A small world.
 

Hi Aussie Gobbiner.

Just a quick one.
Where abouts in the Illawarra do you live?
Its just that I am familiar with that area myself from back in the 1970's.

Re: Photo Cropshop.
 

Hi Len, live down at Albion Park Rail near the railway station on the shores of Lake Illawarra. Lived here all my short life ( 40+ a few more! ).... Mum & Dad and siblings all come from ossy.. they immigrated here back in 1956... Didn't stay at the hostels though, stayed in a caravan on some farmers property in Dapto... Though I think my aunty & uncle stayed at the hostel for a time, I shall ask the old man about it.... unreal isn't it! Cheers Dave

Re: Photo Cropshop.
 

Hi mate.
Nice to have you here.
We lived on the opposite side of Lake Illawarra to you. Lake Heights, off northcliff dr.
Small world isnt it.unbelievable

:ello:

Re: Photo Cropshop.
 

Amazingly this isn't the first time this has happenned.... There used to be an ossy website for gobbiners ( not there any more ) the guy who ran it was a roofer and during the summer months he had replaced my aunties roof in ossy! This happened about 8 years ago now I think... Just never know

Re: Photo Cropshop.
 

Len, you wouldn't recognise the place now! When you were here Wollongong was known as The City of Greater Wollongong.... Now it's a city and the little council of Shellharbour is also now a city....

Re: Photo Cropshop.
 

I can't believe Shellharbour is a city it was so small. My mate's father kept a boat there and we used to go fishing. Have they extended out into the ocean?
They must be including Oakflats, Warilla and Albian Park. Into the city of Shellharbour.
Can you tell me are there any local forums in the Illawarra?
I must go to bed it's 1.00am . Up at 6 30.
Have a nice day mate.

ps
If you visit my site again it would be brill if you would sign my guest book .

Re: Photo Cropshop.
 

Shellharbour as you know it is now Shellharbour Township and the city encompasses all those suburbs you mentioned plus more new ones! I don't know of any forums in the illawarra... only my pigeon forum :angel: ....
Cheers mate :cheers:
Dave

Re: What a small world.
 

Aussie Gobbiner

Just a thought, do you have any recent photos of your location you can put on here?. I'm sure that all of us here would be interested to see them. Lake Illawarra (The Illawarra)is a nice place.
.

Re: What a small world.
 

i would be interested as im going to sydney ( the sububs winstonhills ) next easter ive done the blue mountains terrific i love auss but too old to move there i would tell anyone in there thirties GO its a great laid back life /// from wot i saw wen i was out there in 96///

Re: What a small world.
 

Yep... I'll get some together and work out how to put them up here... Len, is there anyone place in particular that you remember vividly that I can go and take a snap of so you can see the changes?

Re: What a small world.
 

Photos were taken with my Fuji Finepix S602 zoom and resized to 640x480:

Looking north towards Wollongong over part of Lake Illawarra. Taken from top of Stoney Range which is the big hill between Warilla and Oak Flats near the the old water tank. On the other side of the lake is Dapto and Berkeley.

Re: What a small world.
 

Now that I see that it works!

Here are some more.....

pic_01 is a local bowls club in the middle of winter..
pic_03 is looking north over Warilla towards Port Kembla.. in the distance you can see the ERS chimney stack which when built back in the 1960 something was the tallest in the southern hemisphere.

Re: What a small world.
 

This is me old dad... 83 years old this year, legally blind and still doing his woodwork. An old gobbin and WWII fighter pilot (Hurricanes) ... Born at 154 New Lane, Ossy, 1921.... Anyone recognise him.... Before immigrating to Australia he lived at Brown Cow Cottage, 21 Grove st, Wham Brook Cottage, Jack House, Hoyle Bottom, 3 Eagle St and finally at 56 Trinity St... he certainly got around!

Re: What a small world.
 

Using photoshop I joined several photos together to give this panoramic view. Looking north to up the coast from Stoney Range.

