WHAT'S IN A NAME: 17 DECEMBER 2018

Gidley Street

Most of us know that the name Molong comes from terms that mean ‘place of many rocks’ or ‘all rocks’ in the local Indigenous Boree or Wiradjuri languages.

And the name of Molong’s main street, Bank St, seems self-explanatory. It’s where the town’s main financial institutions set up.

But what about the origin of slightly more obscure names such as Gidley St?

Gidley St may well have been named after Philip Gidley King, who was the third Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, serving in the position from 1800 to 1806. He died in 1808 following a decline in health.

King had been a vital member of Arthur Phillip’s voyage to form a penal colony in New South Wales and he was immediately charged with establishing a secondary settlement of Norfolk Island.

As is recognised by Wikipedia, King was a progressive Governor of NSW: “His regulations for prices, wages, hours of work, financial deals, and the employment of convicts brought some relief to smallholders, and reduced the numbers ‘on the stores’. He encouraged construction of barracks, wharves, bridges, houses, etc. Government flocks and herds greatly increased, and he encouraged experiments with vines, tobacco, cotton, hemp, and indigo. Whaling and sealing became important sources of oil and skins, and coal mining began. He took an interest in education, establishing schools to teach convict boys to become skilled tradesmen.”

NEXT WEEK: Riddell Street.