SWANS
Lackey's property passed to H.B. and J.B. Swan, timber merchants of Swans Wharf, Balmain. This led to the area being known locally as Swans Gully. Stone was quarried from the property for the Peakhurst Methodist Church. By 1892 a small weatherboard house was erected on the property, and it was leased to David Watt from 1895 to 1898, then to M. Buckingham, poultry farmer to 1904, and T. Buckingham, nurseryman 1905-1908. The Ross Kelly and Walmsley families later lived here. Firewood for the bakeries in Hurstville was cut here every day in the 1920's. The bakeries kept huge stockpiles of wood - 30 metres square, and piled five metres high.
LUSBY'S ESTATE
Sam Macfarlane used to come to Lusby's land to cut firewood for his produce store, or to sell to the bakeries, which kept large stockpiles of firewood.
The land was advertised for sale as Lusby's Estate.
MIDDLETON
Frederick W. Middleton bought Henning's grant from Tinkler on the 2nd November, 1885. Middleton was an accountant and Managing Director of the British Australian Land and Building Company, The British Land Bank Company, Mercantile Finance and Depositors Company Ltd., and Orchard Company Ltd., all of which were located at 161 Pitt Street, Sydney. He lived in Excelsior Parade, Marrickville at this time.
With the coming of the railway to Hurstville in 1884, and its extension through Como in 1886, Middleton would have seen prospects for his land speculation companies, and so he made several purchases in the district. The railway made it possible for a businessman to work in the City and live at Lugarno, which was still fairly isolated. Middleton had a substantial house built overlooking Lime Kiln Bay of brick with a slate roof featuring an attractive pattern. He must have had a large family as the 1891 Census shows five males and three females in residence.
The Middleton's enjoyment of their Lugarno property was short lived. The 1892-3 Rates and Valuation Book of Hurstville Council shows that the house was vacant, and that the British Australian Land and Building Company was in liquidation, F.R. Bretnall being the liquidator. Middletons' company was apparently a victim of the depression of the 1890's.
Between the 1st April, 1891 and the 4th May 1900, the property seems to have been owned by Celia Maddock and others now controlling the British Australian Land and Building Company, and occupied by various tenants. In 1895 L.C. Russell Jones leased the property, and Martin Burns occupied it from 1895 to 1897. David Bradford was the occupier from 1898 to 1899.
HEINRICH FAMILY
Mr. Adolph Heinrich was born in Germany in 1853, and twenty one years later migrated to Australia. When he was thirty he married Caroline Fleishman in Brisbane. She was a year younger than him, and also a native of Germany. Their first child died, but in 1883 Ernest Ludwick Heinrich was born. By this time the Heinrichs were living at 12 Botany Street, Waterloo, where he had a bakery. In 1885 Adolph had a new bakery built in Henderson Road, Alexandria.
At the turn of the century he purchased the Henning grant, now measured to be 51 acres, 1 rood and 15 perches, which included a derelict house built for Mr. Middleton, which fishermen camped in. It was a brick house, and Mr. Heinrich began restoring it, travelling from Alexandria to do so. Sam Pearce was made caretaker. The home was named Woodcliffe, a name later given to the stret in which it stands.
A large launch owned by Mr. Heinrich was called 'Edelweiss', one of the first launches fitted with electric light [its picture may be seen in "Veteran Ships of Australia, by Graeme Andrews]. 'Edelweiss' was built by Hayes Boatbuilders, Careening Cove, North Sydney, and the builders delivered the launch to Lime Kiln Bay under its own power. Mr. Heinrich also owned two other launches, and used to travel to the City by sailing to Como, and then catching a train.
The property was developed with the aid of friends and employees, and a road was constructed from Old Forest Road down to the house. A worskshop, stables, and boatshed were built, and later an orchard and garden, with rockeries and stone paths. Some of these are now in Heinrich Reserve in Bayside Drive, and beside the stone steps the inscription "Adolph Heinrich 1900" may be seen. Tennis courts, and three fowl houses were established where the houses in Bayside Drive now stand.
There was a well beside the house, and also an elaborate water supply system. Several tanks for catching rainwater were placed around the property, connected by pipes, and water was suppplied to all parts of the property - even the boatshed. These tanks were bought at auction, and a trailer was made with wheels cut from the trunk of a tree. The bakery horses then hauled the tanks, loaded on this trailer, along the roads to Woodcliffe.
In 1914 Adolph Heinrich handed the bakery over to his son, and came to live in Lugarno.
The Heinrichs subdivided their 51 acre property into nine lots of about five acres each, and gradually sold them off at a price of about £300 each.
Lot 1, the triangular piece of land between Forest Road and Old Forest Road was sold to Madeleine Zoeller in 1923. Her husband was August Zoeller who came to Australia when he was 17 years old and later married Madeleine in Sydney. They had five children: Thekla, Madeleine, Emil, Jack and Carl.
