Transcript

The Greenway · Urban Ambling

0:02
From Typhoid Fever to a community corridor linking the Parramatta
0:08
and Cooks River, the Greenway.
0:12
Hello and welcome to Urban Aling here.
0:15
it's surprising when you're preparing for another, episode that you stumble
0:21
upon these things that, were relevant in past episodes and you might recall.
0:26
Then in the last one, my son Duncan, made a very interesting point that, um,
0:31
oysters became absolutely essential, for the building of the European
0:36
buildings in Sydney, because they needed mortar and they needed lime.
0:41
in the course of looking at this, episode, which relates to, I'm Koval.
0:47
For reasons I'll explain Shortly.
0:48
Also known as Long Cove.
0:50
I came upon this piece of information, and it's a government and general
0:56
order, and it's from the Secondary's office of the Civil Department
1:01
on the 21st of October 18, 18.
1:04
And this is the text it being necessary to reserve for the making of lime for
1:09
the various public government buildings.
1:12
Now in progress at Sydney.
1:14
All the seashells found in the surrounding coves, and particularly
1:20
those in long and Iron Cove.
1:23
His Excellency, the Governor is pleased, hereby to order and direct
1:27
that no person whatever shall remove or otherwise possess himself of any of the
1:32
shells in Long Cove or on Cove forset upon pain of being prosecuted for the
1:38
same and on conviction of being fined.
1:43
The direction of a bench of magistrates in any sum, not less than five pounds,
1:48
which was pretty significant money in those days, Sterling, one half of which
1:52
fine is to go to the informant and the other half to go to the police fund.
1:57
So, uh, when I said, just in passing that you could say Sydney was built on
2:02
bricks and, uh, oysters, it seems that was, uh, more correct than I've thought.
2:08
the walk, the greenway begins just at the southern end of what we
2:11
call arm cove, but there's been various names, over the years.
2:16
Was originally named Long Cove and there's this description going
2:20
back to the early 18 hundreds.
2:23
Long Cove is as its name in ports, a long south arm of the Parramatta
2:28
River, receiving waters of the Iron Cove and long cove creeks.
2:34
It has several small bays, the principle being sisters and
2:38
Half Moon Bay and Iron Cove Bay.
2:42
There is a small rocky island called Burke Island about the middle of the
2:46
cove, a favorite place for picnic and oyster parties, and a group of
2:52
small rocks or washer, blow tide called sisters rocks on the east side.
2:58
Obviously enough, the oyster parties on the island would've
3:01
come to a, to a pretty sudden end and at an earlier time in a map.
3:06
In fact, from 1822, it was referred to as Iron Stone Cove.
3:11
So all that's a mystery of where it ended up.
3:13
Probably doesn't matter much, but originally.
3:16
iron Cove was just re, re reserved for a small bay, running roughly
3:21
northeast, southwest towards the western side of what, was called Long Cove.
3:27
So that's where it starts.
3:29
again, it's, it's very accessible to public transport.
3:32
You can get the light rail to, north, light car.
3:35
I think it's, and, uh, it's a very simple and easy walk down to what is called the
3:41
Hawthorne Canal, but was, long Creek now.
3:45
It's been open fairly recently.
3:47
It's, I think it's only a matter of months, but it
3:49
certainly seems very popular.
3:52
I was asked to, to describe the Greenway in two words.
3:56
I think what I'd choose, is accessible and history.
4:01
And within inaccessible there's two things really.
4:05
There's, first of all, just, you know, people's physical and, other
4:08
capacities, and dealing with that.
4:11
The great thing about this walk, it's not that long.
4:13
It's only around six kilometers.
4:17
it's all beautifully, wide pave footpath.
4:19
It's really pretty flat.
4:20
There's something occasionally you'd call a small rise, but it's nothing difficult.
4:25
But the great thing is it, it's basically running beside the light rail.
4:29
So there's all these little stops along the way.
4:32
so if you could take.
4:34
You know, grandpa and grandma are right down to the small children, and
4:37
I think everyone could be accommodated.
4:39
So it's a, it's a fantastic resort.
4:42
we did it recently.
4:43
I didn't count the number of children's playgrounds, but I
4:46
certainly recall there were two.
