Enfield Council Staff, 1937

Standing, from left, E.V. Dudeney, Works Overseer; T. Lawson, Cost Clerk; W.P. Upcroft, Baths Manager; A.E. Lloyd, Clerk.

Seated, from left, A. Brown, Typist; J.T.S. Ryan, Engineer; H.A. Drew, Town Clerk; F.E. Moore, Health Inspector; G. Doe, Clerk. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies

Enfield Council was incorporated in 1889. In 1937 the staff of Enfield Council were photographed outside the Enfield Council Chambers. The photo appeared in the souvenir programme of Coronation Parade and Arch, opened on 5 June 1937 by His Excellency the Governor, Lord Wakehurst.

Town Clerk, Harold Drew is seated in the middle. He had been Town Clerk since 1921 and had overseen many developments in the Enfield district, including the construction of both the Enfield War Memorial and swimming pool. Before moving to Enfield he had served as Town Clerk of Condobolin. He was farewelled from there in 1921 and presented with a gold medal.[1] Drew Street, Greenacre was later named for him. Local government service must have been in the blood because in 1937, his brother, Raymond O. Drew held the post of Town Clerk of Gulgong.[2] Harold Drew was married twice and remained local. He was still a resident of Enfield when he died in 1961, aged 72.

Behind Drew in the photo are, from left, E.V. Dudeney, Works Overseer; T. Lawson, Cost Clerk; W.P. Upcroft, Assistant Health Inspector and Baths Manager and A.E. Lloyd, Clerk. Seated from left are A. Brown, Typist; J.T.S. Ryan, Engineer; Harold Drew; F.E.S. Moore, Health and Building Inspector and Miss G. Doe, Senior Clerk.

Ernest Vine Dudeney served as Acting Works Overseer for Enfield Council for four years before being promoted to Works Overseer in January 1935.[3] He too lived locally and was a resident of Croydon Park when he died in 1959. He was buried nearby at St Thomas’s Church, Enfield.

Standing, in the pale-coloured suit, is Walter Partlett Upcroft, then Manager of the Enfield Baths and Assistant Health Inspector. The previous year he had reported to Enfield Council that 2775 people had attended the baths between 7 and 23 Sept 1936.[4] Upcroft’s career was long and varied. In 1913 while health officer at Granville Council, he had identified a case of smallpox.[5] In early December 1937 he was elected alderman to Granville Council. With wide experience, he was also a member of both the Royal Sanitary Institute of London and the Institute of Health Surveyors of Australia. He was a fully qualified health and building inspector and had been actively engaged in local government administration for 25 years. For many years he was also on the teaching staff of Sydney Technical College.[6] He and wife Bertha celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in October 1963.[7] Partlett died, late of Merrylands, in 1968.

Seated second from the left in the photo is Engineer, James Thomas Stephens Ryan of Enfield Council. He was a returned World War I soldier, having served with the 1st Field Company of Australian Engineers as a sapper. He was badly wounded in action on 31 August 1916, receiving a gunshot wound to the right thigh and undergoing several surgeries in England. He returned home in 1917 and was medically discharged. Ryan was appointed to Enfield Council as Engineer in August 1936. He had previously been works engineer at North Illawarra Council [8] where he was highly regarded.[9] On 25 May 1937 he reported at the Enfield Council meeting of an ‘alarming outbreak of vandalism in parks and streets.’ Local school children were enlisted to help keep watch and report any offending behaviour. Pupils from Enfield Public School had already banded together to help Council protect Henley Park.[10] Ryan didn’t stay long at Enfield Council. He went on to serve as assistant engineer at Canterbury Council [11] and was later employed at Holroyd Council.[12] He died in Strathfield in 1957.

