Dr John Spark, Katoomba's First Doctor

On Wednesday, March 2, 1910 all business premises in the township of Katoomba closed out of respect to farewell Dr John Spark, former Mayor, Alderman, Government Medical Officer, Railway Medical Officer, President of the Katoomba School Board, President of the Katoomba School of Arts, and activist for the health-giving nature of the Blue Mountains. While Spark was well known as a medical practitioner, his life and interests can be broadly subdivided into three periods. Although these periods have some overlap they are primarily his formative years, 1869-1885; his arrival in Katoomba, marriage and involvement in local government, 1886-1894; and his concern with community issues, 1895-1907.

John Spark was born the eldest of a family of eight children, on August 8, 1853, at Twickenham, Middlesex, where his father operated an extensive medical practice. As a boy he suffered from ill health and experienced the tragedies of having four of his siblings die in an epidemic, his father died in 1867 when he was fourteen, and his remaining brother William died in an orphanage in 1872. Showing considerable aptitude for the medical profession he was taken for training under the supervision of his late father's colleagues.

The Formative Years: 1869-1885
John Spark commenced his medical studies on December 7, 1869 becoming apprenticed to John Molden Barton, surgeon, of Lee Park, Blackheath, Kent, who was a member of the Apothecaries Company, a founding guild and forerunner of today's medical profession. Spark's aptitude was soon appreciated and at eighteen he was dispensing for Barton at his London practice. During this period he undertook his studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital where he completed his course with credit. His apprenticeship and training took seven years and in December 1875 he accepted a position at High Holborn where he conducted the city branch of a prominent West End doctor's practice, a position he retained for over seven years. Following this he commenced his own practice in Devonshire, however, finding the climate unsuitable to his health he made several trips to Australia and South America.

On May 5, 1885 John Spark was accepted for membership to the Royal College of Surgeons, and admitted to the Licentiate of the Apothecaries Company which entitled him to become a City Freeman and medical practitioner. The privileges of the Freedom of the City of London were required by persons wishing to practice within the city limits and were essential to all who wished to exercise a trade or profession there.

Arrival in Katoomba, Local Government and Marriage: 1886-1894
Dr Spark emigrated to Sydney, with his sister, in early 1886 and quickly settled in Katoomba, as the town’s first resident medical practitioner. Described as a dapper and precise man, widely read and cultured, very kind and skilled as a doctor; he originally practised from his home “St Cyrus” opposite the Carrington Hotel and was instrumental in bringing the telephone service to Katoomba.

Dr Spark soon became convinced that the different altitudes and temperatures existing in the mountains, particularly Katoomba with its elevation of 1016 metres, (3333 feet) would be beneficial to his health. His involvement in local government issues was almost immediate, through membership of the Progress Committee which was agitating for the establishment of the municipal district of Katoomba. His concern was, in part, influenced by his medical training and the public health debate raging in Sydney, and his business acumen which allowed him to appreciate the general concern at the time relating to the lack of accounting procedures, slack auditing provisions, uncontrolled council expenditure and defalcation within local government.

The municipal district of Katoomba was proclaimed on October 31, 1889, and nominations were called for Katoomba Municipal Council on December 28, 1889. True to his beliefs as a member of the Progress Committee, Spark offered himself as a candidate for alderman, unfettered by party affiliations and promising to service with “discretion and impartiality”. His platform for election was “the advancement of the district on sound and healthy lines” with the inauguration of a sewerage system and water supply having the highest priority followed by the provision of “well metalled” roads and careful supervision of the expenditure of municipal funds.

At the election, which took place on January 11, 1890, Dr Spark was unsuccessful but stood again for candidature at the 1893 elections. This time he was elected and served on a number of committees during his period as alderman, culminating in 1894 when he was elected Mayor by his fellow alderman.

In July 1893 at the age of 39, Dr Spark married 24 year old Johanna Cashman, in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. Johanna was the immigrant daughter of Johanna Shine and James Cashman, farmer, of Co. Cork, Ireland. John and Johanna Spark had seven children: James Hubert 1897, Beatrice 1899, John Redvers 1900-1969, Joan 1904, Edward William 1905-1966, Sheila Kathleen 1907-1959 and Iris Winifred d.1962. During 1894 Dr Spark’s ill health, which had dogged him for many years continued, and the demands of a growing family, caused him to relinquish the position of Mayor in February 1895. Despite repeated requests from his peers, he declined to stand again for Council office.

Community Issues: 1895-1907
While Dr Spark had consciously removed himself from local government, his concern for the people of Katoomba and its development continued. One major area of concern was the promotion of the health-giving characteristics of the Blue Mountains, particularly the areas of Blackheath, Wentworth Falls, Katoomba and Lawson where he practiced. In December 1896 the Doctor “went public” and contributed a three column article to the Sydney Mail titled The Blue Mountains as a Health Resort, an unusual step for a medical practitioner even in 1896. In the article he drew on his “nine years experience of the mountains” and outlined what he considered the remarkable health giving and convalescent properties provided in the area; the type of patient who should and should not go to the mountains; and, the effect they might expect. He concluded with a plea to the then three major Sydney hospitals to establish a convalescent home “wherein cases might lessen greatly their period of recovery from operation and sickness”.

Convinced of the educational benefits provided by living in the mountains, Dr Spark campaigned for the establishment of more schools and the expansion of existing ones. Citing the superior
bracing climate, he campaigned for greater educational opportunities for students completing the fourth standard examinations (12-13 years of age). To pursue this he accepted the position of Chairman of the Katoomba School Board and argued his theory that in the mountains students were exposed to “a climate favourable and conducive to the best continuous brainwork throughout the year”. Further this would provide the greatest benefit to students during “their transitional period, when with rapid growth towards maturity, the studies are of a more actively mental, rather than a passively receptive, character”.

