ST. JOHN’S WOOD MEMORIES
Joyce Byrnes
Joyce Byrnes in 2004 at neighbour Mrs Bayleys 99th birthday.
Why did Joyce and her late husband, Bill, move to St. John’s Wood?
The husband of a friend of mine owned the land and we bought it for 120 Pounds. We were married on the 29th December, 1951. We came back here the first night and there were no windows here or anything. Things were different back then, things were safe and there was a door on the house, but just brown paper up at the windows, and while we were away on our honeymoon, the man who helped Bill build the house, put in the windows. He was Noela Burdett’s husband, Mervyn from St. John’s Avenue. Before we were married and before the house was totally built, we did not live far away; we lived in Rainworth. When Bill was working here on a week-end, I used to walk out to see how the house was going. I would cut through Bardon and along Coopers Camp Road. It was exciting to see the house being built.
When did your neighbours arrive?
Most of the houses on the lower part of St. John’s Wood were already installed before 1951. There was no house over the road from us, on the corner of Grand Parade, Buckingham Street and Piddington Street just a bit of empty ground, a very small piece (later built on) and when Mr and Mrs. Miflim, an elderly couple lived in the house there and they didn’t have sewerage, they had an ‘earth closet’. A little building and a little seat to sit on and the man took the pan out at night (to empty) and that was at the back of their house. Our toilet was right down the back yard, which was a bit of a nuisance (especially if it was raining) you would have to take your umbrella with you. That was the only house built after our house, except for Rod Thiesfield’s, that was built after the other one was shifted.
The Girl Guide hut?
The Guide hut was diagonally over the road. There are two houses on the land now. When the lady who was taking the guides found out that my husband was a carpenter. On weekends, she would have him up at the guide hut, along with a lot of other men. They built the hut by voluntary work.
The First Aid Post? Pre 1951 and later.
The little house opposite had two great aunts of Rod’s living there. A Mrs. Johnstone and a Miss Hamilton, two nurses. When Rod started to build, the great aunts’house was moved up the coast. The house next door belonged to the brother of the two nurses, “Pop” Johnstone, and he had a “first aid post” there during the war, which kept going afterwards.
Bush turkeys in suburban streets?
Not when we built here. You see, there were no houses up here (top of Buckingham Street), and they only came down really, when more houses were built up there. They used to stay up the mountain, but once the houses were built, they came down here.
Possums?
In the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, there were many more possums than what there are now.
Other wildlife?
The odd snake would come in, mostly carpet snakes. A couple of years ago one twirled itself around the front porch. It is most unusual to see snakes down here now. Still get the Kookaburras and Lorikeets. My neighbour, Mavis and I would feed them down in the yard and then my grand-children enjoyed feeding
the birds on the back verandah.
The creek?
We were married for three years before we had our first child. I used to take him down to the creek. It was not polluted then, it had a sandy bottom and nice clean water. I would take him down there in his little togs, and he would sit there and splash around and I would sit and watch him. Of course you could not do that now,
the water is filthy. I don’t remember doing it with the other children, so it must have started to get dirty even then.
The parks in St. John’s Wood?
Yes, we used them for picnics, even when we had grandchildren, we used to go down to the parks and have BBQ’s and picnics. Not so much with our children, because there was always a lot of work to do around the house and garden. 20 years ago our grandsons would take some bamboo and make bows and arrows to play with.
Shopping?
There were two shops here in the Woods.The one down the bottom of Laird Street, which belonged to the Franklins. And then the other was the Hintons, which was attached to the picture show, where the child care centre is now. In later years, over on the main road, (Waterworks Road), there was a ‘Cash and Carry’, (Munro's) and of course once the strip of shops was built, the two little shops in the Woods went. We used to have a phone box and post box, just near the corner of Piddington and Laird Streets, where the bus goes around the corner and just a little bit down from there.
The picture show?
They were all canvas seats and on one level, it was quite good to have that picture show, just so handy there and everyone in the neighbourhood would be down there on a Saturday night. Then with the Hinton’s shop being there, you could always race out to get your jaffas and ice-creams at interval. They also sold groceries.
The buses?
The bus was called “St. John’s Wood”. I caught the 9am bus to work and the next one did not come until 10.45am. Ten years later, the bus came from The Gap and did the circuit here. The Gap people complained about having to do the circuit through the Woods. So eventually they had a bus that just came into the Woods and went out again. The bus stop was a good meeting place. You would go down the road to catch the bus and there would be just about everyone in the Woods
there. You would know everyone there too. Hardly anybody drove cars. If they did, the fathers drove the cars, and the mothers used the buses. These days, when I go to the bus, I am the only one there catching it.
Living in the “Woods”?
