DOROTHY HAWKINS

Dorothy Hawkins family ran this dairy near Winnererremy Bay at Mona Vale from 1936. Mona Street is in the foreground, Bassett Street with the ocean beyond in the far distance. Brock’s Folly (La Corniche) is on the hill to the right of the ocean.
Dorothy, still 14, lived in this house and worked in these fields. Her father, Joseph Homer, later purchased all the land seen here bounded by Bassett and Mona Streets, including the buildings on the hill. 98 year old Dorothy’s story as told here is a case study of a young woman living a semi-rural life at Mona Vale prior to WWII through to the late 1960s.
Dorothy was the last person to live on what is now Winnererremy Bay Park. Her account of eviction from the home she loved, following a brutal forced resumption, is wrenching. This was a private development by Warringah Shire Council in partnership with developer ‘Pacific Paradise’. After examining numerous documents and newspaper clippings and listening to Dorothy and her children, it seems doubtful due process was followed. A significant injustice may have been perpetrated against Dorothy and her sister, co-inheritors of the Centenary Estate Land which 32 years later became Winnerrremy Bay Park.

[@stephenfitzpatrick9189]

Where was Dorothy born ?

[@pittwaterpathways]

Roseville NSW - Ed

[@grosvenorclub]

So who were the directors of Pacific Paradise Pty Ltd ? long in liquidation I am sure ?

[@grosvenorclub]

"Pacific Paradise" is that where the concrete piles/retaining wall came from that still exist down by the boat ramps ?

[@pittwaterpathways]

Dorothy's story more or less concluded by the late 1960s. In 1974, after the Warringah Shire Council failed development fiasco, NSW Public Works resumed all the Winnererremy Bay foreshore around to and including what is now Rowland Reserve. A 300 lot medium density subdivision was mooted. At some stage NSW Fisheries became involved which may be the reason for the training wall. The rest of the Win Bay Story from Dorothy Hawkin's eviction through to today is to be the subject of another documentary commissioned just today.

[@grosvenorclub]

@@pittwaterpathways John , I have a picture taken about 74 /75 of the foreshore area at the bottom of our street and there was still a massive billboard sign presumably of some future development faded by then but still standing also a lot of what I think was precast concrete piles laying idle that were never used . Somebody / private or government had spent a lot of money on preliminary work and then suddenly stopped , my guess at least $50,000 to $100,000 or more that was suddenly abandoned . I have often wondered who , why and what !! Mike

[@horton5130]

@@pittwaterpathways NSW Fisheries was to be based at Bayview but instead a Cronulla site was chosen. I am pretty sure that Fisheries did not construct anything at Bayview. I spent a fair bit of my childhood 1950s and 60s) wandering around and through the mangrove swamp and creek there before the whole area was excavated. Rowing a boat up the creek to the bridge on Pittwater Rd was part of the fun because the creek meandered some length.