The establishment of Bathurst as a western frontier town in 1815 led to the opening up of the western areas of NSW. Guyong was a convenient stop and just one day’s ride away for the beginning of many a western expedition. The Cornish Settlemnt quickly became a nearby settlement of hopeful and often prosperous small settlers of farmers and copper miners but also larger land grants to absentee owners. Needless to say the region saw many savoury and unsavoury characters either passing through or stopping to establish a foothold in the area. Two establishments were in existence in Guyong in the early 1820’s and both provided meals and at least some sort of shelter to the passers by. The first was just a hut built by a convict, Charlie Booth working for an absentee owner, G T Palmer and the second, the Wellington Inn later became known as the home of one of the first gold discoverers in the nation, John Lister. Most of the characters that stayed there have never been recorded by history but some have left a record either directly or indirectly through some of their descendants or friends. Some stories of some of these folk are recorded in this section. There may be others yet to be discovered.
Click on the links to the right to see some of their stories.