Spoiler alert: the story behind Best Street’s namesakes ends in tragedy.
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Robert Holt Best met an untimely death when he fell from his horse in 1853.
But before that, Robert, his wife Clara and their ten children were Wagga’s first settlers.
In recent weeks, The Daily Advertiser has uncovered the long-forgotten stories behind the city’s streets and suburbs.
It was previously revealed the namesake of Baylis Street was the initial police magistrate and John Peter, of Peter Street, was the first pastoralist.
Robert Best came to the Murrumbidgee area in 1832, with his brothers, Peter and William.
They arrived from Seven Hills, where their England-born parents had originally settled in the early 19th century.
Robert was listed as the first license holder of the pastoral land his family had claimed, which was located on the southern side of the river.
The station hands set up camp in simple huts on a bend, close to the present-day Murrumbidgee Turf Club.
The station was later named the ‘Wagga Wagga Run’, according to William Ellis, who was a former town clerk in the late 20th century.
Mr Ellis penned the The Street Names of Wagga from council records.
Today, that land and its surrounds are still known as Wagga Wagga – the place of many crows.
It was proclaimed a town in 1846, after the Gumly Gumly station owner, John Peter, objected to the village being being established on his land.
According to the archives, Robert Best, alongside his wife Clara Brien, had owned about 42,000 acres before 1842.
But the carpenter and farmer later discovered he had built the homestead on a flood plain.
So when the rains came in 1952, it was destroyed (welcome to Wagga).
The family and their school teacher were saved when they climbed into a punt that was tied to a tree.
Most of the surrounding huts were also lost.
The family of 11 moved to higher ground – south of the Sturt Highway – until another homestead was erected. This was called Flowerdale.
One year later, the 40-year-old settler was dead.
Robert was thrown to the ground when his horse rode under a leaning tree, on the way toward Gregadoo.
In a twist of fate, his 13-year-old son Robert Holt Best Junior also died while out riding, less than two years later.
He was killed “as a consequence of his horse falling with and on him”.
But up until his father’s tragic fall, Robert Junior’s dad was known as the manager of Wagga’s pastoral station and he was also contracted to deliver mail on horseback between Tarcutta and Wagga twice every week.
The pastoralist also played a big part in the establishment of the Court of Petty Sessions.
Father and son were buried together, in what became the family graveyard.
This site still stands near Flowerdale in Ashmont.