Saturday 31 December 2011

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.

3 comments:

  1. i have some photos of the castle including one of the bulldoser pushing it down,would you like me to email them

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  2. our family actually owned the castle

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  3. Hi bob
    Would it be at all possible if you emailed me with photos of mystery castle as my grandfather (lester) built mystery castle and my father lived there.
    Cheers Jeremy Sinclair

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