Yalcowinna Richmond, the Mansion home of bachelor William Highett.

In 1906 the Bethesda Hospital was opened with 50 beds as an intermediate hospital.  I first saw the light of day there, in 1919 ,when a donation of Six Thousand Pounds by Sir Aaron Danks allowed the Methodist Church to buy Yalcowinna, a mansion property on one and a half acres of gardens on Richmond Hill. Epworth Hospital was opened there on 27th February 1920 with 25 beds and a staff of 5.

 

Recently I found myself back in Erin St receiving positive proficient physiotherapy at the magnificent mansion "Elim" (originally called ) where I was warmly welcomed by receptionists Ann and Loretta and soon introduced to the first of about a doze machines, instruments etc. by Sean....that first visit caused me to write the CEO asking her to express my personal appreciation to Sean for his sensitive conscientious caring..........that letter was followed by another later in the week expressing my similar reactions  to Chris & Libby`s valued assistance in the workouts and later supplying me with information needed when I told them I was extremely impressed by the admirable architecture and wanted to write a blog about it and Epworth Rehabilitation Centre.

 

The mansion was built in 1867 by William Highett who was born in Weymouth in the county of Dorset England in 1807, the son pf Joseph Highett and his wife Elizabeth (nee Harding). He travelled to Victoria with his brother John, arriving in Hobart Town in February 1830. With a combined capital of 507 pounds and highly respected testimonials they were granted 500 acres of land at Georgetown, later buying extensive land holdings at Launceston and Campbell Town which were managed by brother John.

 

Two years after his arrival in Van Diemen`s Land William was appointed accountant of the Launceston branch of the Van Diemen`s Land Bank. In  January 1835 he joined the Tarmar Bank Co. as cashier remaining there until he accepted the position of manager of the Union Bank of Australia in Melbourne in 1838 which had taken over the Tarmar Bank Co. in Launceston that same year.

 

The Union Bank in Melbourne operated from a single storey  brick building on the corner of Queen St and Flinders Lane but with the growth of business a second storey  was added the next year. With continuing success the bank bought land at 30 pounds a foot on the south-east corner of Collins & Queen Sts. There in 1842 Donovan & Crosbie erected an impressive new bank building constructrd entirely of stone designed by George MacLagan.

 

Later that year Highett travelled to England and while there resigned from the bank and later rejoined the Union Bank as a local director remaining in the position for a number of years, becoming deeply involved with the growth of business and commercial development in Melbourne and was one of the founders and directors of the Bank of Victoria in Collins St.

 

A bachelor all his life, he decided to build a Mansion home at 29 Erin St Richmond on gardens of 1 1/2 acres naming it "Yalcowinna" - later changed to "Elim". It was described in a newspaper advertisement as a palatial palace built with artistic skill where no expense was spared with its appointments". The ground floor contained a dining room 28 X 16 ft,a ballroom 45 X 23 ft, lavatory 14 x 8 ft, breakfast room 16 x 14 ft, one bedroom16 x 14 ft. and 2 servants` rooms.

 

The first floor had a drawing room 24 x 16ft and 5 bedrooms of varying sizes. The outbuildings  comprised a four-stall stable, three loose boxes, two coachhouses, a man`s room a hayloft and wood and coalsheds. All these buildings were

'very tastefully laid out" including a lawn tennis court and an asphalt tennis court - 100 x 20ft in size.

 

A special feature was a huge magnificent coloured leadlight window forming a beautiful background to the upper and lower section of the home above a unique  wide sweeping staircase. The ceilings were 15 and 20ft high daintily decorated with carved & moulded rosettes.........

 

 

                              `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days

 

The Marge & Harry Greenberg Story - First Meeting

Seeing today is the 15th May, I guess it`s time to reveal the really remarkable story - the genuinely greatest story of my life - that is the background of my momentous meeting with my marvellous Marge (Rostker). Although most of my fabulous family know parts of it I thought it time to put it on revered record for my 13 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.........

also any more gorgeous great grandchildren who may come along...............

