Aruthur Poole lived in Kurrajong Heights all his life, from 1916 to 2005. In 2004 he wrote his recollections of the early days.
Mr Poole was born on 29 November 1916 at Kurrajong Heights and lived there all his life. He went to Kurrajong North Public School to sixth class then Richmond District Rural School to Intermediate. He married Aileen Rigelsford in 1942.
He served in the RAAF as a radio operator-air gunner from 1942 to 1944, up and down the NSW-Victorian coast on shipping surveillance.
In July 1939 he bought “Woodside” at the Heights, a small house and sheds on 34 acres. It was very run down, part of an original grant in 1831. “I was only the second owner – it had been held by the Sherwood family up to that time,” he said.
“This property I developed into an orchard of some 20 acres without bulldozers – citrus, apples, peaches, plums and passionfruit, as well as peas and beans.” In 1970 they sold all but five acres which they stayed on.
On the property is the headstone of James Sherwood who died in 1861 at the age of 35. Mr Poole assumed he was the original owner, buried there because there was no cemetery at the Heights until at least 1865.
He said Kurrajong Heights pre-World War II was a quiet village of orchards and guesthouses, the latter providing extra income during the Depression. There was Belmore Lodge, Mountain View, Kareela, Allambie, Stokesleigh and Uplands. Kurrajong Heights Hotel was built about 1930.
The road was dirt (scarcely gravel) until the 1930s, when it was sealed by Colo Shire Council. Electric power was connected about the same time by Hawkesbury Development Company, later taken over by Prospect County Council.
Mr Poole was in the Kurrajong Heights’ cricket team which did quite well in the district competition. For some years pre-World War II there were two teams – B grade and C grade.
“The outbreak of World War II changed things dramatically over the years, to make the village what it is today,” he said.
