Secrets of a Sydney past

Speaking of Zetland, as I did in my trams post, it's worth mentioning that South Dowling Street used to disappear into sand dunes... and that's probably why it was a bit of a centre for glass making. The massive Dowling Street tram depot was also down that "dead end" of town (now a hardware/retail monstrosity), as was the Sydney Hydraulic Company's plant (was now an Otis elevator testing facility when last I looked). They generated hydraulic power for Sydney, there being a need for power before the advent of widespread electrical distribution.

Heading south into the sand and swamp we had the old Victoria Park Leyland (aka Austin, Morris, Wolseley) car plant on the right, hard up against O'Dea Ave (where the single track tram connection from South Dowling Street to Waterloo is still visible). It became Navy land in the mid-1970s, then residential. Before all of that I think it was a pony racing track. On the left is Todman Ave and the old WD&HO Wills cigarette factory, Raleigh Park.

As an aside, let's remember Tempe tram depot here.

Labels: Dowling Street, glassmaking, hydraulic power, pony racing, Raleigh Park, trams, Victoria Park, Zetland

You probably realise that Sydney has one international airport, namely Sydney (Kingsford-Smith) Airport. You probably also realise that there's a major light aircraft airfield in the outer-inner western suburb of Bankstown. You may even know about Camden airport, south-west of Sydney.

Some of you will have heard of Schofields, the former RAN air base, near the RAAF base at Richmond. Schofields had a triangular arrangement of intersecting runways, and when the Navy moved out the strips were gradually cut, with one DC3 marooned there when a fence divided the longest remaining strip. Did they truck it out, or take down the fence? RAAF 36 Squadron moved to Schofields near Sydney on 19 August 1946 as well for a time, populating the field with C-47s. Sadly now it's suburbia.

There's even the single-strip at Hoxton Park, west of Liverpool. You may think you know all that there is to know about aviation in Sydney... but wait, there's more.

What about Hargrave Park, near Liverpool? Now suburbia.

Penrith had an airfield, too, now a park close to town.

Holsworthy is an army base that can take short-field RAAF transports.

What of Duffy's Forest, to the north?

There are also many more grass strips to list, and we'll get to them soon enough.

What about the history of Sydney's airports? What of the pony racing that was conducted on land to the east of the current domestic terminals? Or the balloon loop for the trams that brought punters to that pony track? What of the early runway alignment at Sydney, which had one runway crossing the railway tracks to the northeast? Or of the DC3 that was involved in an accident with a freight train?

There are some secrets to be uncovered here. It will take time but we'll get there!

Labels: airports, Bankstown, camden, Hargrave Park, Holsworthy, Hoxton Park, Penrith, pony racing, Richmond, schofields, sydney airport, trams