Bert "Nippy" Kitt

Bert Kitt, known as Nippy or Berty, was born in New Zealand in 1886. He was the son of George and Caroline Kitt who moved from New Zealand to Sydney with Bert and his sister Gertrude in the late 1800s. Not long after, when Bert was about 7 years old, the family moved to Campbelltown in a bullock wagon. In about 1900 when Bert was 14, the family moved to "Caversham" at 26 Oxley Street. This house still stands on the Moore-Oxley Bypass. The house was named after the Dunedin suburb of Caversham that the family lived in. Bert lived in this house for the rest of his long life.

This undated photograph shows the Kitt family outside of Caversham. The people in the photo are unidentified but my guess is that Bert is the young man in the centre in the back row. His father George and mother Caroline would be at the ends of the back row. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Bert's father George worked as a bookkeeper for E&A Fieldhouse, storekeeper of Campbelltown. He later became Chief Accountant for Newtown Municipal Council for 25 years until his retirement. Bert followed in his father's footsteps and worked as an accountant for 50 years for Dalgety and Company as well as for Sid Pope's garage in Queen Street where Subway stands today.

Bert also seems to have emulated his father's love of music. George was an organist of a very high standard whilst Bert had a fine tenor voice and was involved in many of the area's musical activities. He was a devout Presbyterian and often sung solos for church functions.

Another love of Bert's appears to be motorcycles. Our library has a number of images lent to us by the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society of Bert on his machine, often with a friend in his sidecar. There are also photographs taken of Bert on a country trip. Below are some of the better ones we hold.

Bert Kitt photographed with an unidentified man in the sidecar. This is likely to be taken at Bega (my home town) as Balmain Brothers ran a garage there early last century. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Bert "beside a motorcycle on a country trip in rural NSW" (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Another love of Bert's was sport. He was an avid golfer, tennis player and bowler. It was through golf that he got his nickname of Nippy. He was known as this from his rapid short golf swings.

As mentioned above, Bert lived out his life as a bachelor in the one house, Caversham. When his parents died at Caversham in the 1940s, Bert lived with his sister Gertrude. 'Bert and Gert' were very close and became much loved identities of the town. When Gert died in 1962, Bert was left on his own in Caversham. He died in his sleep not long before Christmas in 1973 aged 87 and is buried in the same grave as his beloved sister and next to his parents in the Presbyterian Cemetery at Campbelltown.

 Caversham taken in 1968 when Bert was living alone there. He died here in 1973. (Alex Goodsell Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

HOLMES, Marie 1996
The Presbyterian Cemetery Campbelltown
Campbelltown: Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, December 18, 1973

Dating a Photograph

 (click on the image for a larger version) 

Campbelltown Library recently received a generous donation of photographs by Sue Dredge believed taken by her relative Garnet Dredge. One of these can be seen above. The photo is taken from a building on Blaxland Road looking east towards the multi-level Campbelltown City Council building.

Although the photographs, including this one, are undated, it is sometimes possible to use clues from the photograph to determine an exact or approximate date. There are clues in this photograph that help us. The council building was completed in 1964 and opened in December of that year. So we know the photograph was taken after 1963. In front of the council building in the photo, and on the other side of the railway line, is the Milk Depot. The depot was closed in 1967 and burned down in 1969. Therefore we can now narrow the date of the photo to between 1964 and 1969.

The photograph has a number of other recognisable landmarks. The Ambulance Station can be seen on the corner of Hurley and Broughton Streets. It was opened in 1960 before the council building, so it doesn't help in the dating. What does assist us however, is the building on the extreme right in the middle of the photo. This was part of today's Court House, although it had a significantly different appearance around this time. Dark brick additions along the main level of the facade were constructed which extended to the side of the building. This work was carried out during 1965 and 1966 and the additions removed in 1995. This therefore dates our photograph to after 1964.

We can now be sure that the image was taken between 1965 and 1969 inclusive.

If anyone else can identify anything else in the photograph that might help date it to a narrower period, I'd like to hear from you!


Written by Andrew Allen

Update

A clever reader has noticed that the railway isn't electrified yet. The electrification of the railway was completed and celebrated on May 4, 1968 meaning the photograph pre-dates this. It is mostly likely the photo was taken in 1966 or 1967.

An Adventurous Life!

Aubrey John Raymond Oates was born in 1922 in Newcastle, to parents Henry and Annie. His sister Dorothy was 10 years his senior. He gained his nickname “Titus” during his childhood, and preferred to be called Titus rather than Aubrey. Leaving his job as an insurance officer to enlist in the RAAF in 1940 at the age of 18, he started as an air cadet, and became chief test pilot for de Havilland, makers of the Mosquito fighter bomber. His father died in 1941, sadly not seeing his son appointed as a Squadron Leader in 1944, the same year that he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He had accumulated over 6000 hours flying in more than 50 types of aircraft. He married Jacqueline Sonia Lewis in 1945, with whom I believe he had three children.

