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Holmesglen Hostel
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tohara
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Location: Hampton Park, Vic. Australia

PostPosted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:34 am    Post subject: Holmesglen Hostel Reply with quote

I remember arriving in Feb 1966 and not having too much trouble understanding the Australian currency, because everyone else was just as lost, with Aus having introduced decimal currency the week before.

Also, I brought a copy of the Beatles Rubber Soul LP, sure help to talk to others and it also helped that I had my hair in a Beatle style. Oh they were the days.

Mind you, the food was unbelievable... I stuck to a diet of Baked Beans and soggy chips for the the whole time we were there. Moldy bread was relatively common, don't know where they got it from, they didn't have date stamps in those days.
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Tony O'Hara
Holmesglen Hostel Feb 1966-early 1967 (can't remember exactly)
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tohara
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember paying $10.50 rent to the Hostel when I reached 18 and earning $16 per week. We kids learnt how to fiddle the phone box on Power Ave, so phone calls were easy.

And Thick Shakes at the Milk Bar on the north side of the railway line on Warrigul Road. The other shop just couldn't make them as good. Milk Shakes nowadays are not even like the ones we had. Pies were 11 cents and we were sure the Chinese shop up at Ashwood really had cats in the fridge, because every told us, it must be true....

Then of course a classic. My elder brother and eldest sister and I (I was number two) were invited to a Church Youth Club in Ashwood, "Bring a Plate" they said, so we did. After the embarrassment, we all had a laugh, over the empty plates. I haven't done that since.

I suppose I should mention spending every night at Chadstone Bowl and occasionally when in a group getting a bottle of beer each at Oakliegh and drinking it on the way to Chaddy.

Oh, the memories are all coming back
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Tony O'Hara
Holmesglen Hostel Feb 1966-early 1967 (can't remember exactly)
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Len
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Location: Great Harwood, Blackburn. UK

PostPosted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tohara wrote:

Then of course a classic. My elder brother and eldest sister and I (I was number two) were invited to a Church Youth Club in Ashwood, "Bring a Plate" they said, so we did. After the embarrassment, we all had a laugh, over the empty plates. I haven't done that since.

............................................ lolo

We used to do that aswell. Think everyone called it, BYO.(Bring your own). Everyone would fetch something on a plate and place it on a table, then everyone would share and tuck-in. it was good and cost effective.

Smile
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tohara
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi len
Not sure if you realise that we actually took empty plates, because we didn't understand the usual meaning for bring a plate
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Tony O'Hara
Holmesglen Hostel Feb 1966-early 1967 (can't remember exactly)
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tohara
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Len
Not sure where abouts on you live on "mother earth" as you put it, but
"Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:29 am"!!!
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Tony O'Hara
Holmesglen Hostel Feb 1966-early 1967 (can't remember exactly)
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tohara
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:40 am    Post subject: No Holmesglen Photo's Reply with quote

I asked my Mum and Dad if they had photo's of the Holmesglen Hostel, strangely enough they didn't. I wonder why? maybe they didn't think it was a part of their life to remember.
We arrived in Feb 1966. I found a Government paper recently that said in Sept 1966 that that Holmesglen and Brooklyn in Vic and Bunnerong and Bradfield Park in NSW should be replaced. It also said that Holmesglen and Brooklyn can only provide a minimum standard of accommodation and amenity and should cease to be used as soon as possible. Maybe that explains the lack of photo's
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Holmesglen Hostel Feb 1966-early 1967 (can't remember exactly)
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wallybrit
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PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 10:10 am    Post subject: Holmesglen memories Reply with quote

I arrived with my family in Feb. 1967. We lived in three different huts, because we wanted more rooms. I remember the phone box trick. I think it was passed on to each new lot of arrivals. I also remember the milk bar on Warrigul Rd. They made great ice-cream sundaes. ( I think the were called ice-cream spiders) Most of the grown-ups on the hostel worked either in the canteen or at the Streets Ice-cream factory. My family went back to the U.K. in 1969. I stayed here. Like a lot of British migrants on Holmesglen, they made their minds up within 6 months. But they are all back here now. Rolling Eyes
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Olwen Olwen has been starred
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does anyone remember a family named Spittle. I am not sure just when they arrived at Holmsglen. We visted them when they arrived, but over the years have lost touch with them.


