April 28 - May 4, 2024: Issue 623
THE EARLY YEARS OF BUNGAN BEACH SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB - THE CALL TO BUNGAN
BY W.E. ANSCHUTZ
(Bill Anschutz)
Bungan SLSC's 71st Season
Roger Johnston, a resident of Bungan Beach, forwarded the following to Pittwater Online News as the last week of the Volunteer Patrol Season began. As today, April 28 2024 is that final day for the 2023-2024 Season, there can be no more fitting tribute and celebration than taking an opportunity to share an insight into that great surf club tucked between Mona Vale and Newport that began keeping people safe during the 1952-1953 Season.
Roger said:
My family have resided at Bungan Beach since 1925. We owned an old stone cottage next door to the Yewen property up on Bungan Headland. It was the family weekender.
I have attached two photographs taken in 1961 by my father from Bungan House showing the film crew on the beach for “Bungala Boys”, made for the British Children’s television foundation. It was all about selling Australia I expect. The surf boats you see in the photo were invited from all the local surf clubs on the peninsula to compete in a mock up surf boat race. Two army ducks were brought down and one was rigged with a frame to mount the camera as the boats all raced out through the surf whilst the duck raced with them filming across the action.
In addition to that I have attached a short story titled “ The call to Bungan” that my Uncle Warwick Johnston, Bungan Beach Surf Club founding member, gave me before he passed away. A great little story about the history of Bungan Beach surf club by one of his good friends Bill Anschutz, also a founding member.
Laurence Johnston's pictures taken during filming for “Bungala Boys”, - details of this ran in a Women's Weekly article (added in after The Call to Bungan)
Growing up at Bungan. 1960; My mother was the budding photographer. My brothers left to right Hugh, Mark and myself.
Photo: Laurence Johnston and Warwick Johnston (right). 'Warwick left Sydney after the war to go to QLD and become a cattle farmer. I only saw him once every few years.' Photo and background by and courtesy Roger Johnston, Bungan House, son of Laurence
THE EARLY YEARS OF' BUNGAN BEACH SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB
BY W.E. ANSCHUTZ
(Bill Anschutz, a founding member)
FORWARD
The Call To Bungan
All those who have stood on the cliffs and headlands which surround Bungan Beach will know the excitement and grandeur of the beach and surf. This private and inaccessible beach with its everchanging sandhills, natural bush and rocky headlands is something different to each of us. However, we all share the infection of this piece of nature which carves its impressions into our memories and binds us to return.
Part of the fascination lies in the knowledge that the restless surf, with its gentle waves, clear water and balmy surroundings will change into a fierce, thundering and awesome cauldron, carrying all before less power. it with naked and relentless power.
It is as though nature issues a demand that it shall not be taken for granted and that all who enjoy its benefits, shall also pay homage to its strength and power. This capsule of nature that is Bungan has its own identity, its own temperament and its private lovers, married for life.
Such are the members of Bungan Beach surf Life Saving club.
Getting Started
From the early part of the century when Barrenjoey Road was pushed through to Newport and Palm Beach, people have swum at Bungan and it 'is somewhat surprising that a Surf Life Saving Club was not finally established until the 1952-53 season.
This is not to say that attempts had not been made, however with the exception of a group of people who tried to establish their own independent life saving group in the 1940's, other attempts are obscure and may not have even germinated past a ‘want' in peoples minds.
The inevitable climb back through the bush track in the centre of the beach to Barrenjoey Road on the slippery black soil track (which is in fact Myola Road) to Bungan Head Road, and the lack of surf life saving patrols added to the image that Bungan was unsafe for surfing. The result was that the beach was left well alone, except for secluded amorous interludes by day and barbecues at night.
The commencement of building again, after World War II brought additional residents to Bungan with families who needed protection on their 'private beach'' The J. Stanley Johnston (music shop retailers in Sydney) family had for years owned a stone weekender on the summit of the north headland and Warwick, a son, had built himself a home on the south headland. Bob Roberts' a young and hard working builder had built a garage on his land on the north headland ridge on Myola Road and with young children, was looking for safety on the beach whilst he gradually built his new home.
Ari van Rees, a Dutchman with his beautiful wife Ami and three year old son, lived on the south end in a large house (now burned down) and being a devotee of Bols gin (or any gin for that matter) had many parties which brought the locals together. The subject was discussed at length again and again but a catalyst was needed.
Rus Ames, a Surveyor and council engineer, and Gill Stone, married to a beautiful and charming girl who had worked as model (Janice Mahoney) were also great friends of the Van Rees and keen for a start.
The idea was there, but how to get started?
Whilst the development of the community at Bungan went on, a staunch bunch of dedicated surfers travelled backwards and forwards on double decker buses to Newport, Bilgola, Avalon, Whale Beach and Palm Beach and of these the Avalon boys would took out of the top window as they passed Bungan to judge what sort of surf would await them at Avalon as it was commonly believed that both beaches shared a similar size and style of surf.
One of the Avalon members was Max McCredie, an experienced surfer with 'salt water in his veins’ a member of Collaroy S.L.S.C. prior to World War II, who graduated to Avalon for the type of surf it offered. It was Max’s cool and quiet challenge "lets take the boat out and crack a big one" that brought him undone in Avalon for he rallied a scratch crew who launched the 'double-ender' into a big sea and rowed for their lives to get out through a short break. The boat was about half full of water when they spun around and Max on the sweep called "Row for this one". The water in the boat made it sluggish and the wave passed under them bringing them into the 'dropping zone'.
There was no doubt about the next wave. It towered behind them and was starting to break in a wall of foam when Max called to the crew "You can come aft if you like". Four frantic bodies clawed aft as the stern lifted sharply and the water in the boat rammed forward like a lead weight driving the bow down in a straight line to the bottom. When the boat was finally brought ashore it had a broken keel and as it had been used without authority, Max was called up before the Avalon Committee to show cause why he should not be suspended. The worst happened, and Max’s thoughts turned to Bungan where he had swum from time to time.
Left to right; Jim Campbell, Max Watt, Brian Sheehan, Geoff Gearside and Max McCredie, ***December 1949. Photo courtesy Watt family.
Whilst chatting with a local resident, Noel Burton, the thought surf club came up and Noel knowing the other locals spoke with Johnston(an ex-Newport member)about the action necessary to move. A meeting of interested people was held at the home of Ari Van Rees in January 1955. The meeting resolved to approach the Sydney Branch of the Surf Life Saving Association and ask for their assistance. A meeting was then called on the last Friday of February 1953 as the S.L.S.A. had arranged for the district supervisor, Mr L.E.(Laurie)Payne to attend.
Laurie, a life member of Newport surf club as well as being a member of the Board of Examiners, was the obvious choice for chairman and was elected to conduct the inaugural meeting. The meeting was attended by –
W. (Warwick) Johnston
W' E' (Bill) Anschutz
N. (Noel) Burton
R' (Russell) Ames
P. (Peter) Burton
A. (Arthur) Lumsden
A. (Ari) Van Rees
A. E. (Bob) Roberts
M. F. (Max) McCredie
L. E. (Laurie) Payne
H. (Harry) Kelly
And the following officer bearers elected –
L. E. Payne - President
W. Johnston - Secretary
N. Burton – Treasurer
The new committee resolved to seek affiliation with the S.L.S.A.. After some discussion and the expression of two distinct view points, namely that the locals really only wanted protection for themselves and their families and did not want the full involvement that affiliation with the S.L.S.A. entailed, and the formation of a sporting club prepared to patrol the beach in return for the comradeship and competition traditional in surf clubs.
Laurie Payne, Warrick Johnston and Max McCredie, knowing that adequate protection could only be provided with regular patrols and proper surf life saving equipment, argued strongly. Perhaps the failure of the last attempt to form a club, because of their refusal to affiliate with the S.L.S.A. won the point and Laurie Payne, who had been involved with the offer to help the previous attempt, brought home the point that there could be no compromise. As stark and unchangeable fact about life saving in the surf.
On 7 April 1953 Bungan Beach S.L.S.C. was officially affiliated with the Sydney Branch of the S.L.S.A. and the newest and smallest club in the Metropolitan area of Sydney became a reality.
Just prior to affiliation on 27 March 1955, the group of interested people had grown to 13 and new responsibilities were assigned, with the committee taking shape for the remainder of the current season. The new team looked business-like with appropriate responsibilities being taken over by members with experience in specific areas.
Laurie Payne - President
Bob Roberts - Secretary
Warwick Johnston - Captain and Chief Instructor
Noel Burton - Treasurer
Rus Ames - Social Secretary
Gil Stone - Publicity Officer
Max McCredie - Delegate S.L.S.A.
Peter Burton - Delegate S.L.S.A.
A building committee was also formed and Bob Roberts, Rus Ames and Warwick Johnston were to investigate the erection of a suitable club house.
The club appointed a patron one month later -; none other than the Newport Ams licensee, K. C. Ryan, who responded with a £25.00 donation - a sizeable sum in those days.
One of the more important functions needing attention was the drafting of a constitution and after considering several constitutions from other clubs, Mr. S. R. Fayle accepted the task. Using Newport's constitution as a basis he drafted a new that was presented to the committee on 31 July 1953. The draft was later adopted at the First Annual General Meeting and with minor modifications only, has remailed substantially as he left it. A necessary document and one that has been tested over the years.
Having committed past the point of no return, the committee was anxious to get on with the task of developing the beach and expanding the club. The difficult access to the beach seemed to be a problem that would hinder progress, particularly the erection of a club house. They also recognised the need to attract new members get part to attract new members who were prepared to climb up the hill after a hard day of surfing, or even worse, a hard night of barbequeing.
Laurie Payne undertook to approach Warringah Shire Council with a request that they put an access road into Bungan. The club also sought approval for the new club and a club house.
We waited in great anticipation for the reply, but our hopes were dulled when we finally received the reply that council would not raise any objection to a surf club being established at Bungan, nor would they help with any financial support or development. The matter of an access road into the beach was to be considered in the 1954 Works Programme. Obviously this project never got past consideration in the Works Programme and in the long term it has been this lack of development which has preserved the character of Bungan.
The club was rapidly finding its direction under the guidance and experience of Lauire Payne, who steered the initial enthusiasm and energies of the members towards the aims and objectives of vigilance and service.
There were many occasions where Laurie’s maturity and experience, in surf saving and as a chairman, pulled together the practicalities of the ideas that were floated at the meetings, so that rational decisions were forged, keeping progress steady but forward.
In June 1953, Gil stone resigned as Publicity Officer and the task fell to Mort Chapman, a young dentist who had recently graduated after completing a repatriation University course following the end of World War II.
In the autumn of 1953,south Narrabeen S.L.S.C., hearing of the formation of the new club loaned Bungan a reel line and belt and as this was to be left out on the beach continually. Roy C. Davis, a resident from Hillcrest Avenue, offered the club a small shed as a shelter. This was erected in the sand hills about 100 metres south of the centre track from Barrenjoey Road.
The inauguration of a new club was indeed something special in Metropolitan Sydney as it was thought by most people that all beaches were patrolled and all other surrounding clubs well established (some going back to 1907). Yet here was a rare opportunity to become a foundation member of one of the last unpatrolled surfing beaches in Sydney.(Certainly Narrabeen Club came later, but North and South Narrabeen were also in existence).
The date of 30septernber 1953 was set as the closing date for Foundation Membership and the members to bear that honour were –
Anschutz (Bi11) W.E.
Ames (Rus) R. W.
Burton (Peter) P. H.
Burton (Noel) N. S.
Chapman (Mort) S. M.
Fayle (Tom) T. W.
Fayle (Roy) S. R.
Flowers (Frank) F.
Johnston (Warwick) W. G.
Lumsden (Arthur) A. R.
McCredie (Max) M. F.
Payne (Laurie) L. E.
Roberts (Bob) A. E.
Wallace (Bob) R. B.
Support for Surf Life Saving Clubs was scant in the 1950’s, until the Sydney Morning Herald launched a major appeal to establish a fund for the purchase of life saving equipment and after representation to the Sydney Branch meetings in the old headquarters in Hunter Street, Sydney by Laurie Payne, the committee, and by delegates to the branch meetings, the club was notified in September 1953 that a stretcher and 5.0.0. of First Aid gear would be allocated from the 'Herald Gear Fund". A surf ski and reel line and belt were also to follow and we were well and truly in business now.
The new ski, a 12ft. Robson, was wide with plenty of "banana" and light but easy to manage so that it was readily used to patrol the beach and stand off the swimming buoy during surf races and bronze training.
The first bronze squad was training one Sunday morning when Mort Chapman, who was keeping a watchful eye on the patient Bob Wallace and beltman Rus Ames in the belt, raised the paddle vertically signalling "shark". The ominous shape was cruising below Bob's feet when he heard Mort's shout and saw the paddle go up. There was no second call needed. Bob covered the 10 metres towards Mort on the ski in 3 strokes and leapt out of the water towards the ski. Mort’s reaction was quick and firm "Get on slowly or I will hit you on the head with the paddle". Bob climbed aboard carefully but quickly and the tandem riders paddled carefully to the shore trying not to catch a wave.
Rus Ames, swimming in the belt about 100 metres offshore, saw the signals and heard the shout. Needing no further encouragement to abandon his objective, Russ swam like a frantic butterfly maintaining a planing angle whilst being hauled across the top of the water as fast as the beach crew could tow him. Those on the beach breathed a silent relief that they were not in Rus Ames place. Training was cancelled for the rest of the day.
The squad gained their awards at Avalon -
M. F. McCredie - Instructors Certificate
S. M. Chapman - Instructors Certificate
R. W. Ames - Bronze Medallion
W. E. Anschutz - Bronze Medallion
A. Gourlay - Bronze Medallion
R. Degotardi - Qualifying Certificate
E. Terrell - Bronze Medallion (Dee Why 11.4.54)
This squad was not all comprised of strong swimmers, but acts of great personal courage are not confined to the best swimmers. One of the most outstanding demonstrations of endeavour must be that of Bob Degotardi, who, being a relatively poor swimmer, must have dreaded his turn in the belt, yet he was seen to make up a harness which allowed him to tow a four gallon drum, partly filled with water, whilst swimming laps of the Newport Pool, to increase his stamina. Bob never succeeded in gaining his bronze but made a significant contribution in raising money for the club.
Because of the limited number of people who swam at Bungan in 1953, patrol duties were not as demanding as other beaches with the result that most members swam together and a 'club wave' was always on. Surfcraft were limited to a ski owned by Warwick Johnston, but this finally disintegrated on a wave, with the bottom sheet of plywood peeling off, leaving only the sides and deck to bear Mr. Johnston ungracefully into the sand.
Max McCredie, Rus Ames and Mort Chapman all built skis soon after whilst Warwick Johnston bought a ‘Wallace’ 16ft surf board, and Bill Anschutz built a 12 ft board, which weighed around 70 lbs. and was almost impossible to ride. It did however weather the elements well as the only storage was in the sandhills.
It was not until the 1953-54 season that Max McCredie and Warwick Johnston, both excellent swimmers without fear and good on a wave, suggested that the club commence handicap surf races to keep fit and maintain interest.
The date of the first surf race was not recorded, but it was swum in the centre of the beach around a can moored sone 200 metres off shore. This was prior to our having the new club ski and after Warwick Johnstons plank has disintegrated. Warwick placed the can by swimming out through the waves and throwing the four gallon over each wave as it approached. Warwick continued to do this each week until finally he did not throw the can high enough and the approaching wave caught it, smashing it against his forehead leaving a deep gash.
Max McCredie usually swam out with a small sandbag and line which he attached to the handle of the can after it was through the broken waves. This became the swimming buoy.
On the day of the first surf race a medium sea was running as they set out swimming at full speed. There was no sign of a rideable wave and Max and Warwick were slightly ahead and close to the finish when a small wave loomed behind Bill Anschutz, giving him a ride long enough to lob about two metres, in an unbeatable margin at that point. To mark the occasion Max McCredie presented a silver cup suitably inscribed.
The need for a shelter of some description became more pressing and it was finally decided to buy a caterpillar tractor case and use this to keep the few pieces of gear protected from the elements. The case was deposited at the top of the centre track near the corner of Barrenjoey Road and Karloo Parade. The centre track was winding and completely overgrown with the tea tree and lantana forming a roof of matted bush. The only way that the crate would get to the beach was by club members manhandling it along this track.
The members sweated and strained, lifting and pushing the crate steadily forward. Finally, after a weekend of blood and guts effort the crate 16ft x 7 ft was erected in an inverted position on four brick piles.
The inverted crate was later replaced by an ex-Army Nissen hut which was to serve for the next 15 years. The second clubhouse, as it was then known, became a dressing shed, sleeping shelter and storage shed for the members.
Warwick Johnston resigned as club captain in 1954 being replaced by Max McCredie.
There was so much to do in a young club that most members spent their complete weekends at the beach, working on the clubhouse and surfing, training, competing in local carnivals and developing the beach. Typical of the enthusiasm was Warwick Johnston’s contribution where he towed his bulldozer to Bungan Head Road and graded the narrow uneven track which forms the lower end of Myola Road and is the main access to the beach. Even with this activity, patrols were maintained and the safety so earnestly desired by some of the local residents with young families, was now a reality.
Growth in membership was slow and with almost no local population, came from other areas. After the foundation members came a group from Willoughby who comprised the major portion of the 2nd Bronze Squad. Alan (Peanut) Park - Qualifying Certificate, John (Mouse) Nelson - Qualifying Certificate, George (Buddy) Pearson - Bronze, who carried their awards together with R. Lowell, Bronze, under instruction from Bill Anschutz who also gained a further instructors certificate.
The continuous responsibility for patrolling the beach placed increasing pressure on the original members and conflicting family obligations as well as the inflexible demands for physical fitness through regular participation in surf races, brought about resignations and retirements.
Of the original 14 foundation members, the only ones remaining were Anschutz, Chapman, McCredie and Payne and the task fell heavily upon them for provision of continuous patrols, as safe bathing for the increasing number of people discovering Bungan was now a growing responsibility.
The initial surge of the club had come to a lu1l but the more important realisation that a club charged with the responsibility of life saving disciplines could have no compromise, grew stronger in the resolve of those that were left.
Those who argued so strongly for affiliation of the new club with the S.L.S.A. in February 1953 had little knowledge at the time of the fatefulness of that commitment which had now placed a heavy load on each of them. None who made that commitment would be the first to let go. Each resolved to keep going regardless of the difficulties. To lose all that had been achieved was unthinkable - and the club went on.
To imply criticism of those who started with the club and did not or could not continue would be unfair. Each made a contribution in time, enthusiasm and effort and in some cases the effort was more than generous. Whole families were involved and the composite efforts of all built a foundation and tradition of which all members, past and present, have been the beneficiaries.
The Clubhouse
The present Clubhouse is built on Myola Road and the only practical site on the beach. Controversy has surrounded the location which has been within the reach of giant seas on at least three occasions, two of which resulting in the Clubhouse being partially demolished.
As far back as L920, Warringah Shire Council provided public dressing sheds on Bungan, but for some 50 years in between there had been no Council buildings to serve the public or provide shelter for Surf Life Saving Gear. The erection of a suitable building was a main preoccupation with the club for the first eighteen years and only then after a continuous campaign for five years did the Council agree to build the modest facilities now in existence.
The lean-to shed donated by Roy Davis in 1953 was shelter only for a reel, line and belt, and the Caterpillar Tractor Case which followed in 1953-54 was more of a monument to the ingenuity and endeavours of the members who wrestled it down on to the centre of the beach after requests to the Army to bring it to Bungan on an amphibious duck were declined. It did serve well as a backdrop for some of the barbeques which raised funds for the club in 1953. Obviously the tractor case was not destined for a long life and the committee approved a building fund and appointed a sub-committee to enable better premises to be built.
The site was critical and alternatives were limited. The only sites available were on Myola Road and the property adjoining the western boundary of Myola Road but it was clear that the Morrisons, who were nature lovers and had sacrificed gas and electricity and water supplies to their timber house hidden in the bush, would not be pleased to have any sort of building on the bottom of their property. In fact, to keep intruders out the natural bush and sea of freesias which blossomed in Spring, a fence was a silent reminder of this wish. The Morrisons later made a gift of the land to the NSW Government for preservation as a flora and fauna sanctuary and this bears witness to their integrity.
Whilst the club looked jealously at the land on many occasions the current situation is probably the best compromise.
Limited resources curtailed any grandiose ideas of building and one day Jim Forsyth an estate agent in Willoughby told Bill Anschutz of an ex-Army Nissen Hut erected in the backyard of a house in Roseville. McCredie and Anschutz called at the house that week and it was found that a family of 5 was living in the hut but were shortly to move as the premises had been condemned by Willoughby Council as being unsuitable for habitation.
Beggars can't be choosers and for £22.10.0 ($55.00) the building was purchased. This deal was subject to the club removing the building and this was done soon after.
Warwick Johnston made his bulldozer low loader available and the half cylinder building was dismantled and unceremoniously loaded for Bungan.
As the low loader stopped on Bungan Head Road at the top of the track, the rain commenced but the unloading continued and groups of members carried the piles of curved galvanised iron down the wet and slippery black soil track. There were many occasions when the leading member lost his footing and the iron dropped to the ground then took off like a bob sled chasing the unfortunate stumbler into the blackberries and scrub.
The most difficult part was the transportation of the half round ends, 16 ft long and 8 ft high with frames and galvanised iron cladding attached- In places the structure was wider than the track and the outsider on the edge found his footing gone as he disappeared into the scrub.
Finally the task was completed without any severed limbs and Max McCredie and Bob Roberts worked to place the many poles which formed the footings, and re-erected the hut on these footings. Max worked for two weeks of his holidays and this was a fine gesture.
Racks were built under the club house to house the small flotilla of boards and skis. Giant rocks were carried up from the beach to form the steps and once in position were immoveable. Roberts and McCredie's embellishment was the back door ( lift up device like the flap in a paid or children’s pyjamas) and a shutter type western window that let in light and sunshine.
By this time Arthur (Nugget) Gourlay, one of the locals living on the north end of the beach, had joined the club and was building his own home above the garage that he and his wife, Ruby, occupied. Arthur was a plasterer and conceived the plan that whilst using a timber frame for his house, he would cover this with mesh then hang a coat of cement render about 1 ½ " - 2" thick all around the outside. The technique was very durable and ideally suited to the highly corrosive atmosphere. As the salt spray had been gradually eating through the galvanised iron coating for the club house, Arthur offered to render over the iron and thereby provide a very durable coating. By 1956 the iron was like Chantilly lace and with great fears that the footings would not carry the weight, the rendering commenced. Peter Hyde, Max McCredie and Arthur being the best of the renderers, covered the complete exterior and the building had new lease of life. The iron continued to rust and the remainder was finally removed from the inside like an aluminium foil wrapper.
Bob Degotardi donated a table tennis table which served for many years and other items of furniture appliance came from all locations.
Over the years the wooden piers moved under the weight, and the floor became increasingly uneven as different piers sank further into the ground. Inside the centre support post acquired a lean of about 6" in 8ft. Floor coverings came and went and the various floor boards cracked and split. A short piece of floor board at the base of the vertical support post came away and the hole in the floor now presented a brilliant challenge. The game developed where members and friends were timed to stand back to the front door and on the starters signal run to the post, empty beer bottle in hand, climb on a chair, hold the beer bottle to the roof then let it drop through the hole onto the mounting pile of broken glass beneath. This disposed of the bottles and posed a battle for champion, a title sought by all who ventured into social functions in that edifice. The trick was that the post, which also went through the hole made by the missing floor board, had a deceptive lean and the new boys always failed to get the bottle through cleanly. The 'rhubarb’ which followed a miss, and a shattered bottle inside the club was unbearable, and those who failed to clear the hole next time were considered totally unfit for anything. (11 seconds was the record..) If there are any bottle droppers who should feel that their better times have not been recognised, please contact the author who will include you in the next 25th year history.
The club was without fresh water until 1957 as the water main ended on Myola Road, roughly level with Peter Donald's house. Similarly electric power was not available and meetings and social events were conducted with the light from a kerosene Tilly lantern.
Members finally installed t}re water main extension and erected a shower and tap for the use of all who visited the beach. The cost of the power and water was borne by the members and it was clear that there would be no help forthcoming from the Council at that time.
A lone green 'dunny' blossomed at the bottom of the track as a result of the planning of the Council funds, but the steep climb down and back was too much for the Night carter, and the morning patrol gritted their teeth and humped the unwanted ‘humdrum’ to the absorbent sand dunes. The distance grew shorter as the months went by and only the unknowing public stepped off the grass onto the sand without looking.
With the purchase of a used boat from North Palm Beach in the latter part of the 1954-55 season, members erected a boat shelter consisting of a 1og frame made from timber washed up on the beach and a galvanized iron roof donated by Mr. Les Bevan. The shelter sewed until 1958 by which time the iron roof was completely rusted. and the structure dilapidated so that it was demolished.
The realisation that more funds were needed and that money could be raised by the sale of food and soft drinks caused the boatshed to be replaced by a canteen built by Jim Hutton (a builder from Willoughby) with the assistance of members. The canteen was a useful and profitable venture and provided a large share of the operating funds for the club until 1969 when it was demolished to make room for the new club house which was to incorporate canteen facilities. Some budding caterers were discovered in the canteen, the most notable being David Sams, Roy Davis, Ian Ritchie and Tony Hyde. There were others of lesser skill, who for their own protection will not be named.
The whole range of sandwiches, steak sandwiches, chinese meals, soft drinks, chocolates, sweets and cigarettes were all sold, but the storage of food stuffs in the canteen attracted both rats and vandals - a continuing problem.
There was still a need to shelter the boat and Max McCredie proposed the construction of a boat shed as an annex to the Nissen hut and this was to prove a useful addition particularly with access between the boatshed and club house through a doorway in the club house wall.
The concrete floor and cement rendered walls required a great deal of cement, all of which was carried by members down the hill. The project also required a great deal of effort from all members and it was this type of project which gave members a common purpose and a sense of involvement.
The small group of buildings was not beautiful but these were all that the club would afford and they were made to do.
By 1960 the membership was strong and the committee with Laurie Payne as President and Michael Doig as Secretary, commenced to lobby Warringah Shire Council for support. Plans were drawn up and the design ratified by a general meeting. Progress was slow and the continuing negotiations did not seem to be being helped to fruition. The problem was simple - the club did not have the finds to build and the Council did not have the finds either.
The building shell cracked and leaked rain, the footings continued to move and the energetic members were also seen to disappear through the floorboards they jumped heavily on the wrong places.
By the end of the 1964-65 season, interest had waned and the dilapidated premises did not help in attracting new members. Regular patrols were not being maintained and after several major breaches, the club was disaffiliated from the Manly Warringah Branch of the S.L.S.A.
The club resolved at the 1965 Annual General Meeting to continue and the battle for new premises waged anew with a barrage of appeals to the Council, the branch and Mr. R. Askin MHR. Finally the committee was requested to attend the council budget meeting when submissions for projects were reviewed by the Parks and Recreation committee. Bill Anschutz was nominated to present the case for the new building to the two men and one woman who formed the committee and the majority of the cross examination which followed revolved around the club’s performance and the lack of regular patrols. The council committee was not sympathetic to the problem and it was very clear that the club's relations with the council and the public over the previous several years had not been good and we were to pay a high penalty of indifference and further delays.
The Parks and Recreation committee did not want to be reassured that the club was starting out again to carry out surf life saving activities' There seemed to be a complete lack of understanding that the preservation of surf life saving institution at Bungan was absolutely paramount and the neglect and almost total lack of assistance over the previous ten years had been one of the contributing factors in the club's decline, and the Bungan sub-committee was very discouraged as they left that meeting.
The impartiality of those Councillors was soon after under Government scrutiny and the council was dismissed by the Government of the day with the Chairman of that Committee receiving a jail term for accepting bribes.
with the appointment of an Administrator, relations between the Manly Warringah branch of the S.L.S.A. and council became more ordered with the branch receiving projects and allocating priorities. This resulted in a fine gesture in 1967 when all clubs in the branch undertook to forego financial support from council to enable Council to allocate sufficient funds to build a club house at Bungan. The fine efforts of Jack Smiles and Alan Fitzgerald, consecutive presidents of the branch, were a welcome hand after years of hard struggle and indifference.
Quotations for the building were sought and the best tender by Hilton Belany was submitted to the council Administrator, Mr. R. H. Cornish, but it was not until 1969 that the new Warringah Shire Council (clearly out to assist surf clubs) undertook to contract the job and build it under their supervision.
The contract was let to Cleveland Constructions, who went into liquidation prior to the building being completed.
In January 1971, the new building was finally completed and opened by the Shire President, Councillor Legge, almost 19 years after the club began, Bungan’s subscription being $3,453.
NSW State Records and Archives photos {Ref: NRS-15721-1-1-55] Beach Scenes - Bungan Beach, 15-04-1970 to 19-06-1974
The new club house was short lived. In June 1974 monster waves rose in great fury and closed out the beach. High tides raised the water level and transported the devastating walls of foam that smashed again and again into the front wall of the club house, leaving only a half perimeter wall and a slab of concrete which formed the floor.
Again in June 1974 the fury of the wind and waves rose again unroofing the remaining public dressing sheds and the boatshed as if to finish off the building which housed the men and equipment which saved swimmers in distress. The mess and debris around the club house area was abysmal and a continuing reminder of the devastation.
A liaison committee had been set up to talk with Council and pursue the insurance claim but resolution was slow' It was only during the 1975-76 Season that the building was restored and stands as a Silent monument to years of endeavour.
Fortunately, the days of packing case shelters and worn out Nissen huts are no more and public awareness of the life sawing need would not allow such a struggle to continue for so long in this day and age. However, it is a fact it some of the best years in terms of the ‘club spirit’ were in that ramshackle premises which represented the personal endeavour of so many members of that era.
References
Avalon lifesavers yesterday caught a 12ft 800lb whaler shark which had been cruising off the beach during the holidays. It was caught on a line set from a buoy. Five lifesavers in a surfboat tied the line to the boat and, after fighting with the shark for half an hour, caught a wave to the beach. The shark had a two-foot jaw span. The surf club exhibited it in a marquee. They collected £7 in donations, and then sold the shark as shark steak. The whaler is one of the species of Australian sharks known to attack humans. The North Narrabeen club used shark repellent at their surf carnival yesterday. A boat towed a bag of copper acetate around the swimming area. No sharks were seen during the carnival. Lifesavers Catch Huge Shark. (1949, December 28). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18145086
Bungan (birth), Richmond and Tweed Districts.
Bognl or Banara (good), Richmond and Tweed Districts.
Boongin (heart), Richmond and Tweed Districts.
Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia. (Vol. 12 No. 8 (1 December 1910)). Aboriginal Names and Meanings., Science of man and journal of the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-531598511
Young stars shine in surf club film
By Dolly Baverstock
LUNCH BREAK during filming of "Bungala Boys." From left. Geoff Parsons (Buzz), Mr. J. Youatt, Mrs. J. Vidal, Julie Youatt (Nancy), Mrs.J. Youatt, and eight-year-old RossVidal (Timmy) in foreground.
AUTHOR Claire Meillon watches the filming of a boat-race scene with London visitor Terry Trench(left) and the producer, Otto Plaschkes.
Breaking into films sounds easy when Peter Couldwell tells how he came to get the starring role in the new film "Bungala Boys." "I just asked if I could be in it," he said.
AND 14-year-old Peter's reason for seeking the film role is just as simple he wanted money to buy a surfboard.
"Bungala Boys"' is the first Australian non – documentary feature film to be made in wide screen color which has surf clubs and surf club members as the theme of its story.
It is a dramatisation of the novel "The New Surf Club" by Sydney author Claire Meillon, who was formerly assistant fiction editor of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Jimar Productions, of Sydney, has made the film at the request of the Children's Film Foundation of Britain, which will screen it to teenage audiences through-out Britain. Later it will be shown throughout the world."
Its star, Peter Couldwell, a Manly High School pupil, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Couldwell, of Harbord, one of Sydney's northern beach suburbs.
'"Dad came home one night with the evening paper and showed me an item in it saying some people were going to make a surfing film and wanted to interview boys for the leading role," Peter said.
"Dad said I should try for it because if I got the role I could afford to buy a surf-board."
Peter's role is Tony Wakeford, a selfish and carefree youngster, eager to have all the advantages of membership of the new little surf club, Bungala, formed by his brother, Brian, but unwilling to accept its responsibilities. His transformation into a responsible and valuable member of the club is the story of the film.
Geoffrey Parsons, aged 14, is another schoolboy movie actor who surprised his parents by getting a role in the film. "He heard about it at his school, Balgowlah High, and went with half a dozen other boys to Artransa Studio, where the cast was being chosen,'" said his mother, Mrs. A. G. Parsons, of Balgowlah.
"To my great surprise he came home carrying the type-script of the role of Buzz, and announced he had got it."
There are older, more experienced actors in the cast, too, but it is the young people who star. They range from eight year-old Ross Vidal, who plays Timmy, and nine-year-old Terry Bentley, as Normie, to Peter Goslett and Dennis Carroll, both aged 22.
Many of them are making their first appearance as actors. Some have acted in children's roles, some in radio and TV, and others have done modelling.
Peter Goslett plays Barney, the brawny young fisherman whose physical strength and genial nature are such an asset to the Bungala Club.
Nineteen - year - old Alan Dearth, son of well-known radio actor Harry Dearth, gave up his job in a Sydney advertising agency to take the role of Brian.
Other Bungala boys are Dennis Carroll and 19-year-old David Broad, who are both doing Arts at Sydney University, and 18-year-old David Sumpter, who is an experienced surfer of the Avalon Surf Club.
Two Sydney .schoolgirls who have leading roles are 11-yearold Julie Youatt, who plays Nancy, and 16-year-old Janice Dinnen, who is Svlvia.
Surf life-saving clubs of the beaches north of Sydney, from Manly to Palm Beach, sent crews and boats to give the authentic touch to surf-carnival and boat-race scenes filmed on location at Bungan Beach, near Newport, and at Narrabeen.
Director Jim Jeffrey, producer Otto Plaschkes, assistant director Bill Lambert, Carl Kayser, director of photography, and their crew of technicians have filmed the boat race scenes from one of the two Army ducks that have been on location with the company.
