My Castle in the bush

MY CASTLE IN THE BUSH

By Judith Joyce

  I was only very young when I first saw it and I thought I was seeing things. Places like this only exited in far away places or in fairy tales, not here in Australia, in a suburb of Sydney. I closed my eyes thinking that it might go away but when I opened up my eyes again, I saw it was still there so I knew it must be real. There it was Perched high upon a headland standing out like a sore toe surrounded by dense Australian bush. Every where you went around Castle Crag and Castle Cove, you could see this very special place.

  What was it you ask; well it was a gothic sandstone castle, a real castle that was nothing like any of the other houses that were built in the area.

Being a young child I asked a lot of question about my castle and I was told it was Willis’s, later I found out it was called Innisfallen Castle  but we kids only knew it as  Willis’s Castle; this was after the people who built it and at that time still own and lived there.

  I fell in love with this castle in the bush and I longed to go and see it up close. So I asked my older brother and sister how I could to get to it and they told me that the Castle was a long, long way along a rough bush track, too far for me to go. The only other way to it was by water, which was also out of my reach, so all I could do was see it from afar.

  I started to imagine what it would be like to live in such a fairy tale place  

 I imagined that it was my own very special place where I could go in my mind when I was lonely and think up lovely stories. I loved to read and I also had a vivid imagination so these skills came in very handy.

 I do not know if any one remembers Enid Blyton’s “The Magic Faraway Tree” books. “The Magic Faraway Tree” is the biggest and the tallest tree in the world; right in the middle of the Enchanted Wood- and its very magic indeed!  It was called the Faraway tree  because its top is so far away, up into the clouds, and always sticks up into some queer magic land - a different one every week! Isn't that exciting?  There was the land of secrets: the land of do as you please; the land of dreams: the land of spells and the land of enchantments and many, many more. So this tree was able to take me to my castle and I could have a different adventure every time. If I was in the land of enchantments I could wave my magic wand and be Sleeping Beauty up in my castle awaiting my prince charming to come and wake me up with a kiss. Or Cinderella going to the ball in the royal castle and dancing with the prince. I could be Alice in Wonderland and playing croquet with the Queen of Hearts in the rose garden that surround the Castle.In the land of dreams I could dream I was the Fairy queen of my castle ruling wisely over my kingdom of fairies and goblins, pixies and elves. Being young is a wonderful time because you can have so many adventures without going anywhere.

    As I grew older my imagination started to wane and I though less and less of my castle in the bush. I would see from afar as before and think to myself, “There is my castle” but by then other important things were crowding my mind. Then we moved away up to Umina so I never passed it again so my Castle was forgotten altogether.

    A few years ago my husband and I happened to be in the Willoughby area when I suddenly thought of the castle in the bush and I said to Max “I wonder if Willis’s castle is still standing. It could be, let’s go have a look”. I could no longer see the castle from Edinburgh Rd because many houses and roads had been built since I had been there last. So, we hunted down many roads till we could see a break between the houses. There it was, still perched upon a headland but now surrounded by other houses as well as bush. If there are other houses there now must be a road to my castle so now I could go and see it close up. We got out the street map and found where we thought we had to go. We took a few wrong turns, and then finally I saw Willis St. Now that had to be where the castle should be.

  Sure enough after a long search there in front of me was my castle. There she was in all her glory just as I had pictured. All my childhood memories came flooding back and I was seeing for the first time what I longed to see all those years ago. Even though all the Mac Mansions were built around, Innisfallen Castle was still surrounded by bush not though not as much as before.

  I had at last been able to see my special place up close and personal, “My Castle in the Bush”