An auspicious intersection
When travelling east on Military Road, in the late 40s early 50s, you reach the cross road / intersection of Cowles Road. On each corner of this crossing there was a landmark of interest to the local community.
The first being at the tram stop (en-route to The Spit). This corner was occupied by a very sober looking petrol station, which had long since passed its use-by date. The prominent Amos family, who lived close by, took over the site and sucessfully ran their removalist company from these premises for many years. The corner blocks were eventually sold for re-development and are now occupied by a complex of professional suites and home units.
Across the road from Amos, the much loved Blue Bus would chug up Cowles Road to stop outside ‘Telopea’ a grand old two storey mansion with a well weathered front garden. The original house (known as ‘The White House’) still stands, mournfully blocked off from its once grand garden by a dividing wall. The building has had many different occupants since it was divided into professional suites (including, it was said, a covert SP Book Making operation!). Next to this block is ‘Boronia’, the twin structure, which had various re-births. e.g. as Mosman Library, later to become Boronia House Restaurant and Reception Centre… (it has recently re-opened as a new and different style restaurant).
The ‘White House’ corner garden was eventually transformed into a grand, and ultra-modern for the day, Ampol Service Station. This was officially opened with great fanfare and a touch of theatre, by Jack Davey – (at the time, one of Sydney’s most famous radio personalities). The site has been re-modelled over the years and continues providing products and services to the passing motorist.
Directly over the road was a tram stop (for the Wynyard / Lane Cove / Chatswood routes), which in later years was moved slightly east in front of the shops, and hovering over the stop, in all its grandeur was the gracious two storey brick residence and practice (complete with tennis court), of the noted G.P., Dr. Geoffrey Mutton. This beautiful example of early 20th century architecture was eventually demolished to be replaced by a Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food outlet! ... and to compound this sad situation, the tennis court was replaced by a drab block of box-like home units – which at least supplied a wonderland of half-built rooms, corridors and what seemed to be miles of scaffolding, for the local children, including myself, to claim for a time as the ultimate playground… (in the early fifties there was less consideration given to safety procedures / precautions around building sites).
The next corner house on the western side of Cowles Road, as you proceed towards Cremorne was another grand old two storey building built in a similar style to the Mutton Residence and surrounded by a high fence. The grounds were heavily wooded and a multitude of tall shrubs, ensured complete privacy on all sides. To the youth of the area the building took on a mysterious air and many legends were born as we became increasingly fascinated by ‘The Haunted House’. To add to the intrigue, the only sign of life was the rare sighting of a tall thick-set gentleman dressed in a baggy three piece suit… which had obviously come from a bygone era. He would usually be seen carrying a shopping bag as he made the short journey to the shops leading up to Spit Junction. When we boys spotted him coming, we would hastily cross Military Road, dodging old cars and the odd horse-drawn Baker’s or Milko’s cart, so as to study the mystery man and conjure up all sorts of colourful images, most of which revolved around the magic and mysterious rituals that we believed took place in the house.
Sometimes at night, when my friend Peter and I were dressed in our very rudimentary (self-made!) ‘Batman and Robin’ outfits, we would creep up to the side paling fence of the house, and clamber high up into the overhanging limbs of a huge Camphor Laurel tree that provided the (slightest) view into the poorly lit upper room of the eerie dwelling. We never did see any one or any thing in the room and ultimately decided to cease our clandestine activities when we both dropped our box-like bicycle torches – thus rendering useless the thin shaft of light, which was needed to guide us through the murky night light surrounding Memory Park and other bushy areas at the bottom of Cowles Road. At a later date, one of the North Shore’s most modern commercial premises, the Norman G. Booth, Holden car sales and service building was constructed next door to the old house, creating quite a contrast.
Whether it be the excitement of watching the various Scottish Bands gathering at the official starting point for the annual Highland Gathering (that would wind its colourful way to Balmoral Oval)... or climbing the double, barbed-wire topped gates of The Fresh Food and Ice Company, (now a Mosman Council Works Yard), to sit atop the carts (and horses!) housed within the compound walls and let your imagination have free rein… the intersection inevitably became the doorway to a world of fond childhood memories.
— posted by Brucey M., Wednesday October 10, 2007
Comments
My goodness! I was born in 1951 and Dr Mutton was my doctor. I lived at 666 Military Road.
My dad was Eric Wippell and he owned the tobacconist/hairdressing salon there. I’m pretty sure I recall that the tram stop was right outside our shop. I have fond memories of sitting on the awning of the upstairs (we lived up there) and watching a parade go by.
There was a hairdressers for ladies next door and my sister and I used to get out into the alley and search through their rubbish for “women’s treasure.”
I recall there was a little lane beside our shop that led to the back of all the surrounding shops. It was a paddock where the local teenage boys would do up their cars. There was a huge mulberry tree there and Lorraine Kenny lived in one house (I ended up with her dog Bobo when he was discarded for no longer being a puppy). Also close by was a sports store and some young guy named Nat had won a few surfing championships. Just down from them was the Optometrist where the Wolfe family lived. Their sons, John and Kenny, became our friends (our being me and my sister).
