Category: Journal 2019

by Greg Blackwell

In our 2002 Journal, Clarrie Neal wrote about the Riverstone Pigeon Club. He included the following description of how the pigeons were transported by rail to country destinations:

‘With rail being the only form of travel in those days, the baskets of pigeons were placed on the train at Riverstone and taken to Granville and then transferred to the mail train heading west. In later years a truck was used to take the birds to either Blacktown or Penrith station for loading direct on to the mail train.

The bird baskets were placed in the guard’s van with a bag of feed that was fed to the birds by the guard, who also filled their water tray. At their destination the birds were cared for by the stationmaster until he released them on race day.’

In this article, Greg Blackwell provides more detail on the transport of pigeons based on information from records from the Railways Department.

Clarrie Neale’s very interesting article makes the general statement that the racing/homing pigeons were transported to their point of release by Mail train but, without wanting to be too pedantic, this generally wasn’t the case. As Clarrie recalls, during the late 1950s, the pigeon club at Riverstone was one of the clubs that sent their birds to destinations along the western railway lines each week. (Other clubs, depending on the federation they belonged to, sent their birds south or north.) At the beginning of the season, when the pigeons were only transported a short distance to Mount Victoria or Tarana, they departed Sydney by train late on Friday night. By the end of the season they were being transported as far as Bourke or Broken Hill so they had to leave Sydney late on Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Railways Department documents (Special Train Notices, also known as STNs) indicate that, from 1956 to 1958, the train involved was 9 Sydney to Orange Mixed Train (consisting of passenger and goods vehicles) that departed Sydney Terminal at either 2.45am , 3.35am or 2.55am (the timetable was altered a couple of times) many hours after all the Mail trains had left. On leaving Sydney this train may already have included one or more guard’s vans containing baskets of pigeons. These baskets would have been conveyed to the terminal by a special electric parcel van service that started at Liverpool and picked up baskets from various stations as it made its way to the terminal. 9 Mixed stopped at Granville to attach another one or more vans containing baskets of pigeons and Clarrie has confirmed that some of these baskets were from Riverstone, having been conveyed to Granville earlier by regular passenger train and possibly parcel van services and loaded into the van or vans there.

If the pigeons were going to be liberated at a location before Orange such as Mount Victoria, Newnes Junction or Tarana, the vans were simply shunted onto a siding at this location and 9 Mixed continued on to Orange. If the pigeons needed to be taken further west to Geurie, Nevertire, Girilambone, Byrock or Bourke, the vans were taken on from Orange by one or more other trains, the birds being given food and water en route. Clarrie’s statement that the birds were looked after during the trip by the train guard and later released by the station master is certainly correct with respect to the early decades of the sport when the number of birds being transported was relatively small, however, a former pigeon racer from Wentworthville during the 1950s and 1960s has explained to me that, due to the large number of birds being transported at that time, volunteers such as himself used to travel on the trains with them to look after them and to assist later with the task of releasing the birds. Local residents were often also recruited if necessary and where possible for the latter task. (The accompanying photograph shows that a team of people were required for this.)

The 1957 season commenced with the birds leaving Sydney at 3.35am on Saturday 27 April and being taken only as far as Mount Victoria. The season concluded with the birds leaving Sydney at 2.55am (new timetable) on Thursday 3 October and being taken all the way to Bourke by five different trains – 9 Mixed to Orange, 9 Goods to Dubbo, 65 Goods to Nyngan, 59 Through Mail to Byrock then 59 Mixed to Bourke. At their release point the baskets were stacked on the platform or on the ground in the goods yard near the vans and the birds were released simultaneously at a prearranged time after sunrise.

