Carolyn's - a fashion icon.

Mrs Alice Minut, (born Alice Penrose Hepher in 1926) owned and ran Carolyn's Frock Salon in Campbelltown for many years. In 1951, the frock shop trading under the name "Miami Fashions" was bought out, and became "Carolyn Fashions". Alice Minut was employed there for five pounds a week. She eventually bought the business, and the name "Carolyn's" stayed.
On one side of the shop was Alice's brother Jack Hepher's bicycle shop, and on the other, Mrs Fairburn's fruit shop where Alice's sister Nell worked. With a tiny seven foot frontage, and a tiny turnover to match, Alice would be buyer, sales lady, cleaner, and also do alterations when required.

In about 1956 the shop moved to a new location, in the old Bagley's Newsagency building. The business grew, and so did the team. Carolyn's held fashion parades, entered floats in local parades, did fancy window displays for special occasions, and ensured that their clientele were offered up to the minute fashion choices.

Through the sixties and seventies the iconic Carolyn's Frock Salon continued - does anyone know when it finally closed it's doors? Or have memories of shopping there? We would love to hear from you!

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources
www.heavenaddress.com/Alice-Penrose-Minut/423741/obituary
Campbelltown Ingleburn News 11.4.1967 & 15.6.1976
Our Past in Pictures Database, Campbelltown Library

A snapshot of the lost suburb of Eckersley

In the early 1800s, a small township developed within the boundaries of what is now the Holsworthy Field Firing Range on the eastern side of the Georges River. The Parish of Eckersley had been named in 1835 by the Surveyor General after Nathaniel Eckersley, who was a Quartermaster-general during the Peninsular War which was part of the Napoleonic Wars. There was, however, no European settlement there until it was opened for selection under the Crown Lands Act of 1884.
The first blocks applied for were between Punchbowl Creek and the Georges River. An interesting mix of people settled in the area. The first to take up their selection were the Etchells brothers, Harry and Frank in 1889. They distilled bootleg rum made in illegal stills in the bush. Other settlers included Leonce, Gustave and George Frere, and Charles and Edmond Kelso. The Freres selected large acreages at Eckersley where George Frere established a vineyard. Charlie Kelso decided his land was unsuitable and forfeited it in 1892. James Heffernan extracted shellac resin from the trunks of tree ferns and sold it to a gunpowder merchant. The Everetts ran the little post office from their selection at Eckersley, and also grew grape vines and apples. They were very well respected and were given a big send off when they left the district in 1902. The Trotts also lived at Eckersley - Whyndam Albert Trott and his wife Lavinia. Mr Trott was away working for weeks at a time, possibly due to his occupation as a builder. Jules Pierre Rochaix also had a house at Eckersley, but he exchanged his land for two blocks at Mount Colah. He was a detective with the New South Wales police force, just one of 14 detectives in a force of just under 2000 officers and constables.

The early Eckersley settlement

 
Further along the river other families built homes and established vineyards and orchards, including Nathaniel Bull, a former mayor of Liverpool, and Isaac Himmelhoch, who cleared and terraced his land with stone, and built a large winery and cellars.
In 1891 there were more than 30 small farms in the area, but by 1912 the Post Office closed. The remoteness of the area, and the fact that the soil proved to be not as suitable as first thought, were contributing factors to the demise of Eckersley. Its fate had been sealed when Lord Kitchener, visiting Australia on military matters, declared Holsworthy as the site for a permanent army camp. The Army took possession in 1913, and the rural settlement was abandoned. The settlers were paid no compensation.
Today only a few ruins, stone walls, wells, and foundations remain of Eckersley.

Written by Claire Lynch
Sources
Grist Mills Vol.8 No.4 "The Road to Frere's Crossing".
Grist Mills Vol.16 No.1 "Snippets of history of the Georges River".
www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/lost-suburb-eckersley.html
www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au "History of our suburbs"
Trove

Calling all History Buffs!

