The Kables at The Oaks
A story that began in a Norfolk gaol comes to rest, in the end, under gum trees in the Wollondilly. Henry Kable Junior — Harry — spent his last years near The Oaks, a small settlement south-west of Camden, and it is there that a First Fleet life quietly closed.
Vanderville and a family homecoming
After his father Henry Kable Senior died in 1846, Harry moved to Vanderville, a large property near The Oaks held by his niece Emmeline and her husband, John Benton Wild, a member of parliament for Camden. Emmeline was a granddaughter of Harry’s sister Diana Kable and William Littleton Gaudry — the same Gaudry line the author of Son of the First Fleet comes from. Harry took a modest local role as pound keeper. The Oaks was still taking shape; its post office would not open until 1 January 1858.
A village the family helped make
Emmeline Wild gave land for the district’s churches and for the village itself, and the family’s names were written into the map that followed — Gaudry Street, Emmaline Avenue, Benton Lane, Vanderville Street. If you visit The Oaks today, the Wollondilly Heritage Centre and Museum on Edward Street keeps much of this local history, and the street signs still quietly point back to it.
St Matthew’s Cemetery
Harry died on 15 May 1852, aged sixty-six, and was buried at St Matthew’s, The Oaks. The little church is one of the oldest surviving timber churches in the country, built in the late 1830s and restored in 1982. His is among the district’s oldest graves, and one of the few in the area belonging to someone who had come out with the First Fleet itself.
It is a fitting place to end. Son of the First Fleet by Tony Gaudry follows Harry all the way here — from a cell in Norwich to a quiet grave at The Oaks — and sets his life within the wider Kable family history.
Common questions about The Oaks and the Kables
What is the connection between the Kable family and The Oaks?
Henry Kable Junior spent his last years at Vanderville, near The Oaks in the Wollondilly district of New South Wales, on land connected to his niece Emmeline Wild (née Gaudry) and her husband John Benton Wild. He died in 1852 and is buried at St Matthew’s Cemetery, The Oaks — one of the district’s oldest First Fleet graves.
Where is Henry Kable Junior buried?
At St Matthew’s Cemetery, The Oaks. St Matthew’s is one of the oldest surviving wooden churches in Australia, built in the late 1830s and restored in 1982.
Did the family help establish the village?
Emmeline Wild gave land for the churches and the village itself, and several local street names — including Gaudry Street, Emmaline Avenue, Benton Lane and Vanderville Street — still carry the family’s connection to The Oaks.