The Sunbeam Hotel – Corner Riley & Albion Streets – Surry Hills – The 1945 Shooting

The Sunbeam Hotel stood on the corner of Riley Street and Albion Street in Surry Hills, right at the top of the old Frog Hollow. It was a Tooth & Co. pub with a hard reputation, and on Tuesday 10 April 1945, just after six o'clock closing, two local men were shot dead in its public bar. Arthur Graham and Cecil Miller died on the bar-room floor within seconds. The man with the gun was Francis Alexander Walls, a 46-year-old Army cook in uniform, who had a Japanese pistol his son had brought home from New Guinea. He was charged with double murder, but a jury convicted him only of manslaughter, and Mr Justice Herron sent him to gaol for four years. The pub closed in the 1950s and was pulled down, and the corner it overlooked is now Frog Hollow Reserve.

If you've ever cut across Frog Hollow Reserve with the dog, you'd never guess a pub stood on that corner, let alone one the soldier in this story called "a low dive". So I went digging in the old newspapers to see what really happened at the Sunbeam that night in 1945, and what sort of place it was.

Kids playing in Hills Reserve, the cleared ground of old Frog Hollow, in 1949. This is the hollow the Sunbeam looked down on from the corner of Riley and Albion Streets. Ted Hood, State Library of New South Wales, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Where the Sunbeam Stood

The Sunbeam was on the corner of Riley and Albion Streets, Surry Hills. The Sydney Morning Herald of 11 April 1945 put it exactly that way: "the Sunbeam Hotel, at the corner of Riley and Albion Streets, Surry Hills". The City of Sydney Archives has a Town Clerk's file from 1929–30 headed "Frog Hollow resumption. Demolition of party wall. 'Sunbeam' Hotel, 317 Riley Street. Tooth & Co.", so its street address was 317 Riley Street. A council deed packet dated 6 March 1930 covers the same party wall. Some reports called it the Sunbeam in Riley Street and one picture caption put it in Albion Street, but it's the same pub on the same corner.

It had a door facing Albion Street, with steps down to the footpath. That's the door the soldier ran out of in 1945.

Frog Hollow next door

The Sunbeam's big neighbour was Frog Hollow. According to the City of Sydney's history of Frog Hollow Reserve, the hollow was a pocket of land bounded by Anne, Albion, Riley and Little Riley Streets, sitting about nine metres below the surrounding streets. You could only get into it from three directions, down steep flights of stone steps. Between 1895 and 1904 it was known as "one of the most depraved areas of Sydney", and the police said it had bred some of the most "desperate and dangerous criminals" they'd come across. One of them was Samuel "Jewey" Freeman, the leader of the Riley Street Gang.

The council finally moved in with slum clearance. The first houses to go, at 295 to 315 Riley Street, were demolished in 1925. Going by the street numbers, that row ran right up to the Sunbeam at number 317. The council's 1929–30 file about demolishing the hotel's party wall suggests the pub was left standing on the corner while its neighbours came down. Part of the cleared land became a council depot and part became a park called Hills Reserve, named after Pat Hills, the alderman who later became Lord Mayor. Today it's Frog Hollow Reserve, at 303 to 307 Riley Street on the corner of Albion Street.

I wrote about the hollow itself years ago in my Frog Hollow – Albion St & Riley St – Surry Hills post.

A Tooth & Co. Pub with a Hard Name

I couldn't find a full run of licensees for the Sunbeam in the papers I could get at, so I'll stick to what I can back up.

• Built: Elliot Lindsay, writing for Neighbourhood Media in 2024, says the hotel was built in 1865. I haven't seen that date in a primary source, so treat it as his.
• Owner: It was a Tooth & Co. house. In July 1930, the City of Sydney's legal opinion books recorded a matter headed "Sunbeam Hotel. Albion & Riley Sts. Tooth & Co. Ltd. Evan's Place. Easement of light and air." The Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the ANU holds Tooth & Co.'s yellow card for the "Sunbeam Hotel, Riley Street, Surry Hills" (about the 1920s to the 1950s), as well as the brewery's property office file on the hotel from 1930 to 1957.
• Licensee in 1945: Eric Stapleton. His wife, Mrs Louise Stapleton, and her sister, Mrs Vera Porter, worked the bar.

Pub historian Mick Roberts, writing on his Time Gents site in 2023, called the Sunbeam the suburb's "most infamous of 'blood houses'", and wrote that its history "is littered with violent incidents". His article includes a photograph of the hotel taken in September 1948 by Ivan Ive, held by the State Library of NSW. It's a great picture, but it isn't free to reuse, so I've linked his article in the sources rather than putting it here.

The corner store at Riley and Fitzroy Streets, further up Riley Street, during the Depression "bread wars" of August 1934. This is the Riley Street the Sunbeam's regulars knew. Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Six O'Clock and No More Beer

To understand what happened, you need to know how drinking worked in Sydney in 1945. Six o'clock closing had come in during the First World War, and pubs in New South Wales stopped serving at 6 pm until 1955. Plenty of men knocked off work at five and had an hour to get as much beer into themselves as they could. That was the "six o'clock swill". On top of that, beer was short in the last years of the war, and when a pub's beer was gone, it was gone. Four days after the shooting, a man on the Sunbeam's front steps told two would-be customers there was "no beer in the hotel" at all.

A barmaid at work at six o'clock at Petty's Hotel, Sydney, in 1941. This was the six o'clock rush at its worst, and it's the moment the trouble started at the Sunbeam. Max Dupain, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Tuesday 10 April 1945

The afternoon

Francis Alexander Walls was a private in the Australian Military Forces (A.M.F.) and worked as an Army cook. Most papers gave his age as 46, although the Canberra Times said 40. He'd been in the Army about five years. According to Mrs Stapleton at the inquest, he came into the bar at about 3 pm and was drinking with a civilian. That civilian was his son, who was also named Francis Alexander Walls and had since been discharged from the Army. The Age also said the soldier had been in the hotel since about three o'clock. In the statement read to the jury at his trial, though, Walls said he'd been drinking all afternoon and only went to the Sunbeam shortly before 6 pm.

Walls told Detective-Sergeant Oswald Millgate why he had a loaded pistol on him: "I had to deliver some tobacco to a cove there. I knew it was a low dive of a place, a cosmopolitan sort of a place. They get funny down there sometimes, and draw knives, so I took the pistol with me." (Truth, 1 July 1945)

Also in the bar that afternoon were two Surry Hills locals:

• Arthur John Graham, 31, a City Council cleaner from Griffin Street, Surry Hills. He was married.
• Cecil Miller, an ironworker from Bennett Place, Surry Hills. The Herald said he was 35 and married, with three sons aged two, four and six and an adopted daughter of 18. The Age, the Canberra Times and the Northern Star gave his age as 45.

Six o'clock

At 6 pm the main bar door was shut. According to the Herald, all but seven men left when they were asked, and one of the seven was in an Australian soldier's uniform. Mrs Stapleton told the Herald that night:

"The soldier had been drinking for some time, and at 6 p.m. I told him that the beer was off and that he had better leave. He asked: 'Aren't you going to serve me?' and when I replied 'No' he became abusive. He said, 'I've got something here that will fix the lot of you,' at the same time pointing to his pocket. He then said something insulting to me." (Sydney Morning Herald, 11 April 1945)

She said Graham and Miller got up off the form along the wall and told him to "break it down" and not to repeat what he'd said. A fight broke out and the soldier was knocked to the floor. At the inquest her account was a bit different. She said the soldier asked for two middies, and when she wouldn't answer him he abused her, and then "Bill Flanagan and Cecil Miller spoke to the soldier and told him to break it down". In that version, the soldier swung at Miller and missed, Miller hit back, and the soldier ended up on the floor.

William Flanagan, a sheet-metal worker from Riley Street, told the coroner he'd asked the soldier not to talk that way in front of women. He said Miller told him, "Be your age and go. There's no more beer."

The shots

The licensee, Eric Stapleton, was down in the cellar. What happened next took only a few seconds. From the floor, the soldier pulled out the pistol and two shots were fired. One bullet went into Graham's right temple and the other hit Miller in the body (the inquest heard it was his chest). The Herald said both men "slumped to the bar floor and died in a few seconds". It put the time at five minutes past six.

