LOCAL LIFE
ONE OF THE HILLS FINEST ...
When she isn ’ t busy with the Balcombe Heights Estate , Connie enjoys making pottery . by Lorna Gordon
Connie Keith arrived in Sydney when she was just six years old . She travelled here by ship from Sicily , with her mum and two brothers , and they were all met by her father . He had come to Sydney 18 months earlier and had worked hard to save the money for the rest of the family to join him in a new life in Australia .
Her parents initially leased a five acre property from a family friend who owned land in Northmead but later purchased land in Victoria Avenue in Balcombe Heights , where they set up their home and farming land .
Connie told me that even from a young age , they all worked on the land together as a family with the children attending Baulkham Hills primary school , which is where Connie learned to speak English and did well for herself . In high school work on the farm continued , she would regularly be absent from school on Thursdays when the family would pick the crops which would get sold on a Friday at markets . These absences didn ’ t stop her from working hard at school and she did well enough to get into university .
Connie went to the University of Sydney with a scholarship for teacher training , which is where she met her husband Ron , who was also studying to become a teacher . After graduating with a Batchelor ’ s Degree in Science , she went on to teach high school biology and chemistry and loved her work .
After retiring from teaching , she decided to learn ceramics and joined a pottery group located at Balcombe Heights Estate . This class would lead to her becoming involved in something completely different to what she planned .
In 2006 the local council who own the estate asked for representatives from the groups who used the buildings on the site , to form an advisory committee to inform Council of the estate ’ s needs . Connie put her hand up to join and stepped into the Chairperson role , a position which she has held ever since . Because of her involvement in looking after the estate she wanted to get to know more about its history , having become aware of some of it when she had been in high school with boys who had attended the primary school based there .
Connie was very happy to share the story of this historic piece of our area with me .
“ The history of the estate started just after the First World War . It was developed by the NSW Masons as a home and school for children of Masonic families whose fathers had been killed or maimed in the war .
“ When Balcombe Heights Estates was first opened as The William Thompson Masonic School , it had a school and lodgings for the children and their carers . The site also had a gymnasium , swimming pool , tennis courts and sports ovals . The landscaping for the site was designed by the superintendent of the Sydney Botanic Gardens .
“ A Memorial Drive was planted with 364 Australian gums , each in honour of a Freemason who died in the First World War . There was a dairy , and a kitchen garden to provide food and other buildings for various purposes including a tearoom , observatory and hairdresser ’ s room . It was a selfsufficient institution producing much of the food that was required for the children who were living there .” But this wasn ’ t the only part the estate had to play ; when the second world war started the children were moved from the site and it was given over to the Government to be used as a hospital to help
6 ISSUE 96 // JUNE 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT