Christmas in Campbelltown- 100 Years Ago

The festive season in Australia in 1924 was threatened by the waterfront disputes that had developed through the year. Luckily for Campbelltown, the disputes had minimum impact on Christmas. The Campbelltown News reported a week before the big day what various businesses offered for the community. Most of them had decorated their shop windows with their usual enthusiasm and Christmas spirit. Besides decorations, each business also displayed their Christmas goodies, which was typical for the time. Some notable standouts included:

Solomon Brothers- This firm stood on the southeast corner of Queen and Dumaresq Streets. The Solomons had taken over the business from Percy Marlow five years earlier. They had 5 windows to show off their products.

Solomon's Store c.1928

Winton and Ireland- this shop was located in Railway Street. They were grocers, ironmongers and produce merchants, where their three windows displayed an exceptional range of crockery and Christmas fruits. They were anticipating a 'heavy rush during the coming week'.

C and E Nicod- had recently specialised in electrical ware and pictures. The paper described these pictures as making splendid presents. I can only speculate on what they mean by 'pictures'. Perhaps it was associated with the new phenomenon of electricity and displaying some type of pictures with a glow! Or maybe it was related to moving pictures? I would love to read theories from anyone.

Reeve's Emporium- This iconic business was known for its Christmas decorations. H.S. Reeve had an emporium on the corner of Patrick and Queen Streets, which was built around the turn of the century. Reeve described his toy department as the headquarters of Father Christmas. The shops range that year was described as most surprising (I think they mean it was good). What an exciting shop it would have been for children!

Reeve's Emporium is the building in the background of this photo

Miss M Keller- This shop was on the southern corner of Queen and Patrick Streets on the opposite corner to Reeve's Emporium. This was also an exciting shop- for all ages, especially those that loved chocolates and ice cream. It was the place to buy a box of chocolates for ant sweet tooth that Christmas.

The Model Bakery- Mr W.J. Boweher had recently opened up his new bakery on the southeast corner of Queen and Broughton Streets. He installed a three-bag oven capable of turning out three bags of flour in bread every 3 and a half hours. He was ready for the Christmas rush by baking buns, cakes and pastry.

C.J. Storey's Furniture Shop- was located near the town hall. His idea of a perfect gift included a perambulator, go-cart, or an easy comfortable chair. What a simpler world it was back then!

And finally, Charles Tripp's garage business on the southeast corner of Dumaresq and Queen Streets. Charles was a fanatical fan of the early wireless. That year he encouraged people to listen to a wireless set if the weather was unfavourable. He was only too keen to demonstrate this new technology and help you "listen-in".

Charles Tripp (photo courtesy of Marie Goodsell)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our History Buff readers!

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown News. Friday 19 December 1924, page 1

Joseph and Mary

I have been reading an interesting account of a convict ship that arrived in the colony in 1829. A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal by Babette Smith is a gripping account of the lives of the women convicts aboard the 'Princess Royal'. The book outlines the dire poverty these women endured in England and how it contributed to each woman's fate. Many of the women dreaded the journey and destination they were about to encounter, but others welcomed the opportunity and regarded it as a means to escape their desperate situations. Although much of the focus is on a female convict named Susannah Watson, it touches on most or all of the convicts. One such woman is Mary Ann Taylor.

Mary Ann, found guilty of highway robbery, was a dairymaid from Wiltshire and had been assigned straight from the ship's arrival in 1829 to Campbelltown and Reverend Thomas Reddall. It did not take her long to find a man in the male dominated tiny settlement. Joseph Giles was assigned to landowner William Howe of Glenlee Estate. Glenlee homestead, built before Joseph was assigned there, still stands proudly on land between Campbelltown and Menangle. Joseph Giles was also born in Wiltshire, in the village of Salisbury around 1800. A Protestant, he arrived in the Colony on board the Marquis of Hastings in 1826 as a convict. The work Joseph did for Howe included gardening and dairy farming. An indication of the good character of Joseph and Mary is revealed in the recommendations supplied by Reddall and Howe. Rev. Redall said that Mary Ann 'has conducted herself tolerably well since she has been in my family', while William Howe, supporting Giles, said he 'has been in my employ since his arrival in the Colony and has conducted himself in a proper manner. I consent to his marriage and undertake to receive them both into my service.' Joseph and Mary stayed with him until Joseph obtained a ticket-of-leave at the end of 1834.

Glenlee homestead taken in 1980

Babette Smith provided an insight into the long journey Mary Ann experienced on the 'Princess Royal'. Despite most of her fellow passengers coping well with a particularly warm day on the voyage, according to the surgeon's log, Mary Ann found the heat on the ship oppressive and collapsed after helping to clean the lower deck. Surgeon Wilson found her lying on her berth and red in the face. Two weeks later, she sat for too long on the upper deck and dramatically fainted into a delirious fever.

Following Joseph's ticket-of-leave, the couple moved to the Stonequarry district (today's Picton) and Joseph worked there as a stockkeeper. They later moved back to Campbelltown where Joseph became a police constable. This was not uncommon for convicts to be employed as policemen. However, Joseph was caught stealing a hat in February 1838, despite his recent successes. He was sentenced to an iron gang for 12 months and lost his ticket-of-leave. Mary Ann was left to support herself and her young daughter Sarah without their cattle which were forfeited to the Crown.

Again, Joseph displayed good behaviour and the major in charge of the stockade at Campbelltown recommended a remission of his sentence. He was later described as a quiet and laborious man, well- spoken by his superiors. He later obtained another ticket-of-leave and Mary Ann joined him in the Liverpool area. Joseph died in 1847 at Denham Court. Mary Ann later married a William Banford the following year at Denham Court. They had no children. Despite a considerable search, I am unable to be sure what became of Mary Ann. It is also unclear what happened to William Banford.

I ran a cemetery tour last September at Denham Court Cemetery. I explained that the oldest grave with a headstone in the cemetery belonged to a Joseph Giles. The very weathered stone stood on the edge of the church yard, as it has done for 177 years. It was only after reading about and researching his wife Mary Ann in the last week that I realised the connection.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

SMITH, Babette

A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal

Campbelltown Pioneer Register

Inspector McMillan

Frank McMillan left his mark on the community by serving with distinction in the NSW Police Force. He further left his mark in the sporting world by producing an outstanding rugby league player in son Frank Junior. Frank Senior was a popular bloke in town and his sudden passing left Campbelltown in shock.

