A Royal Visit

Today a visit from a member of the royal family generates much excitement, however in the 1930s  such a visit would send the town into a state of delirium. This was the case in 1934 when the Duke of Gloucester visited the small community of Campbelltown.

The Campbelltown-Ingleburn News naturally gave front page to the Duke's visit. It described how at 10.30pm on November 26, 1934 the anticipation of the crowd was rewarded when the Royal train came to a standstill at the station platform. The main door to the station platform was at the time closed, but immediately the train had stopped the doors were opened, and very quickly the platform was thronged with people, who cheered and cheered. It was when His Royal Highness came out of his private carriage and stood on the platform that the huge crowd gave their loudest cheers. He was described as wearing a dinner suit and smoking a cigarette. The Duke smilingly acknowledged the crowd by raising his right hand.

The Royal train stayed for 70 minutes while the Duke and his staff ate supper in the dining car. Although in a siding away from the main platform, the locals looked for the best views of the Duke devouring his supper.

At 11.40pm the train left the station bound for Sydney and the crowd went home. They could now claim they saw royalty that night at Campbelltown station.

Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester was the younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI. The major purpose of his 1934 tour was to participate in the centenary celebrations of the state of Victoria.

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News Friday, 30th November, 1934

2CT

 

                        Community Radio 2CT's Christmas program guide for 1979

Campbelltown had its very own radio station as early as 1978. 2CT was Australia's first genuine community access radio station and for almost four years programs were broadcast throughout the district from two studios from a house on Campbelltown Road, Minto.

Plans for the station started early in the 1970s but it wasn't until 1977 that its licence was finally issued. The licence allowed the station to transmit for 116 hours weekly. The first broadcast aired at 2.30pm on May 13, 1978 with the 'extremely nervous' station announcer using the line "This is radio 2CT Macarthur 1390" to the applause of 200 people crowded outside the studio. The opening didn't go without a hitch however as the Post and Telegraphs Minister forgot to open the station! He eventually arrived 20 minutes after the scheduled time.

The station was a success. It included music, segments, sport and news programs presented by the Campbelltown-Ingleburn News.

After only 3 years however, the station closed down. A downturn in retail trade and accompanying sponsorships and tough government restrictions on advertising were the main contributors. On January 21, 1981 shareholders voted to wind the station up and the last broadcast was on the following Friday the 23rd. In less than three years the first Australian Community radio station was the first to pass away.

Campbelltown Library has part of the broadcast from that last night on air. The last song played was "Until We Meet Again" by the Goombay Dance Band. This was followed by an announcement from the station thanking those for their support as well as a 'dig' to those that didn't. The national anthem then played followed by silence. It has been digitised and about to be made available to the public.

Radio 2MCR which began in the late 1980s now provides the Campbelltown area with a community radio service.

Written by Andrew Allen

Campbelltown Picnic Races

This is the souvenir programme for the inaugural Campbelltown Picnic Race Club meeting in 1965


It was Saturday September 25, 1965 and all roads lead to Appin for the inaugural Campbelltown Picnic Race Day at Hume Racetrack. The crowd was enormous with 5,500 people passing through the turnstiles. Mother nature turned on a sparkling Spring day and everyone asked "When is the next one?" The Campbelltown-Ingleburn News reported "Car boots were opened; portable coolers were taken out; in many cases portable barbecues were assembled; lunch baskets were opened; rugs and tablecloths spread out on the ground and the people sat down to dinner in the lovely rural atmosphere."The newspapers heavily promoted the meeting in the weeks leading up to it. The winner of the main race for the record was Dashing Emperor.