Mrs. Cleveland remembers: "Zoeller's used to have a small street stall at the week-end on the paddock nearly opposite the nursery. They sold sweets, cigarettes, vegetables and anything else they could get. The great attraction was a grey kangaroo, he was part of the store. Unfortunately, one day a man was exercising his greyhounds along the road, when they broke loose, and the poor kangaro was so badly injured that it died. Zoellers had the skin tanned and used it for a rug." Later the Zoellers opened a shop and petrol station on this site on Forest Road, opposite Koorabel Street. Emil Zoeller was a full time mechanic at his fathers garage until it was closed due to lack of custom and wartime conditions. After serving in the WAAF during World War Two his sister Madeleine opened a grocery store in what used to be the tea room of the service station.
The Heinrichs retained Lot 2 near Koorabel Street, which included Woodcliffe, and ran from Forest Road to Lime Kiln Bay, as did the other lots 3-9.
Lot 3 was not sold until 1953 when Thomas Ryan, a milk vendor of Bexley bought it.
Lot 4 was transferred to Mr. Charlie Hoffman in 1923. He worked for Mr. Heinrich as a baker, and also assisted at Woodcliffe, as he was a good gardener (having had a nursery at Kogarah), and he did a lot of stone work on the Heinrich property. He built himself a three room house of mud, undressed timbers and corrugatd iron, and grew seedlings. He could be seen travelling on his spring cart, or in his Ford truck.
Lots 5 and 6 were sold in 1923 - Lot 5 to John Lenney, who set up a poultry farm, and Lot 6 was another purchase by Madeline Zoeller. Here they had a galvanized iron building.
Lot 7 went to Agnes Burrell in 1931. This was later to be the site of the Lugarno Baptist Church.
Henry Percival Cleveland bought Lots 8 and 9 in 1924. Ponderosa Place now runs through this property. The Clevelands lived in a fibro bungalow opposite the Cross memorial. Mrs. Cleveland remembers an incident with a goanna a few weeks after moving in.
" I was talking to my neighbor, when all at once we saw a huge goanna. We were sure it was at least four feet long, and had arms as large as a human being. Well I ran after it, but I had no hope of catching it. Mrs. Brown said it was the funniest sight she had ever seen. The following week I saw a three foot one with a Jacky Winter (bird) in its mouth. I picked up a big stick and hit it on the head, and it dropped the bird. I picked it up, and strange to say it wasn't injured, but it hung around for over a week afterwards, as if to thank me for rescuing it."
Her garden had six Christmas trees, and a Waratah, which produced as many as 25 blooms some years.
The Clevelands were approached regarding the starting of a Sunday School in 1929, and this began on their verandah with about ten children. Later Mr. Cleveland built a garage 12 foot by 20 foot to accommodate the Sunday School, and church services were held there at night.
This hall was also used for meetings of the Progress Association until the hall in Lime Kiln Road was built, for socials, and as a polling booth.
In 1929 a stone mason came looking for stone, and the quarry developed where Ponderosa Place is now. Hundreds of thousands of tons of sandstone were taken to make roads (Hurstville Council bought road base from this quarry), and also a large part of the foundations for the Kingsford Smith Airport. Stone was also used for the George's River Bridge at Tom Ugly's Point. Archie Davenport and Bert Hodgson were quarrying after the Depression.
Mr. Cleveland as President of the Lugarno and District Progress Association, and his wife was the first postmistress. She also operated a small store in the Post Office for two years. Mrs. Cleveland said:
"Things were so dear to deliver that I coudn't make much profit; some weeks I hardly met my own groceries. The only wholesaler who went to Lugarno was Bardsley and Coc from Sussex Street, and I had to pay a delivery fee for a few of the groceries. For instance one shilling on a bag of sugar, and small tins of sardines which I paid threepence per tin, and was expected to sell them at five for one shilling, so I lost one tin for every shillings worth I sold."
When electricity came to Lugarno in November 1927, Mrs. Cleveland was the first to have power installed. She had five lights and a power point installed at a cost of nine pounds, and was able to sell her two unused water tanks and stands to pay for it. She bought a refrigerator in 1938, regarding this as a luxury.
Three doors up from the Clevelands lived Mr. Barnsley, who had a full blooded Aboriginal wife, and eight half caste children. He grew about an acre of passionfruit, each plant having its own wire to grow on, and he also had apple trees. He was not a well man, and died in the mid 1920's.
GEDDES
Lees grant was bought by John Henry Geddes from Blatchford on the 5th April, 1886.
J.H. Geddes and Company were woolbrokers and general pastoralists agents, and Geddes lived at 'Budleigh', Peel Street, St. Leonards East. Geddes may have bought the property as an investment, as the railway line from Hurstville to Como and Sutherland was opened at this time. He soon began to use the land as a base for oyster growing. About 1888 he bought 100 bags of oysters from his lease in Port Hacking to grow to full size in Lime Kiln Bay. He applied to build a jetty which was approved.
Geddes had a six roomed wooden house built, and a W. Geddes lived here from 1891-1894.
