by Narissa Phelps for the Lennox Wave

Williams Reserve sits at the very heart of Lennox Village. Charles Williams was born in 1852, the seventh child of Henry and Sarah Williams. Henry came to Australia as a convict in 1829, later becoming a cedar cutter in the Illawarra before moving to the Richmond District to cut cedar on Immigrant Creek, Seven Mile Beach (Lennox Head) and Broken Head. Charles, like his father, also worked in the cedar industry but by the age of 17 was farming on Upper North Creek. In 1880 he married Jane Elizabeth Skenner, the couple having eight children.

Charles’ farm operated as a dairy, but it also ran pigs, fed on a diet of sweet potatoes grown on the property.  Charles continued to engage in timber hauling but also ran a sugar mill at North Creek, one of the first in the Richmond area. The family home, located where Meadows Estate is today, was probably built by Charles himself from self-milled timbers. His granddaughter, Florence Maloney, recalled the house being surrounded by glorious gardens and being full of beautiful things that children were never allowed to touch. Travel was always by sulky pulled by the family horse, Ginger Meggs. Another family property, ‘Booree’, was located off Ross Lane, and used by Charles to run dry cows in winter.

Charles often told his grandchildren tales of the beautiful cedar trees that flourished in the Lennox area when he first moved here. He was fondly remembered as a generous, highly-respected gentleman and devout church-goer who regularly attended the North Creek Anglican Church. He remained on his North Creek property until his death, aged 88, in 1941.

 Charles Williams. Photo courtesy of Karina Reid.