Kiama Heritage Blowhole Tennis Courts Serve Again!

Some old Cocks Photographic studio-style  photos on display at the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage have confirmed the age of the Kiama Blowhole Tennis Courts (right next door)as around 1892.

Check out the size of the Norfolk Pine next to the courts in 1892 and later in 2009.

The view above clearly shows the two surfaces and a shelter, in exactly the same spots as the current two tennis surfaces and the clubhouse!

‘In William A. Bayley’s ‘ Blue Haven’- the History of Kiama Municipality, it is recorded that ‘Lawn Tennis’ as it was called, reached Kiama in 1892 when two courts were made in the excavation left from the harbour works on Blowhole Point. Other courts were located at the rear of the Christ Church (Anglican) – built of concrete, and at the front of the Catholic Church adjacent to Manning Street. The Catholic courts were of ant-bed and were superbly maintained by Jim Flynn. They were removed in 1963 with the building of the new church. Another was located at the rear of Kiama Hospital for the use of Hospital staff, most of whom lived-in at the Nurses and Sisters Quarters. These courts were often made available to other clubs whose courts were undergoing repair. The Blowhole courts had become neglected during the second world-war but were rebuilt and reopened in 1963′

This is from

http://www.kiamatennis.org.au/downloads/kiamatennis_50th.pdf

The  Blowhole Tennis club is going through some changes (may even add  ‘heritage’ to the name!) with a new lease, and a recent grant  of $5175 from  the NSW State Government  http://www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/grants/cap_projects.asp

to resurface the tennis court

http://www.kiamaindependent.com.au/article/sporting_groups_to_upgrade_courts_with_grants_cash/

and apparently considering lobbying for a heritage plaque (as part of the Kiama Heritage Walk) overlooking the courts, and maybe even an annual Heritage Tennis Tournament, complete with old uniforms and equipment. Rather like  this one in Melbourne!

Heritage Tennis Club

Bakers Road, Dandenong North, VIC 3175

p: (03) 9795 9210

The Ghosts in the Glen and More Kiama Ghost Stories

This was published in the Sydney Morning Herald  in April 27, 1947 by Bill Beatty and seems to based on the Henry Kendall  (An Australian Poet who had cousins at Kiama and wrote about nine poems set around Kiama)  poem below.

This possibly is further based on the murder of Robert Fox by James (or John) Tobin at the Marks farm near Jamberoo. This was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of Friday May 13, 1836, (stated it happened April last)

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2204369

and in a later article reported him hung.  Both were ticket-of -leave men and Tobin had claimed that three bushrangers had broken into the house previously, stole the only gun,and then returned some days later and murdered Fox with two axes. The story fell apart based on the condition of the axes and Tobin’s previous death  threats. It is conceivable that a garbled and enhanced account of this was passed down and reached Henry Kendall’s ears. In some accounts the Inn is specificically mentioned as the ex-cedar getter David Smith’s Gum Tree Inn, in Kiama, which is regarded as the first structure built in Kiama, and David Smith as Kiama’s first official European resident.

http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_bush_tales/index.htm

This one is from the Historic Australian Newspaper archive

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

< Friday 14 January 1870 The Brisbane Courier

A GHOST STORY. – The following is from the
Kiama Pilot :-One night last week, a young
man was coming from Shoalhaven, when he
beheld what he believes was a ghost, or some-
thing very like one. On crossing Mount Plea-
sant, he was riding leisurely along, the night
being dark, but sufficiently light enough to
enable him to discern objects, when, without
any previous intimation, his horse started at
something. Simultaneously, a strange noise was
heard, and on looking down to the side of the
road he beheld the spectre. The head was only
visible, and he describes it as being larger in
size than a cow’s. The ears were as long as a
person’s arm, while the eyes appeared as large
as a man’s fist, and kept whirling round and
round. The horse immediately started, and did
not halt till near Kiama. We have been informed
that another individual observed something
startling one Sunday night, not long ago, about
the small hours, He was returning home,and
when between Mount Pleasant and Kiama,
a creature in the form of a man, about six
feet in height, with black stripes down each
of his legs, and minus a head, made its ap-
pearance very near his horse’s head. The indi-
vidual looked at it, and continued his course, but
several times he noticed it following him at a
brisk pace. He immediately put spurs to his
horse, and the ghost, taking the hint, quickened
his pace. They raced for some distance, when
suddenly the spectre “vanished into thin air.”
Such are the circumstances as related to us.
We refrain from giving any opinion on the
matter. They were related to us in all sincerity
on the night of the occurrence, and the witness
was very nervous, and ” all of a shake

!

