1921-1960

1922:     Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.

1922:     Weston Football Club won the Kerr Cup.

1923:     Weston Fire brigade reported its first case of arson when a woman set fire to a Hall Street residence to scare off her husband's mistress.

1923:     Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.  Coalfields representative team played New Zealand at Weston, Coalfields won 4-1.

1925:     Miners employed at Hebburn No.1:  774

1925:     Miners employed at Hebburn No.2:  395

See more on Floods in Weston:

 Weston Flood 1926 

Brickbats & Bouquets  

1928:     Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.

1929:

The 1929-30 LOCKOUT:  

'The Lockout is a very interesting phase of our local history and contains so many varying aspects, each of which is a story in itself. Today, we take a look at just one short period, which came a month after the famous Rothbury incident. It is a period when the police 'flying squad,' or 'bashers,' as they came to be known were active around the coalfields. '

[Brian J. Andrews, The Pioneering Days of the Coalfields, No.2, by Brian J. Andrews for the Coalfields Heritage Centre, pp.67-76. 

See   THE 1929 - 30 LOCKOUT  and 

ROTHBURY TROUBLES OF SEVENTY YEARS AGO.

5 May 1929:     The Coalfields Soccer Team played New South Wales at Weston.  Coalfields won 6-2.

1929:   Officers of the Weston Male Voice Party:

• President:  J.W. Griggs

• Secretary:  H.S. Neville

• Treasurer:  E. Maughan

• Conductor: R.W. Dixon

• Deputy Conductor:  N. Browell

• Librarian:  R. Curry

• Accompanist:  Mrs J. Coxon

• Committee B. Taylor, J. Maughan, H. Chesholme, W. Grant

'The Object of Party. The object of the Party shall be the cultivation  of vocal music by practice, public performance, and competition.'

Subscriptions: 3.d per week.

1930:

'By 1930, one Australian worker in four had become unemployed. Banks closed, dole queues formed and beggars swarmed in city streets. The great depression had arrived.

The depression, which first cast its long, desperate shadow over Australia in 1929, heralded years of crushing poverty for hundreds of thousand wage-earners and their families.

The crisis developed with frightening speed. At the end of 1929, the level of unemployment rose to 13 per cent., and a year later it was 23 per cent. and by the end of 1931, it was 28 per cent.       [Brian J Andrew, Kurri Kurri-Weston Pioneering Days No.4, p.149]

See   THE 1929 - 30 LOCKOUT  and  

ROTHBURY TROUBLES OF SEVENTY YEARS AGO.

24 Jan 1930:        The second stage of concreting the road from Cessnock to Maitland in First Street, Weston opened for traffic. 

1931: 

16 Jan 1931:    Weston Progress Association again highlight the need for a Coalfield's swimming pool.

Apr 1931:        Weston, Abermain and Kurri Kurri suffered severe flooding causing railway services to be suspended.

29 Apr 1931:   Weston's Olympia Theatre, owned by Mr G. Jenkins, was severely damaged by fire.

03 Aug 1931:   The Salvation Army commenced daily soup kitchens for Weston's unemployed.

05 Dec 1931:    William Varty of Weston was elected Mayor of Kearsley Shire Council.

1931:       Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.

1931:       Weston Football Club won the State League Series.

17 Jul 1931:       Police raid a Weston Billiard Room. Over 50 charged with being found in an illegal Gaming House.   There are many familiar Weston names in this article!

See WHEN IS A SCHOOL NOT A SCHOOL?

Ferenbach's premises were on the corner of First and Station Sts. Weston.  Ferenbachs were recorded at this address on the1930 Electoral Roll although there were shop premises on this corner by about 1910. Fire Brigade records show that 'George Ferenbach's Self-Service Store' in Weston was severely damaged by fire in 1934. The Weston Brigade had recently received their new motorised pumper, (No.210 Dennis Tamini, 250 g.p.m) when this fire occurred. Conways later established their store at this site and were eventually followed there by the Co-op Store.

The Capitol Theatre complex,  which included the adjoining School of Arts, was built much earlier, but the only photograph we have been able to acquire, is the one above taken in 1965 shortly after the fire. The theatre was eventually repaired and renovated and became the Weston Civic Centre.

In Chapter 6 of his memoir, MY TEN YEARS IN WESTON 1926-1936, Basil Ralston states: 

     'For the children there was a matinee at the School of Arts picture theatre. It was a good theatre with front stalls, back stalls and even ‘upstairs’. I sat with a lovely redhead from Abermain, wonder where she is now?  Shirley Temple was a great favourite. There was often a free lolly or a badge for each child as and added attraction.

The old black and white film had less frames per second than modern films, so the pictures flickered. So we went to the ‘flicks’. A really expensive night out ran to an upstairs seat and a threepenny ice cream at Jock Stewart’s shop opposite. Then we walked home, there was no other way. The first ‘Talkie’ shown in Weston was Daddy Long Legs with Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor. Bing Crosby and Al Jolson were the stars, sometimes extravaganzas with Paul Whiteman and his Big Band. We were well entertained.'

