William Claridge’s memoirs explore his arrival in Newcastle from Bristol in 1921 with his parents and eight siblings, accounts of working life at the Lysaght steel mills, and the richness of the community known as Pommy Town. Pommy Town was the name given to the workers’ estate in Mayfield, centered around Avon, Vine, Usk and Bull Streets, built by steel manufacturer John Lysaght to house employees, and their families, of the steel mill. Thank you to the editor of the published work 'The Pommy Town Years: Memories of Mayfield and Other Tales of the Twenties', Dr Helen Macallan, Department of English and to Mr William Claridge's son, Mr George Claridge, for permission to scan the pages describing the Hunter River and Shelley Beach from his original "Pommy Town" manuscript held in Cultural Collections.
Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939. Kanga Creek : an Australian idyll. Waltham Saint Lawrence, Berkshire : Golden Cockerel Press, 1922. AUCH - RB/COLL A823.2 ELLI-1 KANG 1922
Transcript of part of "Kanga Creek", Havelock Ellis, & notes on Sparkes Ck. & monument there [manuscript] / [written in the italic hand of Arch Gray] AUCH - RB/COLL GRAY A823.2 ELLI-2 GRAY
Turner, Ethel, 1870-1958 The sunshine family : a book of nonsense for girls and boys by Ethel Turner & Jean Curlewis ; with over 150 illustrations by D.H. Souter and H. Bancks and others. London : Melbourne : Ward, Lock, 1923.
We have recently acquired this marvellous 1920's children's book called "The Sunshine Family" - about an eccentric country family who accidently spent their vacation at Newcastle and Maitland during the 'twenties'.
This account comes from the Cultural Collections Unit's Mayfield Website. Mrs Ellen Lane grew up on the land now occupied by the Steel River Site, which was originally the site of John Laurio Platt's farm, mill and house, and was later sold to the A.A. Company in 1839. The company later built their manager's residence, known as Argyle House on the land. It was later sold to the Catholic Church who turned it into the Murray-Dwyer Orphanage. Mrs Lane's story is entitled As It Was and was written for her family as a remembrance of her childhood years growing up in this area of Mayfield with the beautiful Shelley Beach and the fishing culture of the Hunter River of the 1920s. Click here for Mrs Ellen Lane's "As It Was" Memories of Shelley Beach in the 1920s.
Thompson, R. W. (Reginald William). Down under : an Australian odyssey. London : Duckworth, 1932. AUCH - RB/COLL 994.04 THOM
[opening pages refer to city and harbour]
Hamilton, Jack, Captain. Nights ashore / by Jack Hamilton. Sydney : Endeavour Press, 1933. 270 p.
Davison, Frank Dalby, 1893-1970. Blue coast caravan / by Frank Dalby Davison and Brooke Nicholls. Sydney : Angus and Robertson, 1935.
Hatfield, William, 1892-1969. Australia through the windscreen. Sydney : Angus and Robertson, 1937. 3rd ed. Closed Stack - GREEN 919.4/33
Clune, Frank, 1893-1971. All aboard for Singapore : a trip by Qantas flying boat from Sydney to Malaya. Sydney : Angus and Robertson, [1941] Closed Stack-RED629.133347/C1[Newcastle and the Hunter estuary seen from a flying boat]