That first day at school....

It is February 1986 and my daughter, five years and two months of age, is in her brand-new uniform and ready to walk across the adjacent school oval and spend her first full day at Monash Primary school.

And at the end of that first school year, there she was (far right, front row), an experienced schoolie, ready for the annual summer holidays before starting her second year in the ACT's education system.

Just looking at those photos makes me feel very creaky, indeed!!

Forty-three years ago today.....

......we were on the second day of our honeymoon at Korora Bay (northern beaches of Coffs Harbour).
I snapped this shot of my new bride on the rocks at the end of the beach near the Sandy Beach Apartments (the Google photo bears little resemblance to the location as it was forty-three years ago!) where we were staying.

The year before we were married we were out in Sydney (where we lived at the time) and popped into one of those self-photo booths, which were dotted here and there (usually at railway stations) and often used by people wanting wallet-sized B&W prints or shots for a passport application.

This is the only such photo which I still have of that era.....

In 1976 we moved from suburban Sydney to our new home at 72 Buena Vista Road, Winmalee (Google photo is recent...taken after the fires of 2013) in the Blue Mountains, both of us commuting to work in Sydney by train.
The following photo - one of my favourites of Shirley (she looks very contemplative) - was taken in 1977 at the dining table.

Memories are enhanced by photos because they trigger details.
These pix bring back memories of some wonderful times.

Port Macquarie - The Flying-boat Era

Back in the late 1940s and into the 1950s, a flying-boat service operated between Port Macquarie and Sydney (Rose Bay).
My mother travelled at least once on this service to Sydney, which departed from the stretch of the Hastings River just south of where the vehicular-ferry service joined the Pacific Highway on each side of the river.
At that time the section of the Pacific Highway between Newcastle and the Queensland border followed a different route to that used today.
The road (Buckett's Way) north of Newcastle was dirt and went inland from Raymond Terrace, passing through Stroud and Krambach before reaching Taree.

So the thought of doing a weekend drive from Sydney to the mid-north coast was out of the question and vice-versa. Thus the reason behind Dulhunty's introduction of the twice daily flights between the two locations.

The stretch of river on which the flying-boats alighted and took-off is shown as it is today in the two photos below - which bear little resemblance to the area sixty years ago! There were very few, if any homes located here and the man-made canals were un-thought of back then.

The first photo looks towards Hibbard and the location of the vehicular ferry over the Hastings, near the Whalebone Wharf  restaurant. The terminal for the flying-boat service was located just a short way along this section, on the left-hand side, past where the pleasure craft are seen.

 

 

The second photo, below, swings 180 degrees to the right and takes in the rest of the alighting area used by the 'boats.

 

The overall length of the stretch used is about 1.5 kilometres and is orientated south-west to north-east.

 

I can remember very clearly watching the flying boat take off when my mother flew to Sydney in the early 1950s.
In fact, I think most of Port Macquarie would come down and take in the spectacle of the large four-engine aircraft roaring along the river, spray flying and then gently lifting into the air and turning southward.

Railway Square & Broadway

 

NOTE! ALL PHOTOS ENLARGE IF CLICKED.



Between May 1964 and the end of 1966 I became very familiar with the area in Sydney from Railway Square, down Broadway to Abercrombie Street and also the top end of Harris Street.

This was where I attended what was then called Sydney Technical College ("STC" or more commonly "Sydney Tech") - now known as the University of Technology, Sydney, or "UTS".

My employer was located in O'Connor Street, Chippendale, just off Abercrombie Street, so it was an easy walk from Central station to the tech and/or down Broadway to O'Connor Street.

Later in my working life, between 1967 and 1975 (when the Chippendale factory closed down and most of us went out to Bankstown under the Otis Elevator umbrella) I was based in the engineering department of the company and, if not driving to work, would still do the walk from Central station (or Redfern station) so the area was still a very familiar one.

Until visiting Sydney this past weekend for my uncle's 100th. birthday celebrations I had not travelled on the suburban train network since approximately 1972, when my then fiancée and I used to commute between Toongabbie and Central/North Sydney, so I had not had an opportunity to stroll around this locality for several decades.

I stayed in the Adina Executive Apartments, right on Railway Square.
This building, back in my day, was the HQ of the Railways Post Office service, where mail would be pre-sorted before being loaded onto the mail trains that left Central for country destinations overnight.
The shell of the building has been retained (Heritage listed) and the interior has been turned into a very pleasant and comfortable hotel.

