The original Palm Beach fishermen and sailors, boat and home builders, and business maker families have lost one of their own this past week in Allan Gonsalves. The Community expresses sincere condolences to his wife Maureen and children Mark, Kerrie and Paul.
Allan was born on November 30, 1931, at Collaroy to Harold "Midge" Edward Gonsalves, 1898–1993, and Mildred "Millie" Potts, 1911–1987 (married 1931). His sister Jill Maryan Gonsalves was born January 1 1938.
'Midge' Gonsalves was a son of Henry ‘’Harry" Francis Gonsalves (1868-1954) and Caroline Emily Gonsalves (née Walter 1868-1954), of Waratah street, Palm Beach.
Gonsalves relatives and their relatives in the Verrills and Goddard families state the Gonsalves were from the Azores originally. They came up to Pittwater (rowed) from Rose Bay chasing mullet and used to camp at a beach opposite Clareville to the south of The Basin now known as Portuguese (where they were from) beach for a few years before moving to Waratah Street Palm Beach.
The Gonsalves, Goddards, Arblaster and Verrills families were, and are, not people to big note themselves or attempt to stand out in the community. Nevertheless, these are the quiet stolid families that have come to the aid of countless people lost at sea since they first came to the Barrenjoey peninsula, putting themselves at risk despite their deep knowledge of the sea and conditions of Broken Bay, built the earliest homes in Palm Beach, helped found the Palm Beach SLSC, built the roads, opened stores and ran the boatsheds with Carl Gow, built yachts and ferries, provided milk from their cows, and even provided a shoulder to lean on when life throws its challenges and tragedies your way.
They are humble, matter-of-fact people whose focus is on family itself and simply enjoying what time life gives us to spend together, with a love for the saltwater and community that comes from their bones.
Allan Gonsalves epitomised this ethos. A childhood growing up outdoors, fishing, in or on the water at every other time, earning your own way, and being kind to others, no matter their station, formed the bane of his nature.
Caroline E Gonsalves (nee Walter) wife of Henry F Gonsalves, married 1896, holding Peter Verrills.
Gonsalves family home in Waratah Street, Palm Beach. From Verrills family album.
On March 31, 1956, Allan married Maureen Barnes at St. Alban’s Church of England in Five Dock. The Minister was Basil Hocking Williams. Allen and Maureen met at Palm Beach when her relatives had once been lighthouse keepers at Barrenjoey.
Maureen’s mother Minnie was a Berryman, and daughter of George Edwin Berryman (-1966) and Rebecca Sarah (Nee Collins), born 1910 at Milton. Her sister Mary would be born at Port Macquarie in 1920.
George and his brother John George Daniel were born to John William and Mary Ann Berryman. John George Daniel Berryman (1870-1941), was the last manual lighthouse keeper at Barrenjoey Lightstation before it was automated. Another family connection is through Cecelia ‘Cissie’ Amelia Berryman (1910-?), daughter of John G D and Hanna Amelia Berryman who married William John Arblaster (1904-1971) in March 1933. Cecelia and W J Arblaster would have a son, 'John'.
Minnie married Alzona Barnes in 1930 and Maureen was born in 1937.
Allan and Maureen Gonsalves had three children: Mark Allan Gonsalves, born 1957 at Manly Hospital, Kerrie Michelle Gonsalves, born 1959 at Manly Hospital, and Paul David Gonsalves, born 1965 at Mona Vale Hospital.
The family home was originally at 1187 Barrenjoey Road, Palm Beach but by Paul’s birth their address was 23 The Circle, Bilgola Plateau, before Allan and Maureen moved up to Port Macquarie.
Allan spent most of his life as a butcher; he served his time with the Palm Beach butcher, Clyde Scarf and later took over the business. His brother was Eddie Scarf, a well-known wrestler and boxer. Allan was the Butcher there for many years and employed another relative, Raymond (Ray) Charles Coppin, who married Helen (Pat) Patricia Verrills. Later in life, he also worked at a butchery in Newport.
Palm Beach Scarf Butchery when moved further south towards RSL, to left of Henmans Garage. Noe the stucco cement walls. Item: SLNSW_FL9600060 part of Pix Series. 'Eddie Scarf at Narrabeen, 2 December 1940', photographed by B. Rice - courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd.
