History of the Anglesea Holiday Club
Anglesea Holiday Club - The Complete Story
Being the Sacred and Profane Reminiscences of
Ken Scull
on the Selection of a Suitable Site and the
Building of the Flats at Anglesea
PROLOGUE
The morning of September 4,1946, was to prove quite a day in my life. I was then foreman of the Plumbing and Welding Work-shop of the Division of Industrial Chemistry at the Fishermens Bend site of what was then the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, having joined the Division some six years previously. The new works canteen had just been opened and I decided to go there for my usual cuppa during my 10 minutes morning tea break. Most of the tables were full but Bruce Foster called me over to his table at which were already seated three other of the Division's scientific staff - Tom Keeble, Ron Cumming and Jack Dance.
“Ken”, said Bruce, “what do the workshop boys do for their holidays these days?"
“Holidays are still pegged”, I said, “as you would know. However, most of the boys have quite a bit up their sleeve, but they can't afford to do much. If they take a week or two off they generally go camping somewhere. That's the cheapest way they know of “. Ever thought of building your own holiday home?" asked Ron, and the four of them waited to see what I would say next. "On £250 a year!", I exclaimed. “Be your age fellows”.
"What say that 50 people put in a few pounds each and made a community project of it”, Bruce said. Bruce seemed to be the one with the drive and ideas. The others were quite serious about it too, and it surprised me to see that they were in earnest about such a scheme.
“You seem to have a plan”, I said, "lead on". Bruce took over here. "We want all the people we can to be interested. We want the people with the knowhow of the building industry to know about it especially. We have done some homework and think that if interested persons contributed £25 each that would be plenty for what we envisage. This amount would be spread over the whole building period so that it would not be a great hardship. Would you think about it and see if anyone is interested?” It was en route home after that fabulous children's Christmas Party, still of vivid memory, at Fishermen's Bend in December 1946 that the idea of a community seaside holiday home gained further impetus. Fred Redlich and Bruce Foster and their families were travelling home in Fred's car (petrol was still heavily rationed) and they were discussing the progress of the C.S.I.R.’s Ski Club lodge building at Mt. Bulla. "We ought to do the same thing at the beach somewhere" said Fred.
And so were sown the seeds of the concept of a community holiday home at the seaside. I have endeavoured to tell in these few pages of the work done by the original people who conceived the idea, recruited the 50 members, planned the units, scrounged, bought, and transported the materials to the chosen site on which the cabins were built, and controlled the modus operandi of the scheme until the holiday homes ware operating as 'Anglesea Holiday Club'. It is a story worth telling, but it would have been better told when memories were fresher.
Ken Scull
Ballarat 1983
1. The Search for a Suitable Site
The idea of a community holiday home as put forward by Bruce Foster was discussed amongst scientific, administrative and workshop staff of the Division of Industrial Chemistry and other C.S.I.R. divisions. In all, 55 people were enthusiastic about the idea, leading to an informal meeting in the Division's canteen in September 1946 and to a formal meeting at the Division of Forest Products an the evening of January 22, 1947.
Amongst those in attendance were Bruce Foster, Ted Pont, Jack Dance, Ron Cumming, Alan Wadsley and Ken Scull. Bruce Foster was elected Chairman, and Ted Pont and Ken Scull as Joint Secretaries. An initial amount of 10/- was collected from committee members as a fund. An expenses account was to be submitted by members to the committee 'from time to time'. This resulted in Ted Pont becoming our first Treasurer.
Bruce Foster reported on a personal inspection of some sites in the Mt. Eliza area. Generally the problems of unavailability of water and electricity gave a very unfavourable impression.
Ron Cumming said he was going to inspect some land in the Wye River and Anglesea areas ever the weekend of 25th and 26th January.
An official excursion was planned for the weekend of 1st and 2nd January in order to inspect various places on the Mornington Peninsula. As some advertisements ware to be placed in the Age and the Argue for that weekend, the excursion was postponed till the following weekend. The advertisements had resulted in only agents' notices which were very sketchy indeed. Inspection of sites during that weekend showed how right this proved to be.
It was decided that if the Mornington area proved unsuitable a second tour would be made around the Bellarine Peninsula.
Tour of the Mornington Peninsula
This first tour proved that the characters of those in the venture at the beginning would make for some very interesting moments before Anglesea Holiday Club came into being.
The four who started out on the first search for suitable land were Bruce Foster, our first Chairman, Ron Cumming, our designer and architect, Jack Dance, metallurgist and early morning reader of the Moscow Times or some other such paper and a potential land salesman extraordinaire, and Ken Scull, who was the representative of the tradesman area. Equipped with one-man tents, camping gear, cooking utensils, drinking equipment and nerves of steel - well, mild steel - they set out towards Rosebud and Rye. At the office of Spencer Jackson, the entrepreneur land salesman, the group split into two parties, each with a garralous Spencer Jackson salesman. Both groups were taken over many, many sand dunes, each with a particular highlight -that is to the salesmen, not the searchers. Later the, searchers regrouped and had dinner on the finest lookout of the area - Arthur's Seat - and then to Rye and the other offices of some more estate agents specializing in land sales in the area.