The community involvement of Dr Spark went beyond medical and educational issues, for in July 1889 he was one of the founders of the Katoomba School of Arts and in July 1901 was elected President, a position he held until July 1904 and in July 1906 he was re-elected for a further year. In July 1902 he also undertook responsibility of trustee, a position he held for six years. In addition, he had also been the Chairman of the Reserve Trust and President of the Rifle Club of Katoomba.

The name Dr Spark appears on many birth and death certificates of the time and in numerous newspaper reports of accidents and serious illness. In March 1902 he attended the death of Henry Cole who died from concussion after his horse bolted outside the Railway Hotel, Henry’s daughter Ruby Cole died aged eight in1910 after being kicked in the head by a horse outside her home in Clissold Street, Katoomba; Ruby was the step daughter of Ranger James McKay, builder of the Giant Stairway at Echo Point

The Twilight Years: 1907-1910
In mid 1907 Dr Spark suffered a paralytic stroke from which he never properly recovered, this forced him to relinquish all public positions and retire from general practice. On September 30, 1907 the residents of Katoomba, through the Mayor and Council, presented Spark with an illuminated address and purse in recognition of his twenty-one years service to the community. He resigned as a trustee of the School of Arts in August 1908 and was made that institution’s second life member in July of that year.

Early on Tuesday morning, March 1, 1910 at the age of 56, and 2½ years after the stroke which robbed him of his ability to actively involve himself in the affairs of Katoomba, Dr Spark died at his home, Twickenham Villa, Katoomba Street, Katoomba leaving a wife and seven children. His obituary describes him: “As a professional man he will ever be remembered and loved, especially by the poor, to whom he was ever kind and thoughtful”. The funeral cortege was the largest ever seen on the Mountains and the cedar coffin with silver mountings, covered with magnificent wreaths, was led by local school children to the Anglican section of Katoomba cemetery where the service was conducted by Rev J F S Russell according to the rights of the Church of England. His white marble headstone is an open book signifying the pages left unwritten, the ashes of his eldest son, James Hubert, who died in Melbourne in 1959 are also interred in the grave. The man who had described himself as “a country doctor” left behind a legacy of improved local government and the love and esteem of his local community, to be remembered as “One of Katoomba’s noblest citizens”.

Dr Spark’s son Edward (Ted) Spark attended the Sisters of Charity school in Katoomba, won an exhibition from St Joseph’s College, Sydney and entered medical school at Sydney University, becoming in 1929 at the age of 23, the first Katoomba boy to become a doctor, incidentally winning the university prize for obstetrics.

Images
Portrait of Dr John Spark, Blue Mountains City Library
Illuminated Address to Dr John Spark, Blue Mountains City Library

References
This article is based on: “Local Government Management and the Doctor, the contribution of Dr John Spark to the Municipality of Katoomba”. E W Watts, typescript.

“Beyond the Vale – Dr John Spark” (obituary), Blue Mountains Echo (newspaper) 5 Mar 1910.

“Blue Mountains Municipal Council, Register of Aldermen”. John Low, Blue Mountains City Library.

“Dr John Spark”, newspaper advertisements, Mountaineer (newspaper), various: 1895 - 1900.

“Local Boy’s Success, First Doctor from Katoomba”, Blue Mountains Star (newspaper), 13 Sep 1929.

“The Mountains as a Health Resort, a medical man’s experience”. Dr John Spark, The Sydney Mail Saturday, December 12, 1896.

© 2009 John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian, Blue Mountains City Library.

Kingsford Smith Memorial Park and Wadi Shaifa, Katoomba

This park sits in a natural gully amphitheatre near Katoomba railway station bounded by Gang-Gang Street, Lurline Street and William Street. It covers portions 52 and 53 originally granted to James Henry Neal in 1877-78.


Wadi Shaifa
Until the park was acquired by Blue Mountains City Council in 1921, the area was known as Hudson’s Gully or Hudson’s Park, from the family who had owned most of the surrounding land. Their nearby home, Wadi Shaifa, still overlooks the park at 2 Lurline Street. Mary Davidson Hudson nee Talbot married Ernest A K Hudson in 1900, and with their sons Kenneth, Cyril and Laurence and daughter Dorothy, moved to Katoomba around 1910, acquired part of portion 52 in 1914 and built the house in 1916. The rate book entry for that year shows the value of the house to be ₤2,100.

Ernest purchased the bankrupt emporium business of Mullaney & Co. in Main Street and soon became known as a live-wire and a fighting force in the Bowling Club, the Jockey Club, the Rifle Club, the School of Arts, the Show Society and other posts, the business however failed to prosper. He had formerly held the rank of Captain in the NSW Lancers and in 1915 re-enlisted in the ANZAC Mounted division, and with his horse Tango, served in Egypt and Palestine in WW1. In 1917, he was posted to Divisional HQ with the rank of Major. Henry Gullett described him in the official war history as “the most effective supply officer in adverse circumstances in all Palestine”, he was decorated DSO and mentioned in despatches three times, he died in Palestine of Pneumonia in 1918.

The name Wadi Shaifa commemorates a battle in Egypt about 150 km west of El Alamein described in The War Effort of New Zealand, by W S Austin 1923. The Light Horse was there, with the Kiwis, the Sikhs and the Scots, so perhaps Major Ernie Hudson was too. Major-General Wallace transferred his headquarters from Alexandria to Matruh on December 7th, 1915, and four days later had his first encounter with the Senussi forces. From five to six miles south of Matruh is a tableland some 300 feet high, dropping to the coastal strip in a steep escarpment. The outline of the plateau is irregular, and ten miles to the west of Matruh, it is only two miles from the sea. Intersecting the escarpment at right angles are numerous ancient watercourses, or wadis, which are steep, dry and rocky, and in some cases miles in length.

