The boat shed at the bottom of Hilly Street, looking towards Green Point, taken from the top of Montgomery’s Palace Hotel c1920s. The Mortlake-Putney Punt now crosses the Parramatta River from this spot. Nearby is a small beach, known as Fairmile Cove, where naval boats were assembled during World War II.
In the middle distance is Green Point, previously called Bachelor’s Point, which was refurbished in 2019 and renamed Wangal Reserve, in recognition of the traditional owners whose lands stretched along the southern shore of the Parramatta River (Burramattagal) from Blackwattle Bay to Silverwater.
At the northern end of the reserve was a community dance hall, a popular venue on a Saturday night. In the distance can be seen the Dutch-style gatehouse marking the entrance to “Rivendell”, formerly Thomas Walker Hospital, completed in 1893 by Dame Eadith Walker in memory of her father.
In the opposite direction, taken from the same vantage point is Tennyson Road, formerly Wharf Road and once part of Burwood Road that snaked its way across country to link with the current Burwood Road. At the top of the hill the AGL works can be made out with one of its gasholders visible on the left.
Cows can be seen grazing near the tramway about halfway up the hill. The village of Mortake is scattered about with houses and a few stores well-spaced out. Many of the workers at the gas works came to work on the tram that ran between Enfield and Mortlake via Burwood.
A short while ago our member, Trish Skehan, was fortunate in being able to access diaries of a young 21-year-old Jean Curlewis, as well as a series of letters which she had written to her mother, Ethel Turner, and brother Adrian. This is Jean’s story of her first three weeks as a Voluntary Aide (VA),…
March 1, 1975: COLOUR TELEVISION officially began in Australia. The ABC launched colour TV with a 5-minute special, AUNTY JACK INTRODUCES COLOUR.March 3 – 1911: PALMERSTON in the Northern Territory was renamed DARWIN in honour of Charles Darwin.March 5 – 1854: ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY was established in Australia.March 8 – 1828: AUSTRALIAN STAMPS…
Before he 19th century, most women just wore nothing beneath their chemises. The no knickers thing was not as scandalous as you might think, dresses were long and worn with many layers of petticoats and underskirts that varied with fashions but also provided modesty. By the time the huge, mid-19th century crinolines showed up on…
This Hammersley tea and coffee set was a wedding present to my parents (Betty and Doug Robertson) who were married in 1947. It had pride of place in my mother’s China cabinet, in our formal dining room, being saved for good, but never used! I loved this tea and coffee set, only allowed to peek…
Frontline of the Pandemic is based on the 1919 Spanish Flu pandemic that devastated Australia over a century ago. It features letters, rare documents and reports from doctors, nurses, patients, ambulance, drivers, chaplains and reporters whose stories and memories are recorded in our national archives. I wrote this book as a tribute to the frontline…
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