Seated second from right is Frederick Ernest Moore, Health Inspector. In April 1935 he was congratulated by Enfield Council for being selected to carry out purification tests at the new Melbourne Pool in acknowledgement of his work in the construction and successful management of the Enfield swimming baths which were opened in November 1933. He was also a teacher of sanitary science at the technical college.[13] In 1936 he was appointed to the Slums Investigation Committee, becoming the only NSW municipal health officer to serve on the committee. He had been employed by Enfield Council for 15 years and was recognised for his local work ‘cleaning up unhealthy and poorly equipped residential areas.’[14]

The Slums Investigation Committee was tasked with making a general and statistical survey of existing housing conditions and report on undesirable buildings and overcrowding. It was also expected to formulate a scheme for clearing low standard areas and housing the dispossessed occupants.[15] In late 1938 Moore was again congratulated for the raids he conducted on itinerant fruit hawkers who were selling rotten fruit and vegetables to local housewives.[16] However, tragedy struck the Moore family on 26 December 1938 when his 5-year-old son fell into an open silo pit on a property in Penrith. He suffered a fractured skull and was killed.[17] Moore later worked for Bankstown Council. He died suddenly, aged 54, on 3 October 1954 in Wagga Wagga, late of 35 Marion Street Homebush.[18]

Seated on the right of the photo is Miss Gwendoline Doe, daughter of Brian James Doe MLA, member for Sturt and later, Murray electorates. He was also alderman at Broken Hill from 1906 to 1911.[19] The family moved to Rydalmere but then settled at Marroa, 23 Redmyre Road Strathfield during the 1920s, in a house later owned by Gwendoline.[20] They had moved to Epping by 1930. Gwen apparently suffered from pneumonic influenza in Rydalmere in June 1919, during the Spanish flu epidemic.[21] The family was said to have been prominent in Red Cross circles. In 1935 Gwen Doe made the newspapers when she served as Acting Town Clerk during Harold Drew’s long service leave – a role highly unusual for a woman at that time.[22] When Enfield Council ceased to exist from 1 January 1949, Gwen Doe became Chief Clerk of Burwood Municipal Council when it absorbed the central and east wards of Enfield Council. However, suffering from ill health, she sailed for England in June 1950 for a working holiday. Sadly, she died, by suicide, aged 53, in Penzance, England during August 1950.

By J.J. MacRitchie

Local Studies Advisor

 

References

[1] Western Champion (Parkes) 13 January 1921 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113517720

 

[2] Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative 1 April 1937 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/162251336

 

[3] The Sun 9 January 1935 p.10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230273976

 

[4] The Sun 30 September 1936 p.13 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230020175

 

[5] The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate 18 October 1913 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85975755

 

[6] The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate 25 November 1937 p.4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106151288

 

[7] The Biz (Fairfield) 16 October 1963 p.9 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189526886

 

[8] South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus 7 August 1936 p.10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142640433

 

[9] South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus 7 August 1936 p.7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142640471

 

[10] The Sun 26 May 1937 p.16 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229403935

 

[11] The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate 14 February 1940 p.5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106217408

 

[12] The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate 9 October 1946 p.16 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105739780

 

[13] The Sun 9 April 1935 p.7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230290042

 

[14] The Labor Daily 14 January 1936 p.10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/237872080

 

[15] Daily Telegraph 1 January 1936 p.5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246490985

 

[16] The Sun 1 December 1938 p.7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231134468

 

[17] Nepean Times 2 February 1939 p.5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101057274/10719153 

 

[18] Sydney Morning Herald 5 October 1954 p.20 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18456117

 

[19] Mr Brian James DOE (1862 – 1941) https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/Pages/profiles/doe_brian-james.aspx

 

[20] Jones, Cathy ‘Marroa’ 23 Redmyre Road Strathfield https://strathfieldheritage.com/streetnames/redmyre-road-strathfield/marroa-23-redmyre-road-strathfield/

 

[21] The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate 14 June 1919 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/86108673

 

[22] The Mercury (Hobart) 21 October 1935 p.2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/30059945

 

[23] Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) 24 August 1950 p.3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49591267