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Hostels were used to accommodate new Australians. 1950's-1970's
 
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Brooklyn Hostel in Victoria

 
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David worboys
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:42 am    Post subject: Name of a Hostel Reply with quote

Has anyone lived on Brooklyn Hostel in Victoria ?
It is (or was) situated on the Altona Road, off the Geelong Rd(about 40 miles from Geelong) and close to the towns of Footscray and Sunshine. It housed a large population of mixed nationalities. It was bordered on one side by an abbatoir, which every night boiled down the blood from its processes and which stank the place to high heaven. On another side towards Altona there was a disused quarry which gave off chemical smells and down the road at the intersection of Altona Rd and Geelong Rd, there was a quarry. Across the Geelong Rd, were sheep paddocks and another abbatoir. I went to live there with my parents when they decided to move from the golden beaches and mountains of Balgownie (Fairymeadow) to a place which they considered to have more life. David
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stormfour stormfour has been starred
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes David,we lived on Altona Hostel and I was a member of the netball team ,and there was an interhostel competition which took us to Brooklyn once a month or so,but yes these hostels unfortunately were in the most undesirable places,as you say Brooklyn was near the big abbatoir,and Altona was nestled in between the oil refineries,all you could smell all day was sulphur,and the other hostels too I think were situated away from general population,I think this was an agreement the government made,in an effort to keep the migrants away from the locals as not to offend,that and to make the place less appealing so that they would move out as quick as they could,but it certainly did not give us as new migrants a very good picture of life in Australia,and I think that is why a lot of migrants moved back to England before ever moving from the hostels.
Not a very healthy envoironment to live I must admit, nota lot of thought was put into the fact that these were all young families with children !! There would be a public outcry today ,but at that time we as kids thought it was a great adventure and just got on with it,our parents though must have been mortified.
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Carol Myers Altona Hostel Dec 1962 - June 1964
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aussietrekker aussietrekker has been starred
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That quarry in Miller's Road eventually became Altona Gate shopping plaza. They said it was full of rats.
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kate fletcher
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Holmesglen Hostel was on the corner of Power Avenue and Warrigal Road close to Holmesglen railway station in Victoria, south of Melbourne. I've heard that the site's now a conservation nature reserve.

Gardiner's Creek ran behind the Nissen huts, lots of rats there, and on the other side of the creek was a wild area we kids called the bush. There was a road bridge over the creek on the Warrigal Road going up to Ashburton, and when we played underneath this bridge, the noise of the cars overhead was terrifying.

There was an ice cream factory behind the hostel canteen on the other side of the road from the station. Sennet's ice cream when we arrived on the hostel in 1958, then it became Street's. Both my parents worked there for a while, a job I thought must be heavenly. Every so often, a horrible smell of amonia would waft through the canteen from the factory
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Phyl Phyl has been starred
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The land used for hostels was Federal land so not state owned.
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