"Satan" Lived in Campbelltown

Frank "Satan" Brewer was one of the twentieth century's greatest midget drivers. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1906, Frank began his racing career in an old Chevrolet sedan and later progressed to a Chev engined midget #72. The fans soon took to him and he was nicknamed "Satan" because he drove like the devil. That nickname stayed with him for the next 62 years.

Midget cars are a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the USA in the 1930s.

After being enticed by a group of travelling American midget aces in New Zealand to try his luck in America, Frank packed his bags at the end of the 1939 season. He became famous and admired by the Americans as one of the toughest and most competitive drivers to have ever raced in the USA. He became a specialist in long distance races. Frank won the 150 lap US Midget GP in 1940 and 1941. Also in 1941 Frank was the 250 lap US National Midget Championship. He won over 30 races in the United States and became the Western States Champion in 1946.

He came to Australia in 1948. He drove a car called the Flame Car. Another car was blue and white and Frank won many championships in Australia in it. He won the NSW midget title in 1950-53 and 1954, the Australian midget title for the same years and the "World" title in 1949-50 and 1954. During his time in Australia he maintained a close involvement with the sport through his photography that saw his work often published in Australian speedway publications.

Whilst living in Australia, Frank resided at Campbelltown. He lived with his wife and three daughters at a house that was sometimes referred to as Brewer Cottage. This house stood at 31 Oxley Street. It was demolished in 1985 to make way for further widening of Moore-Oxley Bypass. The site is now a car park bordered by the bypass, Allman Street and Dumaresq Street. Frank ran a small welding business at the western end of Dumaresq Street during his time in Campbelltown.

The Brewer home at 31 Oxley Street, Campbelltown (Verlie Fowler Collection)

Hugely charismatic, Frank had a happy-go-lucky approach to life. He would claim that his life was governed by "The master (Frank), the Mercury (his street/tow car) and the midget (the fabulous V8/60). He was married to Margaret and had three daughters: Madaline, Maureen and Marilyn! In a video made late in their life, Margaret was told she must be proud of Frank to which she replied "He should be proud of me"!

Frank's achievements in his homeland of New Zealand should not be ignored either. He won three National Championships and was recognised as New Zealand's first professional driver. One New Zealand racing enthusiast wrote "The chance to watch "Satan" Brewer charge around the quarter-mile cinder track in a midget car was something else".

Frank visited Australia regularly, having developed a fondness for the country during his time here. He passed away in Phoenix, Arizona on June 8, 2001 aged 94. His love of Australia and the Macarthur area was evident when his funeral was held at St John's Anglican Church, Camden and his burial at Camden General Cemetery.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

ALLEN, Andrew 2018
More Than Bricks and Mortar: Remembering Campbelltown's Lost Buildings
Campbelltown: Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

NEWLYN, Dennis
Frank "Satan" Brewer
Taranaki Historic Speedway
www.historicspeedway.co.nz

Frank "Satan" Brewer Featurette
Loudpedal.tv

Classic Auto News Facebook Site

400 Not Out!

This is our 400th post on this blog! The History Buff's first post was way back in 2011 and it's still going strong. A big thank you to all of our members and loyal readers. Please let others know about the History Buff if you enjoy reading the blog. Don't forget to comment if you would like to share something with us and everyone.

"There are two great cities in the world- Rome and Campbelltown"! (John Marsden)

Happy reading!