4:48
So you'd be able to keep everyone occupied, and if someone didn't
4:51
want to go the whole way, then they could stay in a park and whatever.
4:55
But the other side of accessibility, which struck me, is that.
4:59
It gives you a very interesting insight into various suburbs in that fairly
5:04
small distance between the two rivers.
5:06
And, we all tend to get stuck at our places in Sydney and don't
5:11
really know a great deal about.
5:14
other suburbs and we tend to get preconceived ideas, but what you
5:18
discover on this walk is just again, how many delightful spots
5:22
there are to live in Sydney.
5:24
And, you get a real, I suppose you'd call it a cross section
5:27
of, of the, those suburban areas.
5:29
So that's the two levels of accessibility.
5:33
Then the other word history there is enormous history here.
5:37
and I'll come to in a minute, the fact that there were about three factors,
5:41
which meant we were lucky enough to have the public land still available to
5:45
actually build this, this great facility.
5:50
and we'll touch upon that and some of the historic things that have happened there.
5:54
Now look, the suming up, summing up the walk overall, that's, I mean,
5:58
you wouldn't go to see the scenery.
6:00
it's not.
6:02
It's not stunning bush or gardens.
6:04
There's bits and pieces that are pleasant.
6:06
so you'd call it pleasant but not scenic.
6:10
But look, it's certainly interesting.
6:12
now if we can go back a bit.
6:14
The story is, is all too common.
6:16
I mean, going back some episodes we talked about how we, humans, European
6:22
humans managed to successfully, wreck all.
6:26
Early sources of water.
6:28
We did it to the tank shrimp.
6:29
We know we did it to the Cooks River.
6:31
And again, we did it and did it masterfully to long, Cove Creek.
6:37
And I should just explain.
6:39
Long Cove Creek became later on, it was post-war in this, the last century.
6:44
it was.
6:45
Made into a canal, and it was named the Hawthorne Canal, after one of the
6:50
members of parliament from those times.
6:53
I think his name was John Hawthorne.
6:56
the state of the river of the creek rather, was just extraordinary.
6:59
in its disgusting.
7:01
Depravity, and here are some of the descriptions from the the
7:05
late parts of the 18 hundreds.
7:08
The method in which that land has been laid out for building purposes has been
7:13
conducive to the soil becoming charged with filth and fever, poison, and the
7:19
evils arising from this state of things are becoming aggravated by additional
7:24
surface drainage as a consequence of the increase in the population.
7:28
now bear in mind, Haberfield, which was designed as a garden suburb in
7:33
it's, you know, very lovely place, in the early part of the 19 hundreds.
7:37
they must have improved things a lot before they began trying to sell houses
7:41
in Haberfield, which actually adjoins the western edge at the beginning of the,
7:46
of the canal, but going on again, and I mentioned in the, the title about typhoid.
7:51
just this passage during the summer of 18 84, 85, there was heavier
7:56
than usual outbreak of typhoid fever in Sydney, heavier than usual.
8:00
That sounds encouraging, doesn't it?
8:02
Local papers, published , instances of disease, municipal neglect,
8:07
contaminated water and milk supplies, the state of the cesspits and so on.
8:13
In February, 1886, an outbreak of Tyfort in ly car was traced to a
8:18
dairy on the hemp hell Somal estate.
8:21
Now, that estate was right up near the point where the creek joined onto a farm
8:26
cove or long cove on the eastern side.
8:28
this land was located near the Esry and on the east side of Long Creek.
8:32
As I just said, report to the president of the Board of Health by the medical
8:36
advisor, Dr. Ashburn and Thompson found that the dairy was served by
8:41
a well that was located so as to receive the drainage of two cemeteries
8:47
and night saw from its own backyard, particularly high levels of hygiene.
8:51
Among 147 customers who were supplied from this dairy, there were 35
8:56
cases of typhoid that was distinctly dis traceable to the dairies milk.
9:03
and of course, it was a matter of a great concern was raised in Parliament
9:08
and the local member Hawthorne.
