Brooklyn: A Great Hawkesbury Town.
Brooklyn is on Sydney’s northern edge, but is totally different to the rest of the city.It is a small isolated settlement on the Hawkesbury River. Arriving by train is like stepping back 100 years.
The Hawkesbury itself is somewhat ignored by Sydney residents, but it was described by a British traveller in 1873 as having scenery superior to that of the Rhine!!
Brooklyn was featured on the original 5 Pound note from 1913 to 1932. This was because of its connection with the Federation of the Australian Colonies.
To top it all off , it has the grave of Robert Buie which records that as a Lewis Gunner he was responsible for shooting down the ‘Red Baron ‘ on the 21st April , 1918. Not too many places could top that.
Transcript
Sydney's northern outpost, Brooklyn, a great Hawkesbury town.
Speaker:The first thing I want to say about Brooklyn is it's
Speaker:just a great little place.
Speaker:it's totally unexpected.
Speaker:It's totally, cut off from Sydney.
Speaker:It's everything that Sydney isn't.
Speaker:It's surrounded by a national park, mainly the Kuring-gai Chase National Park,
Speaker:which we talked about some episodes back.
Speaker:But the wonderful thing about it is it's quiet, it's laid back,
Speaker:and basically it's probably pretty much as it was 100 years ago.
Speaker:there's no high-rise, there's no unit blocks there's none of that pressure
Speaker:that you get in Sydney, and it's, it's just a great spot to visit.
Speaker:There's, lot of good little eateries around.
Speaker:There's a park, it's called Mackell Park after the, one of the early premiers
Speaker:and, uh, one of the governor-generals of Australia years ago, which runs
Speaker:a little to the east of the town, and there's picnic shelters there.
Speaker:It's a great spot, where a family could come.
Speaker:Come by train is the best way, the old Red Rattler as we used to call it,
Speaker:and, you can make a cheap day of it.
Speaker:Um, picnic areas and a lot of historical charts, et cetera.
Speaker:So it's, it's just a great spot, and, uh, we're going through very difficult times
Speaker:at the moment, and it looks like they're not going to get any easier for some time.
Speaker:So if you wanna just do something different with your friends or
Speaker:just by yourself or with your family, just hop on the train.
Speaker:It's only about half an hour or so, perhaps a bit less north of Hornsby,
Speaker:and you arrive down and you're on the banks of the Hawkesbury.
Speaker:that's, that's a very interesting thing because Sydneysiders really,
Speaker:I think, in, in general, uh, d- generalizations are always dangerous,
Speaker:but generally don't have much appreciation of the Hawkesbury at all.
Speaker:and that may be because is actually fairly hard to access for most of its course.
Speaker:Now, the combined system is called the Nepean-Hawkesbury system.
Speaker:The Nepean River rises right down in the Southern Highlands just a little to
Speaker:the north of Robertson, and that itself is up on the top of the escarpment
Speaker:before you drop down the coast range to, uh, the Wollongong south coast area.
Speaker:And I was there last year and I went hunting for the The source of the
Speaker:Nepean, now that's always a bit of a fool's errand because, you know,
Speaker:how do you tell where a river begins?
Speaker:I mean, at some point enough little trickles coalesce to say there's a stream.
Speaker:But certainly I reached a point where there's a very beautiful, very wide
Speaker:dish-shaped area facing generally north, and that's certainly where it arises.
Speaker:And it flows down, and we'll deal with some other tributaries in a minute.
Speaker:But the Nepean becomes the Hawkesbury at the point where the Grose River joins
Speaker:it just near a place called Yarramundi, which is a bit out of Richmond.
Speaker:Now, we some years ago, there was about four or five of us, I think,
Speaker:walked, a good part of the Hawkesbury.
Speaker:We started at Mangrove Creek, which I'll mention later.
Speaker:It's one of the northern tributaries, and walked round down to Wisemans Ferry
Speaker:and then followed the river down to where the Grose River joins, and that's,
Speaker:as I say, the source of the Hawkesbury.
Speaker:It was quite funny really because we had a swim in the-- at the point where
Speaker:the rivers join, and you'd assume there you'd be as safe as houses from sharks.
