By David Grieve.
A very successful reunion of the descendants of William Grieve (1828-1913) and Jane Grieve nee Flett (1833-1912) was held in Walcha on 31 October 2026.
Walcha is a small town of approximately 1,400 people and is often one of the coldest places in NSW with an altitude of 3,500 ft or 1,067m.
Established in 1852, it is 265 miles from Sydney situated on the New England Tablelands.
It is well known for the gorges and waterfalls within the shire of 2,420 square miles (Oxley Wild Rivers National Park), art trail in the town and its sheep (wool – nearly one million sheep) and cattle industries (85,500 cattle).
The Grieve family were pioneers of the Walcha district, initially William was a shepherd on Bergen-Op-Zoom before selecting land nearby. Over 60 direct descendants and their spouses some coming from as far as WA attended a morning tea on Saturday morning before travelling in convoy to the location of William and Jane’s final resting spot on the land they originally selected in 1869 called “Brickwall”.
It is believed that the property was named after a geological formation in the McDonald River that looked like a brick wall.
The McDonald River was discovered by explorer John Oxley in September 1818 where his team passed by where “Brickwall” is today before heading to the coast at Port Macquarie. Oxley was hampered by the deep gorges in the Walcha area and in the process discovered the Apsley Falls.
“Brickwall” is now part of Aberbaldie Station. The station manager Michael Rogers kindly allowed access to the grave site and where the old homestead once stood. It burnt down in 1930s just after William’s youngest son Alick sold it and moved with his family to Bingara. After photos and celebrating the occasion with a ‘wee dram’ of Highland Scotch whisky from Orkney where William and Jane immigrated from in 1857, the convoy headed to the Walcha and District Historical Society complex in Walcha for lunch. A donation of $290 was made to the Society from funds raised from the reunion. A celebratory dinner was held that night at the Walcha Bowling Club.
In the 1990s, the graves on “Brickwall” were in a poor state of repair. They consisted of a picket fence and no headstones. Some descendants ‘rescued’ the site and erected a stone cairn with the story of the family in 1994. Over the years it has been visited by several of their descendants, who at the time of their deaths had 11 children who survived to adulthood and 78 grandchildren.
Alan and Connie Grieve of Stromness visited the site in 1997 and were amazed at the large fields (we in Australia call them paddocks!), large numbers of sheep and cattle and the eucalypt trees. The weekend was a celebration of family and the contribution to the development and history of the Walcha district.
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