Cronulla Mall Tower Clock

[size=5]What do Captain James Cook, Caltex Refining Company, rock legend Johnny O’Keefe, and an 18th Century watchmaker have in common? They have all played a part in a history which spans more than two centuries and reaches around the globe – the story of the Cronulla Mall tower clock.[/size]

[p]At precisely 11 o’clock on Saturday 19 November 1988, just as Caltex’s general manager David Wood concluded his opening ceremony speech before the assembled crowd, Cronulla Mall’s newly installed tower clock made its first public peals in the Sutherland Shire. As the chimes rang out, entertainer Alan Dale took to the Cronulla Bicentennial Plaza Pavilion stage to compere an old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll show which featured past stars: Lonnie Lee, Vicki Forrest, Roland Storm, Laurel Lea, and the Warren Williams family; and paid tribute to Australia’s own [i]Wild One[/i], Johnny O’Keefe. For several hours, the throng at Cronulla rocked around – or, at the very least, near – the new tower clock, interrupted only briefly at noon by the arrival of a team of Clydesdale horses from Carlton breweries. Even Cronulla shopkeepers joined in the festivities by dressing up in rock ‘n’ roll gear and offering ‘rock bottom’ prices to customers who visited their vividly decorated stores. Today it may seem remarkable that such an extravagant festival was staged to celebrate the opening of a clock – even during the Bicentenary – but then the timepiece which overlooks the northern end of Cronulla Mall, just off the Kingsway, is no average clock.[/p] [p]Believed to have been built in 1770, the Cronulla tower clock is almost certainly the oldest of its kind in Australia. It is not, however, the longest continuously operating clock in this country. That honour goes to the [url=https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/hyde-park-barracks-clock]Hyde Park Barracks clock[/url] which has been ticking along since 1819. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie commissioned Francis Greenway to design the barracks on Macquarie Street, he specified the need for a large clock to remind residents of how the system of work was being reorganised in the young colony. Convict clockmaker, James Oatley (who lends his name to our neighbouring suburb) oversaw the design and construction of the Hyde Park Barracks clock from his business on George Street here in Sydney. The Cronulla clock, on the other hand, which was built in the same year that (then) Lieutenant James Cook first stepped ashore at Kurnell, had a lot further to travel before finally being installed at its current location in the Sutherland Shire.[/p] [p]The Cronulla clock was manufactured almost 250 years ago by master watchmaker John Jullion, or his son, who were in business from 1730 to 1792 in the Thameside village of Brentford in England. Once completed, the clock was housed in the turret above the stables at Stanwell Place, a manor near Heathrow on the outskirts of Greater London. The ancient English estate had enjoyed royal patronage throughout its long history, but in the 1960s it was necessary for Stanwell Place house to be demolished. Thankfully the old clock was not destroyed, but it still took some years before it found its new home at Cronulla.[/p] [p]In the late 1960s, two old friends visited the museum near Cook’s Landing Place at Kurnell. As they wandered around the centre Norman Davis, a director of Readymix Concrete in the UK, mentioned to his companion, Harry Babbage, a director of Caltex Australia Limited, that his company had obtained the site at Stanwell Place and on that site, was an old building which contained a clock. As the clock was thought to have been built in 1770, the same year as Cook’s landing, Davis suggested that Kurnell might be the perfect place for it to be put on permanent display and thus offered the timepiece to Babbage for that objective. Babbage clearly agreed with the idea as he arranged for the clock to be shipped back to Australia where it was later restored by horologist, Douglas Minty, of Antiques and Clock Restorations, and put into storage.[/p] [p]On 12 November 1984, a report was presented to Sutherland Shire Council’s Environmental Planning Committee stating that a proposal had been received from Australian Oil Refining Pty. Ltd. at Kurnell "for the erection of a tower clock as a gift to mark the Bicentenary of 1988." Initially it was conceived that the 1.3 metre clock face and bell tower might sit atop a 15 metre tall Edwardian stone tower "such as the beautiful old stone structures in the Sydney Rocks area". Caltex offered to "provide for the design, construction and commissioning of the clock and affixing of a suitable plaque describing its history and its source being a presentation by Caltex." Council were also informed that:[/p] [p][size=4][i]The turret clock has large time and starter weight mechanisms. The weights drop down into a well requiring winding every 24 hours. We would envisage the winding to be done automatically by electric power activated by appropriate switches. The bell in the bell tower would probably have to be muted between certain night hours depending on site and public reaction.[/i][/size][/p] [p]It was originally imagined that the tower clock might be situated at Cook’s Landing Place. However, the National Parks and Wildlife Service did "not wish the clock to be on their property". Therefore, due to the "Caltex connection with Kurnell and the obvious close association of the clock built in 1770 with Kurnell," several alternative nearby locations were suggested to Council. These included: within the Refinery; the small park adjacent to Captain Cook Drive and Bridge Street; Marton Park; Bonna Point; and (Caltex’s preference) the corner of Torres Street and Captain Cook Drive which was then a vacant block of land owned by the Department of Planning and Environment. It was thought that, as the clock has just one face, it could stand at the entrance to Kurnell, overlooking Captain Cook Drive.[/p] [p]In the end, and after much discussion, it was decided that the tower clock would be installed as the main feature at the northern end of Cronulla’s newly constructed Bicentennial Plaza. Malcolm Kerr, M.L.A., described the revised architecture for the tower as being "in keeping with the design of the plaza itself. This can be considered consistent," he continued, "with the intent of the project to provide a link between modern Australia during her Bicentenary and the technology of 1770 in England, the home of Captain Cook." The tender for the erection of the tower clock was awarded in March 1988 to Council’s own workforce for the estimated cost of $68,900. General Manager of Refineries for Caltex, David Wood, speaking on behalf of his company which funded the tower clock initiative, stated that "the association between Caltex and Sutherland has been a long and happy one. It is indeed appropriate that the 1770 Caltex Tower Clock should find its way to a home in our community in this Australia’s Bicentenary year."[/p] [p]And so, the oldest clock in Australia has stood at Cronulla for almost 30 years.[/p] [p]In 2008, Douglas Minty, who originally restored the clock, had it removed from the tower in order to replace the faded gold leaf and to conduct mechanical repairs. Today, however, the tower clock is used more as a popular rendezvous spot than for the purpose of timekeeping because, as residents and visitors to the beachside suburb would have observed, the clock has not been operational for quite a while.[/p]