Speaker:But we then learned while we were there that, someone had recently found a
Speaker:bull nose shark not, you know, 200, meters from where we were swimming.
Speaker:So, uh, no longer can we think that because we're in basically fresh water,
Speaker:we're clear of, bull nose sharks.
Speaker:So that's something to remember.
Speaker:But the Hawkesbury from that point flows through that wonderful, riparian land,
Speaker:the flat, very good river flats through, beside Richmond and beside particularly
Speaker:Windsor, and then it goes up towards, some small settlements further up.
Speaker:But then it goes into really quite heavily wooded country where it's
Speaker:basically got national parks on both sides, and that continues right up until
Speaker:Wisemans Ferry, and at that point river's been traveling generally north, but
Speaker:it then basically swings to the east.
Speaker:But between Windsor and, the Kowong Creek or Kowong Water where the walk-
Speaker:the Hawkesbury discharges into Broken Bay, there's very few settlements.
Speaker:You've got Windsor itself.
Speaker:Uh, you've got a few small farming settlements, but once you get into
Speaker:the bushland, the only settlements thereafter is, uh, Wisemans Ferry, which
Speaker:is a small but very pleasant place.
Speaker:Spencer, which is tiny, but again, a very, uh, pleasant place with
Speaker:a great few eating spots there.
Speaker:And then you come down to Brooklyn and there's Brooklyn on the southern
Speaker:side of the river and Murriny Murriny on northern side of the river.
Speaker:But for present purpose, treat them as one.
Speaker:So really, Brooklyn is the, only significant or place of any
Speaker:significance on the Hawkesbury between, Windsor and the sea.
Speaker:So it's for that reason that I think Brooklyn can be very rightly
Speaker:called a great Hawkesbury town.
Speaker:Now, if I could just come back to the Hawkesbury a bit, because as I
Speaker:say, I I think it's really ignored.
Speaker:You know, most people's involvement with the Hawkesbury, I think would be either
Speaker:crossing it at the bridge at Windsor or crossing it at the bridge at Brooklyn,
Speaker:uh, on the expressway or the old highway.
Speaker:They're really the only two spots you can cross.
Speaker:The only other two ways of getting across is there's a couple of punts on the, uh,
Speaker:river up around Wisemans Ferry and there.
Speaker:But the river system, I don't think a lot of us appreciate
Speaker:just how extraordinary it is.
Speaker:as I said, the Nepean itself rises a little to the north of Robertson on the
Speaker:Southern Highlands, but the Wollondilly is also a tributary and, tributary
Speaker:in turn to the Wollondilly, in fact rises up near Lakes Bathurst, which is
Speaker:just roughly to the east of Canberra.
Speaker:So when you're in Goulburn, you're in fact still in the Hawkesbury catchment.
Speaker:If you go to the west, it's probably even more remarkable because the Cox's
Speaker:River which rises up between Lithgow and, Majubee near a place called, uh,
Speaker:Bullen Bullen it flows down and joins the Warragamba now as part of Warragamba Dam.
Speaker:And that is in fact a tributary of the Hawkesbury and part
Speaker:of the Hawkesbury basin.
Speaker:So quite extraordinarily, when you're driving out of Ba- uh, of Lithgow rather
Speaker:you in fact cross the Cox's River, and I think it'd be quite astonishing
Speaker:to, to most people to know that that's still in the Hawkesbury catchment area.
Speaker:If you then turn to the north, there's the four Ms which are the
Speaker:northern-- generally north-south rivers that flow into the Hawkesbury
Speaker:at or to the east of Wisemans Ferry.
Speaker:And the one at Wisemans Ferry is the Macdonald River.
Speaker:Now that's the biggest of the four, and it rises in a mountain range, which is,
Speaker:a little bit north of west of Cessnock.
Speaker:So just to encapsulate that, the Hawkesbury in part rises west of Cessnock
Speaker:west of Lithgow and south of Goulburn.
Speaker:And the other incredible thing is the point where the Nepean rises is
Speaker:probably only 15 or 20 kilometers as the crow flies from, the, um, the sea.
