Paterson history
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ShareRichard and Elizabeth Pethebridge
Richard and Elizabeth Pethebridge (nee Lovering) came from Devonshire in England. They arrived in Australia as free immigrants on 31 August 1837.
Richard was superintendent of the Tocal estate in at least 1838 and 1839. He lived on Tocal with his wife Elizabeth and several children. He leased what is now the Tocal dairy area from the Wilson family in the late 1830s and his lease continued after Charles Reynolds leased the rest of Tocal in 1843. The Pethebridge family left Tocal in January 1850 when Richard established a business in Sydney as a commission agent.
The Pethebridge house continued to be used for worker accommodation on Tocal until it was burnt down in a bushfire in 1944. No evidence of this house remains today.
A 1940 aerial photo of Tocal shows the Pethebridge house to the east of Tocal Road. Tocal Homestead is out of the photo at top left. Part of Tocal lagoon is visible at top left.
References
Tocal History Notes, vol 3, provides genealogical details of the Pethebridge family.
Abbreviations sometimes used on this site: CS = NSW Colonial Secretary; HRA = Historical Records of Australia; LB = Letters to Benches of Magistrates, Justices of the Peace and Superintendents of Police; ML = Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW); NLA = National Library of Australia; NSWGG = NSW Government Gazette; PRO = Public Record Office, London; PSC = Principal Superintendent of Convicts; SG = Sydney Gazette; SH = Sydney Herald; SRNSW = State Records Authority of NSW;
