Sixty-nine years in East Bentleigh

At the end of June 2024 the Moses family ties with 37 Edinburgh Street, East Bentleigh ended.

My family moved to their new home in May 1955, one of many houses being built on  former market garden land. The house was scheduled for completion at the end of 1954 so at the end of the school year I had said goodbye to classmates at Reservoir State School. However, as the completion of the house was delayed, I was back at the school for the first term (there were three terms a year in those days) and didn't start at Coatesville State School in East Bentleigh until the commencement of term 2.

Our house was the third house built in Edinburgh Street. There was a timber house on the corner of Edinburgh Street and Tambet Street plus the large farm house on the Mackie Road corner. However a number of other houses were being built in the street when we moved into our new home.

As a seven year old, moving house was a great adventure especially when the house was situated in an area that only a short time before had been market gardens. As new houses were built there were plenty of places to explore when the workmen had gone home. How good of them to create structures that we could climb on or hide in and create imaginary worlds. Once a building was at the stage where it could be locked at night we moved to another one being constructed near by.

Two streets away was Coatesville State School (primary school) which I attended for almost five years. St Christopher's Church of England (Anglican church) was a short walk away in Mackie Road. Also in Mackie Road, three streets away in the other direction, were the Mackie Road shops. In the 1950s some of the shops included the milk bar, the grocers, green grocers, haberdashery shop and newsagent. A petrol station was on the corner near the shops. A branch of the State Savings Bank of Victoria was also in this shopping strip. The doctor's surgery was across the road from the shops. Land bordering Mackie Road, opposite the top of  Edinburgh Street became the cricket ground and also housed the bowls club. My sister was four when we moved too East Bentleigh and she attended the kindergarten in a church hall in Mackie Road, near North Road.

The Oakleigh - Middle Brighton bus service ran along Mackie Road. This provided easy access to Oakleigh Station one way or to Bentleigh Station in the other direction. Bentleigh Shopping Centre was the main shopping centre at the time though there was also a smaller shopping centre at East Bentleigh. When I went to secondary school I used to travel on the bus each day to Brighton and when I studied at RMIT I would travel by bus and train to the city.

Edinburgh Street was a good choice for a family to move to as most of what we needed was close by. Before long there were many other families with young children in the street. The children attended Coatesville State School or St Peter's school in Centre Road. After school and during the holidays the children all played together. One family purchased a television set shortly after television first came to Melbourne and some of us used to watch the Mickey Mouse Club after school before going outside to play. Occasionally, some of the adults met on a Friday evening to watch Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight at the neighbour's home.

The houses in our section of Edinburgh Street (it is a long street) soon became a community with neighbours helping other families when needed. I remember spending a couple of days with other families on occasions when my mother was not well and when my brother was born. When I made my wedding dress our next door neighbour helped with the fittings and provided friendly advice.

Many of the women attended Mothers' Club meetings at the school and when the annual fete was held kitchens would be devoted to providing cakes, biscuits and toffees for the fete. This procedure would be repeated when the church held its fete.

In the 1950s fireworks were legal and Guy Fawkes Day and Empire Day (Commonwealth Day) were celebrated with displays of fireworks including Catherine wheels in the fence and sparklers as well as bungers and other fireworks, including one or two designed to explode in the sky high above our heads as we celebrated around a small bonfire in the back garden. My father and another neighbour were the main organisers of such activities.

In our early years living in Edinburgh Street, in October or November it was not unusual for part of the street to flood providing another excuse for community involvement, particularly among the younger members who considered this another form of entertainment.

In the late 1960s a bungalow took up residence in our back garden. My father was a journalist and needed extra space for his writing when he was working at home. I came to know part of the bungalow well as, when I returned to Melbourne from Canberra in 1971, I was allowed to use part of the bungalow as a bedroom. As I worked full time and was completing a university degree part time I usually only needed my space at night. My main challenge was to keep my father's dog from using my bed as his bed when I wasn't home.

After I finally left home the bungalow disappeared and an extension was built at the back of the house.

As family members moved from home we still got together for special occasions, especially Christmas Day celebrations normally held at Edinburgh Street. A major feature of these occasions was the game of street cricket involving family members and the neighbours. More recently the cricket games were played in the back garden to accommodate younger family members.

On 23 June we had our last family get together in Edinburgh Street. In the afternoon I went for a walk with my grand-daughter showing her the back route I used to walk to school and also the church which recently closed and has since been sold. Plenty of memories. There was also the final family game of cricket in the back garden.

The house has been purchased by developers who have other plans for the land. Hopefully whatever is built will house other families who can enjoy living in Edinburgh Street and in East Bentleigh (now formally referred to by authorities as Bentleigh East).

More information: A patchwork of memories - based on an assignment for University of Tasmania Family History Diploma assignment.

The Court Is Short!

Recent reports about the main swimming pool used for the Olympic Games in Paris possibly being two shallow brought back memories of some of the articles that my father wrote in The Argus newspaper. Dad was known as a stirrer and if he thought something was wrong he brought it to the attention of the public, usually in his Why Keep It Quiet? column.

Each year, in the 1950s, we used to spend the summer holidays on my grandparents' farm in Queensland. In January 1956 the Australian Tennis Championships were held in Brisbane so Dad covered the tournament for The Argus. This was the first time that the tournament had been held at these courts and it had not all been plain sailing. I remember Dad, when he returned to the farm, telling the family about a problem that he has discovered with one of the tennis courts.

When I heard about the swimming pool in Paris I decided to investigate the tennis court story so I did a search in Trove.

