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Lionel Fowler interview
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IntervieweeLionel A. Fowler
Interview Date23 March 2001Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration1hr 36msAccession NumberLS2022.9.3
Interview Date23 March 2001Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration1hr 36msAccession NumberLS2022.9.3More Information
InterviewerArlene HopeSummaryLionel was born on the Raleigh Flat on 14 January 1916. His father had a bullock team initially at Raleigh and then worked at East and North Dorrigo then around Coffs Harbour. The Fowler family lived in what was then Coramba Street (now Azalea Avenue). Lionel was first educated at St Augusta Catholic School in Coffs Harbour then at the North Boambee public school when his father bought George England Senior’s property at North Boambee (in 1927). For eight years he rode a horse along with others children to the primary and high school up to the Leaving Certificate.
Another horse rider was Jimmy Wright who later received an Australia Award (AM) for work as a specialist children’s surgeon at Newcastle. His father (Harold) gave up farming in North Boambee and became the X-ray person at the Coffs Harbour Hospital. Harold also was a Presbyterian missionary in the Islands where he also served as a ‘half doctor’.
Lionel has collected photos and information on the Boambee valley farming families. Lionel’s Dad originally bought the Boambee property to draw timber off it. He used two bullock teams that drew the timber into the Langley’s Mill in Murdock Steet. His other bullock driver was Bill Thompson. He worked it until 1930 when the timber was mostly gone. After the timber was depleted Lionel’s father cleared a number of acres and planted bananas and leased these areas to several people. After ‘umpteen years’ the bananas became no longer viable - all the banana plants are now gone.
Lionel joined the Army in 1941 and served with the engineers (leaving his position as the Dorrigo Shire Assistant Engineer) being posted to near Geraldton in Western Australia. [Interviewer mentioned the wartime Japanese Nautical Chart for the Coffs Harbour area]. He mentioned Brian Hodge’s The Magic Years book concerning his father who set up the local Coffs Harbour Cadet Unit during WW2 (including the use of mortars on Little Muttonbird Island). Hodge’s father (the ‘little digger’) was an Army Lieutenant and a veteran of Gallipoli and France.
Other Boambee men and families mentioned by Lionel are the Goldings, Smiths, Duttons, Schneiders, Newports (first settlers), Perkins, Grants, Tom Foley (learnt veterinary work, mentions the use of Stockholm Tar, also slaughtering for meat) and Charlie Barbour. The house had no telephone or electricity, and the weatherboard house was unlined. In 1942 his father bought a house in Albany Street which had electricity. It is still in the family.
Lionel lived in Coramba (before the Shire Council office was moved into Coffs Harbour) and was Coffs Harbour’s only engineer in the 1950s. He recalled that the big flood (and cyclone) at the end of June 1950 was a major event with many trees blown down over roads and even a bus trapped by flooding between trees near Korora. A number of bridges on the Highway were washed away (which were then the responsibility of the Council). Pouring rain.
Lionel served in the Dorrigo Shire from 1938 until 1956 (excluding 5 years in the Army). He came back to the Shire from military service in 1946. In 1948 “Coffs Harbour wanted to go” [to break away from the Dorrigo Shire] and an ’Urban Committee’ was formed with Lionel being told to “look after the affairs” of this committee. The committee would walk around the streets on a Sunday morning noting what work was needed. On it included Arnie Forsyth, ‘Red’ Jack Seccombe (?) and ‘Black’ Jack Seccombe (?) and Colonel Patterson (a school teacher who started the local RSL). Lionel made a report on what existed in Coffs Harbour at that time. There were few examples of bituminised roads in the town then, these were an 18 foot [wide] strip along the highway in town, an about 18-foot strip on the Coramba Road running down to the Jetty and a strip of bitumen in Vernon Street from Grafton Street to where the Ex-Servicemen’s Club is now to Gordon Street. The only kerb and guttering was a timber one in High Street where the Mall is now and the only concrete footpath was also in High Street in the area of the Mall. The Council’s works depot, on the corner of Coffs and Grafton Streets, was a simple 10 foot by 10-foot galvanised iron shed where tools and bags of cement were stored. They had just bought a council truck. Prior to this Jack Pike was the ganger with a horse and cart. The Committee arranged a loan of 12,000 pounds for necessary works. Lionel recommended that this money be used to gravel as many streets as possible and that money be raised the following year to seal them. This gave the gravel a chance to settle. Lionel arranged a gang of some 30 men including bushmen who knew how to fell trees. Trees were selected and felled and the timber was used to built a 60 by 20 foot shed for the depot. At this time the Council bought a large (HD10) and a smaller R4 kerosene driven dozer and a grader.
