Looking Glass Bay

Looking Glass Bay - July 2012

At the end of Punt Road at Gladesville (Sydney, New South Wales), looking up the Parramatta River is a bay with beautifully clear water which reflects its surroundings. It is known as Looking Glass Bay.

How did it get its name?

On its western shore (near the Shore School Rowing Shed), there is a plaque which reads:

Plaque commemorating CaptainArthur Phillip''s Landing

Just after the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, Captain Arthur Phillip, Lieutenant William Bradley and James Keltie (Master of the Sirius) were taking a party up the River to explore the area that Bradley had previously named "The Flats" (present day Homebush Bay). Lieutenant Bradley explains in an extract from his journal about their stop at Looking Glass Bay:

We stopped at a Neck of Land for breakfast. We were soon met there by a Native arm'd. He laid down his spear as soon as he joined us, & had more curiosity than any we had met with. He examined everything attentively & amp;and went into all our boats from one to the other...The Governor gave this Man a hatchet, & a looking-glass, which, when he looked into, he looked immediately behind the Glass to see if any person was there, & then pointed to the Glass and the Shadows which he saw in the Water, signifying that they were similar.

[Lieutenant William Bradley, 15 February 1788']

In its later life, Looking Glass Bay was home to :

1) Rock End Cottage, built in the late 1830's as an inn and from 1866 to 1909 home to  the grandmother of the Australin poet, A B (Banjo) Paterson: and

Rock End Cottage at Looking Glass Bay - July 2012

2) Harold Meggitt Limited a leading producer in the edible vegetable oil industry from 1923 to its closure in 1973. 

The Harold Meggitt Story


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If you are interested in researching Australian history, go to our website at:
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Third Quarantine Cemetery

Entrance to the Third Quarantine Cemetery, North Head Sanctuary - July 2012

On a return visit to North Head Sanctuary (fascinating place!), we found the Third Quarantine Cemetery atop the ridge with great views over Sydney Harbour. This Cemetery was established in 1881 for the victims of a smallpox outbreak. It closed in 1925 and contains the graves of some 241 people.

Many of these were victims of the bubonic plague which came to Sydney in 1900. They were mainly young people and and children which made for sobering reading.

Grave of Maggie Whitehead - Third Quarantine Cemetery, July 2012

One interesting grave was that of Maggie Whitehead of Borambil Station near Condobolin, New South Wales.

What was her story?

According to Obituaries Australia 2010-2012, Maggie Whitehead, aged 40 years, was visiting Sydney en route to England. She contracted the bubonic plague and was taken to the Quarantine Station where she lasted only three days, dying on 3 May 1900. She was the wife of Richard Whitehead of Borambil and the eldest daughter of Alexander and Jessie Cameron of Satimur Station in Western Victoria.

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If you are interested in researching Australian history, go to our website at:
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Sydney's Defences in World War Two - North Fort

View from North Head looking down Sydney Harbour - June 2012

On Sunday afternoon, we went on a most interesting tour of North Head Sanctuary on the northern headland of the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

The tour was sponsored was the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and was conducted by two volunteers from the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust which now has responsibility for this section of the Headland.

The present day history of this area began in the 1930's with its fortification as part of the Australian coastal defence network established in the build-up to World War Two.

North Fort was built with a battery of two 9.2 inch Coastal guns and four 3.7 inch heavy artillery anti-aircraft guns. There was a extensive network of underground tunnels; a plotting room to interpret any intelligence received; a Shell Store and Engine Room - all concreted some 6 metres underground. It was one of the most heavily fortified sites in Australia in World War Two.

The following photos are from the gun battery complex:

No 2  Gun Placement- North Head June 2012

Cross Section of the Gun Complex

Site of the Gun Placement

Shell Store - could hold  250 shells when fully stocked

Underground tunnel - North Fort June 2012

Above ground again, we came upon:

The Close Defence Battery Observation Post which was manned generally at night or for close defence actions and could be used in conjunction with searchlights mounted in the cliff face on North Head.

Close Defence Battery Observation Post

The Avenue of Honour - a cobblestone avenue created in 1928 as a memorial to local soldiers killed in the First World War. It was originally lined with Norfolk pines and today straddles a stone perimeter fence built in the Great Depression.

Avenue of Honour

The second major pre-war establishment on the North Head site was the Army Base for the gunners serving at North Fort. It consisted of a huge barracks, a Sergeants' Mess and other auxilliary buildings, an oval and a parade ground. The Art Deco style entrance to the Barracks is shown in the photo below. 

Main Entrance to the Barracks Building

At the end of the War, the Army Barracks complex became the School of Artillery which remained there till 1998 when it was moved to Pukapunyal in Victoria.