The Local Studies Team

The Awakening of Art in Australia - Dora Ohlfsen

Dora Ohlfsen was a multi-talented sculptor, musician, and writer who lived and worked in Australia, Italy, Russia and England.  She was born Adela Dora Ohlfsen-Bagge in 1869 in Ballarat to parents Christian Hermann and Kate. The Ohlfsen-Bagges had 11 children, of whom four died before Dora’s birth. Her father was an engineer, and the family moved to NSW in about 1883 after he obtained a government position as a Civil Engineer.
In Sydney, Dora attended Sydney Girls High, and showed an aptitude for music and languages. She studied piano for five years under M. Henri Kowalski, and newspaper articles of the day gave glowing reports of her concerts and recitals. Dora then travelled to Europe in 1892 to continue her piano studies at the Berlin Conservatorium, but she was considered too good, and instead taken under the wing of the composer and pianist Moritz Moszkowski and given free lessons! Sadly, in about 1896 Dora developed neuritis in her wrist, and was forced to take leave from her music studies.
During this period Dora travelled extensively, visiting Norway, Finland, France, Germany and Russia. Whilst in Rome she took up painting and sculpture, and was exhibited at the Rome Exhibition in 1903. In St Petersburg she worked for the US Consul General, (possibly as a spy!), taught music, wrote articles, painted, and met her lifelong partner Elena von Kugelken. A return to Rome saw her studying sculpting and bronze medal portraiture at the Villa Medici. She began to gain fame for her work in medal art, and received many commissions, exhibiting regularly. Her medal “The awakening of art in Australia” gained her international recognition. It received an award at the Franco-British exhibition in London, and was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1909.

An image of Dora Ohlfsen from the Sydney Mail.

Meanwhile in Australia, Christian retired to a property “Wyangah” in Minto, with his wife, and daughters Kate and Emily and Margarita. Kate and Margarita both taught music at Campbelltown Girls School. In 1908 Christian died at the family home in Minto. Ohlfsen Road Minto is named for the Ohlfsen family. Dora returned to her family in 1912 after 20 years abroad. Tragically her sister Margarita, also a talented pianist and well known in musical circles, died a few days after Dora’s return. Dora remained in Sydney for several years, setting up a studio salon, receiving many commissions and appearing frequently in the social columns.  In 1913 she obtained a commission for a bronze panel to be placed above the Art Gallery of NSW entrance door. Returning to Rome in October of 1913, she worked on the panel over the next several years but the trustees cancelled the work after the war, to Dora’s great disappointment.
During the war years Dora became a nurse with the Red Cross, inspiring her to work, at her own expense, on the creation of an ANZAC medal, to be sold for the benefit of permanently disabled Australian and New Zealand veterans. After the war Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy and Dora received a commission to make a portrait medallion of him, visiting him five times to make studies of him as he worked. She was also entrusted with the design of a war memorial at the naval base of Formia – the first woman, and the first non-Italian to be given such a commission. She began the work in 1923, and it was dedicated in 1926. As fascism tightened its grip on Italy Dora moved away from the patronage of the state and began making work for the church, and took up fresco painting, and making icons and sculptures. Her movements in Italy were restricted during the years of the Second World War, and after the war she found it difficult to obtain work.
On the 9th February 1949, Dora Ohlfsen and her long-time partner the Countess Elena von Kugelken were found dead in their gas-filled Rome studio. A police inquest found the deaths to be accidental and they were buried together in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. Although her tombstone reads “Australian by birth, Italian at heart”, Dora herself said  “The scent and sight of a piece of wattle,  the scent of  gum leaves, even the trying hot winds of Rome affect me indescribably and bring with them a nostalgia which shows me that my heart is entirely Australian”.

Written by Claire Lynch
Sources
Trove
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/ohlfsen-dora/
Tout-Smith, D. (2003) Dora Ohlfsen, Artist & Medallist in Museums Victoria Collections

Vale Arthur Jones

Arthur Raymond Jones was born in Cessnock, NSW. He married Muriel Sidell at Cessnock in 1945 and they had five children. Arthur became Headmaster at Minto Public School, which was opposite the historic precinct of William Redfern's farm and home. He presented and published on Redfern's expertise, interests and endeavours, including Redfern's studies at Edinburgh University and his valuable contributions to the early colony of New South Wales. In 2019 he published two volumes of "Better than Cure: the life and times of the ebullient and resilient William Redfern: surgeon and doctor", the culmination of more than 55 years' work.

