By Cathy Jones (2024)
Thomas Laycock (1756-1809), a quartermaster, arrived in Sydney H.M.S. Gorgon in September 1791. He had a colourful career in NSW including as Deputy Commissioner from 1794-1800. He accumulated significant land holdings. He acquired 100 acres between Parramatta Road and Homebush Bay in October 1794. By 1800, Laycock’s land had grown to 585 acres, expanding by a further 225 acres in 1796. He named his land ‘Home Bush’ (his Home in the Bush). Laycock also received other grants across Sydney including Parsley Bay (site of Vaucluse House), Alexandria and Holsworthy.[1] By 1807 his total acreage was 670 hectares (1655 acres). In January 1808, Laycock’s Homebush land was sold to D’Arcy Wentworth, government surgeon.
In October 1809 members of Laycock’s family made representations to a Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson that he was labouring under mental derangement and unable to manage his affairs. After a report on his health by colonial surgeon D’Arcy Wentworth, Paterson appointed Laycock’s sons William and Thomas, his son-in-law Nicholas Bayly, William Broughton and D’Arcy Wentworth to manage his estates and effects[2]. He died on 27 December 1809.
Wentworth later acquired further grants and by 1810, his holdings had increased to 920 acres. His land, north of Parramatta Road, continued to be known as the Homebush Estate. The Wentworth Estate includes parts of the current Sydney Olympic site, Mason Park and Bressington Park. Wentworth’s land was developed into a large country estate and in 1825, he built a private racetrack on his land near Parramatta Road. D’Arcy Wentworth died in 1827. Ownership of the land passed to his son, William Charles Wentworth, who tenanted parts of the estate. He also expanded and developed a racecourse at Homebush, which until 1860 was the primary racecourse for Sydney.
By 1881, the Wentworth Homebush Estate consisted of 1094 acres, with the addition of areas drained and reclaimed from around Powells and Haslams Creek and The Flats. Fitzwilliam Wentworth, William Charles Wentworth’s son, registered a residential subdivision in 1883 called Homebush Park Estate, across part of the eastern portion of the property.
A few of these allotments were sold, mostly near Parramatta Road, but the majority of land, measuring 909 acres, remained intact when resumed in 1907 by the NSW Minister for Public Works for the location of the new state abattoir.
The remaining sections of Fitzwilliam Wentworth’s 1883 subdivision remained largely undeveloped. With few exceptions, such as the Wentworth Hotel, most of the Wentworth land remained undeveloped until the 1920s.
[1] Stancombe (1967) Thomas Laycock, ADB
[2] Stancombe (1967) Thomas Laycock, ADB
