Wednesday January 25, 2012
A Tribute to Mr Mosman
Dom Lopez OAM sadly passed away last night.
Born in 1939 to Italian immigrants and Mosman fruit shop owners Antonio and Terzita Lopez, Dominic Lopez’s passion for Mosman started early in this family business. Dom Lopez was educated at Mosman by the nuns at Sacred heart School and later the Marist Brothers. He married Zena, whose father ran the Montana milk bar at Mosman and brought up four children in Mosman.
The fruit shop was ‘home’ for Dom and the good will of the Mosman people encouraged him to give back a little to Mosman and so he ran for Council and was elected in December 1968.
Apart from a short break in the early 1970s, he continued to serve the Mosman people, including five terms as Mayor, with a passion and a pride for Mosman, his ‘Pearl of the Pacific’, that knew no bounds. R.I.P.
Friday November 11, 2011
Major P.S. Woodforde, 1st Battalion A.I.F.
Today – 11 November 2011 – is Remembrance Day. Mary-Lou Byrne chose one Anzac to remember on our Flickr photo stream.
Thursday June 2, 2011
Unleashed - Waratahs and Kookaburras in the Library
I relish the challenge of Local Studies, I love Australian decorative arts and I am passionate about the need to promote both these areas.
Exhibitions are an essential part of the Mosman Library Local Studies Service having the potential to attract an audience – old and new and impart and gather information. Each year I curate four small exhibitions, one for History Week and a major one for the annual National Trust Heritage Festival which has an official opening with invited guests, wine and food.
Thursday May 26, 2011
Oh what a night...
Well the night had finally arrived, the launch of Mosman Faces, the website goes live www.MosmanFaces.net and we can all collapse in a heap – but not for long as after all we are out there spreading the message that Mosman’s story is alive and we need you to help us tell it – and tell us they did!
Late afternoon and Bernard had the website all set up, the videos were being slowly uploaded, put my glad rags on and speech rehearsed… 5:40 time was ticking on and no alcohol. A phone call confirmed the worst, they’d got the day wrong aaahhh but said they could get the drink, ice and glasses there by 6:30 and indeed they did even if it was the neighbouring pizza delivery boy who obliged rather than the cellar man!
Abundance of food, a lot of people, a bit of music but no filmmaker! Again time was ticking by and by – the big screen was set up and so was the website, it looked great but there were no moving pictures on the big screen so it was time for a bit of old fashioned entertainment…
We had the music, we had the food and we had the wine now we needed some words … I started the ball rolling with a thank you to all and this was followed by the Mayor Anne Connon who spoke about the Mosman Faces project and launched the website …
This could have been it, as we had no trailer as we had no filmmaker, but I said to the Mayor, ‘maybe we should get people to share their stories?’ She said ‘yes, yes!’ and so it was on!
We opened up the floor to stories of Mosman, one story led to another, slow to start at first but one person’s memories would trigger another – all united in their love for living in, working in and growing up in Mosman.
Pitt’s Cake Shop, the Island, Bakewell’s Folly, jitterbugging at The Barn, Middle Head, selling ice creams at Balmoral…
A little theatre and of course a little poetry from Paul Delprat as he encouraged the crowd to go home and scribble down those words those memories…
And words of wisdom from Barry O’Keefe who reminded us that history isn’t just the past, history is today, it is now.
A lively night – these people didn’t need entertainment they provided their own and no doubt we will be hearing from them soon to add another chapter to their story, Mosman’s story.
Tuesday March 1, 2011
That magnificent stretch of natural bush lying between Whiting Beach and Athol Gardens
Lynn Walsh posted this newspaper report on Taronga Zoo moving to Mosman.
In making available digitised records of Australian newspapers (from 1803-1954), the National Library of Australia (NLA) has created a most valuable resource for researchers, historians, genealogists and others simply interested in understanding the history of Australia as it was reported.
By selecting articles and illustrations from its current and growing collection, I want to entice others to go trawling for themselves…
There are lots more fascinating stories going up at her blog.
Visit Now and then: Snippets of Australian social history from newspapers and other sources
Thursday October 7, 2010
Beautiful Balmoral, on a plate
This little Vande plate with its beautiful depiction of Balmoral is one of the gems that we saw as a result of the Australian Accent exhibition. Unsure of its origins, the owner brought it into the Library for identification and we were able to say it was a Vande piece and had been decorated by the elusive AMP. It is 14 cm in diameter.
If you haven’t seen Australian Accent: the Designs of Annan Fabrics and Vande Pottery of the ’40s and ’50s – or wish to revisit it – make sure to visit the Mosman Art Gallery this week. The exhibition closes Sunday.
UPDATE: 10 DECEMBER 2010
Thanks to kooriflag on Flickr who left a comment with more information:
This plate although beautiful is not by Vande Pottery. It is a later work by AMP and was made after Vande Pottery closed. I have a few examples of her later works.
