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Volume 7 No. 4. NEWSLETTER August-September 2004 President 3350 2874 P.O. Box 416, Chermside Qld 4032 Secretary 3359 3022 Beverley Isdale Editor: Pat O’Shea Carolyn Bowser 1 President’s message Our annual general meeting marked the beginning of a new financial year for the Society and there are some changes on the Management Committee. Marion decided not to stay on the Committee but will continue to report to members about her re- search successes. We welcome Terry Hampson and Ian Reid to the Committee and we all look forward to working together for our Society. It seems as if every member contributes something special to our activities. We are making progress on the next display in Chermside Library- Then and Now - and our com- puter and scanner have worked overtime to store and print photos. Northside Chronicle has pub- lished a series of photos and stories to publicise the display and many people have lent us photos. I think we’ll fill the space for the display in Cherm- side Library. The vandals have visited us again, this time knock- ing out slats on the front veranda. Pat and Lindsay are working on repairs and the Police and Kedron Wavell Services Club know about the damage and plan to do extra surveillance. Our photographic collection is growing, partly as a result of some excellent publicity in Northside Chronicle. Articles and photos of aspects of the district’s history have prompted readers to offer photos for copying. – some from Kedron, Aspley and Bald Hills. Many of those photos will be on display at the Chermside Library 13 September to 11 October. The Committee is preparing next year’s pro- gramme and if you have any ideas for guest speak- ers, please let us know. We are planning a bus trip to Jondaryn, as well as some research in Aspley and Kedron. All suggestions welcome. The Historic Precinct and the New Road The current position is that the BCC wants the road to go through. Faith Hopkins is proposing that it turn left from the extension of Kittyhawk Drive along Early & Banfield Streets then turn right to go across the park to Murphy Road. This will take it away from the Historic Precinct and leave the Voyager Centre and Car Park untouched, we hope. The bends in the road will act as traffic calming features, slow down the speed of vehicles and dis- courage ‘rat running’. This plan has yet to be ac- cepted by the parties involved. Wanted: One genuine Argo bicycle. Ian Reid is looking for one to restore it and ride it. Please look in your old sheds and under the house to see if there is one lurking there. Arouse it from its long sleep and wheel it in. Vandalism Our visitors have developed a new leisure pursuit; running up to the wall of the veranda and planting a large foot forcibly on the weatherboards. This loosens the boards and pushes them into the inside rooms. We fixed this by screwing 6 coach screws on the inside of the weatherboards and pushing them back into place. The vandals have left boot marks on the front door also. If they can break the paneling on the door, which is softwood, they will be able to get inside. Nice thought.

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Page 1: Volume 7 No. 4. NEWSLETTER August-September 2004chermsidedistrict.org.au/_dbase_upl/V.7 No. 4 Aug-Sept 04.pdf · Volume 7 No. 4. NEWSLETTER August-September 2004 ... Les, Arthur and

Volume 7 No. 4. NEWSLETTER August-September 2004 President 3350 2874 P.O. Box 416, Chermside Qld 4032 Secretary 3359 3022 Beverley Isdale Editor: Pat O’Shea Carolyn Bowser

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President’s message Our annual general meeting marked the beginning of a new financial year for the Society and there are some changes on the Management Committee. Marion decided not to stay on the Committee but will continue to report to members about her re-search successes. We welcome Terry Hampson and Ian Reid to the Committee and we all look forward to working together for our Society. It seems as if every member contributes something special to our activities. We are making progress on the next display in Chermside Library- Then and Now - and our com-puter and scanner have worked overtime to store and print photos. Northside Chronicle has pub-lished a series of photos and stories to publicise the display and many people have lent us photos. I think we’ll fill the space for the display in Cherm-side Library. The vandals have visited us again, this time knock-ing out slats on the front veranda. Pat and Lindsay are working on repairs and the Police and Kedron Wavell Services Club know about the damage and plan to do extra surveillance. Our photographic collection is growing, partly as a result of some excellent publicity in Northside Chronicle. Articles and photos of aspects of the district’s history have prompted readers to offer photos for copying. – some from Kedron, Aspley and Bald Hills. Many of those photos will be on display at the Chermside Library 13 September to 11 October.

