Early one wet, Saturday morning in January 1917 an explosion rocked “Bangoola”, the Schreiterer family home in Parriwi Road better known then as New Spit Road. It was heard as far away as Cremorne Point.

Frank Pursell, Mayor of Mosman, 1939. Detail from a photograph titled ‘Mayor’s Room’ in the Mosman Library Local Studies collection.

It’s timely that a few weeks before a talk on the Great War in the air, historian and local resident David Carment has researched a Mayor of Mosman who, with his brother, served with the RAF in WWI.

It’s funny how once you have a specific focus on a particular subject you somehow develop antennae that pick up other relevant bits and pieces that like a jigsaw fit into place and tell a story. In the course of working on this project I have rediscovered some great characters.

It was a packed Mosman Room to hear Tony Cunneen’s talk on Sir William and the Cullen family of Tregoyd in Raglan Street. Tony brought a unique perspective to our project by sharing his knowledge of the Sydney legal profession’s contribution to the war effort.

Percy Wintle, 1917, on leave visiting family in Bristol. Albert Edward Stanley – Photographer, 92 East Street, Bedminster Bristol UK.

Percy Wintle, born in Bristol, emigrated to Australia in 1914. He lived in Mosman from then until his death in 1963. Percy served with the 56th Battalion, and his daughter, Bev Pieremont, has shared a number of photos with us, as well as these stories…