The photograph at the head of this article was taken from one of the three windows and presents Central Station and the road sweeping up to it from Railway Square/Lee Street.
Apart from some more modern architecture in the background, this view is very similar to what one would have seen from the same window some 40 years ago.

This next photo, taken from the corner window, looks across the conjunction of Railway Square, Lee Street, Pitt Street and George Street, the latter disappearing up into the canyon between the high-rise buildings as it makes its way to the other end of the city at Circular Quay and the harbour.
Once again, there is much that I still found familiar, with the two old office buildings, one on the left and the other on the right, acting as gate guardians to the start of George Street.

The last photo above, taken from the left-hand window, looks straight across Railway Square and shows the old Mark Foys department-store building that harks back to the 1930s.
This is now an annex of the UTS but when I was going to tech between 1965 and 1967 it was in limbo, the retailer having terminated business from this address.

Just to the left of the Mark Foys building, and in a basement location, was a pool-hall where my fellow class-mates and I would play snooker on a Friday afternoon after tech had finished.
We would have a few beers at the Agincourt Hotel on the corner and then spend a couple of hours or three before catching our respective trains home.

Agincourt Hotel on the left - corner of Harris St. & Broadway

The pool-hall is still there!

So imagine my delight when I saw that this old haunt was still in operation.
Certainly some of the businesses that are adjacent have changed but to learn that the Agincourt and the snooker establishment were still operating was a delight.

Armed with camera and on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon I ambled from Railway Square down Broadway to Abercrombie street.

Back in the 1950s and until his retirement my late father-in-law was employed at the Kent Brewery owned by Tooth & Co..
This brewery covered a vast area, from Kensington Street in the north to Abercrombie Street in the south, Broadway to the west and Wellington & O'Connor Streets to the east.
In its day it was one of the largest breweries in Australia.
The main entrance was a landmark due to its archway, shown in the next two photos.......

 

 

This is all that remains of what existed when I used to walk past on my way to work back in the 1960s, when the brewery was operational.
From all appearances, it has most likely been preserved under a Heritage classification, as the entire site is undergoing massive redevelopment as "CentralPark", a residential, retail and commercial enterprise.
On the left of the archway is the original Clare Hotel which I think must also be under a preservation order.

The following series of photos show what is there today - and bear in mind that this project is far from completion - there is still a lot of bare ground to be developed.

The first of the new buildings to be constructed on the old brewery site.

An amazing structure; cantilevered platforms and hanging gardens.
This is like something straight out of "Blade Runner"!



The CentralPark development from the north, taken from the train
as I was departing Central on Monday morning. 

In the last photo above that tall "glassy" building is the one with the cantilevered platforms. The main UTS building is the brown one behind it, on the opposite side of Broadway.

At the bottom end of the development sits Abercrombie Street, seen below.....

After wandering down Broadway from Central I would turn left here, walk up the street past St. Benedict's church and primary school on the right and then turn right into O'Connor Street and walk another 50 yards to the factory.

In the above photo, the Abercrombie (aka "Australian") Hotel has not changed and is still a licensed pub.
But the view behind it is somewhat different, because there was once a high wall of dark brick, the bottom boundary of the Kent Brewery. There also used to be a small fish 'n' chips shop located a bit further along, before O'Connor Street, I remember. It sold excellent school prawns and if we were working a Saturday's overtime we would invariably buy our lunch from that shop.

I'll complete this article with the above photo, showing a view from the corner of Abercrombie Street and Broadway, looking west towards City Road and Sydney University in the far distance.

Nothing much has changed in this view; that older office building was there (it housed a branch of the ANZ Bank) and the buildings along the right are the same, although the businesses may be different.

It was a very enjoyable walk and I was heartened by the fact that there was enough original architecture for it to still be very recognisable for me.

Celebrating a 100th. Birthday

Uncle Frank & my sister, Venette

On the 10th. August 1913 my mother's young brother, Frank, was born.
On the 10th. August 2013 he looked back on 100 years of life, an event celebrated by family members from here in Australia and from New Zealand, where he was born and lived until moving to Australia in the 1990s.

A birthday celebration was held in the Chatswood RSL Club and along with well-wishes from family and many friends, Uncle Frank also received congratulatory messages from the Queen, the Governor-General of Australia, the Governor of New South Wales, the Prime Minister, the Premier of New South Wales and other dignitaries.

