By the Waters of Yarramalong

When you dive into the history of Yarramalong on the Central Coast of NSW, it would be difficult to bypass any story about the Waters family.

Yarramalong is a rural enclave, just north-west of Wyong on the Central Coast and today is home to many farmstays, turf farms and some beautiful rural views.

Ezekiel Waters, courtesy Wikitree

When Ezekiel Waters arrived in the Yarramalong district in the 1830s, he had made the long haul from Northern Ireland, where he was born in County Tyrone. He brought with him his wife Jane (nee Williamson), who he had married in Tyrone in 1833, and two young sons, James, 4 and Robert, 1 on the ship, Mandarin, in 1838. His occupation was listed as a stone cutter.

In those early days the Yarramalong Road was covered by the branches of the large timber trees that grew so dense along its path, the sun's rays found it difficult to reach through to the surface of the byway. With only a two to three white families living in the area, the Waters had to deal with the isolation. There were, however, many Aboriginal tribes still living locally.

Ezekiel became the first to grow tobacco in the district and with his eldest son, James, they experimented in the growth and treatment of arrowroot. They also invented a process for treatment of sugar cane for commercial purposes.

Ezekiel and Jane would go on to have four more children, who would then settle around the district and have their own families. Their youngest son, Robert, possibly named after his older brother who died at nine years old in 1848, two years before his birth, went on to have 14 children.

Ezekiel was considered a fine sample of old British blood, a stalwart yeoman of the North of Ireland, descended from Scottish parentage. He was a man of grand physique and of jovial good nature, who was fond of a joke and music.

Ezekiel would take the family to Tuggerah Lakes for a change of scenery where they would shoot and fish and camp and sleep where the night overtook them.

Walking around the Yarramalong cemetery it is no surprise to find many a headstone with the Waters name chiselled on it. This includes those of Ezekiel and Jane and their numerous children and grandchildren.

Waters family graves at Yarramalong cemetery. Courtesy Findagrave

References

• 'Ezekiel Waters' Wikitree, accessed 21/7/2026, Ezekiel Waters (abt.1810-1885) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

• 'A Yarramalong Pioneer', The Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate, Thursday 17 Aug 1933, Page 3

• 'Death of Mr R.F. Waters', The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 25 June, 1930, Page 14

• 'Waters', New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896, accessed on ancestry.com.au on 21/7/2026.

• 'The Life of Allen Waters', The Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate, Thursday 2 December, 1926, Page 5