the garden at 14 Bowen Road

Tue, 09/23/2014 - 00:10
Date picture taken
1956
Shows place(s)

Comments

Marlowe is correct .. the 2 white houses that you can see were accessed by driving up Borrett Road ..Then going through the grounds of the BMH.. The were staff quarters for the Hospital .. In later years .. the white house to the right became the Headmasters residence when Island school took over the grounds ..If you were to travel through the grounds , you would drive past the original Reservoir .. Directly ahead was the closest white House . I think this house was demolished sometime in the early 60's ...I also remember being able to access this house from a Bush track below that house, that came up from the western end of the area we called "Sandy Patch"..( The road used to skirt around the area now covered with a park .. and a new Road runs straight across) .. The second house was accessed by continuing around the Reservoir ..and driving up the Hill. Just past the house was a fenced off area , which gave access to a Water Treatment site through a longer drive way ,which skirted around behind the "Headmaster House ".There were in fact several buildings in there , but only the one structure, with all the windows at the back of the photo, is visible in the picture. I never managed to get in there, and an active 5 year old .. I did try my best ( I did a lot of exploring in my younger years ) ... Below The Reservoir on Bowen road were 3 more houses .. No 10 was built precariously on the low side of the road , with a waterfall on either side of it .. On the other side was a short driveway leading up to 11A and 11B..I had friends who lived at Both No 10 and No 11A.. and used to visit quite often .. The little boy in the Photograph is me... Cheers Ian

Submitted by on
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 07:34

In reply to by 88hk (not verified)

When Ian talks about the Reservoir at the BMH, it was on Borrett Road, on the right, just past the BMH - I only saw it once, and was gone by the time I got to Island School. 
That's where they built the playground and swimming pool for the Island School.

The house wouldn't be #10, Ian said it was on the low side of Bowen road, not above it.

The postcard you referred to are the Albany Filterbeds.

Submitted by on
Sat, 07/04/2015 - 07:09

In reply to by 88hk (not verified)

I've added 2 more images, another one that shows the Waterworks buildings and the BMH, so you can see how much higher they are,     http://gwulo.com/atom/21787
and another taken from the path to the waterworks (off Magazine Gap), showing the Waterworks buildings, the 2 houses on Borrett Road, which I'm calling 11A and 11B Bowen Road.  http://gwulo.com/atom/21786
Alun

I can confirm Ian's comments about the Headmaster's house.  As my father was the first Head of Island School, I lived there from 1967 until we moved to Chung Hom Kok in the early 70's.  There was a set of very steep steps which led up from alongside the reservoir to the open area at the front of the house, which, for pedestrians, cut off quite a long steep trek up the road.  However, I don't remember access to the water treatment works from the road which led up the hill to our house.  I remember scrambling through the jungle at the left of the house (as seen in the picture) up the hill to reach it.

The house itself was very large, and I believe it was originally home to two senior doctors and their families, but when we moved in, part of the house had been separated from the rest to provide communal facilities for single teachers, whose sleeping accomodation was in the two story grey building above and behind (previously nursing staff quarters).  The views from the front of the house were phenomenal and I remember seeing the QE2 burn and capsize from the verandah outside my bedroom (upper right in the picture).