At the Foot of the Cherry Tree

‘At the Foot of the Cherry Tree’ cover

My first four-week trip to Australia in 1986 was going to be my last one. Life had other plans though and in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1996 I revisited Melbourne, staying in the eastern suburb of Box Hill. The motel I stayed in was fine at the time; it now generates the most extraordinarily bad reviews (‘I would rather sleep homeless in a warzone that in this hellhole’)! In those days, Box Hill was the Korean capital of Melbourne; it’s changed significantly since then with a number of high-rise towers being built in recent years and Mandarin Chinese now being the single most spoken language in Box Hill homes.

Roll the clock forward to 2008 and I moved to Australia, not to continue the suburban life I’d left behind but for a new life in a Melbourne Docklands high-rise. Box Hill still interested me so in time I joined the Box Hill Historical Society. Our monthly talks have covered a wide range of subjects. I’ve particularly enjoyed those from members describing growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, comparing my UK experience with theirs.

July 2024’s talk was one that I went to unsure as to how interesting it would be. How wrong I was! Our guest speaker, Alli Parker, told us about her historical novel, At the Foot of the Cherry Tree. It’s a novelisation of the true story of Australia’s first Japanese war bride, Alli’s grandmother, who came to Melbourne after World War II, but only after a long hard struggle.

Alli’s grandfather, Gordon Parker (b.1928), the second of seven children, grew up in Ringwood, 10km east of Box Hill, and at 18 volunteered to serve in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) who were stationed in Kure, 20km SE of Hiroshima. Following the end of WW2, BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarisation. On his first day there, he met Nobuko Sakuramoto (“Cherry”), a 16-year-old atomic bomb survivor, who was employed as an orderly in the BCOF camp. Despite strict anti-fraternisation rules between the Australians and Japanese, the two became friends and fell in love.

As Gordon’s service came to an end, he decided that he wanted to bring Cherry back to Melbourne as his war bride. Opposition came from all sides. Many Japanese wanted nothing to do with those they saw as responsible for the horrific bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Australians, like other allies, were all too mindful of the treatment that had been meted out to their POWs by the Japanese. Almost no one could understand why Gordon should do something so stupid as to get involved with a Japanese girl, let alone marry her – twice, at a Sinto shrine in 1948, then at a Japanese Anglican church in 1950 after he discovered the White Australia policy wouldn’t let her into the country.

The defeat of Labor in 1949 had led to a change of immigration minister: Arthur Calwell, a staunch proponent of the White Australia policy, was replaced by Harold Holt. Holt continued with the White Australia policy but “added his human touch and flexibility to hardship cases.” The press carried articles sympathetic to Gordon and Cherry’s plight which evoked a lot of public support, though not from everyone.

And then … At then end of 1951 Cherry and children were granted visas to come to Australia. Note everyone cheered: ‘Distressed Father’ of Sale wrote to the Herald: “As a father of two sons fighting in Korea, I protest against Mr. Gordon Parker being given approval to bring his Eurasian children and Japanese wife here. We are fighting right now for the right of whites to live in their own country. We do not want Eurasian children to mix with our children in schools or anywhere else.”

The voyage to Sydney took a month. The press were in force to record the arrival of Australia’s first Japanese war bride. Trans Australia Airlines had laid on limousine to take them to the airport for the flight to Melbourne.

At the Parker home in Ringwood friends and family were gathered. A huge pile of cards and gifts from unknown well-wishers showed the better side of Australian society. On the other side, the threatening and abusive phone calls and letters would continue for months: Cherry was not allowed to answer the phone or open the mail.

Don’s father addressed the crowd. These may not have been his actual words, but they were his sentiments:

‘First of all, I’d like to thank all of you for being here today to celebrate Cherry’s arrival home. It is marvellous to see all of our family and friends here to welcome the three additions to our family in Cherry, Margaret and Kathleen. Plus the little one on the way.’

‘Today is a signiﬁcant day in so many ways. It marks our family being ﬁnally reunited. It marks a change in government thinking as to who is permitted to live among all of us as our neighbours. And it marks a fundamental truth in that the power of love is stronger than any of us could have imagined. My son fell in love. Everyone told him it was the wrong type of love. His fellow soldiers. The Army. The government. But Gordon, channelling a level of stubbornness that can only be inherited from both myself and my wife, refused to listen. Why should the government decide whom he could marry?’

‘So Gordon fought. And he kept faith. Even in the face of impossible odds, he never gave up. Why? ‘Because he loved his wife, his two daughters, his third unborn child. He never stopped believing that he had a right to bring his family home. He never stopped ﬁghting. And here we are. His belief changed a ﬁfty-year-old immigration policy, a policy some would argue is carved in stone, to allow his family to be here today with all of us. It is my deepest wish that today be only the beginning of a long and happy life for both of you.’