In one or other of these wadis, the enemy would establish a temporary stronghold. Hudson had been located at Wadi Senaab, eight miles to the westward, and on December 11th, a column moved out to attack his position. The Yeomanry, aided by a squadron of Australian Light Horse, inflicted over 100 casualties and cleared the wadi. The force, which included the Sikhs, camped on the ground won. Being reinforced by the Royal Scots, the column started again on the 13th for a spot 12 miles farther west to engage the enemy, but in crossing Wadi Shaifa, was itself attacked by a force of 1,200, with artillery and machine-guns. The enemy was defeated, however, leaving 180 dead, and was pursued until dark, when the column returned to Matruh.

Following her husband's death, Mrs Hudson ran Wadi Shaifa as flats from the 1920s through the 1950s; she died in 1968 aged 88. It still operates as flats today, one of which was sold in 2009 for $260,000.

Kingsford Smith Park
Hudson’s Gully was in effect the front garden of Wadi Shaifa, when Katoomba Council resumed the land for a park in 1935. After removal of the blackberries and rubbish, it was landscaped according to a plan drawn up a Mr Kerr of the Sydney Botanical Gardens. The labour force was composed of men on unemployment relief and the stone for the many retaining walls was carted in from the surrounding bushland.


The park's first name, in 1935, was Jubilee Park to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. This however was changed only a year later to Kingsford Smith Memorial Park and Playground, in honour of the pioneer Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (1897-1935).

In 1928, Kingsford Smith, in the aircraft Southern Cross, with co-pilot Charles Ulm, and navigation crew Harry Lyon and Jim Warner, had made the first trans-pacific flight from San Francisco to Brisbane, with refuelling stops at Hawaii and Fiji. Leaving Oakland Field on 31 May, they crossed the coast over Ballina at dawn on 8 June and turned north along the coast for Brisbane to refuel, landing at Eagle Farm. They then flew south to Sydney on the same day, where they were welcomed by a crowd of 300,000 people at Mascot. Smith and Ulm had spent over 83 hours in the air in an open cockpit, numbed by cold and lashed by storms, without sleep and deafened for several days after the flight by the engine noise. Being unable to hear, the only way they could communicate with each other and with Lyon and Walker in the cabin behind was via pencilled notes passed between them, these jottings on scap paper are now preserved in the State Library of NSW. On 8 November 1935, Smithy, at the age of only 38, was killed when he crashed into the sea near Aye Island in the Bay of Bengal, while making an attempt on the England-Australia speed record in the Lady Southern Cross, only the nose wheel of the plane was recovered.

On 7 March 1938, Lord Wakehurst, Governor of NSW, dedicated the entrance pavilion with a slate plaque, the lintel bearing the words Kingsford Smith Memorial Park. This was topped with a hemispherical metal dome showing a relief map of Australia, with a two foot scale model of Southern Cross, constructed by Mr Evan Cork of Randwick, mounted above it . In 1939 Katoomba Council constructed the band rotunda and public lavatories at a cost of ₤329 in time for the official opening on 1 January 1940, by the Hon. L. O. Martin, KCMG, Minister for Works and Local Government, a brass plaque on the pavilion commemorates this.

The park is one of many memorials throughout Australia to its courageous pioneer aviator, an unparalleled breaker of long-distance records, a trailblazer and remarkable visionary, and a man whose party trick after singing and playing the ulelele was to drink a glass of beer while standing on his head.

The inaugural Carols by Candlelight was held 8.00 pm to midnight on Christmas Eve 1947, under the auspices of radio station 2GB with proceeds going to Blue Mountains Hospital. By then the park had an ornamental pond and a children’s playground.

Over the next 40 years, the park gradually fell into disuse and disrepair until local residents began to lobby Council to fund improvements and maintenance. In July 1987 high winds tore the dome from its base on the entry pavilion, it was repaired and replaced five months later. At the same time a scale profile of Southern Cross replaced the scale model, which had been vandalised and removed some years before.

In 1991 a friends group was formed and a Carnivale and parade were staged. Restoration of the gardens and rotunda was commenced in 1993, and since the inception of the Winter Magic Festival in 1994 and the Blue Mountains Music Festival in 1996, it has regained much of its earlier popularity as a music venue and picnic spot, weather permitting.

In 1998, a landslip caused by a leaking water main resulted in extensive damage, and a $300,000 repair bill. Around this time, there were also numerous complaints from nearby residents, of anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in the park, which were addressed with tree and foliage thinning, security lighting and police patrols.

In 2001 the entry pavilion became unstable and was dismantled and re-erected on new foundations and reinforced pillars with a rebuilt retaining wall.

Kingsford Smith Park is one of two aviator memorials in Katoomba, the other being Bert Hinkler Park in Lurline Street.

Images from top:
1. 1930s tourist guide entry for Wadi Shaifa
2. Subdivision plan, Wadi Shaifa is located on lot 1.
3. 1940s view of the main entry with model of Southern Cross
4. 1940s view of rotunda and early plantings
5. 1947 Carols by Candlelight program

(c)John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
Blue Mountains City Library, 2009

Eurama & Weemala at Faulconbridge

Eurama
This burnt out building ruin on the side of the Great Western Highway at Faulconbridge was once a grand house with a tower built for a wealthy businessman named Andrew McCulloch in the early 1880s. The stone used in its construction was quarried nearby and the work was carried out by a well known local stonemason, Patrick (Paddy) Ryan. McCulloch furnished his country house using the exclusive Sydney firm of Lyon Cottier and Co. The property boasted a tennis court, flag-staff and beautiful gardens and an ornamental lake made by damming a gully.

McCulloch named his new residence “Weemala”, an Aboriginal word said to mean “an expansive view”, and spent the next few years developing the grounds. However, at the end of the 1880s, he began to experience financial difficulties and sold the property to J. W. Cliff in 1889.


