Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

Bill Sanderson · Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 4:37 pm Post subject: Dundas Hostel from 1959 to 1963

I have just become a new member. I lived at Dundas Hostel from 1959 to 1963 in Nissan Hut No 8A. I attended Oatlands Public School. I remember the large pipe that several members have mentioned. I went back to Oz in 2005 and had a photograph taken standing on the pipe. I had a newspaper round which was the Dundas Hostel. I can remember going through the bush, crossing the road, walking up the cut towards the railway station to the newsagent to collect all the papers. Happy Days. Bill Sanderson.
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I lived at Dundas Hostel from 1959 to 1963. I attended Oatlands Public School.

AJ Reed · Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 12:10 pm Post subject:

We were at Dundas Hostel from January 1967 to December 1969. We started off in a Nissen Hut (I seem to recall number 18) but then we moved to a block (F7 if I remember). I too attended Oatlands Public School.
I enjoyed my time there but as we weren't staying in Australia beyond the two years we never bought or rented a property. The canteen served good food, there were plenty of activities for us kids and there was a handy shop.
Where I think the whole system was flawed, it segregated the migrants from the general public. After work or school we would tend to stay with the other migrants on the hostel. Moving off the hostel to live in our own home would have been the step in the right direction, but the hostel (at least Dundas) was probably too comfortable. I look back at my time in Australia with fondness but I have never been back.