By Goya Dmytryshchak
Long-time Brooklyn resident Harry Downs had to pay for an electricity pole when he built the house he still lives in. As he prepares to celebrate his 90th birthday on July 31, he speaks with Goya Dmytryshchak about some of the changes he has seen.
What’s your connection to Hobsons Bay?
I bought this block of land. I paid 150 pound for it and I paid it off 10 shillings a week. I worked at Weston and Murray abattoirs. When I started at the meat works, I was 13.
Why did you settle in Brooklyn?
When I was working at the Weston and Murray, it was a two-storey place with louvre windows in the freezer part and I used to look through the louvres and look across here and this was just one big bald hill.
It was called Quayle’s Hill. They used to have a riding school. And I used to look through the windows and thought, I wouldn’t mind living over there. I used to have a motorbike and sidecar and I used to just ride around looking, and I thought, this looks all right.
I just went from there. I bought the land from Dawson and Condie in Footscray. Ten bob a week. My wages was a pound and six pence a week. So, I bought the land and I suppose I spent two years paying it off.
Borthwicks and Gilbertsons used to bring their stock up from Newmarket, used to drive it up Geelong Road and bring them over here.
You had to install the telegraph pole for electricity when you built your home?
They said to me, if you want the electricity on, you have to have a 4×4 pole, strutted four ways, four foot in the ground, 14 feet out of the ground and we’ll put the power on for you. Well, I had to dig that out myself.
I’ll tell you about the water. We used to have a 44-gallon drum with a tap on it. My wife used to do the washing, everything, out of that. I had to go into the Board of Works and tell them what I wanted and they said, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anyway, I pulled a few strings and they said if you want to put the line in, we’ll connect it to the main. So, I had to do all the digging … 2100 feet. I can remember because it burnt a hole in me.
I did it when the Queen was here in 1954 and I had to stop with a flag to let the Queen go past before I could get on with the work.
What don’t you like about Brooklyn?
All the old houses are getting pulled down and flats are getting built. Parking is a big problem. I’ve got a car and they have to be up the driveway – you can’t leave them in the street.
Do you have a favourite cafe or restaurant?
Yes, it’s in Williamstown. The Lion Dance. My granddaughter, they had their wedding reception in that Chinese restaurant, and I’ve known them for 30-40 years. He’s a very friendly man.
What was the Brooklyn area like, growing up?
No larrikins. A lot of smells from the meat works and the skin stores. You could cut slices from the air. And the dust.
What’s your favourite place in the area?
Here. Home in Corrigan Avenue.
