 |
| Lee's Hotel, Ingham |
 |
| Freemasons Hotel, Gympie |
 |
| Commercial Hotel, Gympie |
 |
| Sir Horace Tozer |
 |
| Scottish Mine, Gympie...circa early 1900s |
 |
| Tozer & Jeffery (Now known as "Jeffery, Cuddihy & Joyce) Premises-Building on right of pic) |
Forewarning: You might need a large mug of steaming coffee for this one...and you might have to read it in a couple of sittings, as it is rather lengthy....
“The Pub with No Beer”, the song made famous in 1957 by Slim Dusty, was originally written by cane cutter, Dan Sheahan in the Day Dawn Hotel, Lannercost Street, Ingham in 1943. A disgruntled, Sheahan penned it after American soldiers had drunk the pub dry the previous night.
(I've never been a fan of Slim Dusty. Back in the late 80s I saw him live in concert one Sunday afternoon at the Kuranda Amphitheatre (Cairns hinterland)...friends and I went along, to see the group called "The Flying Emus" where were part of the concert...the better part. I found Dusty to be very arrogant....just my opinion, of course, which matters little, because he had a very successful career and was loved by many)
In 1958, the Day Dawn Hotel
was purchased by Rupert Lee, an Ingham businessman.
Rupert rebuilt the pub in 1960, aptly renaming
it… “Lee’s Hotel”. Next door to the
hotel was Rupert’s large, successful gift store, named…“Lee’s of Lannercost
Street”. For a few months, during
1997-98, I worked long hours as the hotel’s cook, catering for the town’s
hungry citizens. A rich, sugar cane
area, Ingham’s population mainly consists of Italian heritage. Ingham, “Little Italy” of the North. I enjoyed my time living and working in Ingham.
Prior to working
at Lee’s Hotel I’d known Rupert since the early 70s. Rupert was of Chinese heritage, and his wife,
Gloria was Spanish. They were lovely
folk.
Lately, I’ve
been reflecting on Gympie in its heyday…or, at least, the days of my childhood
in the 50s, and my teenage years in the 60s…which were often heydays…days spent
under the loving, guiding eyes of my Nana, Ivy Hay, and, of my mother, Elma, of
course.
Engrossed in my
reverie, I counted the number of pubs in Gympie during the Fifties. Gympie’s population was 10,000, more or less,
in those long-gone years…probably less.
Mary Street,
Gympie’s main street, boasted nine hotels during those decades.
Throughout my childhood and teenage years,
and those of my now late older brother, our mother worked as a barmaid. She gained a worthy reputation as being an
expert in her field. The quickness of
her feet and hands in the service of the patrons were matched only by the
quickness of her wit, and her swift ability to sort out the sheep from the
goats!
Starting at the
top end of the town centre…on the corner of Channon Street, at the top-end tip
of Mary Street, was the Freemasons Hotel. On the opposite corner, at the start
of Mary Street, the Commercial Hotel sat. Continuing down the street was the
Royal Exchange, (opposite of which was the Soldiers’ Club aka the RSL Club);
further along the doors swung open to the Empire Hotel; then the Royal, the
Atlantic, the Imperial, Queens, and Tattersalls pubs.
Dotted throughout
the town…away from the town centre of Mary Street …more hotels sated the thirsts of parched
locals.
Those pubs were
the Mount Pleasant, Victory, Phoenix, Railway, Australian, Northumberland, and
the Jockey Club. The Columbia Hotel
burned down one night in the early to mid-Fifties, as did a couple of others,
the names of which I no longer remember.
I guess in the
early gold-rush days the miners were a thirsty lot…hence the huge number of
pubs. It has been jokingly said on every
mullock heap throughout the town Gympie a pub was built.
(Mullock heap: Mound of
loose stones left over from gold mining operations: People say there is still
gold in the mullock heaps that
the early gold miners left behind.)
My
great-grandfather, our Nana’s father, Robert Hose was killed while at work at
Gympie’s Scottish Gold Mine. On any normal
shift, Nana’s father worked above-ground, but he’d been called in to take the
place of an underground miner who was unable to work due to illness. A large boulder came loose…and the rest is
history…
Our grandmother
and mother were both born in Gympie. My
brother and I were born in Rockhampton.
Our grandparents had left Gympie to live in Rockhampton in the 1920s. There our grandfather continued his chosen
career as a butcher. He passed away from
an unexpected heart attack at the young age of 48 years.
Nana, Mum,
Graham and I moved back to Gympie in April, 1948…and, once again…the rest is
history..
In Mary Street
during my youthful years, along with the pubs, there were quite a few
cafés. Either before or after spinning
yarns across the bars, people loved their pies, milkshakes and sundaes, as well
as all the other special, delicious treats cafés presented to the populace in
those days.