Speaker:So in fact, that system entirely surrounds Sydney, and we're only 15 or
Speaker:20 kilometers from being on an island.
Speaker:And it's, a system that we should pay a lot more attention to because it basically
Speaker:supplies all our water from the very early Nepean system, which we've talked about
Speaker:in, past episodes through to Warragamba Dam, which was built in the '60s.
Speaker:That's where our water comes from, and we owe it-- We really owe our existence to
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:that river system.
Speaker:And I think, that's often forgotten.
Speaker:But one of the other great things is having all that, water infrastructure
Speaker:and catchment areas and protection means that again, Sydney is just surrounded
Speaker:by this extraordinary quantity of either park or catchment areas and natural bush.
Speaker:So one thing about Brooklyn, apart from being a great place, it's a
Speaker:place where people can go and have a look at the scenery, some of
Speaker:that glorious scenery, and gain an appreciation for this river which I
Speaker:say, uh, has so often been ignored.
Speaker:And it's interesting that, others, in the past have
Speaker:appreciated a lot more than we do.
Speaker:And, in a report in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 24th of April 1873,
Speaker:there was a little note about a trip that had been made by a person who
Speaker:was described as the great author and traveler, Mr. Anthony Trollope.
Speaker:Now, he was an Englishman.
Speaker:He came to Australia, he toured around, and in due course he wrote
Speaker:up, an article about, amongst other things, the Hawkesbury.
Speaker:And, uh, I'll just read this passage or part of it from The Herald in
Speaker:April 1873, and quite extraordinarily, that's almost 24th of April.
Speaker:It's almost exactly 153 years to the day when I'm just
Speaker:recording these few observations.
Speaker:It goes like this.
Speaker:It's headed to Mr. Trollope on the Hawkesbury, rather
Speaker:an interesting, headline.
Speaker:When the great author and traveler, Mr. Anthony Trollope, was being
Speaker:entertained by his New South Wales parliamentary friends at a picnic
Speaker:extending over two days amongst the charming scenery of the Hawkesbury
Speaker:River The untraveled senators could not but think that their distinguished
Speaker:guest was flatting, flattering, if not quizzing, when he told them that the
Speaker:native scenery of the Hawkesbury was superior to that of the far-famed Rhine.
Speaker:The scenery that was immortalized by Lord Byron, in a poem, and I won't
Speaker:read it all to you, but the first two lines are, " Adieu to thee, fair Rhine.
Speaker:How long delighted the stranger fain would linger on his way." And, uh, it
Speaker:then goes on to say, "And yet we find when Mr. Trollope's description of New
Speaker:South Wales comes to hand, that he devotes four pages to that ever-memorable trip
Speaker:and the scenery of the Hawkesbury, and more than confirms what he told, us
Speaker:while floating down the river in Mr.
Speaker:T.S. Mort's beautiful steam yacht, Bronze Wing, kindly placed at the disposal
Speaker:of the party by that liberal-hearted gentleman." And you recall that we did a,
Speaker:uh, a pod on Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, quite an amazing person, back some time ago.
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:so Trollope was very impressed, but when he in fact went on and
Speaker:published, his works, what he said was quite extraordinary, and
Speaker:I'll come to that in a minute.
Speaker:But in an article on the 22nd of November 1873, in this wonderful journal, which was
Speaker:called The Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agricultural, Agriculturist
Speaker:and Grazier, and this was from 1873 from that distinguished paper, there's
Speaker:this description on under a heading of an article, A Trip Up the Hawkesbury.
Speaker:And in part it's this, "Lying within about 40 miles of our city, the sylvan
Speaker:loveliness of this charming river is as little known as if it were situated in
Speaker:Germany, and the time is fast arriving when we dwellers in Sydney should begin
Speaker:to arouse from our apathy and take an interest in the beauty that surrounds us."
Speaker:And this is a very interesting passage, the next paragraph.
Speaker:" We have too long subscribed to the notion that anything which is not obtained
Speaker:by means of time, trouble, distance, and expense is utterly valueless.