 

Though this is not a ghost, a lioness near Kiama is still remarkable

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2297734

SUPPOSED LIONESS NEAR KIAMA

SYDNEY, Thursday.

The police have received a re-

port that a holidaymaker at Kiama

was confronted by a lioness while
shooting in the scrub to-day. It
made  no attempt to molest him
but made off into the bush.

The description corresponded to
that of an animal which has
caused the death of many sheep

in the  district

Some info on Pilot Flags

This is an official Pilot Flag, since 1934 and is called a Code H Flag and replaced the Pilot Jack

Here is some info from this site http://flagspot.net/flags/xf-pilt.html

4 March 1935. The Honourable Company of Master Mariners wrote to the Admiralty asking, “Is the Pilot Jack a proper flag to be displayed at stem head of a merchant ship ?”

The letter was circulated for comment, and the Admiralty Librarian, D.B.Smith wrote, “Commander Mead is carrying on Perrin’s research into the record material about flags, and is finding many preconceived notions are not in accordance with the intentions of the regulations, when studied in the light provided by the actual papers on which they were issued.”

4 May 1936. The Head of the Naval Law Department concluded, “Nobody has yet disclosed any official authority for it to be flown as a jack. This flag is not legal as a jack under present law. The phrasing of Article 73(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 is ambiguous, but refers to its use as a pilot flag only.”

At the same time the Naval Law Department was being pressed by the Board of Admiralty to permit use of the white-bordered Union Jack in combination with International Code letter ‘ M ‘ as a signal for ships entering and leaving Dockyard Ports. On 18 December 1936 the Department Head wrote,

“Random use of the Pilot Jack would appear to be illegal in view of the terms of the Pilotage Act 1913, Section 45. That section says that HM may, by Order in Council, make rules as to the signals to be used where the services of a pilot are required, and that to use any pilot signal for any other purpose than that of summoning a pilot is an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding twenty pounds. Order in Council 9 October 1933 constituted Pilot Jack hoisted at the fore as a pilot signal for the purpose of this Act. The law clearly has not been strictly enforced, but its existence does seem a reason for not acting in contravention of it. It is true that by the same Order in Council other ships present hoist the Pilot Jack when Red Ensign over ‘ M ‘ is flown by a ship under way and this practice has not been challenged. Two wrongs do not make a right. It would also be illogical for the Admiralty, after opposing on the grounds above, the flying of the white-bordered Union Jack as a jack by merchant ships, (as a consequence of which other designs for the Merchant Jack are under consideration at the Board of Trade), should then require their ships to fly it in certain Dockyard Ports.”

Later that month, Head of Naval Law wrote, “It is true that this Act has not been strictly enforced, and indeed under those very Dockyard Port Orders in Council the Pilot Jack is laid down for a purpose other than summoning a pilot, but this usage was introduced during exceptional wartime conditions, and in any case is hardly a reason for extending its illegal use.”

The Admiralty sought the opinion of the Board of Trade who replied on 19 Apr 1937 that, “The Board are disposed to think that the use of the Pilot Jack for any purpose other than summoning a pilot is undesirable, and is probably in contravention of Section 45 of the Pilotage Act 1913.”

The possibility of issuing an Admiralty warrant to legalise use of the white-bordered Union Jack as a merchant jack was considered. However on 7 May 1937 the Marine Department wrote to the Admiralty, “The Board (of Trade) are advised that there is doubt whether a ship is entitled to fly the Pilot Jack for any purpose other than summoning a pilot. Further advised that though there is power under Section 73 of Merchant Shipping Act 1894 to issue warrants authorising substituting other national colours for those laid down in that section, it is doubtful whether there is power by warrant to authorise the use of any national colours in addition to those not already agreed.”

This was followed by a letter to Naval Law, “We have replied to various merchant service organisations, which have advocated the use of the Pilot Jack to be flown as a jack at the bows of merchant ships, that we cannot support the adoption of this particular flag on legal grounds.”

