William Shipp

  General Notes:

Excerpt from "Old Pioneers of the Illawarra: Reminscences 1820 - 1930" (Illawarra Historical Society 1989)



William and Thomas Shipp, two brothers, arrived in Australia in the year 1851, although William was on the South Coast a year or two before Thomas. William first secured work on a farm now known as Cullen's, at the Figtree.



Prior to that he was at West Dapto for a little while. The owner of Cullen's Farm (seventy years ago) was Charles Fairs. Charles Fairs was the grandfather of Mr Charles Hoskings, at present of Wollongong. William Shipp worked on Fairs' farm
for a couple of years, and then removed with his family to Keiraville.



When at Keiraville all the area west of Wollongong was known as Mount Keira then William Shipp became associated with the Mount Keira Colliery. At this time William Robson had taken over the coal mine from James Shoobert, and the seven foot
seam was being opened out. Associated with William Robson was his son William Robson junior, who used to control the drum which ran the wagons down the incline. This son is now William Robson, M.L.C., and occasionally resides at Wollongong.



Amongst the first miners who worked at Mount Keira were James Cram, A. Young, Ralph Thornton, Thomas Clayton, John Walker, E. Upward, Davy Woodruff, Davy O'Brien, and John Craig. The drivers of the bullock teams were Mick O'Harrah, James
Markham, W. and John Butler, a man named Bird, and W. Mead.



The construction of the incline was undertaken soon after the opening of the seven foot seam. It was constructed in two sections, with a drum at the top and another drum near where Mr Jack Phillips lives today. The man who constructed the
incline and did the engineering part of the work was James Dean, father of Mr James Dean, of Crown Street. For this work he was assisted by William and Thomas Shipp. The rails were flat iron rails, and were nailed to the sleepers by flat head
nails, through holes in the rails. At the bottom of the incline coal was loaded into drays and taken to the wharf. The braking of the wagons down the incline was quite an important job at this old-time colliery. From the top section of the
incline Mr W. Robson junr now M.L.C. was the first brakeman; then followed William Shipp, and later Charles Murphy. The first man in charge of the horses at Mount Keira mine was Andrew Anderson, and for many years Andy fed and groomed his
horses well.



William Robson was the manager of Mount Keira seventy years ago. Later F.P. McCabe came into possession of the mine, and became manager. The late F.P. McCabe was a Government Surveyor. He was followed by his son, H. O. McCabe who was a
Mining Engineer and a very qualified man. The late H.O. McCabe lost his life at the Mount Kembla disaster in attempting the rescue of entombed miners. The under managers were George Robson and M. Phillips. The colliery carpenters at Mount
Keira were Thomas Shipp, J. Richardson, Michael Rowles, Pat Hayes and Jack Pratt. The colliery work including the shoeing of the horses, was brought to his shop at Wollongong. Later a blacksmith's shop was employed there. George Dean was
early employed as a striker to the blacksmith's. George Payne, who is still employed at the Mount Keira Colliery as smith, has the longest service of any blacksmith in Illawarra. He has been in employment at the one mine for over 40 years.



The Shipp family have a splendid record in Illawarra. Both William and Thomas came of a sturdy and good English family. In Illawarra 72 years ago they took their place with other pioneers in the fight, which meant success or failure, and
although the path was rough and success at times seemed remote, they held the esteem of the people and reared a useful family. Mr John Shipp, the eldest of William Shipp's family, lives in Denison Street, Garden Hill, and Nathan lives at
Keiraville. Another son, James, lives in Wollongong, with big interests at Port Kembla. Of Thomas Shipp's family, Ephriam and Mrs. John Brownlee live at Keiraville.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Shepherd in England; coal miner in NSW.

• Religion: Left Plymouth 5 Sep 1852; arrived Port Phillip 24 Dec 1852.

William married Emma Watts on 8 Jul 1852 in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire England. (Emma Watts was born in 1834 in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire England, christened on 19 Feb 1837 in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire England, died on 29 Aug 1923 in William St, Keiraville, NSW Australia and was buried on 31 Aug 1923 in Wollongong Cemetery, NSW Australia.)