Unlocking the Past 2022

Soprano songbird wows Cessnock audiences

In 1881 Elsie Mary Fischer was born in Adelaide, an ordinary girl who transformed herself into an international musical superstar, performing at the highest level in London, New York and South Africa. She was an operatic soprano with an astounding and powerful voice, who adopted ‘Elsa Stralia’ as her stage name.

She left Australia in 1910 for an overseas career, debuting at the Royal Opera Company in London three years later. In 1922 she went to the USA and took that country by storm. Her career soared there with patriotic audiences loving her performances where, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, she sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’.

In her professional life Elsa Stralia looked every inch the superstar. She was known for her extravagant costumes, elaborate head-dresses and tiaras, with a lavish lifestyle which included living in high-class hotels and commanding private suites on ocean liners. She was often described as ‘Madame Stralia’.

Three years later, in February 1925, Elsa Stralia announced that she was returning to Australia on tour and that she was to perform not just in the capital cities, but in regional and rural towns as well.

In July 1925 Elsa hit the Hunter with acclaimed performances in Newcastle. On 15 October it was Cessnock’s turn and the soprano songbird arrived in town to enormous excitement. Local newspaper, the Cessnock Eagle, enthused about her ‘dramatic soprano’ voice, with the Strand Theatre full of enthusiastic music lovers who demanded a number of encores.

Elsa’s fans were legion, her fame enormous and the media enthused over her musical artistry. It seemed from the outside that she had it all, but behind the scenes her life had been tumultuous. Her mother had died when Elsa was a teenager and her widowed father, unable to cope, took his own life three years later. As the eldest child and the only girl in the family she was left to support her five younger brothers.

Elsa married William Moses in 1908, an emotionally cruel man who caused her much distress; they eventually divorced in 1935. Elsa re-married the same year to Adolph Christensen and this relationship lasted for the rest of their lives.

Elsa died in Melbourne in 1945. She left her estate, valued today at almost $300,000, to establish a scholarship for young female Australasian singers. A lasting musical legacy for an Adelaide girl who had a life of global fame, personal tragedy an artistic brilliance.

William Kearsley: the miners’ friend

The town of Kearsley was named for an honourable man with a humble heart who made an indelible impact on our local community.

William Kearsley was born in Stafford, England in 1863 and as a young man trained to be a Methodist Minister in Manchester. He immigrated to Australia in 1889, settling in the Hunter region and working as a Methodist minister. He later moved to the Kurri Kurri area, working as a coal miner in a number of different collieries. He married Betsy Wilkinson in 1898 and they had three children, a daughter and two sons.

By 1907 William had become active in the Colliery Employees Federation, bringing the conviction of his Christian faith and his natural compassion to his new role as an industrial organiser. He was effective, striving and achieving real improvements in the working lives and living conditions of the miners.

Buoyed by this success, in 1910 William successfully stood for election as a member of the Australian Labor Party. His local popularity saw him easily elected and he became the member for Northumberland in the NSW Legislative Assembly. He continued as a parliamentarian for the rest of his life, as the Member for Northumberland, Cessnock and Newcastle.

The village that bears his name, formerly called Edenville, was proclaimed on 19 November 1913.

William was notable for his selfless service and advocacy for the rights and welfare of miners, whose cause was close to his heart. He was known as ‘the miner’s friend’, someone who had not forgotten the plight of ordinary people despite achieving high parliamentary office.

He served as the member for Northumberland until his sudden and premature death on 19 June 1921. The shock of William’s passing caused a spontaneous outpouring of grief. On the day of his funeral collieries closed to allow miners to attend and local businesses shut their doors.

Over a thousand people attended his final farewell at Cessnock Methodist Church and more than 250 vehicles followed the hearse to Cessnock Cemetery for his burial. The streets were packed with people and as the cortege passed by they bowed their heads.