When the Mosquito building program ended in 1948, “Titus” found himself a job flying immigrants from Europe to Australia for a private charter company. He returned to live in Australia, and, with an unbelievable stroke of good luck, won the Lottery! This enabled him to enter business, and he became the licensee of the Good Intent Hotel at Campbelltown.  During the 1949 coal miners' strike, he would go on a “beer barn-storming mission” flying his Comper Swift,  to ensure the beer supply at the Good Intent was kept flowing! He would fly as far as Adelaide locating supplies for the hotel.

In 1952, “Titus”, after a great deal of persuasion and lobbying, was given an ex RAAF Mosquito by the government in order to compete in the England to New Zealand Air Race (London to Christchurch).  The plane was equipped with special long range fuel tanks built into the bomb bay and new radio equipment, and with co-pilot Flight-Lieutenant Douglas Swain, “Titus” set about training and preparing for the race. In order to compete, they needed to fly to London, by October 8^th, 1953. Flying from Perth to Carnarvon, then to the Cocos Islands, a course was set for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) but the intrepid pair ran into a terrible electrical storm above the Indian Ocean, and had to crash land the plane off the coast of Burma (now Myanmar).  Landing in swampy mud, they were rescued by natives paddling out to them in canoes. They were taken to Mergui, and from there picked up by an RAF Valetta and taken to Penang. After medical examination at Butterworth RAF station in Malaya, Oates and Swain recuperated before returning to Australia. Thus ended any hope of competing in the race. The Mosquito was un-retrievable.  Oates declared after returning home, “I went straight to my own pub, the “Good Intent” at Campbelltown and gave myself an Australian beer”!

This rare shot by Max Mead (courtesy of Ron Cuskelly collection) shows the Mosquito at the Cocos Islands whilst en route to London.

In 1954 “Titus” sold the Good Intent hotel, in order to enter television production and film making. Only sketchy information is available after this, but the following nuggets of information were found on the net:

• “I worked as a recruiter and then, later-on, as a line pilot with Titus Oates for a time in the early 1970s, first in Australia, then in the UK and in the Sudan, where he was Chief Pilot for a cotton-spraying operation. “

• “He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Zambia in about May 1979 and was behind the wheel of his car at the time.”

• “Worldly wise, world-traveled, intelligent, impeccably well-mannered, enjoyed a drink or two -- absolutely a delightful man and a wonderful companion! Would walk a mile on broken glass to help a friend!”

If anyone out there has more information about Titus Oates’ later years, we would love to hear from you!

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources

Local Studies Pamphlet Files

http://www.pprune.org

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austcl/VH-KLG.html

Wedderburn Bridge

Wedderburn Bridge (photo: Dennis Townend)

A bridge over the Georges River at Wedderburn Gorge was first built in 1892. It replaced a nearby ford. The bridge was wooden and was built by Jim and George Kershler. The Kershlers had also built the bridge at Frere’s Crossing further downstream. The bridge had been built for horse drawn traffic only which therefore made it unsuitable for much of its long life.

In 1935 there was a deputation to the Council regarding the unsafe bridge carrying a seven ton limit weight capacity. This was of great importance to the Fruit Growers Association. The majority of landowners at Wedderburn grew fruit on their orchards. With the weight restriction it meant having to bring the fruit to the bridge and unload it onto bigger trucks for the remainder of the journey to the Sydney markets. The result was more expense and time and a need to repair the inadequate bridge. Council approved and ironbark timber was used in its repair.

Over the years there were many complaints made to council for repairs to the road and to the bridge. In 1978 council banned all vehicles, except cars, from using the bridge. Tests revealed the bridge supports were only 50 percent solid. A temporary bypass road was hurriedly constructed by council. So began the struggle of Wedderburn residents to have a new bridge built.

Wedderburn Bridge at the Georges River, taken from bypass road, 1985

In August 1986 the area experienced major flooding resulting in major damage to the old wooden bridge. Residents were left without access to Campbelltown. Of course this caused great concern, not just for commercial reasons as most of the landholders were still fruit growers, but for possible emergencies that might have arisen. A temporary Bailey Bridge was hastily placed across the old wooden one by the army. The bridge was removed later in the year and a temporary concrete causeway was constructed. The causeway however is regularly submerged leaving the Wedderburn community isolated for days.

A decision now had to be made about building a new bridge or using a culvert. The debate was still being argued 20 years later with articles in the local media focusing on the issue. As late as 2014 the issue of a new bridge at Wedderburn again drew media attention. The wait continues.

Written by Andrew Allen

Update: A new bridge was opened in 2019

Sources:

HOLMES, Marie

“Wedderburn”

In Grist Mills, Vol.10, No.2, April 1997

The Macarthur Advertiser, August 13, 1986 p1,6 and August 20, 1986 p1

The Macarthur Advertiser, June 14, 2006 p24