The Glenlee Train Accident

There was a crack like a 'gun blast' that was heard from Menangle. It was regarded a miracle that everyone of the 73 passengers escaped. The date was March 27, 1961- a date that would be etched on the memories of all those involved.

The accident at Glenlee occurred when the engine of the second division of the Melbourne express, due in Sydney at 10.55am hit the engine of a goods train hauling coal trucks from a siding. The engine and four leading cars of the express left the rails after travelling some distance. The fact that there was a bank above the line to Sydney which is not level with the line from Sydney, prevented the carriages from falling right over and not a window in the carriages was broken.

The other astounding fact, according to the Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, was that the main section of the express engine remained on the line after hitting the huge Garrett engine so hard that it ripped the side out of the front tank and threw it yards into the mud near the signal box. It was so badly smashed that it had to be dismantled and removed in pieces.

Four ambulances from the Macarthur area were on the scene within ten minutes. Within one hour over 30 civilian and army ambulances were present. Ambulance men treated a dozen or so passengers for bumps and abrasions. A relief train from Campbelltown conveyed the passengers to Sydney.

News reports also described how within an hour of the accident the narrow road leading from Menangle Road to Glenlee siding was jammed with cars. Sightseers swarmed around the damaged trains and police had to keep them away from the railway gangs.

Local photographer Norm Campbell was on the scene immediately to take photographs. Below is one of those images.

Do you recall the accident at Glenlee? Were you one of the sightseers? Please let us know.

Train accident at Glenlee showing Sydney-bound passengers from the second division of the Melbourne Express joining a replacement train to continue their journey to Sydney after collision with a coal train on 27 March 1961

Written by Andrew Allen

Source: Campbelltown-Ingleburn News March 28 and April 4 1961

Southern Queen Street Then and Now

The two images above reveal just how much the southern end of Queen Street has changed in the last 50 years. Both photographs are taken from approximately the same spot- near the exit to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The photograph at the top was taken by local historian Alex Goodsell in the early 1960s. It shows the soon to be demolished Commonwealth Flats in the foreground with the orange roof. The Commonwealth Flats was formerly the Jolly Miller Hotel and then the First and the Last Hotel (see my August 19 post). To the left of the Commonwealth Flats is today's Macarthur Legal Centre building formerly Fieldhouse's Store and later home to the Campbelltown News. Looking in the distance past this building is what used to be known as Miss Raymond's Cottage. It was a timber house with brick nogged walls. It had an attic upstairs that was said to be haunted. This house was pulled down in the early 1980s. It stood where the old pizza hut building and later Anytime Fitness building is today. The petrol bowser on the other side of the road would be where the footpath is in front of the KFC car park shown in the bottom photograph. Note the absence of the telephone poles in the bottom photograph.

Written by Andrew Allen

"Honest John"

The Kidd family at Blair Athol in the 1890s. John Kidd is on the right. (Photo courtesy Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society).


John Kidd was born at Brechin, in Scotland, in 1838, the son of a shoemaker. At the age of 18 he migrated to Sydney on the Mary Anne and established a bakery. In 1860, three years after arriving in the colony, he married Sophie Collier and moved to Campbelltown. Here he established a bakery and general store which he ran from 1860 to 1876.

John soon developed a reputation for honesty which was to last for the rest of his life. It won him many customers for his businesses and later was enough to be asked to run as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly of the NSW Parliament. He became known as "Honest John" in the Campbelltown community.

John was prominent in the Presbyterian Church and later became an elder. He was also involved in the local School of Arts. In 1870 he was appointed a magistrate and served as a chairman of the local licensing branch. He was a foundation member for the Masonic Lodge in Campbelltown and became the first Patron of the Campbelltown Agricultural Society.

After he returned in 1877 from a trip to Scotland, John took up dairying and began to breed Ayrshire cattle. He bought land at St Andrews and Campbellfields to graze the cattle on and by 1900 was one of the largest rate payers in the municipality. He also planted orchards and vineyards on the land.

John Kidd was elected to the seat of Nepean in 1880. In 1901 he was re-elected to the new seat of Camden until his retirement in 1904. John was a strong supporter of Federation and Free Trade.

