Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

aussietrekker · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:15 am Post subject:

Haven't forgotten y'all, I've just been preoccupied for a week and haven't posted.

It was great to read all your news.
The coconut chocolate you described is CHERRY RIPE, they're still going strong, I had one the other day. Even the wrapper hasn't changed that much. Haven't thought about the biscuit tins for ages- Dad used to bring a tin home from work now and then. Do you remember getting ice-cream in a tin- MR.FROZO.
You described us well- I did have dark brown hair, Martin had light brown hair and Colette had the most beautiful long blonde hair. We're all grey and dyed these days! On a visit back to Ireland, I went to our old house. The people who bought it wrote to my Mum right up until she died, and I continue to keep in touch. They drove us to the boat in Belfast the night we left, as we had sold our car. Before leaving, they took our photos- our last night in Ireland. Imagine how stoked I was a couple of years ago when they gave me some copies. Poor Mum looked miserable. She never really adapted here, but never went back either. Mainly because she was petrified of having to go on another plane, and she hated ships as well. She always told people that if a bridge was built between here and Bangor she would walk it. Laughing

The other reason is that Ulster went to war soon after, and it wasn't safe. It was very difficult for Mum knowing that some of her family was in trouble and she couldn't do a thing. She used to worry constantly, especially if there was a long gap between letters. A hard time for us all.
All our units had the same layout, and almost everything was brown. And they all had bunks. I remember when your Mum got a job, and Kay missing her so much.
The house we built was right near Altona High School. We moved from the hostel a month before Christmas, so I finished grade 6 for all of three weeks at St. Mary's in Altona, then started high school at St. Joseph's which was brand new and it was very exciting. We'd gone to St. Mary's in Williamstown, and what I didn't know was there was a little boy in Prep named Bruce, who I married in 1986. I still call him my toy boy!
Williamstown library is still exactly the same, but Coles has long gone. All the Coles have gone, they only have Coles supermarkets now. I used to love going to their cafe in the Footscray store, with the little drink fountains for 5 cents. The oil tanks are stiil the same, and I'm told they still stink to high heaven- I lost my sense of smell a while back so don't notice when I drive past. Dad worked there for 22 years till he retired. They used to have the most awesome Christmas parties, with miniature train rides out the front.
Remember the Rifle Range? It is now a very swish housing estate. In fact, the whole of Williamstown is very expensive nowadays, and Altona is not far behind. Our Martin saw a house a few weeks ago in our old street going for $400,000 and it was nothing special. And that's the lower end of the market now for Altona.
I didn't know you had Simonds relatives there, but without fail, I have thought of your family over the years every time I saw one of their houses being built, as I knew it was spelt the same way, and wondered what ever became of you all. Nowadays I see what a huge construction company it has become, (it's everywhere) and am proud that it had its origins in Altona.
Geelong's Eastern beach is still as beautiful, in fact the recent upgrade and landscaping is as good as anything I've seen around the world. They planted loads of palm trees a few years back, it looks like Nice in the south of France. There are loads of expensive apartments being built across the road...I dread that it will become like Surfer's Paradise one day.

stormfour · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:28 am Post subject:

I wish I had your memory, Confused

I am still trying to figure out how to get these photos posted as I anly have them in an email,I sent it to Len but he said that it was really hard to do that way..but I am still trying

aussietrekker · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:36 am Post subject:

Bring them along when we go out for lunch, and I'll muster up some of mine. Cool

stormfour · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:14 am Post subject:

yer on

stormfour · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:22 pm Post subject:

Went out to the Technopark yesterday and yes the tanks are all still there and look exactly the same!!! even the road inside is exactly the same and the lone Palm tree at the back of the hostel just over the creek is still there.Even though all the little huts we lived in are gone the layout is still the same,so you can still see them in your minds eye,there is a fence at the back now near the creek and a Bike/walking path which goes all the way around and you can walk forever and you can still see the beach at the back,nothing has been built there as it is all still wet lands and a haven for snakes in the summer,I cant believe we used to play over there,it was so dangerous,and the hostel itself with all those pipes going under it from the refineries,just a time bomb really.
Mobiltown station has gone,but the site is still there,and the land directly surrounding it is the same.although there are buildings on both sides of the road now from the hostel right the way up to where the station was.Both Judith and I took photos so they will be posted in due course.

aussietrekker · Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 10:54 pm Post subject:

Couldn't have put it better myself- a very accurate description.
We had the most awesome day. Carol and Linda were lovely, although we'd never met it was like we'd known each other all our lives. Odd how a shanty town of 45 years ago still binds us together. We worked out that our families were there simultaneously for only three or four months. Linda being a bit older at the time, could give an account from a teenager's point of view, and that put an additional slant on things as we wandered along reminiscing. We drove a few laps, then parked and walked around, and between the three of us we could recollect where every building had been, even though they have all been replaced ( and many are now quite run-down and dodgy themselves). The only survivor from our era is the recreation hall- still the long Nissen hut but enclosed by a high fence which contains old cars.
We imagined the shop, the playgrounds, the football field, the canteen and youth club, the storage building where ship's trunks were stored, the linen room, and the amenities blocks. Linda and Carol fondly remembered the ironing room, where the teenagers used to gather every night (and according to my Mum at the time, the "coortin' couples!") We also marvelled at the "new" units built in 1969 and remarked that if WE'D had such luxury, we'd never have left. We stood for ages watching the creek flow by, rejoicing that the lone palm tree was still there, but mourning the remains of the grandstand.
We went to the Rifle Club Hotel for lunch, it's still the same but it now has poker machines. We looked at my photo album and had many laughs. We went for a drive around Williamstown then down to Altona where Carol had gone to school at Seaholme. All that remains is the shelter shed, a brand new school was built recently. The uniform is still maroon and yellow.
We laid plans for our reunion next year, and the whole meeting and nostalgia trip couldn't have gone better.

