And the winner is...

19 February 2006

Well, the winner of the 90s competition, randomly selected from all those who left an answer, is (drumroll, please!) BSE. A copy of the Stone Temple Pilots Thank You will be on its way...as soon as I have a postal address (I was hoping the winner would be a Novocastrian! I'm stingy that way).

Today I amazed myself. I took the Bather's Way walk to the Bogie Hole. Let me unhesitatingly recommend you to do so, if you ever visit Newcastle; it's gorgeous, with stunning ocean views. However, when I got to the Bogie Hole itself, well, I had no idea that access was only down a set of crumbling stone steps that end two feet short of the ground, and that the whole thing is under a overhanging cliff. Now I'm claustrophobic as well as being petrified of heights, so for me this was hell. I had intended to take photos, but I'm sorry, all I wanted to do was get out of there. But the thing is, the Bogie Hole was constructed by convict labour early in the 19th century to be the personal swimming pool for the commandant of the Newcastle colony. (Who wouldn't want their own chain gang to order the construction of anything you fancied?!?) Newcastle could hardly have been brimming with people at the time...so why the hell didn't they build the thing somewhere a little more central?
6 comments

6 comments:

  1. Skye20/02/2006, 01:30

    Eeek! I climbed down those stairs once - And I will never do it again. I'm also terrified of heights ((I can't even walk up the stairs at train stations!))
    I think they put it there because that area of Newcastle was central way back when. I have seen historical drawings of the city and it looked like people lived in that area.
    I love looking at the old pictures - Nobbys before the breakwall and Christchurch, when it was a small wooden chapel. I just wish now the Council wasn't killing it with highrise apartments :(

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  2. sikamikanico20/02/2006, 08:36

    It wasn't just the stairs, also the green moss - ugh. I remember being down there and looking up at the stairs and thinking "how on Earth an I ever going to get out of here?"

    I know what you mean - I'm such a nut for local history. Like on Saturday, I read in the Herald that the WEA college on Union St was originally the Arnott family home (of Arnott's biscuits fame). How many times have I walked past it, and I never knew that!

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  3. Skye20/02/2006, 23:33

    That's an awesome house - I wish it was still a house and not a WEA! Restored to its original condition - Its all so interesting. I love local history aswell - Its a shame they're knocking down so much of it though. The council really pisses me off, theres so much that can be done to preserve the local history but Tate is more interested in destroying rather than restoring.

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  4. sikamikanico21/02/2006, 08:33

    Though I think we can all be greatful that Civic park is no longer a tramyard :)

    I keep meaning to join a local history society (there's so many things I keep meaning to do)...it was interesting looking at the Margaret Olle exhibit of paintings of Newcastle from the 1960s. I read an interview in which she said she preferred Newcastle then, that it looks too fake and plastic now.

    I think the council's greatest shame is what they've let happened to the old post office. Everytime I see it, I almost feel like crying.

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  5. Skye21/02/2006, 12:25

    I have to agree with you there about the post office - What a discrace! And they want to open it up into some trashy, sleazy bar!
    Margaret Olley's paintings were excellent, I wish Newcastle still looked like that :) Hehe.
    The web probably has some resources about Historical Societies in town - I was apart of Morisset Hospitals for a while. I helped with their book/got a few photos published in it. I've actually emailed Sandgate Cemetery because I'm interested in restoring it - And they're having a meeting soon about starting a Society, I was surprised there wasn't one!?

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  6. sikamikanico21/02/2006, 15:34

    I usually see the notices of societies in the Herald public announcments column. Let me know if you get involved with the Cemetary, that's something I would definitely be interested in. Even though it's a bit of a pain getting there - bus AND train!

    A particular fascination I've always had is with the old Belmont rail line. I used to have a photo on file of the last train at Belmont station leaving for Newcastle, in 1971. I wish I could travel back in time and travel on it! Most people aren't even aware that there was ever a passenger line to Belmont. When I was still at high school you could just see the frame of the old station, behind the TAFE - but it's completely overgrown now. But we used to walk from there into the swamps sometimes, where the line ran - some of the old bridges are still intact.

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