And so it was. Gordon died in 2010, bringing this 62-year-old love affair to a close. In 1957 Cherry became the first Asian person to be granted Australian citizenship, though the White Australia policy would only be formally abolished in 1975. Tragically, in 1958 Gordon’s father, Harry, was killed by a drunken driver. His contribution to civic life is marked by the H.E.Parker reserve in Heathmont being named after him.

There’s so much more to this story. I’d encourage you to buy and read the book. You’ll be moved to tears by the tales of love and kindness, cruelty and prejudice. It was originally conceived as a screenplay and may yet become a film.

The book: At the Foot of the Cherry Tree by Alli Parker, pub. 2023 by Harper Collins Australia, ISBN 9781460763520

Life in Box Hill, one of Australia’s strongest Chinese communities (video 2:14):

Alli Parker talks about her book at the Leaf Bookshop (video 17:46)

Alli Parker talks about her book: Better Reading podcast (video 32:20)

Warm welcome arranged for Japanese wife (Australian Women’s Weekly, July 1952)

Portarlington by ferry

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Portarlington is a small bayside town (2021 pop. 4436) on the Bellarine Peninsula, 104 km (64 miles) from Melbourne Docklands by road, just 45km (28 mi.) over water.

Earlier this month some of my neighbours and I spent a day in Portarlington, taking advantage of the Port Phillip Ferries ‘Grand Day Out’ package which covers the return ferry journey from Docklands to Portarlington fare and lunch with an included drink at the Grand Hotel. Helped by beautiful weather we had a great day. After lunch the rest of our party went on the optional (free) winery trip; I went for a very pleasant walk enjoying the sunshine.

The ferry

In contrast to Sydney most of Melbourne’s bayside settlements have from early days been well served by rail. An 1892 proposal to build a railway to Portarlington was rejected: “the Sectional Committee do not think the line is justified. The roads throughout the district are very good, and conveyance to market cheap and convenient. On one side of the district traversed there is the Drysdale railway station, on the Geelong and Queenscliff line, while two lines of well appointed steamers call at Portarlington daily, and furnish a cheap and direct communication with the Melbourne market.” The steamers would continue to operate until the 1940s when better road transport took over.

In 2016 a new outfit, Port Phillip Ferries, started a ferry service between Wyndham Harbour in Werribee South and Melbourne Docklands using a 400-seat, 35-metre EnviroCat ferry built in 2011 as a crew-transfer vessel for Gladstone LNG. The patronage was low, most potential passengers sticking with the existing Werribee train service. Undeterred, Port Phillip Ferries decided to run to Portarlington instead. A look at the map shows that this makes a lot more sense. The new service started in August 2016. Two purpose-built Incat fast catamaran ferries, Bellarine Express (2017) and Geelong Flyer (2019) now run the service. They are 36 metres long and can take just over 400 passengers. The maximum service speed is 28 knots or about 52kph.

Journey’s end

At Docklands the ferry originally docked on the south side of Victoria Harbour. Subsequently a café, t/a Off with the Ferries, located at the harbour end became the terminus, offering refreshments and shelter for a limited number of passengers. Then in 2022 this was replaced by a full-service terminal.

At the Portarlington end, docking was originally at an open jetty. Significant upgrades were made to the harbour in 2017: the existing northern breakwater was extended and a new eastern breakwater constructed, thus greatly increasing the sheltered water area. A $10 million upgrade to Portarlington Pier in 2022 provided a covered walkway along the pier.

The journey

Initially the ferry operation was handicapped by the low speed limit applying to the lower section of the Yarra river, largely to prevent bank erosion from vessel wash. From December 2017 a trial allowed the ferry to operate at an increased maximum speed of 15 knots on the section below the West Gate Bridge. Between the West Gate and Bolte bridges, the speed limit of 6 knots was left unchanged. Since then an exemption has been granted allowing the ferries to operate at 15 knots subject to visibility and other conditions. The schedule time is now one hour ten minutes; Google Maps gives a drive time of around an hour and a half.

And finally … Portarlington itself

Given the small population, it’s not too surprising that there’s not too much on offer. Somehow I managed to miss the Portarlington Mill, now a museum. The Grand Hotel, where we had lunch, is one of the town’s most prominent buildings. It was originally built in 1888. In 2019 it was purchased by the Little Group, parent company of Port Phillip Ferries and has since been the subject of a $10 million refurbishment. After lunch I walked along the foreshore, first in an easterly direction, then westerly until I came to the miniature railway track (trains run on Sundays). Then back to the pier for the ferry home.

Trial by Jury

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Among the musical works I enjoy are Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas. My first encounter with them was their 1875 ‘Trial by Jury’. The plot concerns a “breach of promise of marriage” lawsuit in which the judge and legal system are the objects of light-hearted satire.

In 1881 The Graphic noted that when considering such cases, “the Court has to decide whether any promise has ever been made, and this entails the reading of many love-letters which, however amusing to people in general, cannot but be exceedingly painful to both of the parties concerned, while occasionally it is an absolute waste of public time.” One such case, in early 1906, concerned New Malden (Surrey) undertaker Frederick Paine, then aged 35.

