The Prime Ministers' Corridor of Oaks, Jackson Park, Faulconbridge

Faulconbridge was the maiden name of Sir Henry Parkes mother, and the name he chose for his mountain property after he purchased land near Springwood in the mid-1870s.  The first house he built was given the name 'Stonehurst', the second and principal residence was called 'Faulconbridge House'.

In the early 1870s, Parkes began to consider ways to unite the Australian colonies and in 1883 a Federal Council was set up to consider a Federal Constitution. Things moved slowly, however, and little more than discussion took place until 1889 when, with the encouragement of the Governor, Lord Carrington, Parkes entered upon a strenuous campaign for federation. This was the year of the famous Tenterfield address on the need for the Australian colonies to federate into one nation. Parkes' diplomatic skills in handling the often suspicious colonial governments led to a Federal Convention which met in Sydney in 1891 and to the drafting of a proposed federal constitution. The depression of the early 1890s slowed the movement down and Parkes did not live to see the first Australian Commonwealth Government sworn in on 1 January, 1901. He died in April, 1896 and was buried beside his first wife in the family's plot in Faulconbridge Cemetery.

In 1917 the Parkes' residence, Faulconbridge House, was purchased by Mr Joseph Jackson (1874-1961), a businessman who was to become a long-time resident of Faulconbridge and the member for Nepean in the NSW Legislative Assembly from 1927 until he resigned in 1956. He possessed a keen interest in Australian History and was a great admirer of Sir Henry Parkes.

Both Jackson and his wife, Mylora, involved themselves enthusiastically in the local affairs of Faulconbridge and, in 1932, they purchased a parcel of land opposite their home and offered it to the Blue Mountains Shire Council for use as a park. Much of the early care of Jackson Park was undertaken by him and, in following years, he made several further donations to extend its area.

Having established the park, Joseph Jackson conceived the idea of inviting each of Australia's Prime Ministers, or their surviving relatives, to plant an oak tree there. A tree planting precedent had already been set in Faulconbridge when, in 1881, their Royal Highnesses Prince Albert and Prince George (later King George V) each planted a tree in the grounds of Faulconbridge House whilst breakfasting with Sir Henry and Lady Parkes.

Jackson wanted to build on this precedent and envisioned, as the trees grew in size and number, a grand Avenue of Oaks forming opposite the home of the Father of Federation. This would serve, not only as a memorial to Sir Henry Parkes, but also to remind visitors of the importance of what had been achieved when Australia became a federation.

The first oak tree was planted on Wednesday, 12 September, 1934 by the then Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Joseph A. Lyons.

Up to August 2024, twenty eight trees have been planted.

Prime Ministers - Terms of Office and Dates of Tree Planting

 

NAME	YEARS/TERM	DATE OF TREE PLANTING	PLANTED BY
Edmund Barton	1901-1903	29 June 1935	Lady Barton
Alfred Deakin	1903-04   1905-08	17 August 1936	Mrs H. Brookes (his daughter)
	1909-10
Chris Watson	1904	29 June 1935	In person
George Reid	1904-05	29 June 1935	Lady Reid
Andrew Fischer	1908-09   1910-13	9 September 1939	Mrs Andrew Fischer (his widow)
	1914-15
Joseph Cook	1913-14	29 June 1935	In person
William Morris Hughes	1915-23	17 August 1935	In person
Stanley Melbourne Bruce	1923-29	4 March 1939	In person
James Scullin	1929-32	9 September 1939	In person
Joseph Lyons	1932-39	12 September 1934	In person
Earle Page	1939	17 May 1941	In person
Robert Menzies	1939-41 1944-66	11 October 1941	In person
War years – no planting
Arthur Fadden	1941	6 December 1947	In person
John Curtin	1941-45	6 December 1947	Mrs E. Cole (his daughter)
Francis Forde	1945	24 July 1954	In person
Ben Chifley	1945-49	6 December 1947	In person
Harold Holt	1966-67	4 October 1967	Mrs Zara Holt
John McEwan	1967-68	28 March 1969	In person
John Gorton	1968-71	15 July 1971	In person
William McMahon	1971-72	22 April 1974	In person
Gough Whitlam	1972-75	3 September 1976	In person
Malcolm Fraser	1975-83	30 March 1979	In person
Robert Hawke	1983-91	2 April 1987	In person
Paul Keating	1991-96	30 August 1995	In person
John Howard	1996-2007	7 April 2000	In person
Kevin Rudd	2007-2010 & 2013- 2013	8 October 2012	In person
Julia Gillard	2010-2013	27 July 2017	In person
Tony Abbott	2013-2015	5 August 2024	In person
Malcolm Turnbull	2015-2018	19 March 2025	In person
Scott Morrison	2018-2022		Not yet planted
Anthony Albanese	2022-		Not yet planted

 

*****

Images from top:
1. The Corridor of Oaks c.1940
2. Mrs HL Brooks, daughter of Alfred Deakin, planted her father's tree on 17 August 1936
3. Stanley Melbourne Bruce planted his oak tree on 4th March 1939. Next to him is Joseph Jackson (1874-1961) former Lord Mayor of Sydney, State MP and founder of the Prime Ministers' Corridor of Oaks.
4.  The Rt Hon Joseph Benedict Chifley, the former locomotive fireman and driver, knows how to handle a  shovel, 6th December 1947.
5. William and Sonia McMahon with Mayor Dash at the microphone, 22nd April 1971.
6. Our only red headed PM, until Julia Gillard, and first Roman Catholic Prime Minister - James Scullin founded the Commonwealth Literary Grants, played the violin, and was a lifelong teetotaler and non-smoker. Joseph Jackson MHR, founder of the Prime Ministers' Corridor of Oaks at Jackson Park, Faulconbridge, looks on, 9th September 1939.
7. Kevin Rudd shoulders the spade, 8th October 2012.


