Food Issue: Remembering the people and stories of The Alcron - the restaurant that introduced cosmopolitan cuisine to blue-collar Novocastrians

Long ago, it was regarded as Newcastle's premier, pioneering restaurant, which introduced European-style cuisine. Back then, traditional pub menus consisted of roasts, snags and gravy or a steak with three veg. No foreign muck here, please! We're all true-blue Aussies, mate.

Across the harbour, BHP Steelworks was at its height.

It's hard to believe now, but decades ago there was also really only one Chinese restaurant down by the old Theatre Royal, many cafes and a few rugby clubs, but an attempt to introduce pizzas (at Hamilton) failed miserably. Only much later did the gimmicky Leonardo de Pizzas in Scott Street, Newcastle, successfully break into the fast-food market.

Mind you, our tastes started to change from 1951 with the arrival of the Oberland family. They bought an old three-storey terrace at the western end of Church Street, in the city, and introduced cosmopolitan cuisine to largely blue-collar Novocastrians.

And the family had good reason to succeed. George and Dr Helena Oberland, with children in tow, were stateless refugees who'd fled a 1948 Communist putsch in the Czech Republic, losing their home and all possessions.

The Church Street house they bought had great Newcastle harbour views and was called "La Mer" (the sea). Soon the name was changed to "The Alcron". It was named after the prestigious, Michelin-hatted restaurant back in Prague. The new name though also meant it went to the very top of alphabetical restaurant listings.

And a few surprises were in store for intrepid Church Street diners. Way back then, even Wiener schnitzel and spaghetti bolognaise - today commonplace dishes - were regarded as exotic. Add to that Czech Republic comfort food such as beef goulash, pork knuckles, hearty potato dumplings and garlic soup (for hangovers) all washed down with some foreign wine, or pilsners and, maybe later, some Slivovitz (plum brandy), coffee and possibly a slice of rich Sachertorte.

The restaurant even featured in Pix magazine in 1953 with diners enjoying sublime views of dancing harbour lights (pictured) with host George Oberland serving them Russian caviar and French snails.

But, food aside, it was the clientele who made the place a magnet. They ranged from artists, to visiting British entertainers playing at The Civic, surgeons, solicitors, colourful local identities, politicians and even Prime Ministers.

The Alcron was also famous in its final years for its legendary pianist Claude Moore. Limping after contracting polio in his youth, he left studying dentistry to become a popular fixture at the keyboard.

Claude, often in pain and on tranquilisers, had a breakdown which sadly seemed to wipe out much of his musical memory. After that, so it was said, he could only play popular tunes written before about 1957. It didn't stop him, however, from being a superb entertainer.

One regular diner who lived only a few streets away was Newcastle University's deputy vice-chancellor (until 1974) Professor Brinley Newton-John, father of the late singer Olivia Newton-John.

But Brin Newton-John had a 'secret' claim to fame from World War 2. His fluent German meant he was used by Britain's MI5 to interrogate captured German pilots, often by wining and dining them. He also interviewed Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess after he landed in Scotland in 1941.

Brin's expertise also meant he was among the Enigma machine codebreakers at Bletchley Park from 1942, part of the top-secret Ultra project that was kept hidden for 35 years until 1974.

Back at The Alcron, a regular guest for morning tea of the cultured Mrs Helena Oberland, a doctor-of-law, was university classics professor Godfrey Tanner. Staff said they both spoke in Latin while sipping tea to refresh their language skills and to keep the conversation lively.

Mrs Helena Oberland had remarried before coming to Australia. Her previous husband was a von Rabenau, while a German general relative was murdered by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to depose Hitler.

The "knight of Wangi", artist Sir William Dobell, also sometimes dined at The Alcron. The most famous tale concerning him was his chauffeur for the evening imploring staff not to allow Dobell to order steak.

"He's just got new teeth, he might lose them. It'll be embarrassing," the driver is said to have confided.

Mrs Oberland's daughter, Helen Taylor, a baroness by birth, returned to Newcastle from overseas in 1955 to help run the family restaurant. She later also injected new life into the family's historic Tanilba House at Port Stephens where she staged plays, poetry readings and concerts. She died in 2015.

Meanwhile, the bubbly, multi-talented musician Pat Charker, of Newcastle, remembers The Alcron from performing there with pianist Claude Moore during late night suppers. Now 86, Mrs Charker said Moore told her the family had "a rough time getting out of Europe".

"I heard Mrs Oberland may have hidden diamonds in the heels of her shoes to escape the country," she said.

"The Alcron was a wonderful institution in its day and will always be remembered by those who went there with Claude doing his magic on the piano. It was a nice type of clientele.

"Much later, after The Alcron was sold, its new owner, from Goldberg's, was to buy a brand new piano for Claude, but sadly, he got sick and died," Mrs Charker said.

Mrs Oberland died in August 2002, aged 92. The Alcron had suffered extreme damage in a fire in 1997 and closed forever. At the time, it was described as being the longest operating family-owned restaurant in NSW.

A builder's expertise then helped preserve this slice of Newcastle's culinary history as the building was reported to be close to being condemned after the fire. Instead, it was restored as a private residence, which it remains today. The restoration was even recognised at the 2002 Newcastle MBA awards.

But one secret remains to link The Alcron with the Tanilba home of Helen Taylor. Early last year Port Stephens reader Adrian Everitt sent me an enlightening email.

In it, Everitt said the Oberlands had invited his family to a memorable lunch at Tanilba House in the late 1950s.

"After the lunch, Mr (George) Oberland gave me a tour of the house and showed me some old family photographs. One of them was of him competing as an equestrian. I seem to recall he told me it was a photo of him competing for Czechoslavakia in the 1936 Olympics.

"I remember them as nice people."

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