Sunday, January 2, 2011

Places I've Lived

Recently as I was wandering around inside GoogleMap I happened across an area in which I had once lived.  This got me thinking about the addresses of all the places I have lived, so I worked the grey matter to see if I could remember them.  Here's a rundown as best as I can get.

1954 ~ 1960

  • 17 Baird Street, Collie.

This was a housing commission house in Wilson Park, also known as White City.  I'm not sure what the name referred to, but I'm quite sure it wasn't complimentary.

In 1992 I was visiting Collie when a family friend told me that my Grandmother's house was on the market.  I contacted the real estate agent and, after looking at the house, it came to light that the house at 17 Baird Street was also on the market, so he took me round for a look-see.

Perhaps the "White City" referred to a city of white ants, because the  house was truly infested and close to collapse in some areas.  But so much of my first years came flooding back as I walked through the rooms, and out onto the back veranda where the housing commission built an extension while we were there.

And right outside the back door was the porch where my father sat me on the high chair and cut my hair with hand clippers.  The thought of going to a barber terrified me long after.

The white ants won, and the house was pushed over in the late 1990's.

1960 ~ 1972

  • 37 Brighton Street, Cottesloe

Wow!  Who would have thought in 1960 when we moved to Cottesloe that it would be the upmarket, expensive area that it has become.  Unfortunately, the house here has also gone, and made way for a brick and tile house.  But the peppermint trees out the front, which were just small twigs when we moved in, have become quite beautiful landmarks today.

1972 ~ 1973

  • Railways Quarters, Esperance Railway Yard

After leaving home I lived in the single men's quarters for about nine months.  Bare basics, but adequate, the rom was only about ten metres from the railway line, and the train would arrive at 1:00am daily, followed by about two hours of shunting the wagons into the goods shed.  After a few weeks I became used to it, or perhaps I was just so tired that I could sleep through anything.

1973 ~ 1974

  • Kapooka Recruit Training - Wagga Wagga
  • Watsonia Signals Training - Watsonia, Melbourne

2-8 Alexander Ave, Thomastown, Victoria
Moving around very quickly, the story will be told later.  These months included basic training at Kapooka, a brief time at the barracks at Watsonia, then another brief stint in a flat in Alexander Ave.

1974 ~ 1975

  • 7 Blackwood Avenue, Hamilton Hill
  • 9 Southern Road, Hamilton Hill
  • 13A Lancaster Street, Spearwood
  • 6a Vernon Place, Spearwood

A series of small places that were easy to rent, back when the agent would hand you the keys to go and look, then you could telephone them to say you wanted to take it.  References were not needed and competition was scarce, so finding a reasonable place was easy enough.

We were living in a 2nd floor apartment (flat) when Angi was born in the February of 1975.  And that was where we were when Ants and Kirsten came out from Wales/US.

In some instances the length of occupancy was as short as three months, never longer that ten.

1975 ~ 1976

  • 126 Lefroy Road, Hilton Park
  • Coogee Caravan Park
  • Jandacot Caravan Park
  • Cooke Point Caravan Park, Port Headland

1976 ~ 1977

  • Berimah Caravan Park, Darwin
  • Mindil Beach Caravan Park, Darwin
  • 23 Tasman Circuit, Darwin
  • 37 Brighton Street, Cottesloe

In 1975 after a holiday in Kalbarri, Merran and I talked about the idea of living in a caravan and having more mobility than we had living in flats and duplexes.  As mentioned, some of our stays had to now been as short as three months, and it was obvious we were not going to be tied down by location.  So we went out and bought a 25' caravan, which is why over the period '75 through '77 we stayed at so many places, and were able to travel such distances.  It was a beautiful life, with a book of stories all their own, and far to much for this already lengthy entry.  But in July 1977 we returned to Perth and set the van up in the back yard at Cottesloe, and put it up for sale.

1977 ~ 1978

  • Ken and Chris's house, 35 Matthews Road, Anula, Darwin
  • Salvation Army Warehouse, Coonawarra Road, Berrimah, Darwin
  • 18 Carrington Street, Rapid Creek - Demountable unit - Government Employee housing, Darwin
After returning to Darwin in the October/November of 1977 we stayed with Ken & Chris for about three months.  It was fun, good company, and forged a bond of friendship between us that lives on even now.

Sept 1978 ~ Oct 1979

  • 9 Boyle Place, Canberra
Work with the Bureau of Statistics and a start in computing took us to Canberra to live, while I worked in Belconnen.  After a short stay at a hotel, we found this place at the end of a cul-de-sac, with a park right outside the front door.  It's also the place where we made a house full of furniture that lasted many years.  Yes, yet another story.

Oct 1979 ~ 1980

  • 30 Meadowbrook Drive, Parkwood, Western Australia
Back in WA, still with the ABS.  This was a nice place, too, as had been most of the places we had ever lived.  It's also the house we were living in the night Little-Anne was hit by a car and died.

1980 ~ 1982

  • 86A Howick Street, Lathlain
1982 ~ 1985

  • 6 Gladstone Road, Rivervale
Dec 1984 ~ Oct 1985

  • 507/75 Leonard Street, Victoria Park
Oct 1985 ~ Nov 1985

  • Ito's house, Aobadai, Midori Ku
  • Mitaka Gaijin House
  • 207-3-11-18 Takaido-Nishi, Suginami-Ku, Japan
  • 20?-???? Yashio Park Town, Tokyo Japan
1996

  • 101 Steere Street, Collie
2000

  • 26 Blue Wren Drive, Eaton
2001

  • Lot 4 (108) Upper Capel Road, Donnybrook
32 different places.  Thankfully, I have slowed down in the past thirty years.