Not everyone heard it the same way. Flanagan told the coroner: "There was bang, bang, bang, bang. I thought there were about 14 shots." Every other account, and the evidence about the two dead men, comes back to two shots. The taxi driver George Brian Courtney, who said he was also known as Brian Hunt, said he saw a flash, heard a report, and saw the soldier turn his head. "I thought I might be the next one to get it, so I jumped over the bar. I heard another shot fired as I was going over."

Out the Albion Street door

In the confusion the soldier got to his feet and ran out the door facing Albion Street, leaving his hat on the floor. The Age said he left his kit bag behind too. As he went down the steps, two of the men in the bar tried to grab him, and one threw a beer glass that smashed against the brickwork of the doorway.

Within minutes the hotel was full of detectives. The Herald named Detective-Superintendents Wickham and James, Detective-Inspector G. Smith, Detective-Sergeants Milgate, Lynch, Gordon and Aldridge, and Detective Kelly. They put out a description of a man aged 40 to 43, 5 ft 7 in, thin to medium build, with a dark to olive complexion and an Australian soldier's uniform.

The Daily Mirror of 11 April ran photographs of "the spot in the bar where the fatal shots were fired", along with Mrs Louise Stapleton and Mrs Vera Porter. You can see the page through the Trove link in the sources.

A Japanese Nambu Type 14 service pistol made in 1943, with its holster. The 1945 papers only call Walls' gun a Japanese automatic or service pistol. This is just an example of the type soldiers brought home from New Guinea, not the gun itself. Chris.w.braun, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Arrest

He didn't get far. The Canberra Times reported that at 2 am the police arrested "Francis Alexander Walls, 40, A.M.F., at a house in Riley Street". At the inquest, Detective-Sergeant Millgate said he saw Walls at his home in Darley Street, Surry Hills, and that the soldier told him:

"I'm glad you've come. I couldn't sleep. I'm pleased to get it over." (Truth, 1 July 1945)

According to Millgate, Walls said one of the men had knocked him down and he'd tried to defend himself, saying "Give us a go; don't kick me." He said one of the men said "I'll kick you to death", and that he fired but didn't aim at anyone.

On Wednesday morning, 11 April, Walls appeared in uniform at the Central Police Court before Mr Farrington, S.M. He was charged with murdering Cecil Miller and Arthur Graham and with having an unlicensed Japanese automatic pistol. Sergeant Moulden, the police prosecutor, asked for a remand to 19 April. Bail was refused.

Four Days Later, More Trouble

If anybody thought the Sunbeam would settle down after that, they were wrong. On Saturday 14 April, two men came up to an employee who was sitting on the hotel steps minding the place while the licensee was out. The hotel doors were open but no drinks were being served. According to the Daily Mirror, they wanted beer. According to the Sun, it was a bottle of wine. When he told them they couldn't get any, one of them grabbed him, pulled a revolver and poked it into his stomach. He broke free, ran inside and slammed the door. Detective-Sergeant Windsor and Detective Perry later charged two men with assault.

The Sun put it under the heading "Sunbeam Hotel in limelight again". The same article reported three more shootings in New South Wales that day, one of them a bank teller hit when his own gun fell, which gives you an idea of how many guns were around at the end of the war.

Children in an inner-city lane in 1949, from Ted Hood's series on the slums of Surry Hills, Woolloomooloo and Redfern. Ted Hood, State Library of New South Wales, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The Inquest

The inquest was held at the City Coroner's Court before the Acting-Coroner, Mr Austin. Walls was defended by Mr Dovey, K.C., and Mr J. Bruxner, instructed by Niland and Bohane.

Truth's report of the first sitting, published on 27 May 1945, had some telling evidence:

• The Government Medical Officer, Dr Stratford Sheldon, said blood tests showed Miller had been "slightly under the influence" and Graham "affected to a much greater degree".
• Detective-Constable B. Toms said both Miller and Graham were known to the police.
• Asked whether Graham was "pretty full and pretty cranky", Courtney said "Yes". He said Miller seemed sober to him.
• Mrs Stapleton said Graham had had a quarrel during the afternoon, but not with the soldier, and that it had blown over. When Mr Dovey asked whether anyone kicked the soldier on the floor, she said, "No, no one kicked him."

Truth printed her name as "Mrs. Mary Stapleton" in that report, but every other report, including Truth's own later one, calls her Louise.

The inquest was adjourned to 6 June, and Walls was remanded again without bail. When it finished, Truth reported on 1 July that the Acting-Coroner had found Walls murdered both men and committed him for trial. Mr Dovey argued that at most a jury would convict him of manslaughter, but bail was refused again. At one point Mr Dovey complained that Mrs Stapleton and Mrs Porter seemed to treat the proceedings as entertainment and were giggling, and both women were ordered out of the court.

The son's evidence

Walls' son, the younger Francis Alexander Walls, told the coroner he'd been in the Sunbeam with his father. In his telling, after a few words at the bar a man in the corner said "Cut it out", and then "they rushed over to my father and started punching and pushing him". He said one of them knocked his father down with a left hook, and that Miller and Graham stood over him "in a half crouched position. I saw movement as though they were kicking him." Then the first shot went off and one man fell. The other man went at his father with his arm up, the second shot went off, and he fell too.

About the gun, he said: "I brought it down from New Guinea and gave it to my father, with some ammunition, as a souvenir." And outside the hotel, he said, his father told him, "I had to do it, otherwise they would have kicked me to death."

Millgate agreed that several of the men in the hotel at the time were known to the police, and said Walls himself had an unblemished record.

Darlinghurst Court House, where the Central Criminal Court sat. Walls was tried here in September 1945. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Trial

Walls went on trial at the Central Criminal Court on Monday 3 September 1945. He pleaded not guilty to murdering Arthur Graham, and the Crown said he fired two shots from a Japanese pistol, one of which killed Graham instantly. The reports I found are all about the Graham charge. I didn't find what became of the separate charge over Cecil Miller's death, so I'll leave that open.

Walls' statement was read to the jury, and the Herald summed it up the next day. He said he was knocked down and "kicked four times in the face and head". He thought he was going to be killed and said "Give me a chance", and someone answered, "You'll get no chance, we'll kick you to death." He drew the pistol, someone grabbed him, and "the next instant he heard the pistol explode". He said, "I did not aim at anyone," and that what he did was in self-defence.

On Tuesday 4 September the jury acquitted him of murder and found him guilty of the manslaughter of Arthur John Graham. He was remanded for sentence.

Four years

Mr Justice Herron passed sentence the following week. Truth reported it on 16 September 1945 under the heading "Guns Menace To Society":

"I am determined to put down the carrying of loaded firearms ... whether they be souvenirs of this war or not." (Truth, 16 September 1945)

He gave Walls four years' gaol. The judge told him, "I don't regard you as belonging to the criminal class," and said the police shared that view. He praised Walls' five years in the Army and his family's service, and said that without those things he'd have felt "impelled to have made the sentence much heavier". He also said Graham had a criminal record and that "he and his friends might have made a serious assault upon you". But in his view, "the worst factor of the case was that you took a loaded pistol into a crowded hotel." He said that if Walls behaved himself in gaol he'd be willing to recommend an early release, on condition that Walls left Sydney and kept away from drink.

The Maitland Mercury of 15 September also reported four years. Elliot Lindsay's 2024 article says Walls got seven years on 12 September 1945, but both 1945 newspaper reports I found say four years, so I've gone with those.

Surry Hills at the End of the War

The Sunbeam shooting wasn't a gang killing. It was a pub brawl at closing time with a souvenir gun in the mix. But it happened at a violent time in Surry Hills. In a 2022 piece for Murders Most Foul, Elliot Lindsay describes a gangland war across Sydney, with more than a dozen deaths that peaked between December 1944 and May 1945, much of it in Surry Hills and Darlinghurst. He lists the Sunbeam shooting among the violence of those months. According to Lindsay, the old razor-gang figures of the 1920s were mostly dead or in prison by 1939, and a new crowd had moved in on the wartime money from sly grog and vice.