Five of the 113 acres were sold to George Edward Chislett on the 20th December, 1893. Geddes failed to keep the property in the depression of the 1890's, and the City bank foreclosed their mortgage for the remainder of the property.
George Cox, a butcher occupied Geddes house from 1895 to 1899. It is said that he brought cattle across George's River, swimming them through the shallow water near Soily Bottom Point.
CHISLETT FAMILY
George Edward Chislett had a boot shop in Newtown. He bought five acres of land from John Henry Geddes on the 8th April, 1892. In 1894 this land passed to George Edward Chislett Jr.
William Cross was the caretaker of this property from 1895 to the turn of the century. Mr. Chislett senior built the stone house known as Chiselhurst, which now has the address No. 1 Bayside Drive. George Chislett Junior lived in the weatherboard house, with his wife Amy, until his parents died. he then moved into the stone house. The weatherboard house was then let as a holiday house from time to time, and one tenant was Alice Stickley at £1 a week in 1926.
The Chisletts were flower growers. The flowers were taken by launch to Como, and from there into the City by train to be sold at Searls in King Street, and Miss Birminghams in Oxford Street.
A lot of work was done in stone on the property. The land sloping down to Lime Kiln Bay was terraced, and stone paving put down. Two wells were sunk - one well, some terraces and paving may be seen in the reserve in Bayside Drive, and the larger well near the house provided the stone from which the house is constructed.
Later the wife of Mr. Chislett Jr. died and he re-married. His second wife was his nurse in a hospital in Hurstville. After Mr. Chislett Jr. died she sold the property to Mr. Horrie Martin and B. Craig, and about 1950 Mr. Horrie Martin's son and his wife came to live there. It was known as Craig's Nursery, then Martin's Nursery but had the name The Hermitage on the gate.
MATTHEI FAMILY
Otto Emil Matthei (known as Emil) was born in Germany, on the 6th September, 1862, the younger son of Wilhelm Matthei, who was a merchant shopkeeper in Wuppertal. On the 19th October, 1886 he married Anna Maria Sonksen (who later became known as known as Marie) in Hamburg. Twins were born, but lost, then on the 30th July, 1890 William was born. The family then migrated to Sydney via England, arriving early in the summer of 1891.
Emil had been trained as a woodturner and patternmaker, and had brought two references with him, but after arriving in Australia the family went to work at Mr. Broinowski's orchard at Wedderburn, Emil doing general work, and Marie doing housework.
In 1892 they moved to a house in Queen Street, Campbelltown, where Marie took in lodgers and laundry, assisted by Mrs. Percival, who was formerly a Ladies Companion to Mrs. Broinowski. Emil worked at the Yeranderie silver mine in the Burragorang Valley, returning home at weekends, sometimes on foot. Another son Hans Emil Matthei was born on the 3rd November, 1892.
Emil found work in his trade with Davies Sheppard, so the family moved to a terrace house in Codrington Street, Darlington, and then in 1895 he worked as a branch manager of the Australian Needlewood Pipe Co. Ltd., of 658 George Street, Sydney.
The family moved to Paddington, where Marie's laundry employed three girls, and William assisted by delivering laundry before and after attending school at the Albion Street School.
After a move to Dolls Point the boys Hans and Will attended the Sans Souci School. Hans in the 7th grade, aged 12 was a pupil-teacher assistant, and Will went on to Kogarah High School for a few years. Emil was now working at Wunderlichs, which he continued until 1915. He became a naturalized Australian citizen in 1904, and in the same year took out an oyster lease in Lime Kiln Bay.
The Matthei's had come to the Lugarno Pleasure Grounds by paddle steamer from Como for a Sunday School picnic. Emil liked the area, and decided to settle here. In 1905 he became the caretaker for the City Bank of the land previously owned by Geddes, and lived in a five roomed house painted with tar. He decided that the boys could make a living by fishing and oyster cultivation and took them out of school. Hans and Will also conducted fishing parties up the George's and Woronora Rivers. Emil was still working at Wunderlichs, rowing to Como railway station every day.
In 1908 Emil bought land, and added to his holdings as he could afford it, buying ten acre lots at about ten pounds per acre. In 1910 'Glenlee' was built, and a small orchard was developed.
The Matthei's enjoyed entertaining guests, and a German Zither Club met in their home. Through this club Will and Hans met the Horn sisters of Peakhurst whom they later married: Will married Dora in 1914, and Hans married Ruby in 1916.
In 1912 Will went to Western Australia as a Fisheries Inspector, and in 1913 Hans was apprenticed to Mr. Patterson, a builder of Hurstville, and in 1916 he built a home at Oatley, and made the dining and bedroom furniture for his new bride.
In 1920 the Lugarno Estate was subdivided. Boronia Parade ran through the estate. Mr. Sam Lawrence constructed this gravel road at a cost of four hundred pounds, which ran from Lime Kiln Road (later re-named Woodlands Avenue) in a northerly direction. In 1922 Hans moved to Lot 2, Boronia Parade.