However at some time in 1937 a Board of Trade Notice was issued stating that British merchant ships might wear a square Red Ensign, or Blue Ensign, as appropriate, at the jackstaff, though no official exception would be taken to continuance of the frequently adopted practice of displaying a small Pilot Jack, the Union Jack surrounded by a white border.

In 1939 Naval Law wrote (NL 863/39) to the Board of Trade that the white-bordered Union Jack was used by the Navy, but only as a signal, and recommend that the merchant jack should be a square Red Ensign for which there was a precedent of 1694.

The discussion was interrupted by the Second World War, but continued in 1946. There was now a campaign to make the ordinary Union Jack the official Merchant Jack, in recognition of the contribution made to the war effort by the Merchant Navy . Questions were asked in Parliament on 16 October, 23 October, 11 December 1946, and 21 January 1947.

On 5 February 1947 the Private Secretary to the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary, Ministry of Transport wrote that, “The Merchant Navy already flies a flag which incorporates the Union, and that being so, the First Lord and the Minister of Transport do not consider there is a reason to change the present practice.”

The Ministry of Transport, which had taken over the Maritime Department of the Board of Trade, were not particularly interested in the question of a merchant jack, and the Admiralty’s only concern was that it should not be the Union Jack.

13 May 1949. The Ministry of Transport wrote to Naval Law asking how queries about use of the white-bordered Union Jack should be answered. Naval Law apparently suggested that the Ministry should take legal advice.

The Treasury Solicitor reported to the Ministry of Transport that in relation to Order in Council 1933 (SR&O 1933 No.976), the white-bordered Union Jack was a signal, only if hoisted at the foremast, and that there was no offence committed, under that section, if it was hoisted elsewhere. Nor did he think that use of the flag as a merchant jack was an offence under Article 73 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894. He wrote, “It may well be that the intention was to bring this section into line with the fact that this flag was in use as a pilot signal, but unfortunately, in my opinion, failed to do so. What it should have done was to except this flag only when used as a pilot signal. As it stands however, there is in the section no qualification regarding the use of this flag.”

On 21 June 1949 this legal opinion was passed on to Naval Law, who, on 7 September 1949 wrote back, “The Board (of Admiralty) has no objection to you writing to interested bodies informing them that the Union Jack is incorrect and that the correct jack is a square version of the Red Ensign, but there is no reason to discourage the existing practice of flying the Pilot Jack at the jackstaff.”

This is the most recent information that I have been able to find. It is in the National Archives (PRO) at Kew, mainly in ADM 116/3799, but also ADM 116/3566, ADM 1/19969, ADM 1/21665, MT 9/4365 and ADM 205/55. I hadn’t time to read everything closely, but I think that I extracted a fair summary. The white-bordered Union Jack ceased to be a signal for a pilot in 1970, which obviously removes one objection to its use as a civil jack. However I think that to say that the white-bordered Union Jack “is a legally permitted jack for merchant ships” is wrong. It was introduced as the signal for a pilot, and although it is no longer that, no legal action has been taken to make it a civil/merchant jack. It is more accurate to say that its use as such, “is permitted”, or “is not illegal”.
David Prothero, 11 September 2003

 

He goes on to explain the current rules for pilot flags

When the Signal Code was revised in 1934, another Order in Council of 9th October 1933 (effective 1st January 1934) changed the list to;

1. The International Code Signal G
2. The International Code Signal P.T.
3. The Pilot Jack hoisted at the fore.

As far as I know the Pilot Jack (the white-bordered UJ) ceased to be a pilot signal in 1970.

The flag for a pilot boat was defined in the Pilotage Act of 1808. It specified that a Pilot Boat was to be, “fitted with black sides and have the upper strake next the gunwale painted white and shall carry a vane at the masthead or else a flag on a sprit or staff or in some other equally conspicuous situation; which vane or flag shall be of large dimensions proportioned to the size of the boat or vessel carrying the same and shall be half red and half white, in horizontal stripes of which the uppermost shall be white.”

This white over red flag was confirmed in section 612 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 and section 613 added; “When a qualified pilot is carried off in a vessel not in the pilotage service he is required to exhibit a pilot flag (i.e white over red) to show that the vessel has a qualified pilot on board.”

This flag could be flown under the ensign, at the jack staff, or the triadic stay. I think it was normally flown under the ensign when the captain of the ship was also a qualified pilot, which was likely in ferries or vessels on regular coastal runs.