Franklin Cutbush McMillan was born on 15 August 1868 at Mount Lydia Farm, Uralla, in the New England area. He entered the Police Force at the age of 21, with the old Belmore Police Barracks where Central Station is now his first posting. Not long after in 1892, he was sent to keep order at Broken Hill when the miner's strike broke out. He also spent time at other remote locations such as Wilcannia and White Cliffs.

He quickly worked his way up to 1st Class Sergeant where he was stationed at Parramatta. He then received a transfer to Campbelltown in 1917 after a "splendidly representative gathering" at Jubilee Hall in Parramatta. Their loss was Campbelltown's gain.

After spending some years in Campbelltown as an Inspector, Frank was then transferred to Bourke and then Young. Huge farewells followed in both towns again. In his Young farewell they called him "one of the grandest gentlemen in the service. Duty first and pleasure afterwards was the lesson he always taught younger policeman.

In 1927 Frank McMillan retired from the police force and made his way back to Campbelltown. This indicated his affection for the town and what must have been enjoyable years experienced here.

Frank Cutbush McMillan (Photo from Michelle Delaney Collection)

Frank was the father of an Australian rugby league player and coach by the same name. Nicknamed "Skinny", Frank McMillan was a full-back and played nine tests between 1929 and 1934, two as captain. He has been named as one of Australia's finest players. He played for Western Suburbs and captain-coached them to the 1934 premiership. He was the first coach of the newly formed Parramatta club in 1947. Sport appears to have run in the family. Frank senior was a bowls enthusiast and very good player.

Frank McMillan (Photo from Michelle Delaney Collection)

Frank senior died on 28 April 1932 after suffering a heart attack at his home on the corner of Moore and Cordeaux Streets. He was aged 63 and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery. 

Class of 1902

Campbelltown Library was thrilled to recently receive a donation of a photograph of Ingleburn Public School taken around 1902. This wonderful gem was found in a Lifeline store in a northern Sydney suburb. Unfortunately, almost all of the children are unidentified. However, a name can be put to two of the students. Malcolm McInnes is identified as the boy 2nd from right in the back row and Alan Buchanan McInnes is the boy with the white-collar 2nd from right in the second back row. The photo was taken by A.R. Brown.

Some interesting features of the photo include the hats worn by the teachers in the back row, which were typical of the time. Some of the students also have their hats by their side or on the ground in front of them. A few of the younger children have moved as the photo was taken, resulting in the usual blur. How disappointed their parents must have been. However, the detail that attracted my attention the most was the gun that the young boy 7th from the right in the front row appears to be holding! I have blown the image up and I am convinced it's a gun. No wonder the boy to his left appears nervous! I will stand corrected on this.

The McInnes brothers Alan and Malcolm lived all or most of their lives at Ingleburn. A year before the photo was taken, 8-year-old Alan had suffered painful injuries when he fell from his father's cart. The wheel ran over his head, but he made a full recovery. Alan married Mary Asher in 1925 and died at his home "Iona" in 1967 aged 75. Malcolm died in 1961 aged 71. He appears to have lived most of his life in Chester Road. Both brothers are buried in Denham Court Cemetery.

Thank you to Maria Richards for this generous donation.

Written by Andrew Allen 

Update

My colleague assures me that it's definitely a toy gun!

Update 2

I have just become aware that Malcolm McInnes senior was an alderman on Ingleburn Council and built and lived in the well-known stone cottage on Chester Road, Ingleburn.

The stone cottage with an unidentified boy at the front (possibly one of the McInnes brothers) c. 1904

Alderman Malcolm McInnes, father of the boys in the photo. He died in 1917.

 

Aero Estate

An early housing estate in the area was Aero Estate at Ingleburn. The estate, situated on the western side of the railway line, was also known as Blomfield Estate. The Blomfields were descendants of Captain Richard Brooks of nearby Denham Court. Richard's daughter Christiana married Thomas Blomfield. 

The vacant paddocks were subdivided in the 1920s and marketed as Aero Estate later in the decade. Information about the sales appeared in Sydney newspapers in early 1927. In the Daily Telegraph of 12 March 1927, the following notice appeared under the heading of Subdivisions: Six Estates Offering- Today's Sales and under Ingleburn "Today, at 3pm, Peach Bros. will offer at public auction, on the ground, 850 acres of choice residential and farm land, fronting the main Southern Road and the railway, at Ingleburn. The land for sale is known as the Aero Estate, and is subdivided into one, three, five and acre farmlets, in addition to a number of home sites". Advertisements the next month boasted it was "right at station" and buyers could choose between one, three and five acre lots from 30 pounds.

In 1939 Aero Road, which ran through the estate, became the first road in Ingleburn to be sealed. It was sealed for army purposes from the Military Camp to the railway station.

The estate continued to be developed into the late 1950s. In late 1969 Council announced plans to rezone the entire area light industry. All hell broke loose. Protests and petitions were the order of the day. Local residents who were living the dream on the estate were about to have their lives turned upside down. However, residents were eventually victorious, and the plan was dropped. Only a decade later Council overruled objections and approved light industry.

Aero Road was blocked off and became a minor road. In 1987 a new road bridge over the railway connected with Williamson Road. The level crossing closed, and Old Aero Road was renamed MacDonald Road, in honour of early landholders.

How Aero Estate and road got its name is confusing. According to locals Arthur and Jean Hounslow, around the First World War years when aviation was in its infancy, students from Sydney University used to travel there to use grass sledges. They then started using gliders and once they got used to it, they would sit in the glider and have it projected and come down over the flats over Ingleburn. However, according to Margaret Firth in her 1977 oral history interview, an early model aeroplane landed in a property named Moorland where the estate was later developed. A man and a woman had flown the plane and either a mechanical fault or lack of fuel forced them to land in the paddock. A huge crowd gathered, with "people coming from miles around".

An undated photo of Aero Road below the twin bridges from the freeway (Copyright NSW Main Roads 1929-1984)

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Margaret Firth oral history interview held at Campbelltown Library 23 November 1977

Arthur and Jean Hounslow oral history interview held at Campbelltown Library 23 May 2013

McGill, Jeff et al Campbelltown's Streets and Suburbs: How and why they got their names 1995

Daily Telegraph, 12 March 1927, p10

Kerr, David, Old Ingleburn in Grist Mills: Journal of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society, Vol 21. No.1, March 2008

"Digger" Black

My recent Denham Court cemetery tour covered a former Ingleburn identity Clive "Digger" Black. Unlike everyone else I covered on the tour, "Digger" has no headstone to mark his grave and therefore his final resting place in unknown. "Digger's" story is covered below, taken from notes I made for the cemetery tour.

