It is sad to report the loss in the last year of several of the Trust’s passionate advocates and earliest members. Those remembered below are notable for the contribution they made to the campaign to protect the best of Hunter’s Hill’s special heritage from unsympathetic and over- development, some by becoming successful candidates in Council elections and all by taking up an active involvement in the early days of the Trust. We honour their memory.
Sheila Swain was widely known and respected having lived in Hunter’s Hill with husband Geoff since 1954 and always active and interested in her local community. Elected to Council in 1971, Sheila served for 20 years including two terms as Mayor – the first woman to do so. A lifelong member and great supporter of the Trust and its activities, Sheila was also involved with the preservation and management of the National Trust’s Vienna Cottage.
Ewan Cheyne-Macpherson was elected to Council with Sheila Swain, the only two of the nine Trust-endorsed candidates to be successful in 1971 (an election that attracted 30 candidates!). Ewan was also President of the Trust from 1977 to 1979 and a life member. He was Scottish to the last as well as a proud local resident, very much at home in the Batemans Road house which was built in the early 1880’s and owned by the family for many decades.
Charles Martin resided in Hunter’s Hill for only 5 years but his influence in the early days of the battle to save our local heritage and in the formation of the Trust was immense. Born in the USA in 1924 he became a highly respected academic and philosopher. He came to Adelaide University – via positions at both Cambridge and Oxford – in 1954 and to Sydney University in 1966, later becoming an activist within campus with Professor Charles Birch opposing the Vietnam War. During this time he was also a forceful founding member of the Trust, urging Council to plan for prevention of further destruction of historic buildings and to protect Clarke’s Point as public open space.
David Abotomey was at the inaugural meeting to form the Trust on 4.1.1968 and on the First Permanent Committee elected in July that year. He was also successfully elected to Council’s East ward in December 1968 – the year the nine Trust-sponsored candidates swept the poll with 55% of all primary votes cast (there was a very high turn-out – and no compulsory voting then). David was a young conservation- minded builder and restorer who, so incensed by the destruction of old houses in Church Street, bought one before it was demolished and re-erected it stone by stone on land at 6 Lot Lane where it stands today.
For more detail on the history of the Trust’s early days, “The Vision & The Struggle”, an account of the Trust’s first 20 years, is recommended reading – available from HHT at a discount to members.
Brigid Dowsett
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Vale four of Hunters Hill’s finest
It is sad to report the loss in the last year of several of the Trust’s passionate advocates and earliest members. Those remembered below are notable for the contribution they made to the campaign to protect the best of Hunter’s Hill’s special heritage from unsympathetic and over- development, some by becoming successful candidates in Council elections and all by taking up an active involvement in the early days of the Trust. We honour their memory.
Sheila Swain was widely known and respected having lived in Hunter’s Hill with husband Geoff since 1954 and always active and interested in her local community. Elected to Council in 1971, Sheila served for 20 years including two terms as Mayor – the first woman to do so. A lifelong member and great supporter of the Trust and its activities, Sheila was also involved with the preservation and management of the National Trust’s Vienna Cottage.
Ewan Cheyne-Macpherson was elected to Council with Sheila Swain, the only two of the nine Trust-endorsed candidates to be successful in 1971 (an election that attracted 30 candidates!). Ewan was also President of the Trust from 1977 to 1979 and a life member. He was Scottish to the last as well as a proud local resident, very much at home in the Batemans Road house which was built in the early 1880’s and owned by the family for many decades.
Charles Martin resided in Hunter’s Hill for only 5 years but his influence in the early days of the battle to save our local heritage and in the formation of the Trust was immense. Born in the USA in 1924 he became a highly respected academic and philosopher. He came to Adelaide University – via positions at both Cambridge and Oxford – in 1954 and to Sydney University in 1966, later becoming an activist within campus with Professor Charles Birch opposing the Vietnam War. During this time he was also a forceful founding member of the Trust, urging Council to plan for prevention of further destruction of historic buildings and to protect Clarke’s Point as public open space.
David Abotomey was at the inaugural meeting to form the Trust on 4.1.1968 and on the First Permanent Committee elected in July that year. He was also successfully elected to Council’s East ward in December 1968 – the year the nine Trust-sponsored candidates swept the poll with 55% of all primary votes cast (there was a very high turn-out – and no compulsory voting then). David was a young conservation- minded builder and restorer who, so incensed by the destruction of old houses in Church Street, bought one before it was demolished and re-erected it stone by stone on land at 6 Lot Lane where it stands today.
For more detail on the history of the Trust’s early days, “The Vision & The Struggle”, an account of the Trust’s first 20 years, is recommended reading – available from HHT at a discount to members.
Brigid Dowsett