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.

Some more of the locals

Here are some more photos of some of the gorgeous locals (well we are all a beautiful bunch).... I'm hoping to record their sounds soon as they've been particularly noisy lately...

Walking around Illawong

We're looking forward to walking around Illawong. Each time we've driven there, we've seen people using the cycle/walking path along Fowler Road, but there's also some bushwalks, and general lovely footpath walks to do. Here's a video by a seasoned walker of walking from Bangor to Illawong.

Some more weblinks about Illawong and photos of Illawong

Beautiful photo of Lugarno Seafood Restaurant (yum by the way, best seafood platters) by Jessie Leong - the restaurant is opposite Illawong and is where the old punt/ferry from Illawong to Lugarno used to travel.
Old photo of Mystery Castle - wow! However....it's not there anymore. More to come on John Mystery who built Mystery/Adventure Castle on the end of the Illawong peninsular.

First Impressions of Illawong

We drove around our new suburb (Illawong) today, getting to know the streets and enjoying the unique scenery of Illawong. Already we've seen a kangaroo bound across Fowler Road, bright red rosellas, and kookaburras on the rare telephone wires (all the services/cabling are underground, meaning that Illawong enjoys a bush setting with large trees that aren't rudely pruned). Here's some photos I took today around Illawong.... gorgeous.

Available info about Illawong

Here are a couple of links to info existing on the web about Illawong - check out the amazing photos.

Illawong wiki entry - basic historical info and stats
Illawong Community Directory - all about Illawong and Illawong services/business
Illawong Demographics - demographics about Illawong residents
Sydney City Blogspot - Illawong - photos of the river/s from Illawong
Sydney City Blogspot - Lugarno - photos looking across the Georges River to Illawong
The Trees - Land Sale - information about new release of land for sale in Illawong
Review of Illawong - including comments from Illawong residents
Illawong Stats - statistics about who lives at Illawong
Illawong Community Portal - info re services
Illawong Village - the local shops which have been updated since the wiki photos
Illawong Community Profile - Sutherland Shire Council info about Illawong
More census info about Illawong - from Sutherland Shire Council
More Illawong Stats - more stats for those who want to visit Illawong
Illawong Suburb Guide - from the Australian Suburb Guide site
Illawong Suburb Profile - by Coldwell Banker - mentions Cranbrook house which still stands today
Another review of Illawong - by local voices

About us and the Everything about Illawong blog

We are new to Illawong, and so will share all we discover about Illawong! We are really looking forward to moving here - Illawong is a beautiful suburb surrounded by bush and water. Discover Illawong with us!