During the 1957 season, the date the pigeons left Sydney and their destination were as follows, understanding that the train departed around 3.00am so the whole transportation process had actually commenced the previous afternoon or evening:

Sa 27 Apr and 4+11+18 May: Mount Victoria,
Sa 25 May: Newnes Junction,
Fr 31 May +7 Jun: Capertee,
Sa 8+15 Jun: Tarana,
Fr 14+21 Jun: Capertee,
Fr 28 Jun+5 Jul: Mudgee,
Fr 12+19+26 Jul: Geurie,
Th 1+8 Aug: Nevertire,
Th 15+22 Aug: Girilambone,
Th 29 Aug+5 Sep: Byrock,
Th 12+19 Sep: Bourke,
Th 26 Sep+3 Oct: Bourke

In the early 1960s new arrangements were introduced. The vans containing pigeons left Sydney Terminal about 11.00pm. They were hauled to Clyde Sidings and added to a Lithgow-bound goods train (No.599) that departed soon after midnight and stopped at a limited number of suburban stations to load more baskets. The vans were either shunted off the train at Mount Victoria or taken as far as Lithgow by 599 Goods and transferred to other goods trains for conveyance to one of the following locations along the railway line between Orange and Broken Hill: Tarana, Blayney, Parkes, Condobolin, Euabalong West, Roto, Ivanhoe, Menindee or Broken Hill.

The 1961 season commenced with the birds leaving Sydney on Saturday 22 April and being taken only as far as Mount Victoria. The season concluded with the birds leaving Sydney on Wednesday 27 September and being transported to Broken Hill by the following five trains: 599 Goods to Lithgow, 125 Goods to Orange, 7 Goods to Parkes, 39 Goods to Menindee then 33 Mixed to Broken Hill.

In the extract above, Clarrie says, “In later years a truck was used to take the birds to either Blacktown or Penrith station for loading direct on to the mail train.” The train would have in fact been 599 Goods. Special Train Notices tell us that, during 1960, this train was scheduled to stop at Blacktown to pick up more baskets of pigeons (possibly 1959 also but the STNs for this year are missing from the State Records).

During 1961 it was scheduled to do this at Blacktown, Rooty Hill and Penrith but, from 1962 onwards, the available STNs only say Rooty Hill and Penrith. The practice may have ceased altogether during 1965. The last notification in the Railways Department records is for the transport of pigeons to Parkes by the abovementioned trains, leaving Sydney on Thursday 8 July 1965. The sport of pigeon racing continued of course but the birds were now transported from club house to release point by road and, in most if not all cases, the journey would have taken a lot less time.

by Clarrie Neal and Barry Drayton

Members of the Drayton family can trace their maternal ancestors back to the arrival of the First Fleet. Samuel Pickett (sometimes spelt Piggot) was 24 years old when he was sentenced at the Exeter Assizes to be hanged for stealing two pieces of woollen serge valued at 40 shillings. This sentence was later commuted to seven years transportation to a penal colony. He was then taken to the convict hulk “Dunkirk” where he spent 12 months before being transferred to the “Charlotte” to begin the long voyage to Australia. Sam Pickett died in 1817 aged 50 and was buried at St Johns at Parramatta.

Mary Thompson was 19 years of age when she was sentenced to seven years transportation for the theft of a silver watch. She arrived in the colony aboard the “Lady Juliana” with the Second Fleet in 1790. After spending a number of years on Norfolk Island they were returned to Sydney where they were granted 30 acres of land at land at Pitt Town, on the Hawkesbury. Later in 1804, Samuel was granted another 35 acres at Mulgrave Place.

Samuel and Mary had six daughters and one son. Their eldest daughter Ann married Peter Carroll, an Irish convict transported for horse stealing. Their daughter Mary Ann married a convict James Warwick who had been transported to the colony for Highway Robbery.

There is much confusion as to the actual status and whereabouts of Mary and Samuel in those early days of the colony. However, some of the later records show:

Charlotte Warwick b.17/5/1845 at Richmond, married Samuel Drayton in the Presbyterian church at Windsor on the 3/12/1864. Charlotte Drayton (n. Warwick) died 14/10/1897. They had 10 children, most of whom stayed in the Hawkesbury and Riverstone districts.

Samuel, b.1841, arrived in 1857 aboard the “Plantagenet” with his parents Henry and Jane and four siblings from Barrington, Somerset, England. Henry and Jane came as free settlers and settled in the Hawkesbury district where they had more children.