The old North Fort today houses the National Artillery Museum which was established in 1990.

As a postscript to the day, we saw the Chilean Navy tall ship Esmeralda sailing out of Sydney Harbour on a training voyage.

Esmeralda sailing out of Sydney Harbour - 24 June 2012

   
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If you are interested in researching Australian history, go to our website at:
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Balmoral - Of Temples and Trams

Edwards Beach, Balmoral, looking towards Sydney Heads, May  2012

Standing on Edwards Beach at the northern end of Balmoral, on a beautiful Indian summer day looking out to Sydney Heads, it is fascinating to discover that this was once the site of a Greek Doric temple?

This was the Star Amphitheatre built in 1923/24 for the Order of the Star in the East (OSE). It was a white painted concrete structure which seated 2000 and had standing room for a further 1000 people. It had a stage, a chapel, a meeting room and a library.

It was the vision of Dr Mary Rocke, a prominent theosophical worker in Sydney in 1920's. The OSE intended to use the Amphitheatre for a 'new world teacher', Jiddu Krisnamurti, to address his audience. He did so only once and subsequently rejected his role. The OSE was dissolved in 1929.

It was an urban myth at the time, that there would be a Messianic coming through Sydney Heads, even of the Lord Jesus. But this did not happen either.

The Amphitheatre was sold and subsequently used in the 1930s for concerts and plays and as a mini-golf course. Nothing of this this piece of Sydney's history remains today except for the stories.The structure was demolished in 1951 to make way for what was one of Sydeny's first  block of home units, Stancliff.

Another piece of Balmoral history of which there are few remnants today, is its tram service. The Balmoral line was opened a branch line of the Georges Heights line in May 1922. From Middle Head Road, the line swung left into Gordon Street and  zig-zagged through a steep descent across Mulbring, Plunkett and Beaconsfield Streets, to emerge through a narrow rock cutting into the Lawry Plunkett Reserve. The trams then continued along The Esplanade to the terminus at the corner of Mandalong Road. (Photo below)

Old tram shed a the terminus of the Balmoral Tram Line, The Esplanade
May 2012 

The route through the Lawry Plunkett Reserve was opened as a public walking track in 2004. (Photo below). Several tram items have been donated by the Sydney Tram Museum and are on display in the rock cutting, including sections of former tram tracks and sleepers, a tram wheel and a pair of cast iron brake shoes, a tram brake wheel and a typical section of overhead span wire fittings used to hold the copper overhead wire.

Old tram route through Lawry Plunkett Reserve, Balmora,l May 2012

We did discover some original rosettes attached to the sandstone walls of the cutting, used to support the overhead tram wires.

Tram rosette, Lawry Plunkett Reserve, Balmoral, May 2012 

Tram rosette, Lawry Plunkett Reserve, Balmoral, May 2012 

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If you are interested in researching Australian history, go to out website at:
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Secrets of Berry's Bay

Down the hills to Berry's Bay - Roland Wakelin  1916
Art Gallery of New South Wales

Inspired by a 1916 painting entitled "Down the hills to Berry's Bay" by Australian artist Roland Wakelin, we set out today to explore Berry's Bay along the Waverton Peninsula in Sydney Harbour.

We had a bit of difficulty in locating the exact spot form where Wakelin may have sat in 1916 to do his work. The area is so changed: the trees have grown, there are a lot more boats and of course there is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Nearby Waverton Park was a popular haunt of Wakelin  and fellow artist Lloyd Rees, and yes Wakelin probably did take some artistic licence. But we did discover some very interesting history of the area. 

Berry's Bay - May 2012

We parked in Larkin Street and walked along the ridge of the present day Waverton Peninsula Reserve. Wakelin's position was probably fairly close to the spot in the photo above. But the site had had another life from its use in 1916.

BP Site - Waverton Peninsula Reserve, May 2012 showing
the remains of the main Bund Wall.   

From 1922 to 1993 it was a major oil storage facility operated successively by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Commonwealth Oil Refineries and BP Australia. It housed an extensive piece of infrastructure containing thirty-one above ground tanks and at least thirty kilometres of associated pipelines. There were bund walls, an administration building, roads and wharves -the remains of which can still be seen in various stages today.
   

Overlooking Sydney Harbour from the site -May 2012

When BP cease operations in 1993 the tanks were demolished and environmental rehabilitation commenced. The site, along with the Caltex and Coal Loader sites on the western side of the Waverton Peninsula were opened as public parkland on 12 March 2005.   

Another piece of history found in the Wakelin painting is the steam train in the upper left-hand corner. In our current photo today, you can see a Sydney suburban train. But what is this railway line and where did it go ?