 

Mid-way through my teens, about 16 I think, I started to look for a wife - that is, being perfectly confident I could satisfactorily handle a professional or commercial career ( I was then studying accountancy and working with a Chartered Accountant) I decided I`d look for some girl with whom I could successfully share the rest of my life..........I didn`t want to waste time and from then,after every date (I had many) I would carefully analyse how I felt about the girl and very rarely took the same girl out more than once or twice, naturally not telling anyone else.

 

I vividly remember thinking I needed to marry a Jewish girl. Sometime in June 1939 I was glancing through some newspapers and suddenly saw a head and shoulders photo of a girl with dark sparkling eyes and cute upturned nose I found extremely attractive.....this was on the Saturday of the King or Queens Birthday weekend. When my younger brother Joe, then 15, walked into the room I said "See that girl? I`m going  to marry her..." (I was then 20) Jo replied "she`s pretty - you`re mad! who is she?" I said I don`t know, then read the column and told him she was Margery Rostker, 18, Queen of Music, one of a group of girls raising money for a charity.

 

I was then at home with the flu - the only time in my life I`d suffered from it ...there was only one Rostker in the phone book  and I immediately rang her explaining I`d had quite a bit of experience raising money  on committees in similar appeals (as a member of the YMCA). A long talk  revealed I knew at least 3 of her friends - one a boy I was  with at Elwood Central School, and another boy whose uncle had married my aunt and this boy`s cousin, so I suggested she check-up on me and I`d ring her later. When I rang a couple of days later on the holiday Monday she confirmed what I`d told her and I immediately asked her to come to the Victory Film Cinema (now the National Theatre) in Melbourne.

 

I   borrowed Dad`s car, a 1937 Chevrolet on that wet night and proceeded to her home at 4 Elwood St Brighton and as I was waiting for the front door open I suddenly whipped off my specs and put them in my pocket - thinking I look better without glasses which, at that time were not the fashion accessory they often are now. The door was opened by a little girl about 10-12, Marge`s sister Paula who ushered me into the lounge she introduced herself and asked " Did you know Marge had 4 false teeth?" 

After I answered in the negative I met Marge and her mother and after a few formal preliminaries we left.

 

It was still raining fairly heavily and, as my vision was definitely improved with glasses, after opening the car door for her I walked round the back and popped them on and got in......she then said, "Excuse me, are you the same chap I met a minute ago?" We both had a good laugh........ I can`t remember what films we saw but afterwards we went upsairs on the corner of Acland and Barkly Strets now occupied by Coles ..Marge noticed a few of her boyfriends came in soon keeping an eye on us...

 

Walking back to the car I asked her whether she`d like to talk for a while? She agreed saying "Not for too long though" We then drove to a parking area opposite the then Elwood Life Saving Club ( now, I understand a well-known restaurant) known for obvious reasons as "Tail Light Alley", and it`s still called that for I read a reference to it in a local paper recently - anyway that was where we had our first kisses & cuddles........

 

I don`t know what time we arrived home but before this I was absolutelly positive she was the right girl for me after my 4-year search and she accepted my proposal....she hadn`t been out with many boys on their own,  - groups of boys and girls used to visit her home where she had 3 sisters. We immediately became secretly engaged and I bought her a gold chain bracelet on the catch of which was engraved a heart displaying 'M" & "H" which around to the bottom her wrist when necessary............

 

After about 6 months we told her parents, waited another six months to become formally engaged, that`s when she had the portrait taken wearing a backless dress to

which my Russian objected - on to which straps were eventually painted! We then married 12 months later on 15th May 1941. For a while we lived with Marge`s mother Sara and her three sisters - her father had country shops and came home intermittent her younger sister Mary was a shy, pretty girl and sometimes before coming to bed I`d gently knock on her door and whisper "Are you awake - move over.......you should have heard the scream!

