Chapter 5.1


Burrowel and Brandon - Williams River properties

Burrowel was a farming/grazing property on the eastern bank of the Williams River in NSW. Burrowel is the foundation of George Mosman’s family and what they became.

The name of the Burrowel has been spelt in several different ways. Early baptism entries use Barroual, family recall it as Burroull - pronounced ‘Bu -rowl’, others are Burrowell. This history prefers Burrowel which is most used over time. 

Brandon is a property on the western bank of the Williams River which was owned by Alexander Warren. It became Mosman territory in 1876 when Alexander’s great nephew William Fisher, newly married to George’s eldest daughter Dorothea, inherited the property.

Burrowel
In 1829, shortly after the twins arrival, George Mosman bought 640 acres of land for £35 on the bank of the Williams River near Seaham, known as Burrowel. It was good agricultural and grazing land with easy water access from Newcastle and the Hunter River to Sydney. From the early 1830’s it even had a regular steamer service from Raymond Terrace to Sydney. 

Williams River was choice land available at that time, fertile river flats and not subject to major flooding. The new village of Seaham was nearby.
Site of Burrowel at present day
After a small start George added to his property buying nearby land and by 1840 his holding was more than 6,000 acres. At the beginning George was mostly an absentee farmer spending time in Sydney, probably winding down his partnership with Archibald.

From 1840 George moved to Burrowel permanently. By that time the property development was at its peak with over 30 convict “servants” helping him. They built a brick house, and farm housing and buildings, including a house for Archibald, who had a smaller property nearby. 

When George died in 1868 the property was split into five or six farms for sale with family members buying two of them. 

Brandon
In January 1824 Alexander Warren arrived in Sydney from Scotland, more than four years before the Mosman twins arrived. By mid 1824 he had been granted 1,000 acres of land near the Williams River which was to become Brandon. By the early 1830’s Alexander had acquired more land to give Brandon the extensive river frontage it needed. 

When he died, Alexander left Brandon to his grand nephew William Fisher junior, who had recently married Dorothea Mosman. The property has been in the hands of Fisher/Mosman descendants to the present day. 
Brandon House and Brandon farmland, 2024
William Fisher built Brandon House for Dorothea and his family. This superb Victorian rural house still exists and is Heritage listed. 



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