An early big job done using this new equipment was the Park Beach Road “from the railway viaduct where the tide goes over it now” right around to the Highway (where the Plaza is now). This road at the time this “just a sand track which filled up with water when it rained.” The Main Roads had just reconstructed the Highway from the Seven Day Adventist Church to the top of the hill [to the south] taking out several curves. This resulted in a couple of banks of soil being left on one side. Lionel had the “bright idea of why don’t we move those banks and fill up the Park Beach Road sand [area] with that first then gravel over the top.” He arranged for this soil to be moved by 17 private trucks (which were hired from the Main Roads over several weekends). Gravel for the road came from the Public Works at South Island with finer aggregate coming from the Red Hill quarry. The Council also had to put in major drains to drain this area which made this area later dry enough for urban development.
It took Lionel four years to get a job during the Depression. He had wanted to be an architect as he was good at technical drawing at school. Lionel did a correspondence course with ICS and unsuccessfully sought jobs in Sydney. He put in for jobs in the Coffs Harbour area, including for the Dorrigo Shire Council at Coramba. Hughie Bond, the Shire Engineer, gave him the job located at Coramba in 1938. Later he worked under Ted Smith who was also a registered surveyor. In 1956 Lionel took long service leave and moved to Sydney to work in the Metropolitan Public Works for 5-6 months but found it quite restrictive. He was then appointed to a job as the Assistant Engineer at the Parramatta Council. In 1958 he was appointed by the Council to the position of Project Engineer to design and build an Olympic Pool at Granville (using the then new and innovative ‘Williams Form Hardware’ system). After successfully building the pool, Lionel was appointed as the Town Planning Development Officer for two years and later became the Construction Engineer.
In 1981, at the age of 65, Lionel retired after 25 years with Parramatta Council. While retired Lionel concentrated on his family history and wrote two books.
Note: Lionel Fowler died on 27 June 2003 at Beecroft, NSW.
Summary by volunteer Craig Bellamy
SummaryLionel was born on the Raleigh Flat on 14 January 1916. His father had a bullock team initially at Raleigh and then worked at East and North Dorrigo then around Coffs Harbour. The Fowler family lived in what was then Coramba Street (now Azalea Avenue). Lionel was first educated at St Augusta Catholic School in Coffs Harbour then at the North Boambee public school when his father bought George England Senior’s property at North Boambee (in 1927). For eight years he rode a horse along with others children to the primary and high school up to the Leaving Certificate.Another horse rider was Jimmy Wright who later received an Australia Award (AM) for work as a specialist children’s surgeon at Newcastle. His father (Harold) gave up farming in North Boambee and became the X-ray person at the Coffs Harbour Hospital. Harold also was a Presbyterian missionary in the Islands where he also served as a ‘half doctor’.
Lionel has collected photos and information on the Boambee valley farming families. Lionel’s Dad originally bought the Boambee property to draw timber off it. He used two bullock teams that drew the timber into the Langley’s Mill in Murdock Steet. His other bullock driver was Bill Thompson. He worked it until 1930 when the timber was mostly gone. After the timber was depleted Lionel’s father cleared a number of acres and planted bananas and leased these areas to several people. After ‘umpteen years’ the bananas became no longer viable - all the banana plants are now gone.
Lionel joined the Army in 1941 and served with the engineers (leaving his position as the Dorrigo Shire Assistant Engineer) being posted to near Geraldton in Western Australia. [Interviewer mentioned the wartime Japanese Nautical Chart for the Coffs Harbour area]. He mentioned Brian Hodge’s The Magic Years book concerning his father who set up the local Coffs Harbour Cadet Unit during WW2 (including the use of mortars on Little Muttonbird Island). Hodge’s father (the ‘little digger’) was an Army Lieutenant and a veteran of Gallipoli and France.
Other Boambee men and families mentioned by Lionel are the Goldings, Smiths, Duttons, Schneiders, Newports (first settlers), Perkins, Grants, Tom Foley (learnt veterinary work, mentions the use of Stockholm Tar, also slaughtering for meat) and Charlie Barbour. The house had no telephone or electricity, and the weatherboard house was unlined. In 1942 his father bought a house in Albany Street which had electricity. It is still in the family.
