Oral History Project

As many people in the West Toowong area will know, the Toowong West Community Association is collecting oral histories for future publication. We want to capture the essesence of the area through the memories of our residents.

Following are excerpts from some of the interviews. If you wish to know more about this project, please don't hesitate to contact Sue sue@smartype.com.au

"When we came here the trams only came as far as the Terminus. There was a little depot there and that is where Jack used to work (he was Glenn's father). He worked for the Council.

Eventually there was a single tramline that went up Dean Street to Woodstock Road. We had to wait for another tram to come further up - it remained like that for a long time until we got private buses here. They were run by Mr. Shand(?) who lived in Jean's place. After that a Miss. Davies, a schoolteacher lived in that house, we think she taught shorthand and typewriting. Gregory the butcher lived in the house next door to Ron Archer's, this was the end house years ago.

Gregory later had the butcher shop around the corner. Was it called the Cornish Butchery. When the interviewer first came to Toowong there was still a butcher shop there in the Dean Street shops. Later Gregory decided to get out and it was taken over by a Mr. Waller.

There was also a shop up there called Butler's but they were no relation to the Butlers that live around here. There was another corner store called Hoskins. Was there a haberdasher there? There was a cash and carry on the other corner - CST Cash & Carry. What about where the fruitshop used to be? That was Hoskins. The Newsagent where Barry Coutts is was Butler's store. A doctor, Fardoulys, is also up there.

The third or fourth house on the fruit shop side was a private hospital, George mentioned that. George could not remember ever having gone to the doctor as a kid, there were doctors around but they came to you.

The creek was deeper in those days, George said that they had had little canoes, kids swam in the creek. Not in Bywong Street, but where the bridge is at Orchard Street, the kids used to all go down there. There were tadpoles and things, it was lovely and clear water, you could look down and see the rocks - it was an open creek in those days, no pipes, just a natural flow."

"At the same time the electorate of Ryan had been carved out and the new electorate was searching then for a suitable member and Sir Reginald Gould who was afterwards Lord Mayor of Brisbane was approached to see whether he would be the first member.

In a nice way he said no, as what he was interested in was Municipal government and he subsequently became Lord Mayor of Brisbane. But he said he would find a suitable candidate. So as he and Nigel were very good friends he went round to Nigel who was in the Queensland Trustees and told him he was going to be the first member for Ryan.

Finally, after a lot of coming and going, it was arranged that he would be the first member for Ryan which he occupied for I think, some twenty years or so. We weren't even engaged at the time but I did know the family quite well from war work. I met Nigel at the Brisbane clinic briefly when he brought one of his sisters there and I remember the time when he asked me to Rowes for lunch and I said, "well I will have to run all the way down and all the way back as I only have an hour for lunch" and he said, "well you could do that, couldn't you" and while I was down there he said: " I'm helping at a by-election in Kelvin Grove - would you like to come along and help me". I said "no I don't think so as I am not interested in politics."

This is rather strange because of the way things turned out, but of course I didn't know that then and not so very long after that, at a few meetings here and there, a friend of mine who lived in Taringa and was also a branch chairman, rang me and said "what about coming to dinner one night" I said Ôthank you very much".

It was the same night as a branch meeting and they were trying to get people along as not very many people would go to branch meetings in those days so I had dinner there and we went round to the Masonic Hall in Taringa where the meeting was being held and as a sop my friend told me that Nigel Drury would be there to which I said "so what".

However, when the meeting was over he offered to drive me home (I don't think he knew it was all the way to Hamilton). He was living in this house which I now occupy and have done ever since I was married and he asked me home and to come in and have a cup of coffee which I did. His sister was here but she went to bed and we were talking and time marched on and it got to be a bit late. Nigel suggested that as it was too late to be going back to Hamilton could he phone them and tell them that I was sleeping over at his place.

He then rang my house but from memory no one answered the phone, they could have already been in bed because my absence wasn't discovered until the next morning. My Aunt from Canada who was living with us discovered that my bed hadn't been slept in and then she hit the roof. She rang all the local businesses and others but nobody knew where I was. Finally about six o'clock, after a sort of ring around, Nigel let them know where I was and that I would be coming home shortly.

Not very long afterwards we got engaged because Reg (Sir Reginald Gould) who had promised to run Nigel's first campaign thought it was too inconvenient (for us not to be married) and Jessie who was his wife said she would organize functions and Nigel's wife could then get known to all the various people, and finally the party could have new branches, so that is what we did. Reg said it would be too inconvenient to run a campaign for a member in Toowong with a fiancee in Hamilton. Therefore could he please get married and he would be prepared to give us a fortnight off and then we could come back to work as one entity.

We were married at St. Augustine's which was my church in Hamilton.

We went to Montville for a fortnight's honeymoon and then we came back and got into it. At the time, of course we didn't know how to go about it but Jessie was a very good organizer and she got together what afterwards came to be known as the Ryan women.

Any member has to have a women's committee so she organized all these functions . The final idea was to get a proper committee going and Jessie got busy and there was some debate as to whether we would be called the Ryan ladies or the Ryan women and the discussion agreed that we would be Ryan women which we were called henceforth and at this meeting the nucleus which consisted of some thirty women was organized to run functions. Jessie turned to me and said "Ryan women it is and you had better be the chairman of it." I was taken aback as I had never in my life chaired a meeting, however I was chairman of the Ryan women for all the time that Nigel was in Parliament.

We had a very good committee we used to do all kinds of things. We used to run dinners in other people's houses and everybody would turn up bearing all kinds of food. On one occasion the dinner was at Indooroopilly and I was providing the china and cutlery and one thing and the other. It was pouring with rain and when we got there we found the kitchen ceiling was leaking, there were two buckets on the floor and we were organizing a dinner with buckets to catch the water. A little nerve racking but still we managed."

"Reminiscences of Toowong in the thirties.

Our family home on Astor Street had been built on the original Toowong School grounds with the School next door.

Toowong was a small village with the old Post Office, a heritage-looking building, a road next to it to Patterson's Sawmill and the Station-master's house.

There was Cox's grocery shop. You rang your order and it was delivered with a small paper bag of boiled lollies.

George Eadie's Chemist shop, Tony Ipson's Newsagency, Mr. Stanley - the Boot repairer, and on the opposite of Sherwood Rd. there was Goode's Cake shop - there for many years. A butcher, Baillie and Rogers with freshly cut meat to order, a fruit shop run by Lovey who called all his customers lovey. Webster Drapery and then a house occupied by Dr. Wagner and his brother Ernie, a Dentist.

The Commonwealth Bank opened. There was Carver's Mixed Business, St. Thomas's Church - a landmark. On the opposite side of High Street was a newsagency and baker, the Royal Exchange Hotel run by Perc Bishop.

On the opposite side of River Road, now Coronation Drive, and across from the railway station was a small mixed business and a Garage, Drayton's Garage.

Toowong baths were well patronised by locals, including my father who, every morning swam at 7.00 o'clock. The train was used as transport to the city until Mr. O'Connell commenced a bus service. It was bushland where the University is now situated. There was a tram service from the terminus in Woodstock Street to the city and we had the Jubilee Theatre with the canvas chairs.

The Jubilee Theatre is where the BP Garage is now and the Elite was on Milton Road. There was Miss Brown's kindergarten which was very well known around Toowong. It was in Ivor Lane which is now where the mail boxes are, it runs at the back of the RE. There used to be houses there."