Clive “Digger” Black is buried in this cemetery in an unmarked grave. About 15 years ago when I started in my current role as Local Studies Librarian, I was asked to locate the grave by his daughter Maureen. I was unable to do this based on what I had to search, including the burial register for the cemetery. His location is still unknown.

He was born in 1913 at Ingleburn. “Digger” lived in Glenham Road (no longer exists but did in ’39- now Williamson Rd) and worked as a milk vendor/ dairy farmer 1935. Brother Oswald was also a farmer. His mother was Agnes Matilda and his father, once a Mayor of Ingleburn, was named Oswald. “Digger” enlisted in the army- in the Citizen Military forces or Land Army in 1941 and was discharged in 1944. He married Teresa Shanahan in 1950.

With his brother Oswald they saved Vincent Butters from drowning in Bunbury Curran Creek in 1924 after Vincent had swung out on a rope into deep water. Vincent hadn’t meant to let go as he couldn’t swim and went straight down. Oswald dived in to drag him to the shore and Clive pulled the lifeless body out from the slippery shore and began resuscitation. First standing him on his head, then rubbing hard and working his arms and legs until one of the boys stood on his stomach and he spluttered back to life. The Black family still have the hand-written thank you letter in their possession.

Digger Black’s dairy was the first to have a tractor in Ingleburn- A Lanz Bulldog. It had to be started by applying a blowtorch to the manifold and cranked with the removable steering wheel. Interestingly, the Lanz agents came at the beginning the war and removed it’s made in Germany label.

He later lived in Oxford Road and then Ingleburn Road in 1964 and listed as dairy farmer. Oswald had moved to Bringelly. Digger was president of the Ingleburn Bowling Club and was a well-known footballer. He was from accounts a sociable man.  He has a park named after him in Ingleburn.

“Digger” Black died from heart complications at Liverpool in September 1966 at the family home at 71 Oxford Road. He left behind a wife and 6 children.

Thank you to Digger's son Clive who provided information and generously donated the above photograph of his father.

Written by Andrew Allen

A Bold Bid

The history of Campbelltown never fails to surprise me. I recently discovered that in 1974 Campbelltown put in a bid for the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Not having come from the area, this was quite a revelation. In fact, at one point, it looked like our town might beat Brisbane in the race to host the games.

There were a number of aspects of Campbelltown's bid that the delegation believed they had in their favour. Firstly, plans were confirmed by Gough Whitlam that a new university was to be built in the city. The university would be used as the Games village should Campbelltown's bid succeed. Adding to this was the investment in vast sums of money by the Federal and State Governments in freeways, fast transit commuter services, and health and recreation facilities. Campbelltown's population was also forecasted to explode with figures of as much as 300,000 predicted by 1980. 

A delegation was sent to Christchurch, New Zealand for the 1974 games to study the staging of the games. There they would promote the town's case. They claimed that the least of their worries would be finding people to fill the seats at any Games stadium.

Campbelltown's bid attracted strong criticism from the Brisbane delegation. Brisbane's Vice-Mayor at the time, Brian Walsh, commented on Campbelltown's efforts, "I think they're getting past a joke. As a general comment, I'd say the Campbelltown group are humorous people who have ceased being humorous". The Campbelltown delegation was not bothered by Brisbane's reaction and not the least bit daunted by the prospect of a David and Goliath struggle with Brisbane. They simply turned the other cheek when Walsh jibed in Christchurch that he did not know where Campbelltown was!

The two main men in the delegation were the Town Clerk Bruce McDonald and the Deputy Mayor Gordon Fetterplace. They were joined by president of the Chamber of Commerce Russell Hayes and chamber member Rod Lawrence. To help promote the bid, a games symbol of Fisher's Ghost was used.

The bid of course ultimately failed, and Brisbane was chosen as the host city. The Brisbane games would be remembered mostly for Matilda, the winking Kangaroo.

  

Above is a sketch of the plan for a sporting complex for the 1982 Commonwealth Games which Campbelltown City Council hoped would be established near the CBD.

Royal Australian Historical Society Conference

 Please see details below for this year's RAHS Conference in Campbelltown

Windows into Local History

Campbelltown Catholic Club, 26–27 October 2024

Local history, with its intimate view of the past, is a key to understanding the interconnectedness of history at all levels. It reveals how global and national events have shaped local communities and how local events have contributed to the Australian story.

The 2024 RAHS History Conference will be a fantastic opportunity to engage with local history and discover what it can reveal about your community. The conference will take place in Campbelltown, on the traditional lands of the Dharawal People. It is the perfect site for our conference as the region’s rich tapestry of heritage sites, landmarks, and festivals reflects the development and diversity of NSW. The annual Fisher’s Ghost Festival also provides a unique window into how Australians engage with local legends and folklore over time.

We are sure you will enjoy the RAHS Conference program and exploring Campbelltown’s museums and historical sites. 

A native of Campbelltown.

 In a prison cell attached to the historic Hartley Courthouse is carved the words “Michael Lynch a native of Campbelltown” on the door, and on the wall “M. Lynch aged 15 years & 8 months. Aug 12th 1877. Who was this Michael Lynch of Campbelltown and why was he in a cell so far from home and at such a young age? I decided to investigate Michael’s life and was lucky to find a wealth of information about him. 
Michael’s parents were assisted immigrants Thomas and Margaret Lynch. Natives of Tipperary, they had arrived in New South Wales in 1858. Thomas was a farm labourer, and neither could read or write. Their eldest daughter born in 1855 in Ireland did not come with them, she may have died as an infant, but they were accompanied by their next child, Alicia, born in 1856. It would appear that the Lynches came to Campbelltown fairly quickly, as their next child, Ann, was born in Campbelltown in 1858. Ann was followed by James in 1860, Michael in 1862, Thomas in 1865 and Patrick in 1872, all born in Campbelltown. 
At age 12 Michael was placed on board the “Vernon”, a reformatory for boys. Previously a merchant vessel, the Vernon was anchored at Cockatoo Island from 1871 onwards. It housed about 100 boys who were given academic lessons and taught nautical and industrial skills. 

The "Vernon"

Why was Michael sent here? His intake record of 21st April 1875 states “loitering about the streets and public places in Campbelltown in the colony of NSW in no ostensible lawful occupation, and sleeping in the open air”. His mother stated that he had been to school but not made much progress, he was mischievous and dishonest but had good health. His parents were unable to give him much support, they had little themselves and a large family. He was then described as “a cruel dishonest bad boy indeed”. I can’t help but feel sorry for this 12 year old lad.