Wallowing through choppy seas, the duck allows the cam-era to get close-up scenes of the surfboats during the race.
Dominic Brokenshire, Tamarama Surf Club's boat captain, trained the Bungala boys to handle their surfboat, "The Flying Lobster."
Being on location has been a picnic occasion for the parents and friends of the cast, who have brought baskets of food and beach umbrellas and spent the day watching the screening.
There have been all-night sessions, too, at Bungan Beach, when the youngsters, between filming, were wrapped in rugs by their parents and allowed to sleep until called again to take part in a scene in which vandals break into the Bungala club-house and damage the club's cherished surfboat.
Even the bus crews on the route have taken a deep interest in the making of "Bungala Boys."
"'Are you hoping to get into the new film, too?" a bus conductress asked the author of "The New Surf Club" as she asked for a fare to Bungan Beach.
Turn overleaf for color pictures taken on location by staff man Ernie Nutt.
On page 70
Where the (local)boys are
. The beach at South Narrabeen, N.S.W., was "on location" for the boys and girls who form the major part of the cast of the new film "Bungala Boys." Surf club members also took part as extras.
THE FLYING LOBSTER-the name of the Bungala Boys's surfboat-leaves the shore and heads through surf to take part in a race. An army duck carried cameramen, director, and technicians to sea to shoot this scene.
THE BUNGALA BOYS bring their boat to shore after the race. From left, Peter Barney), David Broad (Douglas), Alan Dearth (Brian), had special training in surfboat racing for the film.
Couldwell (Tony), Peter Gos!em and Dennis Carroll (Lyall).
RELAXING on the beach between takes are, from left, David Broad, Alan Dearth,Janice Diamen, Dennis Carrol, and Peter Goslett. Sixteen-year-old Janice plays Sylvia in the new film.
MARCH PAST. In this surf carnival the Bungala Boys are onlookers in the crowd at right at South Narrabeen
DIRECTOR Jim Jeffrey discusses a scene with, from left, R. Bull. W. George, A. Cooksedae. and P. Bull, of South Curl Curl.
Young stars shine in surf club film. (1961, June 28). The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 69 Supplement: Teenagers' Weekly. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51383768
The Warringah –Shire Council made an emergency allocation of $20,000 today to save the Bilgola beachfront from further damage by huge seas. The president of Bilgola Beach Preservation Committee, Mr. Frank Wilson, said today that Bilgola Beach had disappeared altogether and seven homes were in danger of being washed into the sea. Ship splits in two as storms continue. (1974, June 12). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110782971
AFTERMATH OF A DISASTROUS WEEKEND - Pictures
ABOVE: Before the gale-force tempest hit Sydney, this twisted pile of brick, wood veneer, and electricity wiring was No. 17, The Serpentine, Bilgola. On the beach-sidewalls warnings like "Trespassers will be vigorously prosecuted" had been scrawled in black paint. BELOW: Bird's-eye view of beach homes perched at the edge of the still irritable ocean at Bilgola beach. Even the makeshift seawall looks vulnerable in the path of the incoming tide. High on the cliff above the beach is the wreck of the house pictured above.
These pictures were taken last week as the skies were slowly clearing after the savage weekend of near-cyclonic wind and rain. All the N.S.W. coast was affected, especially the central area. In Sydney alone, damage is estimated at $50 million. Hardest hit were the city beaches, especially along the northern fringe.
LEFT: On Patonga Beach, Central Coast, $13,000 worth of fishing boat was wrecked and washed in to the shore.
ABOVE: Warning notices about diving or spear-fishing or even riding bicycles cling haphazardly to Manly's storm-twisted promenade. During the height of the storm, the mesh wiring that made the pool shark-proof was torn apart, leaving the pool open to any grey nurse who chooses to drop in. At Manly alone damage is estimated at $50 million.
ABOVE: Splinters of pleasure craft and other pieces of wood drift dejectedly beside the Manly pier. At the devastated Harbour pool on the other side of the pier, members of the Maritime Services Board had worked from 6 a.m. to clean up the debris.
Pictures by Keith Barlow and Neville Waller. BELOW: Foam washed up by heavy seas at Wamberal, on the Central Coast, looks like smouldering smoke. AFTERMATH OF A DISASTROUS WEEKEND. (1974, June 12).The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44557918
Previous History Pages:
Marie Byles Lucy Gullett Kookoomgiligai Frank Hurley Archpriest JJ Therry Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor Bowen Bungaree W. Bradley 1788 Journal Midholme Loggan Rock Cabin La Corniche La Corniche II Lion Island Bungan Beach Botham Beach Scarred Trees Castles in the Sand Dame Nellie Melba lunches at Bilgola Spring, 1914 First to Fly in Australia at North Narrabeen Mona Vale Golf Club's Annual Balls Governor Phillip camps on Resolute Beach Ruth Bedford Jean Curlewis Mollie Horseman Charlotte Boutin May Moore Neville W Cayley Leon Houreux Frederick Wymark Sir Adrian Curlewis Bilgola Heron Cove Mullet Creek Shark Point Woodley's Cottage A Tent at The Basin Collin's Retreat-Bay View House-Scott's Hotel Bilgola Cottage and House The First Pittwater Regatta Women Cricketers Picnic Filmed In Pittwater Governor Phillip's Barrenjoey Cairn Waradiel Season The Church at Church Point Governor Phillip's Exploration of Broken Bay, 2 - 9 March 1788 Petroglyths: Aboriginal Rock Art on the Northern Beaches Avalon Headland Landmarks Steamers Part I Pittwater Aquatic Club Part I Woody Point Yacht Club Royal Motor Yacht Club Part I Dorothea Mackellar Elaine Haxton Neva Carr Glynn Margaret Mulvey Jean Mary Daly Walter Oswald Watt Wilfrid Kingsford Smith John William Cherry George Scotty Allan McCarrs Creek Narrabeen Creek Careel Creek Currawong Beach Creek Bushrangers at Pittwater Smuggling at Broken Bay An Illicit Still at McCarr's Creek The Murder of David Foley Mona Vale Outrages Avalon Camping Ground Bayview Koala Sanctuary Ingleside Powder Works Palm Beach Golf Course Avalon Sailing Club Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club Palm Beach SLSC Part I - The Sheds Warriewood SLSC Whale Beach SLSC Flagstaff Hill Mount Loftus Pill Hill Sheep Station Hill S.S. Florrie S.S. Phoenix and General Gordon Paddlewheeler MV Reliance The Elvina Florida House Careel House Ocean House and Billabong Melrose-The Green Frog The Small Yacht Cruising Club of Pittwater Canoe and I Go With The Mosquito Fleet - 1896 Pittwater Regattas Part I - Dates and Flagships to 1950 Shark Incidents In Pittwater The Kalori Church Point Wharf Bayview Wharf Newport Wharf Palm Beach Jetty - Gow's Wharf Max Watt Sir Francis Anderson Mark Foy John Roche Albert Verrills Broken Bay Customs Station At Barrenjoey Broken Bay Water Police Broken Bay Marine Rescue - Volunteer Coastal Patrol Pittwater Fire-Boats Prospector Powder Hulk at Towler's Bay Naval Visits to Pittwater 1788-1952 Pittwater's Torpedo Wharf and Range Naval Sea Cadets in Pittwater S.S. Charlotte Fenwick S.S. Erringhi P.S. Namoi S.Y. Ena I, II and III Barrenjoey Headland - The Lessees Barrenjoey Lighthouse - The Construction Barrenjoey Broken Bay Shipwrecks Up To 1900 Barrenjoey Light Keepers Douglas Adrian Ross Newport SLSC 1909 - 1938 Part I Overview North Narrabeen SLSC - The Formative Years First Naval Exercises by New South Wales Colonial Ships –The Wolverene at Broken Bay Bilgola SLSC - the First 10 years North Palm Beach SLSC A History of Pittwater Parts 1 and 4 Pittwater Regattas - 1907 and 1908 Pittwater Regattas - 1921 - The Year that Opened and Closed with a Regatta on Pittwater Pittwater Regatta Banishes Depression - 1933 The 1937 Pittwater Regatta - A Fashionable Affair Careel Bay Jetty-Wharf-Boatshed Gow-Gonsalves Boatshed -Snapperman Beach Carl Gow’s WWI Service in AIF Camping at Narrabeen - A Trickle then a Flood Pittwater's Parallel Estuary - The Cowan 'Creek' RMYC Broken Bay Boathouse and Boatshed Barrenjoey Boat House The Bona - Classic Wooden Racing Yacht Mona Vale Hospital Golden Jubilee - A Few Insights on 50 Years as a Community Hospital Far West Children's Health Scheme - the Formation Years The First Scotland Island Cup, Trophy and Race and the Gentleman who loved Elvina Bay Royal Motor Yacht Club Broken Bay NSW - Cruiser Division History - A History of the oldest division in the Royal Motor Yacht Club Royal Motor Yacht Club Broken Bay Early Motor Boats and Yachts, their Builders and Ocean Races to Broken Bay, the Hawkesbury and Pittwater The Royal Easter Show Began As the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales The Mail Route to Pittwater and Beyond The Wild Coachmen of Pittwater - A Long and Sometimes Bumpy Ride on Tracks Instead of Roads The Fearless Men of Palm Beach SLSC's Surf Boats First Crews - A Tale of Viking Ships, Butcher Boats and Robert Gow's Tom Thumb 'Canoe' Furlough House Narrabeen - Restful Sea Breezes For Children and Their Mothers From Telegraphs to Telephones - For All Ships at Sea and Those On Land Mona Vale Training Grounds - From Lancers on Horses to Lasses on Transport Courses Fred Verrills; Builder of Bridges and Roads within Australia during WWII, Builder of Palm Beach Afterwards Communications with Pittwater Ferries To Pittwater A History of Pittwater - Part 4: West Head Fortress Pittwater's Lone Rangers - 120 Years of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase and the Men of Flowers Inspired by Eccleston Du Faur Early Pittwater Launches and Ferries Runs Avalon Beach SLSC - The First Clubhouse Avalon Beach SLSC The Second and Third Clubhouses From Beneath the Floorboards at Hyde Park Barracks Bungaree Was Flamboyant Andrew Thompson - 'Long Harry' Albert Thomas Black John Collins of Avalon Narrabeen Prawning Times - A Seasonal Tide of Returnings Oystering in the Pittwater Estuary - Oyster Kings and Pearl Kings and When Not to Harvest Oysters Yabbying In Warriewood Creeks Eeling in Warriewood's Creeks (Includes A Short History of community involvement in environmental issues/ campaigns in and around Narrabeen Lagoon - 1974 to present by David James OAM) Eunice Minnie Stelzer - Pittwater Matriarchs Maria Louisa Therry - Pittwater Matriarchs Manly's Stone Kangaroo, Camera Obscura, First Maze and 'Chute' - Fun Days in Sea Hazes from 1857 On A Salty Tale of the Kathleen Gillett – A Small Reminder and Celebration of Our 70th Sydney to Hobart Katherine Mary Roche - Pittwater Matriarch Sarah A. Biddy Lewis and Martha Catherine Benns Pittwater Matriarchs A Glimpse of the Hawkesbury.