place : theatres, schools, drive-in theme : … : theatres, schools, drive-in theme : businesses ......

Gold Coast City Council Southport stories 36 Community tales submitted for the Southport Heritage Walk 2009

Our family moved to the Gold Coast from the small Darling Downs town of Oakey in the late 1940s when my father, a railway

guard, was transferred to the Southport Railway Station. We lived in Beach Road, Surfers Paradise for a short time. In that time

my sister, Pam, and I commuted by bus to the Southport State School, which was situated in Scarborough Street. We shifted from

Surfers Paradise to Southport and lived in Lenneberg Street whilst waiting for our home to be built in Alderley Lane (off High St.) not

far from the Southport Railway Station.

I left school after having passed my Junior Certificate at Southport High School and worked as Clauson’s Jewellers in Nerang St.

for a short time. I obtain a clerk/typist position at the Titles Office, Brisbane and was transferred back to Southport to the Dept.

Agriculture & Stock in Welch St. My younger sister, Pam, was the first girl prefect at the new Southport High School at Musgrave

Hill.

We both worked as casual “usherettes” in the evenings for the

Thams Bros. – this would have been in the mid to late 1950s. Going

to the movies was “something special” back then. Many people held

permanent bookings every Saturday night.

The Thams Bros. owned several theatres and we worked in all of them. I

do remember the Regent Theatre which sloped down towards the stage

and the canvas sling-back chairs. Many times our torch lights caught

some funny situations when the lights were dimmed. Some larrikins

would roll Jaffa’s from the back of the theatre down the slope to the

front. The dress circle upstairs had comfortable leather chairs.

Place : Theatres, schools, drive-inTheme : BusinessesAuthor : Sybil Davis (formerly Wiltshire)

Inset of Archie Thams with the Regnant Theatre (later renamed the Regent Theatre)Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


Working at the Pier Theatre, which was built out over the Broadwater, is one of my fond memories. On a warm night we would

open all the windows and there would be a delightful breeze with the moonlight on the water (oh so romantic!). This theatre also

had sling back canvas seating. The Pier was also the venue for all the big Balls, skating and many other functions.

Other Thams theatres I remember working in were Old Burleigh Arcade Theatre, Burleigh Heads and the Labrador Hall (where the

Labrador Senior Citizen’s Hall now stands). Thams Bros. also bought out the Savoy Theatre which was in the centre of Nerang St,

We were amazed when “Cinemascope” was introduced to all theatres.

One of the Thams Bros. also operated the first Drive-In Theatre, which was off the Brisbane/Labrador road. Both Pam and I enjoyed

our time as “usherettes”. Looking back, families really enjoyed going out to the movies on Saturday night. Growing up in Southport

was certainly a lot of fun!

continued

Place : Theatres, schools, drive-inTheme : BusinessesAuthor : Sybil Davis (formerly Wiltshire)


Everyone will talk about the Pier theatre (I wish they hadn’t

demolished that) but there was also the Regent in Nerang St which

was on the southern side up just east of the Garden St intersection.

Southport had 3 theatres and none of them (Savoy was the third

one, down near the National Bank opposite where Australia Fair is)

had air-conditioning; and at the Regent, on a hot Saturday matinee

afternoon, those sitting in the canvas seats in the stalls simply leaned

across and opened the shutters to let in the air. They were designed

not to let in the light though. The Sat matinees were always 2 shows

so it took the whole afternoon. You wouldn’t have thought that

Southport could support 3 theatres (owned and managed by the

Thams family).

The Southport Drive In came along in about the mid 1960s. Suppose

these things can be related to any country theatre though!!!

Place : The Pier Theatre, SouthportTheme : History and Development - Theatres & EntertainmentAuthor : Don Deutscher

Regnant Theatre (later renamed the Regent Theatre)Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Thams Picture Theatre, circa 1917Image courtesy of John Oxley Library, State

Library of Queensland


Before we moved to Southport from Charleville in 1960, my family had

holidayed in Southport, Main Beach and Surfers Paradise on an annual

basis for some 30 years; I remember as 7 and 8 year old staying in a big old

rental house called “Rayong” on the eastern corner of Queen and Bauer

Streets. Coming from a sheep station, my brother and I used to marvel at

the play equipment in the Queens Park opposite, and at the wonderful

neon signs that we don’t seem to see today. Just to the east of “Rayong”

(Jubilee Bridge side) was a motel called the “Blue Lagoon”. It had fantastic

big colourful neon sign which had a beach with palms and a blue lagoon

in the background. On the beach was a missionary in a pot - he kept

popping his head up and a native beside the pot would hit him with a club

every time he did. That was on a loop. The caption was - “he’d be happier

in the blue lagoon”.