I suspected AMP went out on her own as I have found similar pieces which were definitely not Vande. This also explains why the plate shape is that of another commercial studio – Studio Anna.
Tuesday April 27, 2010
Digital volunteers do amazing things
Rose Holley was a big hit at Mosman Library last week and we’re pleased to make available a video of the presentation. If you’re interested in libraries, local histories, web 2.0, crowdsourcing or innovation, it’s all here! Listen out for stories of million dollar cheques and visits from Google.
The talk energised locals in the crowd, some of whom are now looking at open web communities as an avenue for sharing their local history knowledge and research. One participant said “Amazing night! I feel like I’ve been on a trip to the 23rd century, my head is spinning.”
All sites mentioned by Rose are listed below.
Thursday March 25, 2010
Now where did you get that information?
Librarians are not just adept at Boolean, database and catalogue searches. Yesterday a phone enquiry came in from a gentleman who wanted to know what was the column in the water at Bradley’s Head. It proved the usefulness of Google for answering local studies enquiries. After a quick verbal clue from the Local Studies Librarian, I searched Google under “GPO column Bradley’s Head” and up popped joolmp’s photostream on Flickr with a close-up photo of the sign that tells the history of the column. I zoomed in so I could read the sign, called the gentleman and gave him the information he was after all in less than 5 minutes.
Monday August 24, 2009
Attack on Sydney, 31 May 1942
School children and service personnel inspect the mid-section of a Japanese midget submarine on display in the exhibition gardens. This submarine took part in the unsuccessful attack on Sydney harbour on 31 May 1942. Australian War Memorial collection, on Flickr
A website dedicated to the Japanese Midget Submarine that attacked Sydney Harbour has been launched by the NSW Government, uncovering its secrets.
The site has been developed by the Heritage Branch, NSW Department of Planning and showcases the history and mystery of the 1942 submarine attack on Sydney Harbour with feature interviews, underwater footage and unique 3D animation of the submarine. It will be a valuable way of ensuring that the heritage significance of the midget submarine attack is preserved, together with the physical remains of the M24 wreck site.
It was not until November 2006, that a group of weekend divers called ‘No Frills Divers’ located the still intact Japanese midget submarine M24 off Bungan Head, Newport. The submarine was entangled in nets 54 metres below on the seabed
Like all shipwrecks the M24 has a fascinating story to tell — of the events in Sydney Harbour on the night of 31 May and the early morning of 1 June 1942; the role of the Japanese midget submarines, and the Japanese submarine campaign along Australia’s eastern seaboard during World War II.
Visit the M24 midget submarine exhibition online.
Local memories
Here are some local memories of the night the midget subs entered Sydney Harbour.
The peace of Clanalpine Street was shattered on the night of 31 May 1942 when we were awakened by thudding noises and the sound of ornaments moving on mantelpiece and shelves. “It’s an earthquake,” said my mother, who was a New Zealander, but in fact of course it was the unsuccessful Japanese submarine attack on Sydney Harbour.
Ngaire Souter, ‘A marvellous place for childhood ‘ – Mosman Memories of Your Street
We lived there when the Japanese midget submarines came into the Sydney Harbour on 1 June 1942, that night was very frightening with the explosions as we didn’t know until the next day what had happened.
Helen Ekin nee Black, Living in ‘Duncraggan’ – Mosman Memories of Your Street
We used the shelter once, and that was when the Japanese submarines were coming into the harbour. In the middle of night about 2am I think, the air raid sirens went off, and I and Jessie, who was our nice ‘help’ then, got the three children out of bed and put on warm things, and rushed downstairs, and went into the air raid shelter and crouched there terrified until the ‘all clear’ came.
Margaret Joan Holmes – Mosman Voices
I remember when the submarines came into the harbour and they shelled Rose Bay and broke windows, and a few more came in, and it was announced. The house next door to ours – my family home was in Raglan Street. and the home next door built a bomb shelter big enough for the neighbours either side to go in. When we heard this explosion, we were told to fill the baths with water and go under the table, or wherever you could. Well we went in next door. When I went in with my mother, my brother was away at the war, and I said: ‘I don’t think I turned the tap off, I’ll go in and do it’. I had done it.
Patricia Beaumont – Mosman Voices
Were you in Mosman on the night of the attack? Please share your story at MosmanMemories.net.
Thursday December 18, 2008
Tin town, Middle Harbour
Tin Town, Middle Harbour, postcard.
This unique postcard depicting a camp made out of kerosene tins is postmarked Mosman 1908. It is thought to be located in Mosman overlooking Quakers Hat Bay, near Cremorne and opposite Folly Point. Adding to the charm of this post card is the inclusion of a man, no doubt a resident, wearing a hat.
Mosman boasted many camps including artists’ camps, weekend camps for fishing and sailing and those appearing during The Depression of the 1930s.
Mosman Library would like to hear from anyone who may know of this camp and its exact location.
