WHEN I take note of the traffic on our roads today, I am sure our forebears would be amazed!

My grandfather, William Ward, who retired to our area, was the first to drive a car over the road into Tea Gardens.

We believe the car was a 1911 Maxwell.

The photo shows William and Helen Ward about 1920 with their son Alf and daughter Helen holding baby Frank who was born in June 1919.

On 13 June 1919 the Dungog Chronicle reported, “The Progress Association plan to get a grant of 1,000 pounds and to borrow 2,000 pounds to make the road to Tea Gardens suitable for motor traffic.”

In 1921 the Yates brothers, Aaron and Stanley, commenced a car service between Newcastle and Tea Gardens.

Alf Ward bought the service from them in the late 1920s and continued it, increasing to buses, until the 1950s.

 

By Anne JOHNSON, Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Family History Research Group