Most readers will know that Powder Works Road at Narrabeen gets its name from a failed attempt to produce gunpowder commercially.
They may know that it was the brain child of an entrepreneurial businessman, Carl von Bieren, or was it? Certainly, this is the name he called himself by, but it was false. It is probable that even his wife did not know his real identity.
‘Carl von Bieren’ arrived in Sydney with his wife Anna in 1882. He launched his new company, Australasian Powder and Manufacturing Co., at Manly in May 1884 and convinced a group of well-off locals, including some Manly councillors, to finance his scheme.
Despite building a large factory and wonderful residence for himself, no gunpowder was ever produced.
In June 1885, facing mounting suspicion from investors and creditors, Carl dispatched pregnant Anna with their infant daughter to the U.S. He never reunited with them.
In October, under the alias Clinton Hiram Walbridge, he secretly left Australia on a ship bound for London via South America. When Manly police station was informed of Carl’s disappearance the officer in charge, Senior Constable Edward George Murphy, took up the case with amazing dedication and skill.
Despite Carl’s use of an alias, Murphy deduced which ship he was on. He then obtained a warrant from Sydney Water Police and took off on a ship that was sailing directly to London. He arrived with two days to spare and arrested Carl on his arrival.
Back in Sydney in 1886, after three trials, the man known as Carl von Bieren was sentenced to two years with hard labour. On appeal that he had ‘never done hard work’, the judge increased the sentence by ten months but without hard labour.
Released from Goulburn Gaol in September 1888, Carl left Sydney by ship, reaching New York in January 1889.
Richard Michell is the vice-president of the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society and the secretary of Friends of Dee Why Lagoon. Visit mwphs.com and fodyl.asn.au respectively.