Most of the Mary
Street cafés were owned by respected Greek families.
Offering
friendly smiling service and tasty treats… Londies, Cominos, Freeleagus’,
Nick’s, Patrick’s, Little Brown Jug, Webster’s, and Tobins…were situated here
and there along Mary Street.
Webster’s shop,
situated at the Five-Ways (originally called, “Nash’s Gully) end of Mary Street, made the
best fruit salad ice-blocks …they were loaded with chunks of fruit. Many years later, when I had my
greengrocery-health food shop in Noosa Heads, I stole Webster’s idea. I made and sold fruit salad ice-blocks. They sold well…and ran out of the shop before
they had time to melt!
On the corner of
Station Road and Tozer Street in Gympie, a snack bar called the “Green Door”
opened its green door in the early Fifties.
In the early
Sixties, the Dorith Café at the far end of Condies’ Arcade in Mary Street, made
its debut.
dding a sense
of sophistication, while tempting the locals’ taste-buds, the Dorith quickly
became the “in” place to visit.
Condie’s and
Harry’s were the town’s two bakeries.
Their pies and pasties were the best!
To this very day, I’ve yet to find pasties as good as the
pasties…Cornish pasties…we enjoyed back then.
To me a pasty is not a pasty without the inclusion of Swede turnips!
Three jewellery
stores, four newsagencies-bookstores, department-general stores such as Rankins,
Wilbraham’s, Cullinanes, and Abdy Bros, a couple of dedicated menswear shops,
three individual shoe shops, Kozminsky’s, a sporting goods store, ladies’
hairdressing salons, men’s barber shops (the men needed the red and white
barber poles outside the front of the barber shops to alert them which shop to
enter for their short backs and sides!), and a couple of ladies’ dress salons
also helped fill any gaps in the main street.
Our mother frequently modelled in the fashion
parades held by the fashion salons. In
one such parade, when I was around eight or nine years of age, even I featured….”strutting
my stuff” to the popular kid’s song…”The Teddy Bears Picnic”. At first, I recall, I was as nervous as hell
(strange as it may seem now, I was a fairly shy little girl), but once the
music started, I got so carried away in my moment “under the lights”…I didn’t
want to leave the catwalk! The smell of
the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd…can cause one to quickly forget one’s
normal self!
I adored the
dress I was showing off to the crowd that night. It was made out of very light,
white cotton with emerald-green flowers embroidered over it. A matching emerald-green satin bow around the
waist completed the effect.
Back to the crowded
state of Mary Street in days of yore…or, mine…
Banks, four
pharmacies, a motor vehicle accessory shop, two electrical wares stores, two butcher
shops (and three others elsewhere in the town), two music shops, along with
legal offices, and the premises of the local newspaper, the “Gympie Times” were
also in Mary Street.
The top level
of the Bank of New South Wales building (the bank later became known as
“Westpac”), was the home of Radio Station 4GY...from there it held court, and the airwaves.
The firm of
solicitors for whom I worked for five years after leaving school, was then
known as ”Tozer & Jeffery”. The
building remains today. The firm is now known as “Jeffery Cuddihy & Joyce”.
The firm was
first established in 1866 by Horace Tozer, who began his law
career as an Article Clerk in Brisbane. In 1866, after completing his Articles,
Horace was admitted as a solicitor. Upon moving to Gympie shortly thereafter,
Horace Tozer set up law offices in upper Mary Street, in the building mentioned
above.
An authority on mining law, Tozer served on the
Gympie Mining Court. In 1867 James Nash
discovered gold in Gympie. Tozer was an
Alderman on the first Gympie Municipal Council in 1880. Twice he held the
electoral district of Wide Bay, in Queensland’s Legislative Assembly. He was
Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Public Works from 1890-1893; and then,
Home Secretary from 1896 to 1898. In
1895, Tozer helped establish the free Public Library and National Art Gallery
in Brisbane. Horace Tozer served as
Acting Premier from March to November 1897.
In June 1897, he was knighted. He resigned his parliamentary seat in
1898 to take up the position of Queensland’s Agent-General in London, a
position he held until 1909. Sir Horace
Tozer died on 20th August, 1916. He was buried in the now heritage-listed
Toowong Cemetery.
Coincidentally, in the
late 1970s my then husband, Randall and I lived in the Brisbane suburb of
Torwood...just around the corner a bit from the well-known old cemetery.
One day, during my Tozer & Jeffery years, I became
absorbed in some ancient, yellowed journals and financial ledgers that were
stored on dusty shelves in the below-street basement; “the dungeon”, as we
called the area.