He was a member for the steering committee to form a new council for Campbelltown and saw the first council incorporated in 1881. He was also asked by the NSW Premier to be Postmaster General in 1891. Kidd also owned the Campbelltown Herald in 1887.

"Honest John" and his family owned Blair Athol homestead built in 1881. They entertained extensively and their home was one of only very few in the district that had a ballroom. The house still stands in the Campbelltown suburb of the same name.

John continued to supervise his farms after his retirement from parliament in 1904 until his death at 81 years of age. Australia's first Prime Minister Edmund Barton said "I always found him to be a loyal colleague and a strictly upright public man". He died on April 8 1919 and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Campbelltown. John and Sophie had 4 children: Thomas Collier; Jessie Maud; Mary Elizabeth and Frederick Norman John Kidd.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Pamphlet by A. Robinson of Leumeah High School

HOLMES, Marie
The Presbyterian Cemetery Campbelltown

East Minto Public School

Unidentified people beside East Minto Public School in 1920 (Jessie Newham Collection)


East Minto Public School was opened in September 1898 in Hansens Road, East Minto. The School, like other surrounding schools, served children who lived within a 3 mile (5 kilometre) radius.

East Minto was a one-teacher school. The school's first teacher was Cecil George Browning Sutton. He remained at East Minto Public until he retired in 1921 and remained in the district as an active community member until his death in 1951. The altar at St James Minto is dedicated to him.

The next teacher was Percy Kable who also taught at Campbelltown Public School. He was followed by Mr Haines or Pop Haines as he was known. A former pupil by the name of Keith Longhurst remembered him playing cricket and rounders with the children at lunch time. He was regarded fondly by his pupils. A Miss Henderson taught years 1-2 while Mr Haines took 3-6.

Keith Longhurst described his days at East Minto further: "We were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. And I don't mean maybe- we WERE taught. The only thing that spoilt my school life, if any, was that I was shifted from 2nd class to 4th class in one jump and it was a long hop and of course I missed my tables that you had to learn in 3rd class".

In the 1930s the teachers were Mr Edwards and Miss Frost. The school's numbers remained high during this time. Names such as Etchells, Denison, Longhurst, Porter, Johnson and Hansen being prominent.

On October 2, 1947 the school was destroyed by fire. It started in the early morning and destroyed everything except a store-room. As farms had closed down and the population of East Minto had decreased after World War 2, it was decided not to rebuild. Students were being bused to nearby schools after the fire and eventually they would attend a new school at Minto.

East Minto Public School was located on the corner of Hansen's Road and Hereford Place.

East Minto Public School after the fire that destroyed it in 1947 (A.Denison Collection)


Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

FOWLER, Verlie
"Keith Longhurst- his life and times"
In Grist Mills
Vol. 17, No. 3, pp 2-37, November 2004

LISTON, Carol 1988
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History

History Trivia

Calling all history buffs! Campbelltown City Council Library is celebrating this year’s History Week with a history trivia night at HJ Daley Library on Wednesday September 10 at 6pm. Great prizes to be won and light refreshments will be served. There will be a maximum of 6 people for each team. 

The cost is $10 per person. Bookings are essential on 4645 4436. 

The library is also hosting a display featuring Campbelltown during the war years from 1914 to 1918. Based on this year’s theme of “The Great War” it will feature photographs of Campbelltown during the First World War years as well as personal letters, diaries and other war related memorabilia. The display will capture what life was like for those at the home front. 

 

The library is looking for objects that could be included in our display. This could be clothes, homewares, farming equipment, photographs or every day items from the 1914-1918 period in Campbelltown. In addition to items from the home front, we are also requesting war related memorabillia such as diaries, letters or photographs that could be included in the display.

If you have any items that you would like to lend the library for the display, please contact the library on 4645 4431.

The exhibition will run from September 6 to 14 at H.J. Daley Library.

For more information contact the Local Information Librarian at Campbelltown Library on 4645 4431.

