The water service reservoir in Glenview Avenue was commissioned by the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage, and Drainage Board in 1950 to cope with local demand variations and to ensure a continuous supply. It has a capacity of 2 000 000 gallons, the top water level is 170 feet above sea level and it has a water depth of twenty five feet. Vince (Decio Vincenzo) Galimi bought his own fruit shop in Homer Street in 1952. Since then, Galimi’s Fruit Market has doubled in size and many family members have worked in the shop. Having previously been located in a small cottage at the corner of Earlwood Avenue and Clarke Street, the Earlwood Baby Health Centre was erected at the corner of Homer and William Streets by Canterbury Council in conjunction with the Department of Public Health and was opened on September 1, 1951, by Mr M. O’Sullivan, Minister for Health. Sister Mabel Douglas spent a total of eighteen years as one of the clinic sisters, from 1940 to 1946 and from 1951 to the early 1960s. A temporary branch Municipal library was opened in a garage at the corner of Homer and William Streets in 1947. The present library premises were officially opened on Friday, November 21,1952, by Alderman H. R. Thorncraft, Mayor of Canterbury. Earlwood R.S.L. Sub-Branch was granted its charter in 1945. Bardwell Park R.S.L, was formed in 1947 and a Memorial Hall was built near Bardwell Park Station in 1953. Also in 1953, the Earlwood and Bardwell Park SubBranches amalgamated to form the Earlwood-Bardwell Park Sub-Branch. The Earlwood-Bardwell Park R.S.L. Club has grown from the 250 needed to be licensed in 1959 to its current membership of 8 600. In 1987, Mr Andrew Hyde was re-elected President of the Club for a record twenty fifth time. The amalgamation of the R.S.L. Club and the Earlwood Bowling Club took place recently. The foundation stone of St Mark’s Anglican Church, Clemton Park, was laid by Archbishop Mowll, the Archbishop of Sydney, on September 19,1954. It was then part of the parish of South Canterbury. A liquor licence was granted in 1955 to the Earlwood Ex-Servicemen’s Club, which had been established in 1927. This resulted in additions to the club in 1956 and major extensions in 1958. The Governor of NSW, Sir Roden Cutler, opened the new club premises in 1967. The St George’s War Memorial Church was opened and dedicated on Sunday, September 25, 1955, by the Archbishop of Sydney and Primate of Australia, the Most Reverend H. W. K. Mowll. The first sod had been turned by Mr William McMahon, Minister for Navy and Air (later Sir William McMahon, Prime Minister of Australia) on Sunday, February 7, 1954, and the foundation stone had been laid by the Governor of NSW, Sir John Northcott, on Sunday, May 30, 1954. The foundation stone itself consisted of a small piece of stone from the tomb of St George the Martyr in Lydda in Palestine, presented by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Church was consecrated on Sunday, September 26, 1965. As part of the Government policy to replace trams with buses, tram services through Newtown, including the Earlwood trams, ended on Saturday, September 28,1957, although the final journeys were early on the Sunday morning. The last trip departed Fort Macquarie for Dulwich Hill at 1.30 am on the Sunday morning, and at Newtown Bridge, tram 1869, which was an R class, was waiting to take on board any passengers for Earlwood. Both trams departed for their respective destinations to provide the last service, and on their return to Newtown Bridge both trams proceeded to other depots. Thus ended over seventy five years of tramway service through Newtown, and over thirty three years of service to Earlwood — services which had
a major influence on the development of Earlwood to that time. Later that day, buses from Kingsgrove and Tempe provided services on Routes 422 (Tempe Depot), 423 (Earlwood), 426 (Dulwich Hill) and 448 (Canterbury) to Circular Quay.
Mayfair Theatre, Earlwood. (Courtesy Barry Sharp).
As with so many suburban theatres, the advent of television in 1956 had a great effect on the theatres in Earlwood. Firstly, the smaller Chelsea closed after the screening on March 6, 1958, in order to preserve the Mayfair (they were operated by the same company). However, the Chelsea re-opened from Friday, July 4,1958, for Friday and Saturday screenings only. In late October, 1958, the Chelsea reopened fulltime, and the larger Mayfair, being less viable, succumbed to television by closing in December, 1958. The building was demolished in 1964, and was replaced by shops. In the late fifties, the district was terrorised for three years by the “ Kingsgrove Slasher” a night stalker who gained entry into hundreds of houses and slashed the clothing of sleeping women before vanishing as silently as he had arrived. As he grew bolder, he began cutting his victims, making tiny scratches with a knife or scalpel, at first just deep enough to draw blood but gradually cutting deeper. He was never seen and police had no idea who they were looking for. He was finally arrested at 11.35 pm on April 30,1959, at the foot of Nannygoat Hill near Turrella Railway Station when he literally ran into the arms of waiting police. He was convicted on eighteen charges and given an eighteen year sentence. On release, he began a new life and a new identity. As a result of the arrest, DetectiveSergeant Brian Doyle, who was in charge of the case for the five months prior to the capture, received the Peter Mitchell Trophy, an annual award for outstanding achievement.
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