Was this sad case of interest to anyone outside the NW Surrey area? Apparently so: amongst the many newspapers carrying the story were the Hartlepool Daily Mail, Drogheda Conservative, Derby Daily Telegraph and Halifax Daily Guardian. The Dublin Evening Mail helpfully told its readers that Mr. Paine was “a gentleman of very ample proportions and a gentle voice” whilst Laura Mills was a “young lady of great literary gifts”. The Belper News rated it an amusing breach of promise case. Most news reports ran to several hundred words (probably from agency copy), but the Surrey Comet’s report ran to nearly 3,000!

Reynolds News, Sunday 04 February 1906, reported the case thus:

LAUNDRESS OBTAINS DAMAGES FOR BREACH OF PROMISE

In the King’s Bench Division on Monday. before Mr. Justice Darling, and a jury, Miss Laura Charlotte Mills now of Merton-road, Southfield, sued Mr. Frederick Owen [William] Paine, an undertaker and house and estate agent. of New Malden, Surrey, for damages for breach of promise of marriage.

Defendant pleaded that the relations between him and Miss Mills were purely platonic. Counsel for the plaintiff stated that the latter assisted her brother in a laundry, and defendant in partnership with her mother, carrying on the business of an undertaker, ironmonger. and house agent. The parties became acquainted in 1894, where they were both living at the time. He became “struck with her,” said counsel, and asked her to marry him. The reaction came in May, 1904, after “hundreds of letters” had passed between the lovers, and the undertaker had put off the marriage several times. He became very cold and terminated the engagement.

The lady’s counsel then gave the Court a number of glimpses into the voluminous correspondence of the pair. In one of the first the swain signed himself, “Scorcher.” ”

“A Lot of Humbug”

Here is a note dated January 4, 1901 :

My Dear – I expect you will be looking for a letter from me, so I must not disappoint you. I well know what it is waiting for the post coming in. I think there is nothing more trying.

I have a very bad headache. I have been to chapel twice and church once this week. At the latter I was present at a christening. It struck me as being a lot of humbug, and I wondered whether I should ever be called upon to play a similar part in a similar ceremony. It was the first baby of a newly-married couple. The Vicar … said it was a beautiful baby, and ever so good.—

With love, yours faithfully. FRED

A letter of his, in a different strain, ran thus. Its date was May 25.1905 :-

Madame, I have received a letter from your solicitor. l am astonished at audacity. After all the kindness and sympathy I have shown you, and after all I have done, you threaten to blackmail me because you failed to inveigle me to marry you. Since you abuse what intended for a purely platonic friendship, I feel justified in making use of your letters, all of which I have kept and also if I find certain relatives are assisting are you, I shall feel justified in giving them certain statements you made concerning their moral character.

Mr. Moyses, for defendant, said Mr. Paine would deny that he made a promise to marry. He was an undertaker, and a funeral was more in his line than a marriage. In the witness box Mr. Paine emphatically denied that he ever made a promise. The jury, after deliberating for a quarter of an hour, awarded plaintiff £50 damages and costs.

Two things surprise me about this case:

Firstly, before writing this piece I would have expected such cases to be the preserve of the upper and upper middle classes, perhaps where an engagement had been announced in The Times or The Lady and then broken off, but here we have a laundry assistant and undertaker in the High Court. Virtually all the cases thrown up by a search on ‘Breach of Promise’ in the British Newspaper Archive concern ‘ordinary’ people: a housekeeper and baker, a nurse and grocer, a parlourmaid and electrician and so on. Confining the search to ‘London Evening Standard’ and ‘1906’ pulls up 125 reports, no doubt all lapped up by a prurient audience.

Secondly, the verdict. In his summing up his Lordship said that “in the letters there was not one word about marriage. If there was a promise of marriage it was remarkable that it was not mentioned in the letters.” I read this as a strong hint to the jury to dismiss the claim, but they didn’t. The £50 damages (+ costs) would have equated to around a year’s wages for Miss Mills, a not insubstantial amount.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

P.S. About what happened to Laura Mills. I know nothing. Do you? Frederick Paine went on to marry but the marriage ended in divorce. On his death in 1945 his undertaking business, then one of the largest in the country passed to his sister, then in turn to London Necropolis, Alliance Property, Great Southern Group, SCI and then Dignity plc. Breach of promise lawsuits in UK were abolished from 1 January 1971 (More).

Who was Mr Bridges?

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From a young age I was keen on making things using odd bits of wood. The Showmax hardware shop on Waldegrave Road had a box of timber offcuts, sixpence each, more than a few sold to me. Other boys got footballs and cricket bats as Christmas and birthday presents; I was thrilled to receive a hand drill for my ninth or tenth birthday. What I dreamed of, though, was the day when I would be old enough, responsible enough and strong enough to have an electric drill. In the years before this milestone was reached, I had to make do with the small ads all promising a wonderful assortment of ‘freebies’ since discounting was not then allowed.