[p][b][size=5]Further reading[/size][/b][/p] [p][b][size=4]Sutherland Shire Council Minutes[/size][/b][/p] [ul] [li]Community Project – Clock Tower. Environmental Planning Committee Minute. No. 440 of 12/11/84 (C.2/57).[/li] [li]Cronulla Plaza – Tenders for Construction of Clocktower and Supply of Reconstituted Granite Tiles. Council Minute. No. 279 of 7/3/88 (TP20/1/1)[/li] [/ul] [p][b][size=4]St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader articles[/size][/b][/p] [ul] [li]Keeping time with history, 8/11/1988[/li] [li]Bells of 1770 tower clock to toll for Shire folk, 17/11/1988[/li] [li]Rock ‘n’ roll concert opens new pavilion, 17/11/1988[/li] [li]Plaza open right on time, 22/11/1988[/li] [li]History gets timely brush-up, 11/12/2008[/li] [li]Cronulla Plaza clock is timely reminder, 13/4/2014[/li] [/ul] [p][b][size=4]Other Sources[/size][/b][/p] [ul] [li]The 1779 Clock Cronulla Plaza, Cronulla[/i] by Malcolm Kerr, M.L.A., [url=http://encore.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1062099]Sutherland Shire Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin[/url], Issue 67, 1 February 1989.[/li] [li][url=https://jointheconversation.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/cronulla-town-centre-public-domain-master-plan][i]Cronulla Town Centre : public domain master plan : draft[/i][/url] / Sutherland Shire Council.[/li] [/ul]