Year of the Bulldozer

The year 1970 saw a spate of demolitions of historical buildings in Campbelltown. It started with the beautiful home "Rosangeles" in January, followed in March by the police sergeant's residence in Railway Street and the old St John's Presbytery in July. The rapid population expansion of the city resulted in a need for more car parking spaces. Unfortunately these wonderful old buildings paid the price for this demand.

The following is a little bit about each building that felt the full force of the bulldozer that year:

Rosangeles

This house stood at the south west corner of Oxley and Cordeaux Street. It was built in 1923 by Andrew Lysaght who, at that time, was the State Member of parliament for this area. The house had from all accounts been built to last by Lysaght. The verandah posts were cut from the bush at Appin at the time and all of the fine maple panelling in the house was cut from one tree by the Sydney firm of George Hudson. The house was surrounded by a fine garden and a number of tall palm trees.

Rosangeles at the time of its demolition in January 1970 (From the Campbelltown Ingleburn News February 3, 1970)



Police Sergeant's Residence

This building was located next to the police station in Railway Street. It was demolished to make way for extensions to Hurley Street and eventual traffic access improvements around the adjacent station. The sandstock bricks in the old residence were used in the footpath in front of "Glenalvon" in Lithgow Street.


St John's Presbytery

Land was purchased in 1839 in which a presbytery was to be eventually erected. A log belfry stood on this land until it was replaced by this building. It stood in Cordeaux Street. The two-storey brick building with shingled roof, shuttered windows and wooden columns also housed the Appin priest. The presbytery was located not far from the current presbytery where a car park now occupies the site.

The Presbytery taken around 1900 by Percy Marlow (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)


Do you have a photograph that shows the police sergeant's residence in Railway Street? The Campbelltown Ingleburn News contains a grainy image unsuitable for this blog. We'd love to see a clearer image.

Sources:

Campbelltown Ingleburn News Feb 3, 1970; Mar 24, 1970; Jul 14, 1970
St John The Evangelist Parish Campbelltown- 150 Years

Former Fisher's Ghost Restaurant Building Update

The declining condition of the former Fisher's Ghost Restaurant in Queen Street was discussed at a meeting of the Heritage Protection Sub Committee meeting held at the end of last year. The declining condition of the 1845 building, damaged by fire in 2005, has been an ongoing frustration for Council over recent years, with Council having no legal ability to compel a private owner to appropriately maintain a local listed heritage item. Council has previously written to the State Government requesting that the Heritage Act 1977 be amended to require a minimum standard of maintenance for local heritage listed items, similar to that required for State listed heritage items. No changes have occured to suitably address these concerns raised by council.

As such, Council's enforcement action for the building has been limited to ensuring a minimum standard of public health and safety under the Local Government Act 1993. Consequently, this has only resulted in a basic level of maintenance being undertaken.

It was agreed by the committee that the deteriorating condition of the building needed to be addressed. It was requested that council write to the State Member for Campbelltown requesting that representations be made to appropriate authorities on Council's behalf to arrange for required restoration works for the building, and if possible assistance with listing the item on the State Heritage Register.

Let's hope something can be done to save this much loved local icon.

One Missing

These days Campbelltown is immensely proud of the row of colonial terraces opposite the Queen Street entrance to Campbelltown Mall. They add so much character to a street that has unfortunately seen too many demolitions in the name of progress over the years. We owe a lot to former mayor Clive Tregear for saving these three wonderful old buildings through his defiant stance in the 1960s. It might come as a surprise to you that one of the group didn't survive the bulldozer however. It was known as Ealing Cottage.

Ealing Cottage stood where the vacant block of land now is between the former Legacy House to the north and Coaching House to the south. It's address was 296 Queen Street. According to historian Carol Liston, the building was possibly built in the 1850s. The portion of land was purchased from the Bradbury Park Estate in 1844 by Samuel Lovely, conveyed to him by Patrick McMahon in 1853, who may have built the cottage to carry out his business as a wheelwright.

The cottage was already standing by the early 1870s. The image above shows the building in 1871 taken by the photographer William Boag. It looked similar to this right throughout its existence. The cottage passed through a number of hands until 1884 when it was used as a shop and residence and occupied by G Lindsay. The 1891 census shows that the householder for this portion was William Rose and the building was occupied by four men and two women. An Ellen Rose Wilkinson owned it from 1912 to 1956 and she then sold it to Berty Richard Rixon and his wife. They then sold it to the Cumberland County Council in 1962 for 6,100 pounds.

Ealing House is on the far right of this photograph taken in 1950 by Ivor Thomas (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The brick cottage became known as Ealing House in its later years. It was described as a single story cottage with verandah. Unfortunately it was deemed to have "no architectural or historical significance" and was demolished shortly after the land was acquired by the Cumberland County Council.

Do you have memories of this building? Please share them with us.

Source:

LISTON, Carol 1990
Queen Street Terraces, Campbelltown: Historical Investigation

Campbelltown: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

This short video was created by Michael Sullivan from Campbelltown Library. It shows a number of images from Campbelltown's past compared to today's scene from the same spot. At the end is audio from radio station 2KA in 1968 created on the day of the celebration of the electrification of the rail line and Campbelltown becoming a city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=j7Y9EKPqmxQ