The people never forgot William Kearsley. A committee was formed to build a permanent memorial to him and in 1925 the Kearsley Memorial gates were installed at South Cessnock (now Baddeley) Park. These gates were moved in 1984 and are now at the entrance to Kearsley Public School. 

Cessnock’s early stone mason and Councillor

William Joseph (Bill) Lane was an early Cessnock businessman, who like many others stood for Council. He had settled in Cessnock by 1909, where he had set up a substantial stone quarry and monumental works in Vincent Street, about opposite where the former Hunter Water Board building was located.

His shopfront had a large open area adjacent to it, which he used to store his headstones and other carved monuments. With a picket fence facing the street, the effect was like a cemetery in the main street of Cessnock. In the early years of the 20^th century it could truly be said that William Joseph Lane had a business which looked like it was in the ‘dead heart of town’.

In 1920 Bill Lane was elected to Council. Two years later he was disqualified from sitting on Council on the basis that he had done business with Council while a Councillor, what we now call a conflict of interest. Bill stood aside, appealed the decision, was found not guilty and returned to Council.

He later resigned his seat, but was re-elected unopposed. Then he was out again as a Magistrate found him guilty of breaching the Local Government Act and fined him £50. Local citizens were outraged and started a defence fund, raising money to pay his fine.

Like many people, Bill Lane was deeply affected by the loss of local men’s lives in World War I. Only one year into the war he used his skill as a stone mason to craft a stately grey marble honour roll with a decorated pediment and base, which was installed in the former Cessnock Shire Council building in 1915. It is still there over a century later. The memorial can be seen online on the NSW War Memorials Register. Five years later he created a similar memorial for the Aberdare Methodist Church, determined to use his artisan skills to remember the carnage of war.

In 1923 he moved his stone masonry business to Allandale Road. Unusually for a former Councillor, Bill built his new premises without a building permit throwing him into hot water again with Council. William Joseph Lane died in 1947 and is buried in Cessnock Cemetery with a dignified black marble headstone which describes him as a ‘stonemason of Cessnock’.

Ellalong earthquake

Earthquake tremors in the Hunter Valley are surprisingly common. Records compiled since European settlement have reports of earthquakes as far back as 1842.  

On 6 August 1994 it was Ellalong’s turn. Just after 9.00pm a magnitude 5.4 quake struck, the largest in eastern Australia since the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. In geological terms it was quite close to this devastating Newcastle event, only 30 km west of the 1989 epicentre. The earthquake was felt over a radius of more than 220km, as far as Taree in the north, Nowra in the south and Orange in west.

Power and lights went out and landlines went down as the strong earthquake was felt at Ellalong, Paxton and Wallaby Gully. Many thought the earth movement was a result of blasting at Singleton Army Camp, but it was in fact part of the natural shaky history of the Hunter Valley.

Seventeen underground miners at Ellalong no. 2 Colliery reported a frightening scene and a first-hand description of the moment the quake hit paints a vivid picture. “…a loud noise…my whole surroundings shook for about five seconds. Coal fell from the headings sides and dust immediately filled all the headings and cut throughs…I suspected a gas explosion in nearby longwall excavations.” One miner had coal lodged in his eye as coal dust fell from the roof and he needed hospital treatment.

Over at the Ellalong Hotel patrons were enjoying a Saturday night at the pub when the earthquake struck. New licensees of only three weeks Michael and Debbie Potts heard a deep rumble and a cracking noise as the hotel shook violently. The power went out; the building was plunged into darkness and patrons screamed in fear and confusion as they attempted to escape. The impact of the rolling earth threw the barman back into the fridges behind the bar and the historic building was extensively damaged.

The most extraordinary aspect of the quake was the observation by local residents of the rarely seen ‘earthquake lights’. A woman at Paxton recalled looking southeast into the bush before the earthquake struck. A frightening red glow appeared; she described it as being like a ‘big red ball’ low to the ground, moving rapidly toward her. It emerged from no-where just as the ground began shaking.  There have been many reports of such strange lights accompanying earthquakes overseas, but this is one of the rare reports in Australia. 