The Committee is preparing next year’s pro-gramme and if you have any ideas for guest speak-ers, please let us know. We are planning a bus trip to Jondaryn, as well as some research in Aspley and Kedron. All suggestions welcome. The Historic Precinct and the New Road The current position is that the BCC wants the road to go through. Faith Hopkins is proposing that it turn left from the extension of Kittyhawk Drive along Early & Banfield Streets then turn right to go across the park to Murphy Road. This will take it away from the Historic Precinct and leave the Voyager Centre and Car Park untouched, we hope. The bends in the road will act as traffic calming features, slow down the speed of vehicles and dis-courage ‘rat running’. This plan has yet to be ac-cepted by the parties involved. Wanted: One genuine Argo bicycle. Ian Reid is looking for one to restore it and ride it. Please look in your old sheds and under the house to see if there is one lurking there. Arouse it from its long sleep and wheel it in. Vandalism Our visitors have developed a new leisure pursuit; running up to the wall of the veranda and planting a large foot forcibly on the weatherboards. This loosens the boards and pushes them into the inside rooms. We fixed this by screwing 6 coach screws on the inside of the weatherboards and pushing them back into place. The vandals have left boot marks on the front door also. If they can break the paneling on the door, which is softwood, they will be able to get inside. Nice thought.

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Information from Leslie Otto, 21 Playfield St., 27 March 2004 spoke with Beverley Isdale Leslie gave the Society the accompanying photo of his father, Les, and uncles, Arthur and Eric Otto in goat cart. It was probably taken 1916. They were children of Charlie and Jane Otto who lived on Hamilton Road near top of the hill on the western side of Gympie Road.

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Les is not sure who each child is; Leslie, his father was born in1906, Arthur born 1907 and Eric born 1911. They all went to Chermside School.

Les, Arthur and Eric Otto with their Billy Goat and cart ready to go out. Did they have rules for operating Goat carts on the roads in 1916? How would one go today? It is sometimes said that there are plenty of goats out there right now!

This is the only photo of a Billy Goat that the Soci-ety has. And what a handsome sight he makes with all that shining harness and cart. Someone went to a lot of trouble to produce all that. Now, members over to you. What information do you have in your memory banks about Billycart derbies, or Billy Goats, or Dog carts in the old days? Or even horses or donkeys or camels or any-thing else in the way of animal powered transport. Swimming in Somerset Creek The boys of Chermside had long taken to swim-ming in the local creeks and one such spot was in a waterhole near the school. It was probably in Som-erset Creek. In September1917 William A Zerner (Acting Head Teacher) wrote to the Under Secretary of the De-partment of Public Instruction to complain that ‘a pool in the creek near the school’ which was used

by the boys in the last season had been condemned by a doctor, but at that time it was nearly dry. His argument was that the pool should be safe in the summer wet season when there was plenty of water flowing through it. In November 1917 Dr Kelly (Inspector) reported to the Under Secretary recommending that no permis-sion be granted to use the pool for swimming. He noted that it was: ! In a cattle paddock;

! Fed by a small stream used by cattle with manure etc nearby;

! Had a soft mud bottom which is easily stirred up by children;

Dr Kelly goes on to comment further that: ! Children with skin breaks could

contract tetanus (Lockjaw); ! Children usually swallow water

while bathing; ! Even though the pool was

overflowing it made no difference;

! And finally, he condemned the pool and the proposal.

Of course boys still swam in the creeks, but not at school. Although there is a story that some of them

were still swimming on the quiet at lunchtime. The teacher used to line them up when they were com-ing back into school and feel their hair. If it was wet they were in trouble. However, people had been made aware of the dangers. Times they were a changing. Elsie May Chesterfield Elsie enrolled at Downfall Creek State School on 1st April 1901 and was No 110 in the Register. She was 9 years and 3 months which would make her birthday about January 1893. Her father was a butcher, probably working in one of the slaughter-houses in the district. They were registered as E. C. or Church of England and she went into Grade 3 but was promoted to Grade 4 in July 1901 and Grade 5 in January 1903. It is not clear how long she spent in Grade 5 as children were promoted or held back at the discretion of the teacher. However, in June 1905 she went to Brisbane School to study in Grade 6 which Downfall Creek

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Elsie Chesterfield and Albert Taylor emerging from the old church of All Saints’ after their marriage in 1925

did not have at that time. James Youatt, on 4th Oc-tober 1907, wrote to the Under Secretary recom-mending Elsie’s ‘application’, which was probably

her application to train as a Pupil Teacher. He said she had ability above the average and she would be 16 years old at the end of the year. (More like 15 if she was 9.3 in April 1901)

Mrs Elsie Taylor (nee Chesterfield) at the 75th anniversary of All Saints in 1989. She was in her 98th year.

