Those who visited the North Bilgola Lookout during the 1980’s and early 1990’s will remember a direction marker or toposcope of brass installed on the stone plinth that still stands in the centre of this lookout today.
The original, made of brass, was unveiled in June 1988 as a present to the community from the Rotary Club of Pittwater.
Having seen it and photographed, but now being unable to locate those images (yet), we recall it as being a simple version alike that atop Barrenjoey headland:
Others recall something more elaborate, alike that at Long Reef:
Around 20 years later, someone stole it - probably due to the value of material it had been cast from.
Now Richard Jeffery, who has been looking after the lookout for years, wants the North Bilgola Direction Indicator replaced. But first he needs to locate either a photo of the surface which shows how it was or the plans used to cast the sphere.
Richard says he is the unofficial, unpaid, self-appointed keeper of the North Bilgola Lookout – it’s easily his favourite headland.
He’s actually one of those invisible local volunteers who quietly gets on with looking after their favourite place through picking up the rubbish (keeping it clean and keeping Australia beautiful), getting water to the wildlife residents during dry spells(keeping local endemic species where they can keep doing what they do to look after the environment), or explaining to visitors ‘what whale or bird is that?’ when asked (keeping it real and very Pittwater – all are welcome, all belong).
One regular visitor calls him the ‘Lorax of Bilgola Headland’.
But he is also a Keeper in the traditional sense and definition – and North Bilgola Lookout is his Keep.
Many of these visitors from all over the world to the North Bilgola Lookout ask him what is missing from the plinth, and point out it should be replaced, and Richard agrees with them.
A toposcope, topograph, or direction indictor is a geographical graphic display erected at viewing points on hills, mountains or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen from that point. They are often placed in public parks, at popular vantage points (especially accompanying or built into triangulation stations) or places of historical note. Toposcopes usually show the points of the compass, or at least North.
Smaller toposcopes usually consist of a circular plaque, or a plaque with a circle marked on it, mounted horizontally on a plinth. They will have radiating lines indicating the direction to various landmarks, together with the distance and sometimes a pictorial representation of the landmark. They are frequently constructed of a metal such as bronze, cast or etched, set on top of a concrete or stone block, which provides weather- and vandal-resistance.
This Issue a few insights from Richard on this project.
What’s your background Richard; how did you end up coming to Australia?
I was born and raised in Wales – and then served in the British army, I had a commission. I also worked in the theatre in London as a Manager. I came out to New Zealand to play rugby met my wife and decided to stay. I then worked for the New Zealand justice department and went on to work for Unilever who offered me a job in Australia. I sad I’d come if they found me a house in this area – I used to run a training course for them in Bassett street at Mona Vale. I remember the first time I saw Mona Vale beach I thought ‘this is heaven’.
The next morning I saw people waiting at the bus stop to go to work and thought ‘you live here – you lucky people’.
They found me a house overlooking Bilgola beach, and I just fell in love with the area. They said I was here for 3 years and after 5years my son had fallen in love with here, my wife had fallen in love with here.
They called me in one day to tell me about my next big move and big job - in Beijing.
I came home and sat down with my family to talk about it and my son just looked at the table and said ‘what’s the surfing like in Beijing dad?’. I explained there was no surfing in Beijing and he said ‘well I’m not going then’. My wife had gone into painting and had a lovely circle of artistic friends here and we really didn’t want to move. We stayed here.
Now my son is an Australian citizen and my grandchildren are Australians.
Why do you like North Bilgola Lookout lookout so much?
When I first came to Australia in 1990 my house was just above Bilgola Beach. I used to run up to the headland every day.
This has long been my running spot and I’ve had lots of nice things happen up there – when my mum visited from Wales she spent time up there and loved it, friends have loved it too.
Another example is when I arrived there one morning about 6.30am, a beautiful morning, and there was a couple standing there embracing. I thought, ‘well I won’t go any further’. The next thing I knew the girl had detached herself form the guy, use across to me and threw her arms around me. I said ‘what was that for?’ and she replied; ‘he’s just proposed to me and you’re the first person I could tell’.
Every time I go up there I look at the spot where they were standing and I wonder how they are going.
I’ve seen the solstice from up there, I’ve seen whales from up here – which is of course wonderful – it’s my happy place. I know there’s lots of other lovely places around Australia but this is the bit that I care about. It’s a place that has just grown on me.
I started going up there again in October when the whales were swimming past and there were quite a lot of visitors that arrived that didn’t know much about the whales. In fact the first couple I spoke to were from Tokyo and they’d only been in the country a day and knew nothing about whales. So I started talking to them and they asked me what was missing from the plinth, although you can read what it once was on the dedication plaque. I thought if I could persuade the council how many visitors from overseas come up here and ask – ‘what’s this – why is it missing?’.
It sort of lets the place down a bit by having it incomplete.
Another chap was up there., a visitor from China, and he was an expert in Feng shui. He explained to me that the outlook of the ocean is just beautiful and that the Feng shui of the place is very powerful and very happy, and is just a wonderful place according to Feng shui. But he also said that the plinth with its directional marker missing is bad as through Feng shui it’s not complete.
