Don’t forget Council’s contribution to saving Henderson House
Read with interest your article [Sic – advertorial] on Henderson House and find it disappointing the then Footscray City Council is not recognised for its financial contribution saving this old building and site from the wreckers.
It was due to the strong advocacy by the then Councillor Vince Verduci who held the Arts portfolio on Council that a major financial contribution was made to save this site from the wreckers in conjunction with other concerned members of the community. The former Council’s major contribution appears overlooked when articles appear referring to Fifty Years of Custodianship, Connection and Curation.
Fred Maddern
Former Councillor City of Footscray
Memories of the Newport Quarries
While attending the Williamstown Literary Festival recently I picked up a copy of the Westsider and was very interested to read the article about Newport Quarries.
My parents were post- war migrants who arrived in Australia in 1949 from Ukraine. They first lived in Bonegilla and then moved to a migrant camp in Benalla. While living there, news arrived that land was being opened up for sale in Newport so a group of men from the camp travelled down to Melbourne to investigate. Mr. Hargreaves, who lived on Percy st. owned a large area of land and was subdividing and selling each block for 10 pounds. The local council informed the prospective buyers that the quarry would stop operating in 2 or 3 years and that it would be turned into a park. This was 1951-1952. On this promise, a large group of Ukrainian migrants moved into the area. They even built a Ukrainian Community House on Percy St.
The quarry operated from Monday to Friday and each afternoon a siren would sound and that was the warning that blasting was about to occur. Rocks frequently landed on our roof. I can still remember the smell of gelignite and the dust.
Since the quarries did not operate on weekends it became an adventure playground for the local kids despite it being forbidden territory. We would crawl through the holes under the fence and spend hours exploring and always coming home covered in mud. It was a different experience for the adults who had arrived from war torn Europe and had experienced bombs and now they were hearing explosions again.
Larysa Kucan
Who pays for Paisley Street?
Well, the community has paid for the negligence of Paisley Street for 11 years, soooo, it’s time for council to step up. How much longer can we be subjected to Councillors that don’t have our backs and a CEO who doesn’t give a rats?? Some of these pretenders have been ‘our’ representatives for 15 years. At least they have a new council building. I do hope they make a point of putting all the failing infrastructure that’s in the community into that lovely new build, so they can experience what the community has to live with each day.
thginkneb1978
Footscray shopping district a disgrace
Footscray is dying a slow death. The footpaths and streets are filthy, empty shops, derelict filthy buildings with rats, rampant developer land banking. I am watching it get worse every week. It must be impossible for businesses in the mall and a disgrace that they have to pay rates to operate under such conditions. Why are the council ignoring central Footscray. With the huge windfall they are getting from rates from all the highrises, and more being built on every piece of spare land they can find. It seems they are more than happy to look after their own comfort with their multi million dollar building, and don’t give a toss about the businesses, and the plight of all the homeless increasing every day, and the people who want to shop in their own suburb.
Footscray being so close to Melbourne CBD should and could be a thriving vibrant area that people love to come to, not a place to be avoided.
Dorothy Haynes
