kuringgaichasenationalpark

Snap! - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=174530

Evidently the steam launch was called Kuring-gai. You can just about make out the lettering on the bow.

Aha! It was 1899 -

That's Eccleston Du Faur centre of frame on the "neat and serviceable houseboat". See comments and links on the oil launch photo above.

I think there is a comma after "Point" - ie "Station 311". The only Gibberagong I can find is a track alongside Cowan Creek in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Was Cowan Creek once named Gibberagong Creek? Amazingly you can now walk along the track from the comfort of your armchair !! GoogleMapsStreetView - goo.gl/maps/5gn6o - not this particular view.

That is Mr Eccleston Du Faur on the left, paddling with his trousers rolled up. Which implies the photo is one of a series taken in 1899. See comments etc -

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] Yes, I think a lot of the place names have changed over the years. I remember 7 months ago trying to find a detailed online map of Kuring-gai from c.1900, with no luck. It strikes me that due to Mr Du Faur's work in opening up and protecting the Chase, it became a more attractive and much easier place to get to by rail and/or steamer. Consequently more photographers came - I am thinking of all those 'unidentified' photos in the Phillips Collection (PhM) and Hall (ANMM). Watch these spaces ... !

Eureka! 1910 Kuring-gai interactive online map FOUND !! Gibberagong is an alternative name for Cockle Creek, to the west of Bobbin Head. There is enough information for a thesis in this map - www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-rm3117-s1-sd&r...

Aha! The photo's title "station 311" is explained by a table at the top left of the map, which gives the distances from various railway stations in chains. www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-rm3117-s1-sd&r... 1 chain = 0.0201168 kilometres (or 80 chains to 1 mile), so 311 chains = 6.26 kilometres. I bet Mr Du Faur supplied all the information and detail for the map, with his background as a draftsman and surveyor for the Surveyor-General's Office and Crown Lands Office. See his bio - adb.anu.edu.au/biography/du-faur-frederick-eccleston-3448

I spy with my little eye ... ... Frederick Eccleston Du Faur (1832-1915) at centre frame. See comments and links etc ...

See also

Somewhat poignant story to this Memorial to fallen A.I.F. comrades by Pte W.T. Shirley - www.webcitation.org/5qRqIKLqo . Photo certainly post 1928, probably late 1930s. Google Maps satellite for location - maps.google.com.au/maps?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Sydney+...

beachcomber australia Thanks for adding those links, quite a feat for one man to build. From the webcitation site (above) the inscription is: "To my glorious comrades of the A.I.F by the late W. Shirley No 5756 Pte. 13th Battalion Died 27th August 1928"