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.
Found in our collection was this stunning outfit. Unfortunately we don’t know anything about it. The only clue we have is an attached piece of paper saying it was an ‘Italian Judge’s Cloak, WWII’. Can you help? Special thanks to our wonderful model, Patricio, who also helps out as our brilliant clever handyman.
Sister Ida Jeanette Moreton was one of twenty trained nurses from New South Wales who volunteered to serve in French hospitals and medical centres during the Great War. Affectionately known as “Bluebirds” they wore a dark blue cloak trimmed in pale “NSW blue”. The Bluebirds served with the French Red Cross and although highly regarded…
Abbotsford was known as Bigi Bigi by the Wangal, the traditional owners of much of the land along the southern bank of the Burramattagal (Parramatta) River and its adjacent estuarine wetlands. It was a traditional meeting place for the Wangal providing an abundance of fish, eels and shellfish, as evidenced by the eroded middens of…
What, you ask, is ‘Butt dust’? What do you do or say, when an innocent child asks you something so innocent and they are so serious? Read on and you’ll discover the joy in it! These have to be original and genuine. No adult is this creative!! MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old…
ENDEAVOUR DISPLAY The Builder This model of HMS Endeavour was built and assembled by Francisco Antonio Coelho a very proud Australian citizen who passed away on 7th September 2023 at the age of 99. Francisco was a master carpenter who learned his basic carpentry skills at Sao Pedro de Solis, a small village in the…
Longbottom (later Concord) Post Office was introduced in 1851, the first suburban post office. This was operated by a Mr. Peter McGrath in his shop on Parramatta Road, opposite Concord Road and next to the lock-up. The next Post Office, Beaconsfield, was opened in 1882 in Wharf Road (now Burwood Road) near Wallace Street, in…
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