Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

[fairstar1965]

Hi fellow migrants.

My name's Leigh and I have such fond childhood memories of the Heathcote Rd Hostel in Sydney, where my parents and I were housed during 1965-67 following our voyage to Australia aboard the 'Fairstar'.

I'm living back in England now but my heart's still in dear Sydney. I recall our hut was no. 21, (the section designated 'C'). I wonder if anyone who was a kid at the hostel remembers the dark and dingy laundry blocks, as many of us were terrified that a hideous monster lurked inside a water tank in one. Sure enough you could see its 'spine' showing above the tank as it lay hidden, though I think it was actually a piece of tarpaulin! But to juvenile eyes it passed for some gruesome creature.

Does anyone also recall the kindergarten, located on Torch St.? I was there for a while. And when violent storms would cause our hostel to be flooded out and power lines brought down?

Another memory, not so pleasant, was when a tramp passing through crushed to death an entire brood of newly-born kittens in front of a group of us. We tried protesting our horror but he chased us away. After the man had gone we collected the corpses in tin cans and took them to the Governor of the camp, since we just didn't know what to do.

All of course must remember the footbridge over the Georges River? And in the waters wallowing far below one could see orange jellyfish.

I used to play with friends by Williams Creek. One day my dad came with me when I went to play with my battery-driven boat (a Christmas present) but alas it got away from me and sailed to the other bank, where it became entangled in reeds and sank! Who knows, it might still lie in the creek bed 40 years later...

Anyway I could go on. Shortly I'll email some photos from 1966, including some taken during a visit to the remains of the camp in 1989.

Bye until then.

[Phyl]

Hi,
enjoyed your post,though sad about the kittens What a horrid man.Look forward to your photos and I wonder if your boat is still there.
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[Len]

Hi Leigh, welcome to our forums.

Got to say, the bit about the kittens made my skin crawl. How someone can do that, is beyond me and even more so, in front of a group of children. The bloke was obviously a sicko.

It would be great if you can share your photos with us. Like you said, email them to me and before I�ll upload them to the forums, I�ll put your families name, which hostel and date on them. I�ll also be putting on a faint water mark which says �migrantweb.com�. The reason for that is not to claim that they are my images but to identify where the images came from should they be copied and used on another website.

[fairstar1965]

Hi Phyl and Len, thanks for your replies.

It's wonderful to have the site available to us and the memories shared by others who were at East Hills and Heathcote Rd Hostels have sure jogged a few of mine (such as the school lunch carried in a brown paper bag - I remember I cried because some kid in my class at Hammondville School swiped mine leaving me with his cold baked bean sandwiches!)

Anyway I've just sent the photos, Len, so look forward to seeing them on your site soon.

All the best,
Leigh

[Len]

Thanks for the photos Leigh. I've now added them to the Easthills and Heathcote forums.

If you, or anyone else wishes to post any one of those images into another post then see this thread and hopefully it will explain how to do it.