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Berowra's Fettlers
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DetailsEver since the railways were first built in the Berowra district, the fettlers, who maintained the railway, lived in tents or rough housing next to the tracks.
In many cases these workers had their entire families living together with them in their tents.
This continued after the Second World War period into the late 1950s, and even increased because of the severe shortage of housing and building materials, after the War.
The local fettler tents were erected on railway land in between Asquith and Cowan with over 50 tents in that section at one stage. Sadly, there were numerous examples of these railway workers being killed by trains in and around Berowra. However, it was the death of a fettler’s child in the 1950s that eventually forced authorities to take action and have people moved completely away from the railway tracks.
The dangers for people living in and around the railway were everywhere, especially for a family with young kids. Many had their home in between railway tracks and a road, with each family having two or more ridged tents. Many had timber floors, herb gardens, fruit trees and some even kept poultry on site. They also had their own water tank set up directly adjacent to the tracks so a water train could come out each week to fill the fetter families’ water tanks.
Life in these railway tents was extremely hard. An example of this was reported in the paper in October 1958, when woman, living with her young family in a tent in Berowra, was charged with attempted murder after she shot an Asquith man in the stomach with a .22. Just a few years later the last of the tents were moved off railway land permanently.
In February 1925, the Berowra community celebrated the retirement of a local railway veteran. Richard Kelly had worked 42 years as a fettler and ganger and for his last 28 years he was responsible for the length of track between Mt Kuring-gai and Berowra. During this time he resided at Berowra living with his family in a house in Cowan Parade, which was owned by the railways. Kelly summed up his life’s career saying it was no more than, “forty two years of dodging trains”, and he admitted to having “many narrow squeaks”.
There were a sadly number of fettler deaths around Berowra. Unfortunately, there is no public record of these men and the price they paid for their service. The details I could find I have listed here.
December 1908 – An Irish labourer named Thomas Smith was employed on the railway line duplication works at Berowra. His body was found on the tracks at Berowra early on Christmas morning in 1908. The evening before he had been to the pub at Hornsby with another man, who was later found asleep on the platform at Berowra Station. It is believed that after catching the last train to Berowra Smith left his friend to sleep at the railway station as he attempted to walk to his tent via the tracks in a state of drunkenness when he was fatally struck by a train.
October 1913 – A fettler named Munroe was returning from the Hawkesbury River by train in the evening. He alighted at Cowan and was walked north to his camp. The next morning his mangled body was discovered on the tracks.
April 1924 – Cecil Mansfield (42) was killed by the No. 3 Brisbane Express between Mt Kuring-gai and Berowra. He was walking back to camp at the end of a working day with his companions, who called out to warn Mansfield of the approaching train. However, he did not hear them until the moment the train was upon him.
October 1925 – Percival Brennan was run over by a train between Berowra and Cowan, at 6am, when riding his tricycle towards his work site at Cowan. Incredibly rescuers recovered Brennan alive from underneath the carriages and he was taken by train to Hornsby where a doctor attended to him. He was then taken by rail to Strathfield where an ambulance met the train to take him to the Western Suburbs Hospital, but he died in the ambulance on the way. Brennan was well known in Berowra and left nine children and a widow.
May 1930 – Carlton Hosie was walking north of Berowra near the entrance of a cutting, when he was struck by the Glenn Innes Mail. The driver of the engine was unable to see Hosie until he was within a few feet as the line was on a curve and in a cutting. At this time noise from the concreting of the Highway, near the scene of the accident, would often be confused with a train and visa versa.
March 1937 – Henry John Scofield (50) was killed when riding a railway tricycle through a rocky cutting between Berowra and Mt Kuring-gai. He could not see the approaching train as the cutting was curved.
September 1949 – Railway Inspector, William Sellars (63) was killed instantly when the Newcastle Flyer hit him and his tricycle at Berowra. He left Hornsby with a list of scheduled trains but for some reason the Flyer was not included in the list. He was last seen by witnesses trying to remove the tricycle from the tracks as, it is believed, he was concerned it was going to derail the Flyer.
CreatorNathan TilburyKeywordsBerowraRailwaysBerowra Railway Station
DetailsEver since the railways were first built in the Berowra district, the fettlers, who maintained the railway, lived in tents or rough housing next to the tracks. In many cases these workers had their entire families living together with them in their tents.
