ST. JOHN’S WOOD MEMORIES
Leo Goggins

My Dad came down from Mt. Colliery, outside of Tannymorel near Killarney, Queensland. He built at 6 Buckingham Street just after the war. Most of us kids were born in the years soon after. We had 7 in our family including a couple of girls from the Nudgee orphanage. St. John’s Wood was well and truly underway at that time, although there were still quite a few vacant blocks that were still being built on. It had a royal theme due to some member of the royal family staying in Granite House, sometime before, but it did not matter too much to the Irish descendants, even though Ireland at that time was battling for full independence from Britain.
In the early 1950’s, I remember a house being built next to us in which the builders did everything-from the stumps to the roof, including cabinets, windows, glazing, fencing and mostly all by hand. As kids we knew them all by the time they had finished the house.
There was no sewerage and everyone had a thunder box in the back yard along with a choko vine, macadamia nut tree, and a chook yard. The fences were all closed timber palings with a gap in them, so neighbours could visit each other. Not all roads were sealed, and I don’t think Royal Parade would have been sealed until the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.
The quarry half way up the hill to the tram terminus was still operating. When it closed down a Scout hut was built at its base.
There were a lot of timber trucks dragging timber out of The Gap area. This caused my mother great concern, if we were behind them going up the terminus hill.
The Woods was called ‘nappy valley’ and we had plenty of mates growing up. My best mates that I grew up with are still in contact with me.
Most of the houses were weatherboard and initially I remember that not many people had motorcars. People went off to work via a twice a morning bus service or walking up the hill to the tram terminus.
There were two shops when I was growing up. One on the creek, at St. John’s Avenue, opposite Laird Street and Hinton’s Store was near the bridge.
It had an old timber picture theatre on the Gresham Street side and a tennis court on the western side. Old Jack Hinton had a good looking daughter and a tennis elbow, with a large bulge in it. It used to bounce out (the elbow, not the daughter, unfortunately) when he was putting lollies in a paper bag. As kids, we would ask for one lolly at a time, so we could see this huge bulge pop out - much to his annoyance and our amusement!
When the picture theatre operated, as kids we would stand in his garden beds and look through the windows.We knew if we stood there long enough he would come out and tell us to get out of the garden bed and ‘alright come into the back of the theatre, but don’t make any noise!’.
The creek was a ripper. We made rafts from the bamboo and we hunted turtles. The bridge was a lot lower than nowadays and would flood regularly. If there was any sign of heavy rain, kids would spread fear through our mothers that we might not be able to get back home from school. After much discussion the ‘Mothers would make a joint decision’- we would all go to school or we would all stay at home. This we were able to do at least 3-4 times a year.
Initially we walked to the convent school at Mater Dei and then from grade 4 to Marist Brothers, Ashgrove. We rode our bikes across the creek and flats, which were pretty well under developed. If the creek was up, we pushed them up the terminus hill and flew down Glenlyon Drive. The flats at that time were great for games of footy and bike races. Some of our footy games would have been at least 10 a side.
As kids we could only wear our shoes to school or church. The rest of the time it was all bare feet. We had running races around the block, along the gravel road, so our feet were pretty tough.
When the Centenary Pool was opened in Gregory Terrace, in the late 1950’s, we would walk all the way in and all the way back, saving our money for hot chips at the Terminus fish shop. I remember a policeman stopping us one night when we were walking back. He asked me where my shoes were. I thought it was a pretty
silly question.
Greenlanes Pool was also a great favourite because it was a lot closer. We could cut through near the top of Buckingham Street, and then down the hill. It was run by two, very large, grumpy ladies and an even grumpier looking man, either a brother or married to one of them. We used to call him, ‘The Golden Gorilla”.
The water for the pool was pumped from the creek and was so murky you could dive under water and no one could see you. One day, “The Golden Gorilla”, after snarling at all of us kids went into his chemical shed next to the pool. In a moment of madness, we locked him in. We then thought we’d better bolt, but on the way out as we crossed the creek, we lobbed a couple of stones on the roof of the shed just for good measure. Evidently he was in the shed for some time as the kids jumping in and out of the pool were making so much noise, no one heard him banging on the door. We weren’t game to go back to the pool for quite some time.
There was a German bloke, called Gramenz, who had a fruit shop on the other side of Waterworks Road, just opposite the bridge. Our family had an old Vanquard” car and my mother put the car in 2nd gear instead of reverse, mounted the footpath and crashed into his shop, bringing down all his home made timber shelves, which were loaded with apples, oranges and bottles of soft drink. In his insurance claim he stated he was ‘feet deep in soft drink’ and he claimed thousands of pounds for lost trade. However with the commotion it caused with the old Vanguard still mounted up on the footpath, the mob came from miles around and he did a roaring trade.
We lived opposite Bill Lenehan, a professional punter. We followed his horses, including ‘Confidence’, which won something like 12 in a row, (including the Queensland Derby) and ‘Symbolise’. Harry Shepherd, next to him, ran a cabinet making business under his house. Doug Jeffries, up the back worked for Rosella Jams. They were all good blokes, quite a few other fathers worked in the Taxation Department.
The Mater Dei and Marist Brothers, Ashgrove took up a lot of our family’s time. The majority of work carried out in those days was all volunteer labour and working bees. My Mum and Dad were very active and the schools took up most weekends.
