Christmas 1953 - Where are they now?

1954 'Christmas Parties.', The Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1953 - 1954), 19 December, p. 58, viewed 30 November, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12639537

State Records Photo Stream

While browsing State Records NSW Photo Stream on Flickr I came across this photo of The San, Sydney Adventist Hospital. One can easily while away a few hours browsing this site

Railway Fatality at Wahroonga

The Sydney Morning Herald on February 8, 1901 reported on a fatality at Wahroonga.

1901 'HISTORIC LANDMARKS.', The Sydney Morning Herald(NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 February, p. 4, viewed 7 July, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14337661

Trove Tuesday - A First for Wahroonga

Wahroonga leads the way in 1935.

1935 'AIR-CONDITIONED RESIDENCE.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 19 February, p. 3, viewed 6 January, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17167923



AIR-CONDITIONED RESIDENCE.

The residence of Mr., W. B. Clark, in PacificHighway, Wahroonga, has been air-con-ditioned to ensure coolness in summer, warmth in winter, and pure air all the year round.It is claimed that this is the first private residence to be so treated in Sydney. The installation was carried out by the Australian Gas Light Company to suit Australian con-ditions after experience gained abroad by engineers of the company. The principlea dopted is that the air is heated by gas. This is under thermostatic control, which auto-matically regulates the heat desired in all parts of the home, In summer a fan and motor are operated independent of the heater,and are so arranged that the air in every room can be changed 12 times within an hour.

Fix th

Trove Tuesday - New Rector

Reported in the Sydeny Morning Herald in 1937 is the appointment of a new rector to St Andrew's Wahroonga.

1937 'THE CHURCHES.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 18 December, p. 9, viewed 10 October, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17432733

Trove Tuesday - Wonderland of Trees

Do these words from 1930 describe Wahroonga in 2014?

1930 'WAHROONGAN TREES.', The Sydney Morning Herald(NSW : 1842 - 1954), 13 June, p. 15, viewed 7 July, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16704444

A New Year's Day Wedding at St Mary's Cathedral

It was reported in Brisbane that Ronald Seery and Mary Isaac from Ku-ring-gai were married in 1941.

1941 'WEDDINGS.', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), 6 January, p. 9, viewed 27 December, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44912827

Remembrance Day - Some local lads

It is almost the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and many of us in Ku-ring-gai Historical Society have more soldiers to remember than we did last year - because of working on our WWI biographies project.

Here are some more local lads we have not been able to identify, but who deserve to be remembered by their full names.

Can you help us identify them and their links to the area?

F FOGDEN 

on the Killara Hall War Memorial at the Marian Street Theatre

AH DILLER and 

AJ DOUGLAS 

on the Wahroonga War Memorial

FG DANIEL 

on the Turramurra Park Gates Memorial

P BROWN 

on the Warrawee Public School Memorial

WL COOPER 

on both the Killara Uniting Church Memorial and 

the St Johns Church, Turramurra Memorial

If you have any information on these soldiers, please leave a comment on the blog or email us at khs@khs.org.au

LEST WE FORGET

Trove Tuesday - Birdlover

Wahroonga resident, Harry Wolstonholme, passed away in October 1930. This obituary from the Sydney Morning Herald tells of his connections with the world of ornithology.

1930 'A LOVER OF NATURE.', The Sydney Morning Herald(NSW : 1842 - 1954), 17 October, p. 10, viewed 15 October, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16723258

Built Heritage - Redleaf Chambers

Thanks to Society member, Kathie Rieth, for granting permission to publish some of the articles she has written for the Society newsletter. Her work on researching buildings in our local area should reach a new audience via this blog. Redleaf Chambers which appeared in the July 2010 newsletter is the subject of our first shared article

Redleaf Chambers

Redleaf Chambers sits at the junction of Railway and Redleaf Avenues, Wahroonga where the roundabout channels traffic through the shopping village and across the railway line. With its curved façade, ornate brickwork, greenglazed brick trims and smart green and cream striped sunblinds, it is a landmark for all Wahroonga residents.