 On leaving the Vernon, boys were either apprenticed, found employment or sent to situations in the country. It would appear Michael was apprenticed to a man named Morris Lynch of Little Hartley. In July 1877 we next hear of Michael having absconded from his apprenticeship with Morris. Here we gain a physical description of him. About 16 year of age, stout build, 4’9’’ tall (I think this was an error, he was later described as being 5’7” tall), round face, sandy hair cut short, dressed in black coat, black felt hat, moleskin trousers and Blucher boots. A warrant was issued for his arrest by the Hartley bench. Michael had fled to Campbelltown where he was arrested and remanded to Hartley Court House. It was during this time Michael made his mark on the cell wall and door.  I’m unsure of Michael’s eventual fate for this incident, but unfortunately it set him on a path of petty crimes. 

In 1879 he was suspected of damaging a mowing machine belonging to Joseph Terry of Campbelltown and stealing the tools belonging to said machine.  Although being named in the newspaper no warrant was issued. He was then charged with stealing a saddle the same year and sentenced to 9 months hard labour for Horse Stealing. At Bathurst in 1880 he was tried for horse stealing and sentenced  to 12 months hard labour and a concurrent 18 months for another incident of Horse Stealing. No lesson was learnt as Michael was then charged with Forgery and Uttering in Cooma in 1881. This means creating and circulating false documents. For this he was sentenced to 3 years hard labour for each of the three incidents to be served concurrently.

Michael's photo from his prison records.

I’m happy to say that things then began to improve. Michael returned to Campbelltown and married a woman named Mary Cahill in 1891. Mary was working at the time for Miss Hurley of Queen Street. She had had a son already whose father was not named on his birth certificate. She and Michael married in St John’s and went to live at Quirindi for three years where they became parents of Katherine in 1892, and Johanna in 1894. On returning to the Campbelltown area the family moved to a cottage in Menangle. In 1895 son Thomas was born, and the same year Michael again found himself involved with the law, this time on the right side! He was working as a railway fettler and sadly discovered the body of a young woman at the bottom of an embankment about 10 feet from the rails. An open finding was found at the inquest, but no suspicious circumstances were found. The incident was reported widely in the newspapers. Michael and Mary’s last child was born in 1897, Patrick Michael, who would sadly die the same year aged 9 months.

Michael in later years.

Michael built a home at North Menangle and the couple lived there for many years. The home was relocated to Menangle Park. Michael continued to work as a railway fettler until around the late 30s/early 40s. Mary passed away in 1944, and Michael in 1948, still living in the Cummins Road Menangle Park house. Both he and Mary are buried in St John’s Cemetery Campbelltown with their infant son, as are Michael’s parents and a number of other members of the family. 

Written by Claire Lynch (no relation!)

Sources -  Trove, Ancestry, NSW BDM, https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/entity/nautical-school-ship-vernon/

Oh no! Not traffic lights!

In December 1977 the question of whether Campbelltown needed traffic lights was a hot topic. The idea absolutely horrified some residents, with such comments as “Sydney is saturated with these electronic monstrosities” and “let’s not get carried away with the traffic light installations”. There was no stopping progress however, and the lights were given the go-ahead.

The lights were to be situated at the intersections of Queen and Railway Streets, and Queen and Dumaresq Streets. They were installed by the Department of Main Roads and ancillary work such as kerbing and guttering was undertaken by council. On Thursday 8^th June 1978 an electrical engineer made final checks on the system and at the end of June the lights became active.

Intersection of Dumaresq and Queen Sts.circa 1970 prior to traffic lights.
Geoff Eves Collection, Campbelltown City Library

It’s hard to imagine a Queen Street today without traffic lights, but those original locations are still the only traffic lights along the main drag of Queen Street, from Allman Street to Railway Street!

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources - Campbelltown Ingleburn News.

The Rising Sun

There was an inn in Campbelltown, they called The Rising Sun. Not sure if it was the ruin of many a young boy, but the inn itself appears to have had a short life. Many of Campbelltown's early inns had a fleeting existence. Names such as the Sussex Arms, The Welcome Inn and the Hope Inn have disappeared into the mists of time with very few people now knowing their whereabouts. Often roughly built, many succumbed to fire or other natural disasters. Others endured a slow death, perhaps due to changing importance of previously main roads or thoroughfares or development of settlements away from the inn's location. Many, like The Rising Sun, have left little or no trace of their being.

What do we know about The Rising Sun? According to local historian of the early twentieth century J.P. McGuanne, the inn was located on the corner of George and Dumaresq Streets, on 36 and one quarter perches, and that Benjamin Davies/Davis held the licence in 1836. Dumaresq Street now ends at Hurley Park, well short of the intersection with George Street. It has been that way since the development of Hurley Park. Little else is known of the inn, apart from a valuable notice in Trove from the Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser of 3 June 1837. Under the heading of a "Valuable Freehold Property at Campbelltown" the notice continues" The Rising Sun public house, substantially brick-built with verandah front, containing nine rooms and spacious brick-built Stabling and Kitchen; a substantial brick-built House nearly finished, suitable for a wholesale and retail Store; and a substantial weather-boarded House, Verandah front, floored, glazed, and plastered, now occupied as a Butcher's Shop; the whole will be put up and sold in one lot by J. Blackman and Co., on Monday 5th day of June, 1837, at twelve o'clock precisely, on the Premises, at Campbelltown.

Licensee Benjamin Davies went through difficult times from 1836 to 1838. In 1836, he was forced to sell all his stock, mostly haberdashery, at an auction. A few months later he went into business with a man named James Lacy. However, all stock from this partnership was sold five months later again at auction. Then came the above notice of The Rising Sun and other blocks of surrounding land being sold. The next month saw a notice in the newspaper to Benjamin's creditors and then in 1838 a Supreme Court notice to sell all property known as Davies Premises.

However, according to McGuanne in 1920, the hotel was a successful venture. He wrote in his work "A Centenary of Campbelltown" that "Whoever was the last licensee has left so many thousands of empty bottles stowed away in bags on the verandah, that we have concordant evidence of a good business been done". Does this mean the hotel was still around in McGuanne's time or was this passed on from earlier days? The answer is unclear as no maps or photographs of it exist.