The Americans were a big part of that. Lindsay writes that African-American servicemen were steered towards Surry Hills and Darlinghurst, and that Durham Hall at 207 Albion Street became the Booker T. Washington Club for Black servicemen in 1943. That's the same Albion Street as the Sunbeam. My post on Durham Hall – 207 Albion Street has more about the house itself.

Then there were the guns. Men coming home from New Guinea brought souvenirs, and some of them were loaded. That's why Justice Herron went out of his way to talk about "souvenirs of this war" when he sentenced Walls.

Durham Hall at 207 Albion Street, further along Albion Street from the Sunbeam. During the war it housed the Booker T. Washington Club for African-American servicemen. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Sunbeam After 1945

The pub kept its reputation. In 1950 a detective told the Central Court that the gunman William "Joey" Hollebone "had been battered and bashed in the Sunbeam Hotel, Surry Hills, about a week earlier by a number of men". That was in late April 1950, and the same men had smashed down his front door with an axe looking for him (Truth, 4 June 1950). His lawyer said he got a pistol to protect himself after the bashing. He was caught throwing it over a fence in a Surry Hills street at about 1.30 am on 30 April, and he got 12 months' gaol for carrying it without a licence.

The Sunbeam didn't last much longer. Mick Roberts says it closed in 1954, and Elliot Lindsay says it closed in 1953 and was demolished by 1957. The Tooth & Co. property file on the hotel at the Noel Butlin Archives runs to 1957, which fits with the end. I can't pin down the exact closing year from the papers I've seen, so it was either 1953 or 1954 depending on whose account you follow.

Today there's no pub on that corner. Frog Hollow Reserve has lawn, trees and an off-leash area, and the old stone steps still lead down into it.

O'Hears Steps, one of the old stone stairways down into Frog Hollow, photographed in 2011. Steps like these were how people got in and out of the hollow, and the Sunbeam stood right at the top. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• 1865: The Sunbeam Hotel is built, according to Elliot Lindsay.
• 1895–1904: Frog Hollow, below the hotel, is known as "one of the most depraved areas of Sydney".
• 1925: Slum clearance starts in Frog Hollow, and 295–315 Riley Street, right next to the Sunbeam, is demolished.
• 1929–30: The council deals with demolishing the party wall of the "Sunbeam" Hotel, 317 Riley Street, during the Frog Hollow resumption.
• 9 July 1930: City of Sydney legal opinion on "Sunbeam Hotel. Albion & Riley Sts. Tooth & Co. Ltd. Evan's Place. Easement of light and air."
• 1943: Durham Hall, 207 Albion Street, becomes the Booker T. Washington Club, according to Lindsay.
• Tuesday 10 April 1945, about 3 pm: A soldier and his son are drinking in the Sunbeam, according to Mrs Stapleton.
• 10 April 1945, 6 pm: The bar door closes and the beer is "off". An argument and fight follow.
• 10 April 1945, 6.05 pm: Arthur Graham (31) and Cecil Miller are shot dead in the public bar.
• 11 April 1945, 2 am: Francis Alexander Walls is arrested.
• 11 April 1945: Walls is charged at the Central Police Court with two murders and possessing an unlicensed Japanese pistol, and bail is refused.
• Saturday 14 April 1945: An employee is held up at gunpoint on the Sunbeam's steps.
• May 1945: The inquest opens before the Acting-Coroner, Mr Austin, and is adjourned to 6 June.
• Late June 1945: The coroner finds Walls murdered both men and commits him for trial.
• Monday 3 September 1945: The trial opens at the Central Criminal Court, and Walls pleads not guilty to murdering Graham.
• Tuesday 4 September 1945: Walls is acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter.
• September 1945: Mr Justice Herron sentences Walls to four years' gaol. The papers say four years, Lindsay says seven years on 12 September.
• Late April 1950: Joey Hollebone is bashed in the Sunbeam.
• 1953 or 1954: The Sunbeam closes. Lindsay gives 1953 and Roberts gives 1954.
• By 1957: The hotel is demolished, according to Lindsay.

Frog Hollow Reserve at dusk in 2020, with people out walking their dogs. It's a lot quieter now than it was when the Sunbeam was open. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Who Was Who

• Francis Alexander Walls, 46, A.M.F. private and Army cook.
• Francis Alexander Walls (junior), his son, discharged soldier, who brought the pistol home from New Guinea.
• Arthur John Graham, 31, City Council cleaner, of Griffin Street, Surry Hills.
• Cecil Miller, 35 (some papers say 45), ironworker, of Bennett Place, Surry Hills.
• Eric Stapleton, licensee, who was in the cellar at the time.
• Mrs Louise Stapleton, the licensee's wife, and Mrs Vera Porter, her sister, both serving in the bar.
• William Flanagan, sheet-metal worker, of Riley Street, a witness.
• George Brian Courtney (Brian Hunt), taxi driver, of Balfour Street, Greenwich, a witness.
• Det-Sgt Oswald Millgate and Det-Const B. Toms, police.
• Mr Farrington, S.M., at the Central Police Court; Mr Austin, Acting-Coroner; Mr Justice Herron, the trial judge.
• Mr Dovey, K.C. and Mr J. Bruxner, for Walls.

Where the Old Reports Don't Agree

• Miller's age: 35 in the Herald, the Sun and Truth, but 45 in the Age, the Canberra Times and the Northern Star.
• Walls' age: 46 in most reports, but 40 in the Canberra Times.
• Where he was arrested: "a house in Riley Street" (Canberra Times), or his home in Darley Street, Surry Hills (Det-Sgt Millgate at the inquest).
• When he got to the pub: about 3 pm according to Mrs Stapleton and the Age, or shortly before 6 pm according to Walls' own statement.
• Was he kicked? Walls and his son said yes. Mrs Stapleton said "no one kicked him".
• How many shots: two in nearly every account, or "about 14" according to Flanagan.
• The hold-up on 14 April: the men wanted beer (Daily Mirror) or a bottle of wine (Sun).
• The sentence: four years in Truth and the Maitland Mercury, seven years in Elliot Lindsay's 2024 article.
• When it closed: 1953 (Lindsay) or 1954 (Roberts).

My Earlier Posts

• Frog Hollow – Albion St & Riley St – Surry Hills
• Durham Hall – 207 Albion Street – Surry Hills – NSW
• Carlingford Terrace – 179–193 Albion Street – Surry Hills – NSW
• St Michael's Anglican Church – Cnr Albion St & Flinders St – Surry Hills
• Crown Street Women's Hospital – Darlinghurst – Surry Hills
• Reservoir Street – Surry Hills
• "The Shakespeare" Hotel – Devonshire Street – Surry Hills
• Francis Charles Kennedy and the Sophia Street Murder – Surry Hills, 1922
• The Battle of Blood Alley – Eaton Avenue – Kings Cross – 7 May 1929
• The Shooting of Annie Wilson – 195 Bourke Street, Woolloomooloo – 1893
• Darlinghurst Gaol & Darlinghurst Court – Forbes Street & Taylor Square
• Hangings at Darlinghurst Gaol – The Executions and Famous Prisoners
• Crown Street – Woolloomooloo – Darlinghurst – Surry Hills
• Riley Street – Woolloomooloo

Sources

Newspapers (via Trove, National Library of Australia)

• Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.1, "Two Men Shot Dead In Hotel": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27931995
• Daily Mirror (Sydney), Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.3, "Two Die In Bar Tragedy" (photographs of the bar, Mrs Louise Stapleton and Mrs Vera Porter): https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/272474641
• The Age (Melbourne), Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.3, "Two Shot In Hotel": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206869941
• Canberra Times, Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.3, "Dual Murder In Hotel": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2623118
• Newcastle Sun, Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.3, "Double Murder Charge": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/156641013
• Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.4, "Two Men Shot Dead In Hotel Bar": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/56422497
• Warwick Daily News, Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.1, "Hotel Shooting": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/187006813
• The Mercury (Hobart), Wednesday 11 April 1945, p.16, "Two Men Shot Dead": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26056171
• Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 12 April 1945, p.4, "Soldier Charged With Murder": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27932278
• Maryborough Chronicle, Thursday 12 April 1945, p.1, "Arrest in Sydney Hotel Murder Case": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155497092
• Daily Mirror (Sydney), Saturday 14 April 1945, p.2, "Standover Gunmen In Sunbeam Hotel": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/272471060
• The Sun (Sydney), Sunday 15 April 1945, p.3, "Sunbeam Hotel in limelight again": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231704240
• Truth (Sydney), Sunday 27 May 1945, p.35, "Coroner Told Of Double Shooting In Hotel": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169360255
• Daily Mirror (Sydney), Wednesday 6 June 1945, p.2, "Murder Charge Remand": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/272464501
• Truth (Sydney), Sunday 1 July 1945, p.35, "Two Died In Hotel Shooting: Soldier For Trial": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169357121
• Northern Star (Lismore), Tuesday 4 September 1945, p.5, "Murder Charge Against Soldier": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/99182009
• Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 5 September 1945, p.5, "Deaths In Hotel Argument": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27925665
• Maitland Mercury, Saturday 15 September 1945, p.4, "Gaol For Manslaughter": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/281239584
• Truth (Sydney), Sunday 16 September 1945, p.16, "Guns Menace To Society": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169361784
• Truth (Sydney), Sunday 4 June 1950, p.9, "Didn't Take Advice of Police" (Joey Hollebone bashed in the Sunbeam): https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167911362