(1883) By Francis Myers. Illustrated by J C Hoyte Pittwater's New Cycle Track of 1901 Manly to Newport The Rock Lily Hotel Barrenjoey House The Pasadena Jonah's St Michael's Arch The First Royal Visitor to Australia: the Incident at Clontarf March 12th, 1868 Pittwater: Lovely Arm of the Hawkesbury By NOEL GRIFFITHS - includes RMYC Wharf and Clareville Wharf of 1938 + An Insight into Public Relations in Australia George Mulhall First Champion of Australia in Rowing - First Light-Keeper at Barranjuey Headland Captain Francis Hixson - Superintendent of Pilots, Lights, and Harbours and Father of the Naval Brigade The First Boat Builders of Pittwater I: the Short Life and Long Voyages of Scotland Island Schooner the Geordy The Marquise of Scotland Island Boat Builders of Pittwater II: from cargo schooners and coasters to sailing skiffs and motorised launches 130th Anniversary of Australia’s Sudan Contingent - Local Connections of the first Australians to Serve The Riddles of The Spit and Bayview/Church Point: sailors, boat makers, road pavers and winning rowers The Currawong: Classic Yacht VP Day Commemorative Service 2015 – at Avalon Beach RSL Cenotaph: 70th Anniversary Captain T. Watson and his Captain Cook Statues: A Tribute to Kindness Pittwater Reserves: The Green Ways; Hordern or Wiltshire Parks to McKay Reserve – From Beach to Estuary Pittwater Reserves, The Green Ways: Clareville Wharf and Taylor's Point Jetty Pittwater Reserves: The Green Ways Bilgola Beach - The Cabbage Tree Gardens and Camping Grounds - Includes Bilgola - The Story Of A Politician, A Pilot and An Epicure by Tony Dawson and Anne Spencer Pittwater Reserves - The Green Ways: Mona Vale's Village Greens a Map of the Historic Crown Lands Ethos Realised in The Village, Kitchener and Beeby Parks Pittwater Regatta Air Race Trophies: from 1934 and 1935 and The Pilot Who Saved William Hughes Pittwater Reserves: The Green Ways; Bungan Beach and Bungan Head Reserves: A Headland Garden Early Pittwater Paddlers, Oarsmen, Rowers and Scullers: The Green Family Elanora - Some Early Notes and Pictures The Stewart Towers On Barrenjoey Headland Early Pittwater Paddlers, Oarsmen, Rowers and Scullers: The Williams Family Early Cricket in Pittwater: A small Insight Into the Noble Game from 1880's On The Pacific Club's 2016 Carnival in Rio Fundraiser for Palm Beach SLSC Marks the 79th Year of Support Bert Payne Park, Newport: Named for A Man with Community Spirit Early Pittwater Paddlers, Oarsmen, Rowers and Scullers: The Fox Family Surf Carnivals in February 1909, 1919, 1925, a Fancy Dress Rise of Venus and Saving Lives with Surfboards Early Pittwater Paddlers, Oarsmen, Rowers and Scullers: The Paddon Family of Clareville Mermaid Basin, Mona Vale Beach: Inspired 1906 Poem by Viva Brock Early Pittwater Schools: The Barrenjoey School 1872 to 1894 The Royal Easter Show and 125th Celebration of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College: Farmers Feed Us! The Newport School 1888 to 2016 Pittwater's Ocean Beach Rock Pools: Southern Corners of Bliss - A History The Royal Botanical Garden Sydney Celebrates 200 Years in 2016 The Porter Family of Newport: Five Brother Soldiers Serve in WWI Church Point and Bayview: A Pittwater Public School Set on the Estuary The Basin, Pittwater: A Reprise: Historical Records and Pictures Lighthouse Cottages You Can Rent in NSW - Designed or Inspired by Colonial Architect James Barnet: Includes Historic 'Lit' Days records Bayview Days Ships Biscuits - the At Sea Necessity that Floated William Arnott’s Success Mona Vale Public School 1906 to 2012 St Johns Camden: 176th And 167th Anniversaries In June 2016 - Places To Visit Narrabeen Lagoon And Collaroy Beachfront: Storms And Flood Tides Of The Past Avalon Beach Public School - A History Muriel Knox Doherty Sir Herbert Henry Schlink Shopping And Shops In Manly: Sales Times From 1856 To 1950 For A Fishing Village Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club's 150th Sailing Season Opening: A Few Notes Of Old A Few Glimpses Into Narrabeen's Past Beauties Dr. Isobel Ida Bennett AO Taronga Zoo 100th Birthday Parade: 1000 Reasons To Celebrate War Memorials: Manly, October 14, 1916 Avalon Beach Golf Links: Pittwater Fields of Dreams II War Memorials - Mona Vale, November 14, 1926 Annie Wyatt Reserve Palm Beach: Pittwater Fields of Dreams II Tumbledown Dick Hill Waratah Farm and Narrabeen Plums: Pittwater Fields of Dreams II Mark Twain, J.F. Archibald And Henry Lawson - Did They Go Fishing At Narrabeen In The Spring Of 1895?: Probably! Bayview Baths Centenary Celebration in November 2016 hosted by Bayview-Church Point Residents Association Dr. Jenny Rosen's Historical Timeline Palm Beach RSL - Club Palm Beach Celebrating 60 Years Early Years At Narrabeen: The Plane Sailing Day Of 1944 The Five Ways- Six ways Junction; Kamikaze Corner - Avalon Bilgola RPAYC Season on Pittwater and coming of Jubilees in Summer of 1938 Local Explorers’ Modern Day Discovery - Governor Phillip’s First Landing site, Campsite and contact with Local Aborigines in Pittwater: The Case for West Head Beach Rendezvous Tea Rooms Palm Beach: links with 1817 and 1917: Palm Beach Stores and Fishermen St Cloud's Jersey Stud: Elanora Heights: Pittwater Fields of Dreams Roderic Quinn's Poems And Prose For Manly, Beacon Hill, Dee Why And Narrabeen A Historic Catalogue And Record Of Pittwater Art I – Of Places, Peoples And The Development Of Australian Art And Artists: The Estuary Celebrating World Radio Day: The Bilgola Connection With The Beginnings Of Radio In Australia Emile Theodore Argles - champion of all Australians without a Voice - a very funny Satirist, Manly Poet and Pittwater Prose Writer and Litterateur Sydney Harbour Bridge Celebrates 85th Birthday: A Few Pittwater Connections Victor James Daley: A Manly Bard And Poet who also came to Pittwater and the Hawkesbury Let's Go Fly A Kite !: Palm Beach Whistling Kites Inspire sharing How to Make Standard, Box and Whistling Boy Kites - school holidays fun with a bit of Australian and Narrabeen history Clifton Gardens Mosman: An Eternal Green and Saltwater Space, and Of Many Captains Historic Catalogue And Record Of Pittwater Art I: Coastal Landscapes and Seascapes The Bayview Tea Gardens 1920 to 1923 When Run By Thomas Edward And Annie Newey (Nee Costello) An Australian and RPAYC Commodore Aboard an America's Cup Challenger of 1908 and 1914 Henry Lawson - A Manly Bard and Poet: on his 150th Birthday Historic Catalogue and Record of Pittwater Art I: Artists and Artists Colonies Opportunity To Visit Submarine War Grave Renews Memories Of 75 Years Ago Early Bayview - insights courtesy Don Taylor and Margaret Tink Retracing Governor Phillip's Footsteps Around Pittwater: The Mystery Of The Cove On The East Side Early Pittwater Surfers – Palm Beach I: John (Jack) Ralston and Nora McAuliffe Patrick Edward Quinn: A Manly Prose writer who gave us A Run To Pittwater (1889) and Songs for the Federation of Australia Avalon Beach North Headland Indian Face 'Falls': An Everchanging Coastline Nautical Treasure In Suburbia Pittwater: Where the Wild Flowers Are 1917 to 2017 Narani, Captain Cook Celebrations At MVPS And Elvina Bay Memories - 1970s Early Pittwater Surfers – Palm Beach I: Alrema Becke Queen of Palm Beach The Beachcombers Surfboard Riding Club: Palm Beach, NSW - 1959 to 1961 Year Dated Beer Bottles Found at Taylors Point Early Pittwater Surfers: Avalon Beach I - 1956: The Carnival That Introduced The Malibu Surfboard and Being Able To SurfAcross A Wave Face - Reg Wood Anecdotes Mona Vale SLSC To Be Completely Renewed + A Few Insights from the Pages of the Past The Firecracker That Closed Narrabeen Hotel By Ken Lloyd (Savalloyd) + Narrabeen Hotel Licence Transfer Trail Traces Of WWII Coast Watchers Found On Bangalley Headland - 1942 Early Warriewood SLSC insights per Norman Godden + Extras The Macphersons of Wharriewood and Narrabeen: the photo albums of William Joseph Macpherson Angophora Reserve Avalon 1938 Dedication Avalon Preservation Association History by Geoff Searl Pittwater Summer Houses: a 1916 Palm Beach Cottage and Palm Beach House Pittwater YHA: Some History WWI Historian Presents New Film On The Beersheba Charge At Avalon Beach Historical Society Meeting Newport's Bushlink 'From The Crown To The Sea' Paths: Celebrating Over 20 Years Of Community Volunteer Bushcare Results Pittwater Fishermen: The Sly Family Narrabeen Exploits and Manly Community Contributors: The First Surfboat at Manly Beach Women In The Surf Life Saving Movement As Life Savers: From At Least 1910 Locally - Awarded Medals For Saving Lives From 1880 In NSW Windsor Bridge: Planned Destruction Of Historic Link With A Pittwater Connection The Rise Of The Cruising Season: A Look At Some Early Australian sailers and Local Visitor Beauties Pittwater Fishermen: Barranjoey Days Polo By The Sea 2018: Over A Hundred Years Of Loving This Game In Pittwater Australia Day Regatta Began As Anniversary Day Regatta Black Bakelite Telephone: Early Pittwater Phone Numbers Hy-Brasil, Avalon Beach - Pittwater Summer Houses Ferry Names for Emerald Class: The Gibbs-Turner Original Magic Button Pittwater Summer Houses: A Tent At Palm Beach's Governor Phillip Park 'Neath Barrenjoey Pittwater Summer Houses: The Cabin, Palm Beach - The Pink House Of The Craig Family Manly's Early Sand Sculptors: How Pennies Can Become Pounds and Found A New Art Retracing Governor Phillip's Footsteps Around Pittwater: The Mystery Of The Cove On The East Side by Geoff Searl and Roger Sayers 230th Anniversary Edit March 2018 Black-Necked Stork, Mycteria Australis, Once Visited Pittwater: Pair Shot in 1855 Butter Churns: Pittwater Dairies The Drainage System In Thompson Square, Windsor Sydney Royal Easter Show 2018 Show Stopper Beer Brewed By Modus Operandi Mona Vale Extends Locals Input Into RAS Annual Celebration Of Local Products Sydney's Royal Easter Show Showbag Began As An Australian Sample Bag Pittwater Fishermen: Great Mackerel, Little Mackerel (Wilson's Beach - Currawong) and The Basin Motor Car Tours To And In Pittwater Show Us The Way This Place Once Was Some Bayview Memories: The Lloyd Family Tarramatta Park, Mona Vale 1904 The Collaroy Paddle Steamer: New Ephemera Added To Public Accessible Records - Her Connections To Pittwater The Roads And Tracks Of Yesterday: How The Avalon Beach Subdivisions Changed The Green Valley Tracks Australian Sailing's Barranjoey Pin Program; some insights into this Pittwater Yacht and owner, Sir