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Brief History of the Area
Looking at the rolling green hills around The Oaks, it is hard to imagine this land was once noted for the
dense open forest which covered it and from which it gets its name (of Australian Casuarinas, “she
-oaks”, not the English Oak).

The area was once part of the traditional land of the Tharawal peoples, whose territory stretched from
Botany Bay in Sydney down to Jervis Bay on the south coast, and in to Burragorang in the ranges.
The area first came to the notice of Europeans in search of cattle which had escaped from the
government herds at Parramatta. These cattle had “gone bush” and thrived in the rich pastures of this
area.

The area became known as ‘Cowpastures’, which extended from the Nepean River at Camden to
Burragorang Valley and south to Bargo.

Perhaps the most significant contribution to its history was John Wild (a former soldier), on whose
property ‘Vanderville’ on the banks of Werriberri Creek his widow established the ‘private village of
Vanderville’ in 1858.

One of the first buildings was a hotel which stood alongside the road to Burragorang which crossed the
river here (present William Street), but the village soon moved further up the hill to drier ground and this is
where the main centre of The Oaks is today.

When a post office was opened in 1858 it was named The Oaks

The Roman Catholic Church (St. Aloysius) in 1865 joined the earlier St. Mathews Anglican Church built on
land donated by John Wild in 1838 - still standing (restored in 1983), and one of the earliest of its type in
Australia - to serve the spiritual needs of the residents. (St. Luke’s dates from 1892).

An early schoolhouse was run by Wild and neighbour Major Russell on their land. A later denominational
school near the Catholic church, was replaced by a state school in 1885 (opposite the present school,
built in 1929 after a bush fire burnt down the original.)

The social life of the village was catered for by the building of a School of Arts in 1891, a famous race
track which attracted visitors up until the 1930s, and a tennis club. Thousands of visitors also passed
through each year on the way to the lookouts and picnic grounds near Silverdale, overlooking the
Burragorang Valley. Local wheat growing was wiped out by rust in the 1890s, agriculture over the next
30 years turning more to horticulture as smaller allotments were taken up by settlers.

The collieries not only provided work for locals, but led to an influx of miners who contributed to the
growth and development of Silverdale, Oakdale and The Oaks itself.

The millions of tons extracted did not unfortunately attract the railway which might have contributed to
greater development of the area, and the fortunes of The Oaks were largely dependent on those of the
mines over the next 60 years. (The last, Oakdale Colliery, closed in the 1990s.)

In the early 1900s the civic development of The Oaks itself proceeded apace.

A police station was opened in 1901, and the increase in population warranted a new school - a convent
school run by the Sisters of St. Joseph - which opened in 1902. In 1906 Wollondilly Shire Council opened
offices in Burragorang Road, which operated there until it merged with Picton Municipality in 1944.

A local telephone exchange opened in 1911, and electricity was connected in 1946 - The Oaks being also
the headquarters of Nepean River County Council, the electricity authority for the region for many years.