Other sources

• Elliot Lindsay, "The Sunbeam Hotel Tragedy – Death After the Six O'Clock Swill", Neighbourhood Media, 10 December 2024: https://www.neighbourhoodmedia.com.au/post/death-after-the-six-o-clock-swill-the-sunbeam-hotel-tragedy
• Elliot Lindsay, "Booze, Vice & Racial Segregation: When the Americans came to Sydney during WW2", Murders Most Foul, 22 March 2022: https://murdersmostfoul.com/americans-sydney-ww2/
• Mick Roberts, "Surry Hills' notorious bloodhouse, the Sunbeam Hotel", Time Gents, 1 August 2023 (includes Ivan Ive's September 1948 photograph of the hotel, State Library of NSW): https://timegents.com/2023/08/01/surry-hills-notorious-bloodhouse-the-sunbeam-hotel/
• City of Sydney, "History of Frog Hollow Reserve" (2013): https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/histories-local-parks-playgrounds/history-frog-hollow-reserve
• City of Sydney Archives, "Sunbeam Hotel. Albion & Riley Sts. Tooth & Co. Ltd. Evan's Place. Easement of light and air.", 9 July 1930, Legal Opinions Books, A-00515518: https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/955133
• City of Sydney Archives, "Frog Hollow resumption. Demolition of party wall. 'Sunbeam' Hotel, 317 Riley Street. Tooth & Co. [Plans]", Town Clerk's Department correspondence file, 1929–1930, A-00117893: https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/737069
• City of Sydney Archives, "Sunbeam Hotel, 317 Riley St. Party wall. Tooth & Co Ltd.", Deed Packets, 6 March 1930, A-00448187: https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/984809
• Noel Butlin Archives Centre (ANU), Tooth and Company yellow card, "Sunbeam Hotel, Riley Street, Surry Hills", N60-YC-679: https://archivescollection.anu.edu.au/index.php/sunbeam-hotel-riley-street-surry-hills-2
• Noel Butlin Archives Centre (ANU), "Sunbeam Hotel, Surry Hills, Property Office City Hotel files", 1930–1957, N60-7398: https://archivescollection.anu.edu.au/index.php/sunbeam-hotel-surry-hills-property-office-city-hotel-files
• Wikipedia, "William 'Joey' Hollebone": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_%27Joey%27_Hollebone

Pictures

• Children playing in Hills Reserve, Frog Hollow, Surry Hills, in 1949, with old weatherboard houses and a sandstone wall behind. Ted Hood, State Library of New South Wales, no known copyright restrictions: Wikimedia Commons
• A barmaid pulling beers in a crowded Sydney hotel bar at 6 pm in 1941. Max Dupain, public domain: Wikimedia Commons
• A woman in an apron standing in the doorway of a corner grocery covered in hand-painted price signs, Riley and Fitzroy Streets, 1934. Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales, public domain: Wikimedia Commons
• A group of barefoot children in a narrow inner-Sydney lane lined with brick walls and paling fences, 1949. Ted Hood, State Library of New South Wales, no known copyright restrictions: Wikimedia Commons
• A Japanese Nambu Type 14 pistol made in 1943, shown with its leather holster. Chris.w.braun, CC BY-SA 3.0: Wikimedia Commons
• Durham Hall, a two-storey colonial house behind a garden at 207 Albion Street, Surry Hills. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0: Wikimedia Commons
• Royal coat of arms on the sandstone pediment of Darlinghurst Court House at sunset. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0: Wikimedia Commons
• Old sandstone steps with an iron handrail leading down into Frog Hollow Reserve, Surry Hills. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0: Wikimedia Commons
• People walking dogs at dusk on the lawn of Frog Hollow Reserve, Surry Hills, under autumn trees. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0: Wikimedia Commons

Frog Hollow - Albion St & Riley St - Surry Hills

  Frog Hollow - Cnr Of Albion Street & Riley Street - Surry Hills 

Frog Hollow, at Albion and Riley Streets in Surry Hills, was long written up in Sydney newspapers as a dense lane-and-terrace pocket and later as a target for slum clearance. Contemporary photographs of the corner sit alongside digitised cuttings from the Australian Star, Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph and other papers. This post gathers those Frog Hollow images and press clippings.

                                    

Boy Has This Place Changed, Even Since I Was Young. This Is Where I Spent My First Christmas Alone After I ran Away From Boarding School In 1993.

 I Was 15, It Was Christmas Eve & Both My Parents Had Bombed Themselves Out On Sleepers, Valiums, Rohypnols.... 

Whatever.... 

Needless To Say They Slept Right Through Till Boxing Day Night...

So There I Am In The Old Frog Hollow.... 

& It Was Really Quite Scary... I Met This Aboriginal Girl Who Lived In A Tent Like Thing In The Corner Of The Park Section... 

For The Life Of Me I Can't Remember Her Name... 

But She Was Homeless & I Remember She Took Me Under Her Wing That Night & We Got Drunk On Passion Pop.  

She Took Me Right Around Kings Cross. I Got To Meet A Lot Of Working Girls & Other Homeless People..

 I Remember Arriving Back To  Queens Park Hilton About Lunchtime On Christmas Day Exhausted & Hungover. & That Was My Christmas 1992

Frog Hollow, corner of Albion Street and Riley Street, Surry Hills — opening site photograph.

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Frog Hollow / Albion Street & Riley Street, Surry Hills — historic or contemporary site view (filename not descriptive).

Press clipping: A Clever Capture — Australian Star — Wed 21 Nov 1888, p. 8 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Australian Star, Wednesday 21 November 1888, page 8)

A CLEVER CAPTURE.

At the sittings of the Quarter Sessions, yesterday afternoon, Henry Donnelly, David Harkness, William Harkness, and James Donnelly were arraigned on an indictment charging them with having, on October 8, at Sydney, broken into the dwelling-house of Luke Murrough, and with having stolen therefrom a purse and £81 6s 6½d in money. A second count charged the accused with receiving the property. It appears that on the date mentioned in the indictment, Luke Murrough, residing and carrying on business at 179 Palmer-street, went out for a day's enjoyment, leaving in the house at the time, concealed in the fire place, a purse containing 81 sovereigns. On entering in the evening, Murrough found that the house had been broken into, and the purse of sovereigns, together with several shillings in silver and copper and several articles of jewellery, were missing. Information was given to the police, and the matter entrusted to Senior-sergeant Pirie and Senior-constable Goulder. On the following morning, Henry Donnelly and James Donnelly were found in a house at "Frog Hollow," Surry Hills, and on being searched were found to have between them £20 in sovereigns. A woman named Mrs. Chairborough identified Henry Donnelly as the person she had seen jumping over the fence at the time of the robbery. William and David Harkness were subsequently arrested in a house in Palmer-street, Woolloomooloo, close to where the robbery was committed. A boy named Smallwood identified David Harkness as one of four persons he saw in the yard of the house at the time of the robbery. On being searched, the Harkness Bros. had between them £32 in sovereigns. When arrested, David Harkness offered considerable resistance, and he became so violent that Senior-sergeant Pirie had to let him go, and Senior-constable Goulder, after a long and exciting chase recaptured him, and conveyed him safely to the lock-up. For the defence a number of witnesses were called to prove an alibi. Counsels on both sides addressed the jury at length. Henry Donnelly and William Harkness were found guilty on the first count of breaking and entering, and James Donnelly and David Harkness of receiving, and the prisoners were remanded for sentence.