Chinamans Hollow

One of the most picturesque parts of our local government area is Chinamans Hollow and Maybury Peace Park. Right now the Liquidambar trees lining Cessnock Road, which cuts the parklands in half, are ablaze with colour. The site is not just a natural green hollow connecting Weston with Abermain; it also holds a deep and rich history. 

At the Abermain end of Chinamans Hollow is a large cricket oval built over 110 years ago. It was home to the Weston Cricket Club and two local vigoro teams. The first cricket game was held there in December 1907 when Weston played Kurri Kurri, drawing a large and enthusiastic crowd.

In 1923 vigoro arrived in the Lower Hunter and was an immediate hit. The Weston Magpies vigoro team formed, with their distinctive black and white uniforms. Seven years later a second local team, Weston Shamrocks, arrived. Both teams played regularly on the cricket oval and claimed the space so much that it was known as ‘the Shamrock’s ground, Chinamans Hollow’.

By 1926 the oval was fenced and had a locked gate to prevent unauthorized use. This did not faze one local, who regularly snuck their dairy cow onto the oval to use it as a handy field. The cricketers were mightily annoyed at the cow’s presence on their pitch, along with its droppings. An additional problem was that the errant cow refused to move, leading to a human-bovine standoff. Unfortunately, the historical record does not tell us who won!

The whole of Chinamans Hollow is a flood zone. It was this flooding that forced Chinese market gardener, George Ah Wah, real name Mock Kim Wah, to leave. Born in China in 1848, he immigrated to Australia where he first had successful market gardens in Victoria.

In the late 19^th century George came to the Hunter Valley and established a market garden supplying fresh vegetables in the then unnamed Hollow. After multiple floods continuously washed away his vegetable gardens, obliterating all his hard work he left, moving to the Riverina and eventually to the outskirts of Bathurst. He continued to be a successful market gardener right up until his death in 1934.   

Up the hill

Looking up from the streets of Cessnock the impressive Bridges Hill dominates the natural landscape. It has always been there, a quiet green sentinel over the city. It would have been known to the Wonnarua people, but its original name is unknown. The first European description of the hill appears in the Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser in 1874.

‘Cessnock stands in rather a romantic locality and occupies the central spot between the Wollombi township and West Maitland….Rising abruptly, stretching some distance and towering some two or three hundred feet above the level of the sea, stands an immense block of hill, covered with prickly scrub and enormous forest trees ….’

The hill was named by its one-time owner, shop keeper Arthur William Bridge. He built a house on top of the hill in 1906, with a commanding view over the growing township of Cessnock. The house was described as having a large garden and orchard adding to its idyllic location.  

In 1921 the Catholic Church opened a convent at the top of the hill and in 1935 a Catholic girl’s school next to it. It was fittingly named Mount Saint Joseph Catholic Girls School and it educated children until the end of 1967.

The convent’s commanding presence overlooking the town was so dramatic that the hill itself gained the moniker ‘Convent Hill’, a term still used by many locals despite the convent having been demolished in 1974.

The Catholic Church still has a strong presence on the hill, including the impressive Catholic Hall, aka Lyceum Hall. This spectacular building has 22-foot high ceilings, with beams of Canadian Oregon wood. Nearby a large presbytery and St Joseph’s Church cement the ongoing connection between the church and Bridges Hill.

There’s more to the hill’s story though. It had two small coal mines, a water reservoir mired in controversy and was at one stage a rubbish dump known for its toxic burning off practices, sending plumes of acrid smoke over the town.

And what ever happened to Arthur Bridge? He made a fortune, moved to Sydney and led a luxurious life in the Eastern Suburbs before being caught up in a scandalous divorce.  Bridges Hill – this beautiful green space has a fascinating history!