I thought well that’s another good reason we need to have it replaced and restored to what it should be.
Essentially, now that I’m retired, I go up there for a couple of hours everyday if I can because I like it up there. While I’m there I’ll pick up any rubbish that’s around and toss it in the bin and clean up a little bit.
The wooden posts at the entrance to the headland were covered in graffiti. I got fed up waiting for council to remove this so sourced the correct colour and painted them myself.
before
after
I also take a book I have made for visitors with the different whales in it – recently we had some little kids up there who wanted to know which whales they were seeing – and it also has pictures of the different flora and fauna you will find at North Bilgola; the reptiles we have up there, the bird life.
I was talking to some people yesterday and telling them about the ospreys, and would you believe it, the ospreys flew up and right above us at that instant, just lovely. They actually pointed it out as it was coming up behind me.
So there’s lots of lovely things happening up there and some very interesting people visit this spot.
I guess I’m a self-appointed unpaid guardian of the headland – there’s a girl that comes up there quite a lot and she calls me the Lorax of Bilgola Headland. I care for the reptiles and birds, put some little dishes of water down when it’s very dry.
Once when I was up there picking up rubbish, and I had a pair of gardening gloves on and a rubbish bag, a fellow arrived in his car and saw what I was doing - ‘how long are you going to be here for?’ he asked – I replied ‘probably about an hour’. He said ‘don’t go away, I’ll be back’ and took off. When he cam back he’d brought me a long stick grabber with a handle which you can use to pick up rubbish. He’d gone off and bought this for me, which I thought was just lovely.
That’s the sort of thing that happens up there – it’s a place that makes others feel good too.
Just before Christmas somebody had dumped a cardboard box full of crap up there. The rain was coming down, the box was falling apart and rubbish was everywhere, so I spent time putting it into a rubbish bag and getting rid of it.
Around the time I’d finished cleaning it up a group of four people from Copenhagen arrived. Having been to Copenhagen I know what a beautifully clean city it is and thought ‘thank God I had it all clean before they arrived’.
You want to see the direction marker that was originally on the stone plinth replaced?
Yes – as so many visitors have commented; that’s what is missing. We had a meeting with Councillor Korzy who came up. Alex McTaggart, Guy Finlay and the chairman of the Bilgola Beach Residents Association, Norman Nolan, were also there.
Although the meeting was very positive Cr. Korzy said she needed to know what it looked like originally and although many people can remember some of what was on it, sourcing a photo or a plan or the design has been fruitless so far.
From what I have heard from those who remember it this was a circular design that pointed out features of the landscape in a 360 degrees – one pointing to the Ingleside Baha'i temple for instance, or south to Newport, Bungan and Manly, and north to the headlands you can see from there. I think it may have also had pointers east towards Auckland and San Francisco and other places due to it facing the ocean as well.
How will this be funded if the council cannot do so at present?
I have had numerous people and organisations and residents groups who have said they are more than happy to help with this project, along with sporting groups who have offered to help with any labour that may be required. If a fundraising route would be needed someone else would need to be in charge of that side – an accountant from the local community hopefully.
Ultimately this is on council land so we need their support and permissions to have the direction marker replaced. If I was able to say to them; look we’ve got the money and we’ve got the work team, tradesmen who know what they’re doing, then all they’d need to is approve the design and materials used.
What materials should it be since those that have been there in the past were so attractive to thieves?
The advice I’ve been given, and again I’m not an engineer or builder, is that stainless steel is the answer as it will hold up well and will be less attractive to those who may want to steal it. The reason the other was stolen, I’m told, is because they were brass which is expensive and all they do is melt it down. They went through a lot of effort to cut it off as you can still see the bolts where it was embedded down into the sandstone.
How many people would you see visit the North Bilgola lookout each day?
I’m only there for around 2 hours each day, so I couldn’t comment about how many visit outside of that time, but I do have people asking me to take a photo of them there or together. Over holiday times it will be hundreds, when the whales are migrating north or south there’s more then too.
How can people get in touch with you Richard if have photo of the direction marker's surface or know where to locate the original casting plans?
I am promoting the headland on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/474307668042217
I can be contacted at pittwaterplayground@outlook.com or 0448 238 227.
What are your favourite places in Pittwater and why?
The Basin, but not at Christmas time, and of course Bilgola headland, definitely – but there are so many lovely places up here. I filmed dolphins at Palm Beach a little while ago at sunrise – absolute magic. I was just in the surf with the dolphins and no one else around, I’ll never forget it. But the headland, definitely.
What is your ‘motto for life’ or a favourite phrase you try to live by?
There’s a t-shirt I’m wearing right now – but let me explain this. There’s a young lady who comes up to the headland quite a lot and brings her bongo drums; she loves nature and everything in the wild.
She said to me ‘Richard you remind me of the Lorax; you don’t look like the Lorax but you think like the Lorax – the Lorax protects nature, cares for Nature’.
So I watched the movie after that to find out more. So I would say ‘be like the Lorax’ .
But she also gave me a t-shirt which reads;
‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing’s going to get better, it’s not’.
And there is a picture of a tree that’s been chopped down.
And that’s me, caring about the headland.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” - Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