 

Press clipping: Alleged Disorderly House — Australian Star — Tues 9 Sept 1890, p. 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Australian Star, Tuesday 9 September 1890, page 3)

ALLEGED DISORDERLY HOUSE.

A young woman named Nellie Stewart was placed upon her trial at the Quarter Sessions yesterday upon an indictment charging her with having, on June 1 and on divers other days between that day and the present, at Sydney kept a common, ill-governed and disorderly house. Mr. Merewether conducted the case on behalf of the Crown, and Mr. C. Bull appeared for the accused.

The evidence showed that the disorderly house complained of was situated in Frog Hollow, off Riley-street, Surry Hills, that it was kept by the accused and was frequented by men and women for immoral purposes. Evidence to this effect was given by the police. The jury, after a short retirement, found the accused guilty, and she was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in Darlinghurst Gaol.

Press clipping: Abolition of Slums — Sydney Morning Herald — Wed 12 Sept 1923 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 12 September 1923)

CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
ABOLITION OF SLUMS.
MANY STREET WIDENINGS.

The works committee yesterday afternoon approved of a minute by the Lord Mayor recommending the resumption of the area in the Surry Hills district known as "Frog Hollow," which was stated to be one of the few remaining insanitary areas of the city.

Mr. Weekes, city surveyor, was asked to report on this scheme from the city improvement standpoint, and also from the traffic aspect on the schemes that are before the City Council for the widening of York-street, Kent-street, Park-street, Liverpool-street, and Goulburn-street.

The committee yesterday also recommended to the City Council a proposal for the extension of Goulburn-street so as to secure a through street to the western suburbs to carry the heavy market traffic.

It was stated that the consent of the Governor-in-Council to the extension of Martin-place was expected before the end of this month, and it was recommended to the City Council that the city solicitor be instructed to take the necessary legal steps to prevent any new buildings being started on the resumption area of the new street in the meantime.

Press clipping: All Fine Sports — Daily Telegraph — Thurs 16 Aug 1928, p. 5 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 16 August 1928, page 5)

ALL "FINE SPORTS"
"Two-Up" Players Pay Up in Good Humor

"They are a fine lot of sports," commented a police officer who participated in the raid on a "two-up" school off Albion Street, Surry Hills, on Tuesday.

And they certainly looked a care-free 69 "sports" as they crowded the corridors of the Central Police Court yesterday, and added £138 to the revenue to the tune of a £2 fine each.

Mr. E. R. Abigail appeared for the men, and pleaded guilty, Mr. M'Mahon assessing the penalty at double the usual rate for men found playing a casual game of "heading 'em" in open spaces

The police describe the "school" as the most elaborate seen in Sydney.

The obvious entrance to the building was from Albion Street, or across vacant land off "Frog Hollow." But the players went by a devious route along a narrow lane off Little Riley Street, through a break in a fence, then through a door in a brick wall, leading to the basement of the adjoining premises.

The "two-up" ring was spread with thick carpets, which served to enhance the atmosphere of luxury and to deaden the sound of falling coins.

Seats with accommodation for 300 men were raised in tiers, to give all an unobstructed view of the game, and the general appearance of the basement was that of a small stadium.

Patrons were supplied with drinks and tobacco from a buffet in one corner.

Press clipping: Back Alleys Night Tours — Sydney Morning Herald — Fri 7 Jul 1933, p. 11 — clipping part 1 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Back Alleys Night Tours — Sydney Morning Herald — Fri 7 Jul 1933, p. 11 — clipping part 2 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Back Alleys Night Tours — Sydney Morning Herald — Fri 7 Jul 1933, p. 11 — clipping part 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 7 July 1933, page 11 (all three parts above))

BACK ALLEYS.
NIGHT TOUR.
Lord Mayor's Party.

Last night the Lord Mayor (Alderman Hagon), accompanied by Detective-Sergeant Sedgewick and Professor Wilkinson, president of the Institute of Architects, made a tour of inspection of the poorer living quarters of the city.

If the visit did not reveal any slums it certainly showed a remarkable jumble of narrow streets, small side-alleys, and close conditions of life for those residing in them.

The party went first to the old Rocks area, where the relics of the past are still to be seen in old houses, about which are crowded the small tenements, some in rows with dividing walls between, others detached but with a minimum of space about them. The stores have displaced a great many in the last few years, the result being that high walls often overshadow the houses, which are used by wharf-labourers, seamen, and others who make their living in connection with the shipping. To the suburban resident the tiny backyards with the washing on the line would represent the worst of cramped conditions, and the obvious rarity of the sun's penetration would perhaps be the most repellant feaure [sic]. In the vicinity of Miller's Point there were many such, hard and uninviting, yet close to the wharves and the city, and home for somebody.

From "The Rocks" the party went to Pyrmont and saw many old places built in the fifties or thereabouts, some of stone, rows of tenements, or single cottages that had perhaps once rejoiced in a garden of some sort, as evidenced by the remaining shrubs and a few dispirited-looking trees.

In Ultimo, at the back of Harris-street, the next quarter visited, the car stopped in a narrow street, known as Bulwarra-lane, in which two-storied houses filled one side in a long stretch, broken only by passage-ways of about three or four feet in width leading to small backyards, and from them more narrow lanes to right and left, having very much the appearance of a warren—"getaways" in the language of the police accustomed to pursuits in which the pursued, if he has a lead, can suddenly disappear. Still they could not be classed as slums. The people in them were well dressed, and declared that they were comfortable, and as comfort is largely a matter of comparison they would presumably be satisfactory.

As the car wound in and out of side streets and lanes, some of which were just wide enough to admit it, into parts of Chippendale and Redfern, the effect on the mind was of a tangle of tortuous thoroughfares, and as the party was taken into sections of Surry Hills and Woolloomooloo, avoiding the main streets, it became a passage through rows of uninviting, sinister-looking tenements, some with their doors opening on the road or on to sidewalks hardly wide enough for two to walk abreast. The last-named areas contain the homes of the fishermen, prawners, and others who have their boats in the bay, foreigners being in large proportion.

It is a surprise to anyone going in the night through these jungles of houses that they should be there in the city in such a huddle, particularly when there may be not very far away a broad busy main street, full of shops. Factories are gradually displacing them. The space is valuable, yet the people, no doubt, find them convenient for their mode of life. Children abound, playing in the front of their homes on the roadways.

One part through which the car twisted and turns bears the unsavoury name of "Frog Hollow," the obscure side dives being the scene of many a police chase in past times. The areas thereabout, according to the police, have improved greatly in the last few years. Some of the places were pointed out as having been unsafe in the old days for fewer than three or four policemen together to traverse, but now, clean swept and well lighted, one man can go through them with safety.

"It is a surprise to me that the places we have seen have existed so long," said the Lord Mayor on returning to the Town Hall. "The conditions in which some people live seem to me extraordinary. Yet the children look healthy, and are generally well clothed and happy; but it is the environment that makes the criminal. Considering the depressing circumstances of the two or three years, we did not see the poverty that one would expect."

Press clipping: City Slums — Daily Telegraph — Thurs 20 Jul 1922, p. 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 20 July 1922, page 3)

CITY SLUMS
CONDITIONS IN "FROG HOLLOW"

In amplification of his previous reference to conditions in "Frog Hollow," Surry Hills, where there were to be seen "back-yards in front of houses," a picture of which locality appeared in last Saturday's "Daily Telegraph," Archdeacon Boyce writes, explaining that the houses were built against a bank of earth. They had no back-doors, and possessed only apologies for yards opening out into a lane ten-feet wide, running into a little crowded street only twenty feet wide.

"The buildings are very remarkable," Archdeacon Boyce adds. "The top storeys have no connection with those underneath, and have no yards, front or back. There are some balconies at the rear, where clothes can be dried. The front doors in these cases open out into Riley Street, which is wide and good.

"I quoted the lower portion of these buildings as a case in point in my remarks at a deputation to the Lord Mayor relative to congested areas in the city in which people had not proper and sufficient room."

