ONE of nine children – eight brothers and a sister – William John Christiansen was a well-known Woonona ‘grease-monkey’. He loved tinkering with engines, and before regulations were put place, operated one of the northern Illawarra’s earliest public bus services between Austinmer and Wollongong. Born in Woonona to Charles and Mary Christainsen in 1899, he…
Born on the kitchen floor of the Bulli Beach Kiosk, Sue Edwards said she had a “gifted childhood” growing up in the landmark weatherboard building on Waniora Point.. Sue’s parents Beryl and Thomas Edwards had the Bulli Beach Kiosk from about 1951 to 1968. “We left in 1968 and moved to Thirroul just in time…
During the 1990s I photographed quite a few business places in Woonona shopping centre. While the quality of the photographs are not the best, they will undoubtedly bring back many memories to some readers, of a time when Woonona boasted several banks, a selection of eateries and supermarkets. Sit back and enjoy the following slide…
The South Coast Times reported on Monday 11 June 1951: Henson’s Bus Service, Corrimal, has been attending to the majority of the transport needs of that centre for over 20 years. Today a modern fleet of buses service the area from a large depot situated in the heart of the town. Principal of the company…
Down Memory Lane With JACK DEVITT* I CAN remember as a very small boy hearing Sid Marsh’s centurion voice barking commands as he drilled men and youths in Bulli Park in the early 1920s. We lived at the corner of Farrell Road and Artis Street at the time and Sid’s voice could be heard…
By MICK ROBERTS © WRITING to me in the late 1990s, Ned Andrews of Towradgi remembered back in the 1930s an old weatherboard shop on the northern corner of Gray Street and the Prince’s Highway at Woonona. “I was about seven or nine years of age when the local family store was Richardson and Lewis, where…
OLD Bulli is more alive than the men in other places of mushroom growth think. She can spoil the little ‘game’ of those who want to have great post offices and to burden the country with more taxation. ‘Go to bed !’ say we to you Woonona toilers. You can’t raise a progress committee. We don’t want…
By MICK ROBERTS © MORE than a century of sawmilling at Bulli came to an end in May 2013 with the closure of Molloy’s Timber Yard. Austrian-born cabinetmaker Gunter Grafenauer operated Molloy Timber with his wife, Pamela, for 38 years before shutting the long-operating business. Mr Grafenauer bought the timber business in 1975 from the Molloy family,…
Down Memory Lane With JACK DEVITT* GRANNY Orton had a small shop and residence in Park Road Bulli, still existing now (1990s) as a hair hairdressing salon next door to Dr. Feneley’s former surgery. She sold pencils, exercise books, rubbers for school kids plus a few jars of jelly beans, boiled ollies and, from Arnotts…
By MICK ROBERTS © LIKE most towns and suburbs across Australia, the sound of the paper boy’s whistle has fallen silent on Bulli’s streets. Changing attitudes towards the way in which we devour news and information, has lead to the demise of both Bulli and Woonona newsagencies, and with them have gone the ‘paper boy’.…
AFTER 104 years trading from the north east corner of Russell Street and the Princes Highway, Woonona Newsagency will close for business on November 29 2015. Although in an updated building, newspapers have been sold from the corner location ever since William Austin Pitman opened his newsagency in 1911 after converting the old Woonona Workmen’s…
By MICK ROBERTS © Coal dust was said to be in James Cram’s blood. The larger than life pioneer was more than qualified to hold the title of Father of Balgownie – a village established on coal. From a humble immigrant coal miner, Cram became one of the Illawarra’s most powerful men – a civic…
