Details of The Journals of the Society

Ashfield History No. 21: Houses of the Ashfield District, Part 2. 2023

$25.00 plus $15 postage

This Journal of the Society is Part 2 of the Houses of the Ashfield District. It is another substantial and significant publication of the Society, celebrating its 50^th year in 2023.

‘The articles in this journal continue the vital work of the Society which is, as technological and cultural change drive ever quickening successions of generations, to help build our communal memory’. Alex Lofts, President of A&DHS.

The articles in this journal have been written by members and friends of the Society. They are all meticulously researched, some over many years. For those interested in the history of some of the wonderful homes recorded, this journal is a great read. For others who may be considering undertaking a history of their own home or a house, the articles in this journal also provide interesting examples of how such histories can be researched and then written.

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 22: Preserving Their Names 1914-1918.

$25.00 plus $15 postage

When our Society began working on what became Ashfield History No. 20, it was lamented that there was no central and all-inclusive WW1 honour board or memorial showing individual names. Society member and local resident, Kerry Ann O’Reilly then set to work locating all the remaining honour boards and making a database of the names listed.

These names formed the backbone for member Peter Byron’s work in adding details and additional names. A group of Society members then continued the research, gathering more names for a growing list

This database is far from complete. If the now defunct Ashfield Council was correct in its assessment, there were around 3,500 men and women from the local district who enlisted in WW1. So we still have many more names to discover and add. There may be honour boards that have not been included or perhaps some old company records which show lists of employees who enlisted – we welcome any information on these.

This Journal is in two sections. The first part, largely written by Ann O’Connell, provides insights into the lives of individual men and women, and in some instances, the family who served. These are fascinating.

The second part is the database itself. It lists each name alphabetically, service number, date of enlistment, address, the Honour Board on which the name can be located, date of death (where applicable) and location or date returned to Australia, along with some service details.

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 21: Houses of the Ashfield District. 2018

$25.00 plus $15 postage

Authors: Ann O’ Connell, Bernadette  Williamson, Chris McQuellin, Chris Pratten, David Rollinson, Dennis McManus, Jennifer Winton & Stephanie Coleman Hull, Mandy Keevil, Mark Sabolch, Robert Irving 

• Ambleside, aka ‘Ashfield Castle’
• Elston Villa :  A Work of Art
• St. John’s Parsonage 
• Kelvin Grove (Summer Hill Villa)
• Rathgael
• Abergeldie and the Dixson Family 
• Killowen
• Portland House – A Georgian  Revival house comes to Victoria Square
• Building Activity in Ashfield during World War  II
• Cooringa
• The Bush House, Ashfield Park
• Higginbotham & Robinson 1883  Map of Ashfield
• Fermoyle, A Home Story
• Surbiton
• Ercildoun – A Mansion Maligned
• Taloumbi  Revisited 
• The McCarthy Family at Maluna
• An Unexpected Visitor
• Nil Desperandum 
• Romsey
• Captured in Time, Ellalong/ The Grange 

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 20: Ashfield Answers the Call

Authors: Ann O’Connell, Celia Berry, Chris McQuellin, David Rollinson , Gail Wightman, Mandy Keevil, Margaret Tolmie, Mark Sabolch, Peter Byron, Ross Howard

$25.00 plus $15 postage

This publication has articles on the following:

• Ashfield Supports the ‘Win-the-War’ Movement 
• The Call to  Arms
• William H.D. Sully: Lost but not Forgotten
• Coo-ee!
• Recruits Wanted
• Mayor of Ashfield – Patriotic Leader
• A Request from Dame Nellie Melba
• The Belgian Relief Fund
• Gunner Dunn’s Luck
• Alick James Bryant, the Youngest ANZAC
• Thomas Leslie Cormick
• Herbert John Chudleigh – 1st Field Ambulance
• Australian Heroes back from the Dardanelles
• Gordon Abbott – Mates at War
• Colin Brodie Bull – Mates at War
• One Brother Rests in England -Des McCarthy
• Ashfield Boys – The Alderson Brothers
• Haberfield Roll of Honour
• Ashfield Park War Memorial
• The Brackpools Celebrate Peace!

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 19: Pratten Park 100 Years

Authors: Ann O’Connell, James Cockington

$25.00 plus $15 postage

This publication explores the history of Pratten Park with articles on:

• The a’Beckett Family & Thirning Villa
• The Formation of Pratten Park
• Thirning Villa – The House in the Park 
• Cycling at Pratten Park
• Eight Brothers – Hird 
• Donald Blackman -Ashfield’s Amateur Cycling Champion
• Grand Band and Police Tattoo 
• Western Suburbs Amateur Athletic Club
• Eileen Wearne – Olympian
• Pratten Park Grandstand 
• Goat Racing at Pratten Park 
• School Athletics on Pratten Park 
• Ashfield Autodrome – Motorcycle Speedway
• Cars on the Park
• The Park Wall
• Pratten Park’s Turnstile Houses 
• In Retrospect, Now and in the Future 

