MR. DE LISSA'S DEATH.
DELAYED TELEPHONE MESSAGE.
Sydney Morning Herald Thursday 2nd May 1912
An inquest concerning the death of Mr. Horace De Lissa, 36, barrister, who died in tho Royal North Shore Hospital on April 28, was held yesterday.
Walter Marline Schregel, a dentist, said that he was one of a riding party on Saturday, which included the deceased. They rode to Pymble, and subsequently to Hornsby, where they dined. On the return Journey, the deceased was at Pymble bridge, riding ahead of the others. It seemed to witness that he cantered down the hill, drew his horse into a trot, and swung round towards the party.
The next moment witness saw De Lissa's horse going riderless in the opposite direction. Galloping up, he found the deceased sitting on the roadside where the horse had turned. It was evident that he had fallen from the horse, for his back was covered with dust. Being asked it he were hurt, the deceased replied: "No; I'll be all right in a few minutes. The horse trod on my stomach."
A verdict of accidental death was returned. In view of evidence relative to a delayed telephone message, the Coroner deplored the fact that a faulty telephone service had deprived a father of the solace of spending the last few moments at the bedside of his dying son. In his own case, he did not understand the telephone message received by him from the police, who reported the accident. As a consequence, he received an unintelligible account of the actual accident.
ALLEGED ATTEMPTED
TRAIN "WRECKING.
WEDGES BETWEEN POINTS.
Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday 18th January 1916
What may be nothing more than a boyish prank, but at first blush looks like an attempt at train-wrecking, took place on the North Shore line on Sunday night.
A passenger on the Turramurra Railway Station at about 5.45 pm on Sunday noticed a youth walking along the railway line, and stop near the points. His curiosity being aroused, the passenger went up to investigate the matter, and saw a boy placing stones between the points of the line.
The Pymble Police were informed of the incident by telephone.
An inspection of the line showed that glass and stones had been wedged in between the points, and if a train had come along it would doubtless have been derailed, if not wrecked.
The police arrested a boy whose parents are Germans, but are naturalised. He will appear before the Children's Court.
FATAL ACCIDENT AT ST. IVES.
Sager v Lord.
Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 2nd December 1925
Christina Sager, administratrix of the intestate estate of the late Thomas Sager, sued Francis William Lord, claiming £2000 compensation for the death of her husband, which she alleged was due to the negligent management of a motor car by the defendant. The accident In respect of which the action arose occurred near St. Ives, close to the Gordon road. The plaintiff, who was engaged in gathering clothes props in the bush, had left his loaded cart in charge of a hired man, and crossed the road on foot.
Defendant's motor car swung over to the wrong side of the road to avoid another vehicle, and, continuing on, struck Sager, inflicting injuries from which he died three days later In hospital. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and also set up a plea of contributory negligence. Mr. W. B. Simpson and Mr. Leonard (instructed by Mr. H. J. Bartier) appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Markell (Instructed by Messrs, Abbott, Tout, and Co.,) for the defendant.
The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for £800, recommending that £400 be paid to the widow and £200 for each of two children be vested in the Public Trustee for their education and maintenance.
THE LANE COVE ROAD.
(BY CHARLES WHITHAM.)
Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 4th February 1928
How does the Lane Cove-road, the main thoroughfare of the North Shore districts, get its name? It never comes within sight of Lane Cove waters, and except for a brief incursion, it scarcely enters the municipality of that name. Indeed, some people who live along its northern end call it the Gordon-road, which seems more appropriate, for It does go through Gordon.
It is the oldest white man's road in the district, for it follows the track that was cut by Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, of H M S Supply, in 1789, from Blue’s Point, along the ridge which affords tho easiest route for tho penetration of the North Shore region. Quite possibly, Ball followed up an aboriginal trail, of which there were many between Port Jackson and Broken Bay. The present North Shore railway to Hornsby follows nearly the same route, as the Lane Cove-road and the rails are seldom far apart. Like the Military - road of Mosman, its course Is tortuous, and for the same reason-the makers of these old trails avoided as far as possible the primal curse of man, and went round a big tree rather than undertake the labour of removing it.