Samuel Drayton died 12/4/1921 at his daughters place in Riverstone and is buried in the cemetery at Riverstone.

Barry Drayton’s grandfather Oscar (Ossie), was the last child born to Samuel and Charlotte Drayton. Ossie was born in Windsor in 1890. He married Clementine Stanford Reynolds in 1920 at Windsor. Clementine was born in 1893 at Scone. She was a member of the Reynolds/Fibbins families from Muswellbrook who owned property at Riverstone, which was how they met.

Clementine died in 1950 and Oscar died 1st March 1957. They had five children, unfortunately two died at birth. The surviving children were Una, Eileen and Leonard.

Barry’s father Leonard (Lenny), continued on the Drayton family tradition of his father and grandfather, working at the meat works all their lives. Unfortunately he passed away in 1971 at the young age of 48.

Other members of the Drayton families who worked at the meat works for most of their lives include –

• • • Arthur (Titchie) Drayton  b.1915 – 1983 Buried at Castlebrook. Rouse Hill.
    • James Henry Drayton  b.1886  – 1950. Buried in the Riverstone cemetery.
    • George (Dosser) Drayton b.1894 –  1967  Buried at Castlebrook, Rouse Hill.
    • John (Jack) Drayton  b.1917 – 1982 Buried at Castlebrook, Rouse Hill.

Barry Drayton, born 1943, recalls …

“The five children born to Oscar Drayton and Clementine Reynolds were

1. 1. 1. Mona Drayton – 1910 died in infancy
      2. Una Drayton – 1911 m. Edward Power
      3. Harold Drayton – 1916 died in infancy
      4. Eileen Drayton – 1917 . Thomas Spencer
      5. Leonard Drayton – 1923 – 1971 m. Betty Evans d. 2007

I have been told my grand parents lived in a house down near the football field, though my earliest memories of the grandparents were when they lived on the corner of Castlereagh and Oxford streets. They owned two Fox Terrier dogs, several birds, and a horse called ‘Neddy’. Neddy was used in the cart to collect fire wood and when they went rabbiting.  Some of the neighbouring families were Charlie Smith, Johnny Waters, Bottles, Marlin, Critchell, Cartwright, to name just a few.

Other family names that were associated with the Draytons in this era were Russell, Byrnes, Mudiman, Allison, McInnes, Roberts and Marlin.

When my grandmother passed away in 1950, Oscar spent his time living at various times with his three surviving children – Una in Sydney, Eileen in Cowra, and with Lennie in Riverstone. It was on one such visit at Riverstone that he had a fatal heart attack on Blacktown Railway Station and passed away. Both grandparents are buried in the Riverstone Cemetery.”

Barry’s father Lennie continued on the Drayton family tradition of his father and grandfather of working at the meat works all their lives. The family continued to live in the old house in Mill Street until 1960, when they moved to a new house at 152 Piccadilly Street, where Lennie and Betty raised their three children, Barry, Keith, and Beverley. Unfortunately, Lennie passed away in 1971 at the young age of 48.

Betty continued to live in Piccadilly Street until her death in 2007. Barry recalls living in this house as a child was heaven compared to their old house in Mill Street.

This old weather board house in Mill Street was owned by Lizzie Blair who owned a shop in Garfield Road, later run by John O’Hanlon. Neighbouring families included Alcorn, Wiggins, Tait, Parry, Home, Parkinson, Watton, Challenger, Shepherd, Johnston and Heyler.

Barry continues the family story…

“At the time there were only two tarred roads in Riverstone and many a marble game was played on the dirt road with the ring being dug with the big toe. Not many of us wore shoes in those days. We also had plenty of open space for footy and cricket games after school and at week-ends; usually the goal posts were only erected at one end.

Another pastime was gathering wood, trees and old tyres for the bonfire on cracker night, always celebrated on the 24th May. Guard duty was required as there was great rivalry to see who had the biggest bonfire; sometimes they were burnt down before the official night. Rabbiting, fishing, and swimming in the meat works paddocks were other pastimes. You were never bored like the kids of today.

