While holding the position of alderman, William Wiley, through the agent W.Osborne, had advertised  cottages for sale in New Dapto Road and Hercules Street in January 1886.

W.Osborne put the Zlotkowski Estate subdivision on the market in October 1887.

This was followed a year later by Hardie and Gorman selling off lots in the Kenny Estate subdivision which was advertised as a clearance sale.

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Then John Biggar began selling off the lots of Cochrane’s Paddock in December 1889. Cochrane’s lots were advertised as ‘‘close to Wollongong Docks’’.

A notice in the Illawarra Mercury during January 1889 stated that Mr Wiley would be applying at the next sitting of the Licensing Court for a publican’s licence for The Colonnade Hotel, consisting of 40 rooms with the exclusion of the rooms occupied by the family.

In the same month, he again intended to stand for mayor in the forthcoming council elections.

Standing on the balcony of the Freemason’s Hotel to address a gathering of electors, he was received with cheers and applause.

He said he was also standing again for parliamentary honours. 

Mr Wiley was unanimously elected mayor in the municipal elections in February 1889.

Just six months later, he appeared in the District Court where the Bank of New South Wales took action against him on an overdraft of £100 in connection with the Great Wollongong Coal Company.

Just as his term as mayor came to a close in 1890, Mr Wiley’s affairs were again raised in court.

This time, in early February 1890, the Mercantile Bank of Sydney placed a petition before the court.

At the next sitting just two weeks later, the court declared Mr Wiley a bankrupt as from December 28, 1889. An appeal on the same day was rejected. 

At the end of February, Mr Wiley made an appearance at the office of the Illawarra Mercury producing correspondence he received from England in relation to his Great Wollongong Coal Mining Company venture.

He told the paper that the courts had been too hasty in declaring him a bankrupt. He said he was expecting several thousand pounds from the venture.

In mid-March 1890, the creditors stepped in to liquidate his estates.

On May 1, 1890, Mr Wiley’s dealings were before the Supreme Court.

Mr Wiley was questioned and said he had been dealing in buying and selling land for the past 10 years.

When he purchased Kenny’s Estate he had a mortgage with a man named Vickery. He purchased Zlotkowski’s property for £2800, of which he had only paid £25 deposit, although he had paid a large amount in interest on the loan. 

He had sold a number of lots of this estate, where 19 purchasers had already built their houses.

As he had not paid off the mortgage, he was unable to issue any deeds to those who had completed their houses.

He said the money these people paid went into  his general account and was not used to pay off his mortgage.

The court stated he purchased Garden Hill Estate for £8500, of which he had paid off £5000 with £3500 still owing.

The court said more than 30 people  had paid money for land and were waiting for their titles.

Where Cochrane’s Paddock was concerned, he paid £1700 to a lender who was to become a partner, but Mr Wiley purchased the estate in his own name.

All estates were eventually sold off to pay  creditors.

In June 1891, Mr Wiley applied to the court for a certificate of discharge as a bankrupt.

Justice Manning made a scathing speech, saying that for the last 16 years, Wiley was nothing but a land speculator who would buy land on credit in the hope of selling it at a profit.

The judge could draw no other distinction between this and any other form of gambling with other people’s money and considered such speculation very rash and hazardous.

No doubt at the time he purchased Kenny Estate and Garden Hill, the railway to Wollongong was under construction.

He also purchased at that time Cochrane’s Paddock, which he advertised as facing Wollongong Dock.  

Mr Wiley  started the ball rolling on the Wollongong Harbour Trust with the idea of expanding the harbour into Tom Thumb Lagoon, hoping to make a killing on the sale of the lots at Cochrane’s Paddock. 

Information courtesy of Carol Herben OAM.  Call 0409 832 854. or email sycado6@bigpond.net.au

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