Early Queen Street Photos

Most of Campbelltown Library's earliest images are of Queen Street. They all date back to the early 1870s. It's hard to imagine a main street without cars and traffic lights. They are replaced with horses, dung and serenity. I have included brief descriptions of each of these photographs, some of which there is plentiful information and others not so.

Photo date: 1870

Patrick's Inn pictured on the right was built about 1842 and licensed to Anne Byrne. Not long after it was changed to the Coach and Horses Inn and later known as Hammond's Grammar School. By 1860 it was used as a School of Arts. Prominent pioneer John Hurley lived there from the 1870s and he died in the building in 1882. By then it was known as Alpha House. In later years it became a private school run by Miss Whittingham. Alpha House was demolished in 1938 to make way for the Good Intent Hotel.

Photo date: 1870

This building was located at 158 Queen Street, opposite Patrick Street. It was owned by John Bray and operated by John Boag from 1863 and later Henry Rose from 1868, until he was replaced in January 1870. The building combined the post office with living quarters. It served as a post office until 1881 when the lack of space became an issue, and a new post office was constructed in Queen Street further south. The building was the newspaper printing office in the 1890s and later Annie Marlow's dressmaking business. 

Photo date: 1870

Doyle Henty & Co. Auctioneers was located a couple of doors north of Alpha House. The building was made from weatherboard with shingles on the roof. The business became insolvent in 1879. Today it would stand about where the entrance to Campbelltown Mall is located in Queen Street.

Photo date: 1871

The Railway Hotel was built about 1850 by the Doyle family. The hotel was named this because of the anticipation that the new railway line would result in increased patronage. This never eventuated. It was known as Doyle's Railway Hotel up until at least 1896. The Meredith family owned it from 1921. From 1943 it was owned by JL Froggatt and known as "Bonito". This building and the surrounding colonial group were restored in the 1960s and saved from demolition.

Photo date: 1871

This image was taken by William Boag in 1871 and is one of a number of Campbelltown shots taken by this photographer in the same year. The characteristics of the image indicate that this is from that period. The library's description for the photo claims that it shows Barney Bugden's Blacksmith. Barney was born in 1884 and didn't come to Campbelltown until he was aged 21, where he started work as a blacksmith. He went into partnership with a man named Phillips a few years later when he was aged 24. Their blacksmith shop was in Queen Street. Therefore, it is impossible that this photo is of Barney Blacksmith's shop. It could possibly be of the same shop as Barney's but much earlier than his partnership. The men are unidentified.

Photo date:1871

Mrs Hickey ran a store in Queen Street at this time. Records reveal the shop would have been located around the vicinity of today's car wash opposite KFC in southern Queen Street.

Photo date: 1871

The Forbes Hotel was built in 1827 by Daniel Cooper and named after the Chief Justice who presided at the first Circuit Court held in the Campbelltown district. It had nine bedrooms, two parlours, a tap room, bar and cellar. In 1901 it was refurbished and became the Federal Hotel. It was located at the corner of Queen and Railway Streets and demolished in 1984.

Photo date: 1875

The main street of Campbelltown looking north. On the left is Alpha House. The Railway Hotel and the other colonial terraces are opposite. The building visible on the left in the distance at the time was the Family Hotel. It was leased to James Campbell by owner John Hurley and became the Bank of NSW in 1878. It remained in operation until 1943.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

More Than Bricks and Mortar: Remembering Campbelltown's Lost Buildings by Andrew Allen 2018

Queen Street Terraces, Campbelltown: Historical Investigation by Carol Liston 1990

Demolished Heritage Buildings of Campbelltown, A Joint Project of Campbelltown-Airds Historical Society and Campbelltown City Council, November 2005

 

Mystery Solved...possibly!

A few weeks ago I posted about the very difficult task of identifying more (actually anything) about the above photograph. I knew my chances of finding anything were remote. However, after some intense detective work, I think I'm on to something!

Very few details about this photograph in our collection existed. There was no date, location or names of the people. All we have is that it was taken in Campbelltown. We do however, have the name of the photographer. The image was taken by Boag and Milligan, Sydney. Research by the State Library of Queensland reveals that these two operated a photography business. The early part of William Boag's career was spent in Sydney where he was in partnership with portrait photographer Joseph Charles Milligan. Boag then went to Queensland in November 1871.

The library was fortunate enough to have two other images of Campbelltown in its collection by William Boag. Both these images were taken in 1871. It can be fairly certain then that this particular photograph therefore dates to 1871. Both the other photographs are of buildings located at the southern end of Queen Street: Mrs Hickey's shop and Bugden's blacksmith shop. In fact both buildings, from the records we hold at the library, appear to have been located virtually side-by-side to each other.

I decided I would search all the 1156 images we held of Queen Street for a building at the southern end of the street that looked like the one above. After trawling through hundreds, there was one that caught my attention. It was taken in the 1950s. It shows what appears to be a very old house and to the left of it, another house. A closer inspection of it however, reveals that it is two houses very close to each other. At first glance the building or buildings don't appear to resemble our building. However, if you imagine looking at them from a different angle, you get a different picture.

Below is the house taken in the 1950s.

If you examine the 1871 house, you will notice a building adjoining it that has a verandah  and roofline elevated from its verandah. The house, like the one in the 1950s photograph, is very close and almost attached to it. Other similarities include the chimneys and the verandah posts. There is also a similar gap where gates can be found at the side of both houses. About 80 years separates both photographs, so changes will obviously have occurred in that time.

It's a shame we don't get a decent shot of the 1950s house from the other angle, as this would probably show where the windows are located and therefore prove one way or another if it is our house.

If we can be sure this is the same house we are looking at, maybe we can then go close to identifying the people in it. Norm Campbell, who is now in his mid 90s, remembers the houses that were taken in the 1950s. He said that Mears family lived in the smaller one on the left (same house as the 1871 one) and the Reynolds family in the larger house on the right.

Norm also confirmed that Bugden's also lived in the house to the left of the other houses in the 1950s photograph. This is of course a much later house and would've replaced Bugden's old blacksmith shop. Mrs Hickey's shop was located 50 metres to the south of the Queen Street and Bradbury Avenue intersection. I measured this and it is exactly where you drive in to the car wash today. Therefore I believe it would've been in the same vicinity as the above buildings, possibly even between Bugden's and the 1871 house. Norm also said that the post in the extreme right of the 1950s image was part of Dredge's cottage.

So, I believe I could possibly have solved this. I can't be certain of course. However, it would make sense that Boag took the three buildings next to each other on that day in 1871.

I welcome your thoughts on this.

Written by Andrew Allen