work, Tim Mulholland was known to occasionally indulge in Charlie Chaplin impersonations. 

Source: The Pillars of Bathurst. 

Donald McMillan 
Born 1856 
Died 1938 

Born at Evans Plains in 1856, Donald McMillan’s life was dedicated to farming. He achieved recognition as one of Australia’s champion wheat farmers through the crops grown on Meadow Glenn, his farm on the Orange Road. McMillan took up the farm in 1885, persevering through many challenges before establishing a reputation in the first decades of the 20th century as a consistent prize-taker for his wheat in agricultural shows, including the Sydney Royal Show. His prizewinning expertise extended as well into other farming areas, not only with other crops such as oats and maize but notably with his dairy cattle. Donald McMillan was also an early proponent of what today is known as organic farming, as in his ingenious employment of “small black spiders” to keep his fruit trees free of insect pests. His successful use of fowls in his orchard in place of insecticide sprays drew the appreciative attention of the experts at the Bathurst Experiment Farm. Whether through his long-standing membership on the Bathurst Show Committee or by way of personal contact, Donald McMillan generously shared his practical farming wisdom and so contributed to the Bathurst Region’s agricultural development. 

Source: The Pillars of Bathurst.

Neville Alfred Dawson 
Born 24/03/1933 
Died 13/11/2022 

Neville Dawson was a well-known and well-respected member of the Bathurst community. Neville was born in Bathurst and lived in the Central West his entire life.  

Neville was an active member of many community and sporting organisations – notably he was a co-founder of the St Patrick’s Sporting Club, a member of Bathurst Rotary for over 55 years (including being a past Club President) and a member of various committees for the Catholic Church. 

Neville was the founder of Dawson’s Removals & Storage – now a nationally recognised company synonymous with Bathurst. After leaving school in 1948 Neville undertook an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic and upon completion of his training, started his career in the transport industry where he stayed until he retired in 2001. Dawson’s Removals & Storage is now owned and operated by Neville’s son Peter and Peter’s wife Bernadette.  

Neville was a family man. He was married to Johanna for over 65 years and they had four children – Judy, Deb, Peter and Bernadette.  

Source: Dawson family, Dawson’s Removals & Storage website and Western Advocate. 

Note that Council officers have consulted with the representatives of the Dawson family in support of the nomination. 

Wolla Meranda 
Born 1863 
Died 1951  

Wolla Meranda was the name chosen late in life by Isabella Gertrude (Gert) Ada Poyitt. Gert Poyitt was born at Sunny Corner, leaving at age eighteen to begin a teaching career. By the early 1890s, living again in Sunny Corner, Gert’s life seemed assured a happy trajectory as schoolteacher, wife and mother. But a succession of personal tragedies transformed Gert into a different persona, that of Wolla Meranda, whose introspections as a poet, columnist and novelist provided insights into Australian society, notably the challenges offered women. 

Her literary mentor was a French poet, Julien de Sanary (1859-1929), who in 1920 came to live with her in Sunny Corner. It is likely through him that her first novel was published in France in 1922 before its 1930 English version, Poppies of the Night. Wolla Meranda achieved some literary recognition in her time, although her writings are unknown today. She was also an artist (1922 Archibald finalist) and a pioneer environmentalist, a keen opponent of pine plantations. Wolla Meranda challenged societal conventions through her writings and lifestyle. Her gravestone, in French and English, is shared with de Sanary, with her son Roy (1893-94) buried alongside. Wolla Meranda dared to be different. 

Source: The Pillars of Bathurst. 

Hal Eyre 
Born 1875 
Died 1946 

Born in Sofala, Henry Leo Eyre became one of Australia’s leading newspaper political cartoonists. He made his public debut as a cartoonist as a Bathurst schoolboy - with a comic caricature of his schoolmaster. At age 16, Eyre went to Sydney to study art under Julian Ashton, who encouraged him to submit his work to the Bulletin. For a time, Eyre followed a freelance career, sometimes in partnership with Lionel Lindsay, selling sketches and cartoons to Australian newspapers and magazines. He worked under several aliases before settling on “Hal Eyre”. In 1908, as Hal Eyre, he became the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s regular political cartoonist, where his cartoons proved to be a popular and enduring feature. Eyre skilfully distilled complex situations into simple visual statements, invariably humorous and often satirical. This was especially true with the cartoons he drew for the Daily Telegraph through World War I. Wartime leaders on both sides were unflatteringly caricatured, particularly Prime Minister Billy Hughes, and animals served as metaphors for nations, with an emu or a kangaroo representing Australia. The NSW State Library holds an extensive collection of Eyre’s original wartime cartoon drawings. 

Source: The Pillars of Bathurst. 

William Astley 
Born 1855 
Died 1911 

Born in England, William Astley came to Australia with his family in 1859. By the age of 21, he had embarked on a life-long career as a journalist. Prior to his employment by the Bathurst Free Press in the mid-1890s, Astley had worked for many newspapers and journals, including the Bulletin. An ardent supporter of Federation and well known to key politicians of the day, Astley, as its secretary, was the key organiser of the successful People’s Federal Convention held in Bathurst in November 1896. It was at the Convention the proposal for a popularly elected Senate was first raised. Following Federation, Astley worked tirelessly as an advocate for Bathurst as the site for the new nation’s capital. In addition to his work as a political journalist and Federation activist, Astley is remembered, under the pseudonym of Price Warung, for his evocative stories of convict Australia. His personal story, however, was not a happy one. Troubled by poverty and recurrences of mental illness, William Astley died at Rookwood Benevolent Asylum. 

Source: The Pillars of Bathurst.