Memories of Frankston 1939 to 1950 - Mrs Fennessy, Frankston

I came to live in Frankston when my father was posted to HMAS Cerberus at the start of World War II.  My earliest memories are of the neighbouring Allawah Avenues suspended bridge over Kananook Creek.  This swing bridge was very popular with groups of teenagers who would swing it vigorously from side to side.

My father was sent to Port Moresby by the Navy and later my mother packed a large wooden trunk with essential medical and other supplies.  These efforts stemmed from her fear of the enemy marching down Melbourne Road (now Nepean Highway).  I have wondered frequently how she intended to carry such a weight.

I remember one day being in the main shopping area of Bay Street (now Nepean Highway) with my mother when the air raid siren rang.  Shoppers and shop staff ran to the shelter which had been constructed where the yellow stone comfort station stands today.  As everyone fitted into this shelter easily it is some indication of the towns population in the early 1940s.  After what seemed a considerable time, someone came to inform us that there was nothing to fear as it was only a practice siren! 

Many residents also built air raid shelters in their own back gardens. 

The visiting American soldiers were very generous to the locals with supplies of goods which were unavailable through other means.  Clothing, meat and some grocery lines were rationed and the women carried coupon books to purchase these items.

I started school at Frankston State School and my early days there are full of memories of the air raid shelters which had been dug into the slope behind the school.  During the war, instead of toilet paper (another wartime shortage), we were provided with squares cut from newspapers and magazine paper.  Open fire places were the only form of heating in the old part of the school and we became very uncomfortable in the heat of summer.  This was long before sun hats were worn outside.

Most children walked to school or rode their bikes.  A bus could be caught from and to most areas of Frankston.  Few families owned cars and most used the bus and train service.

Davey Street School was the only state school in the Frankston area.  Its enrolment was approximately 700 and very large classes were the norm.  In prep year we had two teachers in a large classroom with three children to a desk.  Much of the learning was by rote and I often found the teaching very strict and rigid but perhaps it was like this everywhere at that time.

Highlights of the year were Maypole dancing taught by a Miss Armstrong and the annual fancy dress party organised by the Mothers Club.

To celebrate the wars end in 1945, we were sent home late morning without prior warning.  Fortunately, most mothers were usually home at this time.

There were no supermarkets in the 1940s and my mother would shop at Melrays grocers on the corner of Bay and Playne Streets.  Some produce was kept in large hessian bags on the timber floor and weighed out for the customers on the old-fashioned, balance scales and placed in brown paper bags.  Biscuits were weighed from large tins and packet food was limited.  There was no such thing as plastic packaging or bags.  The shop assistant wrote each item on an invoice and totalled the cost by hand.  As a result, a trip to the grocer took a lot longer than today.  However, it did not matter as everything moved at a much slower pace. 

It was normal for a couple of cats to be kept in grocery shops to keep the stock free from mice.  Groceries were delivered by horse and cart as was the bread, milk and ice.  Few people had refrigerators and ice was regularly delivered for their ice chests.  This kept the food reasonably cold.  Our mothers would put out the milk billies (small lidded metal buckets) at night for the milkman to measure out the required amount.  The milk was sold, not by the grocer, but by the dairy.

We had two smithies (blacksmiths buildings) in Frankston.  One was in Playne Street near the Post Office of today and the other in Thompson Street in a large paddock which is now the new entertainment complex.  This area then was referred to as Lawreys Paddock.
Mr and Mrs Jack Layzell originally operated their electrical shop at the corner of Bay and Wells Streets.  After her husband died, Mrs (Dulcie) Layzell continued the business on her own.  Not long ago and, when she was over 90 years of age, her very poor health forced her business to close.  My fond memories of Dulcie Layzell serving in her shop span over 60 years.  Surely this must be a record for a Frankston business proprietor.

As we had no specialists consulting or practising, our local doctors would perform surgery.  However, if a medical problem was serious, patients were sent to Melbourne. 

Dr Plowman had his surgery and home where the Commonwealth offices are located in Davey Street.  If children did not cry when he gave an injection they were rewarded with a penny.

Until a very small version of Frankston hospital was built in the mid 1940s, patients were treated at Maxwelton Hospital which was located where Chatsworth House is today.

A visit to the dentist was not pain-free. The drills were not high speed and were extremely slow.  Injections were not available for fillings.

Bank customers carried bank books in which all deposits and withdrawals were recorded by a teller using a pen, ink and blotting paper.  If customers did not hold assets, credit was not available.  As a result lay by was favoured by many shoppers who did not have the full funds.
Time at home was a lot of fun.  Although we were small children, we would play around Kananook Creek for hours and spent most of our summers at the beach.  I remember, even at the age of nine, going to the beach to play in winter and, with my friends, building cubby huts in the bushes on the sand dunes.  Many of us would also go to a small pond on Dandenong Road near Overton Road to collect tadpoles.  Around and behind the pond were acres of peat which would, at times, catch fire below the surface.

Although we lived on Melbourne Road, now Nepean highway, there was plenty of vacant, treed land where we found a variety of wild orchids, including the now rare spider orchid.  Recently I read that only 20 or so plants survive and are in our Frankston area.

We fished for eels from the Allawah Avenue bridge and, although we didnt have many beach toys, we were very happy with an old tennis ball, a cricket bat made from a plank or wood, a rubber quoit and an inner car tube for the water.  I am happy to say that, after more than 50 years, I still see some of my friends from this time.

The summer time carnival was held on land on the north side of the pier.  Besides the usual rides and side shows Mr Potton, the local barber, had small Shetland ponies for the children to ride.