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Remembrance. 1965-66

 
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Len
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:18 pm    Post subject: Remembrance. 1965-66 Reply with quote

I think that this thread shall be a remembrance to the young boy that tragically lost his life


I believe that back in 1965-66 a young boy tragically fell to his death while playing in a local Quarry. I have asked my parents about this accident but unfortunately they remember hearing something about it but aren't really sure about what had happened.

Does anyone remember this accident?
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Roy
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Len

I remembered that accident. It was horrid. There were about about 3 or 4 lads fooling around up the quarry , my young brother was one of them. They were climbing at the top of the face and they jumped from from one ledge to another except the last boy overbalanced. It was a sad time , the hostel was qquiet for weeks after.
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Len
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Roy

It must have been very up-setting for everyone involved, a terrible loss of life.
Can you tell me how old where the young lads involved and where exactly is the Quarry?
I suspect that the Quarry will probably be located somewhere in Unanderra a small distance away from the Hostel. I myself can?t remember ever seeing the Quarry in the two and a half years that we stayed at the Hostel.
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Roy
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Len

My brother would have been about twelve at the time of the quarry accident.I was 16 and a first year apprentice at, you guessed it , the steel works.

Do you rememberthe basketball court, Well the quarry was straight up the hill from there , maybe a 100 yards from there you looed down at Cringilla and number 2 blast furnace.

Maybe you knew my brother Nigel (Nige)
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Len
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes I remember the basketball court and the Soccer field there was also a little creek that ran between the two. I know half way up the hill their was a farm house and between the farm house and the soccer field was a cluster of bushes/small trees and in there we had a den/cubbyhouse made out of a couple of old wooden packing crates, we often played in their and built small camp fires, like you do when you are 10 year olds. :D
We often played in the paddock behind Stuart and Lloyds and collected lizards etc. hehe
If you continue walking in the paddock behind Stuart and Lloyds i.e. say turn right, you would eventually come to a narrow road which went around and over the right hand side of the hill and lead you to Berkeley. The quarry must have been over to the far left hand side of the hill behind the old Hostel towards Cringilla ?like you say? and for some reason we never went over in that direction. I don?t know why but we didn?t. Maybe we had been warned to stay away from that area. I can't remember.
If you look at this picture below you can see the hill in the back ground also you can see (to the right of the picture) the perimeter fence that ran around Stuart and Lloyds and in the back ground (to the left )you can see part of D block. The Chatfield family are all stood in front/behind H block.


.
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Rascal
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gooday everyone.
I have been searching the net a bit lately looking for some old info on Unanderra Hostel. I was only 9 at the time of arriving in May 1965. I am writing in reply to the comments about the tragic accident on the Hostel. The young lad who died was my older brother Stephen. He was nearly 13 at the time and I had just turned 11. It happened in September 1966. He had been playing with a group of kids when it started to rain. He decided to go a different way back to the others and he lost his balance and fell. My memories of the next few months are a bit blurred for one reason or another. The comment about the Hostel being quiet for a while was interesting to hear.
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Len
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Rascal
Welcome to the forums.

When I read your post I was knocked for a six (stunned) to say the least.
Thank you for replying as it must be difficult dredging up these terrible memories and may I at this point send my belated condolences to you and your family. I was nearly 10 years old when our family arrived at the Hostel in Aprill1967 and I vaguely remember other kids on the Hostel talking about an accident but I suppose I was too young for it to sink in proper as to what had happened. I?m sure that this tragic accident had affected everyone on the Hostel at that time.

If you or any of your family are not happy about me creating this topic in the forums then just let me know and I Shall remove it without question. I just thought it would be a reminder to everyone as to what happed back then, local knowledge.

Did your family stay in the Au or did you return home after you left the hostel in 1967?
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Rascal
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gooday Len,

I can only imagine your thoughts when reading my reply. I have spoken to the family and they are more than happy to leave the forum open. It's a strange feeling to see an article that is so close to home, on the net, but in a way, I was pleased to see the commentary. Especially about how the accident affected other people at the time. As I was only just 11 at the time, my memories after the accident are very vague. We have stayed on in Aus and have only moved a little further South. My mother lives in Warilla and I live 5ks away in Oak Flats. These are suburbs on the southern side of Lake Illawarra. The hostel has long since been demolished and for a long time the sight had just been an open paddock. I had a photo of my brother at the hostel with the steelworks in the back ground. A couple of years ago, I stopped in at where the hostel used to be and took a photo in roughly the same place. Not much had changed in the background in the 38 years since the original photo. Last year they built a couple of business's on the northern end of the hostel sight where the entrance, shop etc used to be. The southern end is still a vacant paddock. I will dig through some of my old stuff and try and add some info to the other forums. Russell (Rascal)
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Len
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Russ

I'm glad you came back, I was kinda holding my breath in the hope that I hadn?t upset anyone and I am so please that that's not the case. If anything, at least it shows that there are others out there that do still remember and you never know we may even get one or two others posting with their memories of the Accident and there after.

Fine on Warilla and Oak Flats, I know where they are but no idea what they're like these days. I know that when I started High school around 1971-72 at Warrawong High, Warrawong High was being shared with Warilla because I believe Warilla High was being modernized/ built etc. also I was a member of the Berkeley Judo club and Warilla also had a Judo club and we often met at competitions.

Thanks for the info on the hostel as I can?t imagine what it?s like today and I would really love to see the photos that you have. The only thing about uploading images to the forums is that you can only upload one image per post, nothing tp do with me it?s just how the forums are, pity.
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Roy
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rascall,

When I started reading post my heart missed and I felt sick to the stomach but after reading lens and your subsequent posts I felt a little better.

My brother Nigel was deeply affected by it as were the others lads of the group and even now when we talk about it he changes the subject.

About the Hostel being quiet for weeks after. I think everyone was stunned. I remember not knowing what to say to your family members, maybe most other people felt the same way. As far as the young ones on the hostel go normally they we playing and getting into mischief but for what seemed like ages the kids werent out playing and parents had long faces. It was sort of like we had lost a comrade.

I know that whatever anybody felt could not equate to how your family hurt being in a strange country with only close family to grieve with but believe me when I say for what its worth the whole hostel sharred some of the pain with you.

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Phyl Phyl has been starred
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Russell (Rascal).,
Have just read the sad story about your brother's accident.
Please know you and your mother are in my thoughts . Knowing the agony of losing a son and also of losing a brother, my brother was Killed in 1953, I really feel for you.
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Phyl
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