9:10
Mentioned John Stewart Hawthorne said this in Parliament, during a speech, at
9:16
those times, the dairy is unfortunately situated on a watercourse and is
9:22
subject to the abominable smells, which pour down from the surrounding
9:26
municipalities into Arm Cove Bay.
9:30
ARD is one of the best situated suburban boroughs.
9:33
It has several miles of water frontage.
9:36
It is very high and naturally well drained, but unfortunately it is
9:41
a receptacle for the drainage of Petersham five Dock and Asheville.
9:47
And so it was a, it was a pretty appalling state that everything had
9:51
got into, and it's really nothing, sort of a miracle that it's been
9:54
brought back to this facility, the public facility we've now got.
9:59
There was another interesting description about.
10:01
The state of things.
10:03
The residents were so outraged in 1889.
10:06
They got the, the Minister for Public Works who was called Bruce
10:10
Smith down to inspect the creek.
10:13
And apparently, apparently the smell was so bad.
10:16
He cut, he cut the, uh, visit short and lift filling decidedly ill.
10:22
So eventually, obviously they, they got things done because that's why
10:27
we've got what we've got today.
10:29
now as I just mentioned before, there are a number of factors which combined
10:33
happily to mean that there was this basic corridor of public land running this whole
10:40
six kilometers between the two rivers.
10:43
Now there are a number of factors.
10:44
The first factor was that, long Creek itself was pretty substantial, and as
10:49
you see it now, confined within the walls of the canal, is quite different
10:54
to what, it wasn't spread out a lot more as you'd expect it would've been titled.
10:58
So it was a significant waterway.
11:00
So the solution happily, in this case wasn't just to pipe it
11:05
underground, build over the top.
11:06
So that's the first factor, the geographical factor that it was there.
11:12
Now the second thing, is really quite interesting, and that is at
11:16
one time there was a serious proposal to dam the upper reaches of the,
11:21
of Long Creek by means of, three.
11:24
Wes say it'd have a tiered reservoir, and it would've started roughly
11:29
around where the main line from.
11:32
Central to Strathfield goes and then, gone up from there.
11:36
And how that came about is in 1867 and 68, there was a Royal Commission that
11:41
were appointed by Sir Henry Parks, the then premier, the very famous premier,
11:46
into this future of Sydney's water supply.
11:49
And for those of you recall, uh, the episode about Sir James Martin,
11:54
it was a matter that concerned him, and we were very fortunate.
11:59
Foresighted people in those days who were trying to plan ahead for the fantastic
12:03
water supply that we have got now.
12:06
There were two members, there were, sorry, five members, for the
12:09
Royal Commission, but two of them,
12:12
One name.
12:12
We know Edward Morte.
12:14
There was an episode, a few back about him, a very interesting engineer, and
12:20
another chap called Thomas War, W-O-O-R-E.
12:25
Now, Morty.
12:27
Proposed and, and pressed for the up and the Pean system, which is in fact
12:31
the system that was ultimately built.
12:33
And that starts way up near in the Southern highlights, up
12:37
almost at Robertson, a very short distance north of Robertson.
12:41
and he pressed that.
12:42
But Mr. War's idea was, that.
12:46
The there'd be a dam created on the Warwick Gamba River and the water then
12:51
be taken by pipe or canal, down to a reservoir to be built on Long Creek.
12:57
Now, there were apparently technical problems with war's proposal.
13:02
Main one being that.
13:03
To get gravity falls from Warwick and to Sydney, you would've needed an
13:07
enormous dam, which was just beyond the, the capacities at the time.
13:13
so ultimately the Royal Commission found in favor of two of,
13:17
mortis up in the Pean system.
13:19
And, war was outraged by this.
13:22
And they all got quite fractious, but in a funny way, they were both right.
13:28
Because War Who continued to adv advocate his war gamba scheme after the Royal
13:33
Commission, he in fact was proved right?
13:36
'cause ultimately that dam was built.
13:38
and, it was in 1960 that the War Gamba Dam was built.
13:43
And of course, by that time, the, the construction materials, the engineering,
13:47
the, the building capacity was such they could build a large enough dam.
13:52
Uh, and it's funny, when I saw that date, I remembered as a very young
13:57
school child, we went on a, a bus trip, a school excursion to war dam.
