by Narissa Phelps for the Lennox Wave. Based on Ref: The Pioneering Sharpe Family by Bruce McCabe Sharpe in Memories of Early North Creek and Lennox Head by Hilary Wilson.

It is perhaps, one of our district’s greatest historic losses that The Pines homesteadat Skennars Head burnt to the ground following a grassfire circa 1960. The house had been built by John Sharpe Jnr, the eldest child of John and Margaret (nee McKinley) Sharpe. Born in Ireland in 1838, John arrived with his parents in Australia in 1839, spending his childhood in the Kiama district. In 1864, he and wife, Anne nee McCabe, moved to North Creek with their three children and John’s brother David and his family, who became John’s neighbours.

The Pines, located between North Creek and Sharpe’s Beach, was a 96-hectare cane farm rich in native timbers. John built the homestead, with its wide front veranda, from beech and cedar with a galvanised iron roof. The walls were hessian tacked to the timber and coated with glued newspapers, a waterproof and surprising durable finish.  The lounge was filled with family photos and music from the bellows organ often filled the home. The large kitchen with butter-making area was to the west of the house. Outbuildings included a barn and saddlery—both timber with floors of Bangalow palms—a workshop and blacksmith’s forge, both with dirt floors.

John and Ann had a family of eleven children. Sadly David Sharpe (1861-1863) died in infancy, and the couple’s eldest child, John drowned in North Creek punting accident in 1879, aged 18. Daughter Eliza also pre-deceased her parents, dying in 1894 aged 32.

John Sharpe Jnr is regarded as one of the area’s pioneer cane farmers. John, with brother David, and father John, also constructed small-scale sugar processing mills which crushed the cane on wooden rollers. John later changed to dairying, with great success. He lived at The Pines until his death, aged 91, in 1929.

The Pines at North Creek. L to R: Joe Cordwell, Emma Sharpe, Ellen Cordwell & Grandma Sharpe (Anna nee McCabe). Photo courtesy Mabel Cordwell.