sagittarius · Active Member Joined: 08 Aug 2009 Posts: 13 Location: UK

Sounds like you had such a lovely day, I would have loved to have been there and look forward to seeing any photos.

I remember that the station was called Mobiltown now, but I had it in my head it was called Spotwood(?) is that another station.

I don't recall coming across any snakes (and I'm sure I would remember!), I do remember some very large crickets (I think that's what they were) they flew too, and I was so terrified of them.

I think one of the pictures we have is in front of a palm tree and it may well be the one that is still there. I do love visiting this site regularly and reading what everyone has to say. I don't remember having to wear uniform at Seaholme School. I do remember having to march to music from the playground to class though! Altona High was bottle green and brown I think. A bit dull if I remember, with a green hat, which I hated!

aussietrekker · Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject:

Oh yes, marching into school like we were the army! All the schools did that, it was a bit weird. School uniforms weren't compulsory back then except in private schools. And it didn't make sense for a transient migrant family to go to the unecessary expense of a school uniform if they were going to be moving elsewhere. Only a handful of hostel kids wore primary school uniforms, and that would be for Seaholme or St. Mary's. At St. Mary's, everyone wore a uniform except the hostel kids and other new arrivals. Colette and I always just wore normal clothes, for some reason our Martin had a uniform, he'd probably grown out of his jumper and it doubled up for other occasions like church on Sunday and weekend outings. My folks were very thrifty and cautious with their spending. It's a long time since I've seen anyone wear a hat at Altona High, though the uniform didn't change at all until very recent times.
The crickets were cute, but you don't see so many nowadays. They used to be everywhere. Spotswood station was two stations further along from Mobiltown. Mobiltown closed down a while back. It was interesting to watch all the migrants over the years who got on and off. When I went up to trade school, early 70's, there were a few French people for a while. Then the hostel closed, and reopened about 1978 for the Vietnamese. I was in a church youth group at the time, and some of us used to go up to the hostel for a few hours on a Friday night to teach them English. I went up a couple of times, and had a good stickybeak at the many familiar buildings that were still there among the new units.
I think there was only ever one palm tree. The region was earmarked for horseracing as early as 1865- it even had its own railway line extension . The "new" grandstand was built around 1887, there's a beautiful line drawing in a book I have on the history of Altona. The Melbourne Cup was held there for a long time before Flemington, and it's hard to believe 20,000 early settlers flocking to the grandstand by a train that no longer exists. The grandstand became the army canteen in WW2, and was destroyed by a fire in 1946.
I'm not at all surprised that it's haunted.

Olwen · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:35 am Post subject:

Hi does anyone remember Noel Fitzgerald and the Westheads?
I think the Westhead moved to Laverton.

Olwen

stribe · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 3:36 am Post subject: Carol Reginio

Carol still lives in Altona and is best frliends with still Rhona Heaney, Rhona never married so she still uses her maiden name and always calls carol by the name Reginio, I will ask her (my sister)if she ever got married.
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If its to be its up to me

aussietrekker · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:04 am Post subject:

I remember some Fitzgeralds, they had one son, very quiet he was, had black hair and always wore a Collingwood jumper. (very good taste).

stribe · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:41 am Post subject: fitzgeralds

I agree very good taste (Collingwood) if I still lived in Melbourne I would be barracking for Collingwood, come on the Pies
_________________
If its to be its up to me

aussietrekker · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:59 am Post subject:

They are going to win.
And if Geelong wins, I'm going to make another fortune painting more Go Cats signs on shop windows. So "half a dozen each way'' for Judith. Cool

caroline · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:12 am Post subject:

Hi Olwen, caroline mckeeman here, the westheads lived around the corner from mum in Laverton, the parents Joe and Frances moved to Altona, I;m not sure where Joanna and Janet ,are but their younger sister Elizabeth still lives in the house in Laverton, so we are going to get in touch with her to pass the word on to her family, about the reunion and ask them to get on the website.love caroline

Olwen · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:51 am Post subject:

Hello Caroline, how great this site is, I often think of the time spent on the hostel and wonder where and what has happened to the fold we were friendly with.
I have a photo of when we were working at the Royal Childrens Hospital. Your mum, Doreen Griffin Olive Myers, myself and two others whose name excapes me.
I remember one day when, the four of us, Doren, Olive, myself and your mum was walking to Mobil Town Station in the pouring rain and this car pulled up to give us a lift, we got in and as your mum was getting in someone slammed the door shut and your mums thumb/finger was tapped.The pain must have been awful.
Rember us to them....Olwen