The four, having parked the Austin Eight in the main street of Rye, viewed the allotments for sale in the window of the local estate agent. They then moved inside to meet their fate. This fate was soon to manifest itself in the form of the top echelon of the firm. The receptionist disappeared into the back of the agency to tell her boss that a group of scientists (we made the mistake of mentioning that were were from C.S.I.R.) were wanting to buy some land. Two men in shirt-sleeves, well girt hailed the group as long lost brothers.
“Land”, they cried in unison, “we have just the block for you. What kind of block are you after?"
Bruce and Ken seemed best-equipped to combat their aggressive salesmanship. Jack Dance was strangely silent. As the Good Book says, his time had not yet come. Bruce and Ron explained the type of land they wished to purchase and shortly afterwards two cars were loaded and were making their way into the sand dunes at the back of Rye, towards what is now known as Gunnamatta.
As can be imagined it was a desolate place in those times. Some of the largest dunes in the area had surveyors pegs everywhere. Occasionally a track branched from the road on which they were travelling. Turning in along one of these branch roads the cars went onto the dunes as far as was possible. From this point the salesman took over and explained the glorious possibilities of each block in turn. Most of the blocks were at an angle of between 20o and 40o to the horizontal, some of them with the angles both ways.
They trudged from block to block and from one area to another, all with little variation. (In later years Percy Cerruty trained his athletes for the Olympic Games over much the same terrain.) The search party were definitely not in training and were getting more despondent about their chance of seeing anything remotely suitable for the project they had in mind.
Towards the end of the afternoon the trail took the search party along the crest of a particularly large dune and the salesman who was showing this group of sand patches, which they both rated as building blocks, said he was taking them to just the block they would like - but it had been sold that very morning. “From the balcony of a home built here”, he said, “you would be able to see the sea”. We could see nothing but scrub and dunes.
"Wait”, said the salesman, "have a look what has been done to this block". We went around a corner of the track which was now cut along the face of the sandhill. Dug into the bank was what First World War veterans would have recognized as a ‘dugout’ in the trenches. In this dugout was a 'loo' complete with seat and pan and paper roll.
“This chap is building lower down on the other of the two blocks he bought", the agent said,' and it was one of the best buys of the estate. I was going to buy it myself but Fred sold it to this fellow while I was out". "However", he went on, “there is an identical block around here which you will want to buy when you see it".
As we went further around the track, Jack Dance pushed his way to the front of the group. It seemed that his time had arrived. The agent stopped but before he could speak Jack took over.
“Now here I have one of the greatest opportunities of the whole area", Jack started, with a great imitation of an agent trying it out on 'suckers', "here you can have a dream home with a slide to the bottom of the gully where a built-in swimming pool is waiting". "Or an underground toilet", he went on, “with a view over the roof to a vista of scrub and more scrub, with an emu or ‘roo passing by at times".
"Think of it young man" - he had the agent by the arm- "for the price of four blocks in a better locality, you can have this one and build a better loo to your own specifications. The house will come later. Make up your mind this instant for there are many clients waiting to snap it up". "Come, come my man. What about it now?", he went on.
"O.K. Jack". The agent was sitting on the side of the track by this time. "You are the toughest group of clients I've had for a month. What say we go back to Rye and I buy you a beer."
"Best thing we've heard today", came from all the party at once, and they turned and made their way to where the cars were parked, quite a long way back. A few beers later and "six o’clock, gents, please” indicated that it was tea time and also time to set up camp. The agent had been quite open and said that the chances of getting what we wanted for the price we were prepared to pay seemed highly unlikely as land prices were well above that figure. He even suggested that land on the other side of Part Phillip Bay might suit our purposes better. It was almost dark by now and it was decided that fish and chips or pies and pasties would be easier than setting up camp to cook a meal. These purchases and a bottle of 'vino' served as our evening meal.
Ron knew of a place where we could camp, a place which was within easy reach and had even, grass-covered ground. So the party made their way to the site Ron had suggested. Sure enough, even in the total darkness of this moonless night, the site was a ‘beaut’. A scramble through some barbed wire and across a few feet of rough ground and the ground became as flat as could be desired with a good cover of short grass. Tents were soon erected and each member of the party soon asleep.
What a pity there is no photo of this camp!
Ken Scull was the first to awake the next morning, poked his head out of his one-man tent and gave a yell of surprise. There was a two-man tent on the level part of an undulating hole partly filled with yellow sand, one tent pitched in the centre of one of the greens and the other at the edge of the same green.