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 18: Croydon in Focus

Authors: Ann O’ Connell, Debby Cramer, Denis Gojak, Jennifer Horsfield, Julian Holland, Philip Keenan, Robert Mills

$25.00 plus $15 postage

This journal has a focus on Croydon with some other interesting articles on:

• Creating Location: Histories of Croydon, 1874-1920 
• Croydon Under Ice – The Hailstorm of 1902
• Arlington in Croydon 
• Delmar and the Knight of Dannebrog
• Mowbray House.  An Historical and Archaeological Investigation
• The Edgeworth Davids and their Life at Ashfield
• Henry Nixon, Stationmaster of Summer Hill 
• Australia’s First Women’s Bicycle Race at Ashfield
• The Great Goulburn to Sydney Road Race. Winning Post: Ashfield

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 17: Journeys. 2008

Authors: Ann O’Connell, Ken Kershaw, Kim Mikkelsen, Paul-Alan Johnson, Robert Irving and Noel Irving, Vicken Babkenian

$25:00 plus $15 postage

This jounal explores and documents some of the remarkable journeys people made to settle in Ashfield and district.

• Edith May Glanville: Champion of the Armenian Relief Fund
• The Planning, Properties and Patriarchy of Surveyor-General Augustus Alt
• Herman Finckh – German Emigrant: Artisan Jeweller & Horticulturist 
• Killed in Action: On the trail of Elvard Jorgen Martin Andersen
• Some Ashfield Town Centre Street Histories
• Arthur Jeffreys and Family in Australia

Ashfield History No. 16: Ashfield’s Men of Mark. 2006

Authors: Ann O’ Connell, Chris Neave, Donald Hunter Dougan, Graham Hunt, Ken Kershaw, Peter Maguire

$25.00 plus $15 postage

In this journal the lives and deeds of some of Ashfield’s ‘Men of Mark’ are documented.

• Milton Kent, Aerial & Commercial Photographer, 1888-1965
• Henry Alfred James (1850-1936)
• A Man and His Album (Leslie Puckle) 
• Memories of McKimm’s
• More Recollections of McKimm’s
• Max Wurcker – Sydney Trader
• Anecdotes on Max Wurcker
• Young Men of the Ashfield District Camera Club

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Along Parramatta Road

Ashfield History No. 15: Along Parramatta Road

Authors: Ann O’ Connell, Felicity Barry, Ian Jack, Matti Keentok, Paul Ernest Moroney, Robert Irving, Vicki Eldridge, Vince Crow

$25.00 plus $15 postage

This journal documents some of the significant buildings and features along Parramatta Road.

• Battle Bridge
• Dales Garage, from Motorists’ Refuge to Commemorative Site
• Ella: A Legacy to a Community 
• James  Montague Sandy J.P.  Plate Glass Oil and Colour Man
• A Public Park in Ashfield
• St. David’s Uniting Church, Haberfield
• Ernest Moroney: Early Entrepreneur of Parramatta Road 
• The Dupain Institute of Physical Education
• Peek Frean: The Building  Designed in 1936 by Ross & Rowe, architects 
• Peek Frean: Biscuit Business
• AWA in Ashfield 

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield History No. 14 2002

Authors: Ann O’ Connell, Chris Pratten, Geoff Grace, Ian Arthur, Margaret Hodgeman, Margaret Swift

$15.00 plus $12 postage

This journal has a number of articles related to a diversity of topics.

• Norman Selfe, Engineer Extraordinary
• Dr. Carter
• Werners’  Milk Bar
• Mervyn Allum: Ashfield’s shark attack victim
• Glanworth, Chandos Street
• Recollections of Ashfield School
• Frederic King
• Our Boys’ & Girls’ Own Newspaper
• Ashfield Boys’ College
• Kellross, Dover Street
• Dr Barnardo’s in Ashfield 
• Early Days in Haberfield
• H.C. Brierley
• Northridge, Victoria Street

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield & District Historical Society Journal  No. 13. 2000

Authors: Ann O’ Connell, Betty Nicholson, Cathy Moran, Chris Pratten, Christopher Rogers, Nora Peek, Norma Oong, Robyn Conroy, Lesley Muir

$10.00 plus $12 Postage

This journal has a number of articles related to a diversity of topics.

• The Australian Six
• Ashfield Vale House
• The Ashfield Prison Gate Brigade Farm 
• Demolished Buildings of Ashfield 
• The mysterious death of a rustic chairmaker
• James Cunningham, woodcarver
• The Lawsons in Ashfield
• Searl’s Ashfield Rose Ground
• Coniston
• William Hallstrom: bootmaker
• Family matters: The Rogers of Robert Street
• David Shepherd
• Paton Electrical Pty Ltd
• Memories of Milton House
• Henry Parkes and Milton House
• ‘We had a lovely life’: Ashfield in the late 1930s
• The Milleewa Boys Home in the 1940s

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield & District Historical Society Journal  No. 12: Ashfield Remembers

Authors: Chris Pratten, Lieut-Colonel W.A. Longfield, Nora Peek, Roy Helm

$10.00 plus $12 Postage

This journal has a number of articles that explore how residents of Ashfield engaged in wars including the Maori Wars and the First World War and the various monuments and memorials that have been erected in the district.