When the children were little, it was a great place to live, I could just walk up to Ashgrove State School without crossing the road. There was no big shopping centre out The Gap. Lots of banana plantations out there. The high school was built later on. Nobody knew where St. John’s Wood was, even today, people don’t know where it is, or have not heard of it. In the first few years of living in the Woods, most women stayed at home, (in the 1950’s). For the first 18 months of
living here, I worked, as a dressmaker, in the“Adelaide Arcade” in the City. I gave it up and I started to do dressmaking at home. Rod Thiesfield’s mother (across the road) did dressmaking too. Years ago when the children were young, there were a lot of mosquitoes, until the council sprayed. Children and adults always had a mosquito net (at night in bed)….used to make it rather stuffy. Top of the hill buildings, were a bit of a surprise! The council always told us that it was Crown land, and it would never be built on, and if there was a bushfire, the fire brigade would not come to put it out, the army would come out as it was Crown land.
The fire brigade was not up the top of the hill, near the school, as it is today, but at Paddington.
Floods?
We were alright here, but a friend of mine in Royal Parade, she was flooded. And of course, the bridge was flooded over. My husband, Bill, walked over the bridge and up to the terminus and bought several loaves of bread for people in the Woods. The shops over at the bottom of the hill, on Waterworks Road, were all flooded. My friend (from Royal Parade) and her husband and three children came up here and slept up here for two nights. My eldest son started off to work, was
gone for only ten minutes (from the house) arrived back, and said,“if I go to work I won’t get back home tonight’ and went straight back to bed. Apparently a few people didn’t get home that night. They had people on mattresses up at the West Ashgrove Methodist Church.
Over the years, the bridge went under several times. Sometime before the 1974 floods, I can remember coming down the hill and a car was stuck up in a tree, just past the bridge on the Waterworks Road side.
Royal visit?
There seems a lot of controversy about the Princes coming to St. John’s Wood, (Granite House). People say that they would not have had enough time, if they were staying at Government House.
Fiveways?
The intersection has always been like that. I imagine Bill built back from the road because (in 1951) people thought at one stage, that the bus terminus may be situated here. (hearsay only).
The rifle range?
There had been a pistol range through the back here and we would take the children for a walk through there, onto Bennett’s Road and sometimes we would go up the mountain, just for a little bush walk. It was fairly overgrown in those days.
Final words.
I am staying here, because Bill built the house, otherwise I’d be inclined to get something smaller-a smaller piece of ground. It is still a nice place to live in.
The husband of a friend of mine owned the land and we bought it for 120 Pounds. We were married on the 29th December, 1951. We came back here the first night and there were no windows here or anything. Things were different back then, things were safe and there was a door on the house, but just brown paper up at the windows, and while we were away on our honeymoon, the man who helped Bill build the house, put in the windows. He was Noela Burdett’s husband, Mervyn from St. John’s Avenue. Before we were married and before the house was totally built, we did not live far away; we lived in Rainworth. When Bill was working here on a week-end, I used to walk out to see how the house was going. I would cut through Bardon and along Coopers Camp Road. It was exciting to see the house being built.
When did your neighbours arrive?
Most of the houses on the lower part of St. John’s Wood were already installed before 1951. There was no house over the road from us, on the corner of Grand Parade, Buckingham Street and Piddington Street just a bit of empty ground, a very small piece (later built on) and when Mr and Mrs. Miflim, an elderly couple lived in the house there and they didn’t have sewerage, they had an ‘earth closet’. A little building and a little seat to sit on and the man took the pan out at night (to empty) and that was at the back of their house. Our toilet was right down the back yard, which was a bit of a nuisance (especially if it was raining) you would have to take your umbrella with you. That was the only house built after our house, except for Rod Thiesfield’s, that was built after the other one was shifted.
The Girl Guide hut?
The Guide hut was diagonally over the road. There are two houses on the land now. When the lady who was taking the guides found out that my husband was a carpenter. On weekends, she would have him up at the guide hut, along with a lot of other men. They built the hut by voluntary work.
The First Aid Post? Pre 1951 and later.
The little house opposite had two great aunts of Rod’s living there. A Mrs. Johnstone and a Miss Hamilton, two nurses. When Rod started to build, the great aunts’house was moved up the coast. The house next door belonged to the brother of the two nurses, “Pop” Johnstone, and he had a “first aid post” there during the war, which kept going afterwards.
Bush turkeys in suburban streets?
Not when we built here. You see, there were no houses up here (top of Buckingham Street), and they only came down really, when more houses were built up there. They used to stay up the mountain, but once the houses were built, they came down here.
Possums?
In the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, there were many more possums than what there are now.
Other wildlife?