The party had made camp on and near the green of a bayside golf club! Luckily there was no other sign of life other than the magpies looking for early worms.
The party,once aroused quickly broke camp and made for the parked car. It was only a matter of minutes before the car was on its way to the spot that Ron thought he was guiding the party to the previous evening. Breakfast that morning was a hilarious occasion, tinged with a great deal of relief that they had not been spotted.
This day, Sunday, was a disaster as far as the search for a suitable building block was concerned. The party went from one agent to another and were shown sand dune after sand dune, each block getting worse than the previous one. Occasionally they were shown a low-lying block which would 'bog a duck' if waterlogged.
The main offices of real estate agents did not open on Sundays and agents worked from cars festooned with multi-coloured flags to let you know they were selling 'land'. The party went from the quarantine station - there were some goods blocks there but not for sale- to Frankston. If anything interesting showed, they contacted the agent, but discussion never got any further than the price. The mere contact made with agents, the more frustrating the search became. By 4 o'clock it was decided to abandon the search in this area and make further plans to tour other areas. Mornington, Mt Martha, Dromana, Rye, Sorrento, and Portsea, including the back-beach areas of the latter two places, had been visited as also were Mills Beach, near Mornington, Flinders and Pt. Leo. However, nothing that was in our price range could be found unless the block was almost vertical, water was unavailable, and the possibility of an electricity supply was years away. Pt Leo land was cheap but was not what we wanted and the surf could be very treacherous. Shoreham and Mornington were lovely areas but quite definitely outside our price range.
Tour of the Bellarine Peninsula
It was agreed that there Should be a tour of the Bellarine Peninsula, especially the beaches from Point Lonsdale to Anglesea, by Bruce Foster, Alan Wadsley and Ken Scull on the weekend of the 22 and 23 February, 1947. The Scull family car was to be used for this trip as it was a 'Big Seven' model baby Austin which was capable of 40 m.p.g. (petrol was still rationed in those days) and this would enable the party to do the mileage necessary to cover the peninsula. However, as with the tour of the Mornington Peninsula, this search for suitable land proved fruitless, apart from some land at Anglesea.
Purchase of Land at Anglesea
Ron Cummings initial report on the Anglesea and Wye River area had not been very promising as most blacks were almost inaccessible and had no services. However, a Mr Hedley of Anglesea had indicated that he would be prepared to sell a block which was suitable for development and which suited our purposes very well. The precise details concerning the purchase of this land may be gleaned from the minutes of meetings held about this time to discuss the developments in the holiday home scheme so far.
On Thursday,10.April 1947 the first General Meeting of what was then known as the C.S.I.R. Holiday Home Scheme was held at the Division of Forest Products, South Melbourne. Twenty one persons, including 16 eligible members attended and 13 apologies were received. Reports on the searches for land were given by Jack Dance and Bruce Foster, and the general view was that the Anglesea area was the most promising.
One of the motions passed at this meeting was that the meeting authorize the formation of a C.S.I.R. Seaside Holiday Home Scheme. Another motion was that the Provisional Committee be authorized by the meeting to obtain an option on a suitable block of land at Anglesea provided it was within about a quarter of a mile from a beach safe for the children of members and did not cost more than £200.
Discussion at the meeting centred around whether the Committee should purchase a 2-acre block in the Anglesea area for £5OO, subdividing the block and disposing of the unwanted blocks.
The actual amount of money to be expended on the land and the cabins would be over £1000 but it was thought that the seven excess blocks could be readily disposed of for £900. The discussion finally lapsed, the general feeling of the meeting appearing to be against the idea. It is interesting to speculate what this property - the Sunnymeade Estate - would be worth today.
Negotiations to purchase the land offered for sale by Mr Hedly continued. It was late in September that Bruce Foster, Ken Scull with his wife Blanche and son Edward went to Anglesea and after further inspection of the land put a deposit on the block which now holds the units of the Anglesea Holiday Club.
A second General Meeting of the Anglesea Holiday Club was called for Monday October 6, 1947, and 30 voting members were present as well as some of the members' wives.
The main item on the agenda was to give the Provisional Committee power to purchase the land, and after some discussion as to the relative merits of another block at Anglesea which had also been offered for sale, it was decided to purchase the block from Mr Hedley on which the holding deposit had been paid for the total sum of £50. A draft constitution, which had been circulated before the meeting, was discussed clause by clause and finally adopted.
The First General Committee was elected with only one
nomination for each office as follows:
Chairman: Mr Bruce Foster
Secretary: Mr Sandy Blight
Treasurer: Mr Vin Leanard
Booking Secretary: Mr Wally Evans
House Manager: Mr Ken Scull
Returning Officer: Mr Frank Priest
This Committee was to elect a Construction Sub-committee to start the building on its way. A Booking Scheme for when the cabins were in operation was deferred until later.
