Author Archives: localnotes

Bell's Store and the Shipwrights Arms, Balmain East

Posted on by
7

Leichhardt Council is currently developing a Conservation Plan for the c1880’s stone building at 2-8 Weston Street Balmain. Council’s planning team are looking for information on the site’s history and any photographs of the building and surrounds prior to 1963.

 

 

Sometimes called Bell’s Store the 1880s stone building, set on the western foreshore of Darling Harbour at East Balmain, was for many years a base for Fenwick & Co. Fenwick’s were one of the longest running waterfront industries in Balmain – the company established by John Fenwick and his brother Thomas operated in the suburb from 1870 until 1986 – becoming part of the Brambles group of companies that year.

 

It is not known whether Fenwick & Co operated from the site before their purchase in 1883 or whether the main feature of the site -the stepped gable boat store – was built by Fenwick or the Bells. The sale of Bell‘s shipyard to Fenwick & Co included a wharf, store and the Shipwrights Arms Hotel. Since the 1960s the Shipwrights Arms has been a private residence.

 

 

Contact Aaron Callaghan at Leichhardt Council on email aaronc@lmc.nsw.gov.au if you can assist with information or images of the site.

IMAGES:

Bell’s Store, Balmain East c1990

Shipwrights Arms Hotel, c1930 courtesy Noel Butlin Archives

 

 

 

 

 

NAIDOC '08 – National Aboriginal and Islander Week of Celebration

Posted on by
Reply

Leichhardt Town Hall, 2006

“NAIDOC week” says Craig Greene, Leichhardt Council’s Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander project worker, “should be important to all Australians as it celebrates the people of the oldest living culture in the world – Aboriginal Australians! It acknowledges our survival and our continued connection to country, language and culture. It is also about Aboriginal people being proud as legitimate contributors to the nation as a whole”

 

A Gurindji man originally from the Northern Territory, Craig and his team have got together an inspiring programme of events in the Leichhardt area for NAIDOC week which runs from July 7-11, including a celebration of Indigenous film and story telling, a heritage walk in Callan Park and two events at Boomalli Aboriginal Arts Cooperative – you can download the full programme here: NAIDOC 2008 (PDF reader required)

 

More on the history of NAIDOC and its significance can be found at:

http://www.naidoc.org.au/history/default.aspx

IMAGE: Leichhardt Town Hall, 2006

Oral history : a storyteller’s approach

Posted on by
Reply

The NSW branch of the Oral History Association of Australia is holding its next workshop/seminar late July. For anyone interested in the practice of oral history these seminars are worth attending – here are the details:

 

Date:

Saturday 26 July

Time:

10 am for 10.30 am to 4.45 PM

Venue:

Metcalfe Auditorium, Macquarie Street Wing foyer

Cost:

$48, $42 (Friends), $38 (Oral History Association of Australia members), includes lunch; morning or afternoon sessions $18 each ($30 with lunch)
Bookings telephone: 02 9273 1414

 

Anna Jarrett, professional — and travelling — storyteller, takes a fresh look at oral history philosophy and practice. This presentation gives insights into the sensitivities of working with stories at every stage of oral history production from research to final representation. Discover the roles of listeners, story custodians, community cultural workers, media producers — and friends! In the afternoon Rosemary Block, the State Library’s Curator of Oral History, will conduct a practical seminar on oral history practice.

Callan Park and Broughton Hall: An Urban Haven

Posted on by
1

Compilation of a factual history of the Rozelle Hospital site and the evolution of its architecture has become urgent. The hospital had a continuous 160-year history of providing care for the community’s mentally ill, before closing its doors at the end of April, with all patients being transferred to Concord Hospital.

The site is an integral part of Leichhardt’s evolving built environment but the demolition of 117 of its current 176 buildings is proposed. Although necessary research on Callan Park’s grand stone buildings is largely complete, together with that on former estates, Garry Owen and Broughton Hall, the significance of the newer brick buildings on the site is often overlooked.

Rozelle Hospital, ca 1900

At the time, the hospital buildings of the 1950s and 1960s were regarded as innovative and long overdue. They are a visible statement about removing the social stigma previously attached to mental illness, together with the custodial (“asylum”) approach to its care and treatment. Although these newer buildings lack the charm and grandeur of the older hospital buildings, their functional design and brick construction symbolize an era of mental health reform: Callan Park’s high surrounding brick wall fell as these modern buildings rose.

“These buildings represent pivotal change in the history of public health care” architectural historian and editor of the Leichhardt Historical Journal Peter Reynolds said. Leichhardt Historical Journal, an independent journal that has published local history since 1971, is to produce a book titled Callan Park and Broughton Hall: An Urban Haven which will record all buildings on the former hospital site. “The Journal’s acquisition of original plans of these buildings will add enormous value to the book and should help the site’s long term conservation” he added.

Peter Reynolds is collaborating with architect Ken Leong on the book; Leong’s thesis Rozelle Hospital (1819-1984) its origins and development: the amalgamation of Callan Park Mental Hospital & Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic was completed in 1984 for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture at UNSW. For more information on the project contact: John Williams on email bhopal@sydney.net or visit www.lhj.org.au

Images

– Rozelle Hospital, ca 1900

– Aerial view of Callan Park and Rozelle Hospital, 2003

John Ferry Award 2008

Posted on by
Reply

The History Council of New South Wales invites nominations for the

John Ferry Award for 2008. The award honours the memory of John Ferry

(1949-2004), an exemplary teacher and community historian who played a

major role in practising and encouraging quality local studies during his

career as a school-teacher, and then as lecturer and senior lecturer at the

Armidale College of Advanced Education and University of New England.

The purpose of this award is to recognise outstanding New South Wales

local and community histories.

 

 

The winning entry will be a local or community history that demonstrates excellence in addressing its subject, proficiency in the use of original materials and clarity of exposition.

The winner will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $500.00. The award will subsequently be announced in History Magazine, which will publish the citation. The Council, in conjunction with the Royal AustralianHistorical Society, will encourage publication of the winning entry.

 

 Go to: http://www.historycouncilnsw.org.au/prizes_johnferryaward.html

for nomination forms or contact Zoe Pollock on (02) 9252 8715,

or email office@historycouncilnsw.org.au. 

 

The Annandale Hotel and The Empire Hotel, Annandale

Posted on by
1

UTS final year communications student Maggy Lee is keen to hear from people with knowledge of Annandale’s two popular live music venues The Annandale Hotel and The Empire.

 

Maggy is undertaking

“a socio-cultural research-based task documenting the music scene of Annandale. For example, the history of the venues in the area, past events significant periods in the live music scene in Annandale etc. 

 

The information gathered from the research will be presented in the form of visuals, sound files, writing/blogs. This presentation will be in blog form initially; and then in the future, could become an exhibit displayed at Leichhardt Library or a similar venue”

 

You can contact Maggy through the Local History team at Leichhardt Library on 9367 9335 or

email: localhistory@lmc.nsw.gov.au.