The first portable handheld drill was created by in 1895 by Stuttgart brothers Wilhelm & Carl Fein whose company still makes top class power tools. In 1917 the first trigger-switch, pistol-grip portable drill was patented by Black & Decker USA. In the UK the first DIY drill seems to have been Wolf’s Cub, introduced in the late 1940s; my dad owned one with a number of attachments, but I don’t remember him ever using it.

Which? magazine published its first report on electric drills in December 1963. They tested 15 models from these makers: Black & Decker (5); Stanley-Bridges (3); Wolf (2); Speedway (2) and one each from Miller Falls, Selecta and Winfield (Woolworths own brand). Two only were two-speed drills and none had a hammer option. Nearly 13 years later, the February 1976 Handyman Which? carried a report on 14 drills, all double-insulated, all but three two-speed. Makers: Black & Decker (6); Stanley-Bridges (4); and one each from Bosch, Makita, Metabo and Wolf. For domestic scale construction mains drills are now rarely seen; cordless drills sourced from the far east dominate the market.

In 1957 Harold Macmillan told UK voters that they’d “never had it so good”. British industry was thriving. During the 1960s manufacturing accounted for 27% of London’s economic output; (it’s now just 1.8%). The big three’s drills were all made in London: Black & Decker UK had moved to Harmondsworth (near Heathrow) in 1940, Wolf to Pioneer Works in Hanger Lane in 1935, and S.N.Bridges to York Road, Battersea, SW11 in 1959.

From here I’ll focus on Bridges. For more on Wolf and Black & Decker check out these links on Ultimate Handyman and Progress is Fine blog.

S.N.Bridges & Co. was founded in 1937. By the time they moved to Battersea they had 600 employees. Alongside power tools, in the early 1960s they also made domestic appliances: food mixers, hairdryers, electric blankets, heaters etc.

An October 1959 ad reminds us of office work in pre-computer days: “S. N. Bridges & Co. Ltd., manufacturers of the world-famous range of Portable Electric Tools, have now moved into their new spacious premises at York Road, London, S.W.11 Vacancies on the permanent staff can now be filled for the following: Senior Secretaries; Senior and Junior Shorthand-Typists; Dictaphone Typists; Comptometer Operators; Sales Ledger Clerks; Export Shipping Clerks; Cost Analysis Clerks; Invoice Clerks. Only ladies of proved ability and experience, who are desirous of obtaining permanent worthwhile employment, should apply. Applications in writing, with copy references, stating fully qualifications, age, experience and salary, should be addressed to the Company Secretary….”

In 1961 Bridges was acquired by Stanley, the long-established hand tool manufacturer, the power tools now being branded as Stanley-Bridges.

In 1963 the company needed “Temporary Female Assembly Operators. Normal hours of employment, 42-hour week. Company offers attractive rates of pay together with excellent conditions of employment”.

A 1966 advert was looking for capstan setter operators, milling setter operators, machine minders and other workers for the night shift, four nights 9.30p.m.-8.00a.m. followed by a long weekend, 8.00a.m. Friday to 9.30p.m. Monday.

In 1968 there were still no laws against age or sex discrimination: “Managing Director’s Secretary: A secretary is required for our Managing Director. She should possess an efficient and pleasing personality, be a competent shorthand-typist, and should be able to operate at senior executive level for extended periods without close supervision. Age from 23 years.”

But for Bridges employees there was more to life than work. The South Western Star, 5 February 1960 recorded*:

“The sports and social club of S. N. Bridges & Co. of Battersea entertained 196 children of members to a tea and entertainment in the works restaurant on Saturday. After tea the youngsters were entertained with magic and a Punch and Judy show by Clown Will Kindred, assisted by Mrs. D. Fisher, a member of the club. … Another member filled the role of Father Christmas and each child received a present, fruit and chocolates. Visitors included Mr. D. G. Bridges and Mr. S. R. Kilner, directors of S. N. Bridges …”.

The South Western Star, 9 December 1960, reported* on the firm’s dinner dance held at the company’s sports and social club at Kensington. 300 staff members and wives from round the UK were invited for an expenses paid weekend with the 80 out-of-town visitors being given a Saturday morning factory tour. Mr. G. N. Bridges, managing Director and Mr. D. G. Bridges, Financial Director, hosting.

Was London getting too expensive or staff too hard to find? A decade after moving to Battersea, another move was afoot. The Newcastle Journal – Wednesday 17 June 1970 reported*

“Why Stanley-Bridges picked Cramlington”

“The world’s leading manufacturer of hand tools is running down London plant and settling up on the Nelson Industrial Estate at Cramlington. “We are doing this to meet our future expansion programme,” said Mr. Derek Mills, managing director of Stanley-Bridges, product of a merger in 1961 between United States-based Stanley and the London family firm of S. N. Bridges and Co. Stanley-Bridges has other plants in Sheffield but it is closing down in Battersea and settling In the North-East principally because the labour pool Is greater than in the South.