Also mentioned in Basil Ralston's memoir was Ellis Williams. See following:

1934:     

From The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder 7 Sep 1934

Wine Saloon Proprietor

Fined.

AFTER HOURS DELIVERY

        ________

       Charles Edward Edwards, who pleaded guilty at the Kurri Kurri Police Court this week to a charge of having delivered liquor during prohibited hours on 4th August, was fined £2, with '8/- court costs, by Mr. K. A. Mahony, P.M.

Constable E. J. Hillier, of Weston, who related the circumstances, said that on 4th August, at 9.30 p.m., he ?was in company with Constable Miller he saw a man named Joyce talking to Edwards. Later he saw something like a bottle of wino being handed over the fence. Witness followed Joyce, and after a conversation, Joyce said, 'You saw it, constable; it is no use arguing the point.'

When he questioned Edwards, witness said that Edwards replied, ‘I have nothing to say.’

In connection with the same matter, David Joyce pleaded guilty to a charge of having carried away liquor during prohibited hours.

A fine of £1, with ?/- court costs was imposed by Mr. Mahony, P.M.

1934:     Weston Football Club won the State Cup.

1934:     Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup.

1934:      Weston woman, Florence Germyn (Military Pensioner) drowned in the Hunter River at Hexham on 7 Jan 1934  when a boat capsized . She was thrown into the river along with 6-year-old girl Bernice Ellis. Their bodies were not recovered.

1935:         Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.

1935:         Weston Football  Club won the State League Series. 

1936:         Weston Football  Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.

1936:         Weston Football  Club won the State League Series.

29 Jul 1938:      The 2nd Annual Kurri Kurri Schools' Sports Program was held. Schools participating were Pelaw Main, Weston, Abermain and Kurri Kurri.  The G. Booth Cup for the points score was won by Weston.

 1939:     Bushfires in many parts of NSW with eight lives lost.  Temperatures in Sydney reached 113.6 deg.F.  (45.3 deg. C.)

The article below appeared in: Brian J. Andrews, The Pioneering Days of the Coalfields, for Coalfields Heritage Group  ~ No.1, p.42:   

THE LOXFORD AIR CRASH – 1940

The response to last week's photo of the plane crash at Loxford has been encouraging. The museum now has a small piece of the wreckage, a piece of newspaper clipping and the reminiscences of one who witnessed the event.

Bert Stoddart, of Kurri Kurri, was only a boy of about eleven years of age when, in January, 1940, he saw the plane come down near the Soldiers' Settlements at the back of Weston.

It was at 11.40 pm as he was returning from a Saturday night at the pictures in Maitland. The next day he and a bunch of fellows went out early to inspect the crash.

Souvenirs were being taken and he got a piece, which is now on exhibition at the local Edgeworth David Museum. He would have got more had it not been, he believes, for the local sergeant of police. He had hidden one of the wheels in the adjacent Deep Creek, but it wasn't there when he went back for it.

The small, undated newspaper clipping, states that Mr Herbert Ross, of Mitchell Avenue, Kurri Kurri, said that at 11.40 pm he heard the sound of a plane, which appeared to be in trouble, as one engine was cutting out.

“It appeared as if the pilot was looking for a landing place. Shortly after the engines cut out altogether and there was a terrific crash.” said Mr Ross. He informed Constable Symons, of Kurri Kurri, of the happening, and a search party was organised.

Mr T.Rankin, the license of the Heddon Greta Hotel, also heard the plane and saw a light in the sky like a shooting star which was diving towards the ground. “The plane headed out beyond the Ayrfield Colliery and there was the sound of a crash.” he said.

Messrs J.Conway, L. Bennett and E. O'Brien, residents of Kurri, also heard the crash and immediately offered their services in the search party which was organised.

Despite the fact he landed in a tree, Aircraftsman Feekings was uninjured.

[Transcription into text made by Mélissa Martin

for the Weston History and Heritage website]

1941:

15 Apr 1941:  Edward John Frame, a Weston fireman since 1913, was made Captain of Weston Fire Brigade.

20 Sep 1941:  Weston Football Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields. They defeated Kearsley 5-1.

01 Sep 1941:   Norman Clyde Eade, aged 13, of Harle Street Weston,  drowned in Hebburn No.2 Colliery dam. This was soon after he wrote 'The Kurri School Song.'   The Cessnock Eagle had the following articles on 9 and 19 Sep 1941:

1942:

04 Jan 1942:    A two-roomed cottage occupied by Mrs Smith was destroyed by fire.

16 Jan 1942:    Kearsley Shire Council decided to have all houses numbered in the streets of Weston and Kurri Kurri.

30 Jan 1942:    Kearsley Shire Council had 49 men employed under the Emergency Relief Scheme constructing Air Raid Shelters in Kurri Kurri, Weston and Abermain.

12 Jun 1942:      Thousands assembled in Weston to witness the funeral to Kurri Kurri Cemetery of Leading Stoker, Sydney William Butcher, killed when the ferry boat Kuttabul was sunk by a Japanese submarine.  See: WESTON MAN KILLED

1942:     Weston Soccer Club won the Stevenson Cup, the knock-out championship of the Coalfields.