My brother Keith, born in 1945, lived all his life in Riverstone, except for the two years he was conscripted into the Army and served 12 months in Vietnam. He was a trained Motor Mechanic working at Hunt Bros. in Parramatta and in later years at Sinclair Ford in Penrith.

He enjoyed Rugby League and was a staunch Western Suburbs supporter. He loved his game of bowls and his greyhounds. Sadly he passed away in 2010 aged 65. He is survived by his wife Karen (nee McCarthy) and their four children.

My sister Bev also has lived all her life in Riverstone and still lives in Hunter Street today. She worked in the Textiles at the meat works when it was operating. She married and had 4 children, sadly losing her son Danny at 12 years of age.

I lived in Riverstone for 57 years, except for the periods I was working in country and interstate towns in my job as a government Meat Inspector with the Department of Primary Industry. This was a position I held for 35 years.

On the 4th June 1966 I married Anne Jackson, a girl from Schofields. In 1971 we built a new house in 205 Piccadilly Street where we lived for 30 years and raised our 3 children Wendy, Kirk, and Kirrily.

I have always been involved with the Riverstone Rugby League club and played from 1957 to 1973, subject to when I was not away in the country. When available I coached or managed the Junior teams from 1964 to 1994 and was rewarded with Life Membership of the club in the mid 1980’s. I have always been a staunch supporter of the Parramatta District League Club.

I am also a great supporter of the game of cricket, playing with the Riverstone R.S.L club from 1960 to 1970. I then played with the Schofields cricket club from 1972 to 1984, coaching several junior teams at the same time.

I’ve seen many a boy that I coached in football and cricket grow up and are now raising their own families in the area.

Today I’m a keen lawn bowler and play whenever the opportunity presents itself. I also enjoyed the game of squash and regularly played when the Bowling club built the squash court in the 1980’s.

As you can see, the Drayton family have a long history in the area and it still continues on.

I personally, even though now living Tea Gardens, have always and always will regard ‘Rivo’ as my home town.”

by Shirley Seale

As I turn from Crown Street towards Garfield Road, along Edmund Street, the contrast with its appearance now and the way it looked when I first made that turn is quite mind-blowing.

We bought a little old house in Edmund Street and moved in October, 1961. We had a four- month old baby and were sure we could bring new life to the house with our youthful energy. Little did we know that the very next week my husband would have a severe accident which resulted in his wearing a back brace for 3 years – so we did renovate the house but it was finished nine years later.

Edmund Street had four houses on our side and two on the other, all on small acreage lots. The road itself was not tarred and was a luscious red clay surface which turned to squelching mud after rain. There were no streetlights. We had a telephone service which connected to the local exchange. Our number was Riverstone 462.You turned the handle on the black Bakelite phone set, (Bakelite was an early form of plastic), which rang at the telephone exchange where a lady would answer and ask you which number you wanted. She would work the switches and you were connected to the other line. The system was convenient too, because if something was happening in the area, the exchange could alert you. This was something that happened soon after we moved in when a big flood closed roads and inundated the lower areas of the town. It was a great day when an automatic exchange opened and we could ring the numbers we wanted directly. Before my property was sold in 2015, we had been fitted with the NBN boxes ready for a new set of communication updates.

We had a milk delivery each day and the milk bottles would be left in a box on our fence. In really frosty weather, the milk would have frozen, forcing the foil lid from the glass bottle and you would find a column of frozen milk with a little silver foil hat sitting in the box.

We had an outside toilet, a true ‘dunny’, some distance from the house, with a pan toilet. This was supposed to be emptied each week by the council and replaced with a clean empty can. However, we were considered by Blacktown council to be outside their urban area at Riverstone and left to our own devices. My outraged pleas meant that Mr Richards himself, who had the contract, would come in his car every week to do the job. To borrow a phrase from Prime Minister Morrison – how good was it when we could finally afford to install a septic system, which was still in use 54 years later when I left the street. No doubt everyone in Edmund Street is now connected to the sewerage system. I hope you appreciate your good fortune!