Place : My SouthportTheme : History and Development – Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Don Deutscher

Blue Lagoon, Queen Street, Southort, circa 1960sImage courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


Remembering early Southport – my husband was called upon as a hotel

man, to open Lennons Hotel in Southport – it was a large building on

the edge of the sand and with “Lennons” name, became a well known

“watering hole” for the rich and famous; we played host to many well

known’s of the day – Billy Graham, Robert Helpman among many others

of those early days. I remember the local bridge was a rickety old wooden

affair which led to farmland on the other side. My older daughter caught

a bus to the convent (now TAFE) and my small girl and I spent our days at

the hotel swimming pool. Later my husband was later appointed to run

Lennons Hotel in Toowoomba – however we have fond memories of early

Southport.

CORRECTION - Lennon’s Hotel was at Broadbeach not Southport.Jubilee bridge, 1933Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Place : Stories of SouthportTheme : Heritage PlacesAuthor : Joan Fabian


The history of the mill is well known, but not much seems to be known about the layout. What follows are my recollections of the site, up to the early 1950’s.

The mill occupied a long, narrow strip of land between Nind Street and the Southport-Brisbane railway line, running West from Chapel Street, behind what was the Railway Hotel, now the Del Plaza, almost up to High Street. Starting from that end, was the home of Ralf “Sonny” Tenant Johnston. This white home, “Sata Nita”, (which, as a child, I thought meant Saturday night), is now a funeral parlour. Next to it was the home of his father, Robert Tenant Johnston, a very nice Queenslander style building. Then, to the East of that came the mill premises.

There was an access lane off Nind Street, running along beside the Johnston home, towards the railway line. From this lane to the East, was a large open area with rough cut timber from the saw benches stacked 8 to 10 feet high, each layer separated from the next with rows of inch square hardwood spacers to allow air circulation. Between these rows were trolley tracks so the timber could be loaded onto trolleys, to be taken up into the planning section, by being winched up a ramp.

Between the timber stacks and the railway line was a huge vertical saw for cutting large logs length-wise, so they could go forward to the circular saws for further processing. Between this area and the railway line were heavy timber loading ramps, where the logs were unloaded from the trucks. Above the milling section was a large area where the joinery work was carried out. The glue pots were supplied with steam from the mill steam engine boiler, to keep the glue liquid. Down a few steps from here towards Nind Street was the planning section, managed by Tony Street. The timber to be treated was brought from the trolley at the Nind Street end and put through the planers. No electronic gadgets then. Tony had to measure all the blade settings by hand and some of

Place : Johnston & Freeman SawmillTheme : Heritage PlacesAuthor : K.B. Freeman

Johnston & Freeman's Sawmill, Nind Street, circa 1916Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

these were very complicated. There was also a smaller planer for running

out lighter work, such as 2” by 1” pine. The finished timber was shot across

to storage space across the wide space between the planning section and

the store via a roofed box section, which looked very much like a miniature

Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Below the planning section was the nerve centre of the mill, the steam

engine and boiler, which was tended to, in my time, by Percy Wright. The

boiler used off-cuts from the sawmill. This steam engine is on display in

a large shed at the Gold Coast Historical Museum, Elliott Street, Bundall.

Sawdust was carted away by Joe Litfin in his green cable lift tip trucks.

Eastwards from here, across a wide laneway, on the Nind Street end, was the Yard office on ground level, then towards the railway

line, timber storage, a lane heading East towards the Blacksmith’s shop, Bill Mackey in residence. Then more timber storage, then a

shed containing the magnificent horse-drawn hearse, complete with glass panel sides and heavy black curtains. This was towed by

a horse named “Punch”. The mill in the early days, was, as I recall, the only funeral service available on the Coast. Bob Pidd was the

undertaker.