 

On the Sunday, 11th. August 2013, a service was held in the Maori Anglican Fellowship Church of Te Wairua Tapu, in Elizabeth Street, Redfern.
This service marked the 75th. anniversary of the NZ WWII Veterans (RSL Sub-branch) in Australia and honoured not only my uncle but also Major Bob Wood (Ret), on the eve of his 99th. birthday, and also other NZ veterans who were present .
A delegation of dignitaries were in attendance, including Keith Payne, VC (forever now referred to as "Uncle Keith" - see below*) and the NZ High Commissioner to Australia, and the proceedings were recorded by NZ television, Channel 3 News.

This was a wonderful weekend and I was able to catch up with many relatives, some of whom I had only ever heard about from my mother or other immediate family members.

Certainly a reunion to remember and, as my cousin remarked, how precious it was to have everyone together for such a happy event when under previous circumstances we have only seen each other at funerals.

* My sister recognised the face but couldn't put a name to the gentleman.
She went up to Keith Payne, approaching him in a familiar manner, as if she and he were related and made some remark to that effect, then found out who he was!

A new tartan is born.

Now the 10,039th. design registered with the Scottish Government's Register of Tartans, I am proud to present the new "Kennewell" tartan.

I have been asked the inevitable questions "How?" and "Why?", although usually in the reverse order, so the following may provide some answers if you are curious.........

In June of 2004 my father died and following the funeral the three (of four) siblings who attended agreed that if we didn't commit to having a regular get-together then the next funeral we attended would be for one of us.
We aren't kids any more: I'm 64 this year, my younger sister is in her late 50's and my young brother is in his mid-50's.

Following our first reunion, in July 2005, I was contemplating the fact that there was really no family legacy to pass on to our children, grandchildren, ad infinitum. I thought it would nice to leave something behind that would have a permanent link to "Kennewell". Nothing came to mind at the time but the seed had been sown and sat in the back of my mind, germinating away in my sub-conscious.

Back in my boarding-school days I was provided with a travelling rug (part of the mandatory "kit" that we had to have). My parents - most likely Mum - chose a pure-wool Onkaparinga item, blue on one side and a predominantly-red tartan on the other.
I used this rug between 1956 and 1963, taking it with me when travelling on the North Coast Mail train between Sydney and home on the north coast.
After I finished school at the end of 1963 the rug simply became part of the accoutrements at home. In fact, my mother used it as a cover on the dining table for games of cards - the blue side provided a lovely baize surface.

When we (young sister, brother and I) cleared the old family home in 2003 after our father went into nursing care, I brought the old rug back to Canberra with me and put it away in a wardrobe, where it sat for a couple of years.

After our initial reunion in 2005 I decided to have the rug dry-cleaned, probably the first time that had happened in its lifetime!
Apart from a couple of permanent stains and a couple of cigarette burns (my mother and her card-playing cronies, no doubt), the rug came up beautifully, the colours bright and clean.
It was then that I became curious as to the design of the tartan and with the auspices of Google and a small book I had on Scottish "stuff", I was able to determine that it was the Princess Elizabeth tartan.

It was when I visited one of the web-sites I learned that it was NOT necessary to be of Scottish descent in order to have a tartan. In fact, I was amazed to discover that businesses, towns, and families without any connection to Scotland had tartans.
It was then that I thought what a wonderful legacy to leave the descendants of the Kennewell family - or families, if other Kennewell's so desired.

I was able to use an online utility to design the tartan and, after several patterns were done, I sent images to my siblings and the final design was chosen.
However, it took another six months to get around to having it woven, and this was accomplished in 2007 when a local weaver, using wool yarn, wove a sample about three metres x one metre in size.

Another year was to elapse before I finally got around to registering the design in Scotland, but in hindsight, that delay was probably a good thing because in the meantime the Scottish Government had taken on the role of managing the tartan registry - a function that had previously been done by two separate private bodies, leading to some confusion.

So in June of 2009 I was able to submit the design to the Registrar and have it approved and included in the list - at No. 10,0039.
In due course a sample will be posted off to them for their archives. (Actually accomplished in 2011).

