Mamre Road

By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc.

In the nepean Times in September 1889 a letter appeared regarding Mamre Road with the signature W.R.B. St Marys saying that it appeared that a feeling of gladness overwhelmed your representative owing to an extra maintenance man put on Mamre Road to fill in all the pot holes, thereby making the road in as good condition as it possibly could be, and on reading the item the writer was filled with gladness as well and in order to test the accuracy of this statement he proceeded in the direction of this famous quagmire but his feelings were doomed to disappointment as certainly some of the holes had been filled in, but with what? Caked mud! He discovered that since the filling in had taken place the dray wheels assisted by the late showers had rendered the road as bad as ever and he came to the conclusion that your representative was easily pleased, but he had no business to mislead Government officials by giving publicity through the medium of your paper saying that wretched road can be repaired and placed in good condition by the assistance of an extra man and an unlimited supply of mud?. P.S. Can anyone inform the public what has become of the grant for this road for the last two years? Oh Dear. We travel on 32 years to a St Marys Council Meeting when Alderman Johnson moved that tenders be called for scarifying, grading and rolling Mamre Road and Queen Street from McKenzie’s Bridge to the station. In supporting his motion Alderman Johnson said the work would cost £450 but Alderman Millen said that the cost would be over £4,000. There was considerable discussion, and the motion was withdrawn upon the understanding that a further motion was to be placed on the table at the next meeting because it would probably deal with the proposal to borrow sufficient money to repair these roads. In May 1922 a deputation consisting of Mayor Alderman Brooker and the Town Clerk Mr Wrench of St Marys, the President of the Luddenham Progress Association Mr Fryer, and the Secretary of the nepean Dairy Company Mr Tilghman went to the Local Government Department with a view to urging that Mamre Road be declared a main road and brought under the provisions of the new act to be introduced. Mr W R Fitzsimons M.L.A., introduced the deputation that was received by the Under-Secretary Mr John Garlick in the absence of the Minister Mr Fitzpatrick. It was said that no road between the southern and western systems (except that from Bathurst to Goulburn) received State aid and a strong point was made of this coupled with that of the large area of land eminently suitable for closer settlement. It was put forward that the St Marys-Badgery’s Creek-Luddenham district with decent access was potentially capable of becoming one of the leading dairy centers of the State and was producing 700 to 800 gallons of milk per diem and, by joining forces, especially with the backing of a road specialist like Mr Fitzsimons there was a reasonable probability of having something done. The Under-Secretary promised to place the matter before the Minister and future developments would be awaited with interest. By September the St Marys Council received a letter from the Department of Main Roads who deemed it “Not of Sufficient Importance.” The letter from Mr J Garlick said that with regard to a recent deputation to the Minister asking that Mamre Road from Luddenham to St Marys be proclaimed as part of a main road to serve as a connecting link between the main South Coast road and the main Western Road, and careful consideration had been given and from the report that was obtained it would appear that the road referred to is merely a feeder to the main Western Road or to the railway at St Marys and is not of sufficient general importance to justify a proclamation as a “main road” and in the circumstances the Minister regrets that he cannot see his way to depart from the decision already conveyed to the council that the application cannot be acceded to. In a June meeting of St Marys Council in 1923 a letter was received by Mr Fitzsimons from Honorable E H Farrar Minister for Labor and Industry which read: “With regard to representations made by you for a grant to the Municipality of St Marys, I have to inform you that approval has now been given by the Commonwealth Government to a grant of £500 for the re-construction of Mamre Road, running from St Marys railway station in a southerly direction towards the Liverpool and Luddenham roads, subject to the council entering into a formal agreement with the Minister for Local Government and (the council) conditionally expending an equivalent amount upon this road.” In reply to a question by Alderman Brell the Mayor Alderman Brookes said that they had made it clear to the Minister that council wanted to employ their own local men and no action was taken until receiving further information. By August 1925 the Council was still dealing with the matter of having the LuddenhamSt Marys-Windsor Road scheduled as a main road and by May 1930 still nothing had been done and Mamre Road was in a state of “Rotten”. The St Marys Aldermen were not at all impressed with the work the Main Roads Board performed on Mamre Road some time ago and according to Alderman Hope it was a rotten piece of work and the Board needed to do it over again, and to proceed with the work in reconditioning the Llandilo and Mamre Roads the Mayor Alderman Irwin said that the roads were going to pieces and would have to be built up and needed scarifying and dressing and Alderman Hope moved that the Board be informed again that it was a rotten job from the start. The cost of reconditioning Mamre Road was £397/7/6. The total interest due to the Board from the Council in this amount over a period of 20 years was £125/3/11 and the annual instalment to be £6/5/2.

Sources: Nepean Times Saturday 14 September 1889 - Cumberland Argus and Fruit growers Advocate Saturday 24 December 1921Nepean Times Saturday 20 May 1922 - Saturday 9 September 1922Saturday 2 June 1923 - Saturday 29 August 1925 - Saturday 10 May 1930, Trove.