Ben's History Videos-Official

Ben's History Videos-Official Hi! I'm Ben Summers.

I'm the creator of the YouTube channel, Ben's History Videos: https://youtube.com/?si=AoYUry5TkK1anpbZ

This page has been set up to support my channel.

This old house is on Enmore Road, Enmore. It is presently home to The Sydney Budhist Centre.Photo credit: Ben Summers 20...
11/09/2026

This old house is on Enmore Road, Enmore. It is presently home to The Sydney Budhist Centre.

Photo credit: Ben Summers 2026.

'The Railway Institute' on Chalmers Street, Surry Hills.Photo credit: Ben Summers on 28/03/24.
10/09/2026

'The Railway Institute' on Chalmers Street, Surry Hills.
Photo credit: Ben Summers on 28/03/24.

Vincent Street, Cessnock in the NSW Hunter Valley.Photo credit: ©Ben Summers 2024.
10/09/2026

Vincent Street, Cessnock in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Photo credit: ©Ben Summers 2024.

'Erskineville Fish and Chips' on Erskineville Road, Erskineville.Date: September sixth, 2022.South Western Sydney.Photo ...
10/09/2026

'Erskineville Fish and Chips' on Erskineville Road, Erskineville.
Date: September sixth, 2022.
South Western Sydney.
Photo credit: ©Ben Summers

My friends and I visited Mann Street, Gosford in 2023. We had lunch and checked out a few interesting, historic building...
10/09/2026

My friends and I visited Mann Street, Gosford in 2023. We had lunch and checked out a few interesting, historic buildings.

Pictured beneath is the Edmund Blacket designed Gosford Anglican Church.

The church was built in 1857 and originally located elsewhere on the Central Coast but by 1885, it had been abandoned as the population had moved from East Gosford to West Gosford.

Over two years between 1904 and 1906, the building was dismantled and moved, block by block, to its present position on Mann Street, looking over the War Memorial and water.

It was sympathetically restored and updated in 2008, and currently boasts features such as modern lighting and underfloor air condition, while preserving the building's heritage.

Fortunately, the Father was onsite, and he very kindly allowed us inside.

Photo credit: Ben Summers on 01/07/23.

I often pass by this unique house on Stanmore Road in Stanmore. It was built in 1897 by a Real Estate speculator from a ...
10/09/2026

I often pass by this unique house on Stanmore Road in Stanmore. It was built in 1897 by a Real Estate speculator from a town called 'Bombara', who named the house after the town.

It is currently used as The Mahamakut Buddhist Temple.

Photo credit: Ben Summers 2020.

Detaching P (32) Class loco 3265 at Buxton. This photo is one which I took on a visit to The New South Wales Rail Transp...
10/09/2026

Detaching P (32) Class loco 3265 at Buxton. This photo is one which I took on a visit to The New South Wales Rail Transport Museum on Barbour Road, Thirlmere back in 2022.

3265 was among one hundred and ninety one 32 Class built by a variety of manufacturers (Beyer, Peacock and Co, Baldwin Locomotive Workshops and Clyde Engineering) over a twenty year period from 1891 to 1911.

Designed by Chief Mechanical Engineer William Thow to power the top expresses in the state, the class enjoyed significant popularity with crews, and no doubt this contributed to their longevity, with example remaining in service until 1972, a full seventy nine years after their introductory.

Four are preserved.

November 6th, 2022.

The infamous, former 'Pink Pussy-cat' nightclub onDarlinghurst Road, Kings Cross. Over the forty five years it was in bu...
10/09/2026

The infamous, former 'Pink Pussy-cat' nightclub on
Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross. Over the forty five years it was in business, the venue etched out its name as a legend of Sydney.
My photo, taken on November 15th, 2021. Sending thanks to my friend Rod for giving a guided tour of 'The Cross' on the day.

Photo credit: Ben Summers 2021.

Some of The Inner West's oldest houses have remarkably survived the ravages of advancing age to remind us of a bygone er...
10/09/2026

Some of The Inner West's oldest houses have remarkably survived the ravages of advancing age to remind us of a bygone era. Among the area's old warriors is a house that sits quietly concealed by The Enmore Theatre on Enmore Road.

This house is connected to a convict whose face looks up at those who continue to use cash, yet most would know nothing of who she is, or her fascinating backstory and there isn't a plaque affixed to the house. The lady of whom I speak is none other than Mary Reibey.

Mary Haydock (as she was) was born in Bury, England in 1777. At fourteen, young Mary was sentenced in 1791 to transportation for stealing a horse, arriving a year later.

Her tale is a classic of the rags to riches kind, having as she did, the fortune of marrying Thomas Reibey, a junior officer on the store ship 'BRITANNIA'.

Thomas Reibey started a cargo business from Sydney along The Hawkesbury River, a business which became prosperous and eventually expanded into overseas trade. He died in 1811, leaving Mary the sole responbility for managing the business, a role she was no stranger to, as she had often done so when he had been away on business trips.

She became a wealthy woman, known for her philanthropic gestures, especially towards education, in which she took a particular interest and played a central role in establishing The Bank of NSW, currently owned by Westpac.
Mary Reibey lived much of her life in Enmore, building a house near the present day Reibey Lane.

This house was demolished in 1966.
Reibey was also the driving force behind the construction of the house in my picture, which was built in 1847 for her daughter Elizabeth, and is one of the oldest in the Newtown area. Elizabeth Reibey lived here for some years after her mother's death in 1855 aged seventy eight, moving out after selling the house to James Pemell in 1864.

The Pemell family lived here until 1900, and photos from this time give a very good idea of how the house looked originally. The family moved out in 1900 and the house significantly altered internally since then.

After sale by the Pemell's the house, by then already over fifty years old, was rebuilt into shops. In the 1930s, it was turned into flats, and so it remains.

Today, in spite of age and unsympathetic modifications, the house survives as an enduring memorial to a woman with an incredible life story full of adventure that more people should know about.

Photo credit: Ben Summers

Another of Inner Western Sydney's old shops. This one is located on the corner of Wardell Road and Pile Street in Marric...
10/09/2026

Another of Inner Western Sydney's old shops. This one is located on the corner of Wardell Road and Pile Street in Marrickville.

Photo credit: Ben Summers 2021.

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