All images from the Local Studies Collection.
John Merriman
Local Studies Librarian, 2012



Minnie Quinlan (c.1860-1949)

Mary (Minnie) Quinlan was born about 1860 to Patrick Quinlan, quarryman, and Mary Maloney, in County Clare, Ireland. It seems the family left Ireland for personal reasons, perhaps following Patrick's death, as she appears in official records in the 1861 Census in Liverpool, England when she was 3 years old. She is listed with her brother Patrick age 2, a baby of three months and her mother then 22, all of whom lived with her father's brother, Thomas Quinlan, a tailor aged 45.

Mary arrived in Australia as an assisted immigrant in the early 1880s. A shipping arrival record for 1884 shows a Mary Quinlan age 22, arriving in NSW on the S.S. Abergeldie. She travelled in the company of other Irish girls in their teens and twenties, girls with names like Kate and Sarah, Mary and Bridget; all listed as domestics, from the counties of Derry, Kerry, Tyrone, Tipperary, Donegal, Leitrim, Meath and Clare.

How and when Minnie arrived in Katoomba is unknown, she appears on the Katoomba electoral rolls from 1920 to 1949, as a spinster and occupier of a house in Parke Street. During this time she was described as ‘well-loved and well known to many for her work for the Red Cross’. On afternoons after Red Cross stalls were held, Minnie would prepare tea at her home for all of the ladies who had worked on the stalls.

Minnie was widely known as the Town Charlady, but would only do such work for the Congregational Church ministers, although herself of Roman Catholic denomination. Apparently she also cleaned the nearby Children’s Library and Craft Club in Davies Lane, established in 1942 and managed by her close friend Miss Ebbs.

In her latter years Minnie became an old age pensioner and lived on about ₤l.0.0 per week. Although a single woman living alone, she was never lonely; on most days she could be found on a seat outside the Katoomba Post Office where she would chat to passers by, both friends and strangers.

Minnie's death certificate shows she died of heart disease at the age of 88 years, with no known relatives, and was buried at Rookwood Cemetery in the rights of the Roman Catholic Church. Minnie’s will left all her worldly possessions to the Red Cross, whose President paid for her funeral. At the following meeting of the Katoomba Red Cross, a service was conducted by the Church of England Minister and attended by friends and clergy of all denominations.

The undertakers record from Wood Coffill in Katoomba shows that Minnie died on Thursday 24th February 1949 at her residence ‘Mayfair ’in Parke St, Katoomba, the informant was Mrs L.T.A. Hodgson. A requiem mass was held in St Canice’s Church, Katoomba, at 7 o’clock the following Saturday morning, from where the funeral, consisting of a hearse and 2 cars, left for Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney an hour later. Minnie’s headstone is inscribed “My Dear Friend”, probably from her close friend Miss Kathleen Ebbs, who  composed her obituary.

The interesting thing is, that according to the burial record, she was interred in the reopened grave of her brother Michael Quinlan, who died 14th July 1928 aged 66. Michael was unmarried and resided in North Sydney after arriving from Co. Tipperary in Ireland only three years before his death; his occupation is given as watchman. Michael would appear to be the baby listed in the 1861 Liverpool census.

Oral Accounts courtesy of Paul Innes
March 2004.
A guest at the Carrington Hotel mentioned she remembered ‘an old woman who lived in a little hovel behind the Post Office.’ (Katoomba Street). ‘The woman was called Minnie, and there is now a plaque, with her name on it, located on a seat in front of the Post Office.’

The original plaque on the seat outside the former Katoomba Post Office.
It would date from about 1950 and was probably installed due to the efforts of Miss Ebbs.

July 2004
A Katoomba resident called Ian Pattison took me on three walks up and down Katoomba Street, showing what shop was where, who owned what etc, circa 1930s-1950s. On one of the walks, Ian mentioned Minnie Quinlan’s name.

‘She used to clean shop windows, brass plaques on shop fronts etc, between 1920’s and 1950’s. She died around 1950 something. There’s a plaque for her on a wooden seat in Katoomba Street.’

November 2006
In answer to an advert request in the Gazette, seeking any information about Minnie Quinlan,
a Katoomba resident, called Joyce Thompson telephoned me with her memories of Minnie.
“I knew Miss Quinlan when I was eleven years old. She lived in the area around Parke Street, Davies Lane, close to the Children’s Library. In 1941, my mother brought us up to Katoomba. Miss Ebbs ran the Children’s Library. Minnie Quinlan’s place was behind the Library. She was a small lady, white curly hair, dapper, so old. Miss Ebbs kept an eye on Miss Quinlan. She would tell us to be quiet outside the Library – ‘Keep the noise down’”.