In 1934 International Code Signal H replaced the white over red flag.
David Prothero, 9 July 2001

 

Some interesting searches re the Kiama Pilot in the SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) archives now online

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/3719621

DISMISSAL OF THE KIAMA PILOT.-Cap-
tain Stobo lins been dismissed from .the
offico which ho held as pilot of Kiama. It
is asserted that he took up the Government
moorings in the harbour, and when the
Rapid steamer went into port, there was
nothing to moor her to, and she was com-
pelled to steam about in consequence. The

matter being represented to the Government,
Mr. Stobo has been dismissed

 

Also Captain Arthur Bell, who died when the ‘Bombo’ sank, liked writing to the Sydney Morning Herald.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9o8TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tZYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1977,983326&dq=kiama+pilot

This letter defends the master of the Kiama, after it sank

Another letter from Captain Arthur Bell rfers to  neon lights from a  hotel (probably the art deco revamped New Brighton) interfering with the  ’leads’  (guides ot approaching ships) at the Kiama harbour

 

 

 

The Sydney Morning Herald. - Feb 27, 1939

 

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6oQTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SJUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3335,5173633&dq=kiama

This one refers to the Pilot’s Cottage decorated with bunting for the Prince of Wales’s birthday.

 

 

 

The Sydney Mail - Nov 12, 1892

 

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WH8QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l5UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4826,5337598&dq=kiama+pilot

Bunting was the order of  the day at the Lighthouse by the Kiama Pilot,  another time.

The Sydney Mail - Apr 12, 1890

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qFwQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SpMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3351,4190403&dq=kiama+pilot

Here is a reference to the stand-off signals the Pilot would hoist if the weather was too stormy.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h3oQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=upEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7033,5943416&dq=kiama+pilot

 

 

 

The Sydney Morning Herald. - Oct 26, 1905

 

 

 

 

Orry-Kelly’s Unpublished Biography still with family, in 1996.

“Hell must be filled with beautiful women and no mirrors”

http://theoscarsite.com/whoswho3/orrykelly.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orry-Kelly

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/orrykelly/

Orry-Kelly with Tony Curtis on the set of his Oscar-winning “Some Like it Hot” film where he was costume designer.

http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140703b.htm

Kelly, Orry George (1897 – 1964)

Birth:

31 December 1897, Kiama, New South Wales, Australia

Death:

26 February 1964, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Cultural Heritage:

• Manx

Occupation:

• costume designer

KELLY, ORRY GEORGE (1897-1964), dress designer, was born on 31 December 1897 at Kiama, New South Wales, son of William Kelly, a tailor from the Isle of Man, and his Sydney-born wife Florence Evaleen, née Purdue. Orry attended Kiama Public and Wollongong District schools. His distinctive first name (later hyphenated with his surname for professional use) was derived from a variety of carnation in his mother’s garden and from that of an ancient Manx king. After working briefly in a Sydney bank, Kelly was attracted to the stage. He studied art, acting, dancing and voice, and became a protégé of Eleanor Weston. Moving to New York in 1921, he found employment first as a tailor’s assistant, then as a painter of murals for nightclubs and department stores. He also formed a friendship with a young Englishman Archibald Leach, later known as Cary Grant, sharing living quarters with him and another Australian expatriate Charles (‘Spangles’) Phelps, a former ship’s steward.

 

Kelly’s murals soon led to employment as a title designer for silent films for the Fox Film Corporation, and to designing stage sets and costumes for players like Katharine Hepburn, Ethel Barrymore and Jeanette MacDonald. In 1931 he moved to Hollywood where Grant helped him to gain entry into First National Pictures Inc. Between 1932 and 1944 Orry-Kelly was chief costume designer at Warner Bros, working on hundreds of films and forming—with ‘Adrian’ at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Travis Banton at Paramount Pictures Inc.—a triumvirate of the leading men in his profession. Kelly dressed many major stars, but his most distinguished work was done for Bette Davis, whose ‘red’ ball gown in the black-and-white film, Jezebel (1938), was probably his best-known single creation.

