Charles Cowles, Myahgah and Mena Hospital
Dr. Maurice Mishkel of Canada asks if anyone knows more about Charles Cowles:
What a wonderful site which I came across whilst researching Charles Cowles (1837-1923) owner of the largest gun firm in the second half of the 19th C up to WWII. He lived at ‘Myahgah’ Mosman and Cowles Road is named after him. The best information about Charles is in the on-line A.D.B., but there is very limited information about his firm and his home which became Mena Hospital. I was surprised that I could not find additional information at your site, and would be happy to share information about the firm with you & your readers. I am a retired Aussie academic retired in Canada, and my passion is Australian Postal History with 70 published papers and a website of >500 papers. Can you and your readers help me?
Maurice Mishkel Syd U. 1953
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Site upgrade in progress - your feedback?
Over the next month or so we’ll be working to better this site – both for contributors and for visitors.
One of the key features planned is a cartographic view of the stories and photos submitted to the site, allowing the visitor to explore Mosman Memories on a map.
Other improvements will be less visible but just as important.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please email Mosman Library or use our online contact form.
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The hospital on the hill - can you help?
This image is from a photo album owned by Margaret Holmes. It is reproduced here with her kind permission. It was taken at the 21st Australian Auxiliary Hospital by her father, the doctor and Army Medical Corps commanding officer at the time (1918), Lieut. Col. W.H. Read. We know nothing more about these two than the caption on the photo.
In 1914 the whole of Australia seemed to be enthusiastic about the Great War, and was generally united in supporting the British Empire in defeating the Central Powers. By mid 1918, things had changed a lot. There was scarcely a home that had not been touched personally by the cost to the nation. Many of the enthusiastic volunteers would never come home. Others did, seriously damaged in body and spirit.
Georges Heights, here in Mosman, was home to the third largest military hospital in Australia. But who was here? What was life like in the hospital on the hill? Many of these returning soldiers had seen serious action and had suffered serious wounds. Because it was an expensive undertaking to send trained men back home from the other side of the world, those who had been shipped home and were now at the 21st AAH were mostly men who could not be rehabilitated in England or France.
The 21st Australian Auxiliary Hospital closed in 1922 but surprisingly its buildings have survived. They had only been intended as short-term temporary accommodation but the Australian Army was still using them in the late 1990’s.
Almost a century on, they are now a valuable part of Sydney’s heritage. Now they are in the care of the Commonwealth Government’s Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. This organisation has the task of handing back to the Australian community a number of former defence establishments that were scattered at strategic points around Sydney Harbour. The Trust has set about restoring, interpreting and upgrading them as public spaces, parks and memorials.
It is planned that the 21st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Georges Heights will have its own museum. It will present a commemorative and emotional experience. It will tell the stories of the men and women who were here – the patients, the doctors, nurses, health workers and volunteers, as well as the people of the Mosman community who had contact with them. But who were they? What were they like? What were their high moments, and their low ones? Where had they come from? Where did they go? Records are tantalisingly sketchy and it was a long time ago. Did any of your relatives or family friends have contact with the 21st AAH? Do you know the whereabouts of any letters, photographs, diaries, autobiographies, newspaper-clippings, relics or souvenirs that relate to this period of Mosman’s heritage? Can you help?
Geoff Barnes is the person researching the project on behalf of the Trust. You can email or his contact telephone number at the Trust is (02) 8969 2183 (d.) or (02) 8969 2100 (switch). Your memories would be most appreciated.
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Anyone remember the Ashe family?
Rhonda Tillman of Newcastle, NSW, sent us the following request.
For the past 10 years have been researching my family history. I was wondering if you knew of the family Ashe who I think lived in 52 Harbour Street, Mosman – Elizabeth and John Ashe and their eldest daughter Mary Ashe. John died in 1929 and Elizabeth died in 1947. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Can you help?
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Hear Mosman's voices
Mosman Library recently launched an online oral history project entitled Mosman Voices. The site makes recorded interviews from the Library’s oral history archives available to listen online.
Excerpts from this collection have been selected and grouped by subject – such as the Second World War, Shops & Shopping, Mosman Musical Society – and can be heard online with an accompanying transcript.
A feature interview is also available in full. Currently an interview with sisters Margaret Ewart and Garland Churcher is online. They talk about their early memories of social events, the effects of The Depression and the impact of the Second World War on their lives.
Please visit www.mosmanvoices.net
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