The Lamplighter

Every day at dusk you would see him. He would walk around the quiet streets of Campbelltown carrying his small ladder and kerosene can with its long narrow spout. It was a routine that he loved and that he had perfected through years of practice. As he approached each lamp post he would take the lamp out and clean the globe and then fill the lamp with kerosene and light it. A ritual from another time in a slower paced and less complicated world.

Edwin James Bamford, known as Ted,  was born in 1865 in Picton. He was the son of Edwin Bamford and and Elizabeth Reeves. The family came to Campbelltown when Ted was only 3 or 4 months old. Ted secured his first job aged only 13 when he began constructional work on Sydney's first water supply. His main duty was to supply horses to the surveyors, moving them between Campbelltown and Fairfield where they were stationed.

He began his lamplighting in 1902. Although there were not many lights in town, it still required some travelling by foot. There was a light outside the town hall, one on the corner of Allman Street, one on Dumaresq Street, one near the corner of Lithgow Street, one near the park and one on the corner of Broughton Street. They never showed much light according to local Frances Meredith.

As a boy, Fred Seers assisted him with the lamplighting for threepence a week. Fred grew up to be one of the town's much loved characters himself.

Lamplighting was not the only job that Ted was skilled at. Perhaps his greatest joy in life was as Verger for St Peter's Church. He followed in his father's footsteps with this. He would clean the church, ring the bell, chase pigeons and undertake rounds of the graveyard. He reputedly knew the inscription of every tombstone in St Peters. Later he worked in the tiny library in a small building at the back of the town hall. He was the librarian there and he also looked after two billiard tables in the small building. There was a fireplace and he kept the logs on the fire in winter. He later moved to the new Soldiers Memorial School of Arts on the corner of Queen and Lithgow Streets and worked as the librarian.

Ted had a keen interest in botany. He was able to give the botanical name of every tree, pine and shrub that you could find in Campbelltown!

He carried out his work as lamplighter up until the time that electricity was installed in Campbelltown in early 1924. No more would this gentle old character wander the streets lighting up the town. 

Ted married Frances Holland at St Peters, Campbelltown and they had three children. The untimely death of his daughter Fanny had a profound effect on him and was believed to have contributed to his death not long after. He had suffered from asthma throughout his life. Edwin Bamford died in 1936 and was buried in the cemetery at St Peters that he dutifully cared for. 

Can you help with finding a photograph of Edwin Bamford for us?

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown News 24 July 1936

A Stroll Through St Peter's Churchyard, Campbelltown NSW by Marie Holmes

Frances Meredith oral history interview 1977 (Held at Campbelltown Library)

Switching On

When the question of whether or not Campbelltown should get electric lighting back in 1921, the town was almost split down the middle. Campbelltown Council held a referendum to gauge support. There were 80 votes in favour and 65 against. Many people were a bit afraid of this "new-fangled business". Three years later however, electricity was turned on for the first time, lighting up the town like a Christmas tree.

The honour of flicking the switch fell to Mrs Hannaford- wife of Mayor Charles Hannaford. This occurred on the evening of 23 January 1924 at the power station in Cordeaux Street. An excited crowd of 1000 people gathered to look at the illumination of hotels and shops in Queen Street. A number of business houses that included The Club, Federal and Royal Hotels, Reeves Emporium and the Railway Station, were decorated with dazzling lights and flags.  The mayor's house, named Miramichi, situated next to the court house, was also decorated with rows of coloured lights.

The Electric Power Plant and Power Station was the first of this particular type in New South Wales to produce energy on the alternating current system and fed by crude oil. It was a source of loud noise and could be heard all over town when it was started. It therefore ran only at certain times of the day and night.

The Electricity Power Station in Cordeaux Street (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The two diesel-powered generators installed in the power station had less than one hour's down-time in four years, but they soon became obsolete and in 1929 Campbelltown was connected to the Railways Department electricity supply system. The electricity station was located about where the front yard of the Catholic Presbytery is today. A cement slab remained for many years until the new presbytery was built on the site. It's likely that remains of concrete pylons to the immediate left of the presbytery's front door are connected to the electricity station. It was demolished in 1931.

Ingleburn eventually got electricity in 1930 and loans raised were able to extend it to Macquarie Fields, Glenfield and Denham Court in 1936.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

ALLEN, Andrew 2018
More Than Bricks and Mortar
Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

HOLMES, Marie
Charles Newton Hannaford
In Grist Mills: Journal of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society
Vol. 27, No. 3, November 2014

LOW, R.A
Switched On In The West

"Switching On" Campbelltown

It’s hard to believe that Campbelltown has had electricity for less than 100 years, imagining a life without electricity today seems almost unthinkable but it wasn’t until the citizens of Campbelltown complained that their town was dark and its streets neglected that Campbelltown Council starting looking into providing electricity. Council held a referendum among ratepayers in January 1921 to gauge support for electric lighting, with 80 votes in favour and 65 against, the decision to go ahead was not a unanimous one.