When Cliff sold the property, then totaling about 113 acres in 1907, the new owner, a solicitor named George Evans, changed the name to “Eurama”, said to be a Greek word meaning much the same as the earlier Aboriginal one. Evans had also purchased the neighbouring house, “Numantia”, a wooden cottage adjacent to the railway line with its own rail platform, built in 1877 by Sir James Martin, and to this he transferred the name “Weemala”. This has proved to be a source of great confusion and many people today still refer to “Eurama” as “Weemala”.


When George Evans died “Eurama” passed to his daughter, Mrs Emily Ethel McLaurin. It was later sold to Mrs Katherine Nathan in the 1920s and around 1930, to Mrs Daisy Brown. Following Mrs Brown’s death the building was left vacant for a time and suffered from some vandalism. Over the ensuing decades many owners had their dreams cut short. The depression, war and other hard times, falling on the owners. In the early 1960s the then owner, Mr Adams, set about restoring the decaying property. Restoration had been completed just prior to the disastrous bushfires on 1968. The fire consumed the house in all its grandeur and the building remains a ruin today.

As a postscript to the “Eurama” story, the Blue Mountains City Library was given permission by Mr. Watkins, the then owner, to stage an open air children’s adventure theatre performance there during the Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. With the ruins as a backdrop the property proved a most effective site for this project.


Weemala
“Weemala” is now situated close to the rail line behind the high stone wall.
The cottage originally on this site was erected about 1877 for Sir James Martin K.C.M.G. It was to be his country residence and was named Numantia. Numantia being a region in Spain and it has been said that Sir James thought the countryside here similar to that of Numantia, Spain. It was a wooden house set behind a high stone wall.

Sir James had acquired a large amount of land from Sir Henry Parkes and it was his intention to build a huge mansion after he had built this small wooden cottage. The grand mansion never eventuated. The foundations only were laid. They later c.1914-18 became the foundations for “Banool” now “The Bungalow” on the corner of Martin Place at Linden.

In 1876 a railway platform was erected to service the well-to-do residents of the area. It became the Numantia Platform but ceased operation in 1892 with the platform being removed in 1897.

In 1898 Adolphus Rogalsky purchased Numantia and it was he who changed the name to Weemala. This coincided with the name change for the other Weemala to Eurama.

The high stone wall of “Numantia”, later “Weemala”, still stands. The cottage was destroyed by bushfire in December 1977. Since then a new three bedroom brick veneer cottage has been erected behind the stone wall.


To summarise:
Weemala (1880s) became Eurama (1907)
Numantia (1877) became Weemala (1907)




Images from top
1. Ruins of Eurama after 1968 bushfires
2. Ornamental lake, Eurama
3. Emily Ethel Mclaurin
4. Eurama in its heyday
5. Map of Eurama and Weemala c1920

© 2009 John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian, Blue Mountains City Library

The Giant Stairway, Echo Point, Katoomba

First Steps
At 540 metres in length, with 911 steps hewn from the cliff face and 32 steel staircases, the aptly named Giant Stairway drops almost 300 metres to the floor of the Jamieson Valley below the Three Sisters. At the official opening in 1932, the Newcastle Morning Herald saw it as a "triumph of nerve and skill", while the Sydney Morning Herald concluded that "patience and courage have had their reward".

Such comments, made in relation to the official opening of both the Giant Stairway and the Projecting Platform at Echo Point on Saturday October 1, 1932, were among many offering tribute to Ranger McKay, the man who almost two decades previously had conceived the idea of a track linking the cliff top at Echo Point with the Federal Pass below.

James Henry McKay was born in Balmain on December 4, 1869 and died in Katoomba on September 12, 1947. He appears to have been the third ranger employed to care for reserves in the Katoomba area, following in the steps of John Smith and Charles Deeves respectively. His appointment as Chief Ranger in 1901 came soon after the opening of the Federal Pass in 1900, which traversed the valley floor between Katoomba Falls and Leura Falls, an event representative of a new phase in the leisure use of the Blue Mountains. Gaining full time employment with Katoomba Council may have also helped Jim McKay make up his mind to marry a twenty year old widow and mother of four children, Emily Cole (1882-1962), in 1902 and have six children, William 1903, Letitia 1904, Isabel 1908, Dorothy 1910, Edna 1914 and Laura 1921. Emily’s daughter Ruby Cole, born 1901, was killed in Katoomba in 1910 by a kick from a horse; her father Henry Cole had died in a fall from a horse outside the Railway Hotel in Katoomba in 1902, both were attended by Dr John Spark; Henry and Ruby Cole share an unmarked grave in Katoomba cemetery.

Prior to 1890, the development of the Blue Mountains bushland for the benefit of visitors had been concentrated primarily on the cliff tops - constructing lookout access to the most popular views. The 1890s and early 20th century saw interest moving downwards into the valleys with the emphasis placed now on the active enjoyment of walking. Track-walking remained the primary motive behind the development of the area for leisure until the 1930s, when the motor car, speeding from sight to sight with its cargo of ‘sightseers’, revolutionised tourism and re-directed attention once again to the cliff edge. Indeed, Echo Point, with its Giant Stairway down into the valley and its Projecting Platform looking out over the valley, could be said to represent both the end of one era and the beginning of another.

It was from the Dardanelles track that, in 1914, he conceived his idea of a new pass that would junction with the Three Sisters at Echo Point. Scoffed at initially, his project eventually received Council approval in July 1916 following an all-day inspection of the reserves by the Reserves Committee (Aldermen C.L. Dash, G. James, G. Davies and R.V. Smythe), In their report to Council, they recommended "that it be left in the hands of Chief Ranger McKay to construct a new track from the vicinity of Echo Point to connect with Federal Pass at a point below the Three Sisters". Council adopted the report and the work began under the direction of McKay, his assistant Walter Botting and their team of labourers, which included Reubin Esgate, father of the noted Mountains identity Ben Esgate.

