Named for a warrior

PAKENHAM is thought to owe its name to Major-General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, who fought under the command of his brother-in-law, the Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsula War.
General Pakenham was killed in January 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans, and the name first appeared on a map of the district in the 1850s.
Dr William Kerr Jamieson was one of the first settlers, taking up the “I. Y. U” run around 1838.
Other early settlers include Thomas Henty, who purchased the “Pakenham Park” property from Dr James Bathe in 1865. After his death, his son James Reginald Henty retained the homestead block until his death in 1929.
James Henty was one of the first to enlist in the Boer War and was awarded the Queen’s Medal, with five clasps, for his efforts. On his return he joined Berwick Shire Council and was shire president for 1913-14. A huge granite boulder sits on a hill above the secondary college to mark where his ashes were scattered.
Michael Bourke and James Neville took up the “Minton’s Creek” run, which extended towards Upper Beaconsfield, in 1844. Michael and Catherine lived on the run before moving downstream to the Princes Highway Hotel in 1850.
On an 1856 map it is listed as the Latrobe Inn, but was better known as Bourke’s Hotel, and was a regular stopping place for Cobb and Co Coaches.
Michael Bourke was postmaster at Pakenham for 30 years and after his death his widow and daughter continued to run the post office.
The Bourkes also had six sons, three who went on to become councillors of the Berwick Shire over a period of 30 years, and were the first to establish the Pakenham Racing Club.
J.A. Kitchen and his sons Theo and John took up the land along the Toomuc Creek in the 1870s, where they cleared about 150 acres and planted apple trees. The Toomuc Valley Orchard became on of the largest and best-known in Australia. The Kitchen brothers provided a school for the children of their employees in the 1880s and it was also used for church services on Sundays.
The township of Pakenham East, now Pakenham, began to develop when the railway line went through about 1878. In 1880 the only buildings there were the railway station, the gatehouses and a hotel in the course of construction. Businesses came with the opening of the line, with the first being a blacksmith, butcher, bakery and boot repairer.
In the early days there was rivalry between the “old” and “new” towns of Pakenham and Pakenham East. The “old” Pakenham of the 1880s comprised of Hodgsons Store, Mrs Stout’s Butchery, Bourke and Fraser’s Hotels, and Oscar Smith’s Blacksmiths Shop. With the passing of the years the individual townships have merged into one.
In 1874, state schools were built in Pakenham near Toomuc Creek, Pakenham South and Nar Nar Goon. St Patrick’s Catholic School was also opened in the 1870s.
The Pakenham Mechanics’ Institute, on Station Street, was first built about 1890. It served the community as a public hall, library and courthouse until the Pakenham Hall was erected in 1959.
It was also used at the headquarters of the Shire of Berwick from 1902 until 1912.
In 1911 the Pakenham Agricultural and Historical Society was founded, and in 1917 Albert Thomas, who had established the Berwick Shire News in 1909, transferred to Pakenham and commenced publication of the Pakenham Gazette.
The town was connected to electricity and reticulated water in 1928.
Industry came to the town with the opening of the Raleigh Preserving Company’s factory, which was later operated by Nestle.