Photo of the South Creek band 1920 courtesy of Bert Evans, Lifetime member of the Society. Originated as one of a number of fraternal organizations for temperance or total abstinence founded in the 19th century and with a structure modelled on Freemasonry, using similar ritual and regalia. Unlike many however it admitted men and women […]

By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc. IN 1872 Samuel Marks was a farmer at Littleham on the Liverpool road in St Marys. The name was probably named after the nearby town near Exmouth in England where there is a Samual Marks buried in the Littleham church. By […]

IN December 1945 a single man named John Joseph Xavier Wright aged 31 returned to St Marys. John was born in May 1914 at Boolaroo, Lake Macquarie in NSW to parents Albert Ernest and Elsie Xavier Wright (King). His father was born in 1886 in Durham, England and they married in September 1910 in Tynemouth, […]

Photo of a £40 cheque from Farleigh Nettheim & Co – 1907 from the internet. IN December 1936 a bike ride to St Marys changed the lives of two friends and their families forever when Thomas Ernest Wright and Francis Edward Spittle both aged 16, decided on a bike ride to St Marys that was […]

Photo of Miss Franklin courtesy of RAHS History online. January 5th – “Manly” on the Nepean. If anybody had the idea that there are not any beauty spots in and around the Penrith District that idea would certainly have been dispelled if they had paid a visit to the western bank of the famous Nepean […]

There are many theories regarding the start of Christmas in July in Australia.  We definitely know that the weather in December was not the traditional Christmas cold weather. Even though it is boiling hot here in Australia, the oldies (baby boomer parents, grandparents etc) who mostly in the early days came from Great Britian the […]

Photo of the grave courtesy of Ancestry website. THE Penrith District Coroner Arthur Judges J.P. held an inquest at Penrith Court House concerning the death of William Victor Breeze. William was born at Jamisontown on 14th February 1878 and was 45 years of age. He was the son of John Mathew Breeze and Catherine Harvey […]

IN 1919 on Victoria Park at St Marys an energetic committee of Secretary Mr Marx left no stone unturned to make the celebrations worthy of St Marys. Mr Marx was well supported in his efforts by Mrs Young the  Secretary of the local Red Cross Society along with Mayor Alderman Morris and other prominent townspeople. […]

A fter nine long years “Val” is back where she belongs. When the gathering “storm clouds” of the Second World War became threatening, Australia started once again to look to its defense. The first Menzies’ Government came to power in 1939 and set in place events leading to the establishment of an ammunition fill for […]