Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

[Len]

Hi Phyl welcome to our forums.

What was life like on the hostels back in those days was it as bad/ difficult as what some would suggest?

[Phyl]

Hi Len,
Thanks for the welcome.
I think in the early days hostels were not what you would call the Waldorf
Astoria. They were meant to be a temporary thing until people had somewhere of their own to live . Certainly there were disgruntled people at times and we had a few knock on the door with some choice language . I think though many people got on with the task of settling and trying to find their own way.Many women especially were homesick and I could relate to that as my own family were in NZ . Tony's father was an Australian and he was also a Manager with CHL until his death in 1956. In the rough very early days he lost an eye when he was taken too. I think as the years went by more and more help was availabe with staff helping to find accommadation for those who wished the help. When my children reached 12 or so they wanted to eat with their friends in the communial dining room and we allowed this. THey were two young at Berkeley ,but they did at Dundas,Cabramatta,etc. in fact I would go down for a meal myself ( I have to say I was a terrible cook ) I knew of people who stayed in the hostel 5 years in the early days but later a time frame was introduced and movement was faster.
The staff were always wonderful to me where ever we were.
I must relate a little tale from Balgownie. I loved Boston Buns . There were two kitchens there, and the cooks tried to out do each other with my Boston Buns .Each week the Buns grew bigger until one was as big as the tray. It was then we had to draw a halt to the Boston Buns .But my word I did love them.
In the later days too some hostels had a Dr. who ran a clinic a couple of times a week,certainly this was so in East Hill's Hostel. There were also Youth Activities for the children and sport too . My own children were involved with this and I was too.Each hostel had a youth Leader.
So though in early days it was a bit hard I think the powers that be did try as the years went by to make life better in hostels . I can remember wonderful times ,bad times and scary times too.
I guess I could write a book.
Kind regards
Phyl
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[Len]

Well I suppose you can�t please everyone and as you say, they where meant to be temporary. Our family never had a Nissen nor were we at Berkeley but having said that I was only a kid at the time when we stayed at Unanderra hostel and it wouldn�t have bothered me if we had stayed in a tent. hehe

I read somewhere that some of the hostel residents at Berkeley, the one's that stayed for a while had created them selves small gardens out side their Nissen huts and I also read, that years after the hotel had been demolished the gardens still remained, well the flowers/plants still grew where they were planted.

:)

[Phyl]

Hi Len,

You are right. Many people had wee gardens. Some were really nice too.
I remember one lady whose flat was so polished you could eat off the floor. You were scared to walk on it . She was lovely though and we did visit her a couple of times when they left the hostel. I wonder if they are in the same house now, or if they moved again, I wonder where they moved too.
Of course a lot of the houses we lived in in hostels were also nissen and they did get hot in the summer. I remember Tony used to get up on the rooftop and set the sprinkler going to cool the house down and we used to wet a blanket and hang it at the front door too try to get a cool breeze through. ALso used to pull the curtains.
My twins started school at the school down the road. My eldest son had started when we were in Sydney at I think Bradfield Park Hostel.
Gosh Len I hope you are not getting bored with this .I could go on forever
I remember a wee dog. The farmer next to the hostel warned people not to let their dogs on his property or they would be shot. One of the residents had a little dog and it wandered on his property . not doing anything and do you know that farmer shot it . I can still see that little dog running up the hostel fenceline and getting weaker. and I still think of it today after all these years. I cried over it.
Better stopfor now,
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[Len]

[Phyl]

