Open/Close Toolbox
Format: Audio
Linked To
Copyright
General Use Special Collections Copyright
Please contact Special Collections if you are a subject of an item, or know a subject of an item, and have cultural or other reservations about an item being made available on this website and would like to discuss this with us.
This item can be used for study and personal research purposes. If you wish to reproduce this item for any other purpose please contact the University of Newcastle Library's Special Collections.
If you have any further information about the item, please contact us.
Merewether & its Beach - Alice Ferguson - 21 September 1989
Expand/collapse
Details
SummaryInterview by Trish Pattenden in 1989 with Alice Ferguson about Merewether Beach and her years growing up in Merewether.
Alice was a well known Merewether identity born in Berner Street, Merewether in 1909. As a small child Alice remembers her brother cycling to his job at a local pit and also recalls the unemployed coal miners due to the slump in the world's demand for coal.
Her life largely revolved around Merewether Beach, at an early age she regularly accompanied her brother, who was a lifesaver, to Merewether Beach. This is where she learnt to swim. Alice believed young people of Merewether always having an attraction to the beach, she was the founding member of the Merewether Ladies Swimming Club and recalls how its members along with members of the Merewether surf Club celebrated the opening of the Ocean Baths.
She recalls fondly the 'Coffee Pot" train that used to take coal to Newcastle, local children used to often ride in the empty coal trucks. When Alice was twenty she started teaching swimming and over sixty years voluntarily taught thousand of people to swim, donating money to charity.
SubjectFerguson, Alice CharitySwimmingCoal miningMerewether beachOcean BathsMerewether Surf Club Merewether Ladies Swimming ClubMerewether (N.S.W.)PersonPattenden, TrishFerguson, Alice Interview logDate Created21st September 1989Location[1] Merewether BathsIdentifierA6969 (ii)_Ferguson
Alice was a well known Merewether identity born in Berner Street, Merewether in 1909. As a small child Alice remembers her brother cycling to his job at a local pit and also recalls the unemployed coal miners due to the slump in the world's demand for coal.
Her life largely revolved around Merewether Beach, at an early age she regularly accompanied her brother, who was a lifesaver, to Merewether Beach. This is where she learnt to swim. Alice believed young people of Merewether always having an attraction to the beach, she was the founding member of the Merewether Ladies Swimming Club and recalls how its members along with members of the Merewether surf Club celebrated the opening of the Ocean Baths.
She recalls fondly the 'Coffee Pot" train that used to take coal to Newcastle, local children used to often ride in the empty coal trucks. When Alice was twenty she started teaching swimming and over sixty years voluntarily taught thousand of people to swim, donating money to charity.
SubjectFerguson, Alice CharitySwimmingCoal miningMerewether beachOcean BathsMerewether Surf Club Merewether Ladies Swimming ClubMerewether (N.S.W.)PersonPattenden, TrishFerguson, Alice Interview logDate Created21st September 1989Location[1] Merewether BathsIdentifierA6969 (ii)_Fergusonloading google map....
Merewether & its Beach - Alice Ferguson - 21 September 1989 , [A6969 (ii)_Ferguson]. Living Histories, accessed 10/06/2023, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/74628