Speaker:And if Anthony Trollope, whose opinion ought to be worth something, will have
Speaker:been the instrument of arousing our dead sense of the beautiful, he will have done
Speaker:us New South Welshmen a kindly turn."
Speaker:And, and that of course is one of the things that I try to achieve with these
Speaker:podcasts is just Making the point that we don't have to run off around the world,
Speaker:especially present circumstances, to find things of interest and satisfaction.
Speaker:But Trollope went on in the article he wrote to say this: " There can,
Speaker:I think, be no doubt that among rivers, the Rhine has the highest
Speaker:character for sustained beauty.
Speaker:There may be special points on other streams which have endeared themselves to
Speaker:the world, such especially as the Falls of Niagara, as such as the Inn at Innsbruck
Speaker:or the Rhone at Geneva, or the Upper Lake at Killarney, which is in truth a river.
Speaker:But for continued scenery, the Rhine stands first.
Speaker:There is a river, or rather a portion of the river known to very few tourists,
Speaker:which I think beats the Rhine."
Speaker:Now bear in mind, this is 1873 this is being written.
Speaker:This is the upper Mississippi for about 150 miles below St. Paul.
Speaker:It is not my business here to describe the Mississippi, but I mention it with
Speaker:the object of saying that in my opinion, the Hawkesbury beats the Mississippi.
Speaker:I should not make the contrast unless there were many features
Speaker:in the two which are similar."
Speaker:And then it, it goes on from there.
Speaker:But he speaks in particular of the, the way the land meets the river.
Speaker:And of course, one of the great things of the Hawkesbury is once it gets
Speaker:beyond the settled agricultural lands and Windsor, you pass into these,
Speaker:what could really be called gorges.
Speaker:And then you wouldn't call them mountains, but they're certainly very big hills.
Speaker:So the Hawkesbury is worth learning about and understanding and Brooklyn
Speaker:offers a real opportunity for us to do it, and to do it cheaply and to do it
Speaker:easily, and by using public transport.
Speaker:and one thing that you can do at Brooklyn, which I'll just mention now, is that since
Speaker:about 1910, there's been a little business running called the Riverboat Postman,
Speaker:which in fact leaves from Brooklyn.
Speaker:I think it's only on weekdays, but you could easily check up online.
Speaker:And goes up to all the various settlements, houses, and all
Speaker:the small places delivering mail and goods and everything else.
Speaker:now it's many years since we've done it, but it was great.
Speaker:And, uh, if you don't know the Hawkesbury at all, that would be a fantastic way,
Speaker:uh, of getting to know it and having indeed a very pleasant trip indeed.
Speaker:But Hawkesbury, uh, the Brooklyn rather, has other historical associations,
Speaker:which I'll come to in a minute.
Speaker:So it's a very interesting place beyond just being a great place to visit source
Speaker:of the name's always been a bit of in contention, but it seems fairly clear that
Speaker:on a survey plan in January 1884 for the subdivision of land where Brooklyn now
Speaker:is the place was described as Brooklyn.
Speaker:Now, a lot of people had thought that the name Brooklyn came with the, the
Speaker:camps for the workers who built the Brooklyn Railway Bridge, which was built
Speaker:by an American company, the New York Bridge and Rail, something like that.
Speaker:But it seems clear that wherever it came from, it in fact was on a plan in 1884.
Speaker:Now Brooklyn, again, goes back to the very early part of European settlement, and
Speaker:there's an obelisk near the station, a marble obelisk just as you come down off
Speaker:the station, which was erected in 1939, but records the visit of Governor Phillip
Speaker:to the area on the 11th of June 1789.
Speaker:Now, that's only a year and a bit after we Europeans arrived.
Speaker:on that trip, he in fact reached Danger Island, and that's an island
Speaker:in the river just off Brooklyn.
Speaker:Again, you can go there by ferry.
Speaker:I must say I haven't been there, but I, after looking at it for
Speaker:this, I'll certainly be going there.
Speaker:And he initially called it Mullet Island, and the reason he did was very simple,
Speaker:is they'd managed to catch a whole host of mullet, which they had for dinner.
