Page 72 - J Delaney - City of Cessnock Education and Schools

79.

B UT T AI S C H 0 0 L
(ORIGINAL NAME - STOCKRINGTON SCHOOL)

STATE ARCHIVES FILE NO. - 5/15217-3

Portion No. 94, Parish of Stockrington, consisting of 516 acres
was the first grant of land made in the area that is now known as 'Buttai'.
This grant was made on 16th March 1840 to Thomas Valentine Bloomfield.

On 7th April 1825, John and Martha Elliott arrived in Australia
on the boat 'Hugh Crawford'. The ship had been chartered by Thomas Potter
Mc Queen and brought a boatload of emigrants from London. Mc Queen had
been given a land grant of 10,000 acres at Segenhoe. A condition of the
passage of the emigrants was that they were expected to work at Segenhoe
for at least five years ~ Thus, John and Martha Elliott made their first
heme at Segenhoe.

John Elliott was an inventive man with a mechanical bent.
Reference is made in some early newspapers to John Elliott being involved
in the construction of several flour mills. One mentioned in the Maitland
Mercury newspaper of 1843, was a mill approximately where today the Belmore
Hotel stands in High Street, Maitland. For whatever reason, John and
Martha Elliott made visits to Hexharn and its surrounding district. At
least one of their children, Wilfred Elliott, was born at Wyabah. Wyabah
was a small hamlet between Hexharn and what is now known as Minrni. Margaret
Elliott, John and Martha Elliott's eldest child, married Themas Wiseman.

On 16th February 1843, Thomas V. Bloomfield sold his grant of
516 acres (Portion 94, Parish of Stockringtonl to Thomaa Wiseman. In
the same year, on 28th December 1843, Thomas Wiseman sold 216 acres to
his father-in-law, John Elliott. However, John Elliott and most of his
family continued to live and work at Segenhoe.

The 'Gold Fever' of the early 1850's soon attracted Thomas
Wiseman. He sold his 300 acres to James Price of Maitland. James Price
had extensive business interests, including land (Brooks Estate), at Buchanan.