Heading back towards Nind Street was more timber storage above, ending at the laneway to the Blacksmith’s shop. On Nind Street,

east of the Yard office, was the Glazing section, then, across the laneway, storage for turpentine and other articles required in the

Glazing section. South of this was a large shed where the sheets of glass were unpacked and stored. South again was a laneway and

a wide open space, and next to the railway line, the Blacksmith’s shop. From these buildings on to Chapel Street was mainly devoted

to stacked, spaced timber. Across Nind Street, on the corner of Nind Street and Davenport Street, was the head office, managed by

my grandfather, Ernest Freeman. Between that and the Ice-works, was a yard and stables for “Punch”.


Cedar log being transported to the sawmill, circa 1930Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


At a later date, the glass storage and Glazing department were moved to a spot under the North East corner of the Joinery and it’s previous site became a large Hardware shop and office. The mill has now been long gone and the whole area, right up to Ralph Johnstone’s old home, is not all commercial premises and most likely none of them know what slice of Southport’s history they are sitting on.

Every year around Christmas time, the famous Evangelist, Dr Billy Graham, used to bring his entourage for a period of two weeks to the park area on the Broadwater across the road from our house between Tuesley’s Jetty and Mitchell’s Jetty in Southport. As kids, we were allowed to attend these performances which took place every night after dinner. We sang hymns by the dozens and listened in awe to this great man preaching the bible.

These concerts were very well attended, literally hundreds of men, women and children would turn up no matter what religion they were…. He certainly had the gift of the gab!! This period would have been when I was about 8 years of age which would make it about 1954…wow! That was a long time ago.

As a child in the 1950’s, our family lived on the corner of Railway Street and the Esplanade in Southport. Across the road from our house was the terminus for the Southport to Brisbane railway line and on the weekends, all the carriages were laying idle in the yards so my brothers and sister used to go over and play in them for hours on end. I guess that would not be a possibility now (they would be locked up today) but in those days, people respected public property and we never thought to cause damage….graffiti or otherwise.

I have to think, due to the government of the day deciding we no longer needed that rail system, what a terrible waste of money that the present government is having to spend replicating the lines right through to Murwillumbah when we already had a good rail system in place.

I think it is more relevant now due to the congestion on the roads and the governments trying to steer commuters into using public transport.

Place : Playing in the railway carriages in Railway StreetTheme : History and DevelopmentAuthor : Kathy Gaven


I was only a couple of years old when Mum and Dad moved the

family to the Gold Coast from Sydney in 1963. We lived in a house

on the corner of Johnston and King Streets in Southport for the

first year and a half or so. Although very young I do recall going to

the movies at the Southport Broadwater - I think it was called the

Pier Theatre, but memory may be playing tricks. I don’t know what

was playing, probably a Disney movie, as they were almost the only

children’s movies around in those days. What I do remember is

being fascinated by the water that I could see lapping against the

pylons that I could see through the gaps in the floorboards, and

how sparkly the water was with the sun shining on it.

We moved from Southport in 1965, however we took a bit of

Southport with us, as Mum and Dad bought the former station

master’s house from the recently closed Southport Railway Station in

Scarborough Street, and had it moved out to the property they had

purchased at Gilston.

Place : A Southport StoryTheme : Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Former Southport resident

Southport Pier Theatre, circa 1950Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


Our family of four headed for a campsite at Main Beach, Southport, in the

family car, a renowned tourer with fabric hood and packed to the limit. We

would travel from Brisbane. There were milestones for every mile and as we

passed the last long mile No. 56 the sea could be seen from the top of the last

hill. Then over the bridge to our campsite.

As I was 5 years old at the time, 1935, and unable to help erect the tent, I

headed for the beach. The tent square with canvas sides and birkmire top

and a strong centre pole was soon erected. We also brought sacks to be filled

with sand in the event of rough weather and if required would be placed on

the overlap around the tent perimeter at ground level. All done, we headed

for the beach. There the lifesavers would be practicing with reel and line, also

revival exercise with another lifesaver acting as a patient. Songs of the day

were played over the loud speaker, also used to warn surfers of danger. Some

surfers had wooden boards to surf the waves. Inflated rubber boards could be hired on the beach. Body surfing was popular, which

at a later time I would enjoy. There were treasures to found in the sand – one such was a bottle of rum at a recently used campsite.