Throughout his career, Arthur enjoyed a long-term and passionate interest in libraries, and participated in the establishment of local and school libraries as well as building opportunities for community development through his contributions to local government and urban planning. He was also a Life Member of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society. In keeping with his love of libraries and early memories of books, which to him were uncommon but highly valued, he and the Jones family donated his personal library of research material that underpinned Better Than Cure, to the Campbelltown City Library.

Arthur had an insatiable appetite for knowledge. His curiosity knew no bounds. He had a particular love of science and would often comment on 'going with the science'.

Arthur continued to live in Campbelltown after his retirement. In his last few days following a stroke, he realised the end was near. The science was in. He passed away on Friday 22 May, at home and surrounded by family.

Written by Andrew Allen

Merryvale

Merryvale (formerly known as Oakleigh) taken in September 1979

Built in the 1870s, Merryvale was a lovely old Victorian house at Minto. It stood adjacent to the old Saggart Fields School that was built in 1870. The house was originally known as Oakleigh.

Merryvale had stuccoed brick walls, open work cast-iron columns on the front verandah and symmetrically placed French windows. The verandah was on three sides of the house, and a timber portion right across the back of the house which included kitchen, bathroom, laundry, pantry, and a bedroom at each end of the verandah running around the brick part. For years it was surrounded by a magnificent garden with many mature trees.

Charles Rudder owned the farm and lived in the house from 1914 to 1920. Jack Westbury purchased it in 1920 and lived there with his wife and two daughters until 1939. He was mayor of Campbelltown from 1936 to 1938. Westbury ran dairy cattle and poultry on the farm before he was forced to sell his farm due to mounting debts.

Mayor Westbury

By the early 1980s the house was still in good condition as it had been occupied until then. Unfortunately, after it became unoccupied during the rest of the decade, vandals destroyed much of the house. At the beginning of 1990 a few Campbelltown councillors pushed for the planning department to ask the NSW Heritage Council to place an Interim Conservation Order on the site. The order never eventuated, despite an inspection later that year. In April 1992 Council approved demolition of the house.

Merryvale stood 200 yards (182 meters) from the intersection of Campbelltown and Redfern Roads, Minto. The site today is 4 Merryvale Road.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Grist Mills, Vol. 4, No. 4

Macarthur Advertiser, 21 February 1990 p12

Letter written by Joan Murphy (nee Westbury) to Campbelltown Council, 2 June 1980

Our Oldest Photograph

The oldest photograph is our local studies collection is this one above. It shows the Cadet Corps that was formed at St Mark's Collegiate School at Macquarie Fields House. The house was leased to George Fairfowl Macarthur for use as a boarding school for boys. He moved the St Mark's Collegiate School from Darling Point to Macquarie Fields House in 1858. The school became the most fashionable in the colony. The first school cadet corps in NSW was formed at the school in 1866. The school merged with the King's School in 1868 and moved to Parramatta. The photograph is taken around 1866 and is in sepia. It was purchased by the library in 2007.

Macquarie Field's House deteriorated badly during and after the Second World War. As early as 1951, the National Trust of Australia began moved to have the building restored. Most restoration work took place from 1958 to 1963. It stands proudly restored today close to the suburb of Macquarie Links.

(Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society Collection)

Written by Andrew Allen

Work Safety in the 1960s

This photograph demonstrates how far we have come with Work, Health and Safety! This worker is perched high up on the steel frame of the new council administration building. He has no safety equipment whatsoever! The photograph would be taken in either late 1963 or early 1964. The administration building was the first high rise building built in the Campbelltown CBD and became a notable landmark in many photographs taken in the years to follow. Every other building in this scene has been demolished. The Macquarie Cinema is the large building in the centre of the photo. It was turned into a roller skating a few years after this was taken and continued until 1968. The building went into decay after this. The Queen Street frontage was turned into shops, whilst the auditorium became warehouse space for Downes Department Store. The building was demolished in December 1979.

Written by Andrew Allen