The odd snake would come in, mostly carpet snakes. A couple of years ago one twirled itself around the front porch. It is most unusual to see snakes down here now. Still get the Kookaburras and Lorikeets. My neighbour, Mavis and I would feed them down in the yard and then my grand-children enjoyed feeding
the birds on the back verandah.
The creek?
We were married for three years before we had our first child. I used to take him down to the creek. It was not polluted then, it had a sandy bottom and nice clean water. I would take him down there in his little togs, and he would sit there and splash around and I would sit and watch him. Of course you could not do that now,
the water is filthy. I don’t remember doing it with the other children, so it must have started to get dirty even then.
The parks in St. John’s Wood?
Yes, we used them for picnics, even when we had grandchildren, we used to go down to the parks and have BBQ’s and picnics. Not so much with our children, because there was always a lot of work to do around the house and garden. 20 years ago our grandsons would take some bamboo and make bows and arrows to play with.
Shopping?
There were two shops here in the Woods.The one down the bottom of Laird Street, which belonged to the Franklins. And then the other was the Hintons, which was attached to the picture show, where the child care centre is now. In later years, over on the main road, (Waterworks Road), there was a ‘Cash and Carry’, (Munro's) and of course once the strip of shops was built, the two little shops in the Woods went. We used to have a phone box and post box, just near the corner of Piddington and Laird Streets, where the bus goes around the corner and just a little bit down from there.
The picture show?
They were all canvas seats and on one level, it was quite good to have that picture show, just so handy there and everyone in the neighbourhood would be down there on a Saturday night. Then with the Hinton’s shop being there, you could always race out to get your jaffas and ice-creams at interval. They also sold groceries.
The buses?
The bus was called “St. John’s Wood”. I caught the 9am bus to work and the next one did not come until 10.45am. Ten years later, the bus came from The Gap and did the circuit here. The Gap people complained about having to do the circuit through the Woods. So eventually they had a bus that just came into the Woods and went out again. The bus stop was a good meeting place. You would go down the road to catch the bus and there would be just about everyone in the Woods
there. You would know everyone there too. Hardly anybody drove cars. If they did, the fathers drove the cars, and the mothers used the buses. These days, when I go to the bus, I am the only one there catching it.
Living in the “Woods”?
When the children were little, it was a great place to live, I could just walk up to Ashgrove State School without crossing the road. There was no big shopping centre out The Gap. Lots of banana plantations out there. The high school was built later on. Nobody knew where St. John’s Wood was, even today, people don’t know where it is, or have not heard of it. In the first few years of living in the Woods, most women stayed at home, (in the 1950’s). For the first 18 months of
living here, I worked, as a dressmaker, in the“Adelaide Arcade” in the City. I gave it up and I started to do dressmaking at home. Rod Thiesfield’s mother (across the road) did dressmaking too. Years ago when the children were young, there were a lot of mosquitoes, until the council sprayed. Children and adults always had a mosquito net (at night in bed)….used to make it rather stuffy. Top of the hill buildings, were a bit of a surprise! The council always told us that it was Crown land, and it would never be built on, and if there was a bushfire, the fire brigade would not come to put it out, the army would come out as it was Crown land.
The fire brigade was not up the top of the hill, near the school, as it is today, but at Paddington.
Floods?
We were alright here, but a friend of mine in Royal Parade, she was flooded. And of course, the bridge was flooded over. My husband, Bill, walked over the bridge and up to the terminus and bought several loaves of bread for people in the Woods. The shops over at the bottom of the hill, on Waterworks Road, were all flooded. My friend (from Royal Parade) and her husband and three children came up here and slept up here for two nights. My eldest son started off to work, was
gone for only ten minutes (from the house) arrived back, and said,“if I go to work I won’t get back home tonight’ and went straight back to bed. Apparently a few people didn’t get home that night. They had people on mattresses up at the West Ashgrove Methodist Church.
Over the years, the bridge went under several times. Sometime before the 1974 floods, I can remember coming down the hill and a car was stuck up in a tree, just past the bridge on the Waterworks Road side.
Royal visit?
There seems a lot of controversy about the Princes coming to St. John’s Wood, (Granite House). People say that they would not have had enough time, if they were staying at Government House.
Fiveways?
The intersection has always been like that. I imagine Bill built back from the road because (in 1951) people thought at one stage, that the bus terminus may be situated here. (hearsay only).
The rifle range?
There had been a pistol range through the back here and we would take the children for a walk through there, onto Bennett’s Road and sometimes we would go up the mountain, just for a little bush walk. It was fairly overgrown in those days.
Final words.
I am staying here, because Bill built the house, otherwise I’d be inclined to get something smaller-a smaller piece of ground. It is still a nice place to live in.
Cnr. Grand Parade & Buckingham St.