Wills, in Cramlington yesterday, said other facts that influenced the move were the North East’s excellent schools. living accommodation and communications and the persuasive powers of Northumberland County Council and the Board of Trade. By August upwards of 300 people, two-thirds of them men and almost all locally recruited, will have the plant In full production on hand and power operated tools for industrial and domestic markets. Main production area of the £500,000 plant is a 72,000 sq. ft. unit.”

After another ten or so years, Stanley-Bridges was no more. Several forum posts suggest that they were taken over by Bosch and then closed down. Anyone know more? Please respond in the comments. And does anyone know anything about Mr. S.N.Bridges? For someone who set up a company that employed nearly a thousand people at its peak and traded for sixty or so years, he’s apparently left no virtual footprint. Or perhaps I’ve yet to find it?

* Links to British Newspaper Archive ($$$)

Stanley-Bridges DR2T drill advert (TalkTenPin)

Stanley-Bridges XL330 drill (Handyman Which?)

Stanley-Bridges XJ422 drill (Handyman Which?)

First time Perth

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My second cruise of 2024 was on the Queen Mary 2 from Fremantle to Sydney, calling in at Adelaide and Melbourne. The two drivers for me booking this cruise were a desire to make another voyage on the QM2 and to fulfil my ambition to visit Perth.

The cruise was leaving Fremantle (Perth’s port) on Saturday February 17th; to have some sightseeing time I flew out to Perth from Melbourne on the preceding Tuesday afternoon. It’s a 4hr 15min flight (2721km/1691mi) and during daylight saving a three-hour time difference.

Since 2022 a rail service has connected the airport and city. I stayed at the Holiday Inn, Perth City Centre, a ten minute walk from the station and right next to the heart of the city. I’d happily stay there again.

My stay coincided with a heatwave. With an eye to the forecast temperatures (on the Thursday the mainland temperature would reach 41.7C/107F) I decided to spend Wednesday in Perth, Thursday on Rottnest Island and Friday in Fremantle. I obviously wasn’t going to see everything and the heat was energy sapping.

Having taken a quick Tuesday evening stroll to get my bearings, I decided to start Wednesday by joining the free Convicts and Colonials guided walk, one of nine volunteer-led walks run by City of Perth. Excellent and informative. Highlights included the Town Hall, Government House and Supreme Court.

Next a short walk to Elizabeth Quay, currently being redeveloped. The walk took me through the extraordinary London Court, a mock Tudor open-air shopping arcade built in the mid-1930s by Western Australian mining entrepreneur Claude Albo de Bernales. As his bio records, he amassed a fortune, lost it all, and died as a recluse in the UK. I went back to visit it several times.

From Elizabeth Quay busport I took the free bus to Kings Park, offering a view over the city centre. The park incorporates the Botanic Gardens but given the heat, I went no further than the entrance. Instead I took the bus back to the city to spend the afternoon in the Western Australia Museum Boola Bardip. The new museum building only opened in 2020.

On leaving I realised that my camera was missing – nowadays I generally take photos on my phone, only using my camera where I need either extremity of the zoom lens, so I wasn’t sure where I’d last seen it. A quick retrace of my steps in the museum failed to locate it. I decided to wait a day to see if it turned up.

Thursday, I took a train to Fremantle, then the Rottnest Express ferry. Rottnest Island is famed for its population of quokkas, small marsupials the size of a cat. You don’t have to look hard to see them. The shops have half-height swing doors to keep them out. Touching or feeding them is prohibited, but more than a few tourists ignore the signs, risking a fine.

Friday morning was spent retrieving my camera. It hadn’t been handed in at the museum or at King’s Park. On calling the bus company’s lost property number I was relieved to be told that they had it – it must have fallen out of my manbag on Wednesday’s bus ride back to the CBD. Collecting it necessitated a train ride to Claisebrook depot, but I was glad to get it back. In future I’ll be more careful!

Then off to Fremantle for the afternoon, visiting the Maritime Museum and the E-shed and 1897 markets. Time only allowed a quick look at the outside of Fremantle Prison, built by convicts In the 1850s, then back to the hotel.

My allotted boarding time for the QM2 was not until mid-afternoon, leaving the morning free. A twenty-minute walk from the hotel along Hay Street took me to Perth Mint. The one-hour tour, including a live gold pour, was well worth the cost.

Then back to the hotel to collect my case and, for the third day in a row, the train to Fremantle. Before too long I was aboard the ship, ready for the three-day sail to Adelaide. Hopefully I’ll be back in Perth at some point and be able to see the things I missed this time.

A cheap DVD player

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Do people still buy DVD players? Yes, me, last week!

125 years ago being able to choose what you listened to or watched was an idea yet to happen. Now most listening and viewing is facilitated by streaming services. How did we get here?