The Jolly Miller

 

 

The Jolly Miller Hotel was built in the late 1840s at the southern end of Queen Street opposite Kendall’s Mill. The hotel was opened by George Fieldhouse who had followed his convict father to New South Wales in 1828. George’s two sons William and Edwin Hallett opened a general store next to the hotel in 1853. This building, which later became the offices for the Campbelltown and Ingleburn News, is still standing opposite McDonald’s restaurant in Queen Street.

George Fieldhouse was the licensee of the Jolly Miller until his death in 1880. An interesting side story regarding George Fieldhouse concerns a visitor to the town in the same year as George’s death. The traveller, a Frederick E Sawyer, noticed George sitting in front of the inn and began to quiz him about his knowledge of Fisher’s Ghost and to show him the spot “immortalized in story, where the ghost of Fisher made its appearance”. To his astonishment Fieldhouse stated most emphatically that there never was a Fisher’s  Ghost  or any other ghost in Campbelltown, at any time or in any place, or under any circumstances! He knew all the parties connected to the story.

 

The Southern end of Queen Street showing Fieldhouse's Store and the Commonwealth Hotel (formerly Jolly Miller Inn) on the right. (Photo courtesy Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society).

After the death of George Fieldhouse the license to the inn passed through a number of hands for the next twenty years. In 1891 it was run by Elizabeth Cooper, Meyer in 1894 and Charles Stanley from 1896 to 1899 and William Day was the proprietor in 1900. That year the application to renew the license was opposed as the inspector ruled that it was not up to the requirements of the Act. The standard of accommodation was not such as the Act provided for. It was deemed “old and unsuitable for present requirements, the sanitary arrangements, ventilation and drainage not being up to date.” The improvements were made and in February 1901 the new proprietor Fred Mulholland applied successfully for a name change and the hotel became the Commonwealth Hotel. A new name and improvements heralded a new beginning for the old hotel.

The hotel was often the scene of various inquests in the early days. Examples of this include the inquest into Elizabeth Walsh’s death written about in my previous blog post. The hotel was in the news in 1904 when a man named Thomas Griffiths committed suicide in a paddock at the rear of the hotel. Thomas was living on the premises at the time.

In 1909 architect Alfred R. Payten designed alterations and additions to the Commonwealth Hotel.

The hotel licenses continued to change hands after the turn of the century with Henry Bridgeland, Helen Hutchison, Mr Reidy and John Williamson owning the hotel between 1912 and 1919. In 1917 Helen Hutchison was taken by surprise when an inspector fined her for remaining open past the allotted hours. A patron was also fined for assaulting and insulting the inspector when he forced the pub to close.

By the 1930s the Commonwealth Hotel was being promoted as the ‘First and Last’ and ‘19^th Hole’- the house where sports meet. The license was transferred to the newly erected Good Intent Hotel in 1939 and the premises were converted to residential use known as the Commonwealth Flats. The building was demolished in the early 1960s. The site today is a vacant block next to the now Macarthur Legal Centre.

Photograph showing the much altered Commonwealth Flats next to Fieldhouse's Store in the early 1960s just before the flats were demolished. (Alex Goodsell Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

Elizabeth Walsh

I recently came across the following newspaper article from the Sydney Morning Herald dated December 9, 1859: An inquest was held at noon on Tuesday, at the house of Mr Fieldhouse, sign of the Jolly Miller, by Dr Bell, the coroner, on the body of an infant named Elizabeth Walsh, aged one year and eight months. It appeared that on Saturday, the 20th November, the child, who was able to walk about the house, went to the table, and pulled a plate with hot flour and milk, food prepared for her, off it, when the contents went over her face and chest, causing an extensive scald. The burns were deep and they turned gangrenous. Poor Elizabeth died 15 days later on December 5. Dr Bell's verdict was that she "Died from the effects of accidental scalding." Elizabeth would probably have survived today but in the middle of the nineteenth century there was little that Dr Bell could have done to save her life.

Elizabeth was the first of 7 children to John and Mary Walsh. They were married in 1856 at St David's Presbyterian Church in Campbelltown. They later moved to Berrima in the early 1860s.

My next blog post will feature The Jolly Miller Hotel referred to in the inquest above.

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 9 December, 1859 page 3