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| Arthur Rickard invites us to ride in his canoe. The 'Warrimoo Estate' was launched in 1918, the last year of World War I... |
It is not difficult to assess Arthur Rickard’s contribution:
without Arthur Rickard, there would certainly have not been a ‘Warrimoo’, for
even the name was contrived by him. How he managed to change the area’s public
assignation from ‘Karabar’ to ‘Warrimoo’, and why, is the subject of another
entry in this blog.
Even before World War I, Rickard had started buying land in
the mountains. He had already set up his Real Estate business in 1904, and was
primarily interested in land acquisition on the fringes of Sydney for future development. While busily
campaigning for greater immigration and thus more home-buyers, he was surveying
land purchases at Woy Woy on the Central
Coast, Narrabeen, Bankstown and the Sutherland shire for future
release.
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| Warrimoo--the 'Box Seat'--accessible to the city of Sydney but not as 'rugged' as upper Mountains locations. This newspaper ad. announced the first estate release |
The Subdivisions
The Karabar properties were bought in 1918, but Rickard went
further than the Richardson
and Wrench offering—he bought blocks on the northern side of the
railway/highway as well. When releasing his estates, Rickard generally did much
more than the average developer. He always had a ‘vision’ for his subdivisions
that generally revolved around a combination of residency and primary industry:
it seems he was keen to support some level of ‘self sufficiency’ or
‘sustainability’ not available in standard urban blocks at the time. For
Warrimoo, it appeared to be poultry and orchards he sought to encourage.
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| An excerpt from the first Warrimoo Estate subdivision along Rickard Road and Railway Parade. You will note that all the Lots are roughly the same size and dimensions throughout. |
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| Clearly anxious to 'move things along', Rickard altered the design of the Estate in 1922--now, every third or fourth Lot extended well beyond the 'normal' suburban block to enable some additional pursuit such as orchards or poultry farms. Some buyers attempted it, most did not. |
When you examine the layout of the plan for the 1920 ‘Rickard
Road’ development, you will notice that initially, the Lots were arranged in a
standard suburban pattern of roughly equal ‘quarter acre’ size. These mustn’t
have moved quickly enough for Rickard’s liking, so that a new, 1922 version of
the Warrimoo Estate had every 3rd, 4th or 5th block in a much larger battleaxe, running
back into bush at the rear of the properties—this is to allow the pursuit of
some form of animal husbandry or small scale agriculture to supplement the
resident’s diet or income.
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| A vision of Rickard's ideal: 'Fowlanthropy'. Settlement that engaged residents with their surrounding habitat and encouraged some form of rural pursuit |
Blocks on Railway Parade, Cross Street and the Highway were
arranged in similar manner, and remain so today.
On the southern side he redesigned the blocks so that the
ones in The Avenue and The Boulevarde that had stood facing Victoria and Albert
Streets, now faced continuously along the longer streets. The Boulevarde was
“bent” a little instead of running straight, and the extensions to Victoria and
Albert Streets were now cut off by blocks for sale. A special ‘display home’
was constructed on the corner of Victoria
Street and The Boulevarde, most feasibly to
profile the possibilities of building in the new township, and to encourage
others to follow in the new, modern style.
A further road, ‘The Mall’ extended eastwards to a dead end,
and ‘Florabella (meaning ‘beautiful flowers’) Street’ stretched southwards towards
a Walking Track specifically cleared by Rickard to promote the ‘Mountains
character’ of the development. It followed a small creek through to the back of
Blaxland, which was itself developing apace at the time.
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| Plan of Warrimoo as it exists today--the extra large battle-axe blocks exist on both sides of the township |
A Special
Place in Rickard’s Heart?
The Railway Station
There is substantial evidence to indicate ‘Warrimoo’ held a
special place in Arthur Rickard’s heart, despite the broadness of his holdings
elsewhere. In Warrimoo he had arranged for the rebuilding of a rail platform
and bridge. Already (in 1918) he had negotiated the renaming of ‘Karabar’ to
‘Warrimoo’, and moved the site of the platform 2-300 metres eastwards so that
it stood opposite Rickard Road
and the General Store, which was also constructed under his auspices.
Why the platform was moved is anyone’s guess. According to Lawrence Way
work did not really commence on the new platform till 1924, when he witnessed the
blasting of a wider cutting further west to accommodate the dual track platform
being built. Apparently Lawrence’s
father worked on extensions to the platform to make it more adequate, “Horses
were used pulling cartloads of earth to build up the station and widen the area
for the rail to be on the other side of the platform as well.” The
wooden pedestrian bridge above the station existed from the outset, and linked
both northern and southern sides of Warrimoo.
