The terrace detective: Big timers

In our last episode, we put out an open call for requests and we’ve been flooded with responses. OK, we got a couple … but that is enough to keep the Terrace Detective’s head buried in the National Library of Australia’s Trove portal until the end of the year.

But we are going to run with a more timely request first. Can anyone think of a local landmark that is having an anniversary? Have you seen some kids wearing bright yellow T-shirts at Five Ways and wondered what is turning 140 this year?

Congratulations to those who said Glenmore Road Public School (GRPS). Established in 1883, this local primary school is having its 140th birthday celebration in 2023. This also makes your humble correspondent feel old, as I was the treasurer of the GRPS P&C Association during its 130th anniversary celebrations.

The specific request from a current parent was for the Terrace Detective to see if we could uncover any notable alumni in the school’s history. This does indeed sound like a job for Trove website (and likely, ANU’s online Australian Dictionary of Biography) but before we do that we will still conduct the usual local history investigation by visiting the site and using the trusty Sands Postal Directory (available online via the City of Sydney archives).

I know GRPS quite well, having had three children pass through its gates, but for those not as familiar, here are some of the key features. While called Glenmore Road Public School, the oldest building on the site is actually on the Cambridge St side of the grounds. As well as this building, the site also contains a headmaster’s residence, now called The Cottage and used for before and after school care. On the Glenmore Rd side is a sloping play area called The Rainforest.

The thing that really sticks out to me is that on all four sides, the site is buttressed by retaining walls. It seems weird, but an understanding of Paddington’s development timeline provides an explanation.

While the school was constructed in 1883 — on land resumed by the Crown in 1881 — regular readers will recall the adjoining Gurner Estate was subdivided in only 1885. It wasn’t until 1886 that Cambridge St was formed. Gurner’s Hill, as it was then known, was notoriously sandy (indeed, Gurner took out an advertisement in the Sydney newspapers in 1880 threatening prosecution for anyone stealing sand from his property). Cambridge St was built below the level the school had been developed. In 1886, the NSW Government put out tenders for the construction of a retaining wall to secure the hill.

The decision to place the school at what would become the Cambridge St side garnered some controversy at the time. The Daily Telegraph reported in July 1883 it had been “in receipt of several letters from residents on the Glenmore Rd, drawing attention to a great incongruity in connection with the new Public School buildings there. The buildings have their main and architecturally best front to the Glenmore Rd, but are placed at some distance back from it. In the intervening space have been put up unsightly weather sheds and places devoted to requirements generally fulfilled in the most private manner possible.”

Local residents wouldn’t put the matter to bed. Sending a petition to Paddington Council in 1884 complaining about “the placing of the water closets of the Glenmore Road Public School in front of the main building, thereby greatly interfering with the appearance of the school”. The council determined to forward this petition to the Minister of Public Education.

Continuing population growth in the area saw the school expand. A new building for the infants department was added in 1902 and another wing added in 1910. Both buildings were designed in the Federation Arts and Crafts style.

OK, so let’s move on to some alumni to grace those buildings.

Herbert ‘Horseshoe’ Collins (1888-1959), Australian cricket captain

In 1924, Sydney newspaper The Referee reported on the new captain of the Australian cricket team. “Collins is a product of Paddington in cricket. As a little chap in knickers he played with the Glenmore Rd school, and in those days put in much time with the bat and ball on the Hampden Park Oval (now known as Trumper Oval).

“Contemporary with Victor Trumper and M. A. Noble in the Paddington eleven, he was overshadowed by the giants of the time, but he also absorbed a very fine knowledge of the game and developed no inconsiderable powers as a player.”

Collins captained the Australian XI in the 1924-25 Ashes series, which the Australians won 4-1. Incidentally, he was also 4-1 in winning the toss during that series — his notorious good luck explaining the nickname 'horseshoe'. Also a handy rugby league player, in 1911 Collins played on Easts’ first premiership winning team. He played five-eight with the immortal Dally Messenger, playing off his hip at inside centre. Easts beat Glebe 11-8 in the grand final.

Collins’ luck ran out in England during the 1926 Ashes series, which Australia lost 1-0. With the first four Tests drawn, it came down to the deciding Fifth Test and there were questions over Collins’ tactics as captain. Some thought that due to his penchant for gambling, he threw the match, though this allegation was never proven. In any event, he was dropped not only from the Australian captaincy but also the captaincy of NSW and his Sydney grade club.

William Edwin ‘Wep’ Pidgeon (1909-1981), illustrator, painter and Archibald Prize winner

Known as Wep, Pidgeon started in the arts as an illustrator in many newspapers. During WWII he was a war artist for Australian Consolidated Press, returning to newspaper business after the war. He had a prolific output. The Australian War Memorial lists more than 400 of his works in its archives. Wep eventually gave up illustration for painting and won the Archibald Prize three times (in 1958, 1961 and 1968).

Eric Worrell (1924-1987), naturalist and founder of Australian Reptile Park

Crikey, this next alumni has an interesting story. Eric Worrell was the Steve Irwin of his day, but instead of crocodiles, it was snakes this GRPS boy was after. He developed an early interest in reptiles and was reported as keeping snakes as pets in his Paddington backyard by the age of 10. After WWII he moved to the Central Coast and established a research institute called the Australian Reptile Park, which exists to this day. He was the chief supplier of snake venom to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, with the development of the taipan anti-venom in 1955 credited to his bravery in milking taipans (a snake whose bite meant certain death, prior to the development of the anti-venom). As well as snakes, he also provided funnel web venom for the development of that anti-venom.

Jimmy Carruthers (1929-1990), boxing world champion

Boxer Jimmy Carruthers represented Australia at the 1948 Olympics and went on to win a world championship. A bantamweight fighter, he was world champion from 1952-54 and the first world champion boxer in any division to retire without a loss or draw. He was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame and, posthumously, the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He is also a reminder of when Paddington had a slightly different reputation from today. As noted in a newspaper biography in 1951: “Jimmy had a good home, but living among the rough and tumble of Paddington street life, he had to learn to fight very early.” It was also nice to read a Sydney Morning Herald report that in 1948, pupils from GRPS made a presentation to Carruthers prior to his departure for the Olympics.

Case closed.