Rotary hears about history of local tourism
Local author Mr Peter Fisher has given a talk to the Rotary Club of Woy Woy about his new book, the History of Tourism on the NSW Central Coast.
Mr Fisher told the club that the first holiday makers to come to the Coast came in about 1826 by boat from Pittwater.
He said that, in 1887, The Ferntree Hotel in Gosford bought a horse-drawn Hansom cab to transport patrons to and from the rail station.
Club president Mr Tom McCann said: "Many other items of note were discussed and shown: the pine trees at Terrigal planted in 1904, an advertisement for Woy Woy as "The Venice of Australia" with the Hawkesbury River being described as the "Rhine of Australia" in 1872."
Club members were shown a notice in The Gosford Times in 1911, placed by "Maud" and her 11 girlfriends offering to provide food and a pleasant chat for 12 young men during a two-hour cruise around Brisbane Waters and the Hawksbury River.
Interested young men were asked to "stand Sam" for fares and ginger beer for the young women.
"Stand Sam" was an Americanism from the American Civil war (1861-1865), referring to the payment of soldiers for their food and supplies by Uncle Sam, said Mr McCann.
Mr Fisher also showed us a slide of a sculpture of the Siren of Mooney Mooney, designed and completed by a German concreter, working on building the expressway.
"The sculpture is still there today, but now heavily covered in bush," said Mr McCann.
SOURCE:
Newsletter, 26 Nov 2024
Tom McCann, Rotary Woy Woy