Constructions
The General Store
As previously mentioned, Arthur Rickard had a special
purpose two-storey General Store built on the highway, opposite the station, to
service the future community. The owners or lessees of the shop could live
upstairs. There is evidence that a smaller corner shop already existed at
Warrimoo ,
but the larger one came to dominate. This was certainly the centrepiece of a
dramatic fire and subsequent court case shortly after its completion in 1919.
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| The 'General Store' as it appears today. This building has been the centre of many dramas since its erection in 1920, and is surely worthy of consideration as the building most eminent for heritage-listing throughout the township. |
3 The Boulevarde
Another extant building already noted is the special
‘show-home’ at number 3 The Boulevarde to encourage more of the same. It was
built in ‘modern’, ‘monumental style’, with two massive pillars at the front
and covered with ‘ash plaster’. This bungalow was offered for sale by auction on the opening day of the subdivision's launch. It remains an impressive building today and has an intriguing history
all its own.
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| The famous bungalow at number 3 The Boulevarde. Offered at auction on the 'sale day' of the Warrimoo Estate, it stood as a beautiful testament to the stylish architecture of the period. Sketch courtesy of Warrimoo artist, Terry Dernee. |
The ‘Big Signs’
There appears to be little alternative other than to
attribute a famous six foot ‘WARRIMOO’ sign, standing where the present
Antiques shop is, to the promotional enthusiasm of Arthur Rickard himself. A
legendary picture of four young women seated within the ‘W’, testifies to the
sign being in place in 1930, welcoming motor tourists driving westward along
the Highway. Another subsequent sign implored visitors to ‘Be kind to yourself and live in Warrimoo’…
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| The now legendary pic of four girls perched on the 'W' of the huge 'Warrimoo' sign once situated where the current 'Antiques' shop on the 'Highway now stands. Another contribution of one Arthur Rickard |
Of course, it is possible that the Warrimoo Progress
Association or the Blue Mountains Shire Council had a hand in these spectacular
gestures, but neither of these august institutions was renowned for their
wealth, nor a tendency to spend lavishly, and other townships do not appear to
have had such imposing advertisements.
No, the Big ‘Warrimoo’ Signs bear the mark of the inimitable Rickard imagination,
employed in his customarily expensive yet memorable way.
Presumably both signs were later destroyed by bushfire, one
of which swept through the township in the mid 1930’s. There is no trace of
them now.
Widows and Veterans’ Homes
Being a proud and very public patriot who had avidly
supported Australian involvement in the war, Rickard was keen to make Warrimoo
a showpiece of Australian gratitude to returned servicemen and war widows after
the Great War. Rickard donated one block to the ‘Rejected Volunteers
Association’ and sold five others to them at half price.
The ‘Rejected Volunteers Association’ consisted of men who,
for medical or other reasons, had been unable to fight in World War I. Clearly
these men had suffered the social stigma of not wearing a uniform during the
Great War, and were now anxious to repair their standing after the slaughter of
the previous four years.
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| Badge of the 'Rejected Volunteers Association'. Rickard sought to encourage their work in the new settlement of Warrimoo |
Formed
in the latter years of the war, the Association’s President was Sir Edward John
Cox, an executive of the NSW branch of the British Red Cross, and its aims were
to construct homes for war widows and veterans using volunteer labour. It was thought
that the widow’s pension could be supplemented by taking paying guests and the
cottages were designed by Mr. Bates, honorary architect, with this in
mind. They had seven rooms and two large
sleeping-out verandahs and the land (c60 x 200ft) was planted with 40 fruit
trees. War widows with children and no
other means of support were invited to apply and the same conditions as those
in the Voluntary Workers Homes were applied.
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| A rather poor newspaper photo of the hand-over of a 'Rejected Volunteers Home' at Warrimoo to war widow, Mrs. Simpson. Precisely where this building is or was is open to debate, but most likely on Florabella St., The Avenue, or The Boulevarde |
The quality of these architect-designed weatherboard ‘homes’ is open to
question. Certainly there was much fanfare with the opening of the first one,
built on Rickard’s donated land:
The first
cottage was handed over on 14 December 1918 to war widow Mrs. Simpson, with
speeches about the sacrifices of many brave women and men. A return thanks on behalf of Mrs Simpson was
made by the Rev. Mr Kellett. Other
rejected men were urged to link up with the Association.
There is little proof that war widows lined up in droves to
take up the offer of being boarding house concierges and orchardists in the
middle of pretty rugged lower Blue Mountains
bushland. Lawrence Way
writes of “six wooden homes…built for returned soldiers to move into the area”,
probably located in The Avenue, The Boulevarde and Florabella Street. Lawrence’s father, Walter, rented one of
these homes in Florabella Street
while he built his own home in Albert
Street.
