Re: Site of Rockdale Tram Depot

[smithxpj@ozemail.com.au (PJ)]

On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 13:03:25 GMT, jspinella2000@my-deja.com wrote:

>Hi
>I was interested to find out what is on the site of the former Rockdale
>Tramway depot which closed in 1949. I assumed blocks of flats or houses
>would have been built on the site.
>I decided to pay a visit to the site. I found that houses surrounded
>the border of the land as they have done even when the depot was open.
>The only way in was through a passage way along the former tramway
>alignment where trams used to enter the depot.
>When I got in there I found a large area of land untouched by any kind
>of development. Nothing has been touched to the site where the depot
>once was. The only thing that has changed is that there was a lot more
>trees and no depot building. I even found an old tramway sleeper on the
>ground along with some ballast.
>Does anybody know who owns this land?
>
>
>Sent via Deja.com
>http://www.deja.com/

I used to frequent there as a kid in the mid to late 1950's and look
back and consider it amazing that the land has never been fully
developed to this day.

The flats that run along the western side of Francis Avenue north of
the Catholic primary school were non-existent back then and these seem
to be the only development activity to date.
 
It was a bit of a dilemma for developing young minds that we were
forbidden by the primary school nuns to play in the "tram sheds", yet
we couldn't see a shed or a tram within cooee. We gathered that they
meant that we weren't allowed near the concrete inspection pits, (for
whatever reason they were called 'tram sheds'!) which was all that was
left after the operation was shut down.

As well, a solitary corrugated iron Boy Scout hall on the western side
of the entry pathway between Bay Street and the 'sheds' is now long
gone. 

The water-table in that area is not far down and the land occasionally
became swampy and was a great spot for the adventure of catching frogs
and tadpoles (this was in the days when we had to create our own fun
instead of just buying it from a K Mart or a Big W). During the drier
periods, the location was a regular stopping place for Ashton's
Circus. It was also a ripper patch of ground for building a massive
communal bonfire on Empire Day 'cracker night', May 24. 

The 'future' planned expressway?...well, as a kid, I thought that we
were going to have some fancy six-lane freeway, the maps of the time
showed it marked in dotted lines. The corridor was to be mainly along
creek courses and through Scarborough park to where the present day
Captain Cook bridge crosses the Georges River. But it just never
happened. 

And given the traffic chaos along Bay Street, the Grand Parade and
General Holmes Drive these days, I'm damn glad that I moved out of the
place thirty years ago and just keep the memories of the place for
nostalgia!!