St Peter's Cemetery Stonemason

Few of us today have the luxury of living close to work. Most of us waste long hours on clogged freeways endlessly staring at bumper stickers or tail lights. For one lucky Campbelltown identity however, work was literally just across the road.

Eugene Glyde Wells, better known as Hughie, was born in Shoreham in Sussex, England in 1886. At an early stage in his life he lived on The Isle of Wight where he was apprenticed as a stonemason. He moved to South Africa and later came to Australia. Hughie was a monumental mason in Campbelltown after arriving here about 1940.

Hughie and his wife Ethel lived and worked in a house in Broughton Street directly opposite St Peter's Church of England Cemetery. He was responsible for making headstones for the cemetery during his time living in Broughton Street. The house was demolished not long after the photo seen above was taken in 1977. The Scout Hall now stands on the site.

Not much is known about Hughie. A local resident remembers him staggering out of Lack's Hotel and getting into his little ute and wobbling his way down Queen Street before turning into Broughton Street. His son Frank, who lived in nearby Warby Street, worked with him at the stonemason's yard. Hughie died in Campbelltown in 1973.

             Hughie and Ethel's headstone in St Peter's Cemetery

Written by Andrew Allen

Adventures Down St Elmo Hill

In my interview with local identity Norm Campbell in 2011, he told me a story about the day of his lucky escape as a baby in the 1930s. Norm was in the care of the Meredith family on this day and they were visiting friends at St Elmo. They walked there pushing young Norm in a pram. This house was located at the top of the steep Broughton Street hill in Campbelltown.

The Meredith girl who was taking care of him was distracted for a moment. Suddenly his pram began to charge down the steep, unpathed roadway, gathering speed as Norm swayed and bumped inside. The pram accelerated past Lindesay Street, Moore Street, and Queen Street, finally coming to a halt in long grass near the railway line.

Another local girl named Chris Vardy and her brothers experienced the thrill of hurtling down this same hill during their childhood in the late 1950s. In her Campbelltown Recollections: stories from our past interview, Chris described what is was like to descend the hill at top speed in a home made billy cart made from pram parts. "No helmets, no shoes and just shorts. Straight from the top of St Elmo all the way down to Queen Street. Look out! It was a wonder we weren't killed".

The photograph above is of the notorious Broughton Street hill at St Elmo looking west in 1946. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written by Andrew Allen