Speaker:So it remained as, Mullet Island until it was renet- renamed Danger
Speaker:Island when a gentleman by that name took up the grant in that
Speaker:area, and that was some years later.
Speaker:And I should just, mention here the original first peoples in the area,
Speaker:the Darug peoples, they called the Hawkesbury Dyarubbin, D-Y-A-R-U-B-B-I-N.
Speaker:So we should really refer to it with both those names.
Speaker:Now the railway has played a very big part in the prominence of Brooklyn because it
Speaker:was in fact the building of the railway bridge at Brooklyn across the Hawkesbury
Speaker:that in fact completed certainly the unification of the rail system in
Speaker:New South Wales, but also enabled all the various disparate colonies in the
Speaker:eastern colonies to be joined together by rail the contract for the building
Speaker:of the bridge was let in January 1886 to the Union Bridge Company of New York.
Speaker:and when the camp was put in for the building of the bridge,
Speaker:they adopted the name Brooklyn.
Speaker:Now it seems that some people always said, "Oh, yes, well, it was 'cause they were
Speaker:from New York and Brooklyn is Brooklyn." But it seems that Brooklyn was probably
Speaker:Brooklyn because someone had called it that for whatever reason back in, 1884.
Speaker:But it certainly joined up the New South Wales railway system because what had
Speaker:happened in New South Wales is that a rail system developed from Sydney which
Speaker:serviced the west and the southwest and the south, and an independent system
Speaker:developed from Newcastle which went to the north and northeast, northwest, and
Speaker:these were joined by this railway line.
Speaker:So it, it did have a very particular system
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:a, a very particular effect in bringing a sense of unity and
Speaker:a sense of communication to the various disparate colonies.
Speaker:And it was said at the opening of the bridge which joined the railway system
Speaker:together, that that enabled someone to travel from Charleville in Queensland,
Speaker:which is right out in west of Queensland, pretty well directly west of Brisbane, to
Speaker:Coward Springs in South Australia, which is right up to the west of Lake Eyre.
Speaker:So it was an enormously significant event which happened to give
Speaker:Brooklyn a very great prominence.
Speaker:And that distance, with the opening of the bridge and the linking of the
Speaker:system, you could travel by rail, 4,140 kilometers, and this had a huge effect
Speaker:on a sense of unity for the colonies.
Speaker:Now, we'll come back to that in a minute because Sir Henry Parkes, who's often
Speaker:called one of the fathers of federation, gave a speech, might I say a very
Speaker:long speech, at the opening ceremony.
Speaker:But I just wanna mention one thing before that, and it goes back to 1891.
Speaker:And there'd been a lot of movement in all the colonies to thinking about
Speaker:federation and that was becoming quite structured and serious by 1890,
Speaker:and there was to be the first formal federation convention in Sydney in 1891.
Speaker:and one of the people who was a very forceful advocate of this
Speaker:was Samuel Griffiths, who had been a former premier of Queensland.
Speaker:And was actively involved, um, was one of the people attending
Speaker:for Queensland at the convention.
Speaker:And in those days because of transport problems, the Queensland government
Speaker:had its own boat called the Lucinda.
Speaker:And in fact, in March 1891, Sir Samuel Griffiths was on the Lucinda,
Speaker:and in the process of the voyage was doing his first draft of what
Speaker:became the Australian Constitution.
Speaker:And the Lucinda put into Broken Bay and round into the Hawkesbury in March
Speaker:1981, and remained there for some days because they were a bit ahead of time
Speaker:and, uh, they wanted to allow use up a bit of time before they got to Sydney.
Speaker:And whilst there, Sir Samuel continued his writing of the Constitution.
Speaker:So once again, i- in a quite extraordinary coincidence, Brooklyn has that
Speaker:connection to the cause of federation as well as the, the railway line.
Speaker:Now as I say, the railway was a, a particularly big event and, there was a
Speaker:huge celebration and a huge dinner, uh, lunch rather, uh, on the 1st of May 1889.
Speaker:They'd tested the bridge in April.
Speaker:They sent locomotives over the bridge to make sure it's all right.
Speaker:I wonder how they drew lots for who drove the locomotives in those circumstances.
