Early Queen Street Photos

Most of Campbelltown Library's earliest images are of Queen Street. They all date back to the early 1870s. It's hard to imagine a main street without cars and traffic lights. They are replaced with horses, dung and serenity. I have included brief descriptions of each of these photographs, some of which there is plentiful information and others not so.

Photo date: 1870

Patrick's Inn pictured on the right was built about 1842 and licensed to Anne Byrne. Not long after it was changed to the Coach and Horses Inn and later known as Hammond's Grammar School. By 1860 it was used as a School of Arts. Prominent pioneer John Hurley lived there from the 1870s and he died in the building in 1882. By then it was known as Alpha House. In later years it became a private school run by Miss Whittingham. Alpha House was demolished in 1938 to make way for the Good Intent Hotel.

Photo date: 1870

This building was located at 158 Queen Street, opposite Patrick Street. It was owned by John Bray and operated by John Boag from 1863 and later Henry Rose from 1868, until he was replaced in January 1870. The building combined the post office with living quarters. It served as a post office until 1881 when the lack of space became an issue, and a new post office was constructed in Queen Street further south. The building was the newspaper printing office in the 1890s and later Annie Marlow's dressmaking business. 

Photo date: 1870

Doyle Henty & Co. Auctioneers was located a couple of doors north of Alpha House. The building was made from weatherboard with shingles on the roof. The business became insolvent in 1879. Today it would stand about where the entrance to Campbelltown Mall is located in Queen Street.

Photo date: 1871

The Railway Hotel was built about 1850 by the Doyle family. The hotel was named this because of the anticipation that the new railway line would result in increased patronage. This never eventuated. It was known as Doyle's Railway Hotel up until at least 1896. The Meredith family owned it from 1921. From 1943 it was owned by JL Froggatt and known as "Bonito". This building and the surrounding colonial group were restored in the 1960s and saved from demolition.

Photo date: 1871

This image was taken by William Boag in 1871 and is one of a number of Campbelltown shots taken by this photographer in the same year. The characteristics of the image indicate that this is from that period. The library's description for the photo claims that it shows Barney Bugden's Blacksmith. Barney was born in 1884 and didn't come to Campbelltown until he was aged 21, where he started work as a blacksmith. He went into partnership with a man named Phillips a few years later when he was aged 24. Their blacksmith shop was in Queen Street. Therefore, it is impossible that this photo is of Barney Blacksmith's shop. It could possibly be of the same shop as Barney's but much earlier than his partnership. The men are unidentified.

Photo date:1871

Mrs Hickey ran a store in Queen Street at this time. Records reveal the shop would have been located around the vicinity of today's car wash opposite KFC in southern Queen Street.

Photo date: 1871

The Forbes Hotel was built in 1827 by Daniel Cooper and named after the Chief Justice who presided at the first Circuit Court held in the Campbelltown district. It had nine bedrooms, two parlours, a tap room, bar and cellar. In 1901 it was refurbished and became the Federal Hotel. It was located at the corner of Queen and Railway Streets and demolished in 1984.

Photo date: 1875

The main street of Campbelltown looking north. On the left is Alpha House. The Railway Hotel and the other colonial terraces are opposite. The building visible on the left in the distance at the time was the Family Hotel. It was leased to James Campbell by owner John Hurley and became the Bank of NSW in 1878. It remained in operation until 1943.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

More Than Bricks and Mortar: Remembering Campbelltown's Lost Buildings by Andrew Allen 2018

Queen Street Terraces, Campbelltown: Historical Investigation by Carol Liston 1990

Demolished Heritage Buildings of Campbelltown, A Joint Project of Campbelltown-Airds Historical Society and Campbelltown City Council, November 2005

 

Victim of Progress

(Bruce Hatfield Collection)

I have written about Railway Street in Campbelltown before and how it has transformed over the years. This photograph was taken in the 1980s. The view looks east and shows the police station and residence, as well as a group of shops, including a hairdresser and an electrical contractor. Lack's Hotel is on the corner and the Royal Hotel is just out of the picture on the right. Lack's Hotel was demolished in 1984, so it probably dates to the early 1980s. All of the buildings and plants in this scene have vanished. Only the plants in Mawson Park in the background and the court house (the chimney can just be made out in the background on the left) still exist. The new court building on the left and a car park on the right now dominate this same view.

