Hope you have had a great Christmas! Have decided to answer Liz Vincent's e-mails via the list, in the hope that it may save some effort, and hopefully sort out some confusion. I really appreciate your help, one and all! With considerable assistance from the Medway family, I have located the original "Baltinglass" homestead and have commenced an archaeological survey of the remains. This is an integral component of my PhD research. I have been searching for any paintings or illustrations of the building so far without success. "Baltinglass" is located on Portion 9a, Parish of Gunning, County of King, a 799 acres block of land that was issued as a Grant by Purchase to Samuel Clayton on 15 January 1839. However ...Liz there seems to be a considerable number of amount of confusion arising in some local histories about these Gunning properties: 1. Re Liz Vincent's notice: "Meant to mention Tempe's book also has a list of earliest grants. G.M. Woodehouse 500 acres 26 July 1834 Parish of Gunning 11a County King one and a half miles NE of Gunning name of pty Wooloowandella" . My answer: Portion 11a, Parish of Gunning, County of King, was a Grant by Purchase issued to John Kennedy Hume which comprised 935 acres and was issued on 26 July 1834 [the same date as the issue to Woodhouse]. It was land originally founded as the property of "Wollawardella" by Hamilton Hume, when accompanied by his brother-in-law George Barber and William Henry Broughton, they travelled in as far as the location of Gunning in 1821 - 1822. "Wollawardella" [written as "Wooloowandella" in the List of Grants] became encompassed within the property of "Collingwood". However, the Woodhouse property comprised Portion 6 [1030 acres] and Portion 7 [500 acres] in the Parish of Garway, County of King. The Woodhouse property was named "Burregong". Now ... In her book "Glimpses of the History of Gunning" Tempe Longmire states on page 41 that [quote] "Dr. Clayton lived at "Baltinglass" with his wife and nine children until 1853 ... The beautifully preserved homestead can be seen from the railway line". Now ... on page 40 of the same book, there is an illustration of a homestead she has named "Boureong". It is described as being built in the late 1840s. Can anyone identify this illustration? Is this the home now owned by Roger Medway that I am told was built c. 1875. Is this the house near the railway line? If so, it is built on Portion 6a, Parish of Gunning, County of King, land originally issued as a grant by purchase to Peter Best on 23 September 1839. If the house indicated by Tempe Longmire [above] "was built c. 1875" as the current owner suggests, it could not possibly have been built by Benjamin Clayton who died at Balmain, NSW in 1854. The owner's belief that the house was built c. 1875 also contradicts the statement of significance quoted by Tempe Longmire as being issued by the Australian Heritage Commission and the National Trust that the house was built in the 1840s! So who lived in the house illustrated on p.40 of Tempe Longmire named as "Boureong". Now you can understand why I must find someone descended from someone who lived on these properties. Hopefully someone, somewhere will have some association with these families and the homes in which they lived. Kind regards, and thanks for taking the time to read this long and involved saga. Jennifer *********************************************************************** Jennifer Lambert Tracey Historical Archaeologist Cultural Heritage Research Centre UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA Tel. / Fax (02) 6295 6795 Mobile Tel. 0419 011 860 e-mail: jtracey@ozemail.com.au http://www.ozemail.com.au/~jtracey/ ***********************************************************************