 

Robert Burton (1577 - 1640) an English clergyman and writer said "No chord, nor cable can so forcibly bind or hold so fast, as love can do, with a twined thread"

 

 

                                 `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days

Simple Ordinary Things

When I was in hospital recently, celebrating my 89th birthday, I realised that for nearly 30 years I`d been privileged to be able to appreciate the simple ordinary things .....Before my retiremt at 59, from working for the always necessary dollar, like everyone else, my thoughts were focussed on my wife Marge, on our work and caring for our family. But then I began to think about the simple ordinary things of life.

 

 Things like food, drink, warmth, family love, family celebrations, sunshine, rain. Things like the first hot steaming cup of coffee in the morning, relaxing in the sunshine when it arrives to duly disperse the chilly, foggy mornings of winter; before that, the avidly absorbing, gentle changes of colur of the leaves at a ofutumn; Like sitting down to a delectable dinner in front  of an open fire and afterwards precisely penning together selections of wonderful (occasionally wise ) words.....

 

Simple things like the dramatic diversity of the sometimes sparkling shapes and captivating colours of fragrant flowers and the tempting taste of the first nectarines of the season; like enjoying a drink with a favoured old friend; like conversation around the dinner table, sometimes funny, sometimes deep and touching; sometimes stimulatinmg and infinitely inspiring. I think these thoughts come to one more easily with the onset of ageing.... I am aware I seem to be taking more time, doing things more slowly, counting my blessings more, often really listening to what people are saying and discussing their problems with those obviously seeking some help.

 

I discussed these ideas with an old friend not long ago and strangely enough he had found himself thinking along the same lines. In his own words, "I feel like someone who`s been told I`ve got 6 months to live - like a blind person who can suddenly see!" I suppose it`s something about hope, the eternal spirit you discover in all good people and in all simple and good happenings....

 

Have you ever experienced the exquisite satisfaction you get when you suddenly get an infuriating itch high up on  your back and the only way you can remove it it is with the help of a long-handled wire hair-brush -  and the rapturous relief felt when you`re in a strange locality and the need for a toilet becomes an urgency.............and you suddenly find one!

 

And at the end of the day, the welcoming warmth of the electric blanket if you sleep alone and if you don`t sleep alone - after pumping up the pillow and pulling up the covers, you put your arm around your loved one and then s -l -o-w -l -y slip into a sound sleep.........these are a few simple ordinary things!

 

 

                               `till next time, in about 7 - 10 days...

 

Wartime Memories

Marge and Harry and a little friend, 1942

 

I`m definitely becoming aware that my memory is shortening with the lengthening of my years....the Second World War years, 1939 - 1945 sure are a long way back and to me certainly seem so.......After conscription for 21 year-olds soon after the start I was drafted to Mt. Martha for a 3 month camp and duly medically examined and I can vividly remember a story going around  the tents at the time about a group of blokes who were a little illiterate and had two doctors examining them at once -  peering one in each earhole, and if they saw each other, they were drafted into the Military Police - having "nothing between the ears..."

 

Those three months were quite an emotive experience for me a true young "city-slicker" sleeping on a prim straw palliasse - close contact with 5 strangers in a tiny tent, being woken by a raucous blaring bugle before dawn, lining-up with a tin plate for meals, picking out khaki pants & tops and unmderwear from huge piles of dumped clothes, long monotonous marches, dreary drill etc,

 

We were issued with one leave-pass a fortnight (if my memory serves me correct) when I was able to catch up with my fiance Marge and my family. I really enjoyed my time in the Army and not very long afterwards, having given the idea much thought and family discussion I volunteered to go overseas with the AIF. However after another medical test my 90% blindness in my left eye soon stopped that idea.

 

I was working then as an audit clerk with Myer....price control had not been long introduced and stores & shops etc. were not allowed above a margin fixed by the government. It was my job to investigate all departments, interviewing staff etc. When, coincidentally I had to confront my old headmaster from Melbourne High School who, retired, was working there part-time. I remembered he had a face that looked as thought it had been carved out of granite with a manner to match.....I didn`t want to face him and soon changed places with another chap in my department.