Thursday 8 September is History Trivia Night at the H.J. Daley Library, Campbelltown. Come along and test your knowledge of history, both local and around the world.
Can you identify which identity said what? Are you good at putting a name to a face? Or maybe you just want to learn a few interesting facts over some light refreshments with the chance of winning a great prize.
The trivia night begins at 6:00 pm. Make your own team of six or join a team on the night. Cost is $10.00 per person with bookings essential on 4645 4436.

Here are some questions to whet your appetite.

a) Which historic Campbelltown home became a fly spray testing laboratory in the 1940's?

b) Which Japanese city is known as Campbelltown’s sister city?

c) The first service held in St Peters Anglican church was not Anglican. Which denomination was it?

d) Which famous bushranger was born in Campbelltown?

Answers.

a) St Helens Park

St Helens Park House which once had the nickname of "Blowfly farm"
Campbelltown City Library. Local Studies Collection

b) Koshigaya

c) Catholic

d) Daniel “Mad Dan” Morgan                           

Hope to see you there.

Jack Frost

So you think the mornings have been cold recently? The coldest morning temperatures in Campbelltown now might get down to minus 1 or minus 2, and rarely below this. Spare a thought for the people of Campbelltown on the morning of Thursday, July 25, 1968. The temperature that morning got down to minus 5!

The Campbelltown Ingleburn News reported that it was the heaviest frost in the memory of the oldest residents. It brought many problems. Dozens of motorists found difficulty in starting their cars. Water pipes were completely frozen and many homes had to use make-shift arrangements even to boil water for a cup of tea!

Some pipes that were in shade, did not receive their normal flow of water until lunch time. The Water Board was besieged with calls about broken water meters and pipes and plumbers did a roaring trade.

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, July 30, 1968

The Menangle Rotolactor

We have recently had a generous donation of a book to Local Studies from the Belgenny Farm Trust, called "Milk and the Macarthurs - the dairy history of Camden Park" by Brian Walsh. This book details the history of the dairy industry at Camden Park, from the initial land grants to John Macarthur through to the present day. I decided to write a little about the Rotolactor at Camden Park, because, as a kid, like many others, I can remember visiting it on a school excursion! The main memories are of milkshakes and the very strong smell of cow!
The Rotolactor was first developed and built in New Jersey, U.S.A., in the 1920s, and in the 1940s Lieutenant Edward Macarthur-Onslow, a descendant of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, inspected it on a business trip to the United States. Keen to keep abreast of modern trends, Edward returned to Australia and commissioned the building of a rotolactor at Camden Park. Plans were drawn up locally and the foundation stone laid in 1950. The building was completed in 1952, the first of it's kind in Australia.
Effectively, the rotolactor was a circular automated milking machine, with a circular rotating platform, with 50 cow bails. It was built of brick and stainless steel, with walls of glass to let in natural light, and lights for night milking. As the cows circulated on the milking machine they were fed on feed from the neighbouring irrigated Cowpasture Flats. It took 7 minutes to milk each cow, and every hour between 300 and 375 cows could be milked. Cows would complete a full circuit, and left the rotolactor at the same point as they entered via a different race. The cows were split into groups according to their milk production levels. There were three different speeds to accommodate high, average and low milk producers. A small staff of 9 or 10 could operate the process.
During the 50s and 60s up to 2,000 visitors a week travelled to Menangle to see the rotolactor in action!

The Menangle Rotolactor - cows entering and leaving the circular platform.

Operated by the Macarthur family until 1973, the rotolactor was sold and went through a few owners until it finally closed in about 1983.
These days, modern rotary dairies use a simpler platform and fewer staff. The Menangle Rotolactor was the forerunner that pioneered the use of rotary dairies in Australia.

Written by Claire Lynch
Sources:
Milk and the Macarthurs - the dairy history of Camden Park by Brian Walsh, Belgenny Farm Trust 2016
www.camdenparkhouse.com.au/rotolactor.htm
menangle.com.au
A Scrapbook of history: stories of the Macarthur District by Marie Holmes, CAHS 2012