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HOBBY’S OUTREACH ISSN 1835-3010 Vol 32 No 3 June-July 2020 Figure 1: Calamondah in snow — note the snowman in the foreground. Above: Original photo and Right: building enlarged. Lynn Collins IMG_1777. Serendipity and “Calamondah” Guest House, Blackheath Peter C. Rickwood From time to time Historical Societies get baffled by questions posed by non-members. In 2014 the President of the Blue Mountains Historical Society was asked by Lynn Collins (the Museums & Galleries of NSW Consultant for the Blue Mountains City Council) to identify the location of the building shown in Figure 1 (above). That query was passed to me and in turn I circu- the photo shown in Figure 2 and had a ‘Eureka’ lated it to a number of our more experienced mem- moment as the building was immediately recognisa- bers. Because of the apparent steepness of the slope ble. The name on the garage enabled the location the general opinion was that the building was not in to be identified as 5 Hat Hill Road, Blackheath and Blackheath, but no one could prove a specific loca- the track is now sealed and has been named Strick- tion. After that the matter lay as an unsolved mys- land Lane. tery for five years. So why had none of us recognised that terrain? Following the death of one of our members a The answer lies in a recent image (Figure 3) which photograph was needed for an obituary, so I tackled shows the view of the rear of Calamondah from the task by systematically looking through the Strickland Lane at an angle similar to that used in photographic collection of the Blue Mountains Figure 1. The view to the NE of the building is es- Historical Society. Serendipitously I encountered sentially blocked mostly by the SE corner of a large BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Figure 2: Calamondah. Figure 3: View of Calamondah from Strickland Lane 2015. Blue Mountains Historical Society Google Maps Street View, image capture May 2015, ©2020 Google. Inc., collection P3566. Public Housing apartment block (141-151 Went- Mr. Sam Phillips, junr., who won a draw worth Street) and in part by the Calamondah garag- of £500 in the Blue Mountains Starr Bowkett es. Also, from the current version of Google Maps is building a residence with the money so Street View it can be seen that in 2015 the front and acquired.6 western sides of Calamondah were mostly con- cealed by vegetation and only recently has much of it been removed. Most of the people asked about Figure 1 would never have had cause to go along that lane at the back of Hat Hill Road, nor even Figure 5: The earliest known advertisement for Bligh Lane, which is on the western side of Calamondah.7 Calamondah, and grassed, and even less used. By mid 1930 Mrs Phillips was advertising it as a With his parents Samuel and Ellen (or Nellie) “Guest Home” (Figure 5)7. May Phillips, Samuel William Phillips came to But was the proprietress (named as Mrs S. Blackheath from Kalgoorlie in November 19211. It Phillips) his wife or, as family lore would have it, his seems likely that while he was single he lived with mother8 both of whom were known as Mrs Samuel his parents in their rented house in Carysfort Street2 Phillips in those days? His wife is the more likely as but he did not register as an elector so his residency there is proof that she was in charge in 1937 and is not confirmed. 19389. When he was aged 28, he married 27 year old Blackheath Rates Records for the 1920s are Margaret Sophia Miller3 at St Hilda’s Anglican missing so the earliest available for that building was Church, Katoomba4 on 28 July 1923. Where they issued in 1934 by which time it had [for that time] a lived at first has yet to be established and even in big ICV (Improved Capital Value) of £2,175, appro- 1928 they were not registered as electors anywhere priate for the presence of a large building. in the Macquarie Division. And then in 1935 an additional 10 bedrooms, After a year of marriage, on 22 November 1924 with bathrooms were added11 making it a very large he bought the land designated Section 6, Lot 3 dwelling. (Figure 4) — now 5 Hat Hill Road, DP 758115. But after the opening of Calamondah the Phillips Building seems to have commenced some time apparently did not live there as from 1930 to 1939 in 1929 as it was announced in July 1929 that: (inclusive) the couple are recorded in electoral rolls as residents (actually just tenants) of a house called Bydand12, (now 1 Gordon Street, Blackheath) and Samuel Phillips alone occupied it in 194113 after the death of his wife. [Originally Bydand was deemed to be in the Glen Ayr Estate, specifically in lot 43 which with lots 44-46 were four adjacent lots belonged to Mrs Lily Smith. But around 1937 that land was subdivided into three lots, one facing each of Gordon Avenue, Bundarra Street and Eveleigh Avenue.] Indeed, checks of the 1932 and 1939 Electoral Figure 4: Extract from the Certificate of Title.5 Rolls did not reveal any registered elector residing at Hobby’s Outreach 2 June–July 2020 BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Calamondah or 5 Hat Hill Road so one has to won- CONTENTS der if anyone actually resided in that Guest House during those years apart from customers. Serendipity and “Calamondah” In Electoral Rolls from 1930 to 1941 (inclusive)14 Guest House, Blackheath .................... 