Press clipping: Eject FH Residents — Northern Standard — Tues 12 Mar 1940, p. 4 — clipping part 1 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Eject FH Residents — Northern Standard — Tues 12 Mar 1940, p. 4 — clipping part 2 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (Northern Standard, Tuesday 12 March 1940, page 4 (both parts above))

EJECTMENT OF FROG HOLLOW RESIDENTS

The Commonwealth Government is taking proceedings against four residents living in Frog Hollow.

A Supreme Court order made in chambers against I. Agostini will enable the Government to take over Mr. Agostini's house and throw him and his wife and children on the streets.

The property is being resumed, according to the Government, "for important defence purposes."

The important defence purposes are, in this instance, leases of the land to the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Co.

The Shell octopus will not sign a lease of the land while any person is living on it.

Mr. Agostini has asked the authorities to privide [sic] him and his family with shelter before they are ejected.

They have refused to provide any shelter.

The authorities have offered Mr. Agostini £200 for his home and land as compensation for dispossessing him of his property. He is seeking £7000.

The other residents affected are Mr. M. Condon and Mr. F. Ashwin.

A notice appeared in the Common- [the clipping ends here]

Press clipping: Fall From Balcony — Daily Mercury — Mon 6 Aug 1923, p. 6 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (Daily Mercury, Monday 6 August 1923, page 6)

FALL FROM BALCONY.
TWO PERSONS INJURED.

The spot in Surry Hills, known as "Frog Hollow," was the scene of a dual accident on Saturday night. Cecil Shields, aged 18, overbalanced and fell from a balcony.

Roy Smith, in attempting to save Shields, also overbalanced, and both fell to the bottom of the "Hollow," a distance of 30 feet. Shields was admitted to hospital suffering from concussion, and probable fracture of the skull. Smith was treated for a scalp wound.

Press clipping: FH — Early Days — The Sun — Thurs 13 Sept 1923, p. 10 — clipping part 1 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: FH — Early Days — The Sun — Thurs 13 Sept 1923, p. 10 — clipping part 2 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: FH — Early Days — The Sun — Thurs 13 Sept 1923, p. 10 — clipping part 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Sun, Thursday 13 September 1923, page 10 (all three parts above; the columns are rearranged in the clippings, read here in order))

FROG HOLLOW
Tales of the Early Days
CITY SLUM DOOMED

The works committee of the City Council has approved of the Lord Mayor's minute recommending the resumption of Frog Hollow. At the same time it was described as one of the few remaining insanitary areas of the city. Anyone with a sensitive nose would agree that this was no exaggeration. Parts of Frog Hollow are decidedly "high."

Frog Hollow is bounded on the north by Ann-street, on the south by Albion-street and a yard concealing a medley of old iron, carts, boxes, and scrapped hansom cabs in the last stage of dilapidation; on the east by Riley-street; and on the west by Little Riley-street, divers unchristened alleys and cramped backyards, and a variety of smells.

It has many entrances and exits; but from three directions it is approachable only by steep flights of stone steps, down one of which a young man fell on a Saturday night recently and fractured his skull. Frog Hollow is about 30 feet from the surface.

There is a terrace facing Riley-street, the rear portions of which form the first line of offence against the aesthetic sense of the Corporation.

There appear to be houses upon houses. It is a puzzle whether Evans-place is a street or a back lane. It is the only back lane to which the Riley-street terrace could lay claim, yet the unsteady wooden gates—whether they are back or front—are numbered, and each house, as well as having a front door opening right on to Riley-street, has a verandah and a balcony and other indications of a front entrance in Evans-place.

Even the out-buildings, which stand where the front lawns would be if front lawns were possible in Evans-place, do not rob this view of its aspect of a front elevation. It seems as though the architects, determined to save space, have jammed another house under the iron-railed roof of each of those in the terrace facing Riley-street.

The effect is that there is a house upon a house, with one backyard at the front door, and the other on the roof.

The average frontage of Frog Hollow residences is about 20 feet, and there are few yards in which a cat could be swung without brushing its whiskers on the kitchen door or the back fence.

There was one yard in which a rat could be swung. As a matter of fact, a rat had been swung there. It landed on the tin roof of a little shed, and stayed there. Rigor mortis had set in, and at a hasty glance it was impossible to say whether death was due to violence or natural causes. A closer examination was inadvisable. The rat appeared to be one of the sources of Frog Hollow's many odors.

LOST ITS FROGS

Frog Hollow has no frogs. Long ago they migrated. Some of the oldest inhabitants can remember when a little stream ran across Riley-street, having come from the direction of the Busby pump in Paddington, and rippled down through the area that has become "one of the few remaining insanitary areas of the city"—to put it very mildly.

In those days there were frogs in Frog Hollow, and then it was given the name that still clings to its confusion of narrow alleys, crammed houses, stone steps and smells.

Perhaps when the council's plans are complete, and Frog Hollow looks more like a bit of Sydney, when the children have somewhere to play and the backyards do not end a few feet away from the doors, it will be re-christened.

Many of the older policemen remember Frog Hollow when it was not the quiet place it is to-day. It has done its best to live down a shady past, but when old hands gather and exchange reminiscences, tales are still told of desperate fights with notorious men.

Between 1895 and 1904, says a well-known police officer, Frog Hollow was one of the worst localities in Sydney, and a policeman had to be prepared for a fight every night. It had bred some of the most desperate and dangerous criminals that the police could recall, for in those days most of the daring men favored Frog Hollow with their residence.

NIGHTLY FIGHTS

Push-fights were a nightly occurrence, and no policeman was safe on the beat alone. Down around the "Rocks" at about the same period a policeman was not exactly popular—he was welcomed generally with a brick or bottle—but the men of Miller's Point were gentlemen in comparison with those of Frog Hollow.

"Nearly all those who lived there were of the criminal class," says this officer. "One family reared in one of those lanes contained some of the most notorious criminals. The whole family served many sentences for daring highway robberies. Many policemen were badly knocked about there from time to time."

In those days, he said, the enforcement of the liquor act was a difficult job. So long as the licensees kept someone on the lookout for the police, it was almost impossible to catch them selling after 11 p.m. Consequently, the general time for emptying the hotels in the Frog Hollow quarter was about 2 a.m., and it was usually at about this time that the pushes began to look for trouble—among themselves, if there were no rivals about.

Constable McCormack, who has since retired, can tell some exciting stories of Frog Hollow. On one occasion he was tackled by one of the pushes, and had to fight his way through them. The constable was badly injured, and of his assailants, one known as "Tinkie" Lardner, suffered the worst. Lardner died, and at the inquest the coroner declared that no blame could be attached to McCormack.

McCormack is remembered as a quiet and unassuming officer; but it is generally agreed that he was a "surprise packet" in a rough-and-tumble.

Among the other notorious men with whom McCormack had to deal was one, the leader of a gang, whose boast it was that no man in the force had ever arrested him single-handed. He had never been known to go quietly to the police station. Like the scene of his activities, this man has reformed, and is now living a respectable life.

 

Press clipping: Frog Hollow Again — Evening Star — Sat 7 Feb 1891, p. 6 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (Evening paper (John's label: Evening Star), Saturday 7 February 1891, page 6)

Frog Hollow Again.

At the Central Police Court yesterday, Rubie Healey, Kate Wiley, Joseph Dalzell, and Ellen Nicholson were charged, on remand, before Mr. W. Johnson, S.M., with having stolen £49 in gold, and 20s in silver, the property of Thomas Williams. Detective West produced £40 8s 9d, which he received from the Newcastle police. The evidence was to the effect that prosecutor came from Bathurst and was taken to a house in Frog Hollow, near Riley-street, and he alleged that while there the money was taken from him. Accused were in the house. After hearing the evidence his Worship committed the accused for trial at the Central Criminal Court, the prisoners Nicholson and Healey being allowed bail.

Press clipping: Houses Upon Houses — Sun — Thurs 13 Sept 1923, p. 10 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Sun, Thursday 13 September 1923, page 10 – photograph with caption)

HOUSES UPON HOUSES

A section of Frog Hollow, Surry Hills, which the City Council has decided to resume. It is described as an insanitary area—and it is. The picture shows the view from Evans-place, and it is hard to say whether these are the front or back entrances to the lower houses.

