The Glenlee Train Accident

There was a crack like a 'gun blast' that was heard from Menangle. It was regarded a miracle that everyone of the 73 passengers escaped. The date was March 27, 1961- a date that would be etched on the memories of all those involved.

The accident at Glenlee occurred when the engine of the second division of the Melbourne express, due in Sydney at 10.55am hit the engine of a goods train hauling coal trucks from a siding. The engine and four leading cars of the express left the rails after travelling some distance. The fact that there was a bank above the line to Sydney which is not level with the line from Sydney, prevented the carriages from falling right over and not a window in the carriages was broken.

The other astounding fact, according to the Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, was that the main section of the express engine remained on the line after hitting the huge Garrett engine so hard that it ripped the side out of the front tank and threw it yards into the mud near the signal box. It was so badly smashed that it had to be dismantled and removed in pieces.

Four ambulances from the Macarthur area were on the scene within ten minutes. Within one hour over 30 civilian and army ambulances were present. Ambulance men treated a dozen or so passengers for bumps and abrasions. A relief train from Campbelltown conveyed the passengers to Sydney.

News reports also described how within an hour of the accident the narrow road leading from Menangle Road to Glenlee siding was jammed with cars. Sightseers swarmed around the damaged trains and police had to keep them away from the railway gangs.

Local photographer Norm Campbell was on the scene immediately to take photographs. Below is one of those images.

Do you recall the accident at Glenlee? Were you one of the sightseers? Please let us know.

Train accident at Glenlee showing Sydney-bound passengers from the second division of the Melbourne Express joining a replacement train to continue their journey to Sydney after collision with a coal train on 27 March 1961

Written by Andrew Allen

Source: Campbelltown-Ingleburn News March 28 and April 4 1961

Southern Queen Street Then and Now

The two images above reveal just how much the southern end of Queen Street has changed in the last 50 years. Both photographs are taken from approximately the same spot- near the exit to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The photograph at the top was taken by local historian Alex Goodsell in the early 1960s. It shows the soon to be demolished Commonwealth Flats in the foreground with the orange roof. The Commonwealth Flats was formerly the Jolly Miller Hotel and then the First and the Last Hotel (see my August 19 post). To the left of the Commonwealth Flats is today's Macarthur Legal Centre building formerly Fieldhouse's Store and later home to the Campbelltown News. Looking in the distance past this building is what used to be known as Miss Raymond's Cottage. It was a timber house with brick nogged walls. It had an attic upstairs that was said to be haunted. This house was pulled down in the early 1980s. It stood where the old pizza hut building and later Anytime Fitness building is today. The petrol bowser on the other side of the road would be where the footpath is in front of the KFC car park shown in the bottom photograph. Note the absence of the telephone poles in the bottom photograph.

Written by Andrew Allen

"Honest John"

The Kidd family at Blair Athol in the 1890s. John Kidd is on the right. (Photo courtesy Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society).


John Kidd was born at Brechin, in Scotland, in 1838, the son of a shoemaker. At the age of 18 he migrated to Sydney on the Mary Anne and established a bakery. In 1860, three years after arriving in the colony, he married Sophie Collier and moved to Campbelltown. Here he established a bakery and general store which he ran from 1860 to 1876.

John soon developed a reputation for honesty which was to last for the rest of his life. It won him many customers for his businesses and later was enough to be asked to run as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly of the NSW Parliament. He became known as "Honest John" in the Campbelltown community.

John was prominent in the Presbyterian Church and later became an elder. He was also involved in the local School of Arts. In 1870 he was appointed a magistrate and served as a chairman of the local licensing branch. He was a foundation member for the Masonic Lodge in Campbelltown and became the first Patron of the Campbelltown Agricultural Society.

After he returned in 1877 from a trip to Scotland, John took up dairying and began to breed Ayrshire cattle. He bought land at St Andrews and Campbellfields to graze the cattle on and by 1900 was one of the largest rate payers in the municipality. He also planted orchards and vineyards on the land.

John Kidd was elected to the seat of Nepean in 1880. In 1901 he was re-elected to the new seat of Camden until his retirement in 1904. John was a strong supporter of Federation and Free Trade.

He was a member for the steering committee to form a new council for Campbelltown and saw the first council incorporated in 1881. He was also asked by the NSW Premier to be Postmaster General in 1891. Kidd also owned the Campbelltown Herald in 1887.

"Honest John" and his family owned Blair Athol homestead built in 1881. They entertained extensively and their home was one of only very few in the district that had a ballroom. The house still stands in the Campbelltown suburb of the same name.

John continued to supervise his farms after his retirement from parliament in 1904 until his death at 81 years of age. Australia's first Prime Minister Edmund Barton said "I always found him to be a loyal colleague and a strictly upright public man". He died on April 8 1919 and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Campbelltown. John and Sophie had 4 children: Thomas Collier; Jessie Maud; Mary Elizabeth and Frederick Norman John Kidd.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Pamphlet by A. Robinson of Leumeah High School

HOLMES, Marie
The Presbyterian Cemetery Campbelltown

East Minto Public School

Unidentified people beside East Minto Public School in 1920 (Jessie Newham Collection)


East Minto Public School was opened in September 1898 in Hansens Road, East Minto. The School, like other surrounding schools, served children who lived within a 3 mile (5 kilometre) radius.

East Minto was a one-teacher school. The school's first teacher was Cecil George Browning Sutton. He remained at East Minto Public until he retired in 1921 and remained in the district as an active community member until his death in 1951. The altar at St James Minto is dedicated to him.

The next teacher was Percy Kable who also taught at Campbelltown Public School. He was followed by Mr Haines or Pop Haines as he was known. A former pupil by the name of Keith Longhurst remembered him playing cricket and rounders with the children at lunch time. He was regarded fondly by his pupils. A Miss Henderson taught years 1-2 while Mr Haines took 3-6.

Keith Longhurst described his days at East Minto further: "We were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. And I don't mean maybe- we WERE taught. The only thing that spoilt my school life, if any, was that I was shifted from 2nd class to 4th class in one jump and it was a long hop and of course I missed my tables that you had to learn in 3rd class".

In the 1930s the teachers were Mr Edwards and Miss Frost. The school's numbers remained high during this time. Names such as Etchells, Denison, Longhurst, Porter, Johnson and Hansen being prominent.

On October 2, 1947 the school was destroyed by fire. It started in the early morning and destroyed everything except a store-room. As farms had closed down and the population of East Minto had decreased after World War 2, it was decided not to rebuild. Students were being bused to nearby schools after the fire and eventually they would attend a new school at Minto.

East Minto Public School was located on the corner of Hansen's Road and Hereford Place.

East Minto Public School after the fire that destroyed it in 1947 (A.Denison Collection)


Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

FOWLER, Verlie
"Keith Longhurst- his life and times"
In Grist Mills
Vol. 17, No. 3, pp 2-37, November 2004

LISTON, Carol 1988
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History