Springwood War Memorial - Buckland Park

The present day War Memorial in Springwood is located behind an impressive set of gates at the entrance to Buckland Park in Macquarie Road. The memorial was re-located and upgraded from its original site in the front of the Old School of Arts building in 1964.  The old memorial, dedicated by Sir Walter Davidson in 1923, stood proudly in its original position for forty one years.

It would seem that its re-location and refurbishment served two purposes.  Firstly, the loss of significance allowed council to demolish the School of Arts building in 1969, and secondly the empty sandstone platform - where an enemy trophy gun from World War One had once stood - was refurbished to reflect community views at that time. 

An initial investigation did not reveal any consternation from residents about relocation, which, according to K.S. Inglis, was common with other communities when War memorials were threatened or moved.[1]  However, that opinion was revised after further research revealed that several earlier attempts to move the memorial had failed due to community outrage..[2]

The only description of the original Springwood memorial comes from photographs taken at the official dedication ceremony in 1923.  Oddly, no newspaper report can be found of the occasion. 

Forty one years later a committee was formed to re-locate the memorial and in January 1964 several groups were represented on the committee including the Returned Soldiers and Sailors League (the forerunner to the RSL), the ladies auxiliary, the Blue Mountains Beautification Group and Alderman J. Powell who represented the council.[3]  Powell’s involvement seems clear.  He was anxious to get rid of the School of Arts building from its valuable location in the central heart of town and he had offered to purchase the School of Arts site from council prior to 1964.[4]

The committee managed to achieve its ends in a very short space of time and today the War Memorial sits behind the decorative gates that are a memorial of the service of local GP, Doctor Joel Baxter.  Sophie Durham MBE officially dedicated the memorial on Anzac Day 1964.[5]  Matron Durham served on the army troop ship Gascon during the First World War.[6]

Unveiling of original War Memorial

World War One Honor Roll

Present day memorial & Baxter Memorial Gates

Unlike the original sandstone pedestal that held the enemy war trophy gun, the present memorial carries no potent symbol of war.  The cenotaph consists of a stone pedestal, said to have been fashioned from the sandstone of the original memorial, with a thin arch of stone where once the trophy gun stood.  The arch holds the Flame of Remembrance and emblazoned on the front are the words ‘Lest We Forget’ A granite plaque announced that the memorial is in ‘Memory Of Those Who Gave Their Lives In The Service Of Their Country,’ thus it does not discriminate between gender or rank or indeed war.  It is a memorial that honours all those that have fallen in the name of military service. 

It is perhaps unusual in that it contains no names, dates or honor roll, but perhaps what it lacks in sophistication speaks volumes about the feeling of the community at that time because of an impending war in Vietnam and Australia’s inevitable commitment to the United States. 

*The World War One Honor Roll is located in the foyer of Springwood Civic Centre 

---

[1] K.S. Inglis, Sacred Places, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1998, pp. 412-422.

[2] Blue Mountains City Council local studies collection, Springwood library, War Memorial File Springwood.

[3] The Blue Mountains Gazette, War Memorial to be Moved, 8.1.1964, p. 2.

[4] Blue Mountains City Council local studies collection, Town Clerk’s Report, Offer to purchase, Item 17, 19.6.1962.

[5] Blue Mountains Gazette, Unveiling of New War Memorial, Matron Durham to Perform the Ceremony, 1.4.1964, p. 7.

[6] Ibid.

Early Residents - Thomas William Garrett

Braemar c1892

 Thomas Garrett, his wife Helen and their family of three girls and four boys probably arrived in Springwood during the first half of 1898. In August of that year his name appeared for the first time in the columns of the Nepean Times, when he was elected a Vice President of the Springwood Cricket Club. He was born in Wollongong on 26 July 1858, the second son of politician and newspaper proprietor the Hon. Thomas Garrett and his first wife Mary Ann Elizabeth (nee Creagan). Educated at Newington College, he later studied law and was admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court, eventually becoming registrar of probates in 1890, curator of intestate estates in 1896 and public trustee in 1914. It was, however, his talent as a cricketer that brought him to a wider public notice. After showing early ability at school, he went on to play with distinction for both New South Wales and Australia.

      

In 1877 the 18-year-old Garrett was chosen to play for Australia in Melbourne against James Lillywhite’s team of professionals, a match that has come to be considered the first Test against England. He went on to tour England three times—in 1878, 1882 and 1886—and represented Australia in seven Test series at home, scoring 339 runs and taking 36 wickets. On the 1882 tour of England he played in the famous match at The Oval when Australia defeated England for the first time on English soil, provoking the Sporting Times to report the death of English cricket in its next issue. ‘The body’, it declared, ‘will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’.