I really like this building, and am pleased it has survived. It has real style - it has pizzaz! I wonder about the man who commissioned it and what the locals thought when it was built. Did they hate it or love it? And what do people think of it now? Surprisingly Redleaf Chambers is not listed on Council’s LEP. It certainly has architectural and municipal significance, two parameters for which buildings are usually nominated.

It was designed in 1937 for local estate agent Malcolm McFadyen by Frank l’Anson Bloomfield, architect for the first crematorium to be built in NSW (Rookwood), and Northern Suburbs Crematorium, and winner with Spencer of the 1950 Sulman Prize for the Top Dog Factory,
Brookvale.

McFadyen (1860-1949) was prominent in Wahroonga’s business community and served a number of terms on Council. He lived and worked in Wahroonga from about 1905 when he took over the newsagency in Coonanbarra Road. Within three years he had become a house and land agent, his ads stating “save time by consulting the local man”, and by 1911 had moved to premises in Railway Avenue.

He was a Ku-ring-gai councillor 1911-1913, 1917-1925 and elected Deputy President for 1922 and 1925. In May 1921, along with WS Griffiths and JG Lockley, he was appointed to an advisory town planning committee that examined subdivision plans, regulated setbacks and the like. In 1929, McFadyen strongly opposed the erection of flats in the municipality, stating “The flat dweller belongs to the floating population of the big cities and is of no value to the community”. It seems McFadyen modified his view, because when Redleaf Chambers was completed it was described as “five lock-up shops and flats”. Valued at £5500 it was a substantial and ambitious project for the then-small  shopping centre.

In January 1938 he was advertising for tenants - “Wahroonga, Redleaf Chambers, overlooking the Park, at station, 3 professional rooms, moderate rental to right person.” No mention of flats. Perhaps for a short time people lived there, perhaps McFadyen himself, though by 1943 he was living in 12 Bundarra Avenue with his wife Maggie and elder daughter Sylvia. Eventually the McFadyens moved to Queensland, where their two sons, Roy and Kenneth, and married daughter Millicent had lived for some time.

Trove Tuesday - married in London

From the Australian Women's Weekly on 1 May, 1937 comes this photo of  former Wahroonga resident, Miss Sheila Campbell. The Weekly on Trove  is a wonderful source of images for researchers.

The text from the article reads:
MRS GERALD GREGERSON, who, before her recent marriage in London to Dr.Gerald Gregerson of Adelaide, son of Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Gregerson, of Dulwich,  was Miss Sheila Campbell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Campbell, ofWahroonga,Sydney. Dr. and Mrs. Gregerson, who first met when travelling to England last Feb-ruary, leave London in November to make their home in Adelaide. 

Treasures from Trove - Redleaf Estate

1929 'WAHROONGA SUBDIVISION.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 14 October, p. 13, viewed 24 September, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16592723

Following is the transcribed text from this article that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald 83 years ago today

WAHROONGA SUBDIVISION.

£23,000 REALISED AT SALE.

A sum of £23,000 was realised on Saturdayafternoon when the Redleaf Estate, Wah-roonga, adjacent to the station, was put upfor auction by Richardson and Wrench, Ltd.(in conjunction with Raine and Horne, Ltd.,and Hardie and Gorman Proprietary, Ltd.).Mr. Beatty, of Richardson and Wrench, Ltd.,

conducted the sale.

The property, the Kuring-gai Council'smodel subdivision, compilsed nine businesssites, 24 residential sites, the residence Redleaf, and a brick cottage. Bidding was brisk,and the business sites brought from £23 "to£ 28 a foot, while the residential sites realisedfrom £7/10/ to £18/10/ a foot. Some ofthe latter were disposed of slightly below thereserve, and were sold subject to approval by

the vendor.

The residence Redleaf, on about 1 1/4 acre ofland, was sold subject to approval for £4800.Altogether 29 lots were disposed of.