Ned Ryan: A Host to All

On 20th May 1840, Ned Ryan made an application for land on which to erect an Inn. He addressed a document to the Hon. Colonial Secretary presenting his case as such:

In consequence of the very large herds of cattle and sheep that are constantly passing from Wellington, Bathurst, and Liverpool Plains, to Port Phillip and South Australia, I am put to considerable expense and inconvenience in entertaining parties so travelling, and finding accommodation for their stock at my station at Galong, whish is the only route parties driving stock to the above mentioned places can take… I have therefore proposed to the Bench of Magistrates at Yass that I should build an Inn for the accommodation of such travellers… I have therefore the honor to request that I may be permitted to purchase ten acres of land, at Galong my station, to erect the required accommodation, and beg to forward the Police Magistrate’s recommendation as to the eligibility of the spot for an Inn.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

Edw. Ryan. (1)

Ned’s efforts were thwarted in 1840. However, some eight years later in 1847, he purchased a property from the Hassalls of which he leased fifty acres to Timothy O’Brien. On this piece of land, above the east bank of the Boorowa River, O’Brien secured a license and built a hotel which he named The Wheelwright’s Arms (the remains of this can be found at the end of the Ballyryan road).

At a time when accommodation was the scarcest thing in the land, anyone who called on Ned at Galong was assured of bed and board. His name became synonymous with generous hospitality to rich and poor alike. It is believed that Galong House received 50 or 60 swaggies a day. So many that Ned employed a butcher full-time to provide meat for them and had huts built to the south of his own home to accommodate them all. On their departure, Ned made sure each swaggie received a ration of ten pounds of meat, ten of flour, two of sugar and a quarter pound of tea.

The Ned Ryan Motel honours Ned’s legacy and his dream to one day have his own Inn to provide a home-away-from-home for travellers from all walks of life. Our spacious, self-contained rooms offer authentic country hospitality right in the heart of Boorowa.

(1) Max Barrett, King of Galong Castle, (Canberra: Ausdoc On Demand, 2000), 67.