© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Mayfield

Read more about the article Leo Maley: a tragic Newcastle eccentric
Leo Maley in 1943, as a St Andrews College student at Sydney University.

Leo Maley: a tragic Newcastle eccentric

Many thanks to my former colleague Ian Kirkwood for some of the information and photos in this post. When the name of noted Newcastle eccentric Leo Maley is mentioned in the company of people who crossed his path during his lifetime, a common reaction is a raised eyebrow and a reference to his notoriously difficult nature and odd behaviour. Another reaction, less common but but sometimes encountered, is a sympathetic sigh and a comment that old Leo's life was a tragedy. For my part, I never knew him. Nor did I ever go into his famous…

Continue ReadingLeo Maley: a tragic Newcastle eccentric
Read more about the article Shelley Beach, Mayfield: a casualty of industry

Shelley Beach, Mayfield: a casualty of industry

The rare photograph above, taken by Newcastle girl Doris Schuck in about 1919, shows Shelley Beach, on the Hunter River at Mayfield. Shelley Beach and its adjoining park were treasured by Newcastle people until overwhelming pressure from the BHP steelworks led to the public reserve being handed over to the corporate giant for reclamation and industrial expansion. These days the former park and beach are buried under tonnes of industrial fill in the approaches to the Tourle Street bridge, leading to what is now Kooragang Island.Shelley Beach fronted “Platt’s Channel”, once a broad arm of the…

Continue ReadingShelley Beach, Mayfield: a casualty of industry
Read more about the article A Greek boy in Mayfield: Mike Trypas remembers

A Greek boy in Mayfield: Mike Trypas remembers

Mike Trypas still wonders what made his mother decide to uproot her family from the Greek island of Kos and transplant it in the foreign soil of distant Australia. His father would have been happy to stay and keep living the life of a "peasant farmer", working somebody else's land, but his mother must have known that leaving her old life would be the key to a better future for her four sons. Mike was just five when the family arrived in early June, 1955, after a month-long voyage aboard the MV Skaugum. His parents, Louizos…

Continue ReadingA Greek boy in Mayfield: Mike Trypas remembers
×
×

Cart