Enquiries on Glebe’s history and heritage continue to be received from members of the general public via the Society’s website. Where they relate to specific buildings, family researchers are encouraged to look at our detailed document.

Here is a sample of some of the queries. Please contact history@glebesociety.org.au if you have any information which can be passed on.

  • Ernest Leslie Amery who sold timber in the 1920s. His premises were on Bridge Rd next to the State Brickworks depot. The enquirer seeks information on the Brickworks and photographs of that area.
  • Eric Sandblom who was a key Society member in the 1970s, President at least once, and made a Life Member in 2014.
  • Michael Eugene-Moylan who was a hotelkeeper when he died in 1969.
  • James Dole, chemist in Glebe St (1856-1880s). His business was also listed as Chemist/Post Office. A birth notice for one of his children stated his address as ‘Medical Hall’ Bishopthorpe.
  • Bus driver Thomas Brady. He later set up a bus company in Marrickville.
  • The descendants of Glebe alderman John Reilly.
  • Glebe’s ferries.
  • Who manufactured the tiles on the paths of the houses on Northcote Rd?

In some cases, we have been able to provide detailed answers.

Q. I’m writing to see if you know of any records of a private hospital that operated on Wigram Rd near the corner of Glebe Point Rd. I believe it was there in the early 1920s.

A. Now Rainbow Lodge at 22 Wigram Rd, the building was known earlier as ‘Nurse Farrell’s private hospital’. Its history is covered in issues 7 and 8 of the 2018 Bulletin.

Q. I wonder if you would know the names of the person(s) who owned the Ancient Briton pub in Lyndhurst St and Glebe Rd in the years 1876-1884? I think it may have been Sarah Jones and I would like to know if it was my ancestor who was born in Gloucester England and who was married to James Jones. She had a son William Henry Jones, born in Glebe in 1860.

A. Mrs Sarah Jones was listed in the 1877 Sands Directory as the licensee of the Ancient Briton on the corner of Glebe and Pyrmont Bridge Rds. The building still trades under that name but its original fabric has disappeared. An undated subdivision plan shows Jones’ Hotel.

Undated subdivision plan showing what is now the Ancient Briton. Like many early pubs it was known by the name of the licensee. A descendant of Sarah Jones is researching her family tree.

In some cases, trawling through Trove in search of answers throws up some good stories. Researching a stretch of the Chapman Steps houses brought a news item from 1931 when some guinea pigs and a rabbit were accidentally released from the Veterinary Science School opposite. Rumoured to be inoculated with typhoid, two of the former were quickly returned from a Chapman Steps back yard. The rabbit was found in a paddock in the university. What are the chances today of any animal not being obliterated trying to cross Parramatta Rd?