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Berowra At War, World War Two
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DescriptionDuring the Second World War, the locals prepared to blow the Hawkesbury Rail Bridge up in hopes of hindering a Japanese invasion. When the midget Submarines had entered Sydney Harbour, the Hawkesbury Rail Bridge was on their list of targets. Gun emplacements were built at Brooklyn and an antisubmarine net was stretched across the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. Should these precautions prove to be ineffective, the bridge would be blown up. Not only would the bridge have been destroyed, but the Pacific Highway was also to be sabotaged, to prevent Japanese troops from landing and marching on the city.
Early in the Second World War, Australian authorities were worried there would be a Japanese Invasion. y mid April ’42 about 1700 boats were stored with 400 odd still to be organised.
Heavy rain fell over several hours causing a deluge. Logs jammed behind the Galston bridge which when they broke free overnight caused a wall of water to rush down Galston Gorge carrying boats, logs and trees. Many of the boats were left smashed and mangled but salvage work was largely successful.
‘…in 1942 February -March the Maritime Services Board decided all small craft in the Broken Bay area be moved to the headwaters of Berowra Waters. I was put in charge of this area at the age of 21…’ recalled Max Jones.
Although the people of Berowra lived away from the city, fear of invasion or attack was still very real.
Keith Holmes, a student at Berowra Public School during World War Two, recalls:
“We had an air raid shelter just down below the school there. The parents all dug that and we got some heavy rain and it filled up with water so they had to dig another trench right away down the side of the hill to drain the air raid shelter out. We had to practise evacuating the school and down into the trench.”
Berowra residents prepared in various ways for the possibility of a Japanese invasion during the Second World War. Neil Davis, a school boy at the time, well remembers the community activities;
There was air raid practice for the community . . . Berowra had its own real air raid siren . . . where Paul Jones Real Estate is now [corner of Crowley and Berowra Waters Roads].
On the weekends they’d rig up the old Cabaret, later it became the Tavern where the Chinese Restaurant is now, it would be set up as a temporary hospital. And where Paul Jones Real Estate is now, . . . the Grammar School was set up as the communications headquarters. In houses around the district women would have children with mock . . . burns, broken limbs -they’d bandage them up. (The women) would be taught first aid and they’d have bandages for this and bandages for that . . .
. . . a chap in an old truck would come around and they would bring the children out on stretchers and put them on the truck and take them down to the temporary hospital and lay them out. More of the ladies down there would give them first aid.
Neil remembers that he did not want to act as an injured child, he much preferred to ride his bicycle from place to place passing on messages.
The entire community, both young and old, were also involved in activities to help the war effort;
We used to have scrap collections on Saturdays. We’d have a truck . . . I was in the scouts at the time . . . we’d go house to house collecting bits of copper and rubber tyres, any sort of rubber . . . brass . . . In the scouting movement we were encouraged to do these things and at the end of a certain time, they issued us with a red national service badge with NS on it which we were all very proud of.
And the women of the area used to knit socks for the troops . . . They knitted camouflage nets, I remember my mother used to run a sort of collection point where she issued balls of string and the needles. The needles were made very similar to the needles fisherman used for fishing nets . . . And the kids at school were all encouraged to knit about 9 inch squares . . . and then these were all joined together by others to make blankets for the troops . . .the boys had a great time being taught to knit.
Although war was, of course, a very serious matter, there were still fun and games in Berowra, many of them in aid of the war effort.
Nearly all Berowra was very patriotic, even at school we used to raise the flag every morning and sing a patriotic song . . . it would have been “God Save the King”.
We had a lot of fund raisers for the war effort . . . movies . . . generally held down in Kerslakes’ Bakery. I can remember all of us young kids, we’d climb up the back and get on all the flour sacks where we’d get the best view . . . We used to have housie housie nights . . . in private homes . . . even the people who were poor. . . probably made some contribution . . .
We used to have community singing over at the old school.
Neil Davis recollects:
At times army manoeuvres were held in Berowra.
Bren gun carriers were used in the bush at Bambil Rd where there wasn’t even a road at the time, it was all bush and they would have had a dozen or so 25lb guns lined up in Waratah Rd facing north … They fired the blanks, they were very noisy. Then they’d move them all up by trucks, up into Rickard Rd and fire them off again and all of us young kids used to think it was fantastic! My dad didn’t really appreciate it because he was doing night duty at the time on the railway.
The army had a bivouac down at the corner of Berowra Waters Rd and Rickard Rd and all of us young fellows used to gather with the men and they’d let us fire off the blanks with their 303s and the Huett’s cow used to get shot all the time, with the blanks of course.