No other records can be found. I walked past the site of the inn a couple of days ago. The site is now located in Hurley Park and of course nothing remains. There is no indication that anything was ever there. I was puzzled about why it was here in the first place. To my knowledge, there was very little settlement at this part of the village in the 1830s and no major thoroughfare where traffic would pass through. Perhaps it was built with an idea to relieve the thirst of the weary builders of the newly proposed reservoir in Allman Street? The plot of ground for the reservoir was provided by Governor Bourke in 1833 and work started in 1838. One day more information might come to light.

Approximate site of The Rising Sun Hotel

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

McGuanne J.P. 1920

A Centenary of Campbelltown

The Australian 2 June 1837

The Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser, Thursday 1 June 1837

Scandals

Who remembers Scandals Nightclub? Do you remember the soggy alcohol-soaked carpet and how it squelched when you walked on it? Many of you who grew up in the 1980s in Campbelltown probably do. It was the one place in town that you could enjoy an upmarket meal, go to see live entertainment or dance the night away until the wee small hours. The venue had a short but memorable history.

Scandals occupied the old club house for the gold course that is now Park Central. The golf course closed down in 1978 and the club house lay vacant and vandalised for about two years. It had been leased to a number of owners but suffered from the hooligan element in town. When the new club house was built in Glen Alpine, this old club house kept its restaurant licence.

The club house is visible in the background of this photo of the old golf course. The image was taken in 1965-1975 by Geoff Eaves.

An occupant of the club house was Luke's Disco with the accompanying restaurant. Luke's opened in the late 1970s. Some locals remember climbing up the poles in the disco until the owners started putting grease on them to prevent this. 

At the end of 1981 the club was renovated by Scandals International Restaurants, costing $250,000 and taking eight months to complete. The club opened in September 1982 with a charity opening and funds going to Campbelltown and Ingleburn Lions clubs. The Who's Who of Campbelltown attended, enjoying dinner, drinks and an international fashion parade. A showband named Zippitty Do Dah also performed. The place was a hit with locals, with its flash seafood restaurant, function rooms, bars and cabaret room. The new car park called hold up to 320 cars. The city now had a nightlife!

In early 1984 the club changed its name to Rio's. This name change was brief, and it reverted back to Scandals by the middle of the same year and now had a licence to operate until 3am.

By 1987, after a few black marks to its name, the club was now owned by Fred and Michael Dudak. The Dudak's retained the supper club menu until 2.30am which meant guests didn't need to leave and come back again to dance.

The club attracted many famous acts over the years. These included: Pseudo Echo, Duran Duran and La Bouche. There are also fond memories of Jamie Drury taking his clothes off!

The building closed down around 1989 and it was destroyed by fire soon after. The owners attempted to retrieve the wine from the cellar but to no avail. It was the end of an era.

Do you have memories of Scandals? We would also welcome photographs.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown Ingleburn News 11 May 1982, p4 and 13 September 1982

Living it Rough

Former Campbelltown resident Ron Foster sure did it tough in his early days living in Campbelltown. In an interview he did with Campbelltown Library in 1983, Ron described some of the places he lived in. Survived is probably a more appropriate word than lived.

Ron moved to Campbelltown with his family in 1931 aged 12. They came from Sutherland where work was difficult to find during the Great Depression and where Ron's father was on the dole and was unable to pay the rent. The Foster's took up a 12-acre block at South Campbelltown. Ron's father got work with Campbelltown Council in an arrangement where they worked so many weeks in a month, in replace of receiving dole payments. The family lived below where the rubbish tip was located at South Campbelltown. It was described by Ron as "very very rough" and a place where you 'existed' and lived the best way you could. The first place the Foster's lived in was nothing more than a tin shed. Ron further described it this way: "The fireplace consisted of one of those square galvanised iron tanks you know what they call ship tanks." The photograph below gives you some idea of what it was like. The water tank at the side of the 'house' was used as a bedroom!

Campbelltown City Library. Local Studies Collection (Keith Longhurst Collection). The boy in the photo is unidentified.

After a while the family built a slab hut on the 12-acre block. It was so small that Ron had to sleep in a tent. It had a kitchen at one end and a bedroom at the other where Ron's father slept while Ron slept in the tent! The two rooms were partitioned off with bags and nothing else. They had a stove and a stone fireplace. The hut had a corrugated iron roof and a floor made from stone from the bush with a skin of cement over it. Imagine living like this through a cold Campbelltown winter.

Ron was 12 when he moved to Campbelltown and 13 when he left the tiny Campbelltown South school (this building is now Kentlyn Public School). After working in different jobs around the town, including Tom Frost's dairy which included land where the current HJ Daley Library is, Ron got work on a farm at Eschol Park. Living conditions here were not much better. For ten bob ($1) a week, Ron was given a wooden stretcher to sleep on with no mattress or blankets! He eventually acquired a horse rug with another horse rug over him. All he had to eat was a plate of porridge for breakfast every morning and plum jam with bread for dinner. Work was seven days a week. How difficult it must have been living in those times.

Ron Foster died in August 1984, only one year after his interview.

Written by Andrew Allen

Life Savers in Campbelltown

 

It's fascinating to read what was considered newsworthy exactly one hundred years ago and compare how it would rate in today's world.  According to the Campbelltown News from the day, this unique advertising promotion attracted "great interest on the part of all who saw it". The visit was from an advertising automobile described as having a unique "stunt" body. The automobile was actually a truck with an extensive frame that fitted a large tubular body. On the body was a reproduction of a roll of Pep-o-mint life savers, described as the candy mint with the hole. The reproduction covered the shape, colouring and lettering of a life saver packet. The car stopped at Campbelltown on its way to Melbourne. Our town was one of a number along the principal highways of the country that the trucks would stop at. A million samples of life savers were given away by a few other trucks that travelled all over Australia at the time. The sketch above shows what the truck would have looked like. Kind of hilarious but way ahead of its time!

Life Savers Sweets Co. Ltd launched Life Savers in 1922 with a series of display advertisements in major papers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria with a professionally executed campaign. The special promotional vehicle like the one that visited Campbelltown and constructed by the distributors, continued the promotion in 1924.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown News, Friday 6 June 1924, page 7

https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au

If I were a rich man

If I were a rich man...I'd buy Macquarie Field House! This brilliant old house and property recently went on the market and is expected to fetch a price of $10-12 million dollars. Still a while to wait for the inheritance, so better make sure I get myself a ticket for the next lotto draw! 

