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Professionals

In the first few decades of the 20th century, the population of Ku-ring-gai quadrupled in size. With its 'gentleman’s residences', many of them architect-designed, and pleasant surrounds, the area had changed from rural farms and woodland to a prosperous municipality at the top end of the socio-economic scale.


The North Shore railway line opened in 1890, changing the area dramatically. Improved transport links encouraged residential development and population growth. Large plots of land were subdivided for suburban housing and Sydney’s well-to-do professional classes moved in, taking advantage of the bushland setting and peaceful lifestyle.

Gullick family

William Applegate Gullick (1858-1922) and his family epitomised those who settled in the upper North Shore at the turn of the 20th century. A prominent public servant, Gullick was New South Wales Government Printer and Inspector of Stamps from 1896 to 1922. He lived with his wife Mary and five children at Altoncourt, Killara, as well as a number of other houses in the area.

Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877001
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877002
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877003
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877004
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877005
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877006
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877007
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877008
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Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick
c.1909-1922
William Applegate Gullick
Digital ID: 
a877009
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A 1925 description of Killara reads:

'this suburb may justly claim to be both attractive and select. There are many substantial residences, the homes of the well-to-do citizen; and altogether the dwellings are of a superior class'.  (Wilson’s Authentic Directory. Sydney and Suburbs, Sydney: Wilson & Co., 1925, ML 981.1/W)

Gullick had a passionate interest in heraldry and designed the New South Wales coat of arms in 1906. He was also a keen amateur photographer and was one of the first people in Australia to experiment with autochrome plates, an early colour photography process. In 1909, his expertise in the area was acknowledged when he was invited by Sydney University's Science Society to give a lecture on colour photography.

The Library has a striking series of his autochrome colour plates depicting his family life at their home in Killara.

Pockley family

Robert Francis Pockley (1823-1892) first went to sea at the age of nine and gained his master's ticket in 1842. He was a sea captain who became a shipowner and harbourmaster of Sydney in the 1850s. Pockley was harbourmaster in 1857 when the clipper Dunbar was wrecked on rocks at the foot of South Head. There was only one survivor. Captain Pockley was involved in the investigation of the shipwreck and the retrieval and disposal of the bodies.  His report on the wreck for the New South Wales Parliament was published in Votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, Volume 2, 1857.

Robert Pockley, ca. 1885, by Henry King
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Captain Pockley married Selina Antill, daughter of Major Henry Antill (formerly aide-de-camp to Governor Macquarie), in 1854 and the couple had 15 children. The family lived at Lorne, Killara, which was built in the 1880s. They had an orchard on the property comprising over 500 citrus and fruit trees. One of the Pockley sons, Francis Antill Pockley, was one of the first ophthalmic surgeons in Sydney. He acquired the land after his father's death and the Lorne estate was subdivided and sold in allotments from 1903.

Robert Pockley’s grandson, Brian Pockley, was the first Australian to be killed in World War I. He was killed at Rabaul on 11 September 1914, while serving with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. He was one of two sons of Dr Francis Antill Pockley of Greystanes (later Mount Alverna), Wahroonga. Another son, Jack, was killed at Villers-Bretonneux on 30 March 1918. Both Jack and Brian Pockley are honoured by memorial plaques in St. Andrew’s Church, Wahroonga.

>Browse the Library's records relating to the Pockley family and the papers of Brian Pockley

[Photograph of Lorne (residence), Gordon Street, Lindfield, ca. 1920]
1996 (photoprint from original photonegative ca. 1920)
Digital ID: 
a1528331
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Dining room, Lorne
ca. 1885-1900
Digital ID: 
a2010006
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[Lorne, Killara, ca. 1885-1900]
ca. 1885-1900
Digital ID: 
a2010004
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[Lorne, Killara, ca. 1885-1900]
ca. 1885-1900
Digital ID: 
a2010005
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[Lorne, Killara, ca. 1885-1900]
ca. 1885-1900
Digital ID: 
a2010003
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Ernest Fisk and the first wireless messages from the UK to Australia

In 1918, a suburban house in Wahroonga was the unlikely setting for a world first in the history of communication. The first wireless radio message sent from the UK to Australia was received here, making it the longest distance wireless message ever sent, beating all previous distance records for a radio message.

The house, Lucania, on the corner of Cleveland and Stuart Sts, Wahroonga, was the home of Ernest Fisk (1886 – 1965). Fisk, a Marconi wireless engineer, had arrived in Australia from England in 1911 to market Marconi wireless telegraph equipment to shipowners. A great boom to business was the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, which was fitted with Marconi radio equipment. This technology enabled the stricken ship to call nearby ships for help immediately, and the UK Postmaster-General later said that the survivors owed their lives to Marconi’s ‘marvellous invention’.

By 1913, the Australian government and the Marconi company had joined forces to form a new company based in Australia to sell Marconi and (German firm) Telefunken communication equipment. Three years later, Ernest Fisk was managing director of this company, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, or AWA. In the same year, Fisk married Florence Chudleigh in St John’s church, Gordon and the couple settled in Wahroonga.

Inspection of works by Sir Ernest Fisk
1/1938
Digital ID: 
hood_30257
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Radio mast and Sir Ernest Fisk's home, Wahroonga
Sam Hood
Digital ID: 
hood_07681
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Opening of new radio telephone service
12/1938
Digital ID: 
hood_18711
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Visit to AWA works by Sir Ernest Fisk and party
5/1939
Digital ID: 
hood_19890
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At the height of the First World War, it was becoming clear that quick and effective communication over long distances was vital for political, economic and defence purposes. At this time, all telegraphic communication between Australia and overseas was done via underwater cables, but long wave radio transmissions were now possible over longer and longer distances. With government permission, Ernest Fisk set up a radio receiver in his home, and, on September 22, 1918, the first wireless message between Australia and the UK was received in Wahroonga.

The groundbreaking message from Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes was sent from a long wave radio station in Caernarvon, Wales. The message said:

‘I have just returned from a visit to the battlefields where the glorious valour and dash of the Australian troops saved Amiens and forced back the legions of the enemy. Filled with greater admiration than ever for these glorious men, and more convinced than ever that it is the duty of their fellow-citizens to keep these magnificent battalions up to their full strength.’

And the Minister for the Navy (and Hughes’ deputy) Sir Joseph Cook also sent a message:

‘Royal Australian Navy is magnificently bearing its part in the great struggle. Spirit of sailors and soldiers alike is beyond praise. Recent hard fighting brilliantly successful but makes reinforcements imperative. Australia hardly realises the wonderful reputation which our men have won. Every effort being constantly made here to dispose of Australia's surplus products.’

These first messages paved the way for quick, reliable communication between Australia and the rest of the world and in 1935 a commemorative statue – the Fisk Memorial – was unveiled outside the Wahroonga house.

First direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
1935
Digital ID: 
a4861001
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
1935
Digital ID: 
a4861004
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
1935
Digital ID: 
a4861005
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
1935
Digital ID: 
a4861006
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861007
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861008
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861009
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861010
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861011
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861012
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861013
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861014
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861015
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861016
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861017
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The first direct wireless messages from England to Australia.
Digital ID: 
a4861020
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Ernest Fisk was knighted in 1937 and continued to lead AWA until 1944. He was involved in many developments in the communication industry, including the establishment of the beam wireless service between Australia and England in 1927 and the radio telephone service between Australia and England in 1930. Fisk left AWA in 1944 to become managing director of Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI), in London. He stayed until the mid 1950s, when he returned to Sydney.

Sir Ernest Fisk died in Roseville in 1965.

Made possible through a partnership with Geoffrey & Rachel O'Conor