Sydney circa 1968

I have some undated slides from the late sixties which may be interesting, some of cars, others of things in general.

These were taken outside the Art Gallery in around September 1968. I have no recollection of what the event was,

but it appears as if it was a parade assembled to start going into the city.

It was a Saturday afternoon.

I was there on a Geology field excursion from Sydney Institute of Technology which went on an inspection of the

Eastern Suburbs Railway, which was being recommenced with major excavations in Woolloomooloo.

It included a hike into the tunnel under the Domain, all the way back to the end of the works at Town Hall Station.

Harbour Bridge 1968

Harbour Bridge at night 1968...in the days when you could still see the southern cross and pointers in central Sydney....long gone I'm afraid!!!

Circular Quay

I have some undated slides from the late sixties which may be interesting, some of cars, others of things in general.

 

These were taken outside the Art Gallery in around September 1968. I have no recollection of what the event was,

but it appears as if it was a parade assembled to start going into the city.

It was a Saturday afternoon.

 

I was there on a Geology field excursion from Sydney Institute of Technology which went on an inspection of the

Eastern Suburbs Railway, which was being recommenced with major excavations in Woolloomooloo.

 

It included a hike into the tunnel under the Domain, all the way back to the end of the works at Town Hall Station.

 

 

The mechanical horse and motorised bathtub were both made by Dick West from Blackheath. He used to have them in the annual Rhododendron Festival parade in Blackheath each November. 

A right-click on the first 2 pictures reveals the word "Bicentenary" in their titles. Would this have any connection with one Captain James Cook, who might have been in the vicinity 200 years earlier?

Not sure what all those Union Jacks were doing in the middle of Sydney!

Stu

Old Jim didn't arrive until 1770...

What was the date of The Italian Job?

Hi Lynton,

I note in another post that you are very familiar with Leo Geoghegan.  Is it possible to find out from him or perhaps someone familiar with his racing history if he ever took delivery of a racing Lotus Seven in 1965 direct from the Lotus Factory, said car being fitted with a Lotus twin-cam engine please?

Best to you, S7

A right-click on the first 2 pictures reveals the word "Bicentenary" in their titles. Would this have any connection with one Captain James Cook, who might have been in the vicinity 200 years earlier?

 

Not sure what all those Union Jacks were doing in the middle of Sydney!

 

Stu

Our bicentenary was in 1988

PS love the pith helmets!

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 19 November 2013 - 20:50.

Hi Lynton,

I note in another post that you are very familiar with Leo Geoghegan.  Is it possible to find out from him or perhaps someone familiar with his racing history if he ever took delivery of a racing Lotus Seven in 1965 direct from the Lotus Factory, said car being fitted with a Lotus twin-cam engine please?

Best to you, S7

Ray Bell may be able to get you to Leo.

Marc Schagen may also be able to help....you'll find him in this forum's members list.

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 20 November 2013 - 00:40.

No answer on The Italian Job?

That relates to the Minis.

Our bicentenary of discovery was 1970 and was celebrated as such.

Regarding the Lotus 7 enquiry...

Marc Schagen is the man to talk to.

No answer on The Italian Job?

 

That relates to the Minis.

 

Our bicentenary of discovery was 1970 and was celebrated as such.

The Italian Job was 1969.

My geology excursion was definitely 1968, my second year at tech.

Lynton and Ray,  Thanks very much for your speedy replies, will contact Marc Schagen. Cheers,  S7.

Excavations for the Eastern Suburbs Railway between the Domain & Kings Cross 1968.

Edited by lyntonh, 20 November 2013 - 05:39.

Lynton, could I borrow the photo of Dick West's mechanical contraptions? I would like to post it on a Katoomba History Facebook site to see if anyone there remembers what was going on in 68.
 

They are great photos by the way! 

Lynton, could I borrow the photo of Dick West's mechanical contraptions? I would like to post it on a Katoomba History Facebook site to see if anyone there remembers what was going on in 68.
 

They are great photos by the way! 