      

Bearded, tall and lean, Garrett was primarily recognised as a right-arm, slightly more than medium pace bowler with an ability to swing the ball either way. But he was no slouch with the bat and also proved a shrewd and successful captain of New South Wales. At the age of 38 in 1897 he scored 131 runs against a South Australian team that included the champion fast bowler Ernest Jones.

      

In 1879, Thomas married Helen Alice Maude, the daughter of sea captain John Applewhaite. Between overseas visits he fathered several children: Mary Emily was born in 1880, Lucy Alice in 1882, Maude in 1884, John H. in 1888, Eric R. in 1890 and Frederick C. in 1892.

      

The Garrett family seems to have resided in Springwood for a period of about ten years. When they first arrived in 1898 they moved into Braemar on the Western Road (now Macquarie Road). By 1908, however, the family had moved to the western end of the town, to Stanway in Railway Parade (now also part of Macquarie Road).

      

During their time in Springwood, judging by reports of their activities in the Springwood news columns of the Nepean Times, the Garretts were actively involved in the life of the community. Father and sons were members of both the cricket and rugby football clubs. Thomas served as a Vice President of both and also helped to establish a golf club in the town in 1905. In 1909–10, when Springwood Cricket Club won the Nepean District premiership, three of Thomas’s sons were in the team, one of them as captain. Records of the Springwood Progress Association list Thomas as a member in 1893–4 and again in 1905–6.

      

Mother and daughters, too, were reported in various capacities at fetes organised by both the Christ Church of England and Springwood Ladies College, where the girls attended school. Thomas Garrett also acted as honorary auditor for a number of local organisations including the Anglican Church, the Progress Association and the School of Arts.

      

Their residency came to a temporary end in 1902. On 3 May 1902 the Nepean Times announced the departure of the family, who had been residents for four years. On the day of their departure a large number of friends gathered on the railway platform to see them off and wish them well for the future. However their absence was short lived and it was announced again, via the Nepean Times (April 1903), that Tom Garrett the veteran cricketer was coming to reside again in the mountains somewhere between Valley Heights and Springwood. Helen, Lucy and Mary Elsie are listed on the 1903 electoral roll. In May 1903 the Garretts settled into Braemar once again, entering quickly into the social and sporting life of the town.

      

At some point in time after 1903 they appear to have moved back into the Crane’s residence Stanway, as a 1908 Nepean Times advertisement for Springwood Heights Estate indicates that the property subdivision was located between Hoare’s (Homedale) and Garrett’s (Stanway).

      

Over the next few years Thomas acted as the registrar for the area. Together with Mr J.D. Ewens he was auditor for the books of the Progress Association, and in 1909 he audited the books of the Springwood School of Arts Institute. During that same year the Blue Mountains Echo was full of praise for the sons of Thomas and Helen Garrett when they reported that a cricket match played between Emu Plains and Springwood resulted in a win for the later. The paper stated that the ‘Garrett brothers’ had played most successfully for Springwood.

      

While it is unclear exactly when the family left Springwood it was possibly some time in 1912, for the Garrett name does not appear in the local electorate on the 1913 Commonwealth Electoral Roll.

      

Thomas William Garrett died at Warrawee in Sydney at the age of 85 years on 6 August 1943. He was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium after a service at St James Church, Turramurra.

John Low

From: The Making Of A Mountain Community: A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District

Early Residents - Arnott Family

Homedale (in background)

Homedale

The Arnott family were the owners of the cottage Homedale (demolished in 1975) from 1911 until Foster Hartley Sargent purchased the property in 1913.  The Hoare family had been the original owners of the estate until it was acquired by solicitor John Williamson c1910.  Williamson did not hold the property for long because shortly after the purchase the Blue Mountains Echo announced that Mrs Hoare’s property had changed hands, and the estate was now to be subdivided. This perhaps was the sole purpose of Williamson’s procurement of the land.

It appears that the Arnott family acquired lot 1 (3a.2r 29p) from the sub-division, which was located on the corner of what became Homedale Street and Railway Parade. The lot also included the cottage Homedale, and Halse Rogers Arnott was named as the owner on the title deeds.  Halse, a biscuit manufacturer, was born in 1879 to William and Margaret Arnott. He was one of several children from the second marriage of his father to Margaret McLean Fleming. The names of his siblings were: William born 1866, Janet D. 1867, John M. 1869, Arthur Smith 1870, Margaret F. 1872, Robert Fleming 1873 and Johanna F. 1877.