Such was the enthusiastic beginning of the Anglesea Holiday Club.
2. Building the Flats
The Construction Sub-committee first met on October 14, 1947. The members comprising the committee were : Marty Hamilton, Frank Audsley, Ron Cumming, Jack Green (Chairman), Bruce Foster, Sandy Blight, Laurie Healy, Joe Mantle and Tom Keeble (Secretary).
The scope of this sub-committee was to “design, purchase material, and direct the construction of the Club's premises at Anglesea".
A building permit and a permit to purchase water pipe (there were still post-war restrictions in force, notably for some building materials and petrol) were obtained. A building shed made from a large packing case was to be sited. Members were asked to watch out for any available useful materials, and Marty Hamilton offered the use of a Ford one-ton utility.
The minutes of the meeting of this sub-committee covered a great deal of ground and went from 5.30 p.m. to 8.40 p.m. Apart from the above items there was finance, building regulations, checking survey, a place to store materials in Melbourne (at the rear of the 9 by 7 tunnel at Aeronautics Research Laboratories) the co-option of Ray Muncey from the Division of Building Research, and discussion of the type of building proposed.
The second meeting of this sub-committee heard reports that the building permit would be granted for a building erected along the proposed lines and that a valuation of £1600 on a building up to 1250 sq. ft. was suggested by the Shire Engineer. Permit to buy water pipe and the necessary forms to tap and connect the water to the block were obtained. A sum of £1 was granted to Laurie Healy to obtain a licence as a plumber in the Shire.
Dr Pillow of Geelong Cement Company helped us to purchase cement which was very hard to obtain at this time. Mr Bassett of Western District Timber Co. promised that timber sufficient for a house of 13 squares would be made available. There was always someone who knew someone in whatever area it was wanted at the right time. Without this help we would have probably taken twice the time to build the flats. There was also planning for an advance party to go to the site to:
1. Clean and make level.
2. Examine the situation re availability of sand and screenings.
3. Establish a safe base to leave materials.
And so the Working Parties started. In mid-November of 1947 the two plumbers who were members of the Club (Laurie Healy and myself) decided to make an early start for the weekend.
The Ford ute was to take a load of pipe and fittings on the Saturday, and also a crate that could be locked so that materials could be left on the site with some degree of safety. Laurie Healy and I only needed a couple of picks and shovels as well as the necessary fittings for our part of the work and these fitted into Laurie's 'Escort' together with camping equipment. Another group was to call at the Victoria Market on route and purchase victuals for the party.
The Ford ute was stacked to its 'plimsoll' but arrived at the site without incident. The Escort arrived with the “advance, advance party" while it was still light enough to see what the land looked like. What they saw encouraged them to set up camp and face the morrow.
The block was almost flat, surrounded by scrubby bush and with only one access road. It was about 25 chains from the Anglesea River and the same from the beach. This made it an almost ideal site for children who would be holidaying there. The road, unnamed, was little more than a track through the scrub. There were some stunted gum trees, a couple of wattles and a pine tree on the block, the latter being in the centre of the block. Saw and bayonet grass seemed to be the dominant ground cover. A few holiday cabins were in evidence but not very close to where we proposed to build.
The drainage line was across the block diagonally to the south-east. We two plumbers had eaten our dinner - fish and chips- in Geelong so we boiled the billy on arrival, pitched our two-man tent near the fire for it was cold enough, even in November, and turned in. Army surplus ground sheets and with blankets wrapped around, boy-scout style, with a kit bag pulled over the feet, kept things in place to some degree. Sleeping bags were a luxury in those days! But it was soon obvious that we were not used to sleeping on terra firma. The fire was stoked at regular intervals and the billy was boiled again at 2 a.m.
On waking we took a quick walk to the magnificent cliff lookout on the Lorne Road and then returned for breakfast to start day No 1 of working parties. A pick and two shovels were taken to McMillan St and the line of the main was calculated. We both took hold of the pick handle and struck the first blow. The building of the flats had started! The correct-sized hole was opened in the road and a machine we had borrowed from the local turncock was used to tap the mains under pressure. The trench and pipes followed through the neighbours' properties to our block. Years later the main was taken up Foster St and the connection changed to that main.
The weekend was taken up with numerous jobs - making an area for gravel and sand, making the 'shed' out of the crate and setting it up, rough marking out of the units and clearing the ground. There was certainly plenty to do.
Jack Maskell emerged as the cook. 'Who called the basket a cook' was the cry each time we ate. Jack kept this job for a long time.
The urgent thing now was the building permit. We already had the permit to tap the water. So during the next week Bruce Foster and Tom Keeble went to Geelong and saw the Shire Engineer. He told them to fill in a form and took the plans to a back room. To the surprise of everyone he came back with the permit and asked for the form they had filled in. Bruce told him that the street was not named so they could not fill in the address. “Call it what you like” he said. “Give it to me... I'll fill it in as Foster St”. And that is how the street got its name. At the next work party, a plate with the name “Foster St” on it was made and nailed to a post near the corner. It stayed there for many years.