Speaker:But for the purposes, they had a huge barge which had been used for the building
Speaker:of the bridge, and they moored it over near Dawngar Island and set up this most
Speaker:magnificent banquet hall with drapes and huge event, probably hundreds of people.
Speaker:And it was a big event.
Speaker:And again, it was, it was at Brooklyn, and Sir Henry Parkes spoke there.
Speaker:Now, as I say, it's a very long speech.
Speaker:He was a very, he was a very interesting person, a bit mercurial.
Speaker:But, he certainly could give a long speech.
Speaker:Now, the first thing that struck me is he began his speech
Speaker:by, " My lord and gentlemen."
Speaker:I mean, that's quite extraordinary, isn't it?
Speaker:That's you know, some 130 years ago.
Speaker:But the ladies entirely ignored.
Speaker:Although oddly enough, at the end of the order of ceremonies, there was
Speaker:some man giving a toast to the ladies.
Speaker:But, um, it's all a bit extraordinary.
Speaker:But anyway, that was how they did it in those days.
Speaker:Now, there's just a couple of passages I wanna read from, Sir Henry Parkes'
Speaker:speech, and he certainly could get out some glossy prose on this beautiful
Speaker:labyrinth of waters, many national enjoyments have taken place, and today
Speaker:we meet to celebrate the erection of a work which will connect the
Speaker:bulk of the Australian population.
Speaker:It is almost impossible to find time to dwell upon what the future may be.
Speaker:That is God's unknown, and the wise amongst us cannot measure the future.
Speaker:But we may be assured that a gigantic progress will take place in our midst.
Speaker:Invention and science will have some of their highest achievements here, and
Speaker:we hope that wisdom will show herself in a sober and most attractive form.
Speaker:And he then spoke about how this was linking up Queensland and South Australia.
Speaker:Uh, but at the end of his speech, he said this: " In this great system of
Speaker:material arteries which we complete today, we see the crimson fluid of kinship
Speaker:pulsing through all the iron veins.
Speaker:In mortal marriage, as it is said, whom God has joined
Speaker:together, let no man put asunder.
Speaker:In contemplating the great powers of Australian progress, which enterprise,
Speaker:invention, and noble emul- emulation and nature have here brought together, may not
Speaker:the united heart of this great gathering put up the devout prayer that no human
Speaker:force in the long invisible hereafter may be strong enough to rend them asunder."
Speaker:That was received with loud cheers.
Speaker:It was certainly pretty flowery, but you could see what he was driving at.
Speaker:And the toast was simply, " I ask you to drink the toast of United
Speaker:Australia." And the note, in a wonderful book by a bloke called Richmond, on,
Speaker:uh... He's a chap who lives there.
Speaker:He was a school principal in Sydney, on the, the Brooklyn.
Speaker:he says this observation, which is very true.
Speaker:" The ceremonies on the pontoon off Dangar Island deserve
Speaker:recognition as a significant step in the progress to federation.
Speaker:The banquet brought together leaders from all over New South
Speaker:Wales as repres- as well as representatives from other colonies.
Speaker:There was an obvious recognition that this event marked the
Speaker:overcoming of an important physical barrier, barrier to federation."
Speaker:So quite extraordinarily, the wonderful little town of Brooklyn,
Speaker:as I say, just a wonderful backwater, has this most extraordinary history.
Speaker:But there's one other matter I, uh, should mention, or a
Speaker:few other incidental matters.
Speaker:it also had the distinction, Brooklyn, of appearing on the
Speaker:first £5 note when the Australian government began issuing Its currency.
Speaker:And it was taken from a hill, the hill at the back to the south.
Speaker:There used to be an old hotel called the Sanatorium Hotel, and it was
Speaker:looking over the inlet and, uh, to the northwest where the road bridge is now.
Speaker:And that was on the £5 note for the Commonwealth from 1913 to 1932.
Speaker:And interestingly, back in those days, the banks used to issue their
Speaker:own, uh, currency, and the Bank of New South Wales, uh, back in the
Speaker:19th century, issued their £1 note.
Speaker:In fact, had a picture of the railway bridge, at Brooklyn.