There was no garbage collection as we were outside the Council’s collection area, so combustibles were burnt in a Besser Block incinerator in the back yard, and hard rubbish like tins etc., was packed into bags and when several had been filled, taken to the council tip in Grange Avenue.

It was under the Whitlam Labor Government in 1974 when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam introduced the Regional Employment Development Scheme, known as the ‘RED Scheme’ to provide infrastructure and to put improvements into our towns, that we finally had the road tarred and street lighting connected. No more sliding around in the mud with no traction on wet days, or clouds of dust in the hot dry summer.

There was bushland around us and we had a written letter from the Council stating that our land would always be ‘green belt’. This was land set aside to create a green sward around outer parts of Sydney supposedly destined to remain undeveloped!

Not long after we moved in a possum scrambled down our chimney and left a mess of sooty paw prints through the house as we tried to evict him. We had owls in the trees and an occasional fox trotting down the driveway and once a black snake slithered between my daughter and me as we sat on a rug on the lawn. We had three sheep in the back part of the property to keep the grass down and later my daughter was able to have a horse there too, while my son could ride his little mini motorbike through the bush at the back.

Edmund Street, and in fact all of Riverstone, was on land gifted as a grant to Maurice O’Connell when he married Governor William Bligh’s daughter Mary in 1810. Riverstone is really a ‘wedding present town’. She would be as gobsmacked as I am if she came to visit her grant now.

By Rosemary Phillis

On 27 November 2018, a small gathering of people celebrated the Riverstone Library’s 40th birthday. Blacktown Council first opened a public library in Riverstone in 1978. It was located on the northern side of the 1st floor of the newly opened Marketown building. The library underwent a refurbishment in 1996. In 2000 the library moved across the hall to the current location on the southern side of the building. The photos below show the changing face of the library.

Compiled by Rosemary Phillis

Local history has often featured in the education of children at the various local schools at Riverstone. From time to time interview sheets were developed and older members of the community shared their memories. The following information is based on the answers from a interview sheet covering the memories of Bill Vaughan. It is likely that his wife Dorothy would have been involved in the interview. Bill was born in Riverstone in 1901 and died in 1982.

The interview is likely to have taken place in the last 1970s, early 1980s.

My name is William Alfred Dawson Vaughan. I was one of three sons born to Edward and Mary Vaughan.

THE DEPRESSION

I remember the Depression. We lived at 21 Oxford Street Riverstone. We had one daughter who was born during the Depression.

How did the Depression affect our family? Things were at a standstill. We lived day to day, but we were never short of the necessities. Food was sold as cheap as possible. We purchased food from my father’s shop. Clothes and the barest necessities were purchased at Riverstone and Parramatta.

We did work through the Depression, but the work was mainly casual and the amount earned varied. I had a number of jobs during 1929 and 1936. Being a carpenter and joiner I made furniture, flyscreens and repairs for various friends and relations who were not out of work. I was given work at Parramatta with the firm I had served my apprenticeship with. They got me work with another firm of joiners. When that finished I was lucky to be given a job as a maintenance carpenter at the Riverstone Meatworks and was there 30 years.

One was very thankful to do any work available, so I enjoyed my work.
There were families worse off than we were; those who had no work or had large families.

TRANSPORT

We had no private transport. The railway was the only form of public transport. It was a poor train service, all steam trains and mainly box carriages. The fares were reasonable and in keeping with wages.

RELIGION

We went to church at the local Presbyterian Church in Garfield Road, which was not far from where we lived. The minister came from Windsor as we were in the Windsor Parish. The service was at 3 pm in the afternoon.

SCHOOL

Our daughter was too young for school during the Depression. As for the children at school I think they enjoyed it. There was a large emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic. They didn’t have uniforms, they wore whatever clothes they had.

HOUSING

Our house was built in 1926. It was made of weatherboard and fibro and had an iron roof. I built the house with the help of my brother.

