Curious to know where Baylis Street got its name?
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Wagga’s suburbs and street names are rich with history.
While some titles are derived from the Indigenous tongue, others reflect residents, who literally left their mark on the town.
The original namesake of Baylis Street was the first police magistrate in the small township of Wagga.
This was back in 1858.
According to archived records and local historians, a young Henry Baylis had arrived in Australia with his family in 1831.
Finishing his schooling in Sydney, Baylis studied law and dabbled in farming before he was sent to Wagga, where remained a prominent citizen until his retirement, almost four decades later.
At time of his stately appointment, the town was home to about 150 people, with five brick buildings.
It was still big enough to require a courthouse and magistrate.
Henry Bonfield Baylis arrived on horseback, trekking across the state by himself. His wife, Sybella Baylis, and their son, James arrived in horse and cart some time later.
The family originally lived in a small home, before moving to Goonigul – a two-storey brick building, near the racecourse. The RSL Club now stands in its place.
Interestingly, in 1863 Baylis was awarded a Colony of NSW gold medal for his assistance in capturing bushrangers Dan "Mad Dog" Morgan and his partner, Clarke, after being held up by the pair on his way to Urana.
Following the stick-up, Baylis, police and volunteers ambushed the pair at their camp, where the magistrate was shot. Baylis kept the bullet – it had passed through his shoulder – as a souvenir and good luck charm.
Baylis was an original committeeman of Murrumbidgee Pastoral and Agricultural Association and played a significant role in the establishment of the first bridge crossing the Murrumbidgee River.
He then moved to Homebush, where he died in a railway accident, five years after the turn of the century.
His son James, who lived in Narrandera with his wife and son Henry “Harry”, moved back to Goonigul in 1908.
Harry later enlisted in the army as an ambulance driver on August 30, 1915 and was sent to Egypt and then France, during World War I.
Arriving back in Australia in 1919, Harry moved to Victoria and was joined by his parents when Goonigul was subdivided a year later.