Growing up in Lysterfield in the 1930s

The grazing property, "Chandanagore", which was bounded by Walker's Road and Hallam's Road just east of the Barry's Ranges was my home until my marriage in 1949. My mother's family had selected land in the Lysterfield district in the 1850s and she had a lifelong love of the area. She was widowed when I was still a toddler and it was probably the isolation caused by almost impassable roads which inspired her to stand for election to the Ferntree Gully Shire Council in 1931. She succeeded in defeating the sitting councillor and continued to represent the South Riding for the ensuing 28 years.
The sand roads leading to "Chandanagore" with their collapsing timber bridges over various drains were never really much improved as I remember, in fact Lysterfield was the 'Cinderella' of the Shire. There was no electricity, no reticulated water supply (with the exception of those living along the route of the Dandenong pipeline and this was unfit for consumption), very few telephone connections, and very few motor vehicles