 

Those were the food and clothing ration books and coupons as a result of government control of manufacturing and purchasing - the only way to deal with severe shortages of manpower and resources...Later on, in early December 1941, Marge and I, my Mum and Dad, Freda and Ken left Melbourne   to enter into a business partnership with my Uncle David Diamond, mum`s eldest brother who was operating a secondhand furniture shop in Lismore, northern New South Wales, after travelling against many folk escaping south from a possible invasion threat.........

 

We were holidaying in Ballina over Xmas when my father suddenly became ill and died in Lismore hospital just 46 years old of a brain tumour of and / or aneurismwhich prompted our immediate return to Melbourne and my eventual return to the Pay Corps of the Australian Army in Swanston St opposit  the Museum where I spent the rest of the war...........

 

The only battle in which I was engaged was "The Battle of Swanston St" in which I was daily engaged trying to get a seat on overcrowded trams....to keep fit, once a week we had to march around the  city streets with a break at Treasury Gardens for drill etc. They needed a Band to lead the troops and had great difficulty in getting a Drum Major to lead it. I volunteered, was immediately issued with a whistle and a long baton which I quickly learned to twist & turn in the proscribed manner....

 

Every now and then , when I considered it right,I would blow my whistle for the band to play and when I considered it right blow it again for them to stop, to give them a break.

When we reached the Gardens, the Band discreetly indulged in the practice of "spine-bashing" (lying on our backs etc.) while the troops indulged in various drills.My work was clerical because of my accountancy experience and I had the pleasure of talking with many famous Australians when collecting pay while on leave....

 

Once a week the Commanding Colonel carefully inspected long rows of desks with paper, pen & books all on the right corner in proper regimental order!(Typical Army.....)

 

VP day, August 15, when Japan surrendered, I was in a city Drill Hal having had drops in my eyes for a test and told to wait in a room till called. I was the only one there and I suddenly heard loud shouting, screaming and the honking of car horns....I came out of the room - the whole place was deserted and the doors were locked but after a while I found a wayout through a window and joined the mad mobs celebrating the end of the war and I had to ask someone to tell me what number tram to get as I couldn`t see prop-erly.....

 

 

                                 `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days

 

T R E E S

The dramatically devastating death of the majestic heritage-listed nearly 100 year old tree, 3-4 metres from residential buildings - madly murdered by wild winds on the edge of Ardoch`s Village Green was really remarkable because of no injury to human life and just one tiny window broken. It was memorably mourned by most of Ardoch`s 300 residents. After I related the news to ABC Radio`s Jon Faine for about 6 minutes, they immediately dispatched a camera crew from the newsroom........

Recently I came across some poems written by my marvellous Marge 22 years ago - wonderful words about a pine tree and perfect pine forest at at our previous "Prospect Hill Park " hone in Wandin North, just 10 minutes from lovely Lilydale. I`ve also added American author Joyce Kilmer`s well-known poem "Trees" often heard on radio sung by Richard Tauber and Paul Robeson.


The Pine Tree

I am but a small part of you. You are like me.
You too were transported from your environment to this new land.
You came, like me, to plant your seed in this new land.

We did not make the choice -it was made for us.
You were a seed in someone`s pocket - but more than that
You were a seed in a man`s heart and imagination.....

We came to this land as strangers - your seeds
are scattered by the winds.
You,in your mighty splendour give new depth of colour

to this ancient land. You, like me, am an intruder.
We came to this land not by choice - we were brought
here by necessity to survive.

My need of you is greater than life. You are life......
My life...to me you are the old and the new
I too have given birth to new life and learned

to love this new land. Your vast branches and rough
crusty trunk deep[ with colourand smell, and your
tears of resin bring me back to size.....

I am nothing without you...


Mother Pine

You stand tall and proud - your peak soars to the sky.
Your arms spread wide to protect your root system.
You are shy,yes, you vevever shed your gown

You only drop your needles one by one.
You are always perfumed, always ready to dance
and sing in case the wind blows.

