More about John Mystery

John Mystery was an author (his real name was Lester Sinclair) who created over 300 well-loved children's books in the 1930s-1940s. He built a castle in Illawong, which unfortunately does not exist anymore. The castle was known as Adventure Castle, and stood around where Cranbrook Place is today (at the tip of the Illawong peninsula). Apparently kids used to visit the castle via boat. There's still a little bit of evidence of the castle's existence around Cranbrook Place, and apparently, some of the sculptures from the castle's gardens can also be found. Here's a photo of a castle section that can easily be seen from the street. For more information on John Mystery's publications, click here. For more information on John Mystery's connection with Illawong, click here. When John Mystery wasn't writing children's books, he was composer Lester Sinclair, who apparently wrote many songs during the Second World War. For more info on the composer Sinclair, click here.

Albert Delardes Reserve update

The Illawong Alfords Point Progress Association, together with Sutherland Council and Thompson Berril Landscape Design, are in discussion about updating Albert Delardes Reserve. Amongst the info and possibilities discussed at the community meeting, it was mentioned that the last convict-built road was actually in the park, along with house ruins. So we went trekking to find these, see the pics below. Pretty interesting, but also pretty overgrown!

SANTA CAME TODAY!!!

Santa came to our house today, and the kids were really excited! We heard him off in the distance, thanks to a few fire engine sirens. He brought candy canes, and the fire engines were covered in Christmas decorations. Brilliant! Thanks guys at Station 20!