Thus by this time the Provisional Committee had become the General Committee, there was a Construction Sub-committee, the water had been laid to the block. There was a very primitive 'loo' on the site (hessian and poles), a shed-cum-crate for our valuables and feverish work was going on in Melbourne. A Work Party Director had been appointed-Sandy Blight, and Frank Audsley was the holder of a builder's licence.
A Work Party Organizer was appointed from the committee who would be responsible for detailed organizing, obtaining fuel, attending to finance for building requirements, consulting technically to see what work was required, arrange for appropriate tools to be taken to the site.....That should be enough to keep the U.P.O. busy, and then some!
At the General Meeting on April 8th, 1948, there is the first mention of two of the most notable of all our needs at the site, namely the concrete mixer, that horrific wearer-out of men, and the septic tank. Without the former there would have been no Anglesea Holiday Club for a long, long time. Without the latter life would have been a lot easier for many people. Some say that the hessian and poles was easier to live with than the perpetual blockages. But more about the septic tank later.
The Chairman, Bruce Foster, reported that the floor of the 'double unit' had been poured. He told the meeting that the rapidity with which the concrete was poured was intimately associated with the concrnte mixer, whose “conception and manufacture was cloaked in mystery”. Also at this meeting he reported that a shed of caneite had been built in a day. It was to become known as “the house that Jack built” -presumably it had been built by Jack Green. But to go back to the second working party.
It was originally decided to build the laundry unit first so that there would be somewhere to keep equipment but with the advent of the shed it was decided at a special meeting to concentrate on the double unit.
A quantity of timber, mainly 6 by 1 in. for shuttering, had arrived so the boxing to form the concrete walls could be made and fitted. Picks, shovels, mattocks, hammers and saws were “in Things” for that party, Jack Maskell was the 'babbling brook' and he kept the coffee and tea coming as fast as he concocted (that is the only word to describe it) the menus over that week end.
The site of the double unit was marked out and levelled by use of a dumpy level. No lasers in those days! Framework was made, stakes were cut, foundation trenches were dug and by the Sunday evening the formwork was all in position.
Our builder Frank Audsley was awake ahead of the birds and there was no hope in the world of sleeping when he awoke. It was usually quite dark, and that was in the height of summer. The meal ‘hour’ never lasted that long- 45 minutes if you were lucky. But he knew what he was doing for sure. A quiet giant who never raided his voice- he knew the way to approach a new building job, setting hurdles where they were needed, doing the right things first and setting people to work where they were most needed.
It was a very short time before everyone was happily digging and shovelling and even less time when morning teas was welcome. And Frank made sure it was no longer than the 10 minutes decided on.
Jack Maskell's command of the Australian language was exhibited when he called “Comln get it you lazy lot of ******* loafers. Yer doan't deserve it”. There was often a soup pot on the boil made from some meat and bones with additions of anything he thought of at the time. But his 'piece de resistance' was undoubtedly his stews. Massive servings of muscle-building meat, gravy, spuds, and many of the additions that were available in the Friday ‘five-o’clock sell-out’ at the Victoria Market.
Each Friday when there was a work party going to the building site there was a car allocated to get the 'tucker' on the way. The 'shopping' there took very little time as we had very few fads and fancies, and after a few hours on the job we ate what we were given and did not query it. “Plenty and hot” was the order of the day.
Work finished well after 5 o'clock and there was a rush for the beach and the surf if the weather was good. Then, a good meal, possibly barbecued steak or chops followed by some Maskell- designed sweet. When he was cook, there was always a surprise. He made acres of pancakes from some wondrous mixtures. He did well as a cook and was a very entertaining personality with it. His asthma finally drove him from the welding workshop at the 'Bend' to Alice Springs where he worked with Conellan Airways for a time until he started his own business and did most of Conellan's work.
Saturday was always a happy time in the evenings, usually spent in planning and talking about the job in hand and its progress and future.
By the Sunday evening of this work party the formwork for the foundations was in position, some of the reinforcing material was fitted and all was in readiness to pour the walls to hold the slab.
This was quite an unusual method in those days but it is common practice now. There was a great heap of gravel near the track into the block, a stack of rough-cut timber for the rest of the formwork and the cement had been promised for the next week.
Reinforcing for the floors and walls was formed at A.R.L. from surplus fencing from the fence around the new Billman hangar at A.R.L. This was purchased at cost but some additional reinforcing was needed for the slabs. This was an expenditure which could not be avoided.
There were not many items that someone could not save a few pounds on and endless discussions took place on how to 'scrounge' something. A shining example is the cladding for the external walls. Frank Dale of Forest Products heard that V.I.A. who were building some prefabricated huts received 9 by 4 asbestos cement sheets instead of the 8 by 4 sheets ordered. The walls of the flats are built from the 4 by 1 offcuts from some of these sheets.