Re: What a small world.
 

Using PSP I joined several photos to give this panoramic view of Kiama headland where the famous Kiama Blow Hole is located.

Re: What a small world.
 

Aussie Gobbiner

The photos are good dave. Have you just put them together today?

Thanks for that offer Dave. The thing is I could come up with a massive list and we don't really want to do that. The only thing I would appreciate would be a photo/photos of the old hostel site, which was on Five Island road between Cringila and Unanderra. So if ever you were passing through that way it would be brill if you could take a photo so I can add it to my web site. I have no doubt that there will be something like industrial units on the old site now.

The photo I have added is of Kiama Blow Hole 1969.
The bloke in the pic is my old man. At that time he was a lot younger than what I am now.

Re: What a small world.
 

The panoramic of Kiama I did about 3 years ago the other one I did only last week, must of known something was going on! Good photo of your old man and blowhole Len, meaning that any photo taken in 1969 had the mandatory durry between the fingers..:smokin:
Leave it with me I'll see what I can do... same goes for any other readers that have ties with the Illawarra from years ago, if you have a vivid memory of what a particular place looked like let me know and I'll try me best to get an up to date snap of it..
:dogrun:

Re: What a small world.
 

Went for a Sunday drive around the lake today and took my trusty Fuji Finepix S602Z
...
Picture 1 - Is taken at Berkeley Fish Co-Op Northcliff Drive looking out over Lake Illawarra. I have made a minor adjustment to the image using PSP... I added another pelican can you see which is the one that shouldn't be there.
Picture 2 - Is from the same location and looking up to Lake Heights.

Re: What a small world.
 

Went for a look up around Lake Heights as well...

Picture 1 - Len, this is were the old Hostel "Karingal" used to be, as you can see it is has now been redeveloped and used for soccer. Is 'Karingal" the one you stayed at? The other two hostels were located in Berkeley somewhere around where Sussex St is now and the other in Fairy Meadow which is now also a soccer ground... My Uncle and Aunt stayed at the one in Fairy Meadow back around 1950 or so... I mentioned in a previous post that my family came out in 1956 in fact it was 1954 on the 10th March, 50 years anniversary a couple of days ago.. I wouldn't of known if my sister hadn't of emailed me about it!
I used PSP to join two photos together to give it a wider view...

Picture 2 - Is taken from the top of Lake Heights Road off Flagstaff Road looking down.

Re: What a small world.
 

This picture is the main Highway through Albion Park Rail, back in 1970 it used to be a two lane road and I used to belt accross it on my push bike without looking...:eek:

I cropped the image in PSP and used filters to enhance..

Re: What a small world.
 

Aussie Gobbiner

Great photos.
I remember Lake Heights Rd. We travelled up there every day going to school. I went to Warrawong High, which is on Flagstaff Rd. My best mate lived on Grand view Pde, off Lake Heights Rd. Our family lived on Denise st off North Cliffe Dive, at that time it was opposite the Illawarra Yacht Club.

I haven't heard of a hostel called Karingal or seen any info on it. Can you tell me where was it located? As far as I'm aware there was Berkeley, Unanderra and Fairymeadow.
Our family stayed at Unanderra Hostel.

There used to be a bloke that lived on North Cliffe Drive, Lake heights and his property back up onto the lake. He had a jetty and you could hire canoes/boats from him .His name was Stan Dix? I believe he had published a couple of books about fishing. I don't suppose he will be with us now as he was an old fellow then.
Dave did you ever go prawning in the Lake? We did. We had our own prawning nets and we would wade out into the Lake with our nets and pump up gas lamps. During the right season (full moon) the lake edges would be full of people catching prawns. That was good fun.
p.s.
My old man gave up smoking in 1972 ish

Re: What a small world.
 

Looking at the photos,
it seems they don't have any problems parking their cars like we do.
It's becoming a nightmare here to park your car in front of your home.

