Sands Directory - 1900

Here is the Sands Directory from the turn of the century, 1900 ...

Nurse Bell-Boyd's testimonial ...

One of the sources of information for this blog is old newspapers which you can search via Trove.  It often throws up some random finds, like this testimonial given for Fisher's Phospherine by Cambridge Street's own Charlotte Bell-Boyd who is listed as living at 41 Cambridge Street in 1915 and gives her profession as Nurse.  It looks like Ms Bell-Boyd's testimonial was used for a number of years, at least 1911 through 1913. I have included her endorsement below and an extract of an advertisement. 

"The problem of Brain Fag, Nervous Prostration, and Backache. Fisher's Phospherine the true solution. Nurse Bell-Boyd's story: I was completely run down through overwork, and suffered severely from Brain Fag. I had to give up my occupation altogether. As a nurse of course I knew something of medicine, and I tried numerous powerful tonics, but gained no relief. A sister nurse said, "Never mind, you try, Fisher's Phospherine". I did. In one day I experienced a feeling of restful repose that I had not felt for months. In a week I felt as though I had been taking six weeks' rest cure at the Mountains or the seaside I was in perfect health. Fisher's Phospherine is far and away the most powerful nerve strengthener and rest giver that can be had, no matter what you pay I am convinced of that - Charlotte Bell Boyd."

Well I looked up Fisher's Phospherine, expecting it to be unavailable like many remedies of that age but it appears it was manufactured right up to this year, only recently being discontinued.

Cedric Emanuel - 40 to 52 Cambridge Street

Here is another Cedric Emanuel view of Cambridge street.  This etching is apparently from the 1960s.  You'll notice we've given Cedric his own blog label as well as the generic 'art'.  He was a pretty prolific artist and I have seen a couple of other versions of Cambridge street that he has done so keep an eye out for them later.

Rushcutters Bay c1900

Here is a great old photo of Rushcutters Bay with Cambridge street visible in the top right (if you click on it I think it takes you to the larger version).  This photo is from the City of Sydney archives (file 067\067290) via the Sydney Water Corporation (who as the Water Board resumed the Chinaman's gardens around the 1890's).  The estimated date, c1900s, is from the archives.  That said, you can clearly see 81 Cambridge Street which was one of the last houses built on the street around 1895, so it is after that.  The White City amusement park was not built until 1913 so it is not later than that.   Glenmore Road Public School is visible in the top corner and I think the height of that building is the original bell tower which was later demolished.  Later school buildings were added in 1902 and 1910, and I think that double story one is one of those.  So I would guess this was taken between 1902 - 1912.

This was sent to me by someone who thought I might be interested in it.  Thanks to Ruth for digging it up and Darren for sending it over!  This is tagged as "View looking south showing the stormwater channel that empties into Rushcutters Bay from Paddington area".  The key is knowing that Cambridge Street is visible from Rushcutters back in the day and so looking at old photos of Rushcutters can turn up sneaky views of Cambridge Street, as seen here previously.

Cambridge Street had a great view over Rushcutters Bay at this time and another thing you notice is the absence of trees.  Not just because it is a new suburb, this street would've been laid out for nearly 20 years by the time this photo was taken, but the Victorian style of the time was quite ordered so they didn't like street trees detracting from the ornamentation of the facades of the houses.

James Dillon

James Dillon was a one time Mayor of Paddington (1893) and was a long time alderman on council (1880s to 1910s) representing our own Middle Ward.  He was also one of the biggest landlords on Cambridge Street back in the day, owning at least 13 properties on the street.

From the Paddington rate books it appears Dillon owned the following properties in 1890:
- the row of terraces 36 to 40 Cambridge Street;
- 42 Cambridge Street (purchased after he had already owned 36 to 40);
- the row of terraces from 61 to 69 Cambridge Street (known as Aberdeen Villas);
- the row of terraces from 2 to 6 Cambridge Street;
- and the shop on the corner of Cambridge and Gurner that is now Form and Colour (36 Gurner Street, it was included in the Cambridge Street section of the rate book).

I have a reprint copy of the very interesting publication 'Paddington: Its history, trade and industries 1860-1910' which was published by the council to celebrate 50 years of the municipality.  The photo above is from that book, it shows the jubilee committee with Alderman Dillon in the centre.  The book also has a biography of Alderman Dillon which I have copied below as it is hard to find anything online about this guy who obviously leant his name to Dillon Street.

"Mr. Dillon has been in office as Alderman for 23 years continuously with a slight exception of about six weeks. He was Mayor during the year 1893. This was the year when much distress prevailed amongst all classes in consequence of the bank and building societies' failures. The distress was widespread and was so keenly felt by many residents of Paddington that the Council rented a house in Glenmore Road, and the Alderman and others worked most assiduously in collecting food which was cooked by their wives and other ladies and distributed to the poor. During that same year the first and only public meeting that has been held on Centennial Park was convened for the purpose of taking steps to assist the Queensland Floods Relief Fund. Sir George Dibbs was Premier, and granted the use of the park for a Sunday afternoon for that purpose. There was an immense gathering there, and the people were very sympathetic. Notwithstanding the fact that there was no allowance for the Mayor at that time, as there is since the Local Government Act came into operation, it must have proved an expensive year with Mr. Dillon, who, under such trying conditions, was often called to assist these and other charitable objects that were so common at that time. Before he was elected to Council he was a strong advocate for bringing the Botany water from Sydney into the district. He was also the instigator of the proposal to have a sewer constructed in Boundary Street, which conveyed a large quantity of sewerage matter from portion of Surry Hills, prior to which the creek there (Lacrosia Creek) was a vile, filthy stream. Sir William Lyne, who was Premier at the time, resumed whatever land was necessary for the purpose, and the Government carried out the work. Mr. Dillon is a very large property-owner, and seems to delight in being able to give good employment to workmen whenever opportunity occurs."