Henman garage at Palm Beach showing butchery just south of this. Photo courtesy Ray Henman
Allan, like his father before him, was also known as a surf boat rower. Although his dad had rowed for Palm Beach SLSC - family members were founders of this club - and was among the 'Palm Beach Boys' who rowed to Newcastle to take part in surf carnivals, Allan rowed with Whale Beach SLSC.
His son Paul also excelled during the 1980’s with Whale Beach SLSC in surf sports events, and took on the role of Chief Instructor.
Hal Bailey recalled in a history of the surf club he put together:
The Senior A Boat Crew of Season 1953-54 was John Arblaster, Frank Gardner, Allan Gonsalves, Malcolm Robson, Jack Uren - Sweep and Coach.
Carnival – Place
- Dee Why 1st
- Avalon 1st
- Nth Palm Beach 2nd
- Freshwater 2nd
- Mona Vale 1st Sth
- Bilgola 1st
- Whale Beach 1st
- Newport 2nd
- Palm Beach 1st
- Queenscliff 1st
- Metropolitan Championship (Coogee) 1st
- Australian Championship (Southport Qld) 2nd
Of course, when you have a Gonsalves and an Arblaster in your crew it would be hard NOT to win.
One of those crew members recalled:
‘Top Crew’
by Mal Robson
In the early 1950’s I began training with Keith Jones, Frank Gardner, Allan Gonsalves and John Arblaster in the “Sid Bacon”, named in his memory following his death in a R.A.A.F. air crash in 1948.
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Jack Uren, past sweep of Freshwater crews had spent a lot of time watching us from the north headland with some degree of nostalgia. Finally, unable to contain himself he approached us, after a dunking. He was smoking a cigar, but with a twinkle in his eyes said “If five blokes like you keep on going ‘down the mine’ as often as you do and keep coming back for more I’d have to be Blind Freddie not to be able to make a top crew of you”.
From there he set out to cajole, badger and mould us until he created a sense of harmony, fitness and team spirit which did give Whale Beach a top crew. At a period when most winning crews were of a hefty build more suitable to front-row forwards, we were a light crew by comparison. However Jack Uren made up for this with a regime of hard dedicated training sessions, no smoking, no drinking and a severe reprimand if anyone wasn’t punctual. If someone didn’t turn up without a darned good excuse they were out!
In search of better performance than the ‘Sid Bacon’ could deliver and as tuck stern design was now common, the club bought a second-hand one built by Humphries. However it didn’t have the speed we hoped for. So after two years hard training and modest success in competition, the club commissioned the well-known boat builder Ray Phillips to build us a boat with speed. A fund-raising raffle to finance the boat entitled the winner to name the boat.
Keith Webster worked with his usual enthusiasm and loyalty to club and crew, so that when his name was drawn as winner it was greeted with applause and the boat was named “Kerel Webster” after his daughter. At the naming ceremony on the beach the boat was covered and the crew felt some trepidation, as Frank Gardner had the name emblazoned along the length of the craft in large letters so they could be read rounding the boys in a race! (Positive thinking!) The unveiling of this secret was greeted with a roar of approval and on many later occasions gave instant identity to the distant boat’s success, as it did prove a speedy craft and a complimentary tool in the hands of a fine crew.
Jack Uren’s strategy as coach and sweep was to demoralise the other crews. When crews were sore and tired after their successive heat rows through the “break” in the surf, Jack when his crew was training them, could be heard shouting loudly “take it easy, don’t bust yourselves”, or “steady-on or you’ll leave them for dead”.
The effect of course was that the other crews, hearing that in their state of tiredness would be inclined to “pack up”, thinking that we were fresher and overtaking powerfully. Jack was a smart cookie and taught us tricks, cunning and technique. We all had physically demanding jobs at that time, but the general fitness, training and know-how we acquired stood us in good stead and our success rate rapidly increased so that we became a crew of some reputation at any carnival in spite of our light weight. It is unfortunate that no comprehensive record remains of all our wins and places, but without doubt no other crew has so consistently represented Whale Beach before or since that era.
