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Phyl · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 4:17 am Post subject: Dundas Hostel Memories

Hi Len,
Here is a lovely wee story with sadness in it too .
One of the staff at Dundas Hostel went out shooting and sadly shot a kangaroo with a Joey in her pouch.(I Don't agree with shooting things) cry

Anyway he took the joey home for his children to bring up, but they lost interest,so he asked me to do it.
Well I had this lovely joey for 14 months and called her 'Perdita' meaning 'lost one'. Tony made me a pouch for her and we bought an electric pad as you must keep them very warm. Everywhere we went Perdita came wih us.People looked as you can imagine.Someone had to stay in the car with her. and she visited our friends with us too.She had to be fed with a bottle and the bottles had to be sterilized all the time.
As she got older ,I dried paspalam and carrots in the oven and she had those too.
She grew so beautiful and we loved her. She thought I was her mother and would crop grass round the house and bound around it.If she got a fright she would hop back to me and once tried to get into the pouch I didn't have and this winded me, trust me. Smile

However as she grew bigger it was time to wean her away from me to Koala Park,as it was against the law to keep kangaroos in captivity.So we took her to Koala Park for the day,(they said it had to be done slowly) to begin the the process. Sad

Unfortunately she picked up a bug there,a wallaroo died that day, and though we took her to the Koala Park vet, nothing worked and she died .
I was devastated. cry

Koala Park rang wanting me to bring up another joey but I said no..
Maybe if I had been able to keep Perdita she would have been ok. The vet said ,because she hadn't been with kangaroos she hadn't built up any immunity to their bugs. She had been too sheltered. cry

She was a great grey.
Sending a photo of her.

_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

Len · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:15 pm Post subject:

That is sad and good onya Phyl for having made the effort, one can only but try.
Trouble is with situations like this and as with any pet really you don�t half get emotionally involved. cry

I�m sure everyone involved at the Koala Park did their best.

Koala Park's Homepage.

Phyl · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject:

Hi Len ,
Thanks for putting Perdita's photo on the forum. She was so lovely.She actually died at home with us as she had only spent the day at Koala Park and became ill the next day cry

.She was so lovely and so well till that time.
But as they say those are the breaks. Tony took me out to a breeder and bought me a miniature poodle and she went on to produce an Australian Champion.I was proud of her and her son who we had kept.But I will never forget Perdita and the pleasure she gave us.And thankyou for the Koala Park site.Nice to know it has suvived all these years Smile

_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

Phyl · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject:

My goodness Len, it sure costs heaps to get in now and they have more animals /birds there now too. We used to go there heaps in the early sixties when the kids were young. They loved it We fed the emus and "roos" and were those emus cheeky. Laughing

Further to Perdita, she died very quickly with that bug within 24 hours. cry

.
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

LYNN · New Member Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 2 Location: dundas

Hello Phil,
My name is Lynn and I was at Dundas Hostel from 1955-1957.
I have loads of pictures from this time if anyone is interested.

GinaKate · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:17 pm Post subject:

Yes thanks Lynn, I'm interested in your photos, I was at Dundas ten years later and we have no photos at all.

Phyl · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 2:05 am Post subject:

Hi Lynn ,
I would love to see your photos too. Welcome and would love you to share memories too.
_________________
Kind regards,
Phyl

Margaret B · New Member Joined: 14 Apr 2010 Posts: 5

Sonia · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:36 am Post subject:

Hi, I lived on Dundas Hostel from 1961-1963. The manager at that time was Mr Jiers (not sure of the spelling). He had a bulldog called Happy who went everywhere with him. Would love to hear from anyone who lived there at that time and to see any photos of the hostel Smile

GinaKate · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:31 am Post subject:

He did too. I'd forgotten about that bulldog. We were there in 1965, and so was the dog and his master.

GinaKate · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:06 am Post subject:

Somehow I missed Margaret B's post, I remember those bus rides, we were all crammed in three to a seat and no breathing space for the twenty plus squashed in standing passengers, you had to yell out for your stop because you couldn't raise your arm to pull the cord. And then half the bus had to pile out, complainingly, just so that you could get off.
Nothing about a slippery log springs to mind, but, we used to cut through the back end of the hostel as a short cut to the railway station, there was a pipe over a bit of a drain easement for a while, but then the council put a cement platform over it for an easier access. I think the council were considering the surrounding house occupants who were rate payers rather than for hostel use, but we used it more than they did.

Sonia · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:40 am Post subject:

I went to Oatlands Primary and Cumberland High. I remember the log (got a tick from it) and I went to Cumberland by train so I remember the pipe over the creek very well. My parents bought the house directly between the station and Kissing Point Rd. I travelled between the house and hostel many times. I did roller skating in the Rec hall and went on to Aust championships. Many children who were on the hostel around 1960's will remember roller skating in the rec hall. One of my fondest memories are of the Government providing play leaders who came to the hostel and took us out on summer holidays. We went to Nielson Park, Bobbin Head, King School Parramatta (opposite the public pool), we got to use their pool and all their sports equipment), the zoo etc. The hostel (as always) provided all our food. I think our parents and us got a great start in Australia. However, it was hard to come to terms with this very strange country Smile

Sonia · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:44 am Post subject:

Ginakate, Happy was the most miserable looking dog you could ever hope to see - yet he lived up to his name of Happy. His master/mistress were obviously very good to him Smile

GinaKate · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:29 pm Post subject:

There was a house on the corner of Rippon Avenue and Kissing Point Road which was owned by someone from the hostel, the Poole family rented it for a while, and then the Ellis family. Was that your house?

Sonia · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:07 am Post subject:

That wasn't our house. We lived directly in front of the station next to the little lane. I don't know who owned that house but I did know Geoff Poole. Don't think he lived there while I was there.