An article in the "Blue Mountain Echo" in 1916 reports that McKay "took to the work from the first" and with a dedication few could match today. On one occasion, the writer asserts, his wages were eight months in arrears and he survived only on large credit accounts with local stores. Before he began work on the Giant Stairway, the Federal Pass had 1,764 steps, 500 of which were in reasonable condition. By 1916, McKay had increased this to 6,464 steps, including a new track from near Bull's Head, which skirted the cliffs and led to the top of the Leura Cascades and he planned and opened the Dardanelles section of the Federal Pass. In 1908 he had led the construction of the Furber Steps, his first great stairway into the Jamison Valley.


Delay... then renewed interest
After proceeding for almost a quarter of the distance, however, the work of hacking the steps from the sheer cliff face was deemed too costly by Council and the project was brought to a halt in August 1918 and in 1922 Council's Chief Engineer estimated that a further 300 steps needed to be cut. The whole idea then lapsed for over a decade.

In the early 1930s, Harry Phillips, the noted Mountains photographer, published a small pamphlet outlining his suggestions for the future tourist development of Katoomba. Among these was the completion of the Giant Stairway which, he argued, "Can be completed at a small outlay; it leads directly into the most prolific and prettiest Fern Glen Forest in the Jamieson Valley, Leura, where magnificent motor tracks and camping areas can and should be, opened up immediately." Following vigorous agitation on the part of Alderman W.C. Soper, a close friend of Phillips, a renewed interest in the scheme was awakened early in 1932. A motion put before Council by Soper was passed and work, again under the control of Chief Ranger McKay, recommenced. This proceeded with sufficient speed for a decision to be made in July to arrange for the official opening to take place on the first weekend of October. An extensive publicity campaign under the direction of the Town Clerk, Mr. F.C. Taylor, was set in motion, circularising the provincial and city press, various radio stations and arranging with Cinesound to make it, as the Katoomba Daily put it, "a boost day for Katoomba".

Official Opening
The official opening duly took place at 3.30 p.m. on the Saturday of the Eight Hour Weekend. Following the speeches of welcome by the Mayor Alderman A.E. Packer, and the local members of Parliament, Hon. J. Jackson, Minister for Local Government and Mr. J.N. Lawson M.H.R., The Premier of New South Wales, the Hon. B.S.B. Stevens, responded and declared both the Giant Stairway and the Projecting Platform open. In his speech, the Premier paid tribute to those who carried out the hard physical work, work that on occasions was so dangerous that they had to be roped to prevent them falling. He praised their skill and courage and assured them that "they will always have the satisfaction of knowing that their initiative and labour will bring pleasure to countless thousands in the years to come", and to "have shaken the hand of Chief Ranger McKay made this a memorable day".

The ceremonies over, the huge crowd witnessed an exciting exhibition of rock-climbing by three members of the Blue Mountaineers Club: Dr. Eric Dark, Mr. Osmar White and Mr. Paddy Ellis.

"These intrepid mountaineers first appeared on the sheer wall of the western precipice about 4.00 p.m. and quickly ascended 500 feet of cliff face to the summit of the Second Sister, where the Australian Flag was flown. The descent proved even more spectacular and although the climbers did not take any unnecessary risks, and were on no occasion in danger of falling, many of the spectators literally held their breaths as they witnessed the amazing ascent of the beetling crags". (Katoomba Daily).

While the motor car was ushering in a new era of leisure activity in the mountains, which reduced somewhat the popularity of walking tracks, the Giant Stairway, though perhaps representative of this earlier phase, has, with its panoramic views and as a companion to the Scenic Railway, survived as a popular tourist attraction for the eight decades since its completion. As a memorial to the work and vision of Chief Ranger Jim McKay, and others like him, its value to the Blue Mountains is even further enhanced.

Photos
Top: Chief Ranger Jim McKay poses on the Stairs with his assistant Walter Botting (Harry Phillips photo).
Second: McKay with workers, showing use of picks, hammers and chisels to cut back rock prior to step making.
Third: The official party, The Premier Sir Bertram Stevens 4th from right, the man in the bowler hat at rear is Percy Wilson, President of Blue Mountains Shire.
Bottom: The crowd at the official opening, Echo Point.

References:
"The Giant Stairway 1932-1982", by John Low, Blue Mountains City Library 1982.
"The Giant Stairway", by Keith Painter, Mountain Mist Books 2005.
"Walking the Federal Pass, the first 100 years", by Jim Smith, Den Fenella Press 2001.
© John Low and John Merriman
Blue Mountains City Library 2009

Stratford Girls' School, Lawson

Stratford Girls School, San Jose Ave. Lawson

The original building with its three floor levels and tower was constructed in 1879 and named “San Jose”, by Joseph (Jose) Guillermo Hay, an official in the Lands Department, who had received a grant of 300 acres at Lawson the previous year. In the 1880s Hay took advantage of the Mountains’ new and growing reputation as a health and recreation retreat, and by 1882 the name “San Jose” had the words “The Blue Mountains Sanatorium” added to it and described in a local guidebook as “the best for private families” and “with grounds laid out with romantic paths in all directions”. In 1889 Hay applied for a publican’s licence for the property then known as “Hay’s Family Hotel”, described as having fourteen rooms for public use. During the 1890s the property was acquired by John Ralston who ran it as a guesthouse known as “The Palace” for the next two decades until, in 1919, it eventually took the name and function for which it is best known.

The original Stratford School was founded in 1915 by Miss Edith Townsend Wiles who began classes with six pupils in a rented cottage in Lawson, on the Bathurst Road as the highway was then known. By 1919 the old cottage was “bursting at the seams” and a move became imperative. The school made the move across the highway and railway line taking the name “Stratford School for Girls” with it. In 1924 Miss Wiles and her sister, who was also a member of staff, purchased the building from the Ralston estate and were then able to make additions and alterations to accommodate the school.

