Botany Bay Storms and Floods

In January 1937 the Botany Bay region experienced heavy storms and flooding which caused much damage in the Booralee Park region and along Botany Road.

Photograph courtesy of Christine Moss. Donated to the Library and Museum for the Rewind Pause Play Photography Competition. Winning photograph for Best Landscape Image.

This article from The Advertiser published on January 26 1937 describes the storm and some of its effects.

Sydney Floods - Grandstand Collapses 

Several children were injured one fatally, when portion of the grandstand at Booralee Park collapsed as they were sheltering in it. Arthur Milton Green was hit by a beam and died from his injuries at the Royal South  Sydney Hospital. The same gust or wind also brought down a huge tree beside the grandstand. 

The wind did freakish damage. When, the storm was at its worst the roof of a produce store in Botany Road, Botany I was fluns into the air and descended on the tramway overhead wires, where it hung like a cowl. The main power lines were damaged for nearly three-quarters of a mile along Botany Road. Automatic apparatus cut off the power as the wires parted and prevented serious accident, but left large areas without light. 

The home of Mr. W. J. Thomas, in Stevens Road, Botany, a wooden cottage measuring 75 feet by 18 feet, was lilted from its foundations and carried about six feet until it crashed against an adjoining house. Mr Thomas said afterwards that surprisingly little damage had been done.


Read other reports regarding this storm by clicking here.

Were you or anyone you in the area during these storms? Have you been in any other large storms or disasters in the area? Share your memories by clicking here and let everyone know.


Sydney Floods. (1937, January 26). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931-1954), p. 20. Retrieved December 16, 2010, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47780009

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Tell us your Amazing Stories!!

Next year's Heritage Festival theme is Amazing Stories.

For this Botany Bay Library is running an oral history project to collect resident's stories of life in Botany.

Any story is worth telling and we would love to hear yours! Please contact the Local Studies Librarian on 9366 3863 or via email on ellisd@botanybay.nsw.gov.au if you would like to tell us your story.

The stories and photos of the Botany area will be on display in the library during the Heritage Festival, 2-17 April 2011.

Help us create and share the history of Botany Bay.

Comments or suggestions are more than welcome below.

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The Birth of Australian Aviation

The story of the development of a Australian aviation industry is a story of barnstorming and risk-taking pioneers. Their gambles and the roller-coaster ride of early aviation in Australia is a fascinating story. It is especially prevalent for the Mascot area, where a early aviators created a runway that is now the busiest airport in Australia.

Dorothy and an unidentified woman in front of Canberra, a De Havilland DH61 Giant Moth biplane VH-UHW with Leslie Holden in cockpit, Mascot Aerodrome, Sydney, New South Wales, ca. 1930

Attempts to develop an aircraft building industry in Australia were hampered by lack of government interest and private financial support.

In a paddock he bought at Mascot, Nigel Love began assembling Avro aircraft under licence from A V Roe @ Company Ltd of Manchester. While his company struggled, the airfield he constructed to test his craft survived to become the oldest continuously operated commercial airport in the world. It was renamed in honour of one of Australia’s greatest airmen, Charles Kingsford Smith, in 1953. The first passenger service to Melbourne left Mascot in April 1920 carrying one passenger on a flight which took nine hours of flying time over several days.

Aviation in Australia ; from the barnstorming pioneers to the airlines of today. Jill Bee. 2007 Exisle Publishing Limited.

Do you have any memories or stories about the Sydney airport or Australian aviation? Please share your comments below.

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