You only make music with your upper half -
You drop your cones...you groan, you creak - you
groan, you creak....

This is your way to ask me to look at you...
"Look at me -look at me you say" and I do
You spread your domain with a coloured mist

And with it you engulf you. If you would have me,
Mother Pine when I am no more
My ashes I would give to your bosom.


Marge Greenberg February 1986



I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree,
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth`s flowing breast,

A tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair,
Uoun whose bosom snow has lain who intimately lives with rain

Poems are made by fools like me, but only god can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer


`till next time - about 7 - 10 days.....

D I S A B I L I T Y

All my  long life I`ve been a fast walker - so much so that friends often asked my dear deceased wife Marge, "Is Harry a nervous person - he walks so quickly...?" She would tell me and we`d both enjoy a good laugh. I`v never been nervous or anxious, I rarely allowed anything to upset me, believing that response is negative and futile. I`ve believed for a long time that "Nothing matters it`s how you deal with it that`s important."  

 

Well, one day I`m an extremely fit "oldie" with every minute of every day satisfactorily invested, and the next morning when endeavouring to stand up out of bed I felt unduly unsteady and couldn`t walk without grabbing hold of cupboard door handles, furniture etc. thinking gosh I`m disabled!

 

As I`ve aged I`d adopted the habit of not hopping out of bed instantly when conscious but dangling my legs to avoid giddiness but this was something different and I spent quite a few minutes hobbling up to my study to find out from the dictionary the meaning of "disabled" which is "deprived of physical or intellectual power or pecuniary means" and immediately thought thank goodness I`m not deprived of pecuniary means!

 

I was fortunate to have remembered seeing a shop in High St Prahran that sold wheel-chairs and walking aids and soon took a taxi there, rapidly returning home with a 4-pronged stick to help me around the apartment and was soon acquiring the necessary skills to enable me to use the stick in my right hand and carefully carry and balance a cup of coffee, food or what ever in my left I need to carry anywhere.

 

I sure have slowed down, having to think whether whatever I wish to carry is too heavy or awkward before starting off automatically............I had a visit from a physiotherapist who checked my stick and my walking, and commenting on my obvious wobbling gait suggested I return it and get a normal adjustable stick and consider a 4-wheeled walker with brakes. He also considered I consult a neurologist feeling I`d possibly suffered a small stroke.

 

Since penning those thoughts above I`d suffered a very nasty fall. I`d opened my front door, just before 7am to pick up my Age usually on the mat or near to  it but it wasn`t there but when I looked up, there it was about12 metres away in the middle of the road, obviously carelessly chucked by the deliverer. I was momentarily a little annoyed and hobbled across to it without my stick, leaned over and crashed face down on the brutal bitumen. I did not pass out, suddenly becoming aware of blood streaming from my forehead, cheeks, nose elbows and knees...I just lay there...for how long I don`t know and I`ll never know how I eventually stood up ( not a soul in sight) with nothing to grasp but I did, getting on one knee by pushing down and hobbling inside through the apartment leaving a thick trail of blood through the long passage to the laundry where I kept my store of first-aid equipment. I quickly washed the wounds as best I could and sloshed Betadine all over them and covered them with some sticky plaster. I then contacted those of my family I could and after having the wounds properly dressed by a professional intensive care nurse, my dear friend Libby McLean, holidaying in her Ardoch town-house.  from her home in the Blue Mountains. I was soon admitted to caring Cabrini Hospital (see my blog 27.3.08) for a stay of 5 days..

 

It really was remarkable nothing at all was fractured. Since coming home from Cabrini, I`ve regained enough confidence, with my wonderful 4-wheel walker to visit Carlisle St, have a most necessary haircut, visit the bank & do a little necessary shopping. Although there`s a taxi-rank I waited about half an hour before using my mobile for the first time, getting a cab and then swiftly home.

 

I thought.... how much we take for granted like good health etc. and how rarely do we appreciate our many many blessings.........