• The Maori Wars: The Sudan Contingent: The Boxer Rebellion
• John Paton, V.C
• Colonel Holborow 
• Colonel Goodlet
• The Ashfield Corps, 2^nd Regiment Volunteer Infantry
• Early Colonial Volunteering 
• The Boer War
• Brigadier-General Ramaciotti
• From Ashfield to Armentieres with Bertie
• Penlee and the Ashfield VAD
• The Ashfield and Haberfield Drill Halls
• 24 Squadron, Air Training Corps
• St David’s Church Honour Roll
• Ashfield’s War Trophies and Memorials
• Ashfield Presbyterian Fellowship Association 1916 Christmas Honour Roll

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield & District Historical Society Journal  No. 11

Authors: Ann O’Connell, Bob Irving, Chris Pratten, Doris Dickinson & Friends, Joan Francis, Lorranie Huddle, Nora Peek, Rosemary Annable

$10.00 plus $12 Postage

This journal has a number of articles related to a diversity of topics.

• The History of the Dobroyde School 1862-76  
• -and one of its pupils Lucy Ann Owen
• The Ramsay Family Vault
• Biographical Register No. 11 including:-
  • Daphne Cozen (nee Akhurst), 1903-1933;
  • Evelyn Margaret Tildesley, 1882-1976;
  • Rose Payten, 1879-1951;
  • Louise Taplin, 1859-1901;
  • Carolyn Edgeworth David (nee Mallett), 1856-1951.
• A Short History of Haberfield
• Dickinson’s Hardware, Haberfield 
• Book Review–Twinings, a story of St Vincent’s Parish, Ashfield 1894-1994 
• Some memories of Summer Hill Opportunity Class
• Ellen Kennedy–a resourceful lady
• Sunning Hill
• Yeo Park and its bandstand
• Geelong’s Hitchcock Memorial Bandstand

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield & District Historical Society Journal  No. 10

Authors: Chris Pratten, Ena Harper, Robert Irving, John Ward, Nora Peek, Richard Mackay

$10.00 plus $12 Postage

This journal has a number of articles that investigate the early history of Ashfield and district together with the first 20 years of the Society.

• The Society’s First Twenty Years (1973-1993)
• Biographical Register No. 10 including:
  • Joseph Henry Maiden, 1859-1925;
  • Sir Joseph Cook, 1860-1947
  • Edwin Johnson, 1835-1894
• A Parable of a Sower-Ashfield’s First Land Grant
• Potter’s Paddock, Part 2 
• The Old Bowling Green
• The Taloumbi Mystery
• The Ashfield Presbyterian Church: Its History and Architecture
• The Lewisham Whipple Truss Bridge
• Smike at Summer Hill
• Somerville’s-Ashfield’s Oldest Real Estate Office

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield & District Historical Society Journal  No. 9

Authors: Robert Irving, Lesley Muir, Chris Pratten, Nora Peek, Gwen Gardiner,

• The Architecture of Ashfield 
• The Letters of Henry Boehme 
• The Sydney Permanent Freehold Land and Building Society 
• Biographical Register No. 9 including:
  • Alexander Leckie Elphinstone Senior, 1828-1895;
  • David Elphinstone, 1846-1916; 
  • Alexander Leckie Elphinstone Junior, 1854-1945
  • John Plant Wright, 1842-1912;
  • Edward Robert Hinder, 1829-1894;
  • Sophia Hinder (nee Ford), 1831-1907;
  • Henry Vincent Critchley Hinder, 1865-1913; 
  • William George Hilliard, 1887-1960;
  • Richard Theophilus Jones, 1839-1914.
• Potter’s Paddock 
• Dobroyd Point’s Eldorado
• The Mayor of Ashfield: A Herbert Edward Pratten Monograph

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.

Ashfield & District Historical Society Journal  No. 8

Authors: Chris Pratten, Ena Harper, Gwen Gardiner, Nora Peek

This journal has some great articles about public houses in the early years of Ashfield that contrast nicely with others about schools and churches.

• Public Houses & Publicans in the Ashfield Area 1820-1920 (Part 1)
• Some Neighbouring Public Houses 
• The Ashfield Cordial Works
• Dobroyd Point Public School
• The Establishment of a Presbyterian Ladies’ College at Ashfield
• Biographical Register of Landowners and Residents in the Ashfield District  No. 8 

Please email our treasurer to order this journal.