 

An uneasy relationship with studio chief Jack L. Warner, caused chiefly by Kelly’s alcoholism, came to a head in 1944 when Warner discharged him. Orry-Kelly subsequently secured a three-year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation to dress Betty Grable. From 1950 he freelanced with several studios and established private workrooms. Despite declining health and mounting personal problems, he maintained his professional status, designing for Rosalind Russell, Leslie Caron, Kay Kendall, Shirley MacLaine and Natalie Wood among others. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him three Oscars for best costume design for An American in Paris (1951, shared with two others), Les Girls (1957) and Some Like It Hot (1959).

 

A quarrelsome, hot-tempered man of slightly less than middle height, with brown hair and large blue eyes, Kelly was brilliant but difficult, a versatile perfectionist who used only the finest hand-finished fabrics. His period costumes were noted for their richness and authenticity; those he designed for Davis helped to define her strongly individualized screen characters. His style was marked by its felicitous balance of realism and artifice, and achieved glamour without vulgarity. A talented amateur oil-painter, he also designed ties, cushions and shawls. He enjoyed contract bridge and watching prizefights. Witty, popular and gregarious when not affected by alcohol, Kelly was known to his intimates as ‘Jack’. He never married. Leaving an unfinished memoir, ‘Women I’ve Undressed’, he died of cancer on 26 February 1964 at Los Angeles and was cremated.

Orry Kelly with Kay Francis

Here is the family tree from the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage on Orry-Kelly.

 Here is a shot of the Kelly siblings at a 1905 Church of England Sunday School Concert kindly donated to Sue Eggins’ display at the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage Museum!

Here are the three Kelly children. Billy, Muriel and Orry Kelly.

and here is a young Orry, and one can see that having a father who was a gentleman tailor meant you were always beautifully dressed, as a form of advertising perhaps!

I believe his father William Kelly is the man with moustache in middle row, third from left but I am trying to find the copy identifying him as the first surf rescue captain. I will publish a photo from the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage exhibition of Orry’s Mother, Mrs Hart, off to visit her son in Hollywood shortly!

Kiama Surf Club 1912 members:- Back: (l to r) W. Cocks, J. Kingsbury, J. Loomes, F. Kingsbury, unknown, unknown, I. Thomas, S. Gabriel. Centre:- G. Tory, H. Thomas, W. Kelly, J. Bullen, A. Pollack, P. Walker, W. Farquharson, D. Walker. Front: D. Duggan, S. Smylie, J. Murdoch, A. Henderson, H. Tidmarsh.

Here is William Kelly’s gentleman tailor shop, around 1913.

Here is his mother Mrs J.J. Hart, the rather theatrical woman on the left, with Eleanor Weston, who had been Orry’s mentor in his younger days, about to travel to Hollywood by liner.

Mrs J.J. Hart in a later newspaper article

This was published in Wollongong (NSW Australia), in the Illawarra Mercury Weekender feature liftout (written by Katrina Lobley)on Saturday June 29th, 1996. She now works at the Sydney Writers Centre. 

http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/meetourteam.htm

Ph: (02) 9929 9237

Michelle Hoctor is the heritage writer for the Illawarra Mercury and probably knows about  Orry-Kelly descendants’ whereabouts. The important part is the fact that a copy of  the biography lies with the Kelly family, and Orry-Kelly wanted it to be made into a film, but because it was revealing lurid details of Cary Grant’s homesexual past it was suppressed in a court case, the article alleges.

There is also a story  of Orry in the army in the St Petersburg Times December 20th 1942

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19421220&id=fbUKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hk0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5466,6937175

and a year later Orry writes an article for the St Petersburg Times covering a Hollywood fashion parade.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19430103&id=_LQKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dk0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4089,3025257

He wrote a syndicated column for INS, Hearst’s International News Service.

Check out comments for an update on living relatives of Orry-Kelly( at least last year in 2008)

Orry George Kelly (Birth certificate confirms this is the correct name despite about six versions) at about 8 years old in what was probably a studio shot at Cock’s Photographic Studio in Kiama. ( it may have been part of a dramatic production, but the boat in the photo has ‘Kiama’ on it and appears in other studio shots, well spotted Sue Eggins!)