14:02
Just when it was built was, uh, yeah, it was a big deal in those days.
14:07
So that's the, the second factor that it, it didn't end up as, as a reservoir.
14:13
And the third factor is probably the.
14:15
Probably the most important one.
14:17
and that is the building of the goods line, which is of course
14:21
now what is used by the light rail and the corridor that was there.
14:26
the goods line is where The pathway is substantially placed now.
14:32
The suburban line, that's the line running from Central to Strathfield,
14:36
all the stations in between, that was built in about 1855.
14:42
And in 1895, they built a spur off the Illawarra line and ran a line
14:48
out towards D Hill and Marrickville.
14:52
Now the problem that arose, was that all the rail, trucks and carriages
14:58
and trains, from all over the central and southern part of the state,
15:03
all had to come down that one line between Strathfield and Central, and
15:07
that was causing enormous problems.
15:09
I should just say.
15:10
That how the railway system evolved is there was the Sydney railway system with
15:15
all the lions going west and southwest, coming to Sydney, and then there was
15:19
the separate Newcastle system where all the lions went up to the north and
15:23
northwest, but ended in Newcastle and they weren't joined up by the Newcastle
15:28
Sydney Lion until roughly 18, 18 85.
15:32
In 1894, there were 10,807 railway trucks, brought to Darling Harbor.
15:41
But by 1,908, that figure had more than doubled to 23,829.
15:48
And another just interesting, probably irrelevant, uh, fact is by 1,909
15:55
there were 595, uh, trucks, carriages, whatever you call, uh, laden with wool.
16:02
Were arriving at Darling Harbor, uh, in November, which was
16:07
the time after the, the she.
16:10
So there was another parliamentary inquiry.
16:12
It was mercifully quick.
16:13
They sat in February, 1910, and in, July, 1910, they gave the go ahead.
16:18
So the line was built and the idea was that it would run from Darling
16:24
Harbor and also, Glebe Island.
16:26
Rose Hill down where it.
16:29
Currently runs now to Dulwich Hill and join in with that line, which in
16:34
turn to the west, fed into the big Enfield marshaling yards, out in the
16:39
Strathfield area so they could bring all the goods traffic off the Strathfield
16:44
central line and bring them round.
16:46
So it was a very sensible and necessary proposal.
16:49
And, um, because the, railway was there and of course there was a
16:53
lot of country produce coming.
16:55
So a lot of the industries saw this as a great opportunity to, uh, have
16:59
their businesses and, um, uh, have the transport right beside them.
17:05
And it's also interesting that once the railway went in both the.
17:09
Commonwealth Department of Defense and the New South Wales, department
17:14
of Public Works, had large depots just in the area of Charles Street
17:19
at Lyt, between the railway and the the canal and the Commonwealth.
17:26
depot was approved in, March, 1918, and then remained there,
17:32
As recently as early two thousands, 2003, there was this Commonwealth Depot,
17:38
and they were very keen to have it.
17:39
One of the reasons was they said that it would have water access, which, could
17:44
be terribly important in times of war.
17:46
As indeed it was during the Second World War, and the, American forces
17:51
made substantial use of of that area.
17:54
during the war, and one of the side benefits of that when defense were
17:59
there is they took over the dredging of the, the entrance to the creek and,
18:04
and the bottom of, iron Cove because they wanted to have, make sure they
18:08
could have all their craft landing.
18:09
They were also proposed that it would be a very good spot for
18:12
loading troops in barges onto boats.
18:16
So again, there's a bit of extraordinary history, in the area.
18:20
And, one other thing you'll see on the walk, one of the great things is they've
18:24
got all those little explanatory signs.
18:26
And when you get up to, near Parramatta Road and where the main central
18:30
Strathfield line crosses, just as you go under that, have a look and
18:35
you'll see there's this old form of a, a segment of Lattice bridge.
18:41
and that was the original, part of the original bridge for the railway.
18:45
And it's interesting in itself because it was an unusual method of
18:49
construction by something called a Whipple, W-H-I-P-P-L-E, truss Bridge.
18:56
And that was the invention of the us engineer called Squire Ripple.
19:02
Whipple rather, fantastic man.
19:04
He sounds like some English Noble.
