Sunday, December 9 has been locked in for the annual ham raffles in the Whitton Park. The night will start at 5pm, with plenty of hams and other prizes, plus barbecue food and drinks on offer. So come along with your picnic blanket/chairs for an enjoyable evening.
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Some interesting information uncovered by a volunteer at Whitton Museum about Whitton’s first railway gatekeepers, Alexander Burnett and his wife Mary (nee Veitch). Burnett was born in England in 1806. He was transported to Australia in 1830 for the crime of housebreaking. Because of his literacy and carpentry skills, he was invited to join an expedition led by surveyor Thomas Mitchell in 1835. For his contribution he was granted a “ticket of leave” and a pardon from his sentence, marrying Mary soon after that.
Burnett was selected again by Mitchell, to explore an inland route through NSW and Victoria, this time employed as an overseer. They travelled back to Sydney along the Murrumbidgee River from Wagga to Gundagai, giving him a sample of inland river country.
Burnett was offered a government job, but returned to carpentry for some years, before moving inland to Whitton with his wife Mary, where they became Whitton’s first railway gatekeepers. Duties included the opening and closing of the railway gates, being the station master’s assistant, the porter, and changing the lanterns in the signals, while Mary operated the station’s tea room.
The gatekeeper’s house is still located on the railway crossing; the station master’s house and the station have been relocated to the museum.