The Lugarno and District Progress Association was formed in 1922, and Hans took the post of Treasurer, while his mother Marie was Secretary.
In 1923 Emil and Maria returned to Germany to visit their families, and found them disastrously affected by massive inflation.
Hans continued working the oyster lease and the boatshed for his father. In 1929 he built himself a new home on Forest Road and also developed a business building weatherboard houses in the district. In his lifetime he built about 25 houses in Lugarno, many of them were built on land he owned. He then sold the land with a new house on it.
The Depression struck in 1930, and Hans had to look for other work as his busines declined. He made wooden model aeroplanes of Smithy's 'Southern Cross' and 'Southern Cloud' which were sold to Farmers department store in Sydney, and he cut firewood from his own land for Packham's Bakery in Hurstville.
Hans and Ruby had three girls - Marie, Betty and Cathlyn, and two sons - Bill and Alan. All have settled in Boronia Parade except Betty, who went as a missionary to Ghana.
LIME KILN ROAD AND WOODLANDS AVENUE
Lime Kiln Road is the oldest road in Lugarno after Forest Road. Originally Woodlands Avenue was part of Lime Kiln Road.
James Edwards, manager of the Waterloo Brick Co. owned a property in Woodlands Avenue opposite Boronia Parade, and it was occupied by E. Bryan.
J.J. Hodgon of Apsley Street, Penshurst had a property in Woodlands Avenue, classified vacant, but later occupied by Emil Matthei.
Early subdivisions in this area were Fishermans Retreat No. 1, and Fishermans Retreat No. 2. These subdivisions sold to people building weekenders, many of whom came from the Dumbleton (Beverly Hills) area.
On the corner of Lime Kiln Road and Woodlands Avenue Joseph Wiltshire and his wife lived in a house built of stone and fibro. He was a pensioner from the First World War. The Progress Hall and shelter shed were built on land donated by him.
Carl Walter lived in Lime Kiln Road, near Forest Road in an old tram.
In Boronia Parade on the waterfront lived Will (Daddy) Dyson and his wife Millie. They had been entertainers, and had played at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. Mr. Dyson had an iron foundary - W. Dyson and Sons - in Sussex Street, Sydney, until Sussex Street was widened and the factory was resumed. He then retired to Lugarno, leaving his family to continue the business.
THIRTY ONE PORTIONS OF CROWN LAND
The area west of Old Forest Road and south of Thomas Lawrence's grant was not given as a land grant, but remained Crown land until the establishment of the Municipality of Hurstville. The rough, rocky and steep land was probably not attractive as an investment, despite its scenic value.
A map of this land dated April 1891 from the Department of Lands, based on a survey taken between the 27th October and the 13th December, 1887, and on the 28th July, 1888, by surveyor W.E. Adams, advertises thirty one portions of land numbered 161 to 191 inclusive at George's River. This map shows the type of timber found in this area - honeysuckle, bloodwood gum, stringybark and undergrowth along Lugarno Parade and where the school is now, and bloodwood and gum in other areas with some dense undergrowth.
A woodcarters track is shown, starting near where the corner of Allwood Crescent and Old Forest Road is now, and wending its way in a south westerly direction, roughly following the present Lugarno Parade to near the corner of Cedar Street. Another woodcarters track branched off, and followed the other arm of Lugarno Parade, towards the corner of Oak Street. These tracks would have been the access for bullock teams. Timber cut almost anywhere on this land would have been near to these tracks, and the versatile bullock team could get a lot of timber out of rough country like this, that would be inaccessable to modern machinery.
The area now known as Georges River State Recreation Area, below Cedar Street and Moons Avenue, is shown on this map as a sandy flat surrounded by mangrove swamp, and beside it is a small area of cultivation, and a paddock. From this paddock a bridle path leads up the hill, along in the general direction of Moons Avenue, and into Robert Levingston's land (originally granted to Thomas Lawrence).
Mr. Fred Cross remembers the Baron de Wurms who lived down near the swamp. He made items such as cabbage tree hats by weaving leaves together.
The map shows Forest Road "cleared and formed here by direction of the Casual Labour Board one chain wide" to the top of Punt Hill, then 30 links wide down Punt Hill. The puntman's house is shown between the road and the river at Edith Bay, just after the bend in the road leading to the punt, and a jetty nearby. The puntman's house could still be seen in the late 1920's. It was of wattle and daub construction (i.e. dried mud reinforced with sticks).
In 1887 the surveyor had marked out roads that became known as Lugarno Parade and Moons Avenue, one chain wide, and divided the land into thirty one portions, ranging in area from just over three acres to just over seven acres, with most being four or five acres. The portions of land were numbered 161 to 191, the earlier numbers having been used for land on the other side of the river, at what is now called Illawong.
The first person to purchase land was Harold B. Smith, of Botany Street, Randwick. He bought Portion 161 (where the school is now), Portions 165, 166 and 167 in Moons Avenue, and Portion 180, where the Lugarno Boatshed is now. He erected a four room house on Portion 165 in Moons Avenue. He did not retain these properties for long.