Leisure Facilities
The Tennis Court
Arthur Rickard certainly had his finger on the popular
pulse. The 8-Hour Day and the 44-Hour week were being entrenched. He knew of
the common demand for more leisure time on weekends, and was fully aware that
Saturday afternoon was rapidly becoming an opportunity for working people to
pursue healthy sporting and social activities that had previously been reserved
for middle class relaxation.
Tennis was one such pursuit. In city suburbs wealthy
families were able to afford the construction of a clay or lawn tennis court in
their back yards—something denied working class people who generally lived in
tenements or flats. Now, Rickard was offering a clay tennis court, just outside
the southern side of Warrimoo Station and across the Highway to the General
Store. Now, if the community was prepared to maintain and manage it, tennis
would be available to anyone who lived in the estate. Brilliant!
The Swimming Pool
Playing on the stereotypical mountain image of trickling
waterfalls and natural pools, Rickard arranged for the concrete blockage of a
creek running from Sun Valley around below Terrymont Road and Cross Street—about
a kilometre from the station, if one took the direct track downhill, cleared by
the Estate. The concrete used in creating the weir is still in existence today,
though in dilapidated condition.
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| Costume of the woman by the pool suggests early 1920's. Note the pathway to the water and the 'Changing Shed' in the background |
Over time, the ‘Warrimoo Pool’ became one of the most
popular swimming spots for visitors to the Lower Blue Mountains throughout the
1920’s and 30’s. It came to possess seating and change rooms, and a site for
picnics, although maintenance of the pool was to become a serious bone of
contention throughout its effective life. Its popularity declined after the
Second World War when maintenance was neglected and Olympic pools were
constructed at Springwood and then Glenbrook.
Florabella Track
Bushwalking, too, had become a popular pursuit in the early
decades of the 20th century. Rickard’s advertising ensured that Warrimoo
was touted as a botanical treasure-trove, and Waratah Street was so named because at
the time it was rich in abundance of the bright red native flower.
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| A page from Rickard's 'Realty Review', with Warrimoo being in pride of place compared to his other subdivisions. Overall prices for properties ranged from thirty pounds to several hundred pounds. |
The name ‘Florabella’ suggested a wide preponderance of
beautiful flowers and the Track, carved out at the behest of Rickard, was a
convenient one, running down the end of Florabella Street, along a pretty
watercourse to join Glenbrook Creek and Blaxland, and emerging at Ross Crescent.
Warrimoo schoolkids as well as tourists, used this route as
a handy shortcut between the two townships, and to and from Blaxland PS prior
to the construction of Warrimoo PS in the 1960’s.
The First Station Mistress
The final piece of circumstantial evidence revealing Arthur
Rickard’s relationship with Warrimoo relates to Catherine Ann Youson
(1881-1972), the first Station Mistress of the newly built trainstop.
Catherine Ann Batkin had married a tailor, Thomas Youson, in
1913 at Newtown, although Thomas was soon diagnosed with the killer disease,
tuberculosis, and needed fresh clean air if he was to have any chance of
survival, so the couple moved to Lot 14 Rickard Road where they built a basic
fibro house called ‘Lilac’ and settled.
It is difficult to assess the prime motivating factor for
Ann and Thomas’ move to Warrimoo, for we do know that it was Arthur Rickard who
told Ann about the proposed new station and the forthcoming need for a Station
Master/Mistress there. Apparently Mr. Rickard was aware of Ann’s mathematical
adroitness and felt she could handle the role admirably.
Had she been a Rickard employee when the couple had learned of Thomas’
diagnosis, or had they already moved to Warrimoo when Ann was ‘tipped off’
about the railways job?
In the event, Ann Youson got the position as Warrimoo’s
first Station Mistress, and Thomas died of his disease in 1925. Ann’s income
from the railways would have been a useful supplement to the scant entitlement
of a Widow’s Pension and her work enabled her to become a singular character in
the infant township for years to come.
Ann’s niece, Leonie Campbell, remembers…
She was an extremely competent crochet worker and
would even crochet her own dresses in her favourite lilac. Ann was a great talker and one could hear her
talking as she came up the path to the house!
In the 1950s there was a terrible bush fire which burnt the toilet and
water tank stand, but the house was saved…
Ann was a tremendous walker, through the bush,
down the roads etc. Once she even became
lost in the thick bush. She had two cats
at one stage – “Blackie”, who followed her around, would even make the long
walk along Rickard Road
over the railway line to the church in the park. Blackie would curl up and have a sleep whilst
the service was on, then follow her home again!
