G’day James Sutton here and today I’m at Clermiston Avenue in Roseville to tell you the story of one of Australia’s greatest inventors, who grew up here at number 2. Arthur Bishop was born in Roseville in 1917, and grew up right here at Baamutha which is the name of 2 Clermiston Avenue. Arthur’s father, John, was a publisher and editor, and enjoyed inspiring his youngest child as well as poking his curiosity. One day he asked Arthur at the age of 10 to fix his gold watch, which the boy did and led him to a lifelong love for taking clocks and other machinery apart and studying their mechanisms. Having attended North Sydney Boys High School, Arthur studied for a Diploma of Mechanical Engineering at the Sydney Technical College, whilst working as an apprentice at his cousin’s machine shop. During World War 2 he produced some vital new Landing gear technology for the Department of Aircraft Production. Planes were vibrating excessively on take-off and landing which was destroying the undercarriage, Arthur developed a way for this to be solved, which led to an invite to the UK to develop the same solution for the British Air Force, particularly with the Lancaster Bomber.

After the war his engineering approach to aircraft was re-focused on the motor car, particularly regarding steering systems for cars. His steering system inventions gave drivers a better feel as well as improved safety, he also built and licensed the tooling and machinery that enabled car manufacturers to build his systems. When Arthur Bishop died in 2006 at the age of 88, he had over 400 patents across 17 countries. Even more remarkable is that on his passing it is believed 20% of the world’s car population had a form of his technology within them. His former home, Baamutha, changed hands in 1995 for $545,000 though today it’s value would likely be above $4 million. Back to the modern-day and we have been delighted recently to have handled the sales of 4 magnificent homes here in Roseville being 131 Roseville Avenue, 17 Longford Street, 31 Thomas Avenue and 111 Roseville Avenue. We are currently selling 11 Bancroft Avenue in Roseville. You can now find all past episodes of my stories about Roseville at JamesSuttonStories.com.au. My name’s James Sutton, I’m the Principal at McGrath Wahroonga. If you’d like to discuss your property I’d be delighted to help you, you can reach me at 0422 704 370 or drop into my office at 17 Redleaf Avenue, Wahroonga. Bye for now.