Reading the minutes of the Construction Committee’s meeting of the 8th April 1948 one can see the amount of work that had been carried out to that date and other activities that had taken place:
- The assets of the club were to be managed by Equity Trustees.
- A scale of payment for the use of private cars to the site was established.
- Enquiries were being made with regard to buying adjoining blocks of land (this only 12 months after the initial meeting.
- £320 had been paid by members into the Club but only £156 remained in the coffers. Expenditure to date had been £50 for land, £29 for water pipe etc., £30 for fibro-cement sheeting, £50 transport costs, £5 for incidentals.
Members were nominated to obtain or sub-contract for items such as tables, chairs, cupboards, windows, hot-water systems, stainless steel sinks, heaters, etc. Wally Evans, the Booking Secretary, submitted a draft booking scheme which was the fore-runner of the present one. This meeting closed at 11.10 p.m. but considering the items covered this was quite early.
Pouring the Slabs
The working parties were continuing at fortnightly intervals by this time, and the concreting was the main occupation. The slab for Flats 1 and 2 were to be poured first and then attention was to be given to Flat 3 and the laundry.
To follow the building of the flats through from work day to work day would perhaps be a little monotonous and the Technical Log Book is available for perusal. However, there are many anecdotes to be told of these times Memory may make them disjointed but none-the-less enjoyable.
Every work day usually began with the drone of mosquitoes and ended at dusk with squadrons of them on the attack. The lone flier was in evidence all night from the continuous slapping which could be heard. Had tape recorders been around at the time they would have recorded some thunderous oaths at times. Application of DIMP (Dimethyl phthalate) eased the mosquito-bite problem considerably.
This next work party, with cement available and the mixer on the job, saw the foundations around the perimeter of Flats 1 and 2 laid. The height of the walls, which meant the level of the floor, was fixed using Jack Green' s “Theodolite” - a base filled with water and with glass tubes at each end. Levels were ascertained by checking the water levels in the glass tubes. No matter where the tubes were, and they were separated by a hundred feet of hose, calibrations indicated true levels. The walls had, to be of the correct height when checked by this method. Proof was seen the following work party when the whole area was filled with water. But first the earth had to be levelled and trampled down to consolidate the under-floor support.
This trampling had to be seen to be believed. Chubby legs, skinny legs, and some remarkable 'bottoms' and ‘tummys’ being bounced around above these legs, all in the serious cause of consolidating the ground. The area was levelled and raked and then filled with water to let it settle ever the next week.
Jack Green was jubilant as the water lapped around the perimeter to within a fraction of an inch. It looked as if we had built a swimming pool first. Very little soil needed to be added to bring the surface to the correct level and the concrete mixer worked overtime at that next working party. Belts were left to hold the frames. Everyone was an ‘engineer’ and gave 'orders', but Frank Audsley was the only one obeyed when it came to the crunch. He did know what it was all about, there is no mistake about that. However, he was a tyrant when it came to starting time in the morning.
At what was commonly known as ‘sparrow fart’ he was up and yelling. He yelled at each sleeping bag, each tent, and each car. Everyone was sound asleep after the concrete pour of the previous day. No one stirred, no matter what Frank said. So he went aver to his car and returned with a double barrelled shotgun. He put the barrel into a kerosene tin and pulled both triggers. Nothing quite like that was heard again until Hiroshima. It got the working party up and going in no time flat.
After that little episode, if Frank called, everyone got up very smartly.
First Annual General Meeting
The first Annual General Meeting of the, as yet, officially unnamed club was held on the23rd September 1948. The progress reported was remarkable when it is remembered that only six of the members were tradesmen and only four had experience in the building trades! The way the building progressed with the few skilled men available was one of the marvels of the whole scheme.
By now the main frame and roof of Flats 1 and 2 was practically complete, so members had no fear of wet working parties any more. A lot of work was being done in Melbourne, including the making of the stainless-steel sinks and hot-water tanks.
Receipts to date were £552/13/4 and expenditure was £531/17/5. A graph was presented to the meeting which showed that one-third of the members had done 152 man-days while the remaining two-thirds had done only 49 man-days.
New Government restrictions on building 'holiday homes' were in danger of restricting the building of Flat 3. However, it was pointed out that as we had 'legally' started it, we could proceed. Frank Dale painted out that a restriction on the standard of finish of the flats should apply as the estimated cost of £15 per member was only sufficient to finish Flats one and two properly owing to rising prices. Has anything altered?
Booking rules were debated and a move that rates for letting the Flats in summer and winter be different was defeated.