There is so much history in this 65-acre property. Macquarie Field House was built in 1840 and has an interesting history. It was built by Samuel Terry for Sydney's first mayor John Hosking and is acknowledged as one of the finest examples of early Australian domestic architecture. It is built in the regency style. In 1858, George Fairfowl Macarthur leased the property to St Marks Collegiate School for boys. In 1868 the school amalgamated with the Kings School at Parramatta with most of Macarthur's pupils moving to this prestigious school. It was later owned by J. Ashcroft and then the Ross brothers, then by a syndicate of Kershaw and Hipsley. In 1944 the Department of Agriculture acquired the property. The house had come to the attention of the National Trust after it became severely dilapidated- a melancholy ruin that seemed destined for demolition. David Jamieson purchased the property in 1963 and thankfully restored it to its former splendour.

The house around 1960 before restoration

The house was later classified by the National Trust and a Conservation Order was placed on it in the early 1980s. After David Jamieson, the house was owned by the Department of Public Works and then a number of private owners.

Built before Macquarie Field House and located to the west of the house was the building known as Meehan's Castle. Named by Governor Macquarie, it was built by James Meehan on his Macquarie Field grant. It was a large two storey brick building with a barn-like appearance that Meehan built before 1820. It was demolished and gone by the 1950s and sadly hardly any trace remains.

Another early brick building of eleven rooms also once existed on the property. This was probably the cottage for Meehan to live in. An eight-stall stable and out houses could also be found.

Although still privately owned, the house has not been lived in since it was last sold in 2015. Today the site is on the State Heritage Register, meaning any proposed development is subject to strict controls designed to maintain the strict heritage significance of not only the house itself, but also its "intact 19th century rural cultural landscape". Given this heritage protection, it is likely to appeal to private buyers rather than developers. Better start getting friendly with that rich great aunt.

Macquarie Field House in the 1980s

The property today surrounded by modern suburbia (Realestate.com.au)

Written by Andrew Allen

Cordeaux Street- A travel back in time

Cordeaux Street, like Railway Street, Browne Street and many other Campbelltown streets, has changed enormously since the early days of the town. The southern side of the street in particular has completely changed from what it looked like even 50-60 years ago. Not one building between Queen Street and Moore-Oxley Bypass from before 1970 remains on that side of the street. Fortunately, we have photographs, newspaper articles and personal memories that help keep the memory of what it once looked like. 

The street was named after William Cordeaux, a government commissioner and wealthy owner of Leppington Estate. He built Leppington House on this property. 

I thought I would recreate what Cordeaux Street between Queen Street and Moore-Oxley Bypass would have looked like from the period of 1920 to around 1970. On the southern side, beautiful houses once dominated the street. The exception to housing was the Club Hotel on the corner of Queen Street. The Venture store building completed and opened in 1974 started the move from residential to commercial occupation. However, the northern side of this part of Cordeaux Street has changed little over the years. Mawson Park, St Peter's Anglican Church and St Peter's Rectory have dominated the northern side for either most or all of Campbelltown's existence.

Let's travel back in time and explore Cordeaux Street. We will start with the Club Hotel on the south-east corner of Queen and Cordeaux Streets. A hotel was built on this site as early as 1830 by Thomas Hammond. He named it the King's Arms. From 1832 the licence was held by John Hurley. It was then called the Sportsman's Arms and rebuilt in 1893. In 1865 it was supposed to have displayed the body of bushranger Harry Mann's before it was buried in St John's Catholic Cemetery. The hotel was later called the Club Hotel, until its demolition in 1986.

Club Hotel in 1926.

Moving up the hill on the southern side of the street at number 3 was a house referred to as Byrne's House or 'Roselle'. There is a photograph of this house taken in 1871, but I am unable to identify who lived there then. From the 1920s to 1943 it was lived in by Mr and Mrs William Joseph Byrne. They called it 'Roselle'. Byrne was a retired farmer from Appin, and he had moved from Dumaresque Street. William died in 1942 and his wife the following year. I am unable to determine when this ancient house was demolished. The site later became the Nepean River County Council Office until the change to the Prospect County Council Office. This building was demolished in 2016 and is now a vacant block.

Byrne's House. Photo not dated.

Adjacent to Byrne's house was another building with an interesting history. This house at number 5 was once part of a private school run by Miss Clarke. The school was a very large room at the back and attached to the house. Miss Clarke ran the school and lived in the house. Her sister, Mrs Tallentire, owned the home and lived with them. The house and attached school were photographed in 1885. By the 1930s, William Loftus and his wife were living here. William was a sergeant of police. After the Loftus', the Langdon family moved in. The house became a guest house for bank workers and teachers and the Langdon's named it 'Rema'. Muriel and Everett Langdon were known in town for their kindness and generosity to those less fortunate. The front of the house was later used as a doctor's surgery before it was demolished around 1975-76.

"Rema" at number 5 Cordeaux Street. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

This view is of the back of number 5 (left) and number 7 (right). This is an interesting view as it shows Miss Clarke's school at the rear of number 5. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

At number 7 was the residence of the Marlow family. They were living there as early as the 1930s. A staunch conservative, Percy Marlow was a dedicated Mayor of Campbelltown, serving three terms for a total of 13 years. He was a prolific photographer and also excelled at carpentry. Percy and his wife Annie owned a general store at the corner of Queen and Lithgow Streets in the early part of the 1900s. In later years Percy loved visitors and would encourage people he knew to sit on the bench on the verandah of number 7 and chat about what was happening in the world. He died in 1971 aged 93 and he was still living at number 7 Cordeaux Street.

7 Cordeaux Street. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The Marlow family in the garden of their home at number 7. Percy Marlow is on the left. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Number 9 Cordeaux Street was a building familiar to most Campbelltown residents. This was the residence and surgery of Dr William Mawson and his assistant Dr Karl Owen Jones. The building was known as 'Mulwaree' and was built by Mawson in 1913. William Mawson was the brother of Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. Dr Mawson possessed a great singing voice and had a lifelong love of music. The house and surgery were later used by that wonderful character Dr Ivor Thomas. Dr Thomas was remembered for his love of fast cars and fast driving, his stutter, and smoking whilst performing medical procedures, with the ash from his cigarette always threatening to fall somewhere on the patient's anatomy! Dr Parnell later practiced here in the 1970s.

"Mulwaree" at 9 Cordeaux. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The next house up the street belonged to Fred Walter Wilkinson. He was a plumber and had served his country in the First World War. His plumbing workshop was nearby in Queen Street. Built in the early 1930s, the house at number 11 had a dark sandstone frontage. Fred Wilkinson died in 1970.