A note in the left margin of Youatt’s letter signed W. C. also recommends her. It was stamped Ap-proved, dated 17 October 1907 and initialed. Elsie May was on her way to a career in teaching. At that time a Pupil Teacher could start training as young as 14 years of age. It was patterned on the apprenticeship system and lasted four years. The P/T would teach under the supervision of an ex-perienced teacher, often the Head Teacher. S/he would be further instructed before and after school. It was a cheap way to train teachers and suited the early Qld Education system as it was always chronically short of money. Elsie is listed as a teacher at Chermside State School from 1907 till 1917 so she probably trained there also. Elsie’s sister, Helen, who was about 3 years younger, was still at the school when Elsie returned as a teacher and did not leave till 1908. Did Elsie ever teach Helen? Maybe she helped Helen with her homework?

Peg McDougall who lives at Wheller Gardens, first met Elsie at Maryborough and became Elsie’s life

long companion, filled out the story from then on. In 1925 Elsie Chesterfield married an ex Digger, the Rev Albert Edward Taylor, a Church of Eng-land priest, at All Saints’ Anglican Church, Chermside. The couple travelled to various par-ishes coming back to Chermside where Rev Taylor died in 1976. Elsie Taylor moved into the Wheller Garden settlement in 1978 and died there in 1990 at the age of 99 years. It seems that James Youatt’s confidence in the young pupil in 1907 was sound. These two photos came to light in the research for the History of All Saints’ and were published in that book. If readers know any further details or know similar stories please pass them along to the Editor and he can add the information to the Society’s files. Pho-tos are also very welcome. If you have information relating to CSS he would appreciate it as the His-tory of CSS is now underway. The History of All Saints’ and C’side State School will go towards the eventual writing of the History of Chermside. We need all the help we can get.

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Bakers and Their Carts

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This is the cubby house that the Reid family had in their backyard at 9 Kelso Street, Chermside in the early 1950s. It was the body from a Baker’s delivery van. When the driver made a delivery he would open the sliding door behind the seat, take out several loaves and put them in his large wicker basket and march off to deliver them on foot.

Going to the corner shop for a loaf of bread and a pint of milk was an everyday activity in the 1950s. On the other hand you could have them delivered by the Baker and the Milko. That was in the days when few people had cars. Usually a bicycle was the only privately owned form of transport. The alternative was the tram, train or bus. So, if you wanted your daily bread you could get it delivered by horse and cart or, in later times, by motor van. The body of one such van, is shown in the above photo. It probably came from one of the vehicles operated by the Nundah or Tainton’s Bak-ery opposite the Prince of Wales at Nundah. They had a fleet of such vans as early as 1930.

The Cubby House photo was taken from the much smaller photo below showing the Reid’s back yard in about 1950. If you look closely at the smaller photo you can see part of Chermside over the back fence. There is a rather large shed in the middle background half hidden by Eucalyptus trees. It is the back of Hacker’s store which faced Gympie Road. Ian Reid has had the small photo enlarged so that part of Chermside in the 1950s can be clearly seen. The large clear land on the other side of Gympie Road is

where the Westfield complex is situated. This shows what can be done with old photos. His-tory is not only recorded in writing but also in pho-tos. These can be analysed by using common pho-tographic techniques to give much more informa-tion than is glimpsed at first sight. So don’t throw away your old photos before you let the Society scan them into the computer. There we can store them and use them to tell the story of Chermside or your family.

Notices of Coming Events

Before and After Photographic Display in Chermside Library from 13th September to 11th October 2004 – make a visit.

The original photo from which several photos have been made which show features of Chermside.

Reunion of ex Chermside pupils on 13th November from 1pm to 4.30pm at the Precinct - Class Photos taken between 2 and 2.30pm Smile please Trash & Treasure on 18th September at the Precinct - Start about 8am - We are providing the Devonshire Tea.

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