Mass-market home entertainment began at the end of the nineteenth century with the mass production of phonographic cylinders. Flat 78rpm records followed (1898), then vinyl records (1948), audio cassettes (1963) and CDs (1982). Now, of course, most people get their music from iTunes, Amazon music and other streaming services.

On the video side, as with audio, streaming services like Netflix are now dominant. Home video recorders, often only used to play pre-recorded tapes, didn’t appear until the 1970s, spawning video rental shops in most shopping centres. From the late 1990s VHS tapes were replaced by DVDs, then from 2006 Blu-ray disks. Blockbuster started in 1985; at its peak in 2004,it operated 9,094 stores employing 84,300 people worldwide. In 2014 the last company-owned store closed.

When I moved from UK to Melbourne in 2008 I didn’t bring much with me, around 500 books (I disposed of as many again before emigrating), my collection of 70+ souvenir coffee mugs from around the world (places I’d visited), my DVD collection (non Blu-ray) and not much else. Otherwise the plan was to buy everything I needed when I got here.

When it came to choosing a DVD player my choice was limited by needing an all-zone model so I could play my UK (zone 2) and any newly-purchased Australian (zone 4) disks. I found a Sony unit (DVP-NS708HB, just A$120) which has served me well for sixteen years but recently started to throw errors. Removing the cover and blowing out any dust didn’t change things so it was time to look for a new player. Of course I might have taken the old one to a repairer first but that could have meant paying a $50 assessment fee only to be told it was not repairable.

So to my new player. I was quite prepared to spend A$250 for a quality unit. I didn’t need Blu-ray but definitely needed a multi-region player. At one time the likes of Good Guys would have had dozens on display to choose from. No more: streaming has taken over and DVD players have all but disappeared from retail shelves. So off to Amazon where I settled on a Shiwakoto multi-region DVD Player for A$54.98 (UK £29) – if it didn’t deliver it was an amount I could afford to lose.

A couple of days later it arrived. Or did it? The box told me that it contained a Maite PDVD-955 MTDVD-10 Pro player, reassuringly made of ‘strong iron’, features including ‘Flexible controls … even play back‘! Fancy that: a DVD player that plays disks! According to their website, Maite produce more than two million DVDs and other audio products per year; their DVD range extends to 212 models!

Inside the box? The player, remote (no batteries), HDMI and RCA cables and an instruction manual for a Shiwakoto SH-DVP23 MAX, the manual cover picture looking nothing like the actual player. Inside it told me that “this product is guaranteed for six months”, “valid in North America only”. The player was, thankfully, fitted with an Australian plug.

Of course, I wasted no time in connecting it up. All good – the disk that my Sony had refused to load burst into life and I was back in business. Picture quality: I don’t know how a professional technician would assess it, but it’s perfectly acceptable. Of course if I had a mix of standard and Blu-ray disks, I’d no doubt be well aware of the better quality afforded by the latter’s 1920×1080 resolution as compared with standard DVDs (720×576).

If I remember, I’ll report back in a couple of years as to how well this unit is performing. If you’ve got any questions please put them in the comments.

Adelaide 2024

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2024 started with two cruises, each of which included a visit to Adelaide.

Cruise one, January, on the Grand Princess, started and ended in Melbourne. Ports visited: Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln in South Australia, then Phillip Island in Victoria.

My trips to Adelaide usually include – not to the surprise of anyone who knows me – a trip to the National Railway Museum at Port Adelaide, but not this time. Instead I took the train from Outer Harbour (next to where cruise ships dock) to Adelaide, then a second train to Belair, 21.5km south.

My interest in Belair goes back to seeing the station and park entrance from the Overland train on earlier trips to/from Adelaide. The railway line and Belair station opened in 1883. Following gauge conversion of one track in 1995 the Belair line is now effectively two parallel single-track lines: the Belair-Adelaide commuter line (still broad gauge, 1600mm) and the standard gauge (1435mm) freight line, also used by the twice-weekly Overland.

The Belair National Park opened in 1891 – the second national park in Australia after Sydney’s Royal Park – and soon up to 1,000 visitors were visiting on weekends and public holidays. In 1893 dedicated picnic trains to Belair station were introduced, met by horse-drawn trolleys to transport passengers into the park. Now of course most visitors arrive by car. For reasons of time, temperature (34C) and a desire not to get lost, my walk in the park went no further than the lake but I enjoyed my time there. Then back to the station and ship.

Cruise two, February, was on the magnificent Queen Mary 2, a ten-night cruise from Fremantle to Sydney. This was one leg of the QM2’s 2024 world cruise. Several hundred of my fellow passengers had joined the ship in New York and would be disembarking there 126 days later! Much too long for me, even if I were able to afford it.