William - Halse’s father – founded Arnott’s Biscuit Company. William Arnott, born in 1827, was one of several children that eventuated from the marriage of William and Isabella Arnot. He sailed to Australia in 1847 from his homeland Scotland, accompanied by his brother David. On the voyage to Australia William met his first wife, Monica Sinclair. Following their marriage he added the second‘t’ to his name, and Monica went on to bear him several children before dying fifteen years later.

In debt for £132, William moved his family from Maitland to Newcastle c1864 (this may not have been the case -see below)   It was here that he met Margaret McLean Fleming, and in 1865, married for a second time.  William’s hard work paid dividends and in c1877, he opened his first biscuit factory in Newcastle. The business expanded and the family never looked back. In 1888, Arnott’s became a registered trademark.

William Arnott died in 1901, at the age of 74.  Sons Leslie and Samuel (from his first marriage) who had been trained as his successors became chairmen and directors of the business. In 1906, the Arnott brothers purchased just over six acres of land at Homebush. This enabled the firm to build a large new Arnott’s biscuit factory that allowed the business to further expand and keep up with the growing demand for their products. The factory was erected in two years and was said to have contained the most up-to-date equipment in the world at that time.

Leslie and Samuel were succeeded by their half brothers William John McLean and Halse Rogers Arnott. Robert Fleming Arnott became an engineer and Arthur Smith Arnott was a colonel in the Salvation Army.

Samuel married Sarah G. Webb in 1884. She was the daughter of Henry (John Henry) and Catherine (nee Johnson) Webb and James H. L. (thought to be Leslie referred to above), married Bessie Webb in 1876.  Halse married Alice E. Johns in 1903, and several children were subsequently born: Campbell W.R. 1905; Malcolm 1911; Keith 1912 and Dorothy R. 1915. Malcolm (Nigel Malcolm Hardy) married Jean Brindley Bettington in 1938, Keith (Keith Mackenzie Rogers) married Nancy Rosemary Wolridge in 1940, and Dorothy Rogers married Pierre Rene Scamps in 1939. (The Brindley Bettington family is related to the explorer William Lawson. Rebecca Lawson married James Brindley Bettington Sr. in 1830. They also share relationship with the Lethbridge, Icely and Bayly families.)

In 1910, Halse was a member of the Springwood Progress and Ratepayers Association, and a one-time Secretary of the School of Arts. It appears that even though the cottage Homedale had been sold, the Arnott family still retained ties with the Blue Mountains, as their names appeared periodically in various local newspapers.  Herbert L., the son of James and Bessie (nee Webb) Arnott married Ethel H. Walker in Springwood in 1898.

Solicitors A. J. Taylor and William Arnott had rooms in Sydney and visited clients at The Ferns each week. William Arnott married Elizabeth A. Berry in 1889. It is assumed that William Arnott, the solicitor, was related to the Arnott family referred to here.

The name Arnott derives from the twelfth century Michael de Arnoth. He was in possession of lands in Fife, which is where the Australian Arnott family originated from. The name became extinct when the sixth baronet died without heirs, but was revived when a relative succeeded to the estate through his mother and assumed the name Arnott of Bolcormo. He was a well-known lawyer, historian and antiquarian and published works on celebrated criminal trials in Scotland.

 Pamela Smith

This article was taken from The Making Of A Mountain Community; A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District

More on the Arnott Family:

Arnott’s had its origins in West Maitland when William Arnott, a baker and pastry cook, set up business in 1853.  A series of floods caused him to move to Newcastle where he leased property in Hunter Street and began baking bread, pies and biscuits.  The company went from strength to strength and by 1880s, the firm was producing and distributing 80 different varieties of biscuits.  The firm employed over 800 people in 1901, the year that William Arnott died and 1800 people in 1929.  Halse Rogers Arnott, his youngest son, qualified at the University of Sydney in 1925, receiving the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery.  He was created a partner in the Arnott’s business in 1902 and remained Chairman of the Board until 1961.  In the 1930s Halse designed a house located in Burns Road, Wahroonga.  At one time he owned Bulwarra located at Hunters Hill, which was purchased by the actress Cate Blanchett in 2008. 

 Ref:

The University of Sydney, Alumni.

Sydney Morning Herald, House of the Week, 1.8.2009.

Newcastle Regional Museum, Arnott Partnership Agreement, 1904.

How did that get its name?: Fels Avenue Springwood

Have you ever wondered how streets, parks and other landmarks acquire their names?  Fels Avenue, located in the vicinity of Springwood Public School was named for Frederick Fels who purchased land there in the latter part of the 1890s.  Fels, born in Warsaw Poland in 1858, travelled to England then to America in the 1880s, on the pretext of buying goods for his business.  He left behind a wife, who he subsequently divorced, and several children and eventually married Dora.  Relatives of Frederick Fels suggest the pair may have been acquainted before Dora left Poland destined for America and marriage.  