The Kiama and District Historical Society Secretary Sue Eggins has put together an ‘Orry-Kelly’ Exhibition for a showing of a Orry film (Casablanca) shown in August 2009 as part of the Kiama Council 150th anniversary celebrations. http://www.kiama.nsw.gov.au/media/pdf/Media-Releases/090421-150th-celebrations.pdf

The film was shown at Pics’n'Flicks at Gerringong Town Hall on Friday August 7th, 2009 (http://www.visitnsw.com/town/Gerringong/event.aspx)and will be opened by the much loved film critic ‘Mr Movies’ Bill Collins who is passionate about Orry Kelly and apparently collects Orry-Kelly. He certainly would be a good lead for anyone seekng a copy of Orry’s unpublished biography!

Saturday 8th August 2009 Update; on film and exhibition; Gerringong Pics’n'Flicks showed ‘Casablanca’ which was a great success (lots of familiar dialogue), Bill Collins was unable to attend, and Sue Eggin’s ‘Orry-Kelly’ exhibition is currently showing at the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage.

A local boutique hotel, the Kiama Sebel Harbourside, has named its community gallery the Orry-Kelly gallery.

This is a pic of the current Orry-Kelly exhibition at the Pilot’s Cottage in Kiama put together by Sue Eggins as part of a very successful Kiama Council 150th Anniversary Celebration.

The Kiama Independent did a story as this as well!
http://www.kiamaindependent.com.au/article/display_a_tribute_to_kiamas_hollywood_hero/

http://www.kiamaindependent.com.au/article/sebel_opens_gallery_space

I will take a photo of  (Orry’s father)William Kelly’s silver watch for bravery (he dived down and saved a ship in Kiama Harbour) that is on display at the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage.

And here it is!

William Kelly’s story http://www.nswoceanbaths.info/people/p008.htm

Orry came back to Kiama, too late for his father’s funeral in 1924

Eleanor Weston (  proprietor of the flower shop ‘The Grove’  ) travelled to Hollywood to visit Orry  in the 1950s. She was a member of the Weston Family who were publishers of the “Kiama Independent’  and also his mentor during his days at Miss Swindell’s Academy in Kiama.

In the centenary booklet of the Kiama Public School (published in 1961, three years before Orry died) Orry is fondly remembered by a old school chum…..

Mrs M. Tidmarsh.

“Orry Kelly and Ray Walker were the best painters in the school. They used to paint designs for chocolate boxes. I used to skate with Orry Kelly and we always got first prize for the best couple at fancy dress balls”

Ice used to be put down on floors in Kiama for skating, and for a while in the 1910s and 1920 a floor at School Flat park for roller skating. The chocolate boxes referred to could well have been for Atkinsons confectionery in Kiama. With a local ice cream parlor,  skating and local chocolates ( because of the dairy production in the area) Kiama must have been an idyllic  place to grow up! There’s a film for you, Hollywood, the ‘Young Orry-Kelly’ bio-pic!

Check out King Orry’s Grave on the Isle of Man!

http://www.iomguide.com/kingorrysgrave.php
<

Important Moments in the History of Kiama’s Daisy the Cow

This is Daisy the cow the papier mache Daisy the Cow in Kiama was based on 19 years ago.

This is the sculptor “Ernesto Murgo” meeting Daisy who would become his model

And here Daisy meets Daisy and Ernesto the proud creator celebrates with his beautiful ladies.

Now Daisy has become an icon of Kiama and been painted and re-painted many times since.

Yes, the paint is the only thing holding her together!

It is a community thing that anyone can paint the cow, which has led to some controversies

and even censorship!

Should Daisy be retired up to the brand new Kiama Pavilion and one of the fibre glass Picowasso Cows take her place?

Renowned throughout town and dale, the folk singer Phyll Lobl has written a song about Daisy the Cow’s adventures and may well have it performed by a local choir as part of Kiama’s 150th council anniversary celebrations!

Here are Phyl’s lyrics for Daisy at her site!

http://phyllobl.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=518:daisy-the-decorated-dairy-cow&catid=132:parody&Itemid=337

Here is a story the Kiama Independent did on the quest to get all the Daisy the Kiama Cow photos together! It also has been mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Column 8, local Win TV news and the local ABC illawarra radio!
http://www.kiamaindependent.com.au/article/history_through_daisys_eyes
[

And has Daisy inspired some imitation, check Daisy the fiberglass cow from Devon! Daisy the ‘Love M Devon’ Cow has been going on road trips to all sortsof exotic places, and even going surfing! I tell you, the Devon guys with theri Daisy the cow beat the Kiama guys promoting their Daisy the cow in the world of promotion
Check out
www.lovedevon.tk

Some Insights into What Harbour Pilots Actually Do

Thanks to Lesley  Lisle and her mother for the following information

Duties of Pilot Services Officer.