This is the culmination of a project about which I became quite passionate and it gladdens my heart to know that, with the agreement of my sisters and brother, there is a permanent legacy for our children and their children, ad infinitum.
And it also means that my mother, who had a Scottish ancestor (Kyle), has her Scottish ancestry perpetuated in a tartan.
That gives me a nice feeling.

Happy Birthday, young brother!

Several years ago - well, about 54 - my brother, Grant, was photographed looking pretty cute.
From the looks of this I'd say he was approx. one-year old (I would have been about 11). He was definitely a photogenic baby. That smile really grabs you. (Original monotone photo colourised in October 2011).


(Scanned 35mm slide; Nikon EM )
Fast-forward twenty years to his 21st. birthday (circa 1976 - I can't remember the year but the date is 27th. May) and the cute face has lost some of its cuteness, that's for sure - and it's certainly more hairy! He is also posing looking artistically-serious.


(Olympus 1300 digital)
Now fast-forward another 20+ years - to 2004, to be exact - and that face could be straight out of Hemingway's "The Old Man And The Sea". But notice that the smile hasn't changed in 55 years.

Happy Birthday, young brother. May there be many more.

Once Upon a Time....

I was wandering through an old family photo album recently and in amongst the collection was this one of my youngest sister, Venette. She was 2 or 3 years old and appearing in her first concert.
The venue would have been the Kendall School of Arts, the centre of culture for the Camden Haven valley in the 1950's.

Down through the years this photograph has become known in the family as "The Reluctant Fairy". It's about time it was shared with a wider audience.

Easter, 1972. The "Dirty Weekend"

(Scanned from a 35mm slide; camera Olympus Trip)
Exactly thirty-seven years ago - one year before we were married - my girlfriend and I decided to spend Easter fishing for trout at the base of Tantangara Dam, in the Snowy Mountains of NSW. This is where the Murrumbidgee River rises and starts its journey to the Murray-Darling system.

So we packed the little 1965 VW Beetle with the hired 2-man tent, sleeping bags, fishing gear and supplies and, on a windy and cold Good Friday we departed Toongabbie, in Sydney's western suburbs, and headed off down the Hume Highway into what was to be an abbreviated "dirty weekend" (all our friends reckoned that's why we were going away, as the GF was living with her parents).


(Scanned from a 35mm slide; camera Olympus Trip)
It was the coldest Easter for many, many years.
Not only did we have a howling gale to contend with but also sleet. It was snowing at a slightly higher altitude than where we were situated.
Although it was a very picturesque location, the natural beauty was completely unappreciated by both of us as we froze our backsides off. I even had to create a makeshift wind-break by stringing a tarp between two trees in an effort to reduce the wind-strength at base camp to something less than cyclonic!

We stayed one night (Friday) and, as it was so cold, we slept in our clothes, each in his/her own sleeping bag and kept awake by the snuffling of wombats as they ate the bread that we left outside the tent..


(Scanned from 35mm slide; camera Olympus Trip)
On the Saturday afternoon, with no improvement in the weather, we packed up and headed off to Old Adaminaby, arriving at the camping site in near darkness.
I had great trouble getting the tent pegs into the ground and it wasn't until the following morning that we discovered I'd been trying to pound them into the solid sandstone base of what had been an old building site.
At least we were able to have hot showers and warm ourselves but this night we slept in the car seeing that the tent looked like a partially collapsed hot air balloon.

Sunday morning we headed back to Sydney, suffering from a flat tyre en-route, which we had fixed at Queanbeyan.

And so ended our weekend of rampant passion.
We still laugh about it every Easter.

School-days (continued)

The period is now towards the end of my first year of high-school - the start of summer, November 1958.
In the senior-college we were offered a choice of summer sports; cricket, rowing or tennis. As I hated cricket and loved boats I chose rowing, which I didn't do much of due to my small and light stature. So I was made a coxswain, starting off coxing fours and, in the final year in which I was active in the sport (1962), the college 2nd. eight.

This photo was taken - as mentioned above - in November 1958. I can remember the names of two of the crew - not bad after 50 years.

Here's a version that I colourised so as to display the school colours - blue and gold.

___________________________

Fast-forward 5 years and it is November 1963. I had been a member of the college pipe-band for three years and had attained the rank of Drum Sergeant - I played the side drum (or "snare" drum, as some know it).

The college band was the largest school pipe-band in the world at one time and a decade after I finished my schooling the band was invited to the renowned Edinburgh Military Tattoo, in Scotland. I was very envious.