Fred Wilkinson's house at number 11. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Number 13 was occupied during the 1920s and 30s by the Baldock family. Alfred Ernest Baldock was an auctioneer and stock and station agent and appears to have moved to Cordeaux Street around 1920. The house was named 'Kia-ora'. Alf Baldock died in 1936.

"Kia-ora" is on the right and "Hyman's Cottage" on the left. Photo is not dated. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Collection)

The Baldock's neighbours at number 15 were the Hyman family. Albert Augustine (Bert) Hyman was a clerk who worked in Sydney and whose wife Mary ran a shop in Queen Street. Bert was of slender build and an accomplished singer. The Hymans were in this house as early as 1928 and they continued living there after Bert's death in 1954.

"Hyman's Cottage" with Mrs Hyman (left) and Mrs Briedale (right). Photo is not dated. (W.Wilkinson Collection)

The last house on that side of the street before what was then Oxley Street was a house known as 'Roseangeles'. It was built in 1923 and owned and occupied by Andrew Lysaght and his family. Lysaght was Attorney-General in Jack Lang's NSW Government from 1927-1931. The huge weatherboard house was surrounded by a fine garden and a number of tall palm trees. Sadly, the house was demolished in 1970.

Roseangeles (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Another view of Roseangeles (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

As previously explained, the northern side of the street was very different. It was dominated by Mawson Park and St Peter's Church. The park has been an open space since Campbelltown was settled in 1820. The church was completed in 1823 and once stood adjacent to Howe Street that ran all the way to Cordeaux Street until the late 1960s. The first St Peter's Rectory was built in 1840 and it stood close to the church. It stood slightly to the south of the present rectory. In 1887, the old rectory was sold on the condition that it be demolished and removed. A new rectory was built soon after.

A view of Cordeaux Street from St Peter's tower in 1928 showing numbers 1-7 Cordeaux Street (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

McGill, Jeff et al 1995

Campbelltown's Streets and Suburbs

Allen, Andrew 2018

More than Bricks and Mortar: Remembering Campbelltown's Lost Buildings

McBarron, Ed

Campbelltown 1930-40. Patrick Street and Environs.

In Grist Mills Vol.4, No. 1, pp3-9

Keeping in time

While preparing our files for digitization we recently came across an interview from 1987 with Mr. John Cheeseman on the occasion of him and his sisters donating a beautiful ebony and silver baton of his father's to the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society.

Arthur & Louisa Cheeseman

The interview, conducted by an earlier Local History librarian, Joan Warton paints a fantastic picture of our area, of a tyrant school teacher and a kind baker. We'd like to share some of his recollections with you.

John's father, Arthur, had worked for the railways in Junee. In 1911 he was transferred to Campbelltown to maintain the automatic signals between the Picton and Liverpool lines.

Upon arrival, he and his wife, Louisa were presented with a little freshly painted cottage between Hannaford's Pub and the Coach house. John recalls his mother saying to the estate agent, "I'm not going in there!"

Taken aback the agent asked, "Why not?"

"There's bugs in there - I can smell them!" Louisa grabbed a stick, ran it along the window sill and held it up. Sure enough there WERE bugs. "They'd painted over them. That was our introduction to Campbelltown," 

"But," John said, "it all turned out for the best in the long run."

After living at Hannaford's pub for a while the family moved into a house in Stewart Street paying rent to Mrs. Munro. They had a huge vegetable patch next to the lane and a hedge of geraniums in which ducks would hide. John recalls every Sunday they would gather the ducks and take them through the gate for a swim in a hollow in (what is now) Innes Street. 

At Christmas, when the bake was done, Crowes Bakery allowed people from the town to put their Christmas roast into the large oven to cook.

One character he remembers well was Mrs. Seymour who lived behind St Elmo's and would get around in an old skirt, black apron, old felt hat and hardly ever with teeth in. But on Sunday's heading to confession she'd be dressed elegantly in Black Taffeta adorned with a beautiful bonnet with a single black Ostrich feather. She still had men's boots on but would also have her teeth in. 

At 5, John started school at Campbelltown Primary School where he had the notorious Miss McGuanne for a teacher. He remembers her, "She wore 4 different frocks that all swept the ground.  You never refused her bidding." 

She'd often get him to carry her shopping which made his mother wonder where he was. She also set aside a time in the school day for "conversation piece" where the children would have to say what had happened at home. "She'd find out all the gossip and scandal in the town." She also made her mark on John when he was fiddling with a pencil in the groove of the desk. Miss McGuanne brought a cane down upon his knuckles breaking a finger.

John's father, Arthur, leader of the Campbelltown band met for band practice every Thursday night at the Town Hall in Queen Street. Apparently, John's mother sent John along to make sure Arthur didn't come home via the hotel!

Arthur and his band played in many processions. One parade John remembers distinctly was the day of the Kangaroo march. In an effort to enlist army recruits for the first World War, a group marched from Wagga through many towns gaining men along the way. The band accompanied them from Kenny Hill playing them into Campbelltown where a further five recruits joined the recruitment drive.

Band Leader Arthur Cheeseman's baton. 

Photo courtesy of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

More Colourful Characters!

 I recently gave a talk to the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society on the second part of my Colourful Characters of Campbelltown presentation. I have chosen three characters for this post who you can read about below.

Characters. Campbelltown sure has had its fair share over the years. Enough for me to give a two- part presentation on them and I probably could have given at least one more. Every town has had them, but Campbelltown seemed to attract them more than most. They all live fondly in our hearts and memories and often bring a smile to our face when remembering them. Some made significant contributions to the town and some lead quieter lives.

Some had only bits that I can mention so I haven’t included them in the list. Like Arthur Luff of Allman Street that Eddie McBarron so wonderfully described in his valuable and entertaining Dumaresq Street book. Arthur, he described, walked with a limp and a stick, and characteristically sat on the verandah smoking incessantly his bent-stemmed pipe. The puffs were interspersed with mighty spits which carried from verandah to road. Another local told me about James Brooker who would drive his milk cart down steep Broughton Street to the Milk Depot near the railway line. He had no brakes so would attempt to slow it down by using the gutter at the side of the road. However, one day he was going too fast and rolled his cart over milk and all.

I have included 14 in my presentation today. Some I can talk a lot about…others not very much.

