Season's Greetings!

Thanks to Kylie McKay of Romsey for providing this card.

Fan is Fanny McKay of Hill Croft Dairy, Newlands. The Hugh she refers to is Hugh Hilliar and Will Geddes is his nephew. They, with Will's cousin William McKay, died in a boating accident at Tarwin in July 1917, just before the cousins were due to leave for WW1. You can read about it here. 

A very Coburg Christmas - 30 years ago

Thanks to Fred Asciak of Pascoe Vale for these photos. In the 1980s Fred was responsible for decorating the Coburg Town Hall at Christmas time. For him, it was a labour of love.

These photos were taken in 1988:

Fred worked for the Council at the Harding Street Depot, just a short walk from the Town Hall. He loved his work and he loved doing the decorations which he started preparing in the early 1980s.

The following photos, taken in the late 1980s, show you just how popular the Christmas Concerts for Senior Citizens were and how many people attended.

Around 1989, Murray Gavin wanted to get back to the message of Christmas and asked for a religious theme. Fred obliged.

A Coburg Christmas - 70 years ago

Recently I came across this photo taken in Sydney Road, Coburg in the lead up to Christmas 1948. 

Image courtesy Coburg Historical Society.

It seems hard to believe that the old house was still standing in 1948 - and was being used as a shop. 

It was on the west side of the street (that is, on the same side as Coles and Walkers) and was just south of Walkers Store, which was located at 471-475 Sydney Road. 

If you look carefully you can just make out the name Walkers painted on the side of the building on the right of this image, so I think the house must be 469 Sydney Road, which Sands and McDougall Street Directories say was occupied in 1942 by Miss B.C. Murphy.

And check out the vehicles lined up out the front. You can see the front wheel of a motor bike, a push bike, a billy cart, another push bike and a car. Not something you'd expect these days - at least the billy cart isn't.

By the looks of the rack outside the shop, it sold general goods, but that's just a guess. 

There is also a Giant Christmas stocking raffle being conducted by the Pascoe Vale Auxiliary for the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. I can't quite make out the ticket price and can't see any indication of what the prizes were, but in November 1948, Graeme Bell's Jazz Band played at a fundraiser at the Coburg Town Hall, so it was an all-out effort to raise money for the Repat.

Age, 18 November 1948

St Augustine's, Moreland

I found this among some family papers a little while ago. I'm not sure why it was there because we didn't move to Coburg until January 1962 when my family was based at the Coburg Methodist Church. 

In 1949, my family was living in Yanac, just on the edge of the Big Desert in the Wimmera and I hadn't been born yet. Here they are, enjoying a picnic and yes, they're picnicking in the Big Desert. We'd picnic anywhere!


Hope the St Augustine's Gym had a good audience that night. Don't suppose anyone reading this has a connection to St Augustine's and has memories they'd like to share?

1918 - a different life

The National Archives of Australia has just launched an online exhibition on how Australians faced life after the war.

It's well worth a visit and you can see it here.

If you are in the area and are interested, I am speaking at Coburg Library next Monday (12 November) at 5pm. Find out more here. 

'The crowd in front of the Age office yesterday afternoon', Age, 13 November 1918

Coburg RSL turns 100

Congratulations, Coburg RSL, on reaching your centenary!

Find out how you can be part of the celebrations on 1 December - and book your ticket to the event - here.

Canoe 'tree' at Gandolfo Gardens

Recently I was came across this article in The Courier, dated 1 September 1982.

I vaguely remembered hearing about this memorial to what was believed to have been an Aboriginal canoe tree. After it was cut down in the 1960s, the trunk was cast in cement and it's still there, in the Gandolfo Gardens in the Moreland Station Precinct. Interestingly, there is no reference to the 'tree' in the Victorian Heritage Database Report.

I took these photos on 1 October 2018. I'm not sure when the plaque was put in place, but at least it's still there - for now!

And just in case you're interested in how the Gardens got their name, here's an article on Salvatore (Sam) Gandolfo, Mayor of Coburg in 1968-69. A Sicilian from Vizzini, he was the first Coburg Mayor to be born outside Australia.