*****

Opening of the Katoomba Children's Library and Craft Club by Hon. Clive Evatt 1942, Minnie may appear in this photo. The well dressed woman in the light overcoat and hat, standing centre, may be Miss Kathleen Ebbs, the librarian. 

"LIBRARY CENTRE AT KATOOMBA
After the Minister for Education, Mr. Evatt, had opened the Katoomba Boys' and Girls' Library and Crafts Club on Saturday afternoon, children stayed to read books beside the library fire. The club, which is the eighth centre of the Children's Library Movement, is built from six disused garages, which have been converted into one central library, opening into two craft rooms on either side. It features murals designed by Dahl Collings and Elaine Haxton. Those present at the opening included the president of the local auxiliary, Dr. E. Dark, and Mrs. Eleanor Dark; the Mayor of Katoomba, Alderman Freelander, and the organising secretary of the Children's Library Movement, Mrs. Mary Matheson."
SMH Monday 27 July, 1942

*****

Obituary

"A TRIBUTE LATE MINNIE QUINLAN
We have lost Minnie, our friend - how deep a loss!

Sweetness, graciousness and utter kindness, balanced with sincerity, courage, and an inner strength, lifted Minnie above class and creed: She belonged to everyone.

How intimately she belonged to the Boys and Girls’ Library - such a motherly soul she was to us all! Daily she inquired our needs: always she shared any small luxury that came her way. She had so little, but she gave so much. Ofttimes she said, with a heavenly smile, 'All I’ve got is yours.'

So quick to respond with gratitude for any trifle we did for her; humbly we were always in her debt. When she was not able to make return in material goods, then have we seen her puzzled brow lift in relief, 'I know what I can do: I’ll remember you in my prayers.'

How proud she was of her long record of years of service! To menial work she endowed dignity and honour.

With reverence we bow to so great a soul.

Ah! not learning of books is the ideal of our Boys and Girls’ Library; rather it is the inspiration of that sweet spirit radiated by our beloved friend - the spirit that comes to bless the world with happiness and with peace. (K.E.)" [Miss Kathleen Ebbs]
Blue Mountains Advertiser Friday, March 11, 1949

*****

"A Memorial to Minnie Quinlan
The annual meeting of the Katoomba Boys and Girls’ Library Auxiliary was attended by a large number of interested residents. The Mayoress (Mrs. F. Walford) presided.

Mrs. Gill gave the meeting a resume of the Auxiliary’s activities over the past year, and paid tribute to the amount of work performed by enthusiastic workers. Later in the evening she was elected president.

An interesting address was given by Mr. Parker who stressed the importance of such libraries to the community. He spoke of the happiness that resulted from reading.

A tribute was paid to the late Minnie Quinlan by Miss Ebbs. Miss Quinlan had given her long life to the service of others and had been loved by all with whom she came into contact.

Mrs. McMahon, President of Quota Club presented the Library with a cheque from the Ladies Golf Club."
Blue Mountains Advertiser, March 18th 1949

Image PF 481 from the Local Studies Collection: ‘Mini Quinlan’s House Katoomba, 8th August
1928’. Provenance: Miss M Fawcett, Katoomba. Minnie Quinlan’s house is marked with an X , the building in the foreground is the garage block that later became the Children's Library.

Rookwood Cemetery Record
First Name: Mary
Last Name: Quinlan
Death Date: 24 February 1949
Age: 88
Inscription: My Dear Friend
Plot: Section 9 ROW 27
Plot Number: 3476
Denomination/nationality: Catholic Mortuary 2 & 3

Images from the Local Studies Collection, from top
1. Minnie's seat outside the Katoomba Post Office, the original seat was replaced in 2010. (photo John Merriman)
2. The original plaque mounted on the new seat. (photo John Merriman)
3. Opening of the Katoomba Children's Library and Craft Club 1942, Minnie and Miss Ebbs may appear in this photo.
4. Minnie's house under snow.

Acknowledgement: Paul Innes who collected the oral history accounts.

Note: Kathleen Irene Ebbs was the daughter of Thomas Arthur Rowley Ebbs (b.1870, Kiama; d.1955, Manly) clergyman, and Alice Beryl Ebbs (d.1966, Sydney). She was born in Raywood, Victoria, in 1902 and travelled to the U.K. for a trip in 1955, when she is listed as a passenger from London to Sydney. The 1930 electoral roll for Manly shows her occupation as Teacher, living with her parents at The Rectory, Darley Rd. She lived in Manly until 1937 before moving to Ficus St. Katoomba where she appears in the 1943 roll - occupation Librarian; in 1949 she lived in Beecroft, occupation Librarian, then returned to Ficus St Katoomba, Librarian; in 1954 Beecroft, Librarian; then Wahroonga and Turramurra until 1980; her death notice appeared in January 1989, late of Castle Hill.

John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian 2012