The corner store ...

At the top of Cambridge street at Gurner street are a couple of traditionally designed corner stores.  Nowadays they sell soft furnishings but back in the day they sold all manner of staples.  No. 36 Gurner (now trading as Form and Colour) for most of its time was a grocer's store.  The above sketch (taken from Unk White's Paddington sketchbook of 1971) shows the shop as it would've appeared in back in the day.

This was the shop of the grocer and merchant Mr A. O. Morcombe.  It was known as 'The Oldest Established Grocery Store in the District'.  According to the accompanying text by Patricia Thompson, "Mr Morcombe and his assistants wore long white aprons and straw boaters. There were no ready-packaged goods. Everything was weighed out on old-fashioned scales. There was loaf sugar, lump sugar, demerara sugar, and delicious halves of crystallized lemons and oranges with a fragrant deposit of citron scented candy in their hearts. There was butter in round flat pats, hand-stamped by the dairy which made it, and spices and condiments from mysteriously labelled tins, scrupulously weighed out and wrapped up in white paper spills. There were sacks of flour and casks of herrings, and the tea and coffee came from afar."  Sounds like this shop would do pretty well if it was still there.

Ms Thompson continues, "Mr. Morcombe has plenty of room downstairs and a large apartment upstairs for his family, and there was a nice little corner balcony where they could get a breath of fresh air and admire the harbour view.  Two horse-drawn carts delivered to customers and for many years this was a thriving little business.  At length Mr. Morcombe retired from the Paddington scene, and in the time to come the shop, like all the others, went downhill, became shabby and sad."
At the time of publishing in the 1970s the building had been bought, restored ("discreetly retouched past elegances") and turned into a Spanish restaurant.  Anyone for tapas?

39 Cambridge Street

39 Cambridge Street is on the market so we went and checked out the layout of this fine terrace house.  Marketed by Di Jones who says that it is "set in a distinguished row of Victorian Italianate homes, this classic 1890s terrace enjoys an exclusive setting between Five Ways cafe hub and Trumper Park ... Graced with refined period elements and beautiful proportions, it features rear lane access to garaging and offers potential to upgrade, capitalising on its exceptional layout and prized village setting."  All good there, probably needs a little bit of work but not too much.  My favourite 'period element' was undoubtedly these decorative horse-head corbels (photo below) which I had never noticed until on their balcony.

But what of its history?  Construction wise it looks like Di could be a bit more generous, the Paddington Rate books listing a house at 39 Cambridge for the rate year commencing 5 February 1889 so I would guess circa 1888.  Name wise I don't have anything for the future owners but I can give some answers to the question of "Who's been sleeping in my house?".  From the Sands Directories it appears a Captain W. J. Featherstone resided at 39 Cambridge for much of the 1890s.  We tried his details on Trove and came up with thousands of hits, shipping news being quite the big thing back in the day.  From here it appears Captain Featherstone was in charge of the Steam Ship "Oonah".  The Oonah, 1758 tons, was built in 1888 for the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company (T. S. N.) specifically for the Sydney - Hobart run. As you could guess there are quite a few images of this ship on the web and even a few paintings in various maritime museums. Here is one such image of the Oonah at anchor in Hobart:

It became famous for its speed and comfort and indeed set a record in April 1893 of 44 hours and 30 minutes according to the article below from the SMH. As an aside the current yacht race record set by Wild Oats XI in 2005 is 42 hours and 40 minutes.

In 1895 it would also host all the Premiers of all the colonies attending a conference in Hobart.  The Oonah worked the Sydney run until 1935 when it was sold to Japanese ship breakers for scrap. 

Christopher Brennan

Given that the Fellowship of Australian Writers have named the award for lifetime achievement in poetry the "Christopher Brennan Award", and that he has a building at Sydney University and a library at Riverview named after him then I think it is safe to assume that Christopher Brennan was a notable poet and scholar.  Clive James has even written quite a decent essay about him.

Brennan lived on Cambridge Street in the late 1890s.  The book "Literary Sydney: a walking guide" published in 2000 gives us the story ... 

"77 Cambridge Street.  This house was called Oceana, presumably because there were then uninterrupted views through to Rushcutters Bay.  In a letter in verse to his friend John Le Gay Brereton (a Professor at Sydney University), Brennan described how to reach the house:

     This house of ours is pitch'd upon

     the utmost spur of Paddington

     poking its nose among the Chows

     that till their cabbages in rows

     where rushes erst were cut & reeds.

While living at Cambridge Street, Brennan started working on "Lilith", a long poem in the form of a convoluted philosophical conversation between Adam and his demonic first wife. It became the climax of his major work, Poems 1913."

The photos here are from the Mitchell Library.  It is quite a palaver to request photos from their archives and they are very good about checking whether things are in or out of copyright before letting you go silly with your iPhone.   The photo at top is a studio portrait while the caption on the one above reads "Chris Brennan / photographed at 77 Cambridge Street Paddington / by H Wright".