By the 1953-54 surfing year our training and skill paid off, when to culminate a winning season, we won the Metropolitan Surfboat Championship and followed that by winning the Silver Medals for second place (losing by half a boat-length) in the Australian Surfboat Championship.
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In the beginning of our team, Keith Jones had been in our crew and had a period as sweep, until he moved to the North Coast for business reasons. Frank Gardner followed as sweep and continued as a rower when Jack Uren became our mentor, coach and sweep.
Frank left to continue his interest in car racing, in England and Europe, where he had considerable success for several years and gained international fame and reputation in the sport. That interest and skill he enjoys in the management of teams and individual drivers today in various formulas.
Newspapers and newsreel films were popular in those days and Whale Beach’s boat seemed to have a monopoly on featured pictures and episodes in both sport pages and newsreels. Hedonistic crewmen could go on Monday and view their epics in detailed re-runs at the theatrettes and local cinemas.
Ten years after the crew broke-up, they were attending Whale Beach’s Annual Carnival as spectators and found we didn’t have a current active crew to represent us, so they dragged out the boat, donned their gear and without training won through heats, semis and final to win the Senior Boat Race. Jack Uren and Noel Greenfield, watching on the beach were not the only ones to be moist-eyed at that nostalgic trip down memory lane1.
IT IS FITTING THAT THE FOLLOWING NAMES OF THAT STERLING CREW SHOULD BE LISTED IN THE HISTORY OF OUR CLUB:
SWEEP: JACK UREN
STROKE: MAL ROBSON
2ND STROKE: ALAN GONSALVES
2ND BOW: FRANK GARDNER
BOW: JOHN ARBLASTER
Another account states they were extremely fit young men who had won the (senior) Metropolitan title. They were champions.
''After the heats of the day in this raging surf, they were in the final race of four boats and they knew this would be a tough event. Jack was well aware of the huge waves they would be facing on the very long row out to the buoys, securely moored beyond the cresting mountains of the sea. Jack studied the wave formations. Most of the waves diminished as they ran across a sand bar about 100 metres out, but there was an occasional set that crested even outside of the buoys and these waves were powerful enough to carry right across the bar and continue to the beach.
A careful sweep would avoid such a wave. A wise sweep might attempt it if he had the complete trust of his crew. In an emergency, a desperate sweep might not tell his crew where he intended taking them.
The starter’s gun sounded and they jumped into the boat and rowed quickly and strongly and the broken waves crashed loudly against the hull and the boat bucked and pitched and rolled from side to side like a wild animal and each man in our crew concentrated on his stroke and timing and the bow rose up with the increasing height of the waves and as they approached the line of buoys they could see no other boats astern and as they followed Jack’s instructions to turn, it was painfully obvious that they were the last boat. This was an emergency. So Jack became a desperate sweep.
At the beach the announcer said: “We now have three boats preparing to row across the sand bar... and here comes the last boat, it’s Whale Beach... on a huge wave... like a ten storey building... it is carrying them across the bar... they are passing the other boats... and now Whale Beach and Bronte are leading and are on the same wave... this might be a dead heat for first place... no, the judges have awarded first place to Bronte by a nose and Whale Beach is second... but first for bravery”
Stan Coonan, also a Whale Beach member during the 1950's recalled:
'It was pretty popular in those days to jump off the rocks and swim point to point with blokes like Owen Ramsay, Geoff Gardner, Brian Johnson and Allan Gonsalves. All legends in my mind, and they were often mentioned when I tell stories of classic swells that came through...'
Allan Edward Gonsalves will be missed by those of us who remember his smile and twinkling eyes. He will be remembered for his service to the community in small kindnesses and continuing that Gonsalves legacy of 'having your back' by being upright and true.
Sincere thanks to Kerrie and Maureen for the lovely coloured photographs of their dad and husband.
A few extras
GONSALVES, Henry Francis.— June 30, 1954, at his home, Barrenjoey Road, Palm Beach, beloved husband of the late Caroline Emily, and dearly loved father of Ethel (deceased), John, May, Syd, Mabel (deceased), Midge, Tim, Lea, Madge, Frank, Tom, and Nell, aged 86 years. Family Notices (1954, July 1). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 20. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29608145
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