ONE of Lake Macquarie's unknown little treasures sits in a private library in the back streets of Swansea.
It's a world in miniature of the township as it existed 100 years ago crafted with love, devotion and skill by two residents of Levande The Village, in Wallace Street, south Swansea. And according to local history enthusiasts, it's an extremely accurate depiction of a way of life now long gone and a lot less hectic than today.
Weekender was alerted to the large, scale-model town within the Swansea retirement village by lake author Greg Powell, who was a guest speaker there recently.
"It's an amazing model of Swansea around 1900 showing the western aside of the main street. It was created by a Mr Martin who also has some wonderful ship models on display. He has died, but his wife still lives at the village," Powell said.
Ever curious, I visited to see this wonder.
Measuring about 13 feet (4m), the impressive street model is sandwiched between open shelves in a book cabinet designed around it. On display are former real buildings ranging from miners' cottages, to a blacksmiths shop, to a butcher, fish shop, Croft's bakery, the landmark Swansea hotel, St Peter's church (since re-located from main street), a general store, post office, garage and Phelan's picture theatre (now an arcade) erected in 1911.
The model shows 25 buildings from the southern end of town (now the roundabout to Caves Beach) going north to Swansea bridge, back when it only carried coal trains and swung sideways. As well, there are horse-drawn coaches, an antique motor bike, tiny townsfolk going about their business, a ferry, rowboats and a coal-carrying steam train.
And yet, it all seems vaguely familiar. Maybe that's because the model was displayed briefly at the suburb's public library about five or six years ago before returning permanently to the Levande retirement village.
Officially the model township, set against a colourful backdrop of trees, sky and the waters of Lake Macquarie, is frozen in time about 1924.
"The whole project might have taken about three and a half years," widow Jeanette Martin said.
"I supposed it all started when I once gave my late husband John a model kit to work on. it grew from there. He worked on ship models from old photographs, like the Kanangra ferry, but was also interested in train and model layouts.
"But that wasn't down here on Lake Macquarie. We'd moved up to Port Macquarie from Sydney. He must have had scores of models eventually and won awards. We had a whole garage full, but there was a fire, an arson attack. He lost about $20,000 worth of models."
The couple then moved to Green Point, near Gosford, and finally to Swansea.
"I'd come from Bondi, in Sydney, and John was from Coogee. My original name was Horgan and I'm descended from people at Martinsville, but I never lived there," Mrs Martin said.
Fellow resident and the village's art teacher Keith Meaker, 92, worked tirelessly with John Martin to make the model Swansea township a reality.
"What makes this project so interesting is that Swansea is so full of history. This model is the history of Swansea," Mr Meaker said.
"There was a clothing factory here and the Chinese had a big fishing industry. Where Swansea McDonald's is now was the site of Mrs Coulter's family home (from 1908 to 1972) for six generations and nearby Murrays Beach had two coal mines.
"Although I believe there have been four Swansea bridges over the years, including one with a drawbridge, our model shows an early steam-powered bridge with a single-track coal line, and nothing for pedestrians, or horse and carts.
"And people forget there was also a big coal export trade from here. Coal came from Murrays Beach and from Catherine Hill Bay. On Swansea Channel, diagonally opposite the present Swansea RSL, there was a huge, two-storey timber coal loader (1923-1943). But how the trucks drove up this big, risky ramp I don't know. Coal would then be tipped from the trucks into the holds of waiting ships beneath to feed Sydney power stations.
"I know this because I used to fish from that foreshore. There's nothing left there now though," he said.
"To achieve historical accuracy, we started with George and Noelene Boyd's 2013 reference book, The Changing Face Of Swansea's Main Street. I'd had draughtsman training, so I did the scaling-down work from old photographs.
"Swansea Men's Shed built the base for us in two parts. John built models and I did the windows and doors, planted mini-trees and gardens and painted the backdrop. We did it as a hobby and just enjoyed it all."
Mrs Martin said her late husband had always wanted to be a boat builder, but his father had insisted he become an electrician.
"And he hated it, but later found joy in creating models of all types," she said.
CITY PARK TURNS 100
Newcastle city's most overlooked park is celebrating its centenary this month. Historic Church Walk Park is the hillside above Darby Street linking King Street below with Church Street above and has seen both good times and bad. It was created as a botanical park by Newcastle council in 1924, about two years after the pioneering Australian Agricultural Company (or AACo) stopped its inner-city coal railway about 1922.
Friends of Church Walk Park spokeswoman Lyndley said the steep hillside, a big sandhill really, was then planted with European and Asian trees. Up to 60 trees survive, but about five years ago the park was neglected, an "absolute disgrace" and used as a dump, according to Lyndley.
"It's such a pity. When the park was created it was to link our then Town Hall with Newcastle's Christ Church Cathedral," she said.
Since then, volunteers have worked hard to remedy the neglect of Church Walk Park. The AACo's greying concrete embankment remnant overlooking King Street from Darby Street to Crown Street, where part of the coal railway once ran, also still survives.