I enjoyed our lengthy chat at the Pilot’s Cottage recently and as requested by you, I spoke to my elderly mother about the work that my father did when he was with the Maritime Services Board’s, only to discover that I misled you. Apparently he was not their Pilot Officer for Sydney Harbour – he worked as a crew member on the Pilot boat and was their District Officer for the Sydney Region.  

 

Pilot officers require a much higher qualification.

Mum said that her recollections are from a fading memory (realising that all the women from her era are either over or approaching 90 years of age) but she said that perhaps The Maritime Services Board – now Sydney Water –(www.sydneywater.com.au, General Enquiries 13 2092) would have more explicit details if you require them in regard to the duties of the Pilot Officer.

 

My father, after his time on the Pilot boat, became a District Officer for the Maritme Services Board, which title changed to Boating Services Officer while he was in the job, initially on the Hawkesbury River then, Tweed Heads and finally at Merimbula.

Here’s what my mother advised me:-

My father – George William Thomas Wurlod (14.3.1924 – 6.4.1984)

After spending some considerable time with the merchant navy as an ‘able seaman’ – including the war years, (having three of those ships on which he served, torpedoed from under him), in 1962 he left the sea to start working for the Maritime Services Board as and able seaman on Goat Island in Sydney Harbour – doing their maintenance work.

 

Then about 8 months after that he moved on to the Pilot Boat at Watsons Bay as a crew member. In those days, the Pilot Vessel operated from Watsons Bay in Sydney Harbour (which only recently closed down). It was the job of the pilot boat to escort crafts into Sydney Harbour and in the case of the large ships, the Pilot Officer would climb up a ladder suspended from the ship down to the smaller pilot boat to allow the pilot to climb up onto the ship to meet with their captains to discuss and guide the ship’s safe passageway through the Sydney Heads and up the harbour.

 

As well as having a Harbour and River Masters Ticket, (which enabled him to represent the Maritime Services Board) he also tutored people more senior to himself for their Harbour and River Masters Tickets - there was a lot of technical material to be assimilated to gain this certificate.

 

Following his time on the pilot boat (roughly 12 months) he moved on to the head office of the Maritime Services Board at Circular Quay in Sydney to the position of District Office. As the MSB Sydney District Officer, his territory covered the inland waterways of part of the Hawkesbury River.

In his position as District Officer his other duties included, manning the head office (paperwork), public relations, testing and issuing licences for water craft and examining these craft for water safety requirements as per M.S.B. rules. He supervised the local waterways – in an identified MSB speed boat whilst wearing an MSB uniform and cap which was navy in colour with their insignia and gold buttons) and he was required to ensure that the channel markers we erected where required on the inland rivers and coast line, as well as reprimanding or charging any one deliberately violating the regulations of the waterways. In addition to these duties, he had to check boat moorings, attend in rescues and give evidence in court matters where required.

Following his time in the Sydney Office of the MSB, in 1970 he moved to the far north coast to the Pilot Station on Flagstaff Hill at Tweed Heads which was a residential home with a front office for the Board in the home. The roof of the house was cyclone bolted against the severe winds and it was set on 5 acres of headland, so that the view of the ocean was not obstructed. This position also came with a ‘boatman’ (offsider to drive and stay with the MSB boat when required and maintain the premises).

In addition to the work he performed at the Sydney Office, when at Tweed Heads he was also required to send in weekly weather reports to the Sydney Office and raise flags so the boats coming over the bar –  into the entry channel at Tweed Heads Harbour from the sea (particularly fishing trawlers) would know if the bar was safe to navigate their crafts into Tweed Heads Harbour.  He was also required to check out any mishaps on the bar. 

His territory at Tweed Heads ranged from Byron Bay to the Queensland border where complications arose when clients from north of the border confused appointment times with day light savings time, which was not operative in Queensland.

 

During his soujourn at Tweed Heads a lazer light house  was erected on Point Danger (Qld),- just over the boarder – which was little more than a tourist gimmick.  (Lighthouses as such were controlled by the Commonwealth Government outside the jurisdiction of the NSW Government).