W Northam who won Australia’s first Olympic sailing gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games Avalon Beach Historical Society’s 9th Great Historic Photographic Exhibition: Thousands Of Stories Made Accessible The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge: Timely Winter Anniversaries and Commemorations For A Septuagenarian and her Predecessor Photographers Of Pittwater Capture Historic Insights: A. J. (Arthur James) Vogan, 1859-1948 Roads To Pittwater: The Wakehurst Parkway Along Old Oxford Falls Track Roads To Pittwater: The Pittwater Road My Holiday by Charles de Boos – 1861 Shark-proof pools at Manly on the Harbourside Dad's Fishing Shack At Long Reef Historic Photographers Of Pittwater: Harold 'Caz' Cazneaux 1878 - 1953 Roads To Pittwater: The Mona Vale Road My Singing Story Barrenjoey High School's 50th Year: History Notes + The Original Barrenjoey School A Bunch Of Wildflowers: Historical Spring September Songs Camden-Campbelltown Hospitals & Carrington Convalescent Hospital: A Mona Vale-Frenchs' Forest Hospitals Comparison With Pittwater History Links The Newport School: 1888 to 2018 A Visit to Bungan Castle by ABHS Roads In Pittwater: The Barrenjoey Road Remembrance Day 2018 - Pittwater Veterans WWI 100 Years From Armistice Day 1918 Filmed in Pittwater: A Sentimental Reprise + Narrabeen Roads In Pittwater: The Bay View Road The NSW Women's Legal Status Bill 1918: How The 'Petticoat Interference In Government' Came Of Age - A 100 Years Celebration Of Women Alike Our Own Maybanke Selfe-Wolstenholme-Anderson Scott Brewster Dillon: A Tribute - He Did It His Way Pittwater Summer Houses: Rocky Point and Elvina Bay - A Place Of Holiday Songs and Operas In Ventnor, Fairhaven, Trincomalee and Maritana Remains Of Captain Matthew Flinders Discovered: Links with Bungaree of Broken Bay Isabella Jessie Wye MBE OAM (Isa) Off To School In 2019 Quicker Than 104 Years Ago Photographers Of Early Pittwater: Charles Bayliss Harold Nossiter's Classic Yachts Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your name - Scotland Island Art Deco Inspirations In Palm Beach: The Palladium Dance-Hall, Cafe And Shop - The Surf Pavilion - The Beacon Store Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your Name - Newport Beach Professor Christopher John Brennan: A Poet Of Newport Beach M.V. Reliance Turns 100 Avalon Beach Historical Society March 2019 Meeting: Focus On Trappers Way Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your name - Clareville Photographers of Early Pittwater: Henry King Photographers Of Early Pittwater: David 'Rex' Hazlewood Richard Hayes Harnett - First Commodore Of The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Designer Of The Yacht 'Australian' - Based On The Lines Of A Mackerel Pittwater Summer Houses: Waiwera and Hopton Lodge, Bayview The Sirius Circumnavigation (1935-1937): Nossiter Trio Make Australian Sailing History Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your name - Avalon Beach Were Manly's Statues, Smashed For Road Ballast, Sculpted By Achille Simonetti? Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your name - Warriewood Avalon Beach Historical Society June 2019 Meeting Flint and Steel Guesthouse Pittwater Roads II: Where The Streets Have Your Name - 'Green Hills', Elanora Heights, and Ingleside Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians Added To UNESCO Memory Of The World Register - The Missing Pages Restored RPAYC To Host 100th Year Of The Scandinavian Gold Cup and 5.5m Worlds In January 2020 - some Etchells Worlds and Gold Cup on Pittwater History Pittwater Roads II - Where the Streets Have Your Name: Mona Vale Pittwater Roads II - Where the Streets Have Your Name - Bungan Shark Meshing 2018/19 Performance Report + Historical Pittwater Shark Notes Anthony Thomas Ruskin Rowe, Spitfire Pilot (1919 To 1943) - Who Defended Darwin And His Mate: An Avalon Beach And Pittwater Hero Newport Surf Club Celebrates 110 Years On October 19, 2019 - A Few Club Firsts Pittwater Roads II - Where the Streets Have Your Name - Bilgola Tram Memorabilia - Historic Daylight Run For Sydney Light Rail Begins 80 Years After Last Tram To Narrabeen Closed Historic Insights From The Australian National Maritime Museums 1890 Pitt Water 'Era' Yacht Collection: The Basin Regattas Pittwater Roads II - Where the Streets Have Your Name - Coaster's Retreat and The Basin Samuel Wood Postcards of Pittwater and Manly Bilgola SLSC Celebrates 70 Years: Anecdotes from Early Members Pittwater Roads II - Where the Streets Have Your Name - Great Mackerel Beach G . E. Archer Russell (1881-1960) and His Passion For Avifauna From Narrabeen To Newport A History Of The Campaign For Preservation Of The Warriewood Escarpment by Angus Gordon and David Palmer Mark Foy of Bayview 2019 Inductee into Australian Sailing Hall of Fame The Victa Lawnmowers Story With A Careel Bay Link Plaque Unveiled To Mark Phenomenal Surfing Revolution Commencement: the 1956 Carnival at Avalon Beach That Introduced The Malibu Surfboard The Other Angels From Avalon: 50th Anniversary Of The IRB Marks The Saving Of Over 100 Thousand Lives The Eos: Classic Pittwater Yachts Pittwater Roads II: Where The Streets Have Your Name - Whale Beach Palm Beach Pavilion To Be Renamed The Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Marks DSO, MC Pavilion - some historical insights Daniel Gordon Soutar's Influence On Local Golf Courses: Some History Notes Pittwater Fire Boats History: January 2020 Tribute Palm Beach Pavilion Renaming Dedication Honours Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Marks DSO, MC Ella McFadyen's Love Of Pittwater: An Environment, Wildlife and Children's Champion Ella McFadyen's Love Of Pittwater: A Children's Champion - shorter version for Children Sydney Bus Museum Volunteers Helps Mona Vale Bus Depot Celebrate 50th Anniversary Of Opening Dorothy Hawkins - a new film by John Illingsworth Dorothy Hawkins' family, father Joseph Homer, ran a dairy near Winnererremy Bay at Mona Vale from 1936 Narrabeen Fire Brigade Celebrates 100th Anniversary + A Few Extra Insights Into Local Fires And Brigade Formations Pittwater, Narrabeen Lagoon & The Collaroy Beachfront: Some Storms and Flood Tides Of The Past - With Pictures The Wolverene At Broken Bay In 1885 Jack 'Bluey' Mercer (January 2nd, 1923 - February 17th, 2020) - West Head Battery in WWII Manly Children's Festival Federation Of A Commonwealth Medals Of 1901 Maybanke Selfe-Wolstenholme-Anderson: 2020 International Womens Day + Pittwater Online 10 Years Celebrations The Bona - Classic Wooden Yacht 2020 Answers North Head Quarantine Station, Manly: Some History - Governor Ralph Darling Saved Australians, Saved Australia Winnererremy Bay: Angus Gordon, the Sequel to Dorothy Hawkins by John Illingsworth Roderic Quinns Poems and Prose For Manly, Beacon Hill, Dee Why And Narrabeen - 10 Year Celebrations and all Manly-Pittwater Poets Series in One Place Stargazing In Pittwater: Historic and Contemporary The Naval Pioneers of Australia by Louis Becke and Walter Jeffrey 1899 Harold Tristram Squire: October 28, 1868 - May 16,1938; Artist of Mona Vale All Is Quiet On The Western Front by Roger Sayers Pittwater Roads II: Where The Streets Have Your Name - Palm Beach Large Sunfish Caught at Barranjuee in 1875 Grace Brook, 1921-2017 by Paul McGrath and Robin Bayes The Pittwater Floating Hotels That Almost Were: Old Paddle Steamers, Fairmiles + A Current 'Lilypad' Pittwater's Ocean Beach Rock Pools: Southern Corners Of Bliss - A History: Updated 2020 Long Reef Aquatic Reserve Celebrates 40th Anniversary Pittwater Roads II: Where The Streets Have Your Name - Careel Bay Careel Bay Reserves and Playing Fields in Careel Bay Playing Fields Reserve - Including Hitchcock Park: Birds, Boots & Beauty North Narrabeen Rock Pool: Some History Narrabeen Lakes Amateur Swimming Club by Maureen Rutlidge, Life Member Avalon Beach North Headland: An Ever-Changing Coastline - Storm Swell Of July 2020 Anthony Thomas Ruskin Rowe, Spitfire Pilot (1919 To 1943) - 75th VP Day Tributes 2020 Walter ('Wal') Williams - VP Day 75th Tributes 2020 Gwenyth Sneesby (nee Forster) 75th VP Day Tributes 2020 Pittwater's Midget Submarine M24 War Grave Renews Memories Of 75 Years Ago Avalon Beach and Surrounds in 1968 and 1970 - Photos Taken By Gary Clist Muriel Knox Doherty of Avalon Beach VP Day 2020 75th Anniversary Tributes Dundundra Falls Reserve: August 2020 photos by Selena Griffith - Listed in 1935 Binishells In Pittwater Schools Bairne Walking Track, Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park (Trig Stations) photos by Kevin Murray Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your Name - Bayview Perons' Tree Frog At Careel Bay - who is 'Peron'? Pittwater Roads II: Where The Streets Have Your Name - Church Point Stapleton Park Reserve In Spring 2020: An Urban Ark Of Plants Found Nowhere Else Sydney's ACA Building Revitalisation Project Complete: Grand Old Building Has Links To Architects Of St. Patrick's College Manly - Some History Notes Harry Wolstenholme (June 21, 1868 - October 14, 1930) Ornithologist Of Palm Beach, Bird Man Of Wahroonga Three Ferries Named Narrabeen (1883 To 1984) + One Named Barranjoey (1913-1985) Rockley was Cricket for Girls 130 Years Ago - and this Team Visited Narrabeen as well The Bus To Palm Beach: Some History Surf Boats Season Kicks Off At Newport November 14; A Whole Range Of Local Sydney Northern Beaches Branch Carnivals Set To Roll Out Over The 2020-2021 Season + Some History Newport to Bilgola Bushlink 'From The Crown To The Sea' Paths: Founded In 1956 - A Tip and Quarry Becomes Green Space For People and Wildlife Welcome To Country: Neil Evers – NAIDOC Week 2020 Marine Rescue Broken Bay Naming Ceremony for the new BB30 - The Michael Seale Marine Rescue Broken Bay Unit's Beginnings In The Volunteer Coastal Patrol: Some RMYC BB Connections Stokes Point To Taylor's Point: An Ideal Picnic, Camping & Bathing Place Boy Scouts - The Pre-Nippers Life Savers: Some Notes On Local Troops From 1909 Pittwater Roads II: Where the Streets Have Your Name - Narrabeen Warriewood Historic Farmhouse 'Oaklands' by Krisitin Zindel John Illingsworth's Local History; 'The Water Dwellers' 1967, Enemark panoramas of Palm and Whale Beach 1917, 'Paper Run' 1956, John Illingsworth 1921 - 2012: 'A Newport Story Pittwater Summer Houses: 'Cooinoo', Bungan Beach Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment: Worth Looking After Past Notes and Current Photos Pittwater Summer Houses: Ocean Beach House - The Combers, Newport Beach Pittwater Aviatrixes On