ENTERTAINMENT

We were perfectly happy, making our own amusement. Riverstone had many tennis courts. We played Tennis Tournaments in Blacktown District Competitions. Also there were Women’s Tennis Days and Tournaments. Many were run to raise church funds.

There were regular dances and occasional balls. We had card afternoons and evenings.

CLOTHING

During the Depression fashion remained fairly static as there was not much money for new clothes. By today’s standards clothing was cheap, but as the basic wage for men was only £3-10-0 a weekly, the prices were reasonable. Tradesmen earned £5 per week.

Men worked in cotton work trousers and shirts and work shoes or boots. They dressed up for tennis in creams and silk shirts and sandshoes. They wore sports coats and slacks or suits for outings. They also wore hats.
Women mostly wore cotton for ordinary wear. There were no wash and wear materials, so best clothes had to be dry cleaned. Women never went out dressed for shopping, visiting or going to Sydney without wearing hats and gloves.

MY MOST VIVID MEMORIES OF THE DEPRESSION

Many suffered far more than we did. The Dole was not always a handout, the Council had men working on the roads and footpaths. Riverstone had a much smaller population and as the Meatworks is here, many got some work, if not permanent.

Many couples who had only been married a few years were unable to pay their loans and lost their homes. Those paying rent often went home to their parents. Also couples with furniture etc on time payment had it repossessed, so they lost all they had paid. I would hate to see another depression, but personally I feel that it taught our generation a hard lesson, but made us appreciate the good times.

In our time everything was cheaper and wages small, but money was worth more. High wages only bring higher costs. So where is the gain? We were satisfied with less but we were just as happy.

by Rosemary Phillis

Windsor and Richmond Gazette 29 October 1969.

On Saturday 25 October 1969, fifty year ago, the last regular scheduled steam train ran on the Richmond Line. A short description of the event was provided in the Gazette.

P Class steam loco 3324 made a brave showing as she pulled out of the Richmond platform on the 7.56 run on Saturday morning. As though aware of the significance of the occasion the old loco poured out a billowing cloud of thick black smoke from her funnel and a trail of steam hissed out from her valves.

A swarm of Railway Historical Society amateur photographers waited beside the line to catch the moment on film for this was the last scheduled steam train run on the Richmond line.

As from Saturday the few remaining P Class and small S Class tank locomotives have been taken off the line and will be replaced with 48 Class diesel-electric locomotives.

As nostalgic as this change might be to many steam train enthusiasts, Richmond housewives living close to the line are overjoyed at the thought of no longer having to cope with soot-blackened washing.

These photographs were taken by John Ward and record steam engine 3324 which had the honour of working the line and the last regular scheduled steam train on the day.

by Chris Counter

This horse was the mascot of the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment that was raised in Sydney in September 1914 and is held in the photograph by an unidentified Light Horseman. The photograph was taken in November 1918, in part of the Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Mejdel Jaffa Area, Risdon. The horse was presented to the Regiment by Mr Colin Richards of Riverstone Meat Works, in 1914. ¹

Horses had always been a part of the much-respected Richards family life, at work and at play and it is not surprising that he should present a horse to a local Regiment.

The photograph appears in the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment history book, “Under Furred Hats.” The book takes its name from the distinctive wallaby fur puggaree (hatband) worn exclusively by the 6th Light Horse Regiment. ²

The well-liked Colin Richard’s father was Robert Richards and his grandfather was Ben Richards, the founder of the Riverstone Meat Company. Following Ben Richards death in 1898, Robert Richards became proprietor of the meat works and other related companies. As well as his extensive business interests, Robert had a great an interest in horses and horse racing. He was a steward of the Sydney Turf Club and at one time had 16 horses in training. He enjoyed the reputation of being one who ran his entries purely for the sake of the sport. Robert unexpectedly died at his home in Randwick in July 1902. His funeral cortege was led by 150 employees of the meat works, eight of them acting as pall bearers. The names of six of the pall bearers were Messrs. H Strachan, D McCutcheon, G Connell, R Cruickshank, W East and O Walters. ³

