Charles J. StaplesPrint Page

Staples Lookout commemorates Charles J. Staples who pioneered this route in March 1923. The indicator and view point were contructed to commemorate the golden anniversary of Rotary International in 1955.

Charles Staples was a Woy Woy businessman working primarily in real estate who moved there about 1914. His real estate business was on the corner of Blackwall Rd and Railway St, Woy Woy. He and his wife, Florence, were civic-minded and involved in many community projects.

Granted a district auctioneer’s licence in March 1915, he lived in Blackwall Rd, Woy Woy, in a house facing the waterfront and began selling subdivided lots immediately. He became the secretary of a local progress association concerned with the installation of a tramway from Woy Woy station to Ocean Beach, Umina. With the advent of the First World War, it was decided that perhaps a road for vehicular traffic should go in first and to shelve the tramway idea. By June of 1915, Staples was petitioning the Council to sell some of its reserves to fund Ocean Beach Rd.

One has to remember that Gosford and the Brisbane Water district began as a series of waterside townships, which were very reliant on boats for travelling to neighbouring settlements and travel to Sydney and beyond. With the advent of motorised vehicles, there was added pressure to develop link roads from Sydney to Newcastle and for roads to swing by Gosford and other towns on the way.

The construction of Ocean Beach Rd commenced after several years of Staples nagging and toughing it out with the old guard, arguing that their objections to the proposed new road were putting obstacles up before the local residents and not the tourists and it was for local traffic only as there was at this time no other road into the Peninsula.

In 1923 Staples was President of the Erina Shire Council and oversaw the construction of many local roads. “The Devil’s Elbow” on Bulls Hill is one of a number of hairpin bends in the district that are the legacy of Charles Staples, other notorious bends included Ward’s Hill Killcare, and on the road to Patonga.  Charles and two others were in the first car to bush-bash a track from Kariong to Woy Woy. This track became the present day Woy Woy Rd.
Excerpt from Community Coast News (NSW) 18 July 2020. 

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