Incidentally, the cost to be fully kitted out in my regalia (see below) was very high, somewhere in the region of (in today's prices) AUS$2,000.
Fortunately for the parents, the school supplied the entire uniform, which was returned at the end of one's membership of the band.

Every ANZAC Day we would lead a contingent in the annual march through the streets of Sydney and throughout the school year we would be invited to attend fairs, garden parties, fetes, openings, balls......the list was endless. It was a very, VERY successful way to meet girls!

The photo above is of those band members who were leaving the college at the end of the 1963 school year - as was I (photo below). (Note: We are sans headgear - it was a deliberately informal pose.)

This was a very emotional time, saying goodbye to good friends, most of whom we would never see again. Funnily enough, down the years and quite by chance I met up with two of the lads in this photo.
Life is funny.

____________________________

The final photo in this series is of the Macintyre House seniors.
There were six boarding houses and I was in "Mac", as it was known, from 1958 through 1963 - my last year. In our final year the senior boys had a few perks and were treated as young adults rather than boys.
The best year at college, definitely.
Several of us even chipped in to buy an old 1939 Pontiac so that we could get from Bellevue Hill to Bondi Beach. When we finished the year we just walked away from the old heap and left it parked in the street.

That's me in the centre (the smallest). Two very good mates are also in the pic and, do you know, I can remember the names of everyone shown.

That completes this visit into the past.

Nostalgia - BK's Schooldays.

Just a few days ago one of my internet-forum friends posted a photo of himself which was taken in 1961 for his high-school yearbook.
This led to a bit of discussion, including how here in Australia we have a tradition of end-of-year group photos rather than the "yearbook" so common in the USofA.
So I threatened to post these types of pix, taken when I was at boarding school in Sydney between 1956 and 1963. Fortunately my mother had kept these and had given them back to me after I became a parent myself and understood the sentimental (and family history) value of such things.
Tonight I scanned a few of what I consider to be the most memorable and present them for your amusement. They are in chronological order.
This first one was taken at the end of 1956 - late November, just before school broke up for the annual summer holidays which, back then, extended from end of November until the end of January.
I had just had my 11th. birthday (November), having joined the college at the start of the school year back in January of 1956, and would have been finishing my 5th. Year, or penultimate year in primary school.
(Like all the images in this blog, if you click on them you will be able to see a much larger version)
The photo is of all the boarders who were in the prep-school for that year. I am the small, dark-haired kid in the 4th. row, extreme right....in front of the column.
We were wearing our summer uniform of khaki shirt, shorts, leather sandals and the school tie....blue with gold/yellow diagonal stripes.
The adults comprised the various house-masters and the school matron and assistant matron.
The location was at Bellevue Hill, in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

This next one was also at prep-school, but in 1957. It is of the 4th.XV - Rugby, of course! I played fly-half some weeks and break-away other weeks.

I'm the one holding the ball. I would have been going on 12 here, as the photo was taken at the end of the football season - about September.
Uniform was yellow/gold jersey, dark-blue shorts and dark-blue socks with yellow/gold tops.
My mum - bless her - always considered this as my cutest photo from college!

I think this is enough to be going on with tonight - I don't want to scare you off!
I'll pop the others up over Easter.

34 Keswick Street, Cowra

In June 2008 I was successful in tracking down the address in Cowra at which we lived when I was between 6-months and 3-years of age.
I was curious about what might be at 34 Keswick Street - maybe the old home had been torn down, replaced by a service station or a block of flats or something. Other than a couple of old small, sepia-toned and faded snapshots taken by my mother, showing the backyard and part of the front veranda, I had no idea what the place looked like.

You can imagine my amazement when I pulled up in front of the residence shown in the photograph (if you click on the image you will get a larger view).
Unfortunately the owner and his wife were not there on the Saturday morning that I arrived unannounced, but the kindly neighbour saw me and, after introductions, showed me around the outside of the house, which is listed on the National Heritage Trust.

I don't think we could have had the whole place back then (1946 - 1948), as it is way too big for just two parents and one child. I reckon it was a twin-tenancy, with the house effectively becoming two apartments.
I was able to match the old photos with the positions from where they were taken so long ago and sure enough, apart from new paint, the architecture is identical.

I feel as if I can say with some truth that, for part of my life, I lived in a mansion!