In 1978 he was transferred to the Merimbula Office of the MSB on the South Coast. This office was situated in the township and by this stage the title for his position was changed from Pilot Officer to Boating Services Officer, with only slight amendments to his duties – no large shipping entered that port.

Regarding ships sunk off the east coast of Australia during World War 2.

 

As we discussed, Mum was able to assist me in this regard as well, by showing me a copy of the plaque which details the names of those ships 

In addition to this, my Mother was involved with the Seamen’s Union Women’s Committee and the plaque that I spoke to you about in regard to the ships sunk off the east coast of Australia during the 2nd world war years, my mother tells me was organised by the Seamen’s Unions Women’s Committee (Brisbane)  in memory of the Merchant Navy Seafarers from the funds still held in their coffers when the Committee disbanded in 1993. She also told me that The Brisbane Seamen’s Union Women’s Committee (1953 – 1993) was the last state to disband this movement. The plaque itself was presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 1994.

Grand Glass Panels Donated to Pilot’s Cottage

A series of four glass etched panels that once were in the Kiama Grand Hotel since the 1940s have been donated to the museum recently by Eric Spinder, and may end up as part of our windows into our entrance foyer (backlit ideally). Thanks to Eric (whose brother has an amazing water farm in Tasmania called Grim Water (http://www.capegrim.com.au/)

It is the seasons for donations as we recently received a picture of Mrs Samuel Charles, (nee Sarah Ann, daughter of James Mackay Gray of Gerringong) which will go well with the gravestone of hers we have ( if we can figure out what to do with it) and her eyeglasses, (incorrect, see comment below, actually Mrs Fraser, married to one of the Pilots) and a old panorama of the Pilot’s Cottage, kindly lent for reproduction by Tony Stewart ( who is part of the Holtz family of Kiama) and rumours of an oil painting of early Kiama is about to be donated. Also we had a recent visit by Leo Cady,

http://www.rootsandleaves.com/family/People/f1979.html

who knows many great stories of old Kiama

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1958638.Leo_Cady

and much about orchids.

Our local magpies, as they shelter from a storm on our steps, certainly seemed to be impressed, though they refused to be interviewed.

Kiama Convent Just Before Demolition

This is the Kiama St Joseph’s Covent just before its demolition. While very little of the original building was left, and new classes will be built on the site, it is sad to think the site was occupied as a convent fo more than a hundred years, after the nuns moved into Kiama formjamberoo before 1900. (By the way, the original church St Peters, sat on this site, and when demolished, the rubble was put in as fill in the back playgorund overlooking Surf  Beach)

While it is sad this building is sitting around vacant there are many others being used for nothing such as Burroul House on the Kiama Hospital site, and the Police Sergeant’s residence, next to the Post Office, which would be a great shame if they followed suit, and instead should be restored as commercial properties in great locations.

New Pavillion becomes Kiama’s First Town Hall

The opening of the Pavillion later this year by Kiama Mayor Sandra McCarthy will mark an important milestone in the 150th year of Kiama Council.

Kiama has its first Town Hall!

There have been about eight attempts to get a town hall in the past, with the OddFellows Hall ( on the current site of Kiama Leagues club, but the original cellars of bluestone, where meetings of the Oddfellows and other private welfare mutual societies met, in ceremonies remeniscient of the Freemasons)still exist,  and the Antrim Cinema on Surf Beach placed the community role for dances and events, and even ice skating rinks! Before this the much smaller Court house played this role on many occasions

Of course it is based on the pre-1938 Kiama Pavillion (without the Governor’s Box) which burned down that year.

If only we can get a new Kiama History book to replace Bailey’s Blue Haven and have a decent heritage tourism program!

Wreck of S.S Kiama

The wreck of the S.S. (Steam Ship) Kiama off Terrigal is a popular site for divers.

http://www.terrigaldive.com.au/divesites.html

However there have been several Kiamas over the many years.

http://www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/archive/2006_February2006_Letters.htm

However, nothing compares to the S.S. Dunmore which hit and sank six other vessels in it s career, as detailed in Max Gleeson’s books,

 

 

http://www.maxgleeson.com/

Notablely the pinnace of the H.M.s Encounter in 1910 killing 15 of the cadets on board, Australia’s worst naval tragedy until the sinking of the Sydney.

http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=67