For some time after his father’s death, Colin was actively engaged in the operations at Riverstone through the firm, B Richards and sons. He was particularly well known in the pastoral life of the State having contact with graziers from all parts. He ran several cattle stations in his own right until taking a lease of Gnomery Station near Wee Waa where he died aged 67 in January 1925, leaving a wife and 3 sons. ⁴

In “Under Furred Hats” the unit history book includes the following affectionate testimonial regarding this horse: ⁵

It is difficult to single out individual horses, as men, but the excellence of our steeds generally was undoubtedly embodied in the Mascot – a thirteen hand pony. He was presented to the Regiment in 1914, and for a long time remained unattached to the ration strength. But eventually he won his right to be regarded as a horse, and throughout the whole of the campaigns carried an average weight man and a full weight of gear. Never did he knock up or cave in, and his fiery disposition was as unquenched when we handed him in in June 1919, as it was when he embarked in December 1914.

Two of Riverstone’s Gallipoli / Light Horsemen saw service with the 6th Light Horse Regiment. They were both injured before the evacuation of Gallipoli and returned to Australia. ⁶

There is a second photograph of “The Mascot” in the unit history book, “Under Furred Hats” but the quality of the print makes it unsuitable to reproduce here.

 

References
1 Australian War Memorial B00475
2 Under Furred Hats, Geo L Barrie (Lieut) page 163
3 Sydney Wool & Stock Journal, Friday 25 July 1902 page 8, Trove, Death of Robert Richards
4 Country Life Stock & Station Journal, Tue 3 Feb 1925, Trove, Death of Colin Richards
5 Under Furred Hats, Geo L Barrie (Lieut) page 162
6 Riverstone and the First World War, RDHS
7 Under Furred Hats, Geo L Barrie (Lieut) page 157

by Nell Moody (nee Williams)

Ten shillings had a special significance for my father, Wally Williams. This was because that was the weekly wage he earned as a thirteen year old, for six and a half days work in 1909. He earned it as a farm labourer in Queensland. He was proud to be an earner. His sister told me that he would run some miles home to Warwick after he signed for it, after midday each Saturday, to place it proudly in his mother’s hand.

His father had died of pneumonia when he was three, leaving his wife and five children, of which my father was the youngest, on a small, uneconomic farm in the Yarra Valley. They kept moving from one small farm to another, always fearful of debt. A fear my father carried all his life. Eventually they arrived at Schofields Farm Road. His brothers and sisters married and set up homes elsewhere.

After his mother died, my father married a local girl, Lillian Rothwell. Bad experiences during the great depression with jobs, led them to start a small produce business by themselves, to which my mother introduced hardware as time improved. They worked hard and by the 1950’s Dad felt that he would like to do something for Schofields.

He had always loved sport, especially cricket, and felt that it was a shame that there were few suitable areas in Schofields. He had some land near Schofields Public School and Mum had bought an adjacent house in St Albans Road. If she moved the house there would be sufficient space for vehicle access to Dad’s land from that street, because in 1956, Station Street was just a track in the bush. This was done.

Blacktown Council said they would not receive the land as a gift. They would have to pay for the land. I have in front of me a copy of the Memorandum of Transfer of that land dated September 13th, 1956… Lot 6 on Deposited Plan Number 23976, County of Cumberland, Parish of Gidley… from Walter Williams to The Council of the Shire of Blacktown for the purpose of public recreation… in consideration of the sum of ten shillings. This was a token amount and nowhere near the true value of the land.

In 1956 the basic (minimum) weekly wage was 246 shillings (12 pounds, 6 shillings) and children were no longer allowed to work on farms for six and a half days a week.

Schofields has changed. On Australia Day I visited the place that once was home. The house and garden, sheds, cow bails and chook shed were gone, so was the bush, replaced by dozens of houses and streets. Feeling sad I drove down Station Street to Schofields Park, so well cared for by Blacktown Council, and there at the cricket nets, was a family with a Dad bowling to his boys. I think Wally Williams would be pleased.