When Miss Wiles died in 1930, the enrolment was 49 girls of which 31 were boarders, five girls sat for the Intermediate Certificate exam and two girls sat the Leaving Certificate. Control had passed to the Stratford School Council and subsequently, in 1936, to the Church of England, and the school entered its heyday as “Stratford Church of England School for Girls”.

“The development of capable Christian gentlewomen in an exceptionally healthy, bracing and invigorating climate” - that was the promise of Stratford School, to prospective students and parents in the 1940s-50s. According to a 1950s school prospectus, boarders at Stratford enjoyed an atmosphere of individuality and co-operation. Pupils were “fitted for practical business”, whilst encouraged to regard life from the stand-point of high ideals and to further their studies at the university.

Stratford’s curriculum, extending from primary to leaving certificate, included scripture, English, history, geography, French, Latin, mathematics, physiology, biology, business principles, book-keeping, art, handicrafts and speech training. Music and singing also featured as an important part of school life and students could choose to sit for Australian Music Examinations Board grade exams.

The girls wore an attractive grey uniform, but jewelry was strictly forbidden, with the gracious exception of the school badge and a wrist watch. Money was also controlled, with all funds going to a pocket money account. Statements on expenditure for outings, church collections and incidentals were issued to parents. There were three school terms, each 13 weeks long, though the girls were allowed one weekend mid-term to visit relations or friends. Travel to and from Sydney for vacations and mid-term holidays, was always supervised by a mistress from the school.

During term, visitors were allowed, by arrangement with the headmistress, but no student could accept invitations without written permission from her parents. Non-vacation weekends were devoted to healthy activities and visits to places of interest in the district. As with most Mountains boarding schools of the era, great emphasis was placed on fresh air, healthy diet and wholesome activities. The dining room menu boasted copious quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables, home¬made jams and preserves and plenty of milk. Prospectus photographs showed bright, healthy young ladies, poised with grace and decorum in the dining room, clearly enjoying their healthy, wholesome meal.

Recreation was also high on the list at Stratford with tennis, netball, Vigoro and swimming at the nearby Lawson Pool offered to all pupils. The girls were accommodated in bedrooms for two and four boarders and there is also mention of a fine glassed-in balcony with an eastern aspect which appears to have housed a few beds as well. During the winter, swimming lessons were abandoned and wood fires were lit in the assembly hall and classrooms. Stratford girls, unlike their counterparts at Osborne College, Blackheath, were also afforded the privilege of a hot water service. The prospectus makes no mention of students’ academic records, but in the early 1950s, following a report by the Department of Education; the school was reduced to Intermediate Certificate level.

The 1957 fees brochure shows that the Leaving Certificate had been reinstated and announced the launch of a building fund to raise ₤5,000 for the erection of new and modern classrooms and to “gain help for Stratford to develop along modern lines.” Two coaches from the Lawn Tennis Association had joined the staff to provide coaching to pupils for which a fee of ₤2.10.0 per term was charged. It appears however that all this was unsuccessful, so with the buildings and furniture run down, changing trends in education and competition from Public schools and other private schools such as Blue Mountains Grammar at Wentworth Falls - Stratford finally closed in 1961.

In 1966, the building was sold to a Sydney couple, who refurbished the interior to house wedding receptions, dinners and private patties. The establishment lasted until the late 1970s, when in 1977, the Blue Mountains Community School moved in with 18 students, a new teacher and Government grants for a library and mini-bus.

By 1980, the building was owned by brothers Lionel and Vivian Coleman of Sydney, but there would be no more tenants for Stratford. On June 4, 1980, as the result of an electrical fault, the building was gutted by fire. Today, the only reminder of Stratford’s former glory is a large stenciled sign on the building's tower, the rest has gone. The remains of the building, except for the tower section, were demolished by a developer in the early 1990s. No further move has been made, at the time of writing, to develop the site, which is listed on the local heritage register.

Stratford at Tahlia and the Japanese Cherry Tree
In 1915 the first home of the school was the rented cottage Narbethong on Bathurst road, then until 1919 at a house named Krawaree, later known as Tahlia House, situated near the Lawson Community Hall. In 2008 Talia was threatened by road widening plans for Lawson and was re-sited back from the highway alignment by the RTA. While the school occupied Tahlia, in 1916, Woodford resident Toranosuki Kitamura, manager of Kinematsu (Australia) Ltd, imported a Yedoensis flowering cherry tree which he planted at the school as a token of respect for the high quality of education his three daughters, Jean, Una and Beth had received. The tree thrived for many years but due to its age and poor health could not be moved to make way for traffic. However over 100 young trees were successfully propagated from cuttings which are to be incorporated into landscape plans for the new highway and town centre. In 2002 a farewell ceremony for the old cherry tree was organised by a former Stratford student from the 1940s, Mrs Kathleen Hooke nee Barwick, and attended by the Japanese Consul General, the Mayor and the Member for Blue Mountains, local councillors and the grandchildren of Mr Kitamura.

Headmistresses of Stratford Girls School
1908 - Miss Edith Wiles, “a woman of high ideals and rare courage”
1919 – Moved to the building in San Jose Ave.
1929 - Placed under management of Stratford School Council
1930 - Miss Wiles dies, succeeded by Mrs Jeanette Ashton
1934 - Miss Rita J Allan
1936 - Miss Gertrude Watkins, Church of England management
1949 – Miss Nina Brentnall B.A.
1950 – Mrs Helen McTurk Wayne (acting)
1951 – Mrs Helen McTurk Wayne
1956 – Miss Mary Thomson B.A.; Mrs Deidre Hayter
1957 – Miss Judith Thewlis B.Sc. Dip.Ed.
1958 – Miss Bannerman
1961 – School closes

Stratford School Song
The mountains are rolling around us,
And the blue sky is arching above.
Stand the old Stratford grammar at Lawson,
The school that we honour and love.

