Gunning & District Historical Society

Can you visualise a bear in there?  Detail of baby blankets donated by Lindy Clancy with her beloved cot. Lindy Clancy has added  to the history of her recent donations to the Pye Cottage Museum, Yass Street, Gunning:   'The birthing cot and  spinning wheel… were located at John and Eyvonne Clancy’s residence (originally Dr Barbour’s home) in Biala Street. The cot... was very special to me and was certainly admired by all visitors to our home who sighted and marvelled at this wonderful piece of furniture – it certainly was a one of a kind.  It was extremely important to me to ensure that the cot remained in the township of Gunning… I was so delighted when Keith Brown made contact prior to the new owners taking up residence so that we could transfer this very “unique cot” to its rightful place... The Spinning Wheel I think a lot of local residents would have been safely placed in its care during their arrival into the world at “Alla...

The birthing cot donated by Lyndell Whittaker Photo: Ann Darbyshire Lyndell Whittaker, daughter of the late John and Eyvonne Clancy, has graciously donated to the Gunning & District Historical Society, a birthing cot that would have been utilised for many local citizens immediately after their birth in Matron Bertha Bush’s private maternity hospital “Allawah” in Biala Street, Gunning. There was the possibility raised by John Clancy himself that this birthing cot may have been transferred from the earlier maternity hospital “Templeton” on the Collector Road, Gunning, operated by Nurse Beatrice Maud Caldwell. Nurse Bush's advertisement, note the phone number! Photo: Ann Darbyshire “Allawah” had been built by Con and Fanny Lucilla Dowling of “Bloomfield” in 1929 and Matron Bush leased “Allawah” from them. Their son Noel Dowling recalled several years ago that the annual rental was £58.10/- (or 58 pounds and ten shillings). That same year, 1929, Dr Barbour built ...