Re: What a small world.
 

If anyone wishes to see where Aussie Gobbiner Lives.
then take a look at the map I have done.

Albion Park
.

Re: What a small world.
 

Ok I found Karingal Hostel it was in Cringila.(for unmarried men) owned by the Australian iron and steel works,Port Kembla.(AIS)

The soccer fields are at the bottom of Cringila on the junctions of Five Island rd and Springhill rd. I played soccer there when I played for the Berkeley east soccer club(1971 ish) but I dont remember any buildings.
Also our schools pupils stood there when The Queen drove by,(1972 ish). lol

Re: What a small world.
 

You have us thinking here Len, been asking the brother in law who used to deliver food parcels to all the hostels in the region... He was 16 yo at the time and remembers Berkeley, Fairy Meadow and Karingal but having trouble working out the Unanderra one.... do you remember the building or buildings and any land marks close to you at the time.

Re: What a small world.
 

Aussie Gobbiner

Hi dave.
I think so. I shall try and give you some directions.
From the bottom of Cringila turn left along Five Islands road towards Unanderra/ Figtree.
I think it might have been about 500yards from there on the left hand side because on the right hand side was the rail track and the creek. The only large building next to the Hostel was owned by a firm called Stuart and Lloyds. I think it was a fabrication company. It was on the left hand side of the Hostel if you were to be looking out from the Hostel towards the creek.
Also there was a tall electrical pylon which had been errected while we was there and that was next to a large diameter drain pipe. We used to walk through that with torches.
Hope that helps.

Re: What a small world.
 

Ok Len, i know exactly where you mean... On Sunday I was across five island road next to the old railway line and took several photos looking north... I joined them together using the software that came with my camera see below.... The next time I go over there I will do it again at the right spot...

Re: What a small world.
 

Hi Aussie Gobbiner
I work with the elderly and up until last August I ran a Lancashire County Council home for the elderly in Ossy, Peel Court on Haworth St (next to the theatre). Maybe your dad might have known some of the residents most of which came from the area. Sadly LCC have closed most of there residential homes and Peel Court was one of them.
Here are just a few - John Whitford, Robert (Bob) Fishwick, Jeannie Kerrigan (if he knowns any of these he will know her, she was originally from Scotland but sang and played in the local pubs. Rose Callender, Mary Duggan, Doris Barnes this lady told us when she was 18 she road a horse through the town naked (lady Gadiva),for a small fee,so im sure if you were around at the time thats somthing you wouldnt forget!!!.
Nice to met you
goldilox from Clayton le Moors

Re: What a small world.
 

Hi Goldilox,
Was talking to me dad today, took around a print out of your post which he read with the help of his enlarger through the telly. He'll probably be thinking for days now whilst he works away with his wood turning.. He knows Mary Duggan and remembers that she was with the local Operatic Society and he last saw her perform in 1974 when we were over there for a visit. She attended St Marys Catholic Church. Bob Fishwick has him stumped but remembers a Harry Fishwick who played cricket for Church and worked at Lang Bridges. Also remembers Michael Duggan, Marys brother who worked at Hothersalls Chemist in Union Road ( from what his memory recalls )....
Has no recollection of the naked lady riding a horse through town, probably happened when he was younger...!
Thanks
Aussie Gobbiner

Re: What a small world.
 

Hi I hope you dont mind but I notice that you stayed on Karingal Hostel would that have been during 1971 by any chance, I have been trying to find a very good friend I knew on Fairy Meadow Hostel his name was Jon Loiz he was 21 yrs at the time a very good gymnast and artist he moved to Karingal in 1971 whilst working for the Steelworks, I have been looking for this guy for 39 years and if you have any recollection of him I would be so greatful as I am trying to track him down I believe he was Austrian not sure if I have the correct surname. I used to live in Wollongong but have lived on Gold Coast for 15 years hope you can help or no anyone that can much appreciated Jeanette