Chorus:
Stratford, Stratford the school of the blue and gold,
Gold for the sunshine and blue for the mountain tops cold.

The future lies glorious before us,
And though we are eager to try -
Its pleasures, we’re all of us ready
For the duties that close to us lie.

Chorus

Though all of us cannot be clever,
We all can be useful and kind.
Or learning to cherish forever,
The treasures of spirit and mind.

Chorus

Whether defeated of winning,
Heads high we shall smile and press on.
‘Til at last we shall sigh to remember,
Our school days at Stratford are done.

Chorus.

Fees 1957
Boarders
Primary per term ₤85.0.0
Secondary per term ₤88.0.0
Laundry per term ₤3.10.0
Yearly linen fee ₤2.2.0
Entrance fee ₤3.3.0

*****

References
Stratford School, notes by Kathleen Hooke, 2000
Stratford Prospectus, Anglican Diocese of Sydney, c.1950
Stratford Girls School – Local Studies clippings file, Blue Mountains City Library

Images from top
1: Stratford ruins after the fire, photographed by Neil Billington(1983) for Blue Mountains City Library.

2: Advertising poster for San Jose, The Blue Mountain Sanatorium, note Blue Mountain was the earlier name for Lawson from the 1840s until 1879.

3: Stratford girls in uniform (centre) at the opening of the relief map of Australia at Lawson swimming pool 1932, Lawson public school pupils on left and Percy Wilson, Blue Mountains Shire President, in bowler hat with his wife on the bridge; a Stratford mistress appears to be with them on left of bridge. The cement model was constructed by Mr Higgison of Allen St Lawson who was to die on the Sandakan Death March in 1943, he is one of the men standing centre left.

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian
© Blue Mountains City Library 2009

The White Cross at Mt York

THE WHITE CROSS AT MOUNT YORK

For many years one of the Blue Mountains’ most distinctive landmarks was a large white cross on the cliff-edge of Mount York that could be glimpsed from the highway between Little Hartley and Victoria Pass. Although now removed, the cross has been a continuing source of speculation and enquiry since its erection early in the 20th century. It stood facing west, just off the Mount York road, some distance before the obelisk which marks the western descent of the explorers, Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson in 1813.

The cross was formed of a large upright and transverse steel girder bolted together, and was erected about 1911 by Henry Marcus Clark (1859-1913) who founded the business known as Marcus Clark & Co. Ltd. From a modest start in the Sydney suburb of Newtown in 1883, Marcus Clark & Co rose to become one of the city's largest department stores with a network of branches in towns and suburbs across Australia.

The cross commemorated the death, on April 1st 1899 of his son Byron Henry Clark at the site of their Mount York home known as "Drachenfels", which stood near the cliff edge facing Victoria Pass. The house and its extensive outbuildings, coach-house and orchard were lost in a bushfire in 1902.

On the day of the tragedy, Mr. Clark was in Sydney, while his second wife Georgina and several friends were staying at "Drachenfels". Two of the Clark children, Hazel, aged 14 and Roland, 10, and a couple of companions decided to visit a small cave on the cliff face about 15 metres below the top and some distance along a ledge.

The children were experienced in scrambling around the local rocks and cliffs and the descent presented no difficulties. However, on this occasion, just as they had almost reached the cave, it was noticed that their younger brother, Byron, aged 6, was following. He had already descended from the top of the cliff and was just commencing the traverse, when one of the girls, realising the danger, called to him to go back.

The words had hardly left her mouth when the ledge of rock on which he was standing broke and he fell about 50 metres to the foot of the cliff, striking a ledge about half way down in the course of his fall. Two of the girls and young Roland Clark climbed back to the top of the cliff and informed Georgina, who set off with her companions by a round-about route to the base of the cliff.

In the meantime, Hazel and Roland climbed down to the base of the cliff, where they found young Byron lying badly injured but scarcely marked amongst the fern and bracken. The women decided to carry him to the top but Byron died during the ascent. The family never again lived in "Drachenfels", which they placed in the care of Sam Wilson, a storekeeper at Mount Victoria, who made occasional visits to the property until the buildings were destroyed by the bushfire. Byron is buried at Waverley Cemetery in the family plot.

The property has changed hands a number of times in recent years and although the cross was removed by the owners around 1989 to discourage sightseers and access to the property is not permitted; the site of the Marcus Clark Cross received Council heritage listing in 1991. It is believed the White Cross remains on the site.

© John Merriman
Blue Mountains City Library


Reference: P.W. Spriggs, ‘Blue Mountains cross recalls tragedy´ Daily Telegraph, September 7,1964

Coal and Shale Mining Near Katoomba

Introduction

As early as 1841 Rev. W B Clarke noted the presence of coal in the Blue Mountains and in 1866 made the first systematic description of the deposits of oil shale in the Hartley area, where its existence had been known from as early as 1824.

Early exploitation of resources

Seams containing both coal and shale outcrops were noticed by the early settlers in the valley walls of the Blue Mountains and in the 1860s the imminent construction of the western railway encouraged considerable local exploration. The most extensive and successful oil shale operations took place in the Hartley region where, prior to the rail connection, bullock teams carted shale to the railhead at Mount Victoria. With the building of the Lithgow Zig Zag rail line and the consequent extension of the railway to the west, the growth of the Hartley-Lithgow region into a large industrial center founded on the local coal and shale deposits was assured. While the Grose Valley near Mount Victoria also attracted some freelance small-scale exploration from the mid 1860s, it was the Katoomba area that was next to profit from the exploitation of the Blue Mountains’ coal and shale resources.

In the 1860's Campbell Mitchell discovered three seams of kerosene shale on the Megalong Valley side of the Narrow Neck Peninsula. With Thomas Sutcliffe Mort he acquired 640 acres here (Portions 14 and 15, Parish of Megalong, County of Cook) and established the Glen Shale Mine. To ascertain whether the shale deposits extended into the adjoining Jamison Valley, he then explored the eastern side of Narrow Neck, including the area of the Ruined Castle Ridge. His investigations revealed profitable seams but the difficulties of transporting it over the rugged terrain to the Western Railway appeared too daunting.