The Mayor of Campbelltown, Charles Hannaford, strongly promoted electricity as the key to Campbelltown’s future development and prosperity and investigated purchasing electricity from the railways or from Port Kembla, but it was decided that Council would build its own generating plant borrowing £10,000 from the State Superannuation Board in 1923.

The plant was manufactured by the Fairbanks-Morse Company, one of the then largest manufacturing firms in the USA. It was reported in the Campbelltown News in January 1924 as being “the first of its particular type in New South Wales to produce energy on the alternating current system and fed by crude oil.”

Power Station, Cordeaux Street, Campbelltown
(Photo courtesy Campbelltown & Airds Historical Society)  

Opened by the Mayoress, Mrs C.N. Hannaford on the evening of 23 January 1924, a crowd of 1000 people congregated outside the power house with the Campbelltown Boy Scouts forming a Guard of Honour as Mrs Hannaford “amidst deafening cheers took the contacting lever with a firm hand, and instantly Campbelltown was officially electrically lighted.”
Locals gathered to look at the illumination of hotels and shops in Queen Street and the Mayors home, whilst others like mentioned in the Rita Brunero blog post, ”left the switches turned on and when they returned home found their house lit up like a Christmas Tree”

Campbelltown News 18 January 1924

Electricity was initially supplied for lighting purposes between the hours of 6pm and midnight daily, extended to an all-night supply by 1 March then, to meet the growing demand for current in the day time the 24 hour service was commenced on 1 May 1924 and has been continued since.

The two diesel-powered generators had less than one hour’s blackout in four years but were soon obsolete and in 1929 Campbelltown was connected to the railway electricity system and a substation was erected in Cordeaux Street. The old powerhouse was demolished in 1931.

Embarking on a marketing campaign, Campbelltown Council encouraged residents to "make electricity you servant" with the electrical engineer, Norman Tuck, advising on the use of electric stoves, bath heaters, clothes washers and vacuum cleaners. By the early 1950s Campbelltown was still a rural town and although electricity had been available before the war, economic depression and a reticence to replace trusted old with modern had slowed the introduction of electrical appliances. After the war Council revived its campaign to sell electrical appliances. In 1958 Campbelltown Council relinquished control of the electricity supply to the Nepean River County Council which had formed in 1954.

Written by Samantha Stevenson
Sources:
Pamphlet File Campbelltown Library
Campbelltown : the bicentennial history / by Carol Liston.



An Interview with Rita

Queen of Campbelltown Competition, 1922. Rita is the queen seated in the middle of the photograph.

In 1977, 73 year old Rita Brunero gave an interview to the library about her life in Campbelltown. The interview took place at her home at 28 Oxley Street. Rita's interview is one of 119 sound recordings that the library has now digitised and is to be made available on the library's website.

Rita Brunero, formerly Tripp, was born in Campbelltown in 1904, the daughter of Charles and Maria Tripp. Her interview provides an insight into what life was like in Campbelltown for a young girl in the early years of the twentieth century. Campbelltown was then a small village and far enough away from Sydney to be regarded as a country town. Life was simple for a girl like Rita but still full of adventures and memorable moments that she recalled with fondness in her interview in 1977.

Rita was there in 1917 for the "Jack's Day" Regatta on the reservoir in Allman Street. She remembered the day fondly. The navy used it to raise funds for the war effort and people would pay to have a turn on row boats floating on the reservoir. Rita made sure she had a turn on a boat. On that same day her younger sister lost her gold bracelet there and Rita, not knowing she had taken it, was devastated when she found out. The bracelet had been given to her by a young man who went to war. The next morning at 5.30am she went back to the reservoir and found the bracelet in the grass!

She went on to talk about the night that electricity was first turned on in Campbelltown in 1926. (1924 ed.) A large crowd including Rita had gathered at the electricity station in Cordeaux Street for the switching on at 7pm. Her family had left the switches turned on and when they returned home they found their house lit up like a Christmas Tree!

In the interview she talks about her father and how he was a pioneer in developing radio (see my earlier blog post on Charles Tripp). He would get her to test the sound by going into a nearby room or on the verandah. If it worked there would be great excitement in the house.

Rita married Leslie Brunero, an Italian migrant who was to establish a saw mill in Patrick Street. She fondly recalled how handsome he was and how nervous she was that her parents would not allow the couple to marry because of his background. If they had not given permission she would have accepted this, as back in those days one never argued with your parents. Fortunately, they took a liking to the friendly Italian.

I hoped that Rita might have discussed the photo shown above of her as Campbelltown Princess in 1921 but unfortunately she didn't. One can imagine the excitement she would've experienced that day too.

Rita Brunero lived the rest of her years in Campbelltown. She died in 1982 aged 78 and is buried beside her husband in St John's Catholic Cemetery.

Rita's interview and the other 119 sound recordings will, in the near future, join our current oral histories on our website at http://www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/OralHistories.

I will keep you informed of the project's progress on this blog.

Written by Andrew Allen