End of the line

At the southern end of Vincent Street stands the Railway Hotel, its name now the only visible reminder of the Cessnock Railway Station which used to stand opposite the hotel. No trace remains of the railway station or its yard and the area is now an industrial site. The path of the rail line is now a footpath next to the road.

When twelve miles of single-track railway line was laid down from Aberdare Junction to Cessnock the coming of the railway saw the town transformed. No longer isolated the town was now linked by rail to Maitland and beyond to Newcastle and a building boom took off which saw Cessnock be transformed into a vibrant hub.

A railway to Cessnock had been sought after for many years and at last it was here.

The station was officially opened on 16 February 1904, with the first train rolling in two weeks later.

In its day Cessnock Railway Station was a significant location, as it was the last passenger station on the South Maitland Railway line, with only the collieries laying beyond. The South Maitland railway was once an extensive network of privately-owned colliery and passenger railway lines which crisscrossed the Cessnock Local Government area. Passenger services were also provided into Cessnock on the line by the NSW Government Railways.

Cessnock Railway Station was described as featuring a back-platform dock and a horse dock, behind the 190 metre main platform. Opposite was a loop line for engine release as well as three goods sidings with loading bank and goods shed.

The renowned steam train, the Cessnock Express, barreled along the line, all the way from Sydney. It was a magnificent sight as it huffed and hissed, leaving clouds of steam in its wake.

Regular passenger services from Cessnock Railway Station continued until 24 January 1967 when the last passengers joined the train. The line continued to operate sporadically, carrying some passengers and goods, until 1972 when it closed permanently. 

Although many locals regret the closing of Cessnock rail line, declining patronage over many years had seen services progressively reduced and then completely stopped. On its last departure from Cessnock Railway Station the two-car diesel train was farewelled with the sound of ten detonators at the station and the continuous sounding of the train’s horn as it departed, heading toward Maitland. A magnificent send off!

Ivy Curtis: a campaigner for peace and social justice

Gladys Ivy Curtis, always known as Ivy, was born in 1905 in Broken Hill. She came from a large political family, with her father an active trade unionist. When she was a girl her family moved to Cessnock, she went to Cessnock High School and later became a teacher, a profession she loved and in which she would work for the rest of her life.

After graduation Ivy Curtis taught in different country towns, before returning to live and teach in the Cessnock Local Government Area. She taught at West Cessnock Public School, Greta Migrant Camp School, ending her working life at Kurri Kurri Public School where she retired as Head Mistress.

In 1932, when Ivy was 27 y.o., the NSW Government passed the Married Women (Lecturers and Teachers) Act which removed all married women from the teaching profession. It took 15 years of solid campaigning by female teachers to have the ban overturned. Ivy was a delegate with the Teacher’s Federation who strenuously campaigned against this discriminatory law. Luckily she had remained unmarried and independent so she was able to continue to work as a teacher and buy a lovely home in Cessnock, where she lived for the rest of her life.

Ivy had a deep sense of social justice and was committed to world peace, but not in a traditional pacifist sense. Political peace campaigners wanted ‘a just peace’, not ‘just peace’, linking the 1930s rise of Fascism and Nazism with the crack down on freedom of thought, belief and expression across Europe. As the world started to slide into what would become World War II, political peace activists across the world organised resistance.

In December 1936 the Cessnock Peace Council formed. Ivy was there at the first meeting, not only becoming elected to the Organising Committee but becoming the Council’s first President. Quite a feat as she was the only woman on the Committee. Straight to the top for Ivy! She always stayed in a leadership role, later serving as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Council.

Despite the horrors of World War II Ivy hadn’t given up on a more peaceful world. After the war she joined the first anti-nuclear movements of the 1950s, which rose as a global push-back against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, whose horror had been demonstrated in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ivy Curtis died in 1979.

