mosman

Charters Towers, the town they call ‘The World', was born to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. Hugh Mosman, George Clarke, John Fraser and their horse boy Jupiter had been prospecting to the south of what is now Charters Towers when their horses scattered during a fierce thunderstorm. It was while searching for the horses the next morning that the first Towers gold was discovered. The discovery point was just near the modern day intersection of Mosman Street, Rainbow Road and Black Jack Road and was at the end of the year 1871 or the very beginning of 1872. The party returned to Ravenswood to register their find which they named Charters Towers: 'Charters' for W.S.E.M. Charters, the Gold Commissioner - the big man from the Cape (Charters was said to be about 6'6" tall and weighed some 20 stone) and 'Towers' because of the conical shaped hills in the vicinity of the discovery. Mosman Street The rush to the place was immediate, with men from the south of the colony arriving as early as March. By the end of the month, 25 claims were laid off as far north as the St Patrick, south-east to the Washington and west to the North Australian. A business area with better access to a permanent water supply was marked out as well on a low ridge north of Mosman's Camp with its main thoroughfare named Mosman Street. Here the first storekeepers, blacksmiths, butchers and hoteliers went to work. "For a long time the buildings, business and private, were of a typical new goldfield variety - calico or bark - and leading hotels were constructed of saplings stuck into the ground and lined with calico, the whole being covered with iron." Source: www.visitcharterstowers.com.au/about/history-heritage

Google Maps Street View - NB dent in concrete wall - g.co/maps/tx7g7

wow, a lot of work to make parkland, i guess it deepened the bay for moorings as a bonus?

Good find! And if you cross to the other side of the road in Google streetview you can see the palm tree is still there. AB

Okay... here's a real research teaser for you... On the water is the sand-pump dredge and to its right is a large roofed barge with a jetty up to it. Is that the same barge, or the sister vessel, of the one used at Luna Park as its floating dance hall? Seen to the extreme, bottom left in this very early Luna Park image. www.lunaparksydney.com/sites/default/files/2017-10/home-h... Which was then later left rotting in Berrys Bay www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/helipad-turns-out-to-be-an-ol... What's even more fascinating is that by my understanding this (these) barge/s were in-fact repurposed from their original use - construction barges for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Would love to know!

Adam W It's always good to revisit these photos (9 years later!). I have no idea about the barges, but here is a 'large spanner in the works' re the 1935 date - this Trove article from 10 years earlier (Feb 1925) has a similar earlier photo and details. It was a co-operation between Mosman Council and the Sydney Harbour Trust (their barge?) and the work was expected to take three years ... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16206151?searchTerm=sp...

I'd say it was just about to get out of control . . .

...so good

From the The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 27 July 1938 page 6 . . . Theatrical Ball. As the majority of the 1,000 dancers who attended the Theatrical Midnight Ball at Mark Foy's last night, were unable to be there until after their work, the dance started at 11 p.m. and ended at 4 a.m. The ball, which was arranged by the theatrical employees in city and suburban theatres, was in aid of the building fund for a convalescent home for theatrical employees.