Lionel lived in Coramba (before the Shire Council office was moved into Coffs Harbour) and was Coffs Harbour’s only engineer in the 1950s. He recalled that the big flood (and cyclone) at the end of June 1950 was a major event with many trees blown down over roads and even a bus trapped by flooding between trees near Korora. A number of bridges on the Highway were washed away (which were then the responsibility of the Council). Pouring rain.
Lionel served in the Dorrigo Shire from 1938 until 1956 (excluding 5 years in the Army). He came back to the Shire from military service in 1946. In 1948 “Coffs Harbour wanted to go” [to break away from the Dorrigo Shire] and an ’Urban Committee’ was formed with Lionel being told to “look after the affairs” of this committee. The committee would walk around the streets on a Sunday morning noting what work was needed. On it included Arnie Forsyth, ‘Red’ Jack Seccombe (?) and ‘Black’ Jack Seccombe (?) and Colonel Patterson (a school teacher who started the local RSL). Lionel made a report on what existed in Coffs Harbour at that time. There were few examples of bituminised roads in the town then, these were an 18 foot [wide] strip along the highway in town, an about 18-foot strip on the Coramba Road running down to the Jetty and a strip of bitumen in Vernon Street from Grafton Street to where the Ex-Servicemen’s Club is now to Gordon Street. The only kerb and guttering was a timber one in High Street where the Mall is now and the only concrete footpath was also in High Street in the area of the Mall. The Council’s works depot, on the corner of Coffs and Grafton Streets, was a simple 10 foot by 10-foot galvanised iron shed where tools and bags of cement were stored. They had just bought a council truck. Prior to this Jack Pike was the ganger with a horse and cart. The Committee arranged a loan of 12,000 pounds for necessary works. Lionel recommended that this money be used to gravel as many streets as possible and that money be raised the following year to seal them. This gave the gravel a chance to settle. Lionel arranged a gang of some 30 men including bushmen who knew how to fell trees. Trees were selected and felled and the timber was used to built a 60 by 20 foot shed for the depot. At this time the Council bought a large (HD10) and a smaller R4 kerosene driven dozer and a grader.
An early big job done using this new equipment was the Park Beach Road “from the railway viaduct where the tide goes over it now” right around to the Highway (where the Plaza is now). This road at the time this “just a sand track which filled up with water when it rained.” The Main Roads had just reconstructed the Highway from the Seven Day Adventist Church to the top of the hill [to the south] taking out several curves. This resulted in a couple of banks of soil being left on one side. Lionel had the “bright idea of why don’t we move those banks and fill up the Park Beach Road sand [area] with that first then gravel over the top.” He arranged for this soil to be moved by 17 private trucks (which were hired from the Main Roads over several weekends). Gravel for the road came from the Public Works at South Island with finer aggregate coming from the Red Hill quarry. The Council also had to put in major drains to drain this area which made this area later dry enough for urban development.
It took Lionel four years to get a job during the Depression. He had wanted to be an architect as he was good at technical drawing at school. Lionel did a correspondence course with ICS and unsuccessfully sought jobs in Sydney. He put in for jobs in the Coffs Harbour area, including for the Dorrigo Shire Council at Coramba. Hughie Bond, the Shire Engineer, gave him the job located at Coramba in 1938. Later he worked under Ted Smith who was also a registered surveyor. In 1956 Lionel took long service leave and moved to Sydney to work in the Metropolitan Public Works for 5-6 months but found it quite restrictive. He was then appointed to a job as the Assistant Engineer at the Parramatta Council. In 1958 he was appointed by the Council to the position of Project Engineer to design and build an Olympic Pool at Granville (using the then new and innovative ‘Williams Form Hardware’ system). After successfully building the pool, Lionel was appointed as the Town Planning Development Officer for two years and later became the Construction Engineer.
In 1981, at the age of 65, Lionel retired after 25 years with Parramatta Council. While retired Lionel concentrated on his family history and wrote two books.
Note: Lionel Fowler died on 27 June 2003 at Beecroft, NSW.
Summary by volunteer Craig Bellamy
Related Content
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LanguageEnglish
Lionel Fowler interview. Coffs Collections, accessed 20/01/2025, https://coffs.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/79120