Monthly Archives: November 2016

Bondi Beach

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Australia has a long and proud history of swimming and beach culture. Indeed, for most overseas visitors a visit to an Australian beach is a nonnegotiable feature of an Australian holiday. Many of these visitors will be making tracks for the beach pictured above, itself one of Australias most iconic beaches – Bondi.
For many Sydneysiders, Bondi Beach may be overcrowded and over rated, yet historically, it is one of Australias more important seaside resorts. The first formal settlement in the era after European colonization came in 1809, when a road builder, William Roberts, was granted land at what is now Bondi. This grant, which comprised 81 hectares, was given in recognition of O’briens work laying out what we now call Old South Head Road. In 1851 Edward Smith Hall and Francis O’brien increased the area of the grant to 200 acres of land, which included the entirety of what is now Bondi Beach. Their estate was named The Bondi Estate. Between 1855 and 1877 O’brien purchased Halls portion of the grant, renaming the estate The O’brien Estate and allowing public use of the beach and surrounding area.
Soon though, the beach was becoming very popular, with flocks of tourists visiting. O’brien threatened to block access to the area, which at the time, was his land. The newly formed council wanted the beach to remain public, and asked the government of NSW to make it so.  In 1882 Bondi Beach became a public beach and two years later, in 1884, tram services began to run to the beach.

Demolished Sydney – The Union Club

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This week, in honour of the upcoming exhibition at the Museum Of Sydney focusing on lost buildings of Sydney, the Past Present is focusing on one such building. The image above shows the beautiful building, The Union Club, which once stood on Bligh Street.

The Union Club, a beautiful Classical Revival style building once stood at number 2 Bligh Street. The site had originally been occupied by the cottage of Robert Campbell, but in 1857, a group of professional men met together at a leased property in Wynyard Square. The men formed the Union Club, whose first president was James Macarthur, the son of the famous John Macarthur. By August, larger premises were desperately needed, as the Union Club had rapidly attracted members. Several sites were looked at, but the decision was made to use the Campbell cottage, which was not as the name implies a cottage at all, but more a mansion! The Union Club leased the ‘cottage’ for 3 years from 1859, and when the lease on the warehouse next to the residence expired in 1863, the lease was changed to include both properties. The Union Club payed £1000 a year for the two leases. Eventually, the Union Club offered £15,000 to purchase the house, but the offer was declined, as it fell far below the market value.

The club officers of the Union Club then made efforts to find a new site which they could use to build their own club building, but all these sites were rejected. Finally, they started up negotiations again to buy the Campbell property, and in July 1873, they purchased the site for £20,000. Over the following decade, many alterations were made to the original Campbell residence, but eventually, the old mansion was demolished and replaced with a purpose built club house. The beautiful new building, designed by William Wardell in the Classical Revival style was built in 1884. It was demolished in 1955, when the Union Club decided to sell the southern part of the property and build a new clubhouse on the remaining land.

Wartime Destruction – Villers Bretonneus

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This week, in recognition of Remembrance Day, instead of focussing on an Australian location, The Past Present is sharing the shocking image above of a place which has played a significant role in Australian history – The Somme. Thousands of Australians fought and died defending French towns, and on the Somme battlefields.

For many, a postcard, something which is usually seen as a tourist souvenir, is not something they expect to see showcasing such shocking imagery. Yet during and after the end of World War One, many postcards were produced depicting shocking scenes of wartime costs. Some showed ruined towns, like the image above, while others depicted punishment of the enemy, like the one below showing German prisoners being marched through the ruins of Villers Brettoneus. These ruins were partially the result of the first tank to tank battle to occur, resulting in massive destruction.

Many wartime postcards, including those featured here, were produced by French publishers, who seemed to see the German policy of destroying any territory they had captured as a gift. Postcard producers and their photographers were not allowed near the active front lines, but after the conflict had moved on, they were left with shocking and highly emotive scenes of destruction. Their images stirred up patriotic sentiment amongst allied soldiers and those left behind on the homefronts alike.

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Athol Gardens

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The image above is a beautiful view of a place which, in the past and today, is a popular destination for picnicking Sydneysiders.

The land where Athol Gardens was established was first promised by Governor Darling to Joseph Kay in 1831. Yet Kay didn’t stay in Sydney, and the was instead kept by his wife. After Kay’s death, his wife, Mary, married Alexander Ferrier. Alexander Ferrier built a house on the land some time before 1848 and the Ferrier family lived on the estate, or at ’Athol’ as it is recorded, until 1853. After this, the land and house were leased. One of the people who leased the estate was William Clark, who in 1868 applied for a publicans license for the ‘Athol Gardens Family Hotel’. His son, Charles, later said that during his fathers tenure there was a hotel, dancing pavilion and wharf. Later, there would be picnic grounds and even boats to hire for the holiday makers and day-trippers who visited Athol Gardens. Although the land passed through many different hands, the Ferrier family actually retained ownership of Athol Gardens until the early 20th century. They sold a portion of the estate to William Boyce Wilkinson in 1904 and in 1906 Sydney Ferries bought Athol Gardens, retaining ownership until 1911 when the land was resumed by the Minister for Lands. Some of the original gardens was transformed into a zoological park following this resumption, and is now known as Taronga Zoo. Today, all that really remains of the former pleasure resort of Athol Gardes is Athol Hall and an area of parkland known as Athol Park. This area, even today, remains a popular picnic ground, with spectacular views of the harbour, though most of the more elaborate attractions are long gone.