The Eve Of The RAAF's 100th: A NSW Women's Week - Women Of Aviation Week Celebration Florence Mary Taylor Doreen Mavis 'Bobby' Squire 2021 Tribute Avalon Beach Reserve Heritage Marker For Old Kiosk Installed Landing In Pittwater: That Beach-Estuary-Lagoon Looks Like A Great Place To Touchdown! Hawkesbury River: 1 In 100 Years Floods - What Washed Up On Pittwater Beaches The Australian Air League Camps At Mona Vale Beach In The Old La Corniche Building + The Robey Family Of Manly; 'Always Looking Out For Younger People' The Story Of Pittwater's Anti-Submarine Boom Net by John Illingsworth, Pittwater Pathways Avalon's Village Green: Avalon Park Becomes Dunbar Park - Some History + Toongari Reserve and Catalpa Reserve Unseen Footage Of Nellie Melba To Celebrate Her 160th Birthday: The Day Dame Nellie Melba Lunched At Bilgola Cottage Narrabeen Cenotaph + RSL History: 100 and 65 Years Markers Of Service In 2021 Avalon Beach Public School: Some History For A 70th Birthday Bungan Head 'Bridge' and Tank Trap During WWII - by Malcolm Tompson Currawong’s 10th Anniversary Funding: The Investment In Local Heritage Continues The Wakehurst Parkway: 75th Anniversary Of Gazettal As A Main Road In 2021 Pittwater's Tropical Fruits: From The Middle Of Winter Turimetta Beach Reserve: Old & New Images + Some History National Fitness Centres At Broken Bay, Mona Vale, Narrabeen: Local History Shows We Like To Move It! Move It! Nautical Words and Phrases Transposed Into Other Uses: Can You Fathom That?! Mona Vale Cemetery: Some History Narrabeen Lagoon and Collaroy Beachfront: Storms and Flood Tides Of The Past + Collaroy Beach Reserve Gazettal The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge: 75 Years old in 2021 + the Beluba Dam and Oscar Schulze The Clareville/Long Beach Reserve: some History John William Pilbeam Goffage MBE ''Chips Rafferty'' Of Lovett Bay: Victory In The Pacific Day 2021 The Fern Creek - Ingleside Escarpment To Warriewood Walk + Some History The Cowan ‘Creek’ + Lovett Bay Heights Tracks: Some Notes From The Pages Of The Past With Early Photos Trafalgar Square, Newport: A 'Commons' Park Dedicated By Private Landholders - The Green Heart Of This Community The Rock Lily Hotel Mona Vale - A Place and Hotel Named for a Local Flower Whale Beach Ocean Reserve: 'The Strand' - Some History On Another Great Protected Pittwater Reserve How Camping and Campers At Whale Beach Helped The Whale Beach SLSC Save Lives Camping at Palm Beach The Baird Family Of Mona Vale - The Wentworths Of Newport The Rise Of The Surfboard As Life Saving Rescue Equipment: Some History Opening Narrabeen Lagoon: Keeping The Community Safer For Over 100 Years Ellis Rowan's Adventures In Painting Birds, Flowers and Insects: 'This Meant That I Was Tapu - Sacred - Because I Painted The Birds' History Of The Modern Surfboat: Recognising The Surfboat Builders From 1950 To 2021 by Bert Hunt The Bus To Palm Beach: Some History with Extras The Landscapes Of Pittwater As Shown Through The Colonial Wandering Sketcher Artist Remembrance Day 2021: Mona Vale's Hales-Smith Haynes Smith, Holding, Brentnall And Roby - A.I.F. Men Of World War One who died on the Fields of France Pittwater Summer Houses: Gunjulla, Avalon Beach-Clareville by Helen and Deborah Grant St. John's Anglican Church Mona Vale- Celebrating Its 150th Year In 2021 Original Sales Pamphlets Of Scotland Island, Mona Vale, Great Mackerel Beach, Bungan, Offer Images Into Our Past – A Pittwater Summer Idyll Off To School In 2022 A Bit Quicker Than A Hundred Years Ago Australia's First Tour Of England Cricket Team Was Indigenous: The Summer They Played At Manly - 1867 Narrabeen Lagoon Bridge No 1 History Notes The History Films Of John Illingsworth: New Work 'The Newport Boys' + Past Features From Pittwater Pathways Pittwater Regatta 2022 - Hosted By The RPAYC - Celebrates Over 130 Years Of Regattas On Our Estuary and Offshore Reaches Lucinda Park, Palm Beach: Some History + 2022 Pictures Barrenjoey House Celebrates its Centenary in 2022 Barrenjoey Boathouse In Governor Phillip Park Part Of Our Community For 75 Years: Photos From The Collection Of Russell Walton, Son Of Victor Walton Iluka Park, Woorak Park, Pittwater Park, Sand Point Reserve, Snapperman Beach Reserve - Palm Beach: Some History Wreck Of Shackleton's Endurance Found: First Images After Frank Hurley's Last Photos Of This Ship Published Pittwater's Torpedo Wharf - Bill Fitzgerald 2022 Avalon Beach 100 - Ray Henman's 100 Years Centenary Film Of The Family Of Arthur Jabez Small Talk On Their Grandfather + Extra A J Small Notes; Reserves, A Golf Course, A Surf Club Dorothy Wilga Hawkins Tribute: 1921 - 2022 Barrenjoey Artists Commune In The Lighthouse Cottages: Post WWII Social Infrastructure Investment Enriched Australia's Cultural Evolution Brookvale Oval Marks 111 Years As A Community Space With The Opening Of A New Stand and Performance Centre - Some Current + Older History Avalon Beach Sand Dunes: Some History Duck Holes: McCarrs Creek The Sly Family Of Manly and Narrabeen + The First Surfboat At Manly Mona Vale War Memorials: A School Honour Board, A Victory Tree, A Cenotaph The Petrov Safe Houses In Pittwater Warriewood Surf Life Saving Club Celebrates 70 Years Dorothea Mackellar Of Lovett Bay - The Poet From Whom The Electorate Received Its Name Wilshire Park Palm Beach: Some History + Photos From May 2022 Narrabeen Hotel: Some History About The Licensees America Bay Track Walk: Some History + photos by Joe Mills Mona Vale SLSC: The Clubhouses - Some History Avalon Beach Village Shops: Some History 100 Years Of Girl Guides In Manly + Some History Of Local Units Snow Season 2022: Some Local History Connections With The Sport Of Skiing Beginnings A Glimpse Of The Hawkesbury in 1883 - the Art of John Clark Hoyte Pittwater Pathways A History Of Pittwater Films Remastered Be The Boss: I Want To Be A Ship's Captain - Princes Albert and George August 1881 Visit to Pittwater + Coast Waiters in Pittwater History The 1957 Girl Guides Centenary World Camp At Windsor: A 65th Anniversary Celebration Grand Old Tree Of Angophora Reserve Falls Back To The Earth Topham Track History insights Brock's The Oaks - La Corniche From 1911 to 1965: Rickards, A Coffee King, A Progressive School, A WWII Training Ground The Sirius Circumnavigation: Nossiter Trio Make Australian Sailing History - Sirius Now Needs A Saviour Bungaree was Flamboyant by Neil Evers - Commissioning of MRBB 'Bungaree' special celebration Stony Range Regional Botanical Garden: Some History On How A Reserve Became An Australian Plant Park Mona Vale Library Celebrates 50 Years As A Community Hub Mona Vale SLSC's Frederick Claude Vivian Lane Inducted Into Swimming Australia Hall Of Fame - A Few Insights Into A Local Legend Newport Hotel Wharf Named For Queen Victoria Bill Goddard Shares Family Insights Avalon Beach in 1970-71 - more great photos shared by Gary Clist Freddie Lane's granddaughter Visits Pittwater on Eve of Mona Vale SLSC's Centenary Celebrations Harry Wolstenholme - Bird Man of Palm Beach Duke Kahanamoku Celebrated In Our Area's First Blue Plaque At Freshwater SLSC The Advent Of The Surfoplane Phenomenon On Our Beaches Led To An Increase In Lifesavers Responses, A Fatality, Along With Lives Being Saved Gerald Joseph McPhee - A World War II 'M' Special Unit Member: Remembrance Day 2022 Goldthorpe & Smith Boatshed Becomes Port Jackson & Manly Steamship's Palm Beach Marine Service: Palm Beach Boatsheds Avalon Recreation Centre History: 1954 to 2002 Wings Over Illawarra 2022: Some Brilliant New + Old Machines + Some History Of Pittwater's 'Aces' Margaret Mulvey (Lady Schlink) of Careel Bay 1916 - 2001 St Michael's Cave - North Avalon Headland: Some History Pittwater Summer Houses: The Cabin, Palm Beach - The Pink House Of The Craig Family (extra images added in) Barrenjoey Lighthouse - The Construction: 2023 Reprise The First Weekenders On The Palm Beach Beachfront + A Look Into Palm Beach SLSC Clubhouses In The Club's 101st Season Broken Bay Customs Station At Barrenjoey: 2023 Reprise Getting To School By Ferry - Australia's First 'School Boat' Ran In Pittwater - Some History Hy-Brasil, Avalon Beach: An Alexander Stewart Jolly Hand-Built Home Back To School 2023: Getting To School By Ferry - Australia's First 'School Boat' Ran In Pittwater - Some History Pittwater Summer Houses: 'Billabong' + 'Ocean House', Ocean Street, North Narrabeen - The House At The End Of The Road - Became Site Of North Narrabeen SLSC's 'Batchelor Club Country Women's Association Manly Branch Celebrates Its 100th Year - 1923 To 2023: Some History A Community Memorial Hall For Mona Vale - A 22 Year Odyssey That Culminated In Victory: November 1944 To November 1966 New Marine Rescue Broken Bay Base Commissioned: A Building Designed To Look Like A Boat To Honour Its Purpose - The Work Of Marine Rescue Volunteers Jack ‘Johnny’ Carter's Ashes Returned To His Palm Beach Home Vale Sydney Fischer AM OBE Early Mona Vale Constable Owned Mona Vale Hotel Site: Some History The Mail Route To Pittwater + Establishment Of Local Post Offices: Some History Narrabeen Prawning Times - A Seasonal Tide Of Returnings: New Found Records Added In Mona Vale Woolworths Front Entrance Gets Garden Upgrade: A Few Notes On The Site's History Angophora Costata Named Eucalypt Of The Year: The Tree One Of Our Local Reserves Is Named For - A Celebration Avalon Beach Norfolk Pines: To Honour Those Who Served – Anzac Day 2023 History Precursors Lewis George Pimblett - Inventor Of Harbord + Mona Vale: Toymaker Of 'Pim's Toys' + First Speaking Robot Maker Of 1952 W. G. Taylor Memorial Home At Narrabeen: Some History (Wesley Taylor home for the aged) The Mona Vale-Bungan Beach-Bayview Tank Traps: Coastal Defences Of Pittwater During World War Two - Some History 'Little Mountain' Bayview - The Modernistic Art Deco House William Watson Sharp Built For Kenneth Gordon Murray During The Rise Of The K G Publishing Empire The First Boat Builders Of Pittwater: The Short Life and Long Voyages Of Scotland Island Schooner The Geordy Historic Heritage Listed Bantry Bay Explosives Depot At Middle Harbor Falling Into Disrepair From Long Neglect Early Pittwater Surfers: Alrema Becke, Queen Of Palm Beach Lucy Edith Gullett (Dr.) 28 September 1876 - 12 November 1949 The Mona Vale Outrages by George Champion OAM Sarah A. Biddy Lewis and Martha Catherine Benns: Midwives of Broken Bay and Pittwater - Reconciliation Week 2023 History Pittwater's Tropical Fruits: The Estuarine Farmlets At Mona Vale-Newport That Kept Sydney Stocked With Hot Area Fruit In The Middle Of Winter Vivid Sydney 