1-4 Samuel Phillips’ occupation is given as Sawyer Museums of the Blue Mountains ~ which seemed odd for a guest house owner but in Part 2: Katoomba ................................ 5,6 1934 he was also manager of the Jenolan Timber A Century on Track .................................. 6 Co. mills.15 which operated the Peg Factory in The Katoomba Sewerage Filter Beds ....... 7-9 16 Blackheath . The Society at Work ................................. 10 Dating the photographs Calendar of Events ................................... 11 By the time the photo in Figure 2 was taken Society Directory...................................... 11 garages had been constructed which at that time carried the name of the property. Calamondah Blackheath in summer25. However, there were opened for business in August 193019 but it seems heavy snowfalls there on 26 July 192826, 24 June unlikely that the garages had been built by then and 192927 and 25 August 192928 so that vacation is were not advertised until December 193017 (and likely to have been at one of those times. The exteri- Lock Garages in 193118) for surely the proprietors or of the building appears to have been completed would not have refrained from advertising those en- before Figure 1 was taken yet it is known that work ticements to potential customers. So those garages on the building was still in progress in July 192929. seem to have been constructed in November or In Figure 1 there is no sign of the garages that were December 1930 so as to be ready for the Christmas advertised in December 1930, so the photograph trade. Hence Figure 2 most probably would have pre-dates that yet it is unlikely to have been taken been taken after 1930; however, both the back of very long before the premises were opened in photograph P3566 and the catalogue entry are August 1930; however there were no significant un-informative. snowfalls in 1930 so it is improbable that the photo- In March 1934 the Blackheath Municipal Coun- graph was taken in that year. Hence it is more likely cil discussed the suggestion that: that Mrs Collins’ winter vacation was in 1929 than the works staff give this lane attention in due in the previous year. course, and that several loads of stone and The second image supplied by Lynn Collins has blinding [sic] be placed on that section from the in the foreground a bay window on the corner of rear of “Calamondah” to the side entrance to Mrs Collins’ holiday accommodation, it matches the Mrs. Steel’s property [6 Inconstant Street].20 window on Wai-iti, (133 Wentworth Street). But that [“In construction, blinding is a base layer of weak concrete holiday would have been by private arrangement or sand that is laid above a layer of hardcore to provide a clean, 21 as no commercial hospitality business is known to level and dry working surface.” ] have operated at that address30. Unfortunately, the Council Minute Books for 1929-1943 are missing22 so what action eventuated Uses cannot be established. But it was normal for most When it opened in August 1930 Calamondah works, which had been discussed at a Council was described as a “Guest Home” (Figure 5) and in Meeting without significant opposition, to be under- 1937 it was referred to as a boarding establish- taken within about a year, so it can be conjectured ment31. Silvey32 claimed that the proprietors were that the requested work on the lane would have Mrs S. Phillips, Miss Simmons from 1931 (but that been done in or about 1935. In Figure 2 that lane is has to be 1930) to 1949 (but it was a guest house clearly visible but at the time of the photography it until at least 1964). Miss O. Simmons operated the appears to still have been just a basic track that had business while Samuel Phillips was unwell in the not been made level, so indicating that the likely 194633 to 194834 period. Some subsequent adver- date of the photography was pre-1935. But by tisements indicate that it was under Sam Phillip’s 1943 the lane was no longer a bush track and what (sic) personal supervision35.

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