Those were the days when the Mooneys owned a shop and all the Moonie kids, Joan Carmody’s kids and the Dutch hamburger owners (Maneveld’s) would hang out in large gangs and ride our scooters to Balmoral Baths and back. Wow, what a climb!
— posted by Ly de Angeles, Sunday November 2, 2008, 8:53:46 AM #
My my…it is fascinating how one easily forgets! I was wrong in locating Whittles hardware store, it was in Spit Road almost across from the Kings Theatre. The Barber near Cowles Road was Mr. Pearce, a pleasant chap who liked to have a tipple or two!
The Siders owned the sweet shop just up from the Barber, and my younger sister used to work for them.
The Pet Shop was run by the Hampsons and their son Doug became a highly respected camera operator at either channel Seven or Nine.
Huckles shop was close to the Cremorne Orpheum which I believe was owned by the Virgona Family , I remember Bruce Huckell as he was a year or so in front of me at Mosman High…. The Orpheum was a modest theatre andmy sisteter was an usherette at night there so I often spent time beyween it and The Southern Cross
I also remember Geoff Mutton well; he was our GP as well as a long-time family friend. I recall the tennis court in the grounds of his house, and although I don’t have a clear memory as to when it was replaced by home units, Geoff’s house and practice was certainly still extant in the early 60s, as I had occasion to have several boyhood cuts (camping and surfing injuries) sutured by him at that time. On the mention of Huckles – wasn’t that the shop with the magnificent diorama of the Blue Mountains in the window?
Yes, I remember Huckell’s Radio well, and the window display with the model trains. When developers bought all the surrounding buildings to build the Strata shopping centre, Mr Huckell hung out until the last minute before selling, with the result that his shop stood out like a “shag on a rock”, with all the earthworks going around him. Finally, he sold out, and they gave him a nondescript shop around the corner, sadly without the model trains display.
David Healy
— posted by David Healy, Friday August 7, 2009, 11:50:24 AM #
I seem to recall that there were two Mutton brothers, who were both GPs. “Dr Geoff” and “Dr John”. We lived down towards the bottom of Cowles Road on the Mosman Bay side, and “Dr Geoff” was our regular GP, but occasionally we saw “Dr John” instead.
The Tram Stop for tram going towards Cermorne Junction was outside the Mutton’s house, between Gurrigal St and Cowles Rd. For several years after the trams stoped running, the painted, fading, red “Wait Here For Trams” sign was still visible on the wooden power pole outside the house. The replacing bus stop was moved to the other side of Gurrigal Rd to provide (some) wet weather potection for waitng passngers under the shop awning.
All the wooden power poles that used to support the tram overhead wires were numbered with small, individual, raised, cast metal numbers, and it took several decades before the last of the numbered “tram” poles disappeared in Mosman.
There was a pet shop (the “Pet’s Pantry”?) just across from the Mutton’s house on the opposite corner of Gurrigal St.
The Amos repository in Cowles Rd was orginally a Government bus depot, going back to the time when the Route 144 double deck buses first started running through from Manly to St Leonards. It became redundant as the bus services were expanded and space was made at North Sydney tram depot (at Neutral Bay) to hold buses, by removing some of the open air “waterhole” tram storage sidings on the West side of the tram shed building. The Cowles Rd bus depot, with a high roof and tall and wide enterance to cope with double decker buses, was ideal for handling the large Pantecnicons that Amos used in their Removal and Storage business.
Re Huckle’s Radio shop at Cremore, the shop was on the opposite side of the road to Orpheum and a bit further towards Neutral Bay. The working “model” in the side-street window, with trains, cars, “mountain devil” incline and realistic sounds was always a great treat for me!
I seem to recall that the Ampol Service Station at the corner of Cowles and Millitay Roads was one of the very first Ampol branded service stations.
I always remember having to carefully spell out C-O-W-L-E-S when giving my address, otherwise whoever was writing down the road name would come up with some strange renderings/spellings!
Cheers,
Bill
— posted by Bill Bolton, Monday December 21, 2009, 11:58:18 AM #
Later Brucey I’ll tell you the story of the haunted house and it’s occupant. Thanks for reminding me that the doctor at the white house was Dr Mutton..not Nash…What a crime that demolition was as was the ‘haunted house” I only remember Amos as “Amos” at the moment…even in the 50s….they were in a smaller building and I recall them building a larger one on the western corner of the north intersection of Cowles and Spit.
The Ampol, the place you speak of, used to carry the “sign of the flying winged horse” before becoming Ampol….does this ring a bell…? That sign was about 2 metres in from the footpath and right on the Boronia boundary. Many times I walked through there to seek cicadas and leaves for my silkworms at what was then Mosman Library’s border between it and the garage. I’ll write about the other later when I have more time..and about Mosman tyre service….Don’t forget just past Mutton’s heading east was the pet shop and then Seidler’s milk bar then Moran and Cato Later Geoff went down past the then RSL near to where the Mosman Medical Centre is today. That was where I was attended -to by Geoff after cutting the top of my finger off at age 15 (1950) using dad’s planing machine in the factory adjacent to Yeff’s glass (I called him Yeo in another posting but felt I was wrong) on one side and the post Office/Tram terminus on the other (east spit road)
cheers Tony
— posted by Tony Clancy, Friday February 8, 2008, 1:57:32 PM #