It is, in fact, the 1893 extension of the North Shore Railway line from St Leonards to Milsons Point along the Sydney Harbour Foreshore. Before the coming of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the original station at Milsons Point was located near the site of the present northern pylon. Passengers were transported to Sydney by ferry. 

Most of the North Shore line was duplicated between 1900 and 1900 but was not electrified until 1927. Hence our steam train.

When construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge commenced, the southern terminus of the line was moved to Lavender Bay where a station was opened on 27 April 1924. New stations at North Sydney and Milsons Point were built on the northern approaches to the Bridge. After the Bridge  was opened on 19 March 1932, the North Shoreline was diverted to its current route. The Lavender Bay site became a storage depot for electric trains which remains in use today. It joins the main line today at Waverton Station. It was reduced to a single track which can be seen in the photo below.

Lavender Bay Railway Line - Munro Street overbridge
May 2012

The history of the Lavender Bay Railway is very interesting. But that is an excursion for another day!

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If you are interested in researching Australian history, go to out website at:
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Battle Bridge over Hawthorne Canal

Battle Bridge  at Taverners Hill - May 2012

Battle Bridge is a stone arch bridge located on Parramatta Road at Taverners Hill in Sydney. It crosses the Hawthorne Canal at this point.

Parramatta Road, linking Sydney to Parramatta, has always been one of Sydney's busiest roads. Its beginnings date back to the earliest Colonial days when convicts carved out a three metre wide track through bushland between 1789 and 1791 to link the two settlements.

By 1822, Parramatta Road was fifteen miles long and had thirty-seven timber bridges. One of these would likely have crossed Battle Creek (also known Long Cove Creek).

By 1865 however this section of the road was described as "notoriously bad". A new sandstone arch bridge to be known as Battle Bridge was constructed in 1873 to replace the timber bridge. Although it was widened on both sides by steel beams and reinforced with a concrete deck in 1937, the high quality of the stonemasonary of the original arch  is still evident today.

Original stone arch of Battle Bridge - May 2012

On a recent visit, I was able to get good access under the Bridge and have a look first hand. 

History Services NSW in its Government Contracts and Contractors Database has the record of a contract being awarded by the Department of Public Works in 1873, to William Wadsworth for the "erection of a stone bridge at Long Cove, Parramatta Road.

A good research item and an interesting find!

Whipple Trusses at Lewisham

Lewisham Viaduct circa 1886 

On our previous walk along the Hawthorne Canal in Sydney's inner-west, we came across the above photo of the construction of the iron Whipple truss railway viaduct which crossed Long Cove Creek, west of Lewisham.

This put me in mind of some old railway trusses that I had previously seen in the area. But where are they now?

Continuing along the Canal across Parramatta Road, we duly located the Lewisham Railway Viaduct at Longport Street in Lewisham. (photo below). This shows a combination of the past, present and future transport history of Sydney. Firstly we can see the old Whipple Trusses to the left, then above, the plate web girders of the current bridge, and to the right, the rail lines for the extension to the Light Rail.

Lewisham Railway Viaduct May 2012 

The Whipple Trusses

When the main railway line from Sydney to Granville was opened on 26 September 1855, the original viaduct over Long Cove Creek was an  8-span stone arch structure (shown being demolished in the top photo). This was  replaced in 1886 by three pairs of Whipple trusses. These were designed by Max Thomson for the New South Wales Government Railways and were significant in that they pioneered the introduction of American bridge technology on our railways. They were pin-jointed trusses of the type developed in America by Squire Whipple.

When they were replaced in 1993 after 107 years of service on the main railway line, one pair of the Whipple trusses was placed on display on the southern side of the Lewisham Viaduct in Grosvenor Street, as a testament to their engineering heritage . An Historic Engineering Marker was dedicated at this spot in 1994 by the Institute of Engineers Australia and the State Rail Authority, NSW.

Whipple Trusses in Grosvenor Street, Lewisham  - May 2012

History Services NSW in its Government Contracts and Contractors Database has details of a major contract awarded to G.H Royce & Co, by the NSW Government Railways in 1884 for the "Construction and supply of the whole ironwork required for the superstructure of a new viaduct over Long Cove Creek, Petersham, Great Southern Railway". [NB At the  time of construction, Lewisham Railway Station had not been built so reference was made to the nearest  station at Petersham].

In the Government Contracts and Contractors Database, there are also some 60 records of contracts awarded for work on the Petersham section of the main railway line in 1880s and 1890s.

As a footnote, descending into the Cadigal Reserve, it is possible to walk under the massive structure of the Lewisham Viaduct which boasts four types of bridge engineering. (Photo below).

View of Lewisham Viaduct from Cadigal Reserve - May 2012

A very interesting day of Railway history!