Return to Civvy Street (continued)

After my transfer from RAAF Command, Brisbane, my wife, Audrey, with our two small daughters, lived with relatives in Sydney, awaiting the time when I could find a place for us to live. I lived for some time in a room in the Dover Hotel, opposite the Trades Hall in Lygon Street, one city block from the Bureau. I vainly searched for suitable accommodation for my family but the shortage of housing was acute and the situation seemed hopeless. My colleague, Henry Phillpot, knew of a very modest house on a hillside opposite the village of Upper Ferntree Gully which was the terminus of the suburban train line which now runs to Belgrave. It required one hour to make the train journey from Melbourne and I found the house had no electric, gas or water supply. Lighting was by kerosene lanterns, heating and cooking by a stove fuelled by firewood and the only water came from a tank located outside the house supplied by water from the roof.

When I made a telephone call from Melbourne to Audrey in Sydney with the news that the only available housing was extremely primitive she dismissed my suggestion that I continue my search for something more suitable and announced that she would be bringing the two small girls to Melbourne by the first available train.

Being young and resilient we managed to live happily in what by today's standards would be judged completely inappropriate for the family of a young professional meteorologist. But the availability and price of rented accommodation was beyond the limits of our modest means. From that time my main objective was to save enough money to buy a modest home. The outcome will be told later in this chapter.

My situation was no worse than that of a large proportion of younger people demobilised from the RAAF Meteorological Service who were seeking to resume a civilian career.

Bureau of Meteorology