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Newcastle

Read more about the article Bob Garside’s famous gardens

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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Read more about the article Dinny O’Brien’s legendary Newcastle pawnshop
Dinny O'Brien's pawnshop in Hunter Street, Newcastle.

Dinny O’Brien’s legendary Newcastle pawnshop

DINNY O'Brien was a Newcastle legend in his lifetime, and even today his name conjures memories for many who recall his landmark pawnshop on Hunter Street. He and his wife Margaret had five sons and a daughter. I interviewed Tom O'Brien some years ago, when he was aged 94 and the last survivor of Dinny's children. Tom was deeply proud of the business his father built, and which sustained generations of the extended family in good years and bad. One of very few photos of Dinny O'Brien. Dinny lived originally at Largs, and his first business…

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Read more about the article When Newcastle went with Jayes

When Newcastle went with Jayes

Jayes Travel Service was an iconic Newcastle business through a large part of the 20th century. The founders, John and Lottie Jenkins (pictured below), came to Newcastle in 1928, having emigrated from Scotland in 1920. Their first business in Newcastle was in accountancy and collections. John and Lottie Jenkins, circa 1920 The Depression made business hard to come by, and Lottie started helping Katoomba guest houses find staff to run their operations, trading as Jayes Employment Agency.John Jenkins had served in World War 1, but signed up again to fight in World War II. Lottie kept…

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