Lloyd Street Memories

My paternal grandparents, Gordon and Rita Walker, lived at what is now 89 Lloyd Street, Moe, Victoria.  The house has a special place in our family history because my grandfather, Gordon Walker, built it himself in 1935 with the help of a friend.  They actually built two houses side by side.

27 Princes Highway, Moe (now 89 Lloyd Street)

Before then, the family had been living out near Becks Bridge.  Flooding forced them to move, and according to my Aunty Phyllis, the eldest of six children (who would have been eight years old at the time) the family members were separated while waiting for the new house to be completed.  Eventually they were reunited in the home that would become the centre of family life for my father and his siblings.

In the early days, the house was 27 Princes Highway, Moe.  The old highway marker stood directly across the road and showed the distance to Melbourne as exactly 83 miles.  Later, when the bypass was built, the address became 89 Lloyd Street.

My father grew up at 89 Lloyd Street.  His earliest memory was catching butterflies in the backyard with Donny Hampton.  Like most boys, he often tested the boundaries.  Once he brought a young lady home and was discovered in bed by his horrified mother.  "Your father will hear about his" she threatened.  Dad spent the day worrying about the consequences.  When Grandad arrived home from work, he called gruffly "Outside, son."   Expecting the worst, Dad followed im.  Instead of the thrashing that he feared, Grandad simply said "Don't upset your mother.  There's a lemon tree down the back".

In the backyard
Barry and Danny Bryce, Joan and Margaret Walker, Kelvin, Stan Walker (standing front) and Judy Walker (sitting)

Not every lesson was delivered so gently though.  One of Dad's chores was collecting briquettes for the family fire.   He would walk along the railway tracks, sometimes all the way towards Trafalgar (10 km away), filling a bag with fallen briquettes before carrying the heavy bag home.  Being a smart boy, he decided there was an easier way.  Rather than searching beside the tracks, he helped himself directly from railway cars, then hid behind the train before returning home with a full bag.  Grandad somehow discovered the truth and found dad hiding.  Dad 'copped a hiding for stealing'.

Then there was the day that Dad pinched a cigarette from his father's packet and hid in the outside toilet for a smoke.  Without warning, the door burst open and a bucket of water came flying over him.  Grandad claimed he had seen smoke coming from the toilet and thought it was on fire!

89 Lloyd Street Moe - September 1961

Lloyd Street also witnessed happier milestones too.  One afternoon in 1956, Dad came home from school and spotted a tall new television aerial on the roof.  He ran the remainder of the way home knowing that his father had purchased the family's first television, so they could watch the Melbourne Olympic games.

I enjoyed hearing the stories from the six Walker children.  Aunty Marg often proudly retold how she once threw a chop bone at her younger brother.  It struck him on the back of the head and lodged there.  It knocked him to the ground and there was a lot of blood.  Neither remembered what the disagreement was about!

A horse and cart delivered milk.  Dad remembers the milkman pouring milk into 'billies' before bottles were delivered. 

Neighbours shared vegetables, at least until Nanna discovered they were fertilising the garden with the contents of a jerry (chamber pot).  After witnessing this, she said "we won't eat them any more".

Nanna and Aunty J would always hide in the hallway cupboard when there was thunder and lightening.

89 Lloyd Street, Moe

With six children in the house, bath water was commonly shared, usually from oldest to youngest.  Sometimes the younger children managed to jump the queue to enjoy cleaner and warmer water.  I remember that bathroom too.  It was a bright pink, which I loved.  My cousin told me of having a bath with nanna who, always very proper, left her knickers and bra on saying "Aren't I Silly?"

Christmas gatherings were common for us cousins.  There always seemed to be cars lining the driveway and plenty of long-neck beer bottles around during visits.

The Christmas pudding was legendary.  Nanna hid coins inside it, and we children searched for money while eating as much as possible.  Better still, the pre-decimal coins could be exchanged for decimal currency and spent on lollies at the nearby service station.  While our parents encouraged us to finish our meals, Nanna was happy for us to focus on finding more money!

The house remains vivid in my memory.  Just inside the front door stood a crystal cabinet with a photo of my grandparents on the top, being their wedding portrait according to my cousin.  Hidden behind the photograph was always a bag of jelly beans or lollies.  One day I stretched on tip toes and successfully reached the lollies.  My mother was furious, but Nanna simply smiled and said "That's all right, they were for them anyway".  That was Nanna. Always kind and generous.

1969 My cousin, sister and I in the loungeroom at Nanna and Grandads.  I remember that the sliding door was heavy and hard for me to move.  The door behind is my grandparents bedroom door.

There was a long bench seat in the dining room where all us kids squeezed together beneath a picture of dogs, that now hangs in a cousin's home.  We played cricket and games in the backyard. One time we were having a great time spinning on the Hills Hoist until another cousin, Tracey, got hurt.  We baked cakes with Nanna, held tea parties, and were allowed to pull all sorts of things out of the kitchen cupboards to play with.  Thinking about it now, I realise that my father adopted the same approach with my own children when they were little. Next time my grandaughter comes to visit, I will let her do the same thing!

Not to scale
Memories of the layout of 89 Lloyd Street, Moe

Some of my fondest memories involve early mornings when we stayed over.  My sister and I slept in the bedroom near the sunroom and listened carefully for the sound of the outside toilet flushing.  The chain and water tank made a loud noise.  The flush told us that Granddad was going to work.  We would immediately race into our grandparent's bed.  Nanna, dressed in her maroon chenille dressing gown, would bring us Milo in sipper cups along with colouring books and pencils.   I would have been less than 6 years old but considered myself to old for a supper cup, but if you wanted warm milo in bed, those were the rules.

89 Lloyd Street, Moe in 2026

Today, the house still stands, as do many of the memories attached to it.  Streets are often simply roads that take us from one place to another.  But some streets become part of family history.  Lloyd Street, Moe is one of those places.  Built by my grandfather, where my father grew up, where my great grandfather Ambrose Walker died, and a place of many memories for several generations.  If only the walls could talk.

Gordon and Rita Walker at 89 Lloyd Street Moe
1967

This prompt was inspired by Sepia Saturday.  Thank you also to my cousins for their assistance.