In the 1870's, John Britty North purchased a substantial quantity of land, much of which later formed a large part of the developing town of Katoomba. Included in his purchase was most of the land along the cliff front from Echo Point to Narrow Neck and across to the Ruined Castle. North also rented the substantial home ‘Essendon’ (or ‘Essendene’), owned by the Henderson family and built near the present junction of the highway and Cliff Drive. The building, with a large tower was later used as a school and guesthouse, until destroyed by fire in 1929. He later built his own home, ‘Lassie Brae’, in Katoomba Street, which was eventually demolished as the commercial centre of Katoomba developed.

To exploit the coal seams, which outcropped at the base of the cliffs near the Orphan Rock, North registered a company under the title of Katoomba Coal Mine, in 1870. Once the coal mine was under way, North began an examination of the Ruined Castle area in the Jamison Valley in the early 1880's and, locating two substantial outcrops of kerosene shale, formed another company known as the Katoomba Coal and Shale Co. Ltd. in 1885.

In 1882 a loading depot, known as North's Siding was opened on the Western Railway on the Sydney side of what is now ShelI Corner on the western edge of Katoomba. There developed a whole system of interconnected tramways linking this depot with the various coal and shale mines, which opened up in the Megalong and Jamison Valleys to the south.

With the opening of the Ruined Castle mines, North imported engineers from Germany to construct an elevated tramway known as the Flying Fox from the company's engine bank - now the site of the Scenic Railway - across the Jamison Valley to the Ruined Castle ridge. A fault in construction resulted in a short working life when, after carrying only 500 tons of shale, it collapsed into the valley below where the wreckage still remains. Considerable money had been invested in this project and the disaster spelled the end of the company. Shale mining at the Ruined Castle ceased and while the coalmine continued for a time, the company soon went into liquidation.

In 1890 the Glen Shale Mine in the Megalong Valley was purchased by The Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company, which operated a shale oil industry at Joadja near Mittagong. The following year this company leased the shale mines at the Ruined Castle formerly operated by the Katoomba Coal and Shale Co. Ltd., together with that company's tramway system linking its coalmines near Orphan Rock with North's Siding.

The new company concentrated its effort on the Glen Shale Mine. As well as bringing a large quantity of machinery and transport equipment to Katoomba from their operations at Joadja, they tunnelled through the coalmine at the base of Engine Bank and then through the Narrow Neck to link the Megalong Valley operations with those in the Jamison Valley. A single-track horse tramway was laid out beneath the eastern ramparts of the Narrow Neck Peninsula linking the Ruined Castle mines with the double-tracked skipway before entering the Narrow Neck Daylight Tunnel.

From 1895, the shale mining activities at the Ruined Castle and Glen Shale Mines gradually decreased. The seams were becoming exhausted and the returns from sales were reduced. By 1903, the shale industry at Katoomba ceased to exist. Most of the equipment was transferred to the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company's operation at Torbane. The lease at West Katoomba expired in 1906.

Miners' Settlements During This Period

1. Settlement in the Engine Bank/Katoomba Falls Area.

Several streets of weatherboard cottages extended from the Engine Bank to the intersection of the road now known as Golf Links Road, (the location of this raod is currently unknown). A hotel, The Centennial, later known as The Falls House, was destroyed by fire in 1973. A small store also existed but has long since disappeared. When the mine closed the miners’ cottages were bought by Paddy Mullaney who rebuilt them at the lower end of Leichhardt, Clissold and Vale Streets, Katoomba where many still stand.

2. Nellie's Glen Settlement.

At the foot of Nellie's Glen existed a sizeable mining settlement with a large hotel, butcher's shop, bakery and public hall but this settlement did not survive the end of the shale industry in 1903. In 1904 the hotel was moved in sections by bullock team and re-erected in Lurline Street where it became a guesthouse known as ‘Maldwin’.

3. The Ruined Castle Settlement.

The settlement here was predominantly made up of quarters for single men. The building materials used consisted of bush timber, bark, kerosene tins and whatever was at hand. This settlement also faded away with the end of the shale works.

Later Mining Operations at Katoomba

In 1925 there occurred a revival of North's long abandoned coalmine below the cliffs at South Katoomba. A local syndicate formed the Katoomba Colliery Ltd. and resumed mining activities on a lease of 160 acres. The old workings supplied a substantial quantity of coal, which was sold on the local market, principally to the Katoomba Electric Power House and in smaller amounts to the hotels, guesthouses and local residents.

During the Depression however, capital costs increased and the local market was reduced. Despite its decreasing viability, the mine continued to operate until the Second World War. However as the company progressed toward liquidation, one aspect of its operation had a parallel rise in fortune, and helped to augment the mine's declining income. The rehabilitation work carried out on the coal haulage system up the cliff face opposite Orphan Rock integrated into the booming Katoomba tourist industry of the 1920's and 1930's. The "Mountain Devil" of the early 1930's became eventually the "Scenic Railway" of today.

The exploitation of the coal and kerosene shale deposits in the Jamison and Megalong Valleys brought the Katoomba region to wider public notice than its earlier use as a stone quarry and began to establish it as a population centre. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, Katoomba was known principally as a coal-mining town. However the influence of the mining operations upon Katoomba's early development coincided with another vastly different trend, which began to make itself felt at about the same time: the development of the Blue Mountains as a tourist and recreational destination and recognition as a valuable natural and wilderness area, culminating in its recognition as a World Heritage Area in December 2000.

(c)John Merriman 2009

Reference
Blue Mountains Heritage Study 1982, Croft & Associates in association with Meredith Walker for Blue Mountains City Council