Two years later, when researching
the story 'From ship's mate to Hamilton station master' I had a
breakthrough.
Brian Archer, who had grown up in
Hamilton, had contacted me after the publication of ‘Hidden Hamilton.’ His
great grandfather was Harry Nesbitt, one of Hamilton’s earliest station masters
(1909-1916). Brian had given me some excellent photographs of Harry and his
family.
Harry had quite a characteristic
appearance – tall, and lean, with a narrow head and thick head of hair, and a
substantial moustache.
Gathering historic images for the
blog post, I pulled up the Ralph Snowball image of the cottage, hoping to find
a date. I immediately recognized the man in the photograph - Harry Nesbitt. Off
it went to Brian, who was just as excited as I was, and agreed with me. He
identified Harry, his wife Katherine, and one of their daughters.
Hamilton
Station Master’s Cottage, Hamilton NSW (n.d.)
The
people in this photograph had previously not been identified.
However, they are
believed to be Harry Nesbitt, his wife Katherine,
and one of their daughters
Photograph
by Ralph Snowball, courtesy of Cultural Collections,
University of Newcastle,
Australia
Where was the house? Perhaps the
Lost Newcastle Facebook community could help.
Two cottages closely associated with
the railway station emerged in response to my posting.
The first was the Gatekeeper’s
Cottage, next to the railway bridge which carries motor vehicles over the line
at Maitland Road.
The
Gatekeeper’s Cottage, 1984
Photograph
by Rob McMahon
Rob McMahon knew the old cottage
well – he’d grown up beside the railway line, living there with his family from
1962 to 1990. It had long ceased to be used by the gatekeeper, whose job would
have been to open and close the gates on the level crossing that preceded the
overpass, every time a train passed through.
Rob writes:
‘I have lived in Hamilton my whole
life and at 53 have no desire to live anywhere else. I can’t tell you how much
I loved growing up here. I lived on the railway line in a very old house that
was called the Gatekeeper’s Cottage.
‘The house had a bomb shelter in the
front yard and the steps leading down to it were covered in by my mother. There
was also a well in the front yard that was filled in.’
Rob developed a love of trains that
has never left him. As the steam train hauling oil tanks from Wickham struggled
to negotiate a curve in the tracks close by, Rob would call out, ‘Hey mate,
chuck us some coal!’ The fireman would direct shovels full of coal into the
gutters, from whence the boys would collect it and take it home to mum to fuel
the cooking stove.
He told me this on a bright
September afternoon, as we walked to the eastern end of the parkland that now
abuts the railway line to see both houses had once stood.
The Gatekeeper’s Cottage was
demolished after the Newcastle earthquake, in 1990.
Hard up
against the tracks - Rob McMahon on the site of the
Gatekeeper’s Cottage,
Hamilton, 2015
The site
is now parkland adjacent to Hamilton Station
Next, the station master’s house.
A couple of members of the Lost
Newcastle community located the site some
way east of the No 1 platform of Hamilton railway station. I thought that would
place it within the same narrow strip of parkland that Rob and I were
traversing, but on the Beaumont Street side of the Gatekeeper’s Cottage.
The probable site of the station master’s house
is now grassed and scattered with planted trees, including a paper bark.
Site of
the Station Master’s Cottage, Hamilton 2015
A giant
elephant decorates the building that is 8 Donald Street, Hamilton
Who would guess that this innocuous parkland holds
a secret – a piece of Hamilton’s railway history? Two houses, where railway men
once lived ‘on the job’ with their families – but only as long as the job
lasted. Two houses – where large families flourished, kids foraged for coal,
and learned to love trains.
Sydney Junction Hotel
Hamilton Station Master
http://hiddenhamilton.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/from-ships-mate-to-hamilton-station.html
[1] Cultural
Collections, University of Newcastle, Newcastle; Newcastle Region Library;
Newcastle Museum
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