The Federal Press at Leura is now the Wayzgoose Cafe

Shirley Steel photographs in front of the Wayzagoose Cafe in Leura during our annual abstract photographers retreat. We are booked in for spring for 2022 and I can’t wait.

A Wayzgoose is the annual entertainment that master printers gave their staff annually. It was later also a reference to an annual dinner for printing staff. I wonder if dad ever gave the staff any Wayzagoose?

Rather unlikely as there were only two of them at the Federal Press there in Leura exactly behind Shirley in the above photograph. My father was one of the partners there, a long time before I was born. So the name ‘Wayzagoose Cafe’ is a direct reference to his business that ran there. You can get a bumper sticker that says ‘save the Wayzgoose’, because developers have their sights on this very building to expand Leura Mall’s shops.

Dad, Murray Metcalf, was business partners with Eric Woodhead in the forties there. I think he started as an employee and later became a partner. Apparently the partnership ended because some of the books Dad wanted to publish were a bit too left wing for Eric. You can easily imagine the era, ‘reds under the bed’ and all.

Dad was there before he married my mother, and was there while Sue and Robbie were born.

One day I took mum in there for coffee and we talked to the owner about dad and the printing business that was run there. An old photograph on the wall shows ‘The Federal Press’.

Here is the front door to the Federal Press. I wonder how many times dad walked through it? Wondering when the last time he did. To learn more about what happened in there fascinates me. I very much doubt there was much purple there then. The purple is the false colour from my full spectrum camera. It has been fun to play with it. The other day I got another wave of enthusiasm about it, and ordered a strong infra red filter and a lens so I can do some of those black and whites with it.

Micheal O’Neil is in our next issue of Len’s Journal, he takes the most gorgeous false colour photographs. The issue is at Momento Pro right now getting printed. I can assure you his images are delight to see.

Leura is my home town. So I have these beautiful memories of my childhood there. Snow, school and milkshakes. A bond with a town that has now turned tourist. Famous for its gardens, rich soil and gorgeous lookouts. Coffee and shopping are now the go there.

Now that we are getting our freedoms to travel again here in Australia, you might like to consider coming with us to Leura in Spring to play with abstract photography. It is a true retreat. Plenty of time to photograph and work on projects, some time to inspire you, and to be immersed in the stunning flower gardens of Leura with other creatives. Luxury accomodation and all meals included. Hmmmm I really can’t wait. I will be pointing my camera at the Federal Press again and will be thinking of a time long ago.

https://www.lensschool.com/workshops-tours/the-abstract-retreat

Photographs and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2021