The FISHER Family

NETTA & CLARRIE FISHER.
119 ANNETTS PARADE MOSSY POINT.

Netta and Clarrie Fisher moved to Canberra from Melbourne in 1939, and then had two children, Anne and Richard. Clarrie Fisher knew Theo Cooper (165 Annetts Pde) through work at the ACT Registry Office and in 1946 the family took a short holiday at the place that Theo called "the pick of the coast", Mossy Point. Theo led Clarrie into being a civil marriage celebrant at the office.

Clarrie and Netta Fisher. RF.

Richard and Anne Fisher 1951. RF.

In 1948 A.J. Ryan sold 119 Annetts Parade to the Fishers. Ryan, who in 1931 had set up Radio Station 2CA Canberra, decided to sell when he took up a career opportunity in Cessnock.  There is a page for:  A. J. Ryan.

119 Annetts Parade 1948. RF

119 Annetts Parade 2008. RF.

The house at 119 Annetts Pde was set on locally sourced ironbark stumps. After World War 2 building materials had been in short supply, and the beach house was built for Ryan by a Queanbeyan builder named Weatherby. It used materials from three huts at the old World War 1 and World War 2 Internment Camp at Molonglo, it was where Molonglo Mall in the Canberra suburb of Fyshwick is today.

With a verandah for the full length on the South side and part of the east side as well, the house was unlined, and the only room walled off was a kitchenette. A rainwater tank collected water from half the roof, and was connected to a tap at its outlet, and the only inside tap was over the kitchen sink. There was no electricity, and no provision for hot water. An outside pan toilet was included.


Clarrie then set about sectioning off two bedrooms, using wood frame walls lined with fibro (asbestos) on the lower half, topped by 'Caneite', a by-product from sugar cane processing, for the top half.


Ceilings were also Caneite, and as was the usual practice in those days, joins between all of these panels were covered with "coverstrips" being strips of wood 40mm x 4.5mm.



Over the next 25 years the house was embellished with electricity, running water, and an inside toilet. The property is still in the Fisher family, although the original house no longer remains.

Walls of fibro on the bottom and caneite above, with cover strips. RF.

Anne Fisher moved to Victoria in 1966, and Clarrie Fisher died in 1972.  After that Richard, his wife Judy and Children Leanne and David enjoyed many fine times at the Beach with Netta, her last trip to Mossy Point was in 1998.  After that she decided that she was not sufficiently well to travel there, and was determined to keep happy memories of the place, not overshadowed by some unfortunate incident or illness that might well occur if she went again in a frail state.  Netta died in 2006.

Richard and Judy built a new house on the block in 2009, where they now live.