Tascott, New South Wales

Tascott Central Coast, New South Wales
Population	1,602 (2016 census)[1]
• Density	728/km^2 (1,890/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	2250
Elevation	5 m (16 ft)
Area	2.2 km^2 (0.8 sq mi)
Location	7 km (4 mi) SW of Gosford 77 km (48 mi) N of Sydney 5 km (3 mi) N of Woy Woy
LGA(s)	Central Coast Council
Parish	Patonga
State electorate(s)	Gosford
Federal division(s)	Robertson
Suburbs around Tascott: Kariong Point Clare Point Clare Kariong Tascott Brisbane Water Brisbane Water National Park Koolewong Brisbane Water

Tascott is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia between Gosford and Woy Woy on Brisbane Water's western shore. It is part of the Central Coast Council local government area.

History of Tascott

It was founded by Thomas Alison Scott (1777–1881) and his wife Mary Anne Scott, née Crone, (c.1811–1905). The name of the suburb is derived from Scott's name, T.A.Scott.^[2][3][4]

Scott has been widely regarded as the first person in Australia to grow sugar cane^[3]—he is certainly a pioneer of the sugar industry—but the story is more complicated.^[5][6] Sugar cane had been brought from the Cape of Good Hope, with the First Fleet, in 1788, and had been taken to Norfolk Island. The colonial government, in 1804, encouraged settlers to set up a sugar industry on the subtropical island,^[7] but it did not eventuate. Captain Francis Allman, superintendent of the newly-established penal settlement at Port Macquarie, gave some sugar cane, to a convict of West Indian origin, James Williams. It was Williams who grew the first sugar cane crop, on the Australian mainland, at Port Macquarie, around 1823.^[5][8] Scott had lived in Antigua, and had previously attempted to establish sugar plantations in Tahiti and Raiatea.^[3] It was later stated that he brought sugar cane from Tahiti to Sydney in 1817 and 1819.^[6] In 1823, employed by Frederick Goulburn, he moved to Port Macquarie to expand the sugar operations there and at nearby Rolland's Plains, using convict labour. In 1824, he produced sugar and other products from locally-grown cane.^[3] Suspended in 1825, he was dismissed in 1828, after a commission of inquiry reported unfavourably on his activities, and the sugar venture was abandoned altogether around 1830.^[3] Port Macquarie lies too far south from what is now considered commercially-viable, sugar-growing country, and is sometimes subject to frosts. Commercial sugar production continued there and in the surrounding area,^[9] until the winter of 1873 when the last sugar mills closed,^[10][11] due to damage to the cane crop caused by heavy frost.^[12]

Scott married the very much younger, Mary Anne Crone from Port Macquarie, in 1827. They moved, in 1829, to what was then all known as Point Clare, on Brisbane Water.^[13] By around 1835, Scott had a field of sugar cane growing there,^{[14][3][15][4]} and attempted to set up a model sugar plantation.^[3] Scott made sugar there, but only in small amounts that were consumed locally, although 28 pounds of his sugar was reported to have been sent to the Paris Exhibition and awarded a silver medal.^[16] He also grew tobacco and bananas.^[3] Scott's field of sugar cane, five acres in area,^[17] was still there, when it was recorded by a visitor to the area, in 1874.^[18]

Scott encouraged the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to grow sugar cane at Kiama.^[19][20] Scott claimed that he had provided plants and instructions to Captain Louis Hope, who began sugar production, at Ormiston House Estate, in 1864,^[3] the first commercially-viable production of sugar in Queensland, although Scott's influence on Hope's operation was apparently slight.^[21] Scott sought and was granted a government annuity payment, around 1871, in consideration of his efforts to progress the sugar industry.^[17] By then, Scott was already an old man. He died at the age of 105 years old,^[3] in 1881, and is buried in the cemetery at Point Frederick.^[22] His much younger widow remained living on the land on Brisbane Water. The area that Scott cultivated was between where Tascott station is now and Noonan Point, lying within the easternmost part of modern-day Tascott, around where Victory Parade is now.^[13] At the western end of this land, stood Scott's residence, and modern-day Waterview Cresent takes its name from this house, later a guesthouse. The landholding was sub-divided, in 1920, and the lots auctioned in early 1921.^[23]

Tascott railway station, which is on the Main North railway line, opened in 1905. It was built largely to service the guesthouse, known as 'Waterview', which had been established by Mary Scott.^[24][25] The first use of 'Tascott' was as the station's name.^[26] The station once had a particularly dangerous level crossing, between the platform and the curved cutting just to the north.^[27][28] Robert Scott, T.A.Scott's son and heir, was killed there by a train in 1920,^[29] and he was not the only fatality crossing the railway.^[30][31] For many years, this level crossing was the only means of road access to the area west of the railway station.^[32] The short platform at Tascott was also a cause of mishaps.^[33]

The station was rebuilt in 1939, with the new timber deck platform being supported on a framework of old rails, instead of a timber frame. This new design was referred to as a ‘Tascott type’ platform, by railway engineers, and the same arrangement was used, at other stations, over the following 25 years.^[34] The station remains a 'short platform' of only two train cars in length.^[24]

A private road from Koolewong to Tascott was constructed in the late 1920s^[35] but a wooden bridge across the gully later collapsed and was not repaired. Access to both suburbs was greatly improved by the building of the 'waterfront road'—now Brisbane Water Drive—in the late 1930s.^[36]

