2 Walsh Street, Coburg is demolished - 1978

The Courier, 28 February 1978.

2 Walsh Street while demolition was in progress, The Courier, 28 February 1978. 

This once grand house was the home of Dr Carl Dyring, Coburg's Health Officer in the years leading up to World War One. You can read about him here. 

Dr Carl Dyring's Residence, 2 Walsh Street, Coburg, circa 1890. 

Image courtesy Coburg Historical Society.

Dr Carl Dyring and his wife Dagmar standing at the front door of their Walsh Street home. (Detail from the photo shown above.)

The Dyrings were a very interesting family. Carl's second wife Dagmar was a member of the Bendigo Cohn cordial and beer manufacturing family. She went to Egypt to work as a hospital matron in 1915, leaving her two children with her family in Bendigo. You can read her story here. 

Their daughter, Moya Dyring (1909-1967), was one of the first women cubist painters to exhibit in Melbourne. She married fellow artist Sam Atyeo (born in Coburg), whose parents are buried at Coburg Cemetery with his uncle, Laurence Cohen, monumental mason and trade unionist. 

Carl Dyring was invalided home from the war in December 1916. He sold his practice (run from Walsh Street) to Dr R.A.R. Wallace, who also took over his role as Coburg Health Officer. (Wallace had taken Dyring's place during his absence in 1915.) Dyring then retired to Brighton. 

Dr Wallace called the house 'Kilcorran'. 

Sources: 

Fighting the Kaiser blog.

Brunswick and Coburg Leader, 15 Oct 1915.

The Courier, 28 February 1978.

Coburg Historical Society picture collection (Accessed via Picture Victoria).

The new suburb of Merlynston - 1922

Advertising in 'The Inception of a New City', 1922, published when Coburg reached City status.

You can read more on Donald Stuart Bain and the early development of Merlynston here.

Donald Stuart Bain, the founder of Merlynston, c1935. Courtesy Coburg Historical Society.

The old army hut at Coburg North Primary School in 1975

Coburg Courier, 21 October 1975.

The caption that goes with this photograph in the local newspaper caught my attention. I was intrigued by the reference to the old army barracks and no one seemed to be able to tell me much about it. 

It took me a long time, but I finally discovered how the army hut came to be on the site of 4543 Coburg North Primary School.

The answer was in the school's 1987 history, written to celebrate its first 50 years. And here's the answer:

So the army barracks was an army hut and it was moved from Ballarat in August 1947 when the school was 10 years old. By the time they'd found someone to convert the building into three classrooms it was March 1949. A considerable delay!

It wasn't an ideal learning space:

And here's a bit more about how that building was used in the 1960s when it was an art classroom and a library:

Maybe you can fill in a few more details. Perhaps you remember arts and crafts lessons in this area of the school or can describe what the library was like. 

Its location (and a plan of the school) in the 1950s (I think), still from the 1987 school history:

Part of the hut was also used for Mothers' Club meetings where the committee planned its fundraising activities, including the inevitable school fete. According to the Mothers' Club report in the 1987 school history, their room became a canteen on Mondays during winter where pies, pasties, sausage rolls and hot chocolate were sold.

Finally, in the second half of the 1970s, a few years after the Courier newspaper article was published, the army hut was removed:

Perhaps you attended Coburg North Primary School at some other time. Why not share your story of going to school at Coburg North?

And if you'd like to know more about the school today, check out its Facebook page and website.

An old home makes way for modern flats - The Grove, May 1961

Coburg Courier, 16 May 1961. 

The caption reads:

This graceful old home on the corner of The Grove and Barrow Sts., Coburg will soon make way for a block of modern flats. A number of applications to build flats have been received by the Coburg Council within recent months.

I've checked Google Maps and this is what I found - it's 46 The Grove.

So, what price modernity?!

Shamrock Street, Brunswick West

Barry York, who spent his childhood and youth in Brunswick, wonders whether anyone can help him with the following:

Factory next to 83a Shamrock Street, West Brunswick, possibly early 1980s. Photo courtesy Barry York.

The factory was sold at Christmas 1983 or 1985. Photo courtesy Barry York.

Anyone remember, or know anything about, this engineering factory in Shamrock Street, West Brunswick. It was sold in 1983 or maybe 1985, was demolished, and replaced with townhouses.

Cooper Street ran into the back of the factory. 

 It was number 83. My parents resided next to it - 83a Shamrock Street - for many years.

I'm fairly sure it was a working factory from the 1950s, maybe earlier, to the early 1980s.

You can read more about Barry's memories of living in Brunswick on his Facebook page.

Salisbury Avenue, Coburg is modernised - 1960s style

A while ago I was looking through old copies of the Coburg Courier on microfilm at the State Library and happened on a number of articles about changes taking place in Coburg - old houses being demolished to make way for shops and brick pavements making way for asphalt.

This photo and article give a glimpse of what the pavements were like before the bricks were removed and the street was modernised.  (Apologies for the quality. I took photos of the articles - which were on microfilm.)

Coburg Courier, 4 July 1961 

As you can see, the reporter suggests that brick pavements were built throughout the suburb between 1917 and 1933 and that in this period about five and a quarter million bricks were used. 

I'm assuming they're all gone now, but if you're reading this and you know of a brick pavement in the Coburg area, please let me know.

Oh yes, those of you who remember the shopping ritual of the day will not be surprised to see that our Salisbury Avenue housewife is wearing a hat. My mother always left home wearing a hat, with gloves on her hands and her handbag over her arm. My father always wore his hat when he went out and raised it in greeting to those he knew as we walked along Sydney Road. He'd also walk on the outside, closest to the cars, because 'the gentleman always walked on the outside to protect the lady he was with'. He'd also stop, take off his hat and hold it over his heart when a funeral went past. I'm guessing many of you have similar memories! 

Barry Cable at the Pascoe Vale Pool

I've now found another image taken at Pascoe Vale Pool, this time taken on 22 January 1974 and published in the Coburg Courier. 

It combines two great Aussie loves - summertime swimming and wintertime footy.  

Sorry. I cut off the final paragraph. It says that 'during the winter months he will join Coburg Council's surveying department.' 

Cable, a West Australian, and considered one of the greatest rovers ever, had already played one season for North and was about to play three more seasons, including the Premiership seasons of 1975 and 1977. He later returned in the early 80s to coach the team. Even I, who know next to nothing about footy, know about Barry Cable, probably because most of my family are mad, keen North Melbourne supporters. 

There's another great photo of Cable at the Paco Pool in this Sydney Morning Herald article from 13 June 2016 when he was named the 24th Legend in the game's history at the Hall of Fame Induction Dinner held in Melbourne. 

There's a fantastic gallery of photos, including photo 19 at the Pascoe Vale Pool. Photo 5 shows him on a training run in Coburg with his sons. I wonder whether anyone recognises the location?

I would love to hear your memories of Barry Cable at the Pascoe Vale Pool.