As before I took the train to Adelaide. The station, rebuilt 1926-28, is a magnificent building and is currently being renovated. A short walk through the station leads to the Adelaide Parklands and River Torrens. As luck would have it, the pleasure cruiser Popeye was just about to leave for a sightseeing cruise up and down river so I went aboard. The first Popeye was launched in 1935 and was so popular that three new boats were built between 1948 and 1950. The third fleet, currently in service, was launched in the early 1980s. An interesting trip with an excellent commentary.

Then back to the train, this time breaking my journey at Port Adelaide for a short visit to the railway museum. With the temperature climbing to 35.7C (96F), I was glad of the shade afforded by the museum sheds. The big change from my previous visits is that a new Port Dock railway line is being built to the rear of the museum site, reinstating a line that was there from 1856-1981. The museum occupies the former goods yard. Then back to the ship and on to Melbourne and Sydney.

Given Australian geography affords a limited number of cruise destinations, I’m sure that another cruise will see me back in Adelaide before too long.

Click on a picture to expand/contract it

A day in Port Lincoln

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The first of my 2024 cruises – a seven-day cruise on the Grand Princess from Melbourne to South Australia and back – took me to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, places I’ve visited before, then to Port Lincoln, a new place for me. Long settled by Aboriginal people, in 1802, Matthew Flinders named the area after his native county of Lincolnshire in England. From Adelaide it’s a 650km seven-hour drive going round the top of the Spencer Gulf, though just 250km as the crow flies. Or you can just arrive by cruise ship!

Port Lincoln is home to Australia’s largest fishing fleet: tuna, abalone, Spencer Gulf prawns, muscles and oysters are the main catches, much of the harvest going to China and Japan. The city, estimated population about 17,000, is reputed to have the most millionaires per capita in Australia.

The port is quite capable of taking a large ship like the Grand Princess. Above the quay one cannot miss the massive grain handling conveyors and loaders. Ashore the grain silos have a total capacity of around 350,000 tonnes. These days all grain arrives by road train; road trains are not allowed in Port Lincoln when a cruise ship is in port. There have been proposals to rebuild the rail line so that it can handle grain traffic but nothing definite.

The last passenger train ran to Port Lincoln in 1968. The ground floor of the former railway station, built 1926-7, is now the Port Lincoln Railway Museum, opened in 1999. It’s open on Wednesday afternoons, Sunday afternoons during school holidays and all day on cruise ship days like ours, a Friday. Obviously, I took the opportunity to visit.

Princess Cruises offered a number of organised excursions. Most looked expensive to me; for example the ‘Rugged Coastal Discovery’ trip, just over four hours, was A$259.95 (£134) per head. For myself, I took the hour and a half ‘Easy Port Lincoln’ tour, just A$74.95 (£38), a drive round the city passing the fishing harbour with a stop at the Winters Hill lookout. The commentary was excellent.

After a wander round the town centre it was back to the ship and on to Phillip Island.

The road that never was

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Back between the wars a new arterial road was planned running from Chessington to Sutton. It was never built but the route was still being safeguarded when I joined RBK in 1974. We had a map of it in the RBK planning office. While I was working there (c.1976?) the safeguarding was lifted but legacies of this plan remain.

The road (see the Sabre roads website Lost Arterial A24 for more detail) entered New Malden just south of the A3 then would have run along what are now Sheephouse Way and the end of South Lane – now you know why they have such generous grass verges. It would then have run across Malden Park and the railway. The line on the map above (from freemap.org) gives a rough idea of the intended route.

Look at the map and you’ll see a green swathe between Pembury Avenue and Risborough Drive. This was left undeveloped in the when Wates developed this area as the Worcester Park Station Estate in the 1930s and is now called Risborough Green. Rumour has it that its elevated ground level is down to the site being used as a dump for WW2 bomb site rubble.

The site between 133 Pembury Avenue and 200 Kingshill Avenue was also set aside for the new road – it’s now been infilled with a block of flats, Primrose Court. The houses on the other side of the road are much newer too.

Hopefully someone reading this knows a lot more about this road than I do. If so, please add a comment.

Sheephouse Way, New Malden - note the verge width — Sheephouse Way, New Malden – note the verge width

Green Lane footpath - this might have been an arterial road — Green Lane footpath – this might have been an arterial road

Wates chalet spotting

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Homes with “an exterior of outstanding loveliness”*.

Last month I wrote about Wates-built houses in New Malden, mainly in the area south of the A3 Kingston Bypass. Drive around the side streets and you can’t help noticing all the chalets, most built by Wates. At a quick glance you might think them all the same but not so.

The first chalets in Malden date from c.1932 – they are semi-detached and the roof slopes rise to a common ridge. Pictures (A) and (B) show two variants: I’m fairly sure that (A) with the front facing entrance door is the earlier and (B) with the side facing entrance door and Dutch gable (the small vertical tile-hung triangle at ridge level), later.

