There and No Where Else

By Ivor Jones

How would you like to give this as your address or as the name of your suburb? Would you believe that this was actually the description of a locality situated in the Hills district back in 1804. No Where Else

It was used in a report given to Capt. Abbott relating to the rebellion at Castle Hill in March of that year.

A somewhat similar description was used by the “Sydney Gazette” of 25 March 1815 when local resident, Hugh Kelly, after whom Kellyville was named, showing his address as “There or No Where”. He also had described his address as “There and Nowhere” just a week later in the same paper. The area that had been known as ‘There and Nowhere’ was later followed by ‘Irish Town’ for the clan of Kellys that lived in the area.

Another early settler, Thomas Harley, who received a grant of land in the district in early 1800s, described his land as being at “there and no where else”.

Another early settler in the Hills district, John Hillas is reported to have had an illegal inn operating on his farm. The inn was purportedly known as the “Nowhere Here”. John Hillas was the owner of “Stanhope Farm”, which was situated at the junction of Windsor Road and Old Windsor Road upon which there was also an inn operating as the “Stanhope Arms” which later became the site of the “White Hart Inn”. That inn was demolished to make way for the Northwest Metro Light Rail.

The name of Kellyville as a location came about in 1884 when a number of land grants were consolidated and then subdivided and sold as the “Kellyville Estate”. A large portion of the area was made up of properties formerly owned by Hugh Kelly.

Mr Kelly was a wealthy businessman who operated an inn in the area known as “The Bird In The Hand” which was located on the corner of Wrights and Windsor Roads. He also operated a coach service and had the local mail contract. This Inn has no connection with the historic Inn of the same name located in nearby Bathurst Street, Pitt Town.

Part of Hugh Kelly’s holdings were acquired by marriage. At one stage he had been employed by Humphrey Evans who held 135 acres adjoining Hugh’s 60 acres. After the death of Mr Evans, Hugh Kelly married his widow, Mary, and gained control of the Evans’ property.

Originally a convict, Hugh Kelly gained his freedom in 1810. Hugh and Mary Kelly are both buried at St. John’s Cemetery, Parramatta. Hugh and Mary Kelly constructed, and lived, in a wooden house in Roseberry Road, Kellyville. Kelly died in 1884 a respected local.

Many of the early settlers of what was once known as “There and Nowhere” are remembered in street names of what is now Kellyville including the names of Acres, Tibbett and Hillas.

Kellyville Post Office opened on 1 January 1889. The original post office building stands on the corner of Acres Road and Windsor Roads. Kellyville Public School is a historic building which was established in 1873.

So there you are – Kellyville or Irish Town was there and no where else so we are told. The Kellyville Estate covered an area that now encompasses Kellyville, Kellyville North, Kellyville Ridge and Beaumont Hills now home to thousands of whom now live there and no where else.