Coombing Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coombing Park is a farming property situated in western New South Wales just off the Mid Western Highway about 260 km west of Sydney and 54 km south-west of Bathurst. The property is of considerable note because of its relationship with convicts, bushrangers and the Cobb & Co coaching company. The property was offered as an estate to its owner Thomas Icely by the early New South Wales Government in 1826. It was one of the first estates created on the western side of the Blue Mountains that border the area of Sydney.

Thomas Icely enlisted (not of their own free-will) the help of 62 convicts to build the original homestead and outbuildings between 1838 and 1842 and indeed the original shearing shed and stables are still standing from their construction date of 1848.

The eastern boundary of the property borders the Mt Macquarie road which leads directly to the town of Carcoar. Carcoar was specifically created in 1839 so as to service the Coombing Park estate and is situated about 1 kilometre away. The town required the presence of about 27 Mounted and Foot Police, specifically with the aim of controlling the frequent appearance of bushrangers in the area. One notorious bushranger directly related with the Coombing Park property was Mickey Bourke who shot and killed an employee of Coombing Park whilst he was stealing a racehorse from the stables.

Thomas Icely's original cottage was replaced by a large single storey but elegant brick villa that was designed and built by G.A. Mansfield in 1900. This was some 20 years after the property had been purchased in 1881 by the Cobb & Co coaching company and occupied by a partner of the Cobb & Co firm, a Mr William Franklin Whitney. Whitney's descendants still own and live on the property. It retains much Cobb & Co memorabilia. The property is still a working farm.