1942:     Captain Norris, after serving from 1935, was replaced by Edward J. Frame as captain of the Weston Fire Brigade.

1943: 

 24 Jan 1943:   Neville Austin, 15, of Weston, was drowned in the Hebburn No.1 dam while swimming with other boys.

Nov 1943:       Weston Fire Brigade received a modern Dennis motor fire engine.

16 Dec 1943:   Mr R. Weston, headmaster of the Weston Public School was notified of his removal to Wyong Central School, whilst his First Assistant, Mr Rowley James Jr.,  was to go to Pelaw Main as headmaster.

1944:    

20 Apr 1944:   A new Bowling Club had been formed at Weston on land donated by Hebburn Ltd.

28 Apr 1944:   Police raided the Weston Billiard Room and arrested 31 men with having been found in a common gaming house. All were fined £2  ($4).

28 May 1944:   A large scale police raid was made on an old-established 'two-up school' in scrub land at Weston.  39 arrests were made.

10 Jul 1944:     Mark Alexander, 80 years of age, drowned by immersion in water near Kurri Kurri Cemetery following a heart attack.

1945:

11-12 Aug 1945:  Weston Bowling Club gave their greens its first use when they held a progressive rink game. 

1 Sep 1945:   A Weston District Workers' Club and Investment Society was formed and a decision made to acquire premises.

6 Oct 1945:  The Weston Bowling Club's first green was officially opened by Mr S. McKensey, Superintendant of Hebburn Collieries and Patron of the Club.

1946:     Weston Ladies Bowling Club was formed.

1947:

11 Jul 1947:     The Weston Soccer Football Club held a reunion in the Weston Ambulance Hall which was attended by about 150 stalwarts of the Club.

26 Aug 1947:   The Minister of Lands advised Kearsley Council that he had granted an application from the Weston Workers Club for a special lease of land near the Weston railway bridge  as a site for club premises.

1948:                 The Weston Male Voice Choir had been revived 12 months earlier and made excellent progress throughout the year. Three broadcasts were made over national radio stations.

1948:             Weston Pagans Rugby team were Premiers. 

7 May 1948:    The Hunter Water Board advised Kearsley Council that because the revenue returns would be insufficient, it was not possible to extend the sewerage system to Weston and Abermain.

15 Jul 1949:       An 'UGLY MAN' competition organised by the Weston Methodist Tennis Club raised over £105 [$210] towards the cost of equipping the tennis court with lights.

7 Mar 1950:      The Weston sub-branch of the RSL now owned its own hall and contemplated adding to the property in the near future as it owned the land available to do so.

1 May 1950:      A feature of the May Day celebrations at Kurri Kurri was the procession leaving the Post Office and joining up with a procession from Weston and marching to the Pagans football ground  where a sports program was held. See photo below:

1954:

 Back in 1958, 16-year-old Bill Bissett of Weston became a local hero after a daring rescue in shark-infested waters.  As the newspaper transcript below shows, Bill didn't understand what the fuss was all about!

The Sydney Morning Herald – Jan 5, 1958, p.2    

The shy hero

“Why all the fuss?”

Special reporter

  The hero of one of the most dramatic surf rescues in recent years asked yesterday:  “What’s all the fuss about?”

  He is 16-year-old William Bissett, of Weston, near Newcastle.

  Nationwide acclaim followed his epic rescue of Valerie Broughton after a three-hour battle against heavy seas in shark-infested waters.

  He has been recommended for the high life-saving awards in recognition of his feat.

   But Bill, a shy, reserved boy who doesn’t say very much, will be glad when the commotion is over.

  “I’d just as soon they dropped the whole show,” he said yesterday.

Likes creek back home

  “Anyone would have done the same as I did.”

  Bill was brought to Sydney on Friday night by ATN to appear on TV.

  He wasn’t particularly impressed by Bondi when he was taken there for a surf.

  “I’d rather swim in the creek at home with all my mates,” he said.

  “That’s where I taught myself to swim.”

    Bill is six feet, 14 stone, with a suntan most Bondi boys would envy.

  He plays football with a local team, and on his nights out he goes to the pictures or a dance in Maitland or Cessnock with his mates.

  The Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Ald D.G. McDougall, said yesterday he would recommend that Bill get the highest possible award for bravery.

Mates will hose him down

  In Sydney, an expert on orders and decorations, said Bill could be recommended for the Ggeorge Cross, the George Medal, the British Empire Medal and the Queen’s Commendation for bravery, or the Royal Humane Society’s awards.

  Bondi beach inspector Bob Marrott said yeaterday that any surf club would welcome Bill as a member.

  But he has no ambitions to be a champion swimmer.

  ‘I’ll probably stay a miner, it’s a good job and the pay’s good,” he said.

  “After all this publicity my mates at work will be after me with loco grease and coal-washing hoses when I go back next week.

  “They said they’d have a celebration ready, and that’s the form their celebrations usually take.”