Hi Len,
I agree about farmers but that wee dog did nothing and I agree if it was my dog I would be devastated. I was upset about that one and it wasn't mine.
A further little story about Berkeley :
Our house faced that farm and my children were outside playing When my eldest son came into tell us there was some black hose on the front lawn.Tony went out to have a look and ,no, it was a red bellied black snake , He and the Manager in charge's wife Killed it between them . I felt sorry and so did Tony because the snake was trying to get back to the paddock and also trying to save it's life by lashing out. Have not forgotten that either.At Berkeley too , we found a funnel web spider nest in the ground and Tony poured boiling water down the funnel
The only other snake we had was at Colmslie Hostel and it was a harmless green snake and was sunning it self on the seat we had at the back of the house. We left it to enjoy the sun and it later disappeared into the paddock next door. We also had toads at Colmslie. One used to sit in front of the house often in the evening and we couldn't let our dog out because they spit. Colmslie was in Brisbane. We also had a goanna in the paddock next door there and a frill neck lizard used to come to our fence often in the evening.
In the mating season people used to have umbrellas up when leaving the hostel because the nesting magpies would dive bomb them . And the other side of the paddock was a house and I remember the girl who lived there screaming because a magpie chased her . That house was private and nothing to do with the hostel.
THe first time I saw a blue tongued lizard was soon after we arrived in Sydney and we were at Villawood Hostel.It was behind the fireplace in our house and it poked it's head out . My gosh I thought it was a snake and I grabbed my 11 month old baby and ran. However it was harmless and one of the staff came and let it go out in the bush..
Oh gosh there I go again, once I start I can't stop . So I had better...
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[Phyl]

Hi Len,
Further memory of Berkeley.
One day I dropped into the hostel office to see Tony for a minute.As usual he was busy with Hostel business so as I left the office intending to go home ,a lady resident was going in . I decided to wait for her to come out of the office . I don't know if anyone remembers a pole outside the office,well it had a stay on it Sort of like like this at the lower part of the pole I\ pretty rough but..... Anyway out came the lady I wanted to see,I ducked under the stay on the pole ,came up too early and spent the next week in Wollongong Hospital with a fractured skull. You wouldn't read about it would you? I managed to get home and lay down on the bed and that is where Tony found me at lunchtime. I had a bad headache and much pressure but I survived. . I did suffer awful heads for a couple of years after though.
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[Len]

How did you manage that? hehe it must have been one hell of a dump, jeepers. I don�t know where the hostel offices where. But I remember from my visits to the Berkeley hostel in and around 1968-69 most / nearly all of the nissen huts had gone apart from two large-ish units. One of them I believe was the canteen and the other which was across a short road from the canteen may have been the offices?

The Berkeley judo club which was founded by Henry Lewiston used the canteen for its dojo after the unit had become redundant. It was fun; they had part of the floor in the canteen covered with old mattresses and a large canvass sheet.
I also played soccer with the Berkeley East Soccer club which was based at the hostel and we did all our training there at the hostels soccer pitch.

[Phyl]

THe hostel offices were at the bottom of the hill , Len and I think the canteen was way off to the left.
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

[Len]

I remember this particular building (canteen?) it was at the bottom of the hill, well not quite at the bottom just a little way up and there were a building a Jason too it. ( a Jason? )

I have a supper 8mm film, showing a mate of my parent pulling up in his car out side the building opposite the canteen. His name is John Moxham. We knew the Moxham�s through out our whole stayed in the Au, as they were good friends of us all. The last time I heared John Jnr �who is about the same age as me� boiled down to being a beach bum� surfy�.
So John, if you ever read this post then bob-in and say hello.

Anyway back to topic. I�m in the process of transferring super 8 mm film into dvd and if I�m successful then I will put a few videos clips on here.

[Phyl]

Hi Len ,
The video clips sound great. I will look forward to maybe viewing it if you are successful
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Kind regards,
Phyl

[rasherriff]

My grandmother related a tale about there being a TV BBC 'interest' programme about the hostels shown in England just after Christmas 1964 and she recognised my brother and I sitting waiting for the evening meal...still skinny and little...but she thought we looked like we were starving and got real upset and wrote my mum and dad about it!!! We survived

[maljen]

The canteen was half way down the Hostel if you went left of it the was the Hostel shop and to the right a road and then the tv room I was about 16 and used to be part of the tv club and would man the door and take 6 pence from anyone who wanted to watch tv in the evening .