by Margaret Callister, Jean Preddey, Ron Rathbone
George Preddey was born in Bath, England in 1807. He arrived in Sydney aboard the convict transport “Prince Regent” on 27 September 1827, having been sentenced to seven years transportation at the Shrewsbury Assizes on 25 March 1826 for housebreaking (in Britain, Assize courts were replaced by Crown and Magistrates’ courts in 1971).
He was, by trade, a tallow chandler (made and sold candles of tallow (animal fat)), and on his arrival in Sydney, was indentured to Daniel Smallwood, a farmer of Pitt Town near Windsor (on the Hawkesbury River, 95 km northwest of Sydney).
Having completed his sentence, Preddey became first a mineral surveyor, then a dairyman and later a dray proprietor operating from premises in Castlereagh Street. By 1851 he was a corn chandler (seller) and sail maker. Finally he extended his interests to that of a timber merchant, and with two partners acquired the business of John Booth and Co., of Kent Street in addition to owning the Summerhill sawmill on the North Coast. During 1840 and 1841 he bought land at Macdonald River, Mulgoa, Ulladulla, and Mudgee.
His interest in timber no doubt influenced his decision to buy two parcels of land at Bexley in 1850 comprising 65 acres which today would be bounded by Forest Road, Stoney Creek Road, and Preddys Road – it is hard to believe that at that time that whole area was heavily timbered. Annie Stobie Preddey, wife of George Preddey Jnr, made available in 1907 to Bexley Council part of the Preddey Estate for £1,000, the land on which Bexley Park is now situated.
In April 1836, George Preddey married Margaret Carey at St. Phillip’s Church, Sydney, considered “the ugliest church in Christendom”. Margaret had migrated to Australia as a free settler some 18 months before. There were 13 children of the marriage, 4 dying in infancy. There is a stained glass window in Christ Church, Dunmore Street North, Bexley, given by George Preddey, the eldest son, and other windows in the church commemorate other members of the family.
In 1860, he erected on the smaller of the two sites he had purchased a commodious two-storey residence which he named “Besborough” and he lived there in considerable comfort and style until the death of his wife in October 1876.
The property was completely self-supporting with cattle and poultry, extensive vegetable gardens and a fine orchard. Preddey took two of his sons, George Jnr and William, into partnership in his business and acquired the business of John Booth and Co., Wholesale Fuel, Timber and Produce Merchants, which at one time was one of the largest suppliers of timber and cornmeal in the colony.
Preddey had not only become a man of wealth and considerable enterprise but a man of great religious faith. He was one of the first churchwardens of St George’s Hurstville Anglican Church – a church he was later to richly endow and in which there is a stained glass window in memory of him. He was Chairman of the Gannon’s Forest Road Trust which had responsibility for keeping the Illawarra Road in repair. He was also a member of the Board of the first government school built at Hurstville.
In April 1872, he added to his holdings at Bexley by purchasing the triangular piece of land adjoining “Besborough” which extended to the junction of today’s Stoney Creek and Forest Roads.
He is buried in the family grave at Woronora.
It is interesting to note the various streets in Bexley which have been named after members of the family, namely, Preddeys Road; Henderson Road is named after Anne Stobey Henderson who married George Jnr; and Besborough Avenue is from “Besborough”, the family home; Halley Avenue refers to another member of the family through marriage; Alice, one of George’s daughters, married Edward Milsop, hence Milsop Street, Carlton
Lewis, the eighth child, married a Miss Hannam, no doubt related to David Hannam of Arncliffe. Hector Wearne, first Town Clerk of Bexley, married Minnie, George’s fourth child. Walter Preddey, a grandson of George, married Emily Sussanah Kinsela, thus uniting two prominent Bexley families. Annie Henderson Preddey, another granddaughter, was a well-known Bexley identity.
Jean Preddey, a fourth generation descendant, most recently lived on the Preddey Estate, her daughter, Gloria Williamson and two children remind us that the pioneers of Bexley are very relevant to our present day.
This article was first published in the March 1982 edition of our magazine.
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Unless noted, images courtesy of the Bayside Library Service Local History Collection.