That's why I posted them.....so that they can be "talked about by those who were there" ..........    go your hardest!!

Edited by lyntonh, 20 November 2013 - 07:03.

That's why I posted them.....so that  "people who were there could talk about them" ..........    go your hardest!!

Thanks, I will report back with any results.

It was the Waratah Spring Festival in Sydney. The first reply got it in one!

http://www.photosau....archTerm=023094

Edited by Catalina Park, 20 November 2013 - 07:39.

I just spoke to one of the girls in the buggy and she confirmed it to be the Waratah Festival!

Looks a bit 2nd-hand around the front to me.

Sure it's a Stout, looks a bit Mazda like to me ?

Stout it is...

There were no Mazda utes here there. And it sure is different looking at that picture on a decent screen after seeing it on the dumb phone.

I'm sure IHC weren't pleased about the 'Stout' name....a bit close to their 'Scout'.

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 20 November 2013 - 22:23.

From memory they were Lite Stout. 4 cyl iron pushrod motor and 4 on the tree. A neighbour had one new late 60s,,, and 3 kids!
And I doubt one exists these days.
The more interesting vehicle to me is the HK ute. At least I think it is,, HKs had Holden embossed in the tailgate skin which I think I can see? Other wise it is a HT released mid 69 making it very new.

From the Waratah Festival connection the date was 12th October 1968......well done by the Katoomba connections!!

Sorry to stray off the track, Lynton...Lee mentioning HK Holden gave me a 'Nostalgia Attack'.

When my 1500 Beetle was struggling to tow the Vee, I answered an add for an HK wagon. It sounded good - apart from the drum brakes. I recognized the owner when I went to look at the HK...it was Jan Harris. Remember Jan Harris?...he raced a green FJ in the early '60s. It turned out to be a great tow [and family] car.

I worked in the North Sydney drawing office of Australian Iron and Steel, who ran Port Kembla steelworks.

The office was in the MLC building .

I took these shots with my recently purchased Yashica Minister D, my first 35mm camera.

They are from June 1968, just after the Warringah Expressway was opened.

I love the way you could get a park during the middle of the day for your drop offs.

Sorry about the UFOs floating around in the sky on these scans.

I've run them through photoshop to try cleaning the dust marks off with the spotting tool.

You can't clean it all off by hand wiping cleaning solution on them.

I've always hated slides.......they were the filthiest things, especially after putting them through a projector a few times

to bake all the dust and dirt into the emulsion on one side, while adding scratches and permanent static on the base.

I remember all that area just like that, Lynton...

I worked in the MLC building from about June 1967 to, perhaps, very early in '68 when I was transferred to the Plaza Building in Australia Square. I remember so well buying my pie and milkshake for 12c each at one of the shops some lunchtimes.

I worked there from early 1967 until late 1973, so I saw huge change as the towers went up.

Neil Allen built several buildings alongside the expressway, & the area in the first photo between

Wests and Victoria Cross at the post office was cleared during 1971 to be replaced by a monster.

The milk bar in the lower ground floor of MLC was run by a greek family who made the best milkshakes you could find.

They must have made hundreds every day, so the milk was always fresh as it was ladled directly out of

churns kept under the counter.

The froth went right to the bottom of the glass.

We worked on the upper ground floor, so the street-facing window desks were prized positions to work in.

The views at lunchtime on the lawns outside, in the era of miniskirts, from the desks along the windows, were guaranteed to lower the number of drawings

produced by those priveliged few who worked there, & by those who needed to call by and discuss some important details about the job.

Edited by lyntonh, 21 November 2013 - 22:06.

Great stuff Lynton, keep them coming. Noticed a Morris 1100 in 2 of those shots - be a rare thing these days......

It may sound strange, but those photos are how I remember North Sydney. I remember that "SYDNEY" sign, with the arrow pointing left. It seemed the wrong way if you wanted to go over 'The Bridge'.

Being from 'The Shire', I rarely ventured over that way. Paul Samuels' funeral was the first time in about 30 years for me.