I swapped my find for an old laminated split cane fishing rod and a “gut” line. In a dim lit shop close by lollies were available from

large glass jars on the counter, weighed and presented in brown paper bags for a few pennies.

In Southport central work went on at a slow, quiet and steady pace. The cars were but few in the suburbs and residents relied on

home delivery. The butcher and baker would deliver by horse and cart or a motor vehicle of the time. Milk came the same way and

was sold by the pint, the home keeper having placed a tin billy or jug at the back door with payment on the step. The iceman came

with blocks of ice which were placed in the top compartment of the ice chest. The ice chest was of wood and the ice container

Place : Southport stories 1935 - 1945Theme : Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Bob Hart

Camping at Main Beach, circa 1925Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

galvanised iron. Fruit and vegetables would sell from a horse and cart. Groceries were delivered the same way. A pie man with his cart would sell pies in the Winter and ice-cream in the Summer. Clothes props of forked saplings too came by horse and cart. Toys in town shops were made of wood or tin for boys and for girls all inlaid plaster or ceramic. Houses were of hardwood and pine, also fibro cement. Some dwellings were of brick with stacked slate fences. Some properties had a water well with often a hand pump connected. Sealed roads were constructed using crushed stone or rocks delivered by lorry or Clydesdale driven horse carts. The larger rocks would be broken down using a sledge hammer often by ‘Relief Workers’. Then spread by a grader and rolled with a steam roller. Bitumen would be spread and rolled again.

Connecting roads in swamp areas were made of paper bark “cords” placed across the roadway. These roads were named corduroy paper bark. Ti trees were also used by campers and railway settlers as support poles for A shaped tents. Some houses were named. One must have been owned, I thought, by a Spaniard – the front displayed the name “Costa Mucha”. There too were no riff-raff and for a good reason because the name was derived from the river rafters of the south U.S.A. Mississippi and it was to Southport on a raft and that’s fair dinkum.

Swagmen would occasionally drift into Southport. They were the dispossessed, often well dressed, their only possession being their swag,


continued

Place : Southport stories 1935 - 1945Theme : Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Robert Hart

Theo's Pies, circa 1920Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Southport Mayor J.H. Grice and Alderman inspecting the power grader in 1930Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


tucker bag and a bob in the pocket. These were hard times – to collect their

relief handout that they received from the Police Station they were made

to move on to the next town. There too were the family dispossessed. They

would erect a shack on crown land in the bush on the outskirts of the town

and out of sight and tolerated by the authorities. Their makeshift abodes were

often innovated in various ways. The roof of old iron or straightened out kero

tins. The frame and rafters were bush timber and the sides corn sacks painted

and spread with cement plaster. Their furniture was often of good quality.

Their transport was an old car or horse and cart. I explored these areas by

bicycle 1937-1938.

World War 2 broke out and soon after we bought a cottage on the Nerang River and there was a well in the front yard. I had

enough savings to buy a wooden dingy from Brisbane and had it transported by cargo boat from Klienschmitts wharf in Brisbane

to Klienschmitts wharf on the Nerang River close to the old bridge. The anchor was heavy and of solid brass, cast at the tramways

workshop as a ‘foreign order’. Having a boat and bike increased my mobility. I used the tide to my advantage as rowing wasn’t easy.

Mud crabs were to be caught from pots or dillies. There were dangers in crabbing and I was grabbed three times in different ways.

The first from a dilly which landed 3 undersized crabs. When I tried to release one from the net I was nipped by another, then the

other. The second time, I caught large crabs and loaded them in a sack which I carried over my shoulder. However, I was clawed

through the sack and onto my back. I then laid down on the track until they released their grip. The third time I was walking

barefoot in the mangrove mud when I stepped on this big crab half buried. I was clawed through my right heel until the pincers

met. The crab threw the claw and I was able to hop to higher ground where I prised the claw open. After boiling the large claw in a

billy, I ate the flesh and that’s rigdy-didge!

Road construction, circa 1925Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

continued

Place : Southport stories 1935 - 1945Theme : Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Robert Hart

place : theatres, schools, drive-in theme : … : theatres, schools, drive-in theme : businesses ......

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