The old Windang boat shed

[noelm]

Don't remember Kerosene tins (probably should) but as a kid it was a fantastic place to grow up, surfing, fishing, diving, boating all at my doorstep, we used to walk to school along Shellharbour beach, and if there was anything "good" seen or found, we would be late.

[wazatherfisherman]

Thinking about the old boatshed over the last few nights, I think there were actually two boatsheds not one- the larger one had a different type of boat and they were slightly cheaper than the one next door. The one closer to the bridge also had canoes, whereas the one closer to the caravan park had far more boats. From memory we always hired from the one next to the caravan park- it was a LONG time ago! I do remember they sold live worms in lake weed wrapped in newspaper. The Windang end of the lake was alive with fish, prawns and Blue Swimmers in the 60's and catching a feed was really easy.

[noelm]

Not too sure there was more than one business there, certainly multiple "sheds" but I thought (might be completely wrong) that it was all one hire business? A friend of mine owned that brick house you can see next to the sheds, it was bought out by council at a good price (dirt cheap by today's standards) and demolished. Lots of old Windang "names" still live there, Searls still live there, all related to Jack Searl that originally opened "Searls bait and tackle" that is still operating today, but changed hands and names over the years. No idea if anyone is interested, but a bit of history on the two tackle shops there. Searls was on the western side of the road, owned by the family for decades, they sold out to John Dean (ex fishing inspector) and Dick Bayliss, changed the name to "Deans bait and tackle" John sold his share after a few years and Dick and Joanne Bayliss ran it for years, then sold to Gavin and Garth Bridge, keeping the same name, the shop closed for a time (not sure why) then reopened and after a time became "compleat angler" as it stands now. There might have been others in between that I don't recall! The shop on the eastern side was owned by Bruce Darrah and was "Bruce's bait and tackle" for decades, he sold out due to health reasons, and Kel Brookman bought it (I almost did myself) they owned it for years and sold out to a guy named Sandy, don' know him at all. A guy named Bruce Spears owned it for ages (he used to make/bind Ugly stick rods for Shakespeare)  It then kind of downsized to what it is now, "Windang bait" after the original premises was sold. Pretty dull reading I guess, but it kind of tells the story of the local bait shops.

Edited March 4, 2023 by noelm

[noelm]

Here is a pretty bad photo of a page from the diary of a family that had a holiday house near ours, this entry is dated 1945 and talks about Prawning in Lake Illawarra.

[noelm]

The person that wrote that was from a very well off family, when I was young, we were the only permanent residents on Barrack Point, the rest were just holiday houses (fibro shacks) built bit by bit over time, the one writing this (John Ramsay) kept the diary from early on. All the other holiday houses were relatives of his. I can remember he had this old flash car with spoked wheels, it must have been a trip in it from Burwood to here back then, no idea what kind of car it was, but he had it for decades that I remember, when he passed away I never saw it again, his kids came down to the holiday house then, and they were the ones that sold it, there was (I think) seven houses, all sold over the years by the kids, my good mate bought one and built two magnificent units on the block about 10 years ago, (just guessing) 

[Fab1]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

The person that wrote that was from a very well off family, when I was young, we were the only permanent residents on Barrack Point, the rest were just holiday houses (fibro shacks) built bit by bit over time, the one writing this (John Ramsay) kept the diary from early on. All the other holiday houses were relatives of his. I can remember he had this old flash car with spoked wheels, it must have been a trip in it from Burwood to here back then, no idea what kind of car it was, but he had it for decades that I remember, when he passed away I never saw it again, his kids came down to the holiday house then, and they were the ones that sold it, there was (I think) seven houses, all sold over the years by the kids, my good mate bought one and built two magnificent units on the block about 10 years ago, (just guessing) 

Great read mate.Those blocks would of been a gold mine to the kids and your mate.

[noelm]

1 minute ago, Fab1 said:

Great read mate.Those blocks would of been a gold mine to the kids and your mate.

Thanks, probably boring to most, but sometimes first hand accounts kind of fit into a topic in a sideline way. That page from the diary is just one of a hundred, I don't know anyone who kept something like that, for so long. He was a very keen bird watcher and mentions various species and nests, I will read a bit more and see what I can find about Windang.

[Fab1]

37 minutes ago, noelm said:

Thanks, probably boring to most, but sometimes first hand accounts kind of fit into a topic in a sideline way. That page from the diary is just one of a hundred, I don't know anyone who kept something like that, for so long. He was a very keen bird watcher and mentions various species and nests, I will read a bit more and see what I can find about Windang.

Cheers.One thing I’ve learnt about progress and change is many times it isn’t for the better.