28 January 2011

Images of Yesteryear - Eastlake Hotel 1952

| johnboy
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eastlake hotel 1952

Aussielyn has sent this one in with the following explanation:

Eastlake Hostel was formerly a RAAF School of Technical Training that was converted into cubicles to house immigrants and building workers post WW2.

550 men lived there in the late 1940s.

The old buildings provided community halls for the Narrabundah Prefab area & Oakes Estate.

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old canberran7:07 pm 29 Jan 11

The guesses thus far have been fairly accurate. The Railway station is in the bottom left hand corner and the oval shape is the car park for the station. The building in the “V” between Wentworth and Canberra avenues is actually a garage?service station with residence attached. I think it was operated by the Freebody family but I may be wrong there. What looks like a road in the top left is actually the railway line going to Queanbeyan.
Across Wentworth to the left of the garage is the Dairy Farmers Co-operative. It’s a great photo and really shows the Narrabundah Pre-Fabs quite well.

🙂 Great photo! How things have changed!

Holden Caulfield said :

I reckon the photo is looking south-east. The diagonal road from the bottom is what we know as Wentworth Ave, where it vears to the left is Canberra Ave.

The building to the right of the diagonal road would be the Diplomat, or thereabouts. The housing to the upper right is Narrabundah.

Well, that’s my guess anyway.

Yep, reckon your right, that would be the train station at the bottom left corner

The cat did it10:16 pm 28 Jan 11

I think you’re right, Holden. Bottom left is the railway station, with road access to Wentworth Avenue. The houses at upper right are the bottom part of Narrabundah- the streets there had numbers not names. The road coming in from bottom right is Canberra Avenue- St Clare’s and St Eddies were still sheep paddocks. The lefthand oval shape is approximately where the Markets are today.

Holden Caulfield3:44 pm 28 Jan 11

I reckon the photo is looking south-east. The diagonal road from the bottom is what we know as Wentworth Ave, where it vears to the left is Canberra Ave.

The building to the right of the diagonal road would be the Diplomat, or thereabouts. The housing to the upper right is Narrabundah.

Well, that’s my guess anyway.

Normally I’m able to work out an orientation, but I have no idea of the scale, alignment, or period of this picture, and have a ahrd time matching with a map…

In any case, good old East Lake Works Hostel, its workplace strikes and (it turns out, legitimate) issues with food kept the Canberra Times running stories for something on two years.

17 July 1947:
Union complains about overall accomodation conditions, terrible food and unequal food quality being served to officers\workers, Union threatens violence if not resolved
28 January 1948 (53 years ago today):
24 hour stop work was declared by 300 Union members over terrible food conditions
7 January 1949:
Union demands removal of Hostel Officer
2 December 1949: Health Department catches Eastlake Hostel importing contaminated meat, intended to serve to guests.

Am a little lost. Is the Hostel where the milk factory is now located.

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