Henry Shultz bought Portion 167, and Llewellyn Charles Russell Jones bought Portion 166 and had a house erected on it. Portion 161 apparently reverted to the Crown quite quickly.
Benjamin R. Lloyd bought Portion 162, on the western side of th school grounds in 1891, and sold it to Albert Groom in about 1912, and he had a four room weatherboard house built there.
Charles Brunner purchased L.C. Russell Jones Portion 166 in Moons Avenue, and lived in a five roomed wooden house there from 1910 to 1921.
Henry Shultz or Scholz lived in Lugarno from 1894 to 1921. He appears to be in L.C. Russell Jones house on Portion 166 in 1895, while owning the neighboring Portion 167 in Moons Avenue. By 1899 he had built a five roomed stone house on Portion 167. He had a large launch which he used to travel to his home from Como.
Thomas Valerie (or Valyer) Cross, usually called Sergeant Cross, bought Portions 163 and 165 in Moons Avenue, and Portion 179, which was west of Lugarno Boatshed. The Cross family also owned Portions 177 and 178 which were subdivided together as the Lugarno Bay Estate in 1919. Sergeant Cross was a policeman at Hurstville, and he retired to a weatherboard house in Moons Avenue. He was Mayor of Hurstville in 1920, and took part in establishing the St. George County Council in that year. He represented Peakhurst Ward as an Alderman of the Hurstville Municipal Council from 1914-1922
Sergeant Cross erected the monument to his son William, who was killed in action in France in 1916, during World War I. The monument originally stood outside his house in Moons Avenue, but after his death it was re-erected on another parcel of land that he owned, which is now opposite the Baptist Church. Another son, Douglas D. Cross was later the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Georges River.
After the death of Sergeant Cross a stone house was built which became known as Rocklands. The Thompson family purchased the property in 1946 for £1,850 and the 4,300 sq metre estate was sold and subdivided in 1992.
Henry T. Braddock bought Portion 176 which was near the swamp, however he did not seem to occupy the land, as he lived in Marrickville.
Portion 180, next to the ferry, was originally owned by H.B. Smith, then by Robert Legg and George Clark of Rockdale, then it was sold to Mrs. F.E. Peters of Pyrmont in about 1912. Adolph H. Peters ran the Lugarno boatshed here. He was a partner in a coachbuilding business his brother had, and for a few years he ran a bus service from Lugarno to Hurstville. Mr. Sayre, who lived in a house on the cliff above the boatshed, which was known as Eagles Nest, drove the buses for Adolph Peters. There was a shop associated with the boatshed, which sold soft drinks and sweets, and later a small dance hall was erected above the boatshed. A jazz band played for the dances, but soon the dances were discontinued, and the room was used by Terry McCormack to make pottery.
Two early inhabitants were C. Saul and Alfred Saunders, who worked as ferrymen.
Richard Buttell is recorded as living in Lugarno from 1924, followed by S.R. Buttel from 1927. He had a house built named Killarney in Moons Avenue in 1931. He built up a chain of eighty nine cash and carry grocery shops, including one at Hurstville. He did well in the Depression because of his discounting policy.
Killarney is one of the few remaining riverside holiday houses in Lugarno. The single storey weatherboard house with a corrugated iron roof, and a fibro covered verandah, consists of five rooms built on a solid stone foundation.
Beside the house is a boatshed with a slipway to the river, and a little way up the hill is a detached billiards room, with a full size billiards table. Buttle invited well known billiards players to play there.
Behind the house is a small garden which includes mango trees. Views from the house include Great Moons Bay and the Georges River State Recreation Area across the river, so even today the setting includes many of the natural features which would have attracted S.R. Buttle to the area. The National Trust of Australia (N.S.W.) Classified Killarney in 1986, recognising it as a good example of the vernacular style of architecture used along the river in the 1930's,and an important part of the history of Lugarno.
Buttle sold the property in 1936 for £1000, to the Coe family, who added the wooden venetians to the verandah. Later owners were Downes from 1950, and Curtis from 1966.
THE ORCHARD
Robert Levingston soon leased the property to William Golden, who ran the orchard there. Golden lived in a four roomed wooden house near where Valentia Avenue is now.
Llewellyn Russell Jones in the early 1890's leased both of Robert Levingston's properties in Lugarno (Sleath's grant and part of Lawrence's grant), and he also purchased Portion 166 of Crown land in Moons Avenue, and built a house there.
He kept William Golden as manager of the orchard, and employed Fred Bennett to work on the orchard. Fred Bennett (who later ran the horse bus from Peakhurst to Penshurst Station) lived in the Moons Avenue house with his wife and eleven children.
A tragedy occurred when one of Fred Bennett's, and one of William Golden's boys drowned in the George's River. The following account appeared in the Sdney Mornng Herald of the 9th December, 1890:
Sad Drowning Fatality
The city coroner held a magisterial enquiry at the Hurstville Hotel, Hurstville, yesterday, regarding the deaths of Frederick Bennett and Ernest Alfred Golden, both of whom were eight years of age.