The majestic Regent Theatre

Cinemas once dotted our region. The ‘picture show’ brought the magic of the movies to everyone, it was affordable and accessible entertainment. From children watching a weekly serial to young people on a date, or adults enjoying a night out - including catching up on current events via the Cinesound news reel - the local cinema was much-loved by all.

Today all these cinemas are gone (except for the drive-in at Heddon Greta) and almost all the impressive buildings which once housed them have been demolished. Two notable exceptions are the Olympia Theatre in Weston and the Regent Theatre in Cessnock.

On Vincent Street the grandeur of the old Regent Theatre makes a stunning visual impact on the streetscape, with its double brick walls, timber floor and iron roof still substantially intact. Built on the site of an earlier theatre, the Strand Picture Palace, it opened in January 1926 and was originally to have been called ‘The Princess’.

The Regent could seat 1,000 people on the floor and another 160 in an upstairs gallery. Films were shown six times per week. The theatre had three wings on either side and two dressing rooms, enabling the Regent to be used for live performances and musicals, including two appearances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The theatre’s entrance was unusual in that it had almost no foyer space and a ticket box facing directly onto the street.

A substantial investment to bring the new technology of ‘CinemaScope’ to the Regent in 1956 proved to be terrible timing. That year television also came to Australia, a technological breakthrough which had a devastating impact on local cinemas. Three years later the Regent closed its doors.

Local author Betty Hodges-Linton has a delightful memory of the Regent Theatre in its glorious heyday which appears in her book Pit-tops and Prams available to borrow, or to purchase, from Cessnock Library. With a child’s wonder she describes:

“The magic of the Saturday afternoon movies began as the Regent Theatre’s heavy gold curtains parted. Each of the pair was emblazoned with a large scrolled oval outlined in blue, in the centre was ‘R’ for Regent…. Projected firstly upon that screen was the large image of King George VI, then the program sprang to life.”

We acknowledge the substantial research done by cinema historian Les Tod on the Regent Theatre, some of which has been used in this article. We appreciate him making this available to us.

Heddon Greta’s forgotten race course

The Heddon Greta speedway is part of our racing history, with the site once one of NSW’s top speedway circuits. What is lesser known is that the track was originally founded for a different kind of racing - horse racing.

The Heddon Greta race course opened on 17 February 1906. A huge crowd of approximately 1,250 attended. They had come on dedicated Race Special trains which ran from both Newcastle and West Maitland. This service would go on to operate on a regular basis, bringing race goers and horses to a specially constructed Heddon racecourse platform. A typical train had passenger cars with large horse boxes attached at the back. The racecourse platform was described as being ‘within a few paces of the saddling paddock when they leave the train’.

The Heddon Greta track was 10 furlongs long, just over two kilometres. A grandstand was built for the comfort of race fans, but it didn’t protect them from the dense clouds of dust which plagued the track and became a much-complained about issue for riders and spectators alike. A luncheon room was constructed so that visitors could eat their food with some degree of respectability.

This new race course was a site for the whole community. Three years after opening the Kurri Kurri Church of England moved its annual picnic day, a popular day in the town’s social calendar, to the race course. It appears the church was able to use its moral authority, or the guilt of the racing owners over the sin of gambling, because the ground was offered to the church free of charge.

The last race at the course was 1932. It sat idle, then closed officially in 1936. Despite sometimes attracting huge crowds the ground wasn’t financially viable, with four different racing clubs having lost money there.  

The race course’s main grandstand was dismantled and taken to the Kurri Kurri football ground for use, another stand was taken to the Cessnock Agricultural Ground. Despite claims over the years that the course was going to re-open, most notably in 1940 by Ernest Garratt publican of the Chelmsford Hotel, its glory days were over.  

In 1959 the track roared into life again, as the Heddon Greta speedway was born. The original race track was shortened and altered to better accommodate the bikes and cars. The speedway closed in 2002, the land sold and was later developed for housing.

It’s our birthday: the Library turns 70!