Ultimately---possibly soon after the 1953 fire---Catherine
Ann Youson transferred to Muttama, near Gundagai, to continue her calling as
Station Mistress. Warrimoo had lost an outstanding woman who had made her mark:
she had become part of the fabric of the place and had seen it grow from a
miniscule settlement to a developed community. Throughout, the township’s
growth had been overseen by a woman proudly contributing in a Public Service
dominated by men—not many (if any!) settlements can boast such a feat during
the ‘male breadwinner’ era!
Conclusion
So, can we make any firm conclusion about Sir Arthur
Rickard’s attitude towards Warrimoo? Without doubt he contributed a range of
features to the township which made it unique and which largely framed its
character from the outset. It is also true that Rickard possessed an impressive
‘family holiday house’ in Lawson called ‘Cadia’.
Every time he motored up the ‘Mountains in his impressive automobile from Sydney, or even took the
train, he would have passed through Warrimoo, which must have spurred his
creative imagination.
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| Sir Arthur stands between W. M. Hughes (Prime Minister in 1920) on his left, and John Harrington, the owner of the impressive 'Chandler' automobile to his right. These were the kind of vehicles Rickard would've used on his tours through the 'Mountains to 'Cadia', his retreat in Lawson |
However it is important to remember that Sir Arthur Rickard
operated at ‘the bottom line’—selling land for profit. His advertisements for the
‘Warrimoo Estate’ offered properties from ten shillings per foot up to three
pounds ten shillings per foot. The bottom end price, if the frontage of the
property was sixty feet, would amount to six hundred shillings or thirty
pounds. At the time—1920—the working man’s ‘Basic Wage’ (deemed by the
Arbitration Commission to be the amount of weekly pay required to sustain a
man, his wife and two children) was four pounds, so that it would not have been
a difficult thing, on ‘Rickard’s Easy Terms’, to pay off the block in
reasonable time—four to five years at two shillings per week or two to three
years at four shillings per week. Of course, those more preferred blocks at
three pounds ten per foot would’ve been a different proposition, probably
amounting to hundreds of pounds.
Rickard was supremely confident that real estate investment
was the surest thing since sunrise. ‘Rickard’s Realty Review’ explains…
…Land that was bought
but a few years ago at shillings per acre is now being sold at pounds per foot.
Fortunes, great and small, are being made on all sides. Money that has been
returning 3 per cent in banks for years is being withdrawn to earn 100, 200, or
even 300 percent for the prudent investor in real estate. Given the exercise of
a little common sense, or the acceptance of advice from experienced men, an
investor can hardly go wrong in Sydney.
There is no boom-- just a big, steady increase in value. Desirable property
anywhere, up to twenty miles from the city, cannot fail to receive added value
from Sydney’s
wonderful growth…
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| Rickard provides his economic philosophy in the 'Realty Review'. His optimism did not prove accurate in the short run |
The 1920’s was truly Arthur Rickard’s heyday. From the award
of his knighthood in 1920 to the collapse of the market in 1930, Sir Arthur
Rickard rode the Real Estate Express and shone like a beacon over Sydney society. Yet in
Warrimoo the advance was not spectacular. The various schemes to attract
ex-servicemen and war widows had limited success. He tinkered with the Lots on
sale to make them more attractive, and that’s where the ‘fowlanthropy’ came
in--although the larger lots did not create masses of orchards or a major
poultry hub, some newcomers did at least try. Businesses simply didn’t find
Warrimoo attractive enough to set up—the Highway blocks became residential or
remained vacant. The main industry appeared to be logging in gullies nearby.
In 1930, burdened with increasing debt upon properties that
demanded rates but could not be sold, Rickard’s Company on the Stock Exchange
collapsed and went insolvent. Rickard himself remained a high-profile dealer in
real estate, but the lustre had gone. No amount of largesse from right-wing
politicians nor celebrated appearances could restore the status of those
halcyon years.
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| Sir Arthur Rickard as KBE--'Knight of the British Empire'. He received his award in 1920 for 'services toward the war effort', no doubt in purchasing and promoting war bonds. |
Throughout these years circumstantial evidence would seem to
point to a special attachment of some kind to Warrimoo, but he was without
doubt an enthusiastic promoter wherever he instituted new developments. His
estates, whether in Woy Woy, Narrabeen, Bankstown
or the ‘Mountains, were always characterised by original publicity and a unique
approach. Without any clear statement from the subject himself, it would
require a comprehensive comparison with the measures taken at other projects to
fully ascertain the ‘special’ features of those taken at Warrimoo.
It is to be hoped future ‘Warrimoo Historians’ will be able
to undertake such a task.
Evans, Shirley & Smith, Pamela - REMEMBRANCE: Springwood District Honor Roll 1914-1919, p.14