In the earlier times there were ‘fishos’ coming around selling fresh fish, ice delivery trucks, fruit and veggie trucks and we had two mail services a day. After the rugby league games on Saturday, the‘green sports’ paper with all the footy news would be in Hinton’s store by 6 o’clock that evening…..and doctors made house
calls!
With all the modern technology and time saving devices today, we still don’t seem to have the time of those days; it was a great place to grow up.
In the early 1950’s, I remember a house being built next to us in which the builders did everything-from the stumps to the roof, including cabinets, windows, glazing, fencing and mostly all by hand. As kids we knew them all by the time they had finished the house.
There was no sewerage and everyone had a thunder box in the back yard along with a choko vine, macadamia nut tree, and a chook yard. The fences were all closed timber palings with a gap in them, so neighbours could visit each other. Not all roads were sealed, and I don’t think Royal Parade would have been sealed until the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.
The quarry half way up the hill to the tram terminus was still operating. When it closed down a Scout hut was built at its base.
There were a lot of timber trucks dragging timber out of The Gap area. This caused my mother great concern, if we were behind them going up the terminus hill.
The Woods was called ‘nappy valley’ and we had plenty of mates growing up. My best mates that I grew up with are still in contact with me.
Most of the houses were weatherboard and initially I remember that not many people had motorcars. People went off to work via a twice a morning bus service or walking up the hill to the tram terminus.
There were two shops when I was growing up. One on the creek, at St. John’s Avenue, opposite Laird Street and Hinton’s Store was near the bridge.
It had an old timber picture theatre on the Gresham Street side and a tennis court on the western side. Old Jack Hinton had a good looking daughter and a tennis elbow, with a large bulge in it. It used to bounce out (the elbow, not the daughter, unfortunately) when he was putting lollies in a paper bag. As kids, we would ask for one lolly at a time, so we could see this huge bulge pop out - much to his annoyance and our amusement!
When the picture theatre operated, as kids we would stand in his garden beds and look through the windows.We knew if we stood there long enough he would come out and tell us to get out of the garden bed and ‘alright come into the back of the theatre, but don’t make any noise!’.
The creek was a ripper. We made rafts from the bamboo and we hunted turtles. The bridge was a lot lower than nowadays and would flood regularly. If there was any sign of heavy rain, kids would spread fear through our mothers that we might not be able to get back home from school. After much discussion the ‘Mothers would make a joint decision’- we would all go to school or we would all stay at home. This we were able to do at least 3-4 times a year.
Initially we walked to the convent school at Mater Dei and then from grade 4 to Marist Brothers, Ashgrove. We rode our bikes across the creek and flats, which were pretty well under developed. If the creek was up, we pushed them up the terminus hill and flew down Glenlyon Drive. The flats at that time were great for games of footy and bike races. Some of our footy games would have been at least 10 a side.
As kids we could only wear our shoes to school or church. The rest of the time it was all bare feet. We had running races around the block, along the gravel road, so our feet were pretty tough.
When the Centenary Pool was opened in Gregory Terrace, in the late 1950’s, we would walk all the way in and all the way back, saving our money for hot chips at the Terminus fish shop. I remember a policeman stopping us one night when we were walking back. He asked me where my shoes were. I thought it was a pretty
silly question.
Greenlanes Pool was also a great favourite because it was a lot closer. We could cut through near the top of Buckingham Street, and then down the hill. It was run by two, very large, grumpy ladies and an even grumpier looking man, either a brother or married to one of them. We used to call him, ‘The Golden Gorilla”.
The water for the pool was pumped from the creek and was so murky you could dive under water and no one could see you. One day, “The Golden Gorilla”, after snarling at all of us kids went into his chemical shed next to the pool. In a moment of madness, we locked him in. We then thought we’d better bolt, but on the way out as we crossed the creek, we lobbed a couple of stones on the roof of the shed just for good measure. Evidently he was in the shed for some time as the kids jumping in and out of the pool were making so much noise, no one heard him banging on the door. We weren’t game to go back to the pool for quite some time.
There was a German bloke, called Gramenz, who had a fruit shop on the other side of Waterworks Road, just opposite the bridge. Our family had an old Vanquard” car and my mother put the car in 2nd gear instead of reverse, mounted the footpath and crashed into his shop, bringing down all his home made timber shelves, which were loaded with apples, oranges and bottles of soft drink. In his insurance claim he stated he was ‘feet deep in soft drink’ and he claimed thousands of pounds for lost trade. However with the commotion it caused with the old Vanguard still mounted up on the footpath, the mob came from miles around and he did a roaring trade.
We lived opposite Bill Lenehan, a professional punter. We followed his horses, including ‘Confidence’, which won something like 12 in a row, (including the Queensland Derby) and ‘Symbolise’. Harry Shepherd, next to him, ran a cabinet making business under his house. Doug Jeffries, up the back worked for Rosella Jams. They were all good blokes, quite a few other fathers worked in the Taxation Department.
The Mater Dei and Marist Brothers, Ashgrove took up a lot of our family’s time. The majority of work carried out in those days was all volunteer labour and working bees. My Mum and Dad were very active and the schools took up most weekends.
In the earlier times there were ‘fishos’ coming around selling fresh fish, ice delivery trucks, fruit and veggie trucks and we had two mail services a day. After the rugby league games on Saturday, the‘green sports’ paper with all the footy news would be in Hinton’s store by 6 o’clock that evening…..and doctors made house
calls!
With all the modern technology and time saving devices today, we still don’t seem to have the time of those days; it was a great place to grow up.