On Saturday afternoon the boys left their homes at Peakhurst in company, for the purpose of going into the scrub and gathering Christmas Bush. As they did not return by six o'clock, search parties were organised and the country was scoured for miles around, but with no result. On Sunday morning the search was resumed and the clothes of the two boys were found on the banks of George's River.
Ropes and grappling irons were used for dragging for the bodies, but without avail. A boat was obtained and scarcely had they pushed off when they found the bodies lying in deep water. A man named Pickering dived for them and succeeded in bringing them to the surface.
The coroner found that the two boys were drowned, but how or by what means the evidence did not enable him to say.
The boys were buried together in Moorefields Methodist Cemetery. The inscription on the gravestone reads:
IN MEMORY
OF
ERNEST ALFRED, Beloved
Son of Wm & MARY GOLDEN
Peakhurst
Also his dear companion
ROBERT F. BENNETT who
were Accidently Drowned
in George's River, Dec. 6th 1890
Aged 8 years
Tho heavy the cross we try not to weep
We trust thee Dear Lord, Our darlings to keep
They are resting forever, from sorrow and pain
Praise be to God we shall meet them again.
Fred Bennett moved away from the orchard with its sad memories, and William Cross took his place working at the orchard.
William Cross and Mary Harrison came from Colac in Victoria. They were married and lived in Balmain, where they had a butcher's shop. In the depression of the early 1890's they went broke, and were fortunate to find emplyment at the orchard.
When the Cross family arrived to take up residence at the Moons Avenue house, they found the furniture and possessions of George Cox piled up under a Bloodwood tree, and covered with a tarpaulin. He had been squatting in the house, and had recently been evicted. Cox then went to live in Geddes house on Lime Kiln Bay.
One of the seven sons of William Cross, Fred Cross, remembers the orchard at that time, which covered about 20 acres of the 80 acre property.
" In the orchard were growing peaches, apples, nectarines, grapes, pears, quinces, mandarins, plums apricots and big fig trees. Many of the varieties we grew are almost unknown today. There were Luxemburg and Mobbs Royal cooking apples, and Lord Nelson, McIntosh Red, Scotchman and Trivett eating apples. there were Newington peaches, Shanghai peaches (heavily coated with furry stuff) and Briggs Red May peaches (which came about Christmas time) and China peaches (which were flat, like a button)."
About 1898 the Cross family moved away from the orchard to Hurstville, however a year later William Golden resigned as manager, and Mr. Russell Jones asked William Cross to return as manager of the orchard. the Cross family moved into the house near where Valentia Avenue is now.
Fred Cross remembers " After we returned to the orchard, Dad chopped out many of the older trees and replaced them. He put in some newer varieties, such as Granny Smith and Jonathan apples. the Granny Smiths were necessary to pollinate the flowers on the Jonathans, and we would cut branches of blooms off the Granny Smiths, put them in buckets of water, and place them among the Jonathans, so that the bees would pollinate the Jonathans. My father also put in new and different kinds of apricots - Moore Park, etc. and replanted the mandarins. New types of oranges were planted - St. Michael, White Siletta, Joppa, Valencia and Washington Navel, but the navel oranges did not crop well. Nectarines and Lisbon lemons were planted, and also Wickson plums, which bore a beautiful big plum, green and purple. This plum tree grows straight up, and did not spread like those of today. China pears (for cooking) and Williams pears (for eating) were planted.
While these trees were being established we grew passionfruit vines between them, with a useful life span of about three years.
Between seasons, when the trees were not fruiting, we grew vegetables - cucumbers, rockmelons, tomatoes, watermelons, peas, beans, cabbages, and potatoes."
At first the tomatoes were grown lying on the ground, where they were likely to be eaten by crickets, or spoilt in the hot weather. About 1914 the practice of growing the tomatoes upright, tied to stakes and pruned of lateral growth was introduced from overseas, which eased these problems. At one time there were two acres of grapes planted, but a hot wind came and shrivelled them up, like raisins!
The area between the rows of fruit trees would be ploughed, using a draught horse, and around the trees weeds would be chipped away with a hoe. Insecticides were not used, as many of the pests known today were not in Lugarno at this time. Queensland fruit fly, snails, sparrows, starlings, minahs or bul-buls were then unknown.
There was no water supply to the orchard at this time. In a drought the fruit and vegetables died. There was a well near the house, covered over with logs and slabs. Once, a horse fell into this well, and it had to be half filled with dirt to get the horse out.
A tank at the house supplied domestic needs, but when it ran out a small square tank would be taken on a cart to the stand-pipe near the corner of Forest and Bonds Roads. Later the water mains were extended, and a stand-pipe was erected near where the Peakhurst Catholic Church is now.