19:07
and it was very unusual at the time when they chose that because obviously
19:11
inevitably they always used to favor the English, systems of construction.
19:16
But the advantage of the Whipple Bridge was said to be that it was lighter.
19:21
Consumed less steel, and was more graceful and, I think they're right.
19:27
Stop and have a look at it.
19:28
It's a very, quite an interesting pattern, you know, when you look
19:31
at it against the sky and, it was in fact in operational till 1993.
19:38
And, when they removed the bridge, the railways department agreed to leave a span
19:43
precisely so that it could be on exhibit.
19:45
And now they've got the path there and, and all has explode As I mentioned,
19:50
because the, rail line was there, a lot of industries, especially ones depending
19:54
on agricultural matters, a a agricultural products, set up along the goods line.
20:01
And here's just a list of some of the industries that sprung up beside the.
20:07
The Lewisham Freezing Works in 1924.
20:10
Lavender and Hudson in 1924.
20:13
Sounds like a perfume business.
20:15
Sanitarium Health Foods.
20:17
Our Wheat Bits, mgo SCO Flour Mill in 1920 and that's still there.
20:22
It's now been turned into a very nice residential, multi-use complex.
20:27
Some of the old Conical Towers, I can't think of the name are still there.
20:31
Mgo Scott's a wonderful, wonderful sounding name, but I
20:34
couldn't find anything about him.
20:36
The some mentioned that there was a Mgo Scott, but there we go.
20:41
Next, the great Western milling company.
20:43
In 1916, the city council, that'd be the Sydney City Council's coal Sid.
20:50
It'll be an interesting story in itself.
20:52
1917, Sydney Williams engineering company he was associated with the other business.
20:59
That was 1920 and the come work Come works and I, Sydney Williams
21:04
was involved in Comet Windmills.
21:07
They were founded in 1925.
21:11
There was also CanDos Cement.
21:15
Sury sightings.
21:16
Well, what assumes that, uh, that had something to do, presumably
21:21
with me and interesting.
21:22
The, the government abattoir used to be at, at blue Points.
21:26
but it was moved to, home Bush many years ago.
21:30
And of course, ultimately it was there until it was used for the Olympic Park.
21:35
And finally there was the Dulwich Hill Goods Yard.
21:39
So enormous, number of industries, but the, and you can have a look
21:45
at the science about them all, but.
21:47
one I just wanna mention is, is the Comet Windmill factory because,
21:52
it, it's a very interesting story.
21:53
Uh, windmills aren't all that common these days, but certainly when I was
21:57
young, there were windmills everywhere and most of them were comets on the tail.
22:02
The tail blade, that you'd always have the comment.
22:05
And I saw an interesting fact.
22:07
windmills, all the windmills scattered around the state.
22:09
Were capable of raising 200,000 gallons of water a day.
22:15
It's an extraordinary, uh, extraordinary figure.
22:18
So Comet was founded, in Rockhampton actually in 1879, but in 1920 they set
22:25
up their factory in Sydney and it was a big factory, 2.5 acres, in Dulwich Hill.
22:31
And it was very fortunate they were there because when the second World War
22:34
came, they were pressed into service and instead of windmills, or they would've
22:39
made a few, they were manufacturing tanks, parts for armored carriers.
22:44
And still framed army huts.
22:47
And there is a bit of a, a one of those informative plaques there.
22:51
It's worth having a look at.
22:53
And the works were there until 2002.
22:56
So it was a very example of, of renewable energy use in a very early time.
23:01
And it's just a bit sad that, we didn't pursue something in which
23:07
we had a lot of, knowledge and, uh.
23:09
We're ahead of the times there, but there it goes.
23:11
But the company still exists.
23:13
It's got a facility manufacturing in, in Maxville on the North coast and
23:18
they still do a lot of manufacturing to do with renewable energy.
23:23
there's only two other things I'll mention time's marching on.
23:25
Amazing how it does.
23:27
Um, as you get down a bit further, almost to the end, near Dulwich Hill, look on the
23:31
right, if you're going south and there's a little area, it's quite green and you'll
23:34
hear frogs creaking, which is wonderful.