This continued after the Second World War period into the late 1950s, and even increased because of the severe shortage of housing and building materials, after the War.
The local fettler tents were erected on railway land in between Asquith and Cowan with over 50 tents in that section at one stage. Sadly, there were numerous examples of these railway workers being killed by trains in and around Berowra. However, it was the death of a fettler’s child in the 1950s that eventually forced authorities to take action and have people moved completely away from the railway tracks.
The dangers for people living in and around the railway were everywhere, especially for a family with young kids. Many had their home in between railway tracks and a road, with each family having two or more ridged tents. Many had timber floors, herb gardens, fruit trees and some even kept poultry on site. They also had their own water tank set up directly adjacent to the tracks so a water train could come out each week to fill the fetter families’ water tanks.
Life in these railway tents was extremely hard. An example of this was reported in the paper in October 1958, when woman, living with her young family in a tent in Berowra, was charged with attempted murder after she shot an Asquith man in the stomach with a .22. Just a few years later the last of the tents were moved off railway land permanently.
In February 1925, the Berowra community celebrated the retirement of a local railway veteran. Richard Kelly had worked 42 years as a fettler and ganger and for his last 28 years he was responsible for the length of track between Mt Kuring-gai and Berowra. During this time he resided at Berowra living with his family in a house in Cowan Parade, which was owned by the railways. Kelly summed up his life’s career saying it was no more than, “forty two years of dodging trains”, and he admitted to having “many narrow squeaks”.
There were a sadly number of fettler deaths around Berowra. Unfortunately, there is no public record of these men and the price they paid for their service. The details I could find I have listed here.
December 1908 – An Irish labourer named Thomas Smith was employed on the railway line duplication works at Berowra. His body was found on the tracks at Berowra early on Christmas morning in 1908. The evening before he had been to the pub at Hornsby with another man, who was later found asleep on the platform at Berowra Station. It is believed that after catching the last train to Berowra Smith left his friend to sleep at the railway station as he attempted to walk to his tent via the tracks in a state of drunkenness when he was fatally struck by a train.
October 1913 – A fettler named Munroe was returning from the Hawkesbury River by train in the evening. He alighted at Cowan and was walked north to his camp. The next morning his mangled body was discovered on the tracks.
April 1924 – Cecil Mansfield (42) was killed by the No. 3 Brisbane Express between Mt Kuring-gai and Berowra. He was walking back to camp at the end of a working day with his companions, who called out to warn Mansfield of the approaching train. However, he did not hear them until the moment the train was upon him.
October 1925 – Percival Brennan was run over by a train between Berowra and Cowan, at 6am, when riding his tricycle towards his work site at Cowan. Incredibly rescuers recovered Brennan alive from underneath the carriages and he was taken by train to Hornsby where a doctor attended to him. He was then taken by rail to Strathfield where an ambulance met the train to take him to the Western Suburbs Hospital, but he died in the ambulance on the way. Brennan was well known in Berowra and left nine children and a widow.
May 1930 – Carlton Hosie was walking north of Berowra near the entrance of a cutting, when he was struck by the Glenn Innes Mail. The driver of the engine was unable to see Hosie until he was within a few feet as the line was on a curve and in a cutting. At this time noise from the concreting of the Highway, near the scene of the accident, would often be confused with a train and visa versa.
March 1937 – Henry John Scofield (50) was killed when riding a railway tricycle through a rocky cutting between Berowra and Mt Kuring-gai. He could not see the approaching train as the cutting was curved.
September 1949 – Railway Inspector, William Sellars (63) was killed instantly when the Newcastle Flyer hit him and his tricycle at Berowra. He left Hornsby with a list of scheduled trains but for some reason the Flyer was not included in the list. He was last seen by witnesses trying to remove the tricycle from the tracks as, it is believed, he was concerned it was going to derail the Flyer.
CreatorNathan TilburyKeywordsBerowraRailwaysBerowra Railway StationRelated
CollectionNathan Tilbury
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Nathan Tilbury, Berowra's Fettlers. Hornsby Shire, accessed 02/06/2026, https://hornsbyshire.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/5659