For at least seventy years the road was a very rough one, not much more than a dray track through tho big timber. When William McKeon, whose descendants are well known in Sydney to this day, went, to Gordon (then known as Lane Cove Settlement) in 1815 there were only a few bark huts, occupied by timber-getters, along the track. In 1861, some money was appropriated by Parliament for improving tho road, for we are told by the "Sydney Morning Herald" of May 4 that a meeting was held at the Old School, Lane Cove (where St. John's Church, Gordon. now stands), to elect trustees to supervise the expenditure of the vote. Mr. Burgess was in the chair, and tho trustees elected were Messrs. Geering, John Duffy, McKeon, R. Porter, Richard Hill, and H. Whittingham, all well-known names in the chronicles of Lane Cove, using the name in its earlier sense, as referring to all the country lying between St. Leonards and Wahroonga.
MAIL CARTS OF THE SIXTIES
But the expenditure of a Government subsidy did not put the road into first-class order, for we read in Leplastrier's book on Willoughby that in 1805 when the mail cart started from Chatswood for Blue's Point, it always carried an axe to cut away trees that might have fallen across the track. The fare was eighteen pence, and seats had to be booked a day previously. Tho road is in somewhat better condition now, for it is recognised as one of the great arterial avenues leading out of Sydney, and very large sums have been, and are being, spent on it. It is not known as the Lane Cove-road until you go to the North Sydney Post-office. For the first three miles or so, the grade from the waterside is steep. A height of 240 feet is reached at St. Leonards, but from that point to Pymble the grades are easy. But from Pymble there is a steep series of grades to Pearce's Corner (630 feet), where the old Pennant Hills road Is met, and the Lane Cove road loses its name. This corner, at the modern Wahroonga, was named after Aaron Pearce, one of the earliest settlers. Here beginneth the Peat's Ferry road.
The populous region now comprised in the municipalities of Willoughby and Lane Cove and Ku-ring-gai Shire was known in the early days of the colony as Lane Cove, because It was generally approached by the Lane Cove River, then navigable by small craft as far as, and beyond, Fidden's Wharf, near the present Killara. If you visit St Thomas' Graveyard In North Sydney you will see that the Archbolds, a well-known Roseville family, are described as "of Clanville, Lane Cove," Clanville being the present Roseville neighbourhood.
"THE LUMBERJACKS."
Tho first white settlers of this district were what the Americans call "lumberjacks." Sydney Town was a voracious consumer of building timber, which came chiefly from the big gum trees of Lane Cove. They were felled by the pioneers, sawn into planks, or hauled in the log to the various wharves on Lane Cove, and shipped to the city. When the bush was cleared orchards and market gardens were planted. Hero is an advertisement from the "Sydney Gazette" of May 5, 1804, only 16 years after the arrival of the First Fleet, showing that settlements had been formed In Lane Cove at a very early date -
Whereas public notice has heretofore been duly given, cautioning persons from committing acts of trespass upon the farms known as Watson's, Archer's, Ikin's, and Waitrel’s, lying near to and about Lane Cove, now the property of James Wiltshire, notwithstanding which, a number of very fine she-oaks and other trees have been fell and removed, no labour and expense will be, spared in putting the law, in force against them.
The land agents who advertise properties for sale in the Roseville Pymble districts, describe their wares as choice, exclusive, and superior, but it was not ever thus. Lane Cove was a refuge for escaped convicts and bad men; sporting bloods went there to see cock fights and prize fights. Stolen booty and unlawful liquors were cached in its thickets and caves. This is what the "Sydney Gazette" said in its leader of February 25,1841:-
"Lane Cove has long been noted as the resort of disreputable people, and we do not hesitate to say that there should be a military post established there, to prevent smuggling and sly-grog selling. SJy-grog selling is carried on so openly at Lane Cove that it can scarcely be said to deserve the name of 'sly.' Thieving is practised, the grog sellers being the receivers of stolen goods. If an active police magistrate were to visit this infamous district frequently, we make no doubt that much would be done towards cleansing it of as great a set of ruffians as the colony holds."
The people of Killara and Gordon are not quite like that now.
Editor’s Note – the author of this article, Charles Whitham, was a well known free-lance journalist of the time, with much of his work concerning Tasmania. However he also wrote about Sydney, and during the 1920’s penned his famous line that Circular Quay was “the chief theatre of Australian life”.
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