Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

[jim]

Hi all. Yes i stumbled accross this site . Wow it brought memories flooding back. I was at Heathcote from 1959 through to 1962.
Swimming at the dam! Hitch Hicking! The water towers. The school holiday battles between East Hills and the Navel Camp.
Tirzens Dairy. The camp shop. The crystal.
On and on it goes. Things we did that were almost unthinkable in todays world. I was only 7 when we arrived off the Fair Sky. Lasting memory was all the mothers crying as we arrived by bus at the camp. Will never forget that moment. However beside the sun burn on our lilly white skin, the god awful meels at the canteen. What a time! Most of us have enough material to write a great novel.

Jim

[Len]

Hi Jim, welcome to our forums and thank you for taking the time to join.
Sounds like you also had a blast while at the hostel.
Hope you get to meet others whom once stayed at Heathcote Hostel and chat about old times.

[chrisnic]

Hi Jim
I was at Heathcote Rd 1960 - 61, so our times there overlap. I arrived May 1960 on the Orontes, a 13 year old boy at the time. I remember that bus trip from the wharf to the hostel, it seemed like we were going to the back of beyond (true in a way!)

I remember swimming at the Woronora Dam, just a few miles down Heathcote Rd - a great place to cool off on a hot day.

As I remember, the hostel shop was run by a bloke called Bert, and was just known as "Bert's" by the inmates.

What was the crystal?

Cheers and welcome
Chris

[jim]

You are right. Berts was the camp shop. He was a nice bloke as i recall.
The crystal as we refered to it was the water hole across the road straight down to the creek. East Hills camp to the left. Used to catch bullies there. Skip was at the youth centre for a while then a canadian bloke took over.
You are a few years older than i. However you may of known my cousins?
Ron and Jeff Painter.

[chrisnic]

I remember lots of faces, but unfortunately my memory for names has faded (apart from Bert, funnily enough). I think most of the kids my age went to Liverpool high school, while for some reason I was sent to East Hills. I remember there used to be youth dances in the recreation hall, so there's a fair chance I bumped into your cousins.

Cheers
Chris

[cruzyandrew]

Hi Jim, you know me of course.
We arrived at Heathcote on the 10th March 1960. Andy and Margaret Barrett (Mum & Dad) Jennifer, me , Andrew and younger sister Margaret.
We lived at number 56, down the hill from the canteen and next to the big steel firebox. Next door were the Lloyds, Frank and Hilda and the kids Susan, Frank and another boy. The names that come to mind The Holes with a whole heap of kids, Gillespie's who went back to Scotland, McGlincheys, Painters of course, Chris Harding( I think) John Heney, Tony Hillcoat (whos Dad shot Rusty one of the camp stray dogs) the Hattons from Ireland, sadly John Schofield who's sister Monica was murdered just after we moved to New Zealand. Monica was a beautiful girl. I seem to remember the Schofields went back to England later on.
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Heathcote Hostel 10th March 1960 to 25th Dec 1962

[fairstar1965]

Hi Jim.

I lived at Heathcote Rd Hostel too, August 1965-February 1967 though I was only a kid then. Our hut was no. 21. We arrived in Sydney aboard the Fairstar, then were driven to the hostel on an old-fashioned coach with wooden seats. I vaguely recall standing on a seat peering out of the window as the bus turned into the main entrance. And yes, my mum cried all that first night too over the awful conditions.

I attended Hammondville School. Across the road was a post office/newsagent (which is still unchanged today), selling 'Man from UNCLE' bubble gum cards which I used to collect.

I would also buy 'Flintstones' bubble gum from Bert's shop.

Do you recall the spectacular thunderstorms that would more often than not bring down power lines and cause flash floods along Sirius Rd?

And the huge spiders! They seemed to love lurking inside the huts. Mum chased one under my bed with a broom once.

I live back in England now but still shed a nostalgic tear for those days.


All the best,
Leigh

[richardhallford]

Hi Leigh. I was at East Hills, just across the road from you. Did you by any chance play in the Heathcote Hearts Soccer team? I have a team photo. Anyone else in that team feel free to contact me. We were there from 1966 to early 1968.
I also went to Hammondsville in 1966 to 1967, Then Liverpool Boys High for 1968.

[Linda1952]

[phil]

Hi , i used to play for heathcoate hearts 1968-70, so prob just missed you, white rugby style shirts with a d=red v on the front ? i remember going to games in skips cortina estate , all of us !in one car, would love to see the picture
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phil