Mr. L. C. Russell Jones purchased the property after leasing it for a time from Robert Levingston. He was born in 1855, became a solicitor in 1878, and was Chairman of Directors of the N.S.W. Mont de Piete and other financial institutions; and he was also the director of several charitable institutions. He travelled around the world in 1883, and on another visit to Britain and Europe in 1888 he studied municipal matters. He was an Alderman of Petersham Council from 1888, Mayor 1891-1894, and a Member of the N.S.W. Parliament for Petersham 1894-1898. He attended Queen Victoria's Jubilee Celebrations in 1897 at the invitation of the British government.
At the time of the 1891 Census he was residing at Lugarno, probably at his Moons Avenue home, there being four males and six females in the household. Later he built another wooden four roomed house near the water, about where Valentia Avenue is now, and kept a launch in a boatshed near where the creek runs into Georges River.
Next to the boatshed the Cross boys built a swimming enclosure by driving stakes into the river bed, as there was a man taken by a shark on the opposite side of the river.
Mr. Russell Jones had a quarry near to the riverbank, just south of the creek. It operated for a few years, beginnning about 1910, supplying crushed sandstone for road base to Botany Council. The quarry was managed by Mr. Whitwell. The rock would be drilled by hand, the long 'jumpers' labouriously twisted into the rock. Blasting would break the rock away from the cliff face, and then it would be fed into a steam crusher. The crushed rock was then loaded onto barges to be towed up Georges River and across Botany Bay to Botany. At first the paddle steamer 'Swift' was used to tow the barges, but it proved unsuitable. The larger paddle steamer, the 'Telephone' was then used.
A concrete dam was built across the creek to serve the quarrying operation, however one night after heavy rain the dam burst, and was never re-built.
Hurstville Council Rate books show that the property had three houses built on it. Apart from Mr. Russell Jones house and the managers house, there was a house occupied by George Thirley in 1892, and J. Newman in 1895. Fred Cross remembers a bark hut near the boundary of the property, on Forest Road, which may be this house. It was occupied by the Bearns family. Mr. Bearns cut firewood. They changed their name to Burns because of widespread anti-German feeling in World War I.
Mr. Russell Jones died in 1912 on a trip to England. The quarry was closed, and the Russell Jones house and boatshed fell into disuse and were demolished.
The house in Moons Avenue was sold to Charles Brunner, a box manufacturer.
The orchard section of the property was sold to George Stanley Connor.
William Cross had gone into the building industry, but his son Harry continued working at the orchard, assisted from time to time by his brother Fred.
George Connor concentrated on growing apples and oranges. The variety of orange known as the Valencia gave its name to Valentia Avenue (note the change in spelling). By the 1930's vegetables rather than fruit was the main crop. During the Depression George Connor could not afford to employ labour, and took some partners into the business. They were Ernie Webb and his brother-in-law Roley Jones and Phil Walker from Menai, where they had market gardens.
The vegetables needed a better water supply than the fruit trees. A small stone dam on the creek may have been built during Connors time, then a large dam was scooped out of the earth, using a horse. Water pipes were put in about 1932.
The produce was taken to market (the Haymarket in Sydney) by horse and cart until a motor truck was bought in the 1930's. The market gardeners and orchardists of Menai would travel together across the Lugarno Ferry, perhaps joining the Lugarno orchardist, and travelling through the cool night to Sydney. The clink of the horses and the crunch of the cartwheels against the dirt roads was a familiar sound along Forest Road. Until electricity came in the late 1920's the roads were lit by gas, however the Council was sparing in its supply of lamps. The first one the Lugarno people would see would be near Boundary Road, Peakhurst, then another near Mavis Avenue, and then one at Scott Street.
A small quarry was operated on Connors property, providing road base for Hurstville Council. Mr. Pickering and Mr. Briggs worked there. It was located where the cricket practice nets in Evatt Park are now.
The Connors moved to Penshurst, and Ernie Webb purchased the property, and with various partners from time to time operated the market garden until about 1963. Only a few plum and apple trees remained of the old orchard. The Webbs lived in the 'red house' near Valentia Avenue until a new brick house was built next to the school in 1942.
The Connors with C.J. McCann (a son in law of Arthur Williams, M.L.A.), and Ernie Webb subdivided Allwood Crescent. Webbs Gardens were sold to Shirley Constructions in 1963, and became Evatt Park.
CARPENTER'S PURCHASE
In 1881 Unni William Carpenter purchased the north western thirty acres of Thomas Lawrence's grant from Joseph Shepherd. He also bought 2 acres, 2 roods and 26 perches of land from Robert Levingston of Frewin Sleath's grant to provide access to Forest Road. Mr. Carpenter lived in Darlinghurst, and it appears that he did not build on, or develop the property. He sold it to Robert Bertram Holland and Frederick Blackiston Holland of Belmore on the 4th February, 1895.
HOLLAND
The property was divided in two, and the southern seventeen acres was sold to William Charles Forster, a gentleman of Botany, on the 30th March 1896. Forster was a noted poultry judge.
