© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Two odd tales of shifting gates

On March 21, 1907, thousands of citizens of Newcastle, NSW, attended the Upper Reserve (nowadays more commonly known as King Edward Park) to witness the grand opening of a special gift to the city. The donor was businessman Joseph Wood, best remembered for his involvement in the city's Castlemaine Brewery but active in many other spheres. Mr Wood had donated a pair of splendid ornamental gates to mark his 50th year in Newcastle, and these were officially opened in the evening. Festoons of electric lights were strung from the gates at the top of Watt Street…

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Bob Garside’s famous gardens

Bob Garside, former Newcastle council gardener. Meet the man the famous gardens at Newcastle's King Edward Park are named after. Bob Garside was a superintendent of parks and gardens for Newcastle City Council. At one time he had a staff of 115, and personally oversaw a superb plant nursery and horticultural library. At a certain point, an elderly gardener asked Bob if he could use a stack of old sandstone blocks, gathered from kerbs and elsewhere around the old town, to replace the picket fence around the flower gardens at King Edward Park. The result can…

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