On Friday 27 January two semi-finals had been played on a court which was two feet too short at one end. The players had noticed the discrepancy but did not make an official complaint. However when some journalists, including my father heard of it they decided to investigate. They were assured by the tournament committee that the groundsman had verified that the court measurements were correct. When the journalists decided to double check for themselves an official tried to prevent them until the Q L T A vice-president said to let them check the measurements.

Measuring the northern end of the court with a foot ruler showed the length to be correct - 21 feet. However the southern end measured 18 feet, eleven inches.

No more matches were to be played on the court so the matter was closed. Dad did comment that the Q L T A had worked hard to make the tournament a success and it was unfortunate that this mistake had occurred.

Almost three weeks later Dad was reporting on another sporting venue problem. In Sydney one of the pools hosting events for Australian Swimming Championships had a hole in a lane wall. This had been known for some time and reported but nothing had been done to rectify the problem at the Enfield Pool. 

When the women's championship races had been held at the pool the women refused to race in lane five to avoid encountering the hole when they made the turn at the end of the lane. The 800 yard race and 1650 yard race, plus the diving were the men's events scheduled to be held at the pool. The local council had been informed of the problem but so far nothing had been done to repair the hole.

 And this was nine or ten months before the Melbourne Olympic Games!

At the beginning of his report on the defective swimming pool Dad had commented - It won't be long before Australian sporting organisations start paying me good money to stop at home.

 ... and now the court is short - The Argus 28 January 1956

Sherlock Strikes Again - The Argus 16 February 1956 

Using Photobook for Writing Family Stories

August is Australian Family History Month so perhaps it is the opportunity to reflect on some of the projects that I have been working on.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns I concentrated on researching information about some of the members on my family tree. There was plenty of time to write family history stories but I was unable to focus enough to start, except for some posts on my Family Connections blog. 

As my mother was in a nursing home, and during the lockdowns we were unable to visit her, I started compiling a weekly newsletter providing information about family activities. Members of my family contributed sending me lots of photographs and stories for Great Nan. Each year I compiled a book containing some of the photos from the newsletters which we sent to Mum for her birthday. The books ended up becoming a compilation of life during COVID-19.

I compiled the books using the Photobook Australia website. This resource is easy to use and although primarily designed for books with mainly images, text in various quantities can be added. Three books were made for my mother. After my mother died my husband suggested that I should continue to create an annual compilation of family events.

Meanwhile I began to experiment using Photobook to produce books of family history stories for the family. These books are in a format that the grandchildren should be able to easily use when they want information about the family history. As well as purchasing a printed A4 40 page book (extra pages can be added), I receive an ebook which can be shared with family members. I also make a PDF for each book as a back-up copy.

So far I have produced 21 family history books using Photobook. Some of the books are about specific family members or families. Others are on general subjects such as convicts in the family, ships that brought family to Australia and family ties with India. I also wrote a book about my father's involvement in the Second World War and another on his work as a journalist during the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Since our children left school my husband and I have had a number of holidays exploring Australia, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. I am preparing books on these holidays too. During a cold Melbourne winter it good to remember holidays in warmer parts of Australia. 

My husband plays veterans cricket so over the years we have also been on cricket tours to many parts of Australia for over 60s then over 70s national cricket championships. There have also been trips to Tasmania and South Australia for annual games against teams from those states. Added to this there have been two tours to England in Australian over 60s and over 70s teams plus one social cricket trip to Hawaii. Consequently I have also prepared books about these adventures which are an important part of our life. Twenty-one of these books have been prepared so far, with more to come.

Photobook is a great way to write your family stories. Whether it is record of a special occasion or a review of the year’s activities, the account of a special holiday or the telling of part of your family history, producing a photobook is an easy way of preserving stories to share with your family.

Where do I come from?

Our grandson who is in grade six told us that he knew that he was Australian but what other countries can be found in his DNA.

Members of my family have been in Australia for more than two hundred years. On one side of the family my grandson's ancestry dates back to the First Fleet when two of his 6 x great grandparents (William Roberts and George Guest) arrived in Australia in January 1788. William married Kezia Brown while George married Mary Bateman who both arrived in Australia on ships in the Second Fleet. By 1808 twelve members of my family had arrived in Australia as convicts.

Most of these convicts came from different parts of England though two were transported from Ireland. Other members of the family arrived in Australia as free settlers between the 1830s and 1870s. These settlers came from England, Scotland and Ireland. My Ancestry DNA shows that most of my family roots are from England and Scotland with a small percentage from Ireland, Wales and Sweden & Denmark.

However my husband was born in England and his parents were born in Wales. His Ancestry DNA shows that most of his family roots are from Wales, England and Northwestern Europe plus Norway, Scotland Sweden and Denmark.

My grandson's mother's family also came from England and Ireland plus some from Scotland, Norway and Wales. One of his 3 x great grandparents on his mother's side of the family was born in England while the rest were born in Australia.

Chocolate in Sydney

The following advertisement appeared in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 24 April 1803. Simeon Lord was a Sydney merchant at this time.

Click image to enlarge

Robert Crawford wrote the book, More than a glass and a half: a history of Cadbury in Australia to commemorate one hundred years of chocolate at the Cadbury factory in Tasmania. In the first chapter he writes about the uptake of chocolate for drinking and eating throughout the world. On page 15 he wrote:

However, newspaper reports ... reveal that cocoa and chocolate were beginning to find their way into the colony. In 1803 the 'long-established Shop of Simeon Lord' was advertising tea, coffee, and chocolate as 'approved articles ... at the most reasonable and reduced prices'.

There are a number of theories about the arrival of chocolate in Europe, one being that the explorer, Hernan Cortez, brought cocoa beans and the chocolate drink-making tools to Europe in 1528. Drinking chocolate certainly came to Europe in the 1500s. It soon became a popular drink and hot chocolate remains a popular drink throughout the world today.