Press clipping: Insult to Workers — Labor Daily — Wed 13 Sept 1933, p. 6 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Labor Daily, Wednesday 13 September 1933, page 6 – photograph with caption)

Insult To Workers

"Frog Hollow," as it is known locally, in the heart of the Surry Hills district, where thousands of workers have their homes, is considered by the City Council a suitable site for an incinerator. Its real purpose should be a beautiful park for the children of this congested area.

Press clipping: Lost His Job — Sun — Wed 27 Jul 1949, p. 5 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Sun, Wednesday 27 July 1949, page 5)

Lost his job, slashed hand

Shortly after telling his mother that he had lost his job, a 22-year-old Surry Hills man slashed his hand today and ran from the house.

Central Ambulance men followe da [sic] trail of blood for a quarter of a mile, and found the man lying at the foot of some steps in Frog's Hollow, a well-known part of Surry Hills, in a pool of blood. His condition is not serious.

Press clipping: Moving Pic Show — Sun — Wed 25 Apr 1934, p. 6 — clipping part 1 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Moving Pic Show — Sun — Wed 25 Apr 1934, p. 6 — clipping part 2 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Moving Pic Show — Sun — Wed 25 Apr 1934, p. 6 — clipping part 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Moving Pic Show — Sun — Wed 25 Apr 1934, p. 6 — clipping part 4 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Moving Pic Show — Sun — Wed 25 Apr 1934, p. 6 — clipping part 5 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (The Sun, Wednesday 25 April 1934, page 6 (all five parts above; parts 1 and 2 overlap))

THE MOVING PICTURE SHOW

[cartoon heading]

All English

"Isn't Billy Hughes a darling!" said Amelia.

"All the Welsh are," said Peter. "Didn't they invent eisteddfods?"

"Oh, but how can he be Welsh?" she protested; "didn't he say at the Empire dinner: 'Self-government and the institutions of free government are the heritage of the English alone. Neither the Scotch, the Welsh nor the Irish have the rudiments of these things!"

"Heavens! Then he's a traitor to the gang!" Peter thundered. "How dare he go back on the Welsh rabbit, the Welsh Fusiliers, the Cymric, 'Ich Dien,' leeks and Taffy's famous beef-bone?"

"Oh, but the English have inherited all those," said Amelia.

"Well, what about the Scotch?" Peter asked; "have they no rudiments? Malted barley, bagpipes, cabers, haggis, the Loch Ness Monster, kilts, the jokes about saxpence, thistles, oatmeal, the sword dance, Burns and golf? Are these not institutions? Is Annie Laurie an English institution?"

"Go on—you've inherited too much Scotch this morning," said Amelia.

"Getting up my courage for the March," Peter admitted. "You see, I hope to meet Billy there and ask him if he is not himself an inherited Rudiment."

March of Change

There is a proposal afoot to convert the area of Surry Hills, known as "Frog Hollow," into a fine modern sports arena.

"Sic Transit!" said the Count de Main, and broke into a bitter lament:—

"Frog Hollow's lanes were bonnie,
When early fell the dew,
And beer by cart and lorry
The byways trundled through—
The murk came trundling through
To aid the midnight glee
Till i' the sma' hours sorry
We laid us doon to dee!"

"Don't make me cry!" said Weary Willie, taking up the chant:—

"Frog 'Oller's air was meller,
With 'ops an' 'owls, an' cries,
A bloke would stalk a feller,
Where deep the shadder lies—
Where thickest shadder lies
Wiv a bottle in 'is 'and
To 'it 'im on the smeller
An' rob 'im—oh! 'twas grand."

"That's just how you would recall it!" said the Count, jamming Willie off the air and continuing:—

"Frog Hollow! Oh, Frog Hollow!
To think you modern grow—
That Neon lights should follow,
Nocturnes of years ago!
Romance of long ago
I shed a tear for you,
And [illegible: line half cut off at the join between clippings]
Where played we pak-a-pu!"

Question Answered

Should aldermen pull up objectionable tram lines in order to get a good "box-on" going with the Transport Board? Peter referred this question (which arose from a threat made by Alderman Shannon over the proposed balloon loop at the foot of Phillip-street) to Dorothy Dix.

Her reply is:—

"Better not. For one thing, they are firmly rooted, and when pulled up make a frightful mess of a road, and, in accordance with a long-standing national custom, must be replanted after the usual sacrificial victims, pedestrians and motorists, have been offered to Moloch. My advice to Alderman Shannon is to let sleeping tram-loops lie; but they can be buried in situ quite easily by the council making an over-night snap decision to build a snappy tip on the site and stock it with angoras."

Horse Or Jockey?

"Sam Heapy, an English jockey, who has been riding in Belgium for 33 years, has just ridden his 2747th winner," said Peter, meeting Beedelhaupt on the tram.

"Ay bane gompletely onable to understand," said Beedelhaupt, "why der rich men pays tausends und tausends of qvids vie der Horse Sales instead of goin' to ein Creche an' buyin' a liddle Shockey mit pandy legs."

Why not? Peter himself has often had the same notion. Why own a racing stable at all? And why go to races and bet on other people's jockeys? Peter is now saving up to buy one good, reliable jockey of the Heapy breed to race at all important meetings. Anybody with a stable can then supply the horse provided Peter is guaranteed the odds to the value of half the prize money.

Ramsay Forgets Himself

British newspapers (writes Dr. Archibald Grubb) are discussing the visit of the Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Dr. Suvich) to London, for the purpose of discussing Italy's cotton industry in Abyssinia.

The "Daily Times," in an editorial of profound dignity, regrets that the Prime Minister (Mr. Ramsay Macdonald) has not risen to the occasion and gone to Italy, instead of giving the Italian Minister the trouble of such a long journey to London. "Such a great traveller to conferences abroad as Mr. Macdonald," says the editorial, "would not, we feel sure, if he had been in robust health, have let such an opportunity pass."

It is reported in the "Evening Mail" that the Shriek of Huggamugga proposes to visit London to discuss the quota on camels. "Surely," says the leader-writer, "Mr. Macdonald surely cannot be so discourteous to the Shriek as to refuse to fly at once to Watathiss, the capital of Huggamugga, and confer with him on this momentous subject."

 

Press clipping: Plea FH Residents — Gosford Times — Thurs 8 Nov 1923, p. 12 — clipping part 1 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Plea FH Residents — Gosford Times — Thurs 8 Nov 1923, p. 12 — clipping part 2 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Plea FH Residents — Gosford Times — Thurs 8 Nov 1923, p. 12 — clipping part 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (Gosford Times, Thursday 8 November 1923, page 12 (all three parts above))

A PLEA FOR FROG HOLLOW RESIDENTS.

To the Editor.

Sir,—It is somewhat with trepidation that I request you to insert this short letter in your journal, feeling that your space and my time may be used with no possibility of result to the benefit of those concerned, as I have found the Shire Council slow to act and loth to recognise the importance of opinions expressed by outside ratepayers or from private channels or sources, and rather rapid in acting on inside suggestions from among the chosen representatives of the long-suffering ratepayers.

But I feel also that the time has arisen when the Councillors should be forced to recognise the outstanding needs of many of those who, year in and year out, contribute to the upkeep of the Shire and receive no benefit at all in the immediate locality in which they live (or exist, I might say), and suffer in silence. And I take up my pen on their behalf, in the faint hope that my still, small voice may possibly reach the sacred sanctuary in Mann St., and be heard to some small measure by the conservative occupants.

To come to my main theme. I wish to draw the attention of the Council in general (and particularly the F man) to the fact that for many a long year, scarcely a tap has been done to improve the lot of a few humble owners in the locality of Frog Hollow. Their streets there are famous for holes which are big enough to establish a very efficient town water supply, and are, to all intents and purposes, absolutely untrafficable, and are certainly dangerous. True, there are only a mere handful of dwellers there, but there are an enormous number of people who annually pay a good amount in rates and who should receive a little consideration for such payment. If the Shire would only make a small portion (say, one street) reasonably trafficable through the centre and join up with George Street, near Peek's Point, it would constitute a great improvement, and provide a fairly good alternative route to Terrigal as a short cut. I am sure also that it would greatly enhance values and lead to buildings on this land which, of course, would bring in more rates. It is only reasonable, because Frog Hollow owners are taxed for electric light, and have not received a particle of consideration for years.