What came next – the semi-detached SC chalets or the more common link-detached variant? Once again we really need the RBK archive to tell us. My hunch is that the link-detached came first. Why? The 1935 Wilverley Park brochure offers buyers both options, promoting the semi-detached chalet as ‘New’:

C4 detached 3-bed chalet: “This wonderful Wates Chalet retains the sweeping roof lines which are so charming a feature of Wates original Chalets. Fully Detached with all its accompanying advantages of peace and privacy – a complete absence of ‘neighbour noise’ – the grand feeling that you really ARE in a house of your own – these are considerations which affect your personal comfort as a discerning Homeseeker.
Come and see for yourself the charm of these new wonder Chalets with their wide bays extending right to the eaves, mellow faced brickwork and smooth rendered walls blending into a delightful harmony – the new Wates Detached Chalet representing a standard of unrivalled value in planning, equipment and beauty.

SC3 Semi-detached Chalet: … For many years now Wates have been famed for their Chalets …. The New Semi-detached Chalet retains all the beauty of design, the bold sweeping roof lines and pleasing elevation which characterises every Wates-Built Chalet. With its newly revised arrangement of rooms it has won the approval of all purchasers. Come and see the improved planning, generous equipment and delightful appearance of these new semi-detached Chalets.

Urban legend had it that the link-detached option gave the advantages claimed above whilst allowing the house to be rated as semi-detached since it was (if only by the brick arch) connected to another house. True? I don’t know.

3-bed link-detached (C) and semi-detached chalets are by far the most common variant but there are others too. Two-bedroom chalets (D) – recognisable by the entrance door being towards the front of the flank wall – were created by deleting the front ground floor third bedroom. 4-bedroom chalets (E) are identifiable by a two-storey section at the rear; most also have a ground floor WC. Lastly, and very rare, are the detached chalets with integral garage (F) – this variation doesn’t work for me – and the corner chalets (G) which do.

Some chalets have a round porthole window lighting the first floor box room, others don’t. Some have a flat front-facing window to the ground floor third bedroom, others have an oriel window. Were these extra cost options?

Buyers were offered the option of buying freehold (FH) or leasehold (LH), the latter making housing more affordable. Here’s a summary (all 3-bed):

Detached chalet: FH £929, LH £749, weekly outgoings £1:12:9d/£1:10:11d, TFA ~95m2, lounge 14’3”x13’0” (4.34×3.96m)
Semi-detached chalet: FH £819, LH £639, weekly outgoings £1:8:11d/£1:7:1d, TFA ~95m2, lounge 14’3”x13’0” (4.34×3.96m)

And for comparison, traditional Wates ‘Tudor’ semis:

TDL Tudor Deluxe: FH: £729, LH: £579, weekly outgoings £1:5:9d/£1:4:3d, TFA ~98m2, lounge 14’3”x12’3” (4.34×3.73m)
TDL Tudor Major: FH: £649, LH: £499, weekly outgoings £1:2:11d/£1:1:6d, TFA ~79m2, lounge 13’1”x10’9” (3.99×3.28m)

Thus it can be seen that 1930s buyers paid a premium for chalets, justified by the space and architecture.

Ground rent, included in the LH weekly outgoings, was £9 a year for chalets, £7.10 for Tudor SDs, equating to a 5% return to Wates. I wonder how many people took the leasehold option, given that the saving was less than two shillings a week. Perhaps the reduced deposit was the key attraction. There was also an option to rent: in the 1930s many working class people had an aversion to going into debt even though we now see mortgage debt as ‘good’ debt.

Dormer additions: As built, chalets have a large under-roof box room next to the front bedroom. It’s relatively simple to build this out as an extra bedroom and many owners have done this (H). During my BCO days (1976-84) two local builders, Malcolm Carter and Tony Forte, did little else. Malcolm’s reputation was such that he ran an eighteen month waiting list. You didn’t decide whether to appoint him or not; he decided whether or not he wanted you as a customer. Another common alteration was adding a ground floor WC under the stairs: the space is tight but it can be done.

Other comments: Given Malden’s shrinkable clay subsoil, subsidence problems requiring underpinning were not unknown across my patch. Wates built houses were almost immune to such problems – the filed plans showed them as being built on Twisteel reinforced concrete rafts.

The plan above (for a chalet in Streatham, so may not reflect what was done in Malden) is interesting in that it shows cavity walls on three sides and a one-brick solid wall for the wall facing the mirrored chalet. When I was in primary school we were taught that cavity walls were introduced to improve insulation. They do, but the real reason was to eliminate the problem of driving rain finding its way through the wall. The facing walls are not, obviously, subject to driving rain.

1930s Wates houses also show the durability of concrete roof tiles: they were only introduced in the late 1920s so when these houses were built they were a new and untried innovation. Most roofs are original and still in excellent condition.

Click on an image to enlarge it; click again or press [Esc] to return. Please excuse the quality of the pics: I only had one day free when last in the UK and it was a wet, grey one.

* Weekly Dispatch (London) – Sunday 21 January 1934