2023: World First Installation In Wynyard Tunnels Raises Spectre Of Long-Forgotten Train To Narrabeen Or Manly State Government Announces The Return Of The Freshwater Class Ferries To Manly Route - Three Ferries Named 'Narrabeen' + One Named Barranjoey: Some Historic Manly Ferry Songs Bilgola Beach - The Cabbage Tree Gardens & Camping Grounds + Bilgola The Story Of A Politician, A Pilot And An Epicure by Tony Dawson and Anne Spencer Avalon Beach Historical Society's June 2023 Meeting: Avalon Golf Links Snow Season 2023: Some Local History Connections With The Sport Of Skiing Beginnings - The Founders Kerry, Hunter, Schlink The Cowan ‘Creek’ + Lovett Bay Heights Tracks: Some Notes From The Pages Of The Past With Early Photos Narrabeen JRLFC's 90th Celebratory History A Shark’s Tale Book Launch Featured A Legends Q&A With Alan Thompson, Anthony Watmough, Mark Gerrard, Anthony Balkin Mona Vale Road George Mulhall First Light-Keeper At Barranjuey Headland - Commenced July 20 1868 - First Champion Of Australia In Rowing Royal Avalon Golf Links: Geoff Searl OAM's Presentation - Film By Pittwater Pathways (John Illingsworth) Church Point, Pittwater: Winter 2023 + Some Photos and Snippets From The Past The Tasmanian Countess and Marquise of Scotland Island Pittwater's Fire-Boats: Some History Stokes Point Careel Bay: The Shift From Warner's Hut In 1813 To Finisterre In 1924; 1934 Additions Probably Designed By Australia's First Women Architect, Beatrice (Bea) May Hutton - A Pittwater Rendezvous Site For Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Members Is Still A Home With A View For Those With A Passion For Sailing Vietnam Veterans Day (Northern) 50th End Of The War March At Palm Beach - All Welcome, All Belong Anniversary Avalon Beach RSL Sub Branch Celebrates 75 Years Of Members Looking After Each Other Vietnam Veterans Day Services 2023 - 50th Anniversary Of The End Of The Vietnam War: Collaroy, Narrabeen, Palm Beach The Myra + Merinda II: Pittwater Ferries Of The Palm Beach Ferry Service (Commenced 1976)- A Few Other Verrills Ferries Of The 1980'S To Early 2000'S + Palm Beach Boatshed Insights The Bayview Tea Gardens - When Run By Thomas Edward and Annie Newey (Nee Costello) A Bunch Of Wildflowers: Historical Spring September Songs The Wakehurst Parkway: 75th Anniversary Of Gazettal As A Main Road On May 29th 2021 - the Long and Winding Road 'Longa Linga' At Church Point - The John Lander Browne Pre-WWII Designed Linear Home For An Aunt Dee Why Hotel Opens In 1930: Introduces 'Beer o'clock' For Thirsty Locals Avalon Community Library Celebrates 40th Anniversary Narrabeen Folk Arts Club In The Shack: Some History As We Head Into The 2023 Northern Beaches Music Festival Utzon's Pittwater: A Place Of Peace For A Plain Sailing Man - A Quieter Sydney Opera House 50th Birthday Celebration Australian + English Women’s Cricket Teams Picnic In Pittwater- The 1934-35 First Women's Test Tour That Healed The Bodyline Rift Barrenjoey High School Inaugural Students: 1968 To 1973 - 50 year celebration of Inaugural graduating class Waiwera - Hopton Lodge, Bayview Pittwater's Ocean Beach Rock Pools: Southern Corners Of Bliss + One Northern End Of Beach Rock Pool At Narrabeen: Some History Pittwater High School Alumni 1963 To 1973 Reunion For 2023: A Historic 60 Years Celebration + Some History Avalon Beach Historical Society: December 2023 Meeting Slide Night Featuring The Original Avalon Beach Community Library, The Avalon Stomp, The Hail Storm Of 1956 The Black Swamp Camping Reserve Becomes Kitchener Park, Beeby Park & Mona Vale Golf Course - Pittwater Creeks series opener The Australia Day Regatta Began As an Anniversary Day Regatta Back To School In 2024 Inspires A Look Back At A Pittwater Public School Set On The Estuary Barrenjoey Boatshed In Governor Phillip Park Has Been Part Of Our Community For 77 Years: A Few Photos From The Collection Of Russell Walton, Son Of Victor Walton, Pilot + A Few Insights Into This Evolving Station Beach Institution Pittwater Summer Houses: Kalua, Palm Beach Station Beach, Barrenjoey, Circa 1879 Section Of A Squire Mural From Dungarvon, Mona Vale, Held In Private Collection + A Few Notes About His Focus On In Situ Aboriginal Sculptures & Local Burial Grounds Of First Nations Peoples Historic 100-Year-Old Mona Vale WWI 'Victory' Tree To Be Replaced Palm Beach Golf Course 1924 To 2024: Some 100th Year History Celebratory Insights Flora Of Coastal New South Wales: 1920 To 1944 Pictures From The Past: Views Of Early Narrabeen Bridges - 1860 To 1966
Collectors Corner pages:
Blacksmiths and Tinsmiths Nylon Stockings Poster Art Furphy's Water Cart Mousehole Anvil Sapphire One Armed Bandit Gould's 1840 Single and Compound Microscope Tibetan Thangka Wheel Of Life Painting Cast Iron Seats Mabel Lucie Atwell Prints The Customs of Traditional Dining by Hans and Jenny Carlborg Albert Collins Landscape Boomerang Harmonicas Drinking: 18th Century Style Part I by H&J Carlborg Drinking 18th Century Style Part II by H&J Carlborg Fleece Shears Wood Case Crank Telephone 1803 Timepeice Vintage Guitars Milestones No.38 Rolls Royce Motor Oiler Christmas Postcards Seashells McCormick-Deering Horse Drawn Mower Rope Making Machine Marilyn Monroe 1955 Calendar Stubbie Holders Hill's Hoist Akubra Hat Fowler's Bottling Kit The Bold Autographed Script Fishing Tackle Arnotts Biscuit Tins Comic Books Silver Opium Pipe Mrs Beetons Book Souvenir Teaspoons Bendigo Pottery Gianelli Figurines Key Fobs Model Aircraft-static Porcelain Slippers Wagon Wheels Rhys Williams Painting Chinese Guardian Lions Australian Halfpenny Bud Vases Rolling Stones Still Life LP Autographed WL1895 Thinking Monkey Estee Lauder Ginger Jar Reel Mowers Surf Reels Millers Car Collection Hilton Lingerie - Slips Miniature Books of Verse - A Romantic Tradition REGA Pouring Can R O Dunlop - Sailing At Itchenor Painting Morning Shadows by C Dudley Wood The Father of Santa Claus - Xmas 2012 HMS Penguin Anchor at RPAYC - Newport SS Birubi Mast at RMYC - Broken Bay Helen B Stirling Ship's Wheel at Club Palm Beach Woomeras HMS Endeavour Replica Cannon at RPAYC Vintage Sheet Music: William Stanley's Bay View Gavotte The Doug Crane Classic Handmade Double Blade Paddle HMS Bounty Wooden Ship Model Collecting Ladies - Ferdinand Von Mueller and Women Botanical Artists Australian Bark Art Chinese Ginger Jars Hand Plough and Jump Stump Plough - Australian Inventions Frank Clune Books Frederick Metters - Stoves, Windmills, Iron Monger Trinket Boxes 1933 Wormald Simplex Fire Extinguisher is Pure Brass Chapman 'Pup' Maine Engines - Chapman and Sherack The Beach Ball Figureheads Salty Wooden Personifications of Vessels Binnacle at RMYC The Australian Florin - Worth More Than 20 Cents to Collectors Weathervanes; For Those Passionate About Seeing Which Way the Wind Blows Her Majesty's Theatre 1962 Programme - Luisillo and his Spanish Dance Theatre Cooper's Sheep Shower Enamel Sign and Simpson's and Sons of Adelaide Jolly Drover Sugar Bowl and English Pottery A Means to Gaze into the Past Chief Joseph and Edward S Curtis; His Images of Native Americans an Inestimable Record of Images and Portrait Photographs His Masters Voice, Old 78s and Australia's Love of Music Jack Spurlings 'Tamar' Picture 1923 Resch's Beer Art - A Reflection of Australiana Now Worth Thousands The Compleat Angler - Izaak Walton's Discourse Inspires Generations of Fishers Portable Ice-Boxes and Coolers How Many Claim This Invention as Theirs? Malley's and Sons Ltd. - A Munificent Australian Family Company Vintage Paddles and Gigs Nautical Memorabilia The Crinoline - a 550 Year Old Fashion B.B. King - King of the Blues Goes Home: a Timely look into Photographs and Autographs and Being Buyer Aware Deep Down Among the Coral - By Christopher Corr - A Limited Edition Print in Celebration of the seventy fifth anniversary of QANTAS Airways Old Chinese Rice Bowls for Marriage: Worth More Than You Think... Commanderie St. John: An Ancient Wine - From 1927 with Lineage to Cyprus in 1210/92 and Methods of Production to Greece in 800 B.C. Pittwater Regatta Air Race Trophies: from 1934 and 1935 and The Pilot Who Saved William Hughes Vintage Brass Mortar and Pestle 1958 Bedford 'D' Truck and GM Holden Australian Made Car Bodies Heart Padlock Charm Bracelets for Newborns: A Golden Tradition Marvellous Marbles: An All Ages Preoccupation for Collectors Antique Silver Fish Servers: Artisans Past Tuckfield's Bird Cards: to Swap or Collect Joseph Lyddy – O.B.B. Dubbin Boot Polish Vintage Wooden Tennis Racquets: A Collectors Item As Popular As Summer Australian Trade Tokens Record Enriching Colonial Histories: the Cascade Shilling First Art Form To Record 'Tasmania' And Kangaroos Australian Vinyl Singles of the 1950's and 1960's Dicken's The Old Curiosity Shop bought at The Old Curiosity Shop Pear's Soap: Artworks For The Masses Collecting Vintage Photographs: Early Tasmanian Photographer - J W Beattie Cyclops Vintage Toys Year Dated Beer Bottles Found In The Estuary Adjacent To Taylors Point - Roger Wickins Collecting Matchboxes: A Great Way To Explore History And Art Black Bakelite Telephone: Early Pittwater Phone Numbers Butter Churns and Milk Separators: Early Pittwater Dairies F100 Ford truck: 1977 model Collecting Buttons Photographers Of Pittwater Capture Historic Insights: A. J. (Arthur James) Vogan, 1859-1948 Historic Photographers Of Pittwater: Harold 'Caz' Cazneaux 1878 - 1953 Photographers of Early Pittwater: The Macphersons of 'Wharriewood' and Bayview Photographers Of Early Pittwater: Charles Bayliss Photographers Of Early Pittwater: Henry King Photographers Of Early Pittwater: David 'Rex' Hazlewood Were Manly's Statues, Smashed For Road Ballast, Sculpted By Achille Simonetti? Tablespoons - The Original Soup Spoons Tram Memorabilia - Historic Daylight Run For Sydney Light Rail Begins 80 Years After Last Tram To Narrabeen Closed Samuel Wood Postcards of Pittwater and Manly The Victa Lawnmowers Story With A Careel Bay Link Collecting Snow Globes Sydney Bus Museum Volunteers Helps Mona Vale Bus Depot Celebrate 50th Anniversary Of Opening Manly Children's Festival Federation Of A Commonwealth Medals Of 1901: Collecting Commemorative Medals Ranelagh Hotel 'Mist' Scent Bottle (Robertson Hotel): Collecting Vintage And Antique Perfume Decanters Stargazing In Pittwater: An End Of Daylight Savings Pastime - The 2020 CWAS David Malin Photography Awards Are Now Open QANTAS During Centenary Year: 2020 Stamp Collecting Month 2020: Wildlife Recovery Miniature Books of Verse for Spring 2020 June 1942 Rhys Williams Painting of Sydney Harbour Attack