As this General Meeting was also a 'kitchen tea’, this meeting yielded many add items that served the Club well for many years- washing tubs, vacuum cleaner, brooms, stretchers, buckets, etc.. And as the Club had no 'official' name, Bruce Foster, the Chairman, announced a competition for an appropriate name for the Club, the prize being a free booking of one flat for one week.
The Septic Tank
About this time the infamous Septic tank was started (see Figures 36 - 39). A pit 14 ft long by 4 ft wide by 7 ft dropping to 9 ft deep was dug behind the slab of the laundry area. It was no small task as the ground was tough and the going was slow.
However, by judicious use of manpower - alternate picking by one group and shovelling by another group - the hole was dug in one weekend. The concrete was also laid in the base with reinforcing rods left standing to receive the wall concrete next weekend. But by the time the next work party came to Anglesea there had been three inches of rain in the district, and the work party was in tears over what was left of the well- defined gravelike hole of the weekend before last. It was now a pool of water, about 6 inches below ground level with a mound of mud sticking up in the centre. Yes, the walls had collapsed on to the concrete bottom 9 ft below.
The members of the work party stripped to their shorts (it was winter-time) and baled out the water to some extent, and then commenced to shovel out the mud. The mud had to be scraped from the shovel when it was lifted from the hole.
It was back-breaking work but by the Saturday evening the hole was nearly clear again - about twice as wide as originally and with no clearly defined walls.
The four men involved in this muddy tail were hosing themselves down - the cold water was warmer than they were- and because the mud was so sticky they had shed all their clothing and ware making a bath session of it. This weekend some wives of members were doing the cooking. However, when they accidentally came upon the men cavorting inside the temporary framework on the concrete floor of Flat 3, they almost became hysterical when the men dived again for their shorts.
The septic tank was to be the bane of our lives for the next twenty years or so. If it was not overflowing from block- ages, it was polluting the lower corner of the block. Everyone prayed for a mains sewerage system to which the flats could be connected. As younger members of the Club are aware, this did not eventuate for many years.
That Ford Ute
A feature of most work parties was the Ford ute. Marty Hamilton's boy friend at the time Harry Davey (now Marty's husband) did not own it but had permanent use of it. The loads the ute carried to Anglesea are legend. Typical of the stories of endurance of this ute was the trip when it brought a large quantity of fibro-cement sheeting, timber, cement, tools and on top of all that load a large steel wheelbarrow.
The ute was to load at the Bend and proceed to the block at Anglesea from the Bend at midday on Saturday. That same morning other members of the work party went shopping at the Victoria Market before going on to Anglesea with Jack Scholes in his Lanchester. Jack was particularly proud of his car - an English limousine fit to carry kings and governors. However, on this particular trip it 'ground' to a halt near Lara. There was a horrible grinding noise in the 'big-end' area and it really did grind to a halt. Nothing but a tow would move the Manchester any further. All thoughts then centered on the Ford ute which would be coming along the same route later on. So all settled down to wait for it to arrive.
The white line in the centre of the road attracted the attention of the waiting group and very shortly a game of 'pitch and toss' was in progress with very little disturbance from oncoming traffic. Imagine being able to do that now!
Eventually the Ford arrived, bets were paid, a tow-line was fitted to the Lanchester (by means of some wire from a handy fence) and the tow started. The Lanchester was left at Geelong for repairs and the Ford went on to Anglesea, returning later for those of the party who stayed at Lara.
The Club was extremely fortunate that Harry Davey had the use of the Ford ute, always with a full tank of petrol, as petrol rationing was still in force in these days and it would have been extremely difficult to transport those much needed building materials to the site at Anglesea without the use of this ute.
Commercial transport costs ever this distance were extremely heavy. During this work party attempts were made to drive the concrete mixer from the wheels of the Ford ute, but even the ute jibbed at this. This was the weekend when Marty Hamilton and Joy Scholes were the cooks. The cooking was done over a trench fire in true pioneering style and to this day Marty tells of cooking for 11 men and themselves in a temperature of 140oF.
Later Working Parties
Working parties went on without much dissent other than what was necessary to 'build it better' and to bring the means for having a holiday at the seaside nearer. Annual meetings were well attended and discussion waxed hot at times. A contentious issue at the time, and to some extent it is still an issue to- day, was the allocation of work days for the work already done.
A special General Meeting failed to solve the issue in 1950, the problem being sent back to the Committee for deliberation. Some people were more adept at building houses than others, it was agreed, especially if they were tradesmen, However, every member, skilled or no, did their utmost to build the flats as well as they could. True, some members got so far behind in their work-days that they had little hope of catching up in the forseeable future. Each newly elected Committee ponders the problem, especially in the light of the Constitution.
Wives of members began to take a greater part in working parties, especially now that the flats were weatherproof. They were allotted work-days for cooking for work parties and also for making bedding and curtains.