For some of those it is probably a stretch to call them characters- maybe they were more icons or in one case more of a curiosity- but their stories were worth telling so I have left them in there under the subject of characters. Frustratingly, I could not locate photographs of them all, so I have tried to include something associated with them. If anyone has photos of these characters or know who would have them, please let me know. Again, the characters will be presented alphabetically.

I have contemplated producing a short publication of some sort on todays and last year’s characters presentation. So, stay tuned for that.

Alf Cooper

Alf Cooper was born in 1916. He spent his boyhood years at Tamworth before coming to St Peters in 1926. The following year he came to work for George Chinnocks, who owned a store in the main street of Campbelltown- now one of the Georgian terraces. His mother said to him when he was 10 years old “How’d you like to go to Campbelltown? There’ll be horses and there is a shop, you’ll have lollies, you’ll have this, and you’ll have that”.

Alf sold newspapers for Chinnocks, rising very early in the morning to collect the newspapers for his billy cart from Campbelltown station at 3.30am. He then delivered them to the shop before delivering them on horseback to homes. This happened as Alf put it in “rain, hail or snow”.

When he was about 12 in 1929, Alf participated in a children’s party at the Town Hall. He stole the show dressed as Huckleberry Finn and sang a solo on stage that brought the house down. However, it was his attempt in the “boy who could laugh the heartiest” competition that he excelled. His “response excelled the greatest noise ever heard in Campbelltown, and so he won the prize” according to The Campbelltown News.

Alf Cooper used to do trackwork on the old racecourse at Leumeah in the 1930s. He would train racehorses that belonged to George Chinnocks. This course was known as Rudd’s Racecourse. Horses were Alf’s great passion.

I love the words that Alf used to describe people. He once said in an interview in his later years: “My old grandma- she was an old battleaxe. Old grandma would be in the kitchen and if they didn’t do something she would pick up anything and hit you. Another time he once said, “I was a bit of a wildie”. I love it when he described swimming as a child “When we came out of school we’d shout “Last to the Wattles is lousy. Across the public school we’d start undressing and by the time we ran down Sewer Lane we’d be naked (imagine kids doing that now). The Wattles was a bonzer spot, and I was a coot for diving.” Another time he said “Henderson the baker had two boys. One was named Glen. I used to knock around with Glen. We were good cobbers.”

Alf would ride bicycles, sometimes organising races. His mates were amazed that he only ever rode in bare feet- sometimes winning races this way.

Alf was a strong as an ox. He was employed to build the new Good Intent Hotel and a balcony was being built and concrete was needed for the upstairs balcony floor. Alf was used as the “horse”. He pulled the wheelbarrow filled with concrete up the plank while another bloke pushed. He demonstrated amazing strength.

Alf used to host casino nights in his barn on his farm.

Alf and his wife Eileen came to Leumeah in 1943. They remembered Leumeah when there were only dirt roads that turned to mud every time it rained.

I was lucky enough to meet Alf at Pembroke Lodge about 2 weeks before he died in 2010. Unfortunately, he was too sick to tell me much about his life but just meeting him was a wonderful experience.

Alf died in August 2010. He is missed by so many, especially the horses.

“Red Mick” Rixon

 

Frederick William Algernon was better known as Mick or Red Mick Rixon. He was born in 1897 at Campbelltown. He is pictured here with his wife Mary Selby at their wedding in 1920.

“Red Mick” was well known for his tracking abilities. He once tracked and located some lost girls in the Wedderburn area in 1926. They became lost while picking wildflowers.

He was quite a character. On one visit to the barber for a haircut Mick decided he didn’t want to wait. He untied the bag he was carrying and let out a snake. He quickly got rid of the queue!

At Wedderburn, Red Mick had quite a few acres, lots of dogs and native birds, including a lyre bird, and a very old bush timber style hut. Mick bred bloodhounds and harriers very successfully, he gained many prizes for his dogs at Bankstown and other shows, and he was very well known for the tracker dogs that he bred for the police. One of these champion dogs was named Heedless and the other Blutcher.

Mick won first prize in the Royal Easter Show around 1930 for top rooster. This prompted his brother John to ask Mick for a loan of the rooster for breeding purposes. After being asked by John, Mick’s reply was that it was too late as he had just eaten him!

Mick’s brother remembers one of his daughters being the subject of an article in the Truth newspaper in about 1958 entitled ‘This Miss Never Misses’. ‘Dutchie’ Rixon was charged with attempted murder in shooting some male. Apparently, Mick was interviewed and stated that it couldn’t have been attempted murder because if his daughter had meant the shot to kill then she would certainly have done so. Mick died at Liverpool in 1964 and is buried at St Peter’s Cemetery, Campbelltown.

 

Ernie Selems 

Cecil Ernest Selems, known as Ernie, was born in 1904, the son of Joseph Henry and Ellen Butchers. He married Lorna Smith in 1918. 

He enlisted in February 1916, serving as a WW1 soldier in France with the 45th Battalion. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in March 1917 and briefly was acting Corporal just prior to being seriously wounded in action in June 1917. He suffered a fractured skull and thigh injury and was hospitalised in England for several months. He returned to Australia at the end of 1917 and was discharged in Australia in February 1918

Ernie Selems had a hard life as a small dairy farmer on the Mount Annan ridge. The Selems family leased a dairy from Ted Sedgewick’s aunty on the edge of town on the Menangle Road. The farm was part of the remaining Church of England Glebe granted in 1823 and still owned by the church in the 1850s.

Ernie had to take his milk cans down a steep track then through the Claremont property to the Menangle Road (at the Glen Alpine roundabout). Twice a day he would take the milk into town at the Milk Depot and he would be at Lack’s Hotel at 10 in the morning. There are also references to it being parked most days opposite the Good Intent Hotel awaiting Ernie to drive it back home. After staggering out of the pub drunk, he would get back in the cart and the horse would lead him home. You would see the horse sauntering along. He is believed to have been the last local farmer to use a horse and cart to bring his milk to the Campbelltown Milk depot (to mid 1960s). It was a distinctive old white horse and cart. The milk depot building was burnt down in 1969.

In fact, Ernie never did the actual milking- this was done by his sister. All Ernie did was transport the milk in cans to the depot.

I couldn’t find a great lot else about Ernie, apart from that in 1954 he was charged and found guilty of failing to destroy rabbits on his property. I know he was also involved with the Campbelltown Show.

After Ernie died his house was cleaned out and a huge number of cheques were found- all not cashed! They went back many years.

Ernie died on 4 December 1987.

 

Written by Andrew Allen