23:37
And it's a bit of, it's the remnant of a creek, which used to be a tributary To the
23:41
Cooks River, and I assume it, this must be the only bit that's left, not in a pipe,
23:46
but, and good on the council's endeavoring to rehabilitate it as best they can.
23:51
It's a very commendable exercise and obviously they're having some success.
23:57
I'm gonna give one plug here, which I normally wouldn't do, but can
24:01
I just say that, the MGO Scott.
24:04
Mill, uh, just near there on the eastern side.
24:08
The left side is heading south.
24:10
Uh, there's a very pleasant little cafe.
24:11
It's about halfway.
24:13
And we called in there and I must say they had the best ham and cheese Swiss
24:18
pancakes that you could ever eat.
24:20
So very nice people.
24:22
So a bit of a plug for them.
24:24
And, a great spot just to, to have a break.
24:28
So that's it.
24:30
as I said, they're not terribly, scenic, but very interesting.
24:34
Great exercise.
24:35
If six kilometers isn't enough, you can just walk back.
24:39
you can get the light rail.
24:40
It's all these advantages and if you want to continue on, there's
24:43
one thing I forgot to mention about the Cooks River or two things.
24:48
the first is that if you, get to the end of the Cooks River at the Princess
24:52
Highway, near Tempe House Crossover.
24:55
You go past the, the, rowing club I've mentioned, and you keep walking.
25:00
Say you're heading out to Botany Bay now, there's no clear path there.
25:03
You've just gotta find your own way.
25:05
It's not hard to do, but what you'll come across when you get near the, you're on
25:10
the south side of the Cooks River, you're near the end of the East West runway.
25:14
there's in fact this spot that time forgot.
25:16
There's all these little market gardens and it's just quite extraordinary.
25:20
It's developed all around, but there's these small areas of market gardens.
25:23
Now it's about four years since I've been there, but someone mentioned
25:27
to me the other day, it's still there and it's worth looking.
25:30
and just finally, when you.
25:32
Stop at the D Hill station, but I suggest you just walk down.
25:36
It's only a couple of kilometers to the river.
25:39
And as you get near the river, there's a very wonderful line of
25:42
paper bugs, very old paper bugs.
25:44
And there's a good explanatory sign there.
25:47
It's worth having a look at.
25:49
But what it says is those.
25:51
Paper, were originally on the edge of the Cooks River, so you get a
25:55
sense of how big the river was.
25:56
And I checked on it, and in fact had, this is before it was diverted for the airport.
26:01
It had quite a delta and apparently there was a, an incredible forest there at
26:06
the, the entrance of, of the Cooks River.
26:09
So you can imagine, what a wonderful.
26:12
place It would've been for the Gadigal peoples who were the, people who lived
26:18
in that area before we all turned up.
26:23
There it is, enough for me.
26:24
The little fact of the day, uh, is just something that took my fancy a bit.
26:29
I I never really knew much about St.
26:32
George, uh, the Saints.
26:34
I knew the flag of England was the Red Cross of St. George.
26:38
but as you probably heard, people get excited and think it's important to wrap.
26:45
The flag of St. George around buildings and poles.
26:48
but as someone pointed out, someone better explain something to them because
26:51
a lot of it is sort of anti-immigration, but I don't wanna go into all that.
26:56
But, someone said, well, someone should point out to them in fact, that St.
27:00
George was a gentleman born in Turkey and he, in fact never set foot in England.
27:06
and, he became the saint because.
27:09
The, the legend, the, the learning about him came back with the crusaders from the,
27:15
from the, middle East when they returned.
27:18
But the other interesting thing is, is that, amongst the cities that,
27:23
that claim, St. George as their patron saint is Moscow and be Beirut.
27:29
Probably two places you wouldn't wanna visit.
27:31
And countries apart from England, such as Portugal, Bosner, Hertz,
27:36
Govia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, Malta, Ethiopia, Catalan, and Aragon.
27:41
So there you go.
27:42
People should perhaps learn a bit of history before they get
27:45
carried away with about things.
27:47
Well, that's it.
27:47
I've gone far too long.
27:49
thanks for listening.
27:50
Until next time, keep rambling, keep exercising, choose to be
27:54
happy, and until next time.