The historic documents from Emu Hall donated to us last year have been inspected and sorted. These documents dated from the late 1800’s until the 1940’s. Some of the maps of early Penrith where donated to Penrith Library.
The documents were mostly correspondence between the owners of Emu Hall and a cattle and sheep station near Bourke called Boora. Both properties were owned by the same family, the McGraths.
There was also what we would call junk mail from shops in Sydney selling equipment and supplies to farms and larger properties. This included tinned food, toys and everything needed to run this type of station.
The papers and letters were dated from the late 1800s up to 1940s, and were a snapshot into life out there, and the problems they encounted being so far from everything.
We have been in touch with the Bourke library concerning these papers and the historic ties to their area, and in early July, Chris and Frank took the sorted papers and drove all the way to Bourke with them. They presented them to the library who were overjoyed to receive them.