Olwen Gillet (ex Altona Hostel 1963-65)
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tohara
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Olwen
The name Spittle rings a bell, but I don't really remember them.
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Tony O'Hara
Holmesglen Hostel Feb 1966-early 1967 (can't remember exactly)
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kate fletcher
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I lived at Holmesglen Hostel from 1958 - 1962. My parents hated the lack of privacy, but I was a child and accepted everything as normal life.
I remember the awful food in the canteen, and the stale bread rolls in the "crib bags" we were given to take to school for lunch. You ordered the filling the day before, and my mother would never let me choose chocolate spread. I was terrified of dropping a plate or cup in the canteen, because then the other kids would all cheer when it smashed on the ground. There was an urn full of a horrible pink milk drink, warmish in summer, hot in winter. It put me off milk for life. The canteen was steamy, even on the hottest days, and always seemed to smell of fish kedgeree.
In the shower block nearest the kindergarten, the first toilet was known to us kids as the "haunted toilet" but I was too frightened of ghosts to ask why. I just never used it.
There was a children's prty in the Rec at Christmas, and we all got a present. One year it was rollerskates, and the other kids seemed able to speed around on theirs within minutes, but I never managed to use mine without falling over.
We had film shows in the Rec as well. I recall The Iron Horse starring, I think, Alan Ladd. There were Norman Wisdom comedies, and Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Often the film broke down in the middle, and we'd all be given our money back, which seemed a pretty good deal to me: half a film for nothing.
I remeber the creek flooding one year, and the water almost reaching the back row of huts, The scrubland on the other side of the creek caught fire a few times during the years I was there, and the smell of smoke got into everything for days.
My parents worked at Sennett's ice cream factory, behind the canteen. It later becaame Street's factory. Every so often, a revoting smell of amonia would drift from the place and settle over the canteen. You could even taste it in the food, not good to start with.
We lived in hut 44 to start with, then were moved to hut 32, and finally hut 34, the last two in the row opposite the canteen and Rec. Probably too long ago for anyone to remember us now.[/i]
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dvsineke
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:16 am    Post subject: Memories Reply with quote

[quote="kate fletcher"].....The canteen was steamy, even on the hottest days, and always seemed to smell of fish kedgeree.
.....There was a children's prty in the Rec at Christmas, and we all got a present. We had film shows in the Rec as well.
...... The scrubland on the other side of the creek caught fire a few times during the years I was there, and the smell of smoke got into everything for days.
My parents worked at Sennett's ice cream factory, behind the canteen. It later becaame Street's factory. [quote]

Kate you must have been older than me when you were there cause your memory of things is so much sharper. I do remember the smell of the canteen but my memory is of onion gravy smells. Pretty ordinary food. I also remember the Christmas parties and birthday celebrations. We were there from late 57 to very early 60. I have quite a few pictures of the hostel and will attempt to post some. My mother also worked at Sennets Ice Cream. Our family name was Kors and my parents were there with 4 kids in half a Nissan hut. Pretty squishy.
I attended St Mary Magdalen Catholic School which was walking distance from the Hostel. I was almost 5 when we arrived and 7 when we left.
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dvsineke
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:18 am    Post subject: Re: No Holmesglen Photo's Reply with quote

tohara wrote:
I asked my Mum and Dad if they had photo's of the Holmesglen Hostel, strangely enough they didn't. I wonder why? maybe they didn't think it was a part of their life to remember.


I have photos and will try and post some.
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kate fletcher
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Dvsineke

I was 8 when we arrived at Holmesglen and 12 when we left. I can't place your family name, but we went to the same school, so our paths probably crossed occasionally although an age gap of 3 years is huge as a kid.

I was an only child, so had a whole room all to myself, and was the envy of kids from large families.

At school, I was terrified of the headmistress, Mother Conleth, who used to pass on second-hand clothing to us hostel children because she assumed we were all from poverty-stricken backgrounds. A generous act, no doubt, but we regarded the charity cast-offs as totally shaming, and lived in terror in case any of the Australian kids recognized their former clothes being handed to us. Mrs Devlin was my favourite teacger. She taught me in Grade III, and then took over Grade V, so I was lucky enough to be taught by her for a second year.

It seems unlikely but, according to my memory, an air-raid siren (of all things) followed by a Sousa march (Stars and Stripes Forever) were played through a loudspeaker to summon us from playground to assembly in the quadrangle. Sounds impossible in an Australian school, but my memory insists that's what happened.
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aussietrekker aussietrekker has been starred
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It certainly did, and I'll be mentioning it in the next leg of my memoirs. Very weird!
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kate fletcher
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I look forward to the next episode.

I'm really enjoying your memoirs. You have amazing recall.
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