Perhaps Cr. Mobbs may happen to scan this column and come across this croak, and even if he cannot at present see his way clear to give us the consideration we really deserve, that he will keep the matter in the fore-front for early attention.—Yours, &c.,

A HUMBLE FROG.

 

Press clipping: Syd Slum Must Go — Times — Sun 25 Jan 1920, p. 5 — clipping part 1 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Syd Slum Must Go — Times — Sun 25 Jan 1920, p. 5 — clipping part 2 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Syd Slum Must Go — Times — Sun 25 Jan 1920, p. 5 — clipping part 3 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Syd Slum Must Go — Times — Sun 25 Jan 1920, p. 5 — clipping part 4 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Syd Slum Must Go — Times — Sun 25 Jan 1920, p. 5 — clipping part 5 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Press clipping: Syd Slum Must Go — Times — Sun 25 Jan 1920, p. 5 — clipping part 6 — Frog Hollow / Surry Hills history.

Transcription (Sunday Times, Sunday 25 January 1920, page 5 (all six parts above))

SYDNEY SLUMS MUST GO
Removal Imperative, Lock, Stock and Barrel, Says Archdeacon Boyce—Strong Approval for Sunday Times Campaign
CLEANSING WORK A PAYABLE PROPOSITION
IV.

"Three-quarters of the work required for the elimination of the slums of Sydney has been done, but the undone quarter is a standing disgrace to our civilisation. In the slums there is no chance for the moral and physical health of the children, nothing but the degradation inseparable from life in the congested areas."—Ven. Archdeacon Boyce.

Our exposure of the conditions prevailing in the slums of Sydney continues to arouse considerable interest and some controversy.

An alderman of the City Council objects to the word "slum," although he admits the existence of congested areas and hovels in which a great many people live in unhealthy and degrading circumstances. It does not appear to us to matter very much what word is used. It is, however, beyond dispute that there exist in Sydney to-day narrow lanes and courts which are a blot on a modern city; and overcrowded, unhealthy, dilapidated homes which are a menace to the community, and are the breeding-grounds of vice, crime and disease.

We have been accused of describing the poor occupants of such wretched dwellings as criminals, and of casting an undeserved slur on the respectable residents of certain thoroughfares. We have done no such thing. Based on information supplied by the police, whose business it is to know of these things, we have referred to certain thoroughfares as the resort of criminals, and we have pointed out that the continued existence of such undesirable housing conditions as we have described tends to encourage and assist vice and crime. The truth of both these statements is undoubted, but this does not mean, nor have we stated or implied, that every person living in these places is vicious or criminal.

It is now desirable that everyone, and especially every public man, who desires to remedy a most serious evil, should join hands in endeavoring to institute a reform which is as urgent as it is necessary. This is not a party question, and should not be made the basis for the bandying of words or the introduction of minor side issues.

In a review of the work of widening the streets of Sydney, Ven. Archdeacon Boyce said that, when the Royal Commission on city improvement sat in 1908, there was no lack of evidence as to the necessity of beautifying work, street widening, etc., but not a word was said about the abolition of the slum areas. He applied to be permitted to give evidence on the existence of slums, and showed that in the area bounded on one side by Elizabeth-street to Albion-street, by Liverpool and Oxford streets on one side, by Riley-street on the east, and south to Albion-street, in the Wexford-street neighborhood, there were 16 streets of under 12ft wide, and a number down to 8ft in width.

The yards were less than 10ft square, and in these were the water-closets used by the occupants of the houses. The new road practically did away with Wexford-street, but in many of the streets mentioned by him the conditions as in 1908 obtain, and boys growing to adolescence sleep in the room with their parents and their sisters. This is the condition in some of the slum areas of Sydney to-day.

A Paying Proposition.

In 1918 the Social Reform Committee of the Church of England waited on the then Lord Mayor, and urged the completion of the abolition of the slum areas within the city. This movement was suspended during the strenuous period of the war, but in 1918 it was considered the great danger from without was passed, and it was time to do some cleansing work at home. It was stated then that the City Council would have to be invested by the Government with greater powers than it had, and that in any case the money for such a proposition as the elimination of the slums was not available.

It was pointed out that the cost of resumption would not be high, as most of the properties could be resumed at a reasonable price, and reconstruction would enhance the value of the sites, and leave a margin above the cost of resumption. In the opinion of the Ven. Archdeacon, the areas should be resumed without consideration of cost, and all the slum districts swept away—lock, stock, and barrel. Three-quarters of the work required has been done, but the undone quarter is a standing disgrace to our civilisation. There is no excuse for delay, says the Archdeacon. The responsibility rests with the City Council.

Council Pledged to Work.

In 1918 a deputation waited on the Council and made the abolition of the slums a matter to be considered in connection with the elections of that year. In effect the Council was returned with a mandate from the ratepayers, and the abolition of slums should have been made a matter of urgency, to be dealt with at once. It is not denied that there has been much improvement work in the course of the last few years, notably in the Rocks area, in Chippendale, Blackwattle Bay, Wexford-street, parts of Surry Hills, the lanes off Sussex-street, and in some other parts of the metropolitan area.

A question asked, commented the Archdeacon, is: Where do the people evicted from the slum areas go? No trouble has arisen out of the destruction of the slums. When the greater portion of the work was effected houses, it is true, were more plentiful than now, and many of the former sum [sic] dwellers went to the suburbs along the Illawarra line, and it is unquestioned that, in the open spaces, the pleasant surroundings, the absence of congestion and the freer life were highly beneficial, from the moral as well as from the health standpoint.

Frog Hollow

One of the places specially brought to the notice of the City Council in 1918 was Frog Hollow. The houses there are built in an extraordinary way, and in the opinion of the Archdeacon, there is nothing in Australia just like them. The upper storey of the places opens on Riley-street, the two lower storeys are a basement and a ground floor, with small, if any, backyard accommodation. At the front doors are tiny yards in which the sanitary conveniences are, and the exit is by way of a 10ft lane, which leads into a 20ft street. It is urgent that such places as these should be dealt with—in some way. By utter abolition for choice.

"We can never be sufficiently thankful to Sir George Reid," said the Archdeacon, "for his Act, which made it illegal for any street to be less than a chain wide. Before that they could be any width, at the will of the landowners."

Robin Hood Lane

Why the City Council allows Robin Hood-lane to remain as it is is a mystery to the Archdeacon. The trouble that it has occasioned in the run of years, and the tragedies that have occurred in the neighborhood, are known to the aldermen, and known well to the people at large. There are whole areas wherein nothing but complete reconstruction will be of the smallest use.

There can be no healthy life in these places.

No room for the little children to play.

No chance for their moral and physical health.

Nothing but the degradation inseparable from life in congested areas.

Eighteen Lanes Should Go

At the present time there are, in Woolloomooloo alone, 18 lanes which should be closed to human residence. Some of these are not more than 10ft wide, some of them under 20ft. People at the upper windows of houses in these lanes can sit and talk to the people opposite, and there is no privacy. "At the time of the first proposal for the widening of William-street," said Archdeacon Boyce, "I opposed it, holding that the slum areas in that section should be got rid of first. The scheme was a most expensive one, and while I approve of the beautifying of the city, I could not support the proposal for splendid, wide streets, while within 200 or 300 yards, hidden away, were these squalid slum areas.

"The proposal suggested to me the making clean of the outside of the cup, or platter, while the unseen part was ravening with filth.

"There should be no beautifying main streets until these slum areas are done away with. The morality, health, and right living conditions of the community are of primary importance, and should stand before the mere remodelling of the streets of the city.

Beautiful Sydney

"I say that Sydney is more beautifully situated than any great city in the world. We should be able to claim that it is not only clean and fair without, but lovely and splendid within.

"I would like to say," said the Archdeacon, in conclusion, "that Mr. Holman has been most sympathetic with us in this movement for the elimination of the slums. At all times he has stated that the Government would help in all ways in this much-needed reform of the living conditions of the people. The interest of the Government in the matter has been amply evidenced."