In 1939 the NSW government passed the Library Act which made provision for the creation, maintenance and management of free public libraries. The Act was the culmination of four years of activism by the Free Library Movement of NSW, who campaigned for the establishment of such libraries.

Public libraries were to ensure that residents of every local government area would have access to free membership of a public library. Public libraries were enthusiastically embraced across the political spectrum, by organisations as diverse as the Country Women’s Association and the Communist Party of Australia.

In November 1951 Cessnock Municipal Council adopted the Library Act. A year later our first free public Library was set up, situated in a meeting room within Council Chambers on Wollombi Road, near Cessnock swimming pool. Access to the Library was via Shakespeare Park, then on the corner of Allandale and Wollombi Roads. The Library had an official opening on 28 November, enrolled its first members on 1 December 1952, with borrowing allowed the next day.

Two people were employed to work there, Pat Vile, who became our first Librarian and Barbara Baird, a Library Assistant. They had both spent months training in the State Library of NSW to become equipped for their new roles.

Cessnock’s public library grew steadily and in June 1958 moved into its second home. This much larger Library, in nearby North Avenue, was named the Edgeworth David Memorial Library. By this time the Library book stock had grown to 39,615 publications and the Library had a staff of eleven.

In June 1961 a new library was opened in Lang Street, Kurri Kurri now the site of the Kurri Early Childhood Centre. Weston Library opened in May 1967, in the School of Arts building next to the former Capitol Theatre, now the Weston Civic Centre. It had 5,000 books made up from the School of Arts Library and the Cessnock Library collection.

In April 1983 a new Cessnock public library was opened at 65-67 Vincent Street, which is still its home today. At Kurri Kurri an extensive renovation of the former Co-operative Society building, known as The Store, had been undertaken. In October 1983 a large new Library opened in part of the building and is still operating from this site. Next month we are turning 70, so come in and wish us a happy birthday!

Corner of Vincent Street and Wollombi Road, Cessnock

The corner of Vincent Street and Wollombi Road has always been a gateway site, now into the city of Cessnock. The magnificent School of Arts and Cessnock Hotel buildings dominate the spot, with a small park opposite. The site of this park was once a splendid series of buildings which housed a wide variety of goods and served as a large shopping emporium for the town.

The story of the park’s former life as a central shopping site begins around 1903 when Wollombi shop owner James Andrews sold his thriving general store there and moved to Cessnock. He bought the potentially lucrative business site at the intersection of Vincent Street and Wollombi Road, a site with a huge potential due to its second to none location with high visibility to passing traffic on the main road.

Over the next couple of years he built a series of grand two-story shops which wrapped around this impressive corner location.

Was love the motive? James had met Alice Ida Brown, youngest daughter of George and Martha Brown of ‘Marthaville’ and they married in 1907. It appears that the Brown family helped their new son-in-law with his business, the name ‘Brown’s Buildings 1910’ appears prominently on the new emporium’s façade.

James Andrew’s continued to work in the business right up until his death in 1924, after which the business was sold to a Mr. S. Batro, who operated there for four years. In 1928 Reuben Farr took over the business, re-branding the stores as Farr’s Markets, which operated there for a decade. It became part of a grand retail empire, significant in the history of Australian retail.

Farr’s original store, which began in 1923 in Hunter Street West, Newcastle, is credited as being Australia’s first supermarket. In their advertising they included a jingle describing how to shop in a Farr’s Market store: ‘You walk around, pick and choose the goods you want, no time you lose; serve yourself, you’re sure to say ‘Isn’t it splendid, it’s the Farr Better Way’. It is the first description of self-serve inside a store.

In 1938 this prominent corner spot became part of the Conway’s Cash Stores business, which had multiple sites throughout the Hunter Valley. They operated there until the 1950s. And just as had happened previously a whole generation of people knew this centre of commerce as ‘Conway’s Corner’.