 

 

Re disability, I came across an old Greek proverb................"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king....."

 

                              `till next time, in about 7-10 days....

 

My 2008 Easter

I spent my 89th birthday on Easter Sunday surrounded by dozens & dozens of gorgeous girls........(No - I wasn`t dreaming) OK - some of them may be in their late fifties but they all exemplify the endearing enthusiasm of the nurses at Cabrini Hospital...one morning I was woken at 5.30 by an Indian lady named Devi who flashed me a most magnificent smile as she took my temperature, checked my blood pressure etc. I told her what I thought of her smile and how, when travelling in a tram or train I`d lean across the aisle telling folk they had a beautiful smile and not keep it for themself but keep on giving it away! Then I`m always rewarded with a sunnier smile and occasionally "You`ve made my day"....... being a cheeky oldie I can get away with it. Devi told me she`d been nursing at Cabrini for over 3O years...I was astonished, she only looked about 40-45.

 

During the day I tactfully asked other nurses  how long they`d worked there - one saying "A really long time, about 20 years"  it was her turn to be astonished when I told her about Devi. I soon restored her possible slide in "self esteem"(truthfully) when I said "Impossible - you told me you are a grandmother"

 

While I was bearing my bottom for an injection to Trish a pretty youngster in her late 40`s or early , I learned prior joining Cabrini she`d worked many years in the "Age" for Ray Davie the CEO of the Real Estate Section. I knew Ray really well when I had a real estate agency in Croydon. He and I shared such a remarkable rapport & I was honoured by his absolute trust for the valuable top spot in the muchly-desired Editorial,  he accepting without question, the veracity of the admirable adjectives I`d chosen to describe a property.

 

I think I`ve mentioned before, as I age, I`m absolutely amazed how so-called "coincidences".. constantly seem to occur..while here at Cabrini I learned that Sonia & Fred Hall, a pair of my kind,caring neighbours at Ardoch who have a mirror image of my apartment above me, attend the same synagogue as my neurologist who happens to be related to my niece Geri Lazarus by marriage.....Jo has just rung me to tell me when reading Boba`s Jewish Cook Book , a fund-raising effort for Bialik College she`d found a recipe of Sonia Hall.....

 

Prior to Sunday, for a few weeks I actually felt my age - that is 89 instead of 35 as I`ve felt for quite a long time....however last saturday night I had the best sleep for weeks then, after being woken at 6am for tests I slipped into a serene slumber  awakening at 7.40. At 7.42in came my elder daughter Jo and hubby Jim, carrying the biggest coffee-iced chocolate cream cake (my favourite) with son Peter & wife Vonne...2 minutes later in came my breakfast and so we immediately strolled to a spot with plenty of chairs for the 5 of us ( spare room in a 4-bed ward is very limited) so I enjoyed a terrific birth-day party. Campbell,`s second son with Meg his elder daughter had popped in with birthday wishes the day before and later on Sunday and yes, I still feelhis brother James, wife Elaine & children Jacob Ailsa and Matthew arrived so we walked to the same spot as earlier - this time for an afternoon party . An hour or so later Sally, Peter`s eldest daughter arrived with Gabe and my 10th great-grandchild Toby Bo, about 8 weeks old flashing me the most beautiful smiles - especially when photographed across the handles of my 4-wheeled walker carrying L and P plates made by Jo as a reminder to take care as I`d been caught speeding - that is walking too fast in the corridors, as I`ve always walked all my life.

 

Later on,Peter & Vonne`s second daughter Wendy with her 6ft 5 Norwegian partner havard, came to say goodbye as they left next to return to Oslo, It was agreed we`d postpone the planned family party and treasure- hunt until my  90th birthday next year. Meanwhile I enjoyed a delectable bottle of Chardonnay given me with a goblet and

a huge magnificently-presented cellohane & ribbon-wrapped basket of fruit from Cabrini.......and yes, I still feel 35   (in the mind).........................

 

 

                                            `till next time - about 7-10 days