Even though Marianne von Knobelsdorff was born in Germany, her heart is in Glebe. During the 29 years since she arrived here, she has been an indefatigable worker for The Glebe Society and has participated in most of the major campaigns that have been waged to preserve and improve our suburb. As most members know, Marianne is returning to Germany to care for her sick mother, but has retained her flat in Leichhardt Street in the hope that she may return one day. In the busy days while she has been packing she found time to record her memories of Glebe. Extracts have been published in Bulletin 3/2003, and further extracts will appear in later Bulletins. We have published the full text here for those who are interested in the details of Marianne’s remarkable career in Glebe.

Marianne in campaign mode outside Bellevue

A singular view: The Glebe Society 1975 – 2003

I arrived in Sydney on 11 April, 1974 after 2 years individual overland travel from Berlin/Germany with one friend through Israel, Cypress, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore. It was a miracle that I did not die of some disease, was not killed and did not end up in a harem, as it was already arranged.

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Stories from Members

Q. Do you know what “glebe” actually means?

A. Originally from Latin glaeba, it meant soil and land. Glebe land is that bequeathed to a specified parish or benefice so that its rental or crops may augment the income of their incumbent minister.

Did you know that in the middle of Foley Park, at the corner of Bridge and Glebe Point Roads, there still stands a brick “radio shack” where residents once regularly gathered to listen to the radio!

The Butcher, the Baker, et al …..

Butcher’s and baker’s shops were generally located along the suburb’s main arteries. In 1901 each of the 16 Glebe butchers serviced an average of 1200 residents (in contrast to the lone butcher now at Glebe Point and Glenmore Meats in Wentworth Park Road); and the 7 bakers served about 2750 people each.

Many were family businesses operating in Glebe for decades — bakers John Heil, William Hammett, Berthold Stehr, Thomas Martin, John Purves, Martin Wengert, August Heinrich, Charles Vass, Joseph Wrobel and Christian Raith were local identities. They worked an 80-hour week but, with increasing mechanisation, Purves Bakery, established in 1871 at 93 St.John’s Road (now producing muffins etc.at the rear of those premises on the corner of Purves and Reuss Streets) and Raith’s Bishopthorpe Bakery at 62 Glebe Road emerged as the suburb’s largest.

Forest Lodge people bought their meat from William Alleyn (176 St. Johns Road) and William Tumeth (271 Bridge Rd). Other well-known Glebe butchers were:

Andrew Knox, 56 Cowper Street
Edward Miller, 36 Bay Street
James Cochran, 176 St. John’s Road
Albert Goose, 116 Bridge Road
Richard Briant, 123 Glebe Road
Henry McMahon, 142 Glebe Road
J.R. Wood, 329 Glebe Road and, in more recent years,
Stan Hayes at 329 Glebe Road.

Just as Germans were prominent as bakers, from 1894, Italians began operating as fruiterers in Glebe – the Arena family (Sebastian, Nicola, Stephen, Pasquale and Vincenzo), Antoni Caleo, Filippo Cascio, Giovanni Cincotta, Giacomo Costa, Frank Dalbora, Giovanni Divola, Joseph Licciardi, Antoni Piconi and Tauro and Ristuccia.

–Max Solling

Today F. Galluzzo & Sons are most prominent as greengrocers and fruiterers at 191 Glebe Point Road and have recently celebrated 70 years in business at the same site.

– Ed.

How times have changed in a century!

Is this for Real?
– a cat’s tale!

This real-life adventure story becomes even more curious as it progresses. A member’s family feline has had some adventures in his life, right from kittenhood. These adventures range from retrieval by the Police Rescue Squad from a lofty palm tree in Foley Park in the middle of the night (when else?), to going AWOL for a number of days to join a film crew on location in St. James Park. Physical relocation had to be applied!

The smug feline

For about two years now, he has sorely tested the curiosity of his owners by appearing before 6am, every couple of weeks, with a large piece of prime steak, fresh and cold from the refrigerator, firmly clutched in his mouth (of course he must wake his owners to show them his prize!).At first his family felt guilt that their cat had stolen someone’s next meal, but the regularity of this event has led them to believe that “theft” is unlikely. But where does this juicy steak come from? The owners have asked nearby restaurants if they use such meat, to no avail. If the meat comes from other restaurants, then this requires the cat to cross either Bridge, St. Johns or Glebe Point Roads, an unpalatable thought for his owners, but worth the risk to the cat!It must be pointed out that the cat is totally exhausted for a whole day after the consumption of such a large piece of meat.

Can anyone shed light on this curious behaviour pattern?

This same cat is a regular recipient of emails, cat stories and jokes from the US, Canada and within Australia! His popularity never ceases to amaze his family! At the end of June 2001, circumstances forced his family to seek international veterinary advice from a US-based professor (a Glebe Society member) and his colleague, both of whose expertise is valued world-wide. The cat must have been a celebrity in another life!

 Did you know that there are still horses stabled in Glebe?

A trotter in its stall in the back garden of a house in Victoria Street.
and we still have a horse trough in St John’s Road, although horses would find it difficult to slake their thirst.	Racing sulky ready to head for Harold Park

 Queries, tales or info? email: webmaster@glebesociety.org.au