Robert Bertram Holland bought out his partner, and became sole owner of the nothern eighteen acres on the 14th July, 1896. By 1897 both Holland and Forster had built houses and were living on their properties.
Holland had a weatherboard shop and had a business hiring out boats. He sold the business to Jesse Mark Tucker, an engineer of Bexley in November 1915, and Tucker quickly resold to Ralph Nixon, a chargeman of Newtown in April 1916. Nixon operated the business for about a year, then Max Booth was there in 1918, and John Boatwright came in 1919.
BOATWRIGHT
John Edmund Boatwright was a musician, but the boats and pleasure grounds were a useful additional occupation. He bought the property off Nixon in 1926.
John Boatwright had migrated from Hornsea in England in 1913, and came to Lugarno after living in Penshurst for two years. His property became known as the Henley Pleasure Grounds, named after the place on the Thames where the boat races are held. The part of Salt Pan Creek where the Henley Pleasure Grounds were located was known as Blackbutt, and the road later put through the property is known as Blackbutt Avenue. Mr. Boatwright was a cellist, and played in a trio at Farmers department store in Sydney. This small palm court orchestra entertained those using the restaurant at the store. When Farmer and Company set up the radio station 2FC in the store, Mr. Boatwright's trio were first to broadcast on that radio station. In the early days of radio, music was broadcast live, rather than relying on recordings, which could be of doubtful quality. Mr Boatwright's family (his wife Olivia, four sons and seven girls) would tune in to the wireless (a crystal set), listening to his music, and they could estimate the time he would arrive home when they heard him finish playing for the night. He later played theatre organs. The silent cinema needed a musical accompanyment, and a skilled musician was chosen to play suitable music to set the mood for each scene in the film. Mr. Boatwright worked at all the city theatres, and also the Penshurst and Kogarah theatres.
To encourage people to come to Henley, Mr. Boatwright began the Henley bus service, running to Punchbowl station to bring the fishermen up to Lugarno. Henley was packed on the weekends. There was a stone boatshed (near where the end of Murdoch Crescent is now), the hiring of boats being managed by Alex Davidson. An old paddle steamer was used as a shop on the grounds, and at Forest Road there was a shop selling lollies, home made ice cream, and butter made in a hand churn.
In 1927 the property next door was sold by W.C. Forster to Elizabeth Lavinia Finch.
LEVINGSTON
Unni Carpenter purchased an area of 2 acres, 3 roods, and 26 perches from Levingston in 1881 to provide access to the 32 acres of the adjoining property he purchased from Joseph Shepherd.
Robert Levingston leased the remainder of the land to Llewellyn Charles Russell Jones on the 15th December, 1890.
On the 29th December, 1893 the land passed to John and Francis Levingston, who were labourers of Belmore.
Another small piece of land was sold on the 17th August, 1895 to David Wild Crawley. This was an area of 3 acres, 2 roods, and 15 perches, roughly semi-circular in shape, between Forest Road and the boundary of the property (i.e. opposite Evatt Park). When the winding course of Forest Road was made official in 1890 [Government Gazette 18th November, 1890], this area of land was cut off from the rest of the grant. Old Forest Road, the original boundary of the grant, at this point has been re-named Brewer Place, and Ponderosa Place.
This small piece of land changed hands rapidly. In 1897 it was bought by Frederick Fels, a financier of Sydney, and it was sold in 1899 to Nyalt Manning, an agriculturalist of Peakhurst. Apparently a house was built on the land around this time, as Sands Directories list William Manning living here from 1899-1909 in a three room weatherboard house. The land passed to J.A. Manning in 1908, and to Madame Marie Traneau in 1909, and she lived there to until 1912. In 1912 Nicholas Aceglav, a Sydney fish merchant bought the property, and sold it in 1924 to Angelia Menday, and in 1926 Sergeant Thomas Valyer Cross bought the land. Later his monument to his son was erected at the southern end of the property.
Returning to the main part of Sleath's grant, owned by John and Francis Levingston, the lease of L.C. Russell Jones expired, and John Levingston occupied a house on the 40 acres from 1899 until 1909, his wife remaining there a further year.
Following the death of John Levingston the property was transferred to Francis Levington, the surviving joint tenant, on the 28th January, 1913.
The land was then divided into eight lots of about four to seven acres. Early residents in this area were the Smithson, Askew and Chivers families.
Mr. M Smithson came in 1918. he was a fisherman, and an overseer for Hurstville Council. Dr. Kernot later moved into the Smithson's house , and completly renovated it.
Mr W.J. Askew took up residnce in 1921. A creek ran through Penshurst Park and it was being filled with garbage to level the park for playing fields. Mr. Askew worked here, salvaging any useful materials such as bottles. He occasionally went away to the goldfields to prospect for gold.
Mr. Harry Chivers lived in a weatherboard house on Birkett Farm at the top of what became known as Chivers Hill. Previously it had been known as Levingston's Hill. Mr. Chivers had a poultry farm, and occasionally did some house painting.