Oh no! Not traffic lights!

In December 1977 the question of whether Campbelltown needed traffic lights was a hot topic. The idea absolutely horrified some residents, with such comments as “Sydney is saturated with these electronic monstrosities” and “let’s not get carried away with the traffic light installations”. There was no stopping progress however, and the lights were given the go-ahead.

The lights were to be situated at the intersections of Queen and Railway Streets, and Queen and Dumaresq Streets. They were installed by the Department of Main Roads and ancillary work such as kerbing and guttering was undertaken by council. On Thursday 8^th June 1978 an electrical engineer made final checks on the system and at the end of June the lights became active.

Intersection of Dumaresq and Queen Sts.circa 1970 prior to traffic lights.
Geoff Eves Collection, Campbelltown City Library

It’s hard to imagine a Queen Street today without traffic lights, but those original locations are still the only traffic lights along the main drag of Queen Street, from Allman Street to Railway Street!

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources - Campbelltown Ingleburn News.

Sewer Lane

The lower western end of Dumaresq Street was once affectionately known as 'Sewer Lane'. Many years ago, a creek ran down from the Cattle Tank and reservoir in Allman Street. It would meander past the Methodist Church, run down to Oxley Street and come out in Dumaresq Street, into stormwater drains that Council built, and would finish up going underneath the road. The water was then drained away in a large open canal on the northern side of Dumaresq Street between Queen Street and the railway line. In Campbelltown's early days, a corduroy bridge ran over this same creek in the vicinity of the entrance to the car park on the northern side of Dumaresq Street, between Moore-Oxley Bypass and Queen Street. This is the creek some believe flowed under a bridge that John Farley once sat on when he claimed to have seen the ghost of Fred Fisher. A 1918 parish map shows the section between Queen Street and the railway line as Kidd Lane, named for the Hon. John Kidd, M.L.A. who once owned Blair Athol House.

The town's older residents remember Sewer Lane fondly. "When we were kids we used to crawl through all the stormwater pipes down Dumaresq Street, which we used to call Sewer Lane" said one. "There was a big gutter running down to the railway line and we used to make little boats out of paper and sail them down there from Queen Street to the railway line. They called it Sewer Lane as it was a big open drain all the way to a creek at the railway line." The drain had wooden bridges over it. Another lifelong resident remembers its size: "It used to come down Dumaresq Street and kick across, it was huge. When it was full on rain, man that was something to watch! Yes, an incredible amount of water used to go through it." Another local, Bob Moore remembers "We would often walk down Dumaresq Street, under the roadway during storms, which was then known as Sewer Lane, and wade through the stormwater just for the fun of it."

Although it was referred to as 'Sewer Lane' the water was stormwater as there was no sewerage until many later years. In 1986 Council excavated the old water race at the intersection of Queen and Dumaresq Street and replaced it with new pipes and culverts.

 

Excavation of the Water Race at the intersection of Queen and Dumaresq Streets

 

 

Detail of the stone wall during the 1986 excavations

Written by Andrew Allen