EDWARD TWYNAM, N.S.W. SURVEYOR-GENERAL & RIVERSDALE, GOULBURN

The cover is addressed to E. Twynam Esq., Goulburn, New South Wales and the blue SIXPENCE ‘Laureate’ stamp of Victoria is postmarked with the duplex MELBOURNE/ 8 Y/ JY 16/ 69 (Figure 1).

The reverse has 3 cancellations, a transit ALBURY/ JY 1 ( )/1869/ N.S.W, another transit YASS/ JY 21/ 1869/ N.S.W and there is an highly distorted arrival postmark of GOULBURN N.S.W with an illegible date (Figure 2).

The second cover was addressed to one of Edward’s daughters, Miss A.C. Twynam, care of Edward Twynam Esqre, District Surveyor, Goulburn, N.S.W., with additional instructions ‘to be left at/ the post office/ to be called for’. The black SIX PENCE ‘Adapted Design’ stamp of Victoria is canceled with a duplex MELBOURNE/ 2 X/ DC 7/ 63 (Figure 3).

The reverse has the same sequence of 3 postmarks as above, a transit ALBURY/ DE 9/ 1863/ N.S.W, a second transit of YASS/ DE 12/ 1863/ N.S.W and an arrival GOULBURN/ DE 13/ 1863/ N.S.W (Figure 4).

Edward Twynam was born in England of Welsh stock in 1832 and migrated to N.S.W., Australia where he became an District Surveyor in the Goulburn area and he was appointed as an Assistant Surveyor in the New South Wales Survey Department on 11 March 1859. In June 1859 he completed a survey at Lang’s Crossing place in preparation for the allotments to be advertised for sale. He marked the trees with distinctive ‘horse-shoe’ Surveyor’s marks and branded each section with appropriate numbers. A map entitled ‘Design for the town of Hay in the Lachlan District, New South Wales, 1859′ was laid before the Executive Council on 15 June 1859.

In 1866 he married Emily Rose Bolton in Sydney and between 1867 and 1882 they had 8 children. He became N.S.W.’s Surveyor-General in 1890 until 1901. There were at least two earlier buildings prior to the construction of Riversdale as an inn. The business changed hands several times before being leased in 1872 by Edward Twynam, who purchased it three years later. The family moved to Darlinghurst, Syd ney in 1887, when Twynam became the colonial surveyor – but moved back to Riversdale during the 1890s. After Twynam’s death at 92 in 1923, the property was taken over by his daughter, Sister Alice Joan Twynam (1882-1967), for his wife had predeceased him. Alice maintained it by operating a genteel boarding house, and made numerous changes and additions in order to accommodate her tenants. Edward was buried in the Goulburn Church of England Cemetery.

Despite its incongruous location, next to the Goulburn Gaol, Riversdale is one of the desirably ‘Georgian’ Heritage Trust properties to be found in Australia. The main building dates from 1845 and it served Edward Twynam and his family from 1872-1967 when it was acquired by the Heritagel Trust. A picture of Riversdale is seen in Figure 5.

A picture of Edward Twynam with his grand-daughter Joan at Riversdale, Goulburn in 1915 is seen in Figure 6.

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