The couple arrived in Australia in 1889, where Frederick took up the manufacture of butter coolers and canvas bags before moving into the more lucrative market of money lending.  The latter venture was initially financed by his wife.  Dora, an enterprising lady, set up her own dressmaking business which is perhaps why everyone knew her as Madame Fels.      

It seems that Frederick was ever mindful of his debt to his deserted family in Warsaw because he sent money to them when he was financially able.  Son Stanley migrated to Australia in 1896, moving in with Frederick and Dora when they lived at Annandale.  Stanley’s arrival - and perhaps the financial position of Dora and Frederick - encouraged the migration of the remaining Fels family. 

The Springwood property purchased by Frederick and Dora in 1899 comprised of several acres of land forming the border between Valley Heights and Springwood.  Frederick Somers had been the original owner of a conditional purchase in the 1880s.  The property had been put in Dora’s name, a was common practice for that time, because it safeguarded the wife in the event of a husband’s bankruptcy and eluded death duties when he died. 

In 1900, the Fels moved into their newly built Springwood home.  Fels Ridge/ Felsridge, as the photograph illustrates, was a stunning example of early Federation-style architecture.  The home had several tall chimneys that soared high above the tiled roofline of the commodious brick home, while the front veranda and upper storey balcony overlooked a wonderful circular driveway.  Financially comfortable, the Fels were able to employ local men Thomas Jones and George Mills as gardeners and to attend to any maintenance of Felsridge.  Double gates located on Bathurst (now Macquarie Road) once marked the entrance to the property.

Dora and Frederick continued in their separate businesses and Frederick, who was described as a ‘financier,’ occupied rooms at 295 Pitt Street Sydney.  In a move that would prove unfortunate the childless couple adopted Dora’s niece and Frederick’s granddaughter. 

In 1907, Frederick was a trustee of Martins Lookout.  He is said to have had a great fondness for the local flora and fauna of the area and - at his own expense - put a man to work clearing a track some two or three miles out from Springwood.  The Nepean Times newspaper later regaled the splendour of hidden streams, tumbling clear pristine waterfalls and stalactites - unhindered and undisturbed - formed from the minerals in the water.  Rare ferns grew in great profusion along the track and great stacks of giant logs lay petrified on the wilderness floor.  It is unfortunate the location of this track has been lost.  

A public spirited man, Frederick donated a sum of money to the School of Arts building fund in 1907.  In 1908, he was elected Vice President along with Messrs. Charles Rosenthal, Grant and Foster and retained the position the following year.  He was elected to the committee when the first Annual General Meeting was held in the newly erected School of Arts building, in 1913.  He was also a member of the Springwood Progress Association.  During 1908, Frederick - with the assistance of Mr Maidment, proprietor of the Royal Hotel - installed a Rider-Eriksson hot air engine on the Springwood property to pump water for domestic and irrigation purposes from the gullies below the house. There is no evidence to suggest if they were successful.

In 1914, Frederick founded the Mortgage and Loan Finance Company of Australia.  Sadly, he died the following year.  The years following Frederick’s death were troubled and turbulent for Dora and the trouble stemmed from the earlier mentioned adoptions.  Frederick’s first wife appealed his will because most of his estate had been bequeathed to their mutual granddaughter, Miss Blessing Fels-Stuckgold.  Eventually the Supreme Court overturned the terms of Frederick’s will and the estate was divided between Blessing and Frederick’s first wife.  The latter died five years later and rests, perhaps somewhat uncomfortably, with Frederick in Rookwood Cemetery.

The name of Miss Blessing Fels-Stuckgold appeared in local newspapers around 1915, along with other young ladies who raised funds for wounded soldiers during the First World War.  Like most of the other large estates in the area the Fels estate was subsequently subdivided and Dora, or Madame Fels, left the mountains around 1920.  Family information suggested she lived in Mosman during the early 1930s, however, the date and place of her death are unknown.

Local myth implied the house burnt to the ground in the 1968 bush fires; however inspection of the property in 2000 revealed that the central spine of the house remained intact along with the driveway, a water-well in the garden and original plantings.   Today the property is known as Blue Gum Lodge and functions as an Anglican Youthworks Outdoor Centre.

Pamela Smith

References:

Blue Mountains City Council image collection.

Blue Mountains City Council local studies collection.

Nepean Times, Various editions.

New South Wales Births, Deaths and Marriage indexes.

Sands Indexes, Various editions.

Springwood Historians, The Making of a Mountain Community: A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District, Springwood Historians, 2001.