The Zeus Merfield Era
About this time the 'Zeus Merfield era was ushered in. Zeus joined the Club and very shortly became Treasurer. He was quite a character, and stories about him would fill a volume on their own. He organized work parties, and cooked for them. The muscle building stews of Jack Maskell were superseded by 'crepe suzettes, spaghetti Italiane, steak, sausages or rissoles cooked in rum or wine or sews other fine 'delicacy'. Zeus lived at Anglesea as long as his recreation leave, and any other leave he could manage held out. He built his chimneys, he worked and he cooked. He had the record for number of days worked at the site. In 1957 he had 71 days allotted compared with the average of about 30 days for the initial members. His tales of these days when he was an art student in Melbourne, of parties at Portsea which included many of the flamboyant types of those days went on late into the night. The meals he cooked could be greeted with strange wines - wine such as Fiora Alpini was not unknown. Strangely, despite all this enthusiasm, he sold his share in 1961.
Payment in lieu of Work Days
By this time the holiday club was running smoothly and considerable progress was reported at each annual meeting. The House Manager reported the purchase of a dozen mattresses at £7/10/0. each and 3 electric stovettes at £11/0/0. A question was asked at one of these meetings as to whether a member could employ someone to do his required number of work days or even pay cash in lieu. This latter alternative is now acceptable as it enables tradesmen stationed at Anglesea to be employed for special purposes.
The minutes of the meeting of February 23rd, 1950 are interesting concerning the value placed on a day's work. Based on the number of members and the value of the property this could be 26/- argued the then Chairman, Jack Dance, However, the value should be 2/- said Frank Woods, taking into account the enjoyment derived from the working parties.
Shark for Breakfast
Each working party seemed to have an event which would be long-remembered. The party on which they had shark for breakfast would rate very highly.
After a very hard day some of the men decided to go for a swim even though it was a cold day in winter. On this particular day, Fenroy Gerrand, Tom Keeble and myself were out in the surf waiting for a wave. Others had gone back to the camp. Fen noticed that a fisherman was casting off the beach from about where we had swum out. The swimmers thought that the best the fisherman could hope for was a garfish. Watching from the distance whilst still waiting for the wave, they saw his 16-ft rod bend double. Something that looked very much like a shark leapt from the water. The swimmers caught the next wave in- in a hurry!'
Wearing little, if any, swimming gear (there were very few people at Anglesea at the time) they ran for their clothes piled on the beach. Fenroy got one leg in his shorts but won the race to see the shark being landed. The catch was a large ‘gummy’ shark, quite big enough to frighten the three swimmers.
The fisherman, a local angler, had no use for the fish and after some negotiations the swimmers had the gummy on the condition that the angler could come for breakfast the next morning. It was a good deal and a mighty breakfast the next day with fillets of gummy extended over the hot plate over the open trench fire.
Finishing the Flats
Stainless-steel sinks were made in Melbourne, and petrol tanks from an old fighter plane, the boomerang' were converted to hot-water tanks. The bullet-proofing, a rubber matting, was dissected out of the interior of these tanks and the ends were fitted and welded. Elements were then fitted and after exhaustive tests, the S.E.C. passed them for our use. They lasted about 20 years. The stainless-steel sinks are still in use.
When the plaster for the ceilings arrived, Bruce Foster got the job of designing the cutting sequence. There was little to spare and this order of cutting was known as the Foster Faster Master Plaster Plan. There was hell to pay when Maury Mahoney dropped a bucket of plaster down Zeus Merfield's neck while he was scrimming the ceiling.
The Extra Block
Maury Mahoney became Chairman and this ushered in a new era for the Club. Known almost officially as Chairman Mau, he was in everything. Through his beloved St Kilda Football Club he heard of the possible sale of the block of land at the rear of the present site. I eventually clinched the deal in Ballarat. We were extremely lucky to get it at the price we did.
Many years later Maury came back onto the Committee and as Works Party Organizer supervised the installation of the new sewerage system and its connection to the mains at Anglesea. The Club owes Maury a debt of gratitude for this supervision. He remained in residence to look after our interests during this whole process. The Club benefitted considerably because of Maury's efforts and there has been little trouble with the sewerage system since then.
EPILOGUE
There will always be work to be done at the Flats and people who will be prepared to do it. Committees will come and go and amongst these will be some characters who are as interesting as any from the early days of the Club. Until now they hear the tales of the building of the flats from stories by groups of people who have been involved in various ways. Seldom is that group composed of those wholly involved from the beginning.
It has been said that the complete tale should be told by someone. I have now attempted this. Each event could be written so that it could be a chapter on its own - the excursions to the Victoria Market, the concreting of the floors, erecting the frames, the septic tank horror. Comedy, fatigue, dissension and discussion,but always such fun. Getting to know one another: the plumber, the professor, the welder, the clerk, the physicist.
It is hoped that a fuller tale can be told embracing the many heroic and hilarious events that are not part of this chronicle.