Written by Andrew Allen

The Changing Face of Railway Street

The scene of today's Railway Street is completely different to that of even 40 years ago. So different in fact that not one building from then or before 1970 remains today. It has gone from a street bustling with shops, pubs, a police station and houses to a street dominated by a car park on one side to the new court house extension on the other. So, what did Railway Street once look like and what places could we find if we jumped in a time machine and travelled back to when it was a hive of activity?

If you were to walk from the Railway Station towards the street and start with the right hand side the first building you would have come across would be the Royal Hotel. This hotel was built in the 1840s and was originally called the Cumberland Hotel. It became the Royal Hotel in the 1890s. Licensees included Charles Laws, W. Hodge, Thomas Meehan and Mrs Sexton. The hotel was demolished in 1986. In the 1940s the hotel was a destination for the Drunks' Express. This was when people were forbidden to drink beer in a hotel on Sundays unless they had travelled more than 25 miles and regarded as "weary travellers". As Campbelltown was 32 miles from Sydney it was a prime target and the Royal would've been the first hotel encountered from the railway station.

Today's taxi rank is located where the hotel once stood.

The above photograph shows four unidentified men pictured outside the Royal Hotel in its early days

Continuing your walk up Railway Street you would then come across a house owned by Fred Sheather. Fred was the Town Clerk for the council for an incredible 43 years from 1901 to 1944.

Next was a house where Geoff Winton lived and this adjoined a milk bar at number 11 that he owned. It was famous for its ice cream and banana splits. In 1946 Alf and Elsie McLean purchased the shop. The business prospered by selling 7 days a week: morning and afternoon teas; sandwiches, drinks, ice creams and sweets; cigarettes and tobacco. In the 1960s Alf Billington took over and the property was later sold and became part of a car park.

Continuing the journey along the southern side of Railway Street in the 1930s you would next find Vic Ducat's Auctioneers followed by a barber shop. At the back of these shops was a snooker parlour ran by Paddy Hunt. In later years the auctioneers was replaced by a doctor's surgery. This building was owned by the O'Loughlan family who lived in a house next door at 29 Railway Street. This house was built in 1872 and had numerous owners over the years starting with Elizabeth Graham. The O'Loughlan family were the last to live there until it was demolished in 1967. According to Paul O'Loughlan the house was built of sandstone and was freezing in winter.

A 1970 photograph then shows a long building running parallel to Short Street that was used originally as stables but later for car parking. Then on the corner of Railway and Queen Street was Lack's Hotel. Built by Daniel Cooper in 1830 as the Forbes Hotel, in 1901 it was refurbished and renamed the Federal Hotel. The license was transferred to Herb Lack in 1929 and it became Lack's Hotel. After Herb's death in 1956, his son-in-law and daughter Guy and Tib Marsden took over. Lack's Hotel was demolished in 1984. A modern commercial building including a modern tavern now take its place.

Photograph showing Lack's Hotel from Railway Street undergoing demolition in 1984 (Verlie Fowler Collection).

The other side of Railway Street, or the northern side, always contained fewer buildings. Beginning from the bottom of the street was the police house and next to this was the police station. The station was built around 1890 and was typical of the style for that period. The old cell blocks and stables were located on the building's north side. A tunnel was supposed to have linked the
cells to the nearby courthouse! The police station was pulled down in 1987. The new court house extensions are on the site of the old police station.

Above is the police station and adjoining police house as they looked in 1979.

Finally, on the corner of Railway and Queen Streets is the old court house built in 1886.

This photo was taken in April 1970 and shows how the street looked then. Compare it to the Railway Street of 2012. (Geoff Eves Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Paul O'Loughlan Interview October 2012

Demolished Heritage Buildings of Campbelltown, 2005

Do you have memories of buildings from Railway Street's past? Please share these with us.