In one of the heavy, hard-cover, thick volumes, to
my surprise, I found an entry which referred to the one and only...James Nash.
In October, 1867, James Nash discovered rich gold
deposits in the Gympie area...on the banks of the Mary River. Immediately thereafter, a massive gold rush
began. Gympie was originally called
“Nashville” . (I love the music that emanates out of Nashville,
Tennessee...perhaps therein lies the link!)
Still a Gympie resident, James Nash passed away on 5th
October, 1913.
Gympie’s Scottish Gold Mine was the largest, in
those days, in the southern hemisphere.
Many Scots, which included my ancestors, settled in the Gympie area.
James Nash had been a client of the firm of
solicitors, known, when I was employed by the firm...as “Tozer & Jeffery”. I was
thrilled to pieces when I discovered the historical entry. I felt like I’d struck gold!
Naturally, I
brought the glimpse of yesteryear to the attention of the rest of my workmates;
and to my boss. Mr. John Jeffery. He was a man I liked very much, and one to
whom I was forever grateful for hiring a naive 15 year old, who, at the time of
being hired, had no idea what a solicitor was!
Under Mr. Jeffery’s patient, calm guidance and tuition, I quickly
learned.
Mary Street, Gympie's main street is a lot different these days to the days I describe above. It is a mere skeleton...ghost...of its past self...Things change...and most do not remain the same...
Cornish Pasties:
Place
450g plain flour, 2tsp baking powder and 1tsp salt into a food processor and
give a quick mix. Add 125g cold butter, cut into chunks; whizz until the
mixture turns into breadcrumbs; or make the pastry the old-fashioned way using your
fingertips to rub the ingredients together...just your fingertips...not the palms
of your hands. Add 2 egg yolks; mix; with
motor on...or you motor on...add in 125ml cold water, a bit at a time until the
dough comes together into a ball. You may not need all the water. Wrap dough in cling-wrap; chill 1hr. Preheat oven 180C. Sprinkle 2 baking trays with some flour. Roll out dough on floured surface until desired
thickness, about 3mm. Cut circles into the dough using a 20-21cm diameter plate;
repeat process; place circles stacked onto a plate as you go...sprinkling a little
flour between each layer to stop sticking. In a bowl, mix 450g peeled, finely diced
potato, 150g finely diced Swede turnip, 150g finely chopped onion, 300g skirt or
sirloin steak, finely chopped, fat discarded, 1tsp salt and 1tsp pepper. Take one
circle of pastry; place on work surface. Place a good handful of mixture onto half of the
circle, leaving 2cm border around edge. Dot 1-1/2tsp butter on top of filling. Dip pastry brush into beaten egg; brush egg wash
around edge of pastry circle. Fold other side of pastry over filling until edges
meat, forming a semi-circle; seal firmly; crimp with your fingers; place on prepared
baking tray; with the point of a knife, make a little hole in top of pasty to allow
the steam to escape. Repeat process with rest of circles and filling. Brush tops
of pasties with egg wash. Cook in oven, 50mins, until golden.
Strawberry-Choc Sundae: Preheat
oven 190C. Add 2c whole, hulled strawberries to bowl with 1/3c sugar and 1tsp
lemon juice; toss to combine; put into a baking dish. Bake 15mins. Remove from
oven; cool slightly. Melt together 125g chopped bittersweet chocolate,
1/3c coconut oil, and 3tbs light corn syrup; stir to smooth. Add 1/4c strawberries
to bottom of glass sundae dish/es; add 1/2c to 1c strawberry ice cream; top
with 2tbs chocolate shell; it will harden as it cools. Garnish with choc-dipped
strawberries.
Banana
Split Sundae: Hot Fudge
Sauce: Combine 1x385g sweetened condensed milk, 1/2c heavy cream, 1/3c sifted
cocoa powder, 1tbs butter and 150g milk chocolate, broken into pieces, in small
saucepan; melt; remove from heat before it reaches boiling point; set aside.
Halve lengthwise 4, unpeeled Cavendish banana; sprinkle flesh with 2tbs brown
sugar. Grill over hot coals, or under grill until they start to soft. The sugar will burn quickly - keep a close
eye on them. When bananas are grilled, serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream
and whipped cream; drizzle the hot fudge over them; add strawberries and
cherries or blueberries. Serve immediately.
Apple Crumble Sundae: Melt 2tbs butter over gentle heat; add 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and peeled, 1tsp cinnamon and 2tbs raw or brown sugar; cook 10mins until apples soften, but still hold their shape. Split mixture between 4 sundae glasses/bowls. Sit 2 scoops of ice cream on top of each; top with crushed Ginger Nut biscuits; serve while apple mix is still w