My first job was as a trainee engineer working for the industrial engineer for The North Shore Gas Company across the road from the railway station in North Sydney, 1963-4.  You could actually get a park for your car on the street (at one stage in those 2 years mine was an MG TC).  After some years in other parts of Australia, Canada and UK, back to North Sydney, in 1979, to work in  3rd or 4th floor offices of a building in Miller St. overlooking a pub with bbq area, some windows gave great view of the talent in the pub so we could check out where to sit for our lunch...  Sydney was too hectic for my Adelaide born wife so came back to Adelaide for a quieter life and a house near the soon to be announced Grand Prix - that was a good move!  Good memories Lynton!

Yeah,i also spent part of my working life there from around 1970,the ANZ Bank built a new building for its computer centre,it had entrances on the Pacific H/way & Miller Street.The lower floor car park entrance was just up from the end of the MLC building in Miller St. but you could walk right past it and the Pacific H/way entrance as the building had no markings and closed security doors.I also spent a couple of years working for GMAC down there,they had leased a floor on the British Standard Machinery building down Arthur/Little Walker Streets way. My main memories was the lack of parking and the great counter lunches at Dick Thornetts Pub in Miller street.I also spent a while working for BP HO in Milsons Point so overall abut 10 years in the area,these days there should be a picture of North Sydney under 'Rat Race' in the dictionary.   

Edited by Ian G, 27 November 2013 - 04:56.

Stout it is...

 

There were no Mazda utes here there. And it sure is different looking at that picture on a decent screen after seeing it on the dumb phone.

Might be a private import then, cos it's a B1600, hasn't got the smaller full width upper grille of the earlier Stouts or the bumped higher guards of the later models.

I must be wrong about the ute then...

Originally posted by lyntonh

.....The milk bar in the lower ground floor of MLC was run by a greek family who made the best milkshakes you could find.

 

They must have made hundreds every day, so the milk was always fresh as it was ladled directly out of

churns kept under the counter.....

That's not the way you make them frothy...

Old milk is always better for that.

Am I to bow beneath the gaze of one so eminent in the minutiae of the milk shake....??

Ask enough questions, Lynton, and you get two things...

Lots of answers and a lot of people telling you to stop asking fool questions!

How quickly milk can turn sour!

Some more from MLC North Sydney 1968

A few cars down there to conjure with.....

And...to prove there was a drawing office on upper ground floor MLC North Sydney

Looking out onto Miller Street.

(The duster was for brushing away the remnants of the rubber erasers.)

Oh, the other two blokes were in a meeting!!

Edited by lyntonh, 27 November 2013 - 06:37.

Some Navy stuff.....

End of film bloom ....but I like the little boats....

...(The duster was for brushing away the remnants of the rubber erasers.).

...Oh, the other two blokes were in a meeting!!

Edited by Wirra, 27 November 2013 - 09:23.

 
Only draughtsmen (draughtspersons!) caller them erasers and also remarked that an item was a 'line gauge' not a ruler, as a ruler was a king or queen of a country.
 
Sure, at the Rag and Famish.

I did some time in offices in Miller St and the Rag and Famish, looks like we all did.

Ohhhh dear, in those days I used to frequent the Here Disco to see and hear the likes of Mike Furber and Jeff St John and the Id....salad days

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 27 November 2013 - 10:03.

 
Only draughtsmen (draughtspersons!) caller them erasers and also remarked that an item was a 'line gauge' not a ruler, as a ruler was a king or queen of a country.
 
Sure, at the Rag and Famish.

I did some time in offices in Miller St and the Rag and Famish, looks like we all did.

To be be really picky it was a scale not a ruler.  Rulers were what the head used on your hand at school.

I'd take a guess that the Destroyer D126 is HMS Diana, built in Scotland, commisioned in March of 1954.

I believe it was sent to the Monte Bello Islands off Western Australia 1956 when Atomic Testing was done there, so it would not be improbable that it would make it to Sydney whilst here as were the others..