The men would say, “See that cow over there, OK shoot that.” The cow never got hurt at all . . .and the men in the army, most of them probably would have been only 18 or 19 or 20, they used to have a great time talking to us as well.
DimensionsBerowra Living History
Early in the Second World War, Australian authorities were worried there would be a Japanese Invasion. y mid April ’42 about 1700 boats were stored with 400 odd still to be organised.
Heavy rain fell over several hours causing a deluge. Logs jammed behind the Galston bridge which when they broke free overnight caused a wall of water to rush down Galston Gorge carrying boats, logs and trees. Many of the boats were left smashed and mangled but salvage work was largely successful.
‘…in 1942 February -March the Maritime Services Board decided all small craft in the Broken Bay area be moved to the headwaters of Berowra Waters. I was put in charge of this area at the age of 21…’ recalled Max Jones.
Although the people of Berowra lived away from the city, fear of invasion or attack was still very real.
Keith Holmes, a student at Berowra Public School during World War Two, recalls:
“We had an air raid shelter just down below the school there. The parents all dug that and we got some heavy rain and it filled up with water so they had to dig another trench right away down the side of the hill to drain the air raid shelter out. We had to practise evacuating the school and down into the trench.”
Berowra residents prepared in various ways for the possibility of a Japanese invasion during the Second World War. Neil Davis, a school boy at the time, well remembers the community activities;
There was air raid practice for the community . . . Berowra had its own real air raid siren . . . where Paul Jones Real Estate is now [corner of Crowley and Berowra Waters Roads].
On the weekends they’d rig up the old Cabaret, later it became the Tavern where the Chinese Restaurant is now, it would be set up as a temporary hospital. And where Paul Jones Real Estate is now, . . . the Grammar School was set up as the communications headquarters. In houses around the district women would have children with mock . . . burns, broken limbs -they’d bandage them up. (The women) would be taught first aid and they’d have bandages for this and bandages for that . . .
. . . a chap in an old truck would come around and they would bring the children out on stretchers and put them on the truck and take them down to the temporary hospital and lay them out. More of the ladies down there would give them first aid.
Neil remembers that he did not want to act as an injured child, he much preferred to ride his bicycle from place to place passing on messages.
The entire community, both young and old, were also involved in activities to help the war effort;
We used to have scrap collections on Saturdays. We’d have a truck . . . I was in the scouts at the time . . . we’d go house to house collecting bits of copper and rubber tyres, any sort of rubber . . . brass . . . In the scouting movement we were encouraged to do these things and at the end of a certain time, they issued us with a red national service badge with NS on it which we were all very proud of.
And the women of the area used to knit socks for the troops . . . They knitted camouflage nets, I remember my mother used to run a sort of collection point where she issued balls of string and the needles. The needles were made very similar to the needles fisherman used for fishing nets . . . And the kids at school were all encouraged to knit about 9 inch squares . . . and then these were all joined together by others to make blankets for the troops . . .the boys had a great time being taught to knit.
Although war was, of course, a very serious matter, there were still fun and games in Berowra, many of them in aid of the war effort.
Nearly all Berowra was very patriotic, even at school we used to raise the flag every morning and sing a patriotic song . . . it would have been “God Save the King”.
We had a lot of fund raisers for the war effort . . . movies . . . generally held down in Kerslakes’ Bakery. I can remember all of us young kids, we’d climb up the back and get on all the flour sacks where we’d get the best view . . . We used to have housie housie nights . . . in private homes . . . even the people who were poor. . . probably made some contribution . . .
We used to have community singing over at the old school.
Neil Davis recollects:
At times army manoeuvres were held in Berowra.
Bren gun carriers were used in the bush at Bambil Rd where there wasn’t even a road at the time, it was all bush and they would have had a dozen or so 25lb guns lined up in Waratah Rd facing north … They fired the blanks, they were very noisy. Then they’d move them all up by trucks, up into Rickard Rd and fire them off again and all of us young kids used to think it was fantastic! My dad didn’t really appreciate it because he was doing night duty at the time on the railway.
The army had a bivouac down at the corner of Berowra Waters Rd and Rickard Rd and all of us young fellows used to gather with the men and they’d let us fire off the blanks with their 303s and the Huett’s cow used to get shot all the time, with the blanks of course.
The men would say, “See that cow over there, OK shoot that.” The cow never got hurt at all . . .and the men in the army, most of them probably would have been only 18 or 19 or 20, they used to have a great time talking to us as well.
DimensionsBerowra Living HistoryLocation
Building NameBerowraWorld War IISecond World War
World War IISecond World War
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Berowra Living History, Berowra At War, World War Two. Hornsby Shire, accessed 27/04/2026, https://hornsbyshire.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/3828