Speaker:and it's, it's quite a distinctive little note.
Speaker:So there it is.
Speaker:it's a little place but it's got a great history.
Speaker:it's got a great present attitude and, it's well worth a visit.
Speaker:Uh, there's just three other things I'll mention very briefly.
Speaker:It is on the Great North Walk, so if you're super keen.
Speaker:God me, goodness.
Speaker:On the Great North Walk, and it's-- the track comes down from Cowwarr.
Speaker:I walked it many years ago.
Speaker:I'm glad I did years ago.
Speaker:But it's, it's a difficult walk, but it's a great walk.
Speaker:And there's also a very interesting note somewhere that, things haven't
Speaker:always been glossy in Brooklyn, because apparently in 1892, there was great
Speaker:contention by the residents because for some reason there was an excess of pigs
Speaker:wandering around in the, in the towns.
Speaker:But I don't know what that's all about.
Speaker:But I see, goodness, time goes so quickly.
Speaker:Tempus fugit.
Speaker:I just want to finish with two things.
Speaker:One is when I say that... Or three things, actually.
Speaker:One other thing I want to say is that when I say it's the same as it was 100
Speaker:years ago, it's with one huge exception.
Speaker:The, the present hotel, the Anglers Arms, is a great place, recently
Speaker:renovated, well worth a visit.
Speaker:But its predecessor, roughly 100 years ago, was a magnificent old hotel called
Speaker:the Hawkesbury River Railway Hotel.
Speaker:And it was one of those huge weatherboard hotels with an upstairs
Speaker:veranda and the awnings below, and it had a wonderful pointed tower.
Speaker:And it's a great shame we lost that.
Speaker:And, um, the other matter is simply this, and it's a good thing to finish
Speaker:because whatever else Brooklyn can claim, I think this might be the real doozy.
Speaker:Because if you go to the cemetery at Brooklyn, it's situated a little
Speaker:to the west of the town, adjacent to the old Pacific Highway you will
Speaker:be able to find somewhere there the grave of Robert Buie, B-U-I-E.
Speaker:Now Buie, and the tomb-tombstone says this, was responsible for the shooting
Speaker:down of Manfred von Richthofen, who was in fact the German Red Baron.
Speaker:Now, I made some inquiries into this, and it seems that it's not 100% sure it
Speaker:was Buie, but he's certainly one of two.
Speaker:There was a Canadian pilot c- in his plane who was engaged in a joist with the Red
Speaker:Baron, but it was worked out that when he fired his weapon, it was too soon.
Speaker:The, Red Baron went on for a bit longer than that.
Speaker:But there were two Lewis gunners
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:on the ground firing, and there's some contention as to whose gun,
Speaker:whose bullet really hit the Red Baron, but Buie is certainly one of them.
Speaker:So there you go.
Speaker:Brooklyn can claim to have the grave of certainly one of the
Speaker:men who downed the Red Baron.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:That's 32 minutes.
Speaker:Goodness, goodness.
Speaker:Just two very quick little facts.
Speaker:Three, I suppose.
Speaker:We were in Adelaide last week and walking along that wonderful North
Speaker:Terrace, and there's statues everywhere.
Speaker:It's a fantastic place to amble, wander.
Speaker:I was wandering along, and I came upon a statue to Matthew Flinders,
Speaker:and it only then dawned on me that Flinders was only 40 when he died.
Speaker:not far away from him, there's a statue to Robbie Burns, the great Scottish poet.
Speaker:He died at 36.
Speaker:People still have dinners everywhere every year on Burns Night.
Speaker:And of course, that fits in with, uh, Flinders' mate, Bass, who was only
Speaker:30 or 30 or 31 when he sailed out of Sydney Heads, never to be seen again.
Speaker:And it's this extraordinary thing that people lived what we would
Speaker:regard as very short lives, but achieved an enormous amount.
Speaker:So that's it.
Speaker:Enough from me.
Speaker:Put Brooklyn on a, a day trip.
Speaker:It'll be well worth it.
Speaker:So until next time, keep ambling, choose to be happy, and until then, cheerio.