The first race meeting may have had a 'sparkling day' but luck was going to run out- in a big way! The race day was to be plagued by bad weather for much of the remaining 23 years that it was held. It started in 1970 when race promoter Diedre O'Dowd called the main race the Fisher's Ghost Cup. It seemed Fred wasn't impressed and Diedre recalled "The rain was so heavy the horses had to swim up the track, so we had to cancel." In 1972 after a rail from the old Fisher's Ghost Creek bridge was used as a finishing post the next four meetings were washed out (see my previous post on Our Ghost Post). Rain again forced it to be postponed in 1978 and the meet was washed out 4 years in a row from 1986 to 1989. Campbelltown Picnic Race Club was to have the worst abandonement record in the history of Australian race clubs. Two farmers from drought affected Ivanhoe in Western New South Wales attended an ill-fated meeting one year. They told the president that they would give the club $10,000 every year if they staged the event in Ivanhoe!

The race day also had its share of race falls. In 1977, a five horse fall in the Fisher's Ghost Cup marred the day. In 1983, tragedy struck when jockey Ted Savage died instantly after his head hit the inside running rail on the straight 100 metres from the barrier. He had earlier expressed his concerns that the horses might have difficulty in negotiating the very sharp turns on the picnic track. There were four other accidents on the track that day.

Despite the weather "jinx" and the tragic falls the picnic race day is remembered fondly by Macarthur people. The last race was in 1989.

Written by Andrew Allen

Historic Photographs Unearthed

My colleague at the library recently discovered a number of historic photographs of Campbelltown held in the records of the State Library of Victoria. These photographs are unfamiliar to myself and other active historians in the town. They're of a high quality and provide a fascinating insight into our town's past.

I've included 5 from the list that are all out of copyright and therefore able to be copied at a high resolution. We are in the process of purchasing the remaining photographs from the State Library of Victoria and I will show them when ready. I hope you enjoy looking at the photographs below as much as I have.

This photograph shows Kendall's Mill later to become Bocking's Mill. The building on the right is all that remains today and is known as the old Fisher's Ghost Restaurant. Note the bridge in the foreground over a creek that no longer exists. The image is undated.

An undated photograph of St Peter's Church, Campbelltown

 

 

A wonderful and previously unseen photograph of the colonial houses in Queen Street opposite today's Campbelltown Mall. From the evidence available the photograph can be dated to about 1884-1886.

 

Today's Golden Wheel Chinese Restaurant in Queen Street which was previously the Campbell Coach Restaurant and before that the Congregational Manse. 

 

This photograph was taken in the 1970s and is one of the colonial terraces in Queen Street mentioned above.

Did James Ruse Suicide Here?

The old stone cottage on Mercedes Road, Ingleburn has a mysterious past. In 1988, a descendant of Australia's pioneer farmer James Ruse made the sensational claim that his ancestor lived in the cottage and committed suicide by hanging himself there in 1837. He had been depressed by the recent death of his wife Elizabeth so took his own life. This claim was disputed however by a woman from northern Sydney suburb who explained that the cottage had no connection with Ruse and had been the home of the McInnes family. She was the granddaughter of master stonemason Malcolm McInnes who started building the cottage in 1890. The McInnes family moved into the cottage in 1892 when the woman's father was six weeks old. She lived in the house from her birth in 1926 until 1932. Her uncle occupied the home until the 1960s.

Supporting the woman's claims are details from the council's local heritage register. Although it finds it difficult to date, the stone outbuilding being of rusticated, not ashlar stone, denotes a later date. It describes the façade as not strictly symmetrical; windows have four panes, and the door four panels.

The suicide claims have never been substantiated and are dubious to say the least. Details of James Ruse's later years are scant. Most sources have him working as an overseer for Captain Brooks of Lower Minto in 1828. We do know he was living at Macquarie Fields in 1834 and died on September 5 1837. He was buried in St John's churchyard in Campbelltown. Ruse carved his own epitath on his tombstone which was removed from St John's in 1994 due to the threat of vandalism. It was relocated to a secure area in the grounds of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society's headquarters at Glenalvon.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Macarthur Advertiser January 13, 1988

Ruse, James Pamphlet File at local studies section, H.J. Daley Library