Valuable Old Photos Come Home

Above is one of many previously unseen images of Campbelltown. This view is looking towards the court house and Railway Street. Note the ferris wheel in Mawson Park.

Campbelltown Library has purchased around 250 amazing photographs of Campbelltown dating back to the 1960s, 70s and 80s. In 2013 Fairfax Media sent the two million photograph archive of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper to a company in Little Rock, Arkansas to be digitized. The scanning company was disbanded prior to completing the scanning, and the work was eventually managed by a court receiver. Part of the deal Fairfax made was to trade the vintage prints for the scanning services. From the turmoil in the scanning company, the archive eventually became bank owned by a regional Arkansas bank with no interest in holding these photographs. After much discussion and negotiation, Duncan Miller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA bought the entire collection of vintage photos, with the goal and purpose of repatriating many of these historical documents back to Australia.

The photographs are an extremely valuable and interesting addition to our photo collection. They cover everything from street scenes to people and buildings, with many filling a gap in the records. There’s even a whole folder on the exhumation of graves from the Presbyterian Cemetery in the 1980s! An exhibition of this valuable collection is planned in the near future.

Written by Andrew Allen

Not quite Hollywood...

Much excitement ensued amongst Campbelltown locals in October 1955, when a film unit from Australian Tradition Film Company arrived to film in Queen Street. The Wheelwright Arms, (a historic inn turned private home) became the "Woolpack Hotel" for the purposes of the film. Throughout the day residents and passing motorists stopped to watch the filming process.





Movie still from "Joe Wilson's Mates" (www.ozmovies.com.au)



The Wheelwright Arms 1960 (Photo: Alex Goodsell)

"Joe Wilson's Mates", part of a film trilogy called "Three in One" was based on a Henry Lawson short story named "The Union Buries It's Dead". Directed by Cecil Holmes, the film tells the story of a young man who dies along in a small town. With no friends or family, and only a Union Card for identification, the local Union members combine to give him a decent send off.
Cecil Holmes was a passionate and determined man who started making significant Australian films in an era in which finance for local features was drying up. Despite a positive reception overseas, "Three in One" was denied general release, probably due to its Socialist overtones. "Joe Wilson's Mates" was however shown individually as a support film.

Movie poster
https://alchetron.com/Three-in-One-(1957-film)

Written by Claire Lynch


Sources
Campbelltown Ingleburn News October 4th 1955
Museum Macarthur Facebook page - Brendan Leenders
http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/three-in-one
https://aso.gov.au/people/Cecil_Holmes/portrait/
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Holmes_(director)
https://Wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_in_One_(1957_film_

A Cycling Tragedy

One warm spring day in 1961 two local boys were doubling on a bicycle coming down Bradbury Avenue. They turned into Lindesay Street and made their way towards Allman Street. The boys were chasing leaflets that were dropped over the town from an aeroplane. The leaflet drop was part of a promotion by the Campbelltown Chamber of Commerce to encourage people from the town to shop in Campbelltown before thinking about going outside the town to shop. The leaflets were numbered and shops were giving gifts to customers if their number matched those within the store.

On approaching Allman Street the boys, Douglas Perryman and William Dowser, became distracted by the leaflet drop and didn't notice a car coming into the intersection. This was when Lindesay and Allman Streets were unsealed and before a stop sign had been erected at the intersection. Both boys suffered severe head injuries. Douglas died instantly and William a few hours later.

This week I interviewed 96 year old Elsie Evans at her home in Lindesay Street. Elsie lives in the same house that she was living in on the day of the accident. She heard the accident and ran out to give help to the boys. Elsie was a trained nurse and sat in the back of the ambulance with the boys on its way to hospital at Camden. She told me "Hank (the ambulance driver) told me you could get in the back. These days look at all the equipment they've got but back then we had nothing". The boys' families were found and taken directly to Camden unaware of the condition of either boy.

The tragedy not only forced Council to erect a stop sign at the intersection but it also changed the attitudes of parents towards their children owning and riding bicycles. Sadly the 'Spring Shopping Fiesta', as the day was known, will always be remembered for one of the town's most devastating tragedies.

This is the exact site of the accident photographed in 2006 by Stan Brabender

Elsie at her home in Lindesay Street in 2018. She was first on the scene in 1961.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Crowley, Julie
'Living on the St Elmo Estates: the story of one man's trust"
In Grist Mills
Vol. 30, No.1, March 2017

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, September 26, 1961 p3

Elsie Evans Oral History Interview 17.1.2018

Prisoner Photographs

NSW State Archives has recently digitised its collection of gaol photograph description books.  The documents cover from 1870-1930, and include more than 47,000 photographs of prisoners.  In most cases these will be the only photos of a person.  A bonus is that as well as searching by name, you can search the index by place of birth.  A search for prison inmates born in Campbelltown brings up around twenty-nine men and six women.  They include Carmel Willis Gee, the son of a prominent and well-respected local identity named William Gee. William Gee served with Campbelltown Council as an alderman as was active in the Congregational Church. His son Carmel Willis Gee was born in Campbelltown in 1882. In 1910 he was gaoled for nine months for two counts of larceny. He also served a concurrent charge of misappropriation of funds by an accounting officer. Carmel died in Campbelltown in 1915. There are also wonderful gaol photographs of Bridget Mahoney. Bridget used Alice Northcote, Alice McPherson and Mary Smith as some of her many aliases. She was gaoled over a plethora of charges in her life time including stealing, indecent language, indecent behavior and riotous behavior- just to name a few!


The link to the site is https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/gaol-inmates-prisoners-photos-index


There is also an exhibition called Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 that can be viewed at the Western Sydney Records Centre at Kingswood. It runs until April 28 this year.


Written by Andrew Allen

Looking Back at Minto

The library recently received donations of photographs taken mostly in the Minto area. Thank you to Gary Monkley for his generous donation! I thought I would show you three of the more interesting shots.


Below is a photograph taken in 1972 of Minto Public School Sport's Day at Coronation Park. This is the park where today's netball and soccer complex is located. Does anyone out there know what direction the photographer is facing? In the background is a road. Would this be Ben Lomond Road?

This photo below is of Minto Road taken in 1967. The paper shop on the far right still exists but everything else has completely changed, including traffic in the street! The railway station is out of the photo to the left. The house next to the shop is now the site of the car park of the popular Chan's Tea House.

This last one is of Ben Lomond Road between Pembroke and Eagleview Roads. Can you believe that! It was taken on January 25, 1948. The car is a T-Model Ford owned by Aubrey Stenhouse.

Written by Andrew Allen