Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

[grahamk]

Hi again all... I was wondering if anyone has been able to locate a map of the layout of the Bradfield Park hostel - or found access to a site which may carry some old photos - preferrably of the 67-8 era. I spent some time last night going through a few archive-type sites but came up empty.

From memory (loose as it is) as you entered the gates there was a roundabout directly in front of you, with the post office/admin hut immediately to the right as you entered. Beyond the roundabout was what must have been (when it was still the RAAF training school) the parade ground - converted into a sports/play area - with the rec hall to the left (northern end) of the ground and the dining hall to the right (southern end). My family lived in one of the "huts" parallel to Bradfield Park Rd, so on your left as you travelled south before turning left into the main gate. I think there were 3 huts parallel to Bradfield Park Rd between the corner of Moore and the gates and I'm pretty sure we would have been in the middle one.

Would love to see an aerial of the old site though to get my bearings!

[Len]

Hi Graham, welcome to the forums.

I can�t help you with the aerial photos but have tried looking using Google earth. Google earth is a free piece of kit and is amazing. You can go anywhere in the world and have a nosey. I know the huts won�t be there but it�ll give you an idea and maybe stir a few memories as-to the layout etc.

Thanks for the info about there being two Bradfield Park�s. I was left looking like a bit of a lemon (having pointed everyone in the wrong direction).

[Catherine]

[pjmarner]

I have an old photo of the area, not sure if it's the old RAAF training site or the migrant camp. It's a very interesting photo.

I can email it through if you let me know an address.

[dooziemusic]

[Jan Wright]

Hi everyone, my brother dave just posted (Dooziemusic) and I don't know if he has seen my photos of Bradfield that I took a week before we left. Remind me to show you Dave. I went round to several places on the hostel with three of my friends to take photos. They include the swings, Child minding centre, canteen, The main entrance and, don't ask me why, the Ladies. I will scan them and send them to Len to put on. They are good for a laugh as we are all being a bit silly in some of them but they hold such happy memories.
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Jan

Bradfield Park May 1966 - June 1968

[Len]

[richardhallford]

Lots of info at the National Archives of Australia, including a map of the Hostel, with roads and another map with the buildinglayouts. Just search for Bradfield Hostel. FREE!
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East Hills Hostel Aug 1966 to 1968. Nissen Huts 81 and 83d

[beckett]

Hi, I just looked on Google Maps and there is a housing estate going up - Macmansion style. I left there aged 9 1/2 at Christmas 1965 but still recognise some landmarks.
Does anyone else remember the hostel school which closed down mid 1965? My brother and I then went on the bus to Gordon Public and Beaumont Road Public eventually agreed to take some students as well.
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nee Beckett of Tenterfield

[richardhallford]

I also recommed Wikimapia. Its like Google maps, BUT you can add your own stuff to it. Heres an example with East Hills Hostel.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=-33.959237&lon=150.969379&z=16&l=0&m=b&search=east%20hills%20hostel
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East Hills Hostel Aug 1966 to 1968. Nissen Huts 81 and 83d

[Les Hutchinson]

i was there about 12 months ago .we came out on the SS Mooltan in 1951 and left 1957 . The hostel which was located at Bradfield Park was taken over by National Scales and the area is now known as West Lindfield i was there about 12 months ago .i also found quite a few photos at the National Library site

[rollinground]

Yes I was there not too long ago. The hostel was bordered by Lady Game Drive on one side, and Bradfield Road on the other side. The northern end of the hostel came up to near where the roundabout now is near the shops. The roundabout wasn't there when I was at the hostel between 63 and 64, but the shops were. And the suburb too is, as said, now called West Lindfield.

[Catherine]

[quote="Catherine"]As a new member it was interesting to read so many not knowing where Bradfield Park Migrant Hostel was and I was pleased to see that it was sorted out via GoogleEarth. I lived there as a child from 1952 (aged 5) to 1958 with a 6 month's trip back to Scotland in between. There was another hostel nearby which housed Australian families. As a child, I enjoyed living on the hostel where my friends and I ran free and ate together in the canteen. We also regularly walked through the bush to swim in Lane Cove River or hopped on a bus and train to North Sydney Olympic Pool. We also visited Lindfield picture theatre on Saturday afternoons and if we had spent all our money on sweets, we'd have to walk home to the hostel. Imagine 9 - 10 year olds doing this today? I think not. During school holidays a Play Centre would be available for the children and we would go on bus trips (singing travelling type songs) to the zoo etc. These are happy memories but I don't know how adults coped as I could never live anywhere like that now. I would enjoy reading other people's memories of life on Bradfield Park Hostel.

I have been contacted by a person who is writing a book about the Australian Hostel which was next door to Bradfield Park Migrant Hostel. He is writing a chapter on our hostel and has asked permission to use my above quote about life on the hostel. I have read the chapter and it's facinating and he's done an amazing amount of research.
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Catherine

[rollinground]

Catherine, it was interesting to read how long you were in the hostel, although it was a few years before I was there.

We were given only 12 months in the hostel. My parents had to have found work and a place to live in that time. Work was easy, and they both found employment quite quickly, but I remember we did a fair amount of looking before my parents finally bought a house north of Hornsby. We ended up being in the hostel for about 14 months.

Your memories are a little more rosey than mine. Maybe that's how things changed there in just a few years, who knows. I was glad to get out and I spent the next several years of my life growing up in bushland setting. It was all much better than I could have done if we'd stayed where we were in England.

[Catherine]