For many years, the suburb was in four distinct parts; the area to the north of the station and west of the line, the area of waterfront adjacent to Point Clare, the area west of the station, and the area around Thomas Street. The dangerous level crossing at the station ceased to be used by cars some time in the 1960s. The level crossing near Thomas Street closed in 1963.^[37] Both crossings never had warning signals, just farm-style gates. For many years afterwards, pedestrians continued to cross the line at both these locations—including to access the Up platform at the station or catch the bus on Brisbane Water Drive—before the pedestrian overbridge was built at the station and the level crossing at the station was officially closed in 1984.^[38] The extension of Glenrock Parade, from the north of the station through to Koolewong, finally provided safe road access to the entire area of Tascott. Prior to late 1970, the section of the road—now part of Glenrock Parade—that intersected Thomas Street was known as Tascott Parade.^[39]

Before World War II, Tascott was a minor holiday destination and, until the 1960s, the suburb was semi-rural. The flat—formerly swampy and partially salt marsh—area to the west of the railway station was a dairy farm, known as Tascott Dairy,^[40][41] which survived into the early 1960s. During this period, Tascott had no sewerage^[42] or reticulated water supply.^[43][44] Subdivisions,^[45] land sales, and the building of many new houses, led to a rapid growth in the population, during the 1960s and 1970s.

The population of the suburb recorded at the 2016 census was 1,602; a decrease from the 1,706 recorded in 2011.^[46]

Notable residents

• Nicola McDermott, 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and 2020 Summer Olympics silver medallist in high jump^[47]

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Tascott". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
2. Gosford City Library. "Placenames". Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
3. Parsons, Vivienne, "Scott, Thomas Alison (1777–1881)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 17 September 2020
4. "OBITUARY". Gosford Times and Gosford and Wollombi Express (NSW : 1892 - 1906). 25 August 1905. p. 5. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
5. Christopher, Emma (28 January 2020). "The first sugar". www.sl.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
6. "Agricultural Society of N.S.W." Australian Town and Country Journal. 18 July 1874. p. 10. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
7. "General Orders". Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 22 January 1804. p. 1. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
8. Gray, A. J., "Francis Allman (1780–1860)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 17 May 2024
9. "SUGAR MAKING.—MR. MEARES' MILL AT PORT MACQUARIE". Illustrated Sydney News. 4 September 1868. pp. 3, 9. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
10. "Port Macquarie". Manning River News and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. 30 November 1872. p. 3. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
11. "Port Macquarie". Manning River News and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. 26 July 1873. p. 3. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
12. "The Sugar Industry". Port Macquarie News and Hastings River Advocate. 7 April 1917. p. 3. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
13. "POINT CLARE". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 December 1936. p. 13. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
14. "NEW SOUTH WALES SUGAR". Sydney Herald (NSW : 1831 - 1842). 8 January 1835. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
15. "Historic Towns of N.S. Wales". Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930). 31 January 1909. p. 7. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
16. "MR. THOMAS SCOTT—SUGAR CULTIVATION". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 25 March 1871. p. 115. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
17. "MR. THOMAS SCOTT—SUGAR CULTIVATION". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 25 March 1871. p. 115. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
18. "Intercolonial News". Queenslander. 10 October 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
19. "THE SUGAR CANE EXPERIMENT". Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. 11 October 1866. p. 3. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
20. "THE SUGAR-CANE". Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. 20 October 1864. p. 2. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
21. "THE MOST HARDY AND PROLIFIC SUGAR CANE". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 June 1866. p. 5. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
22. "Thomas Alison Scott". Australian Cemeteries Index.
23. "Advertising". Daily Telegraph (Sydney). 31 December 1920. p. 9. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
24. "Tascott Station". nswrail.net. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
25. "Robert Donald Scott". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 23 December 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
26. "WOY WOY AND ITS SURROUNDINGS". Australian Town and Country Journal. 21 March 1906. p. 23. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
27. "TWO RAIL CROSSINGS ARE VERY DANGEROUS". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 25 May 1954. p. 1. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
28. "Dangerous Crossing". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 21 March 1935. p. 13. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
29. "LATE ROBERT SCOTT". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 27 October 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
30. "Shocking Railway Fatality". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 11 January 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
31. "NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE". Australian Worker. 30 March 1938. p. 16. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
32. "Tascott's Freedom". Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1953 - 1954). 1 August 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
33. "Serious Accident". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 30 August 1907. p. 6. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
34. "Log Cabin Station" (PDF). Australian Railway Historical Society. 8 May 2012.
35. "WHY NOT BRIDGE THE GAP?". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 20 October 1927. p. 12. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
36. "WATERSIDE TRANSPORT". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 6 July 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
37. "CLOSURE OF PUBLIC LEVEL CROSSING AT MILEAGE 47 m. 76.50 ch., AT TASCOTT, ON THE MAIN NORTHERN RAILWAY LINE". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 17 May 1963. p. 1346. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
38. "STATE RAIL AUTHORITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 21 September 1984. p. 4665. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
39. "SHIRE OF GOSFORD". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 2 October 1970. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
40. "MY HOLIDAY AT TASCOTT". Blue Mountain Star (Katoomba, NSW : 1929 - 1931). 17 May 1930. p. 4. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
41. "Advertising". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 10 November 1927. p. 7. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
42. "SHIRE OF GOSFORD.—NIGHTSOIL SCAVENGING DISTRICTS". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 11 October 1963. p. 3031. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
43. "£1M. Water Scheme For Gosford". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954). 18 January 1952. p. 3. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
44. "Approach To Minister on Water Grant". Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954). 26 February 1952. p. 1. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
45. Gosford Shire Council. "Register of Consents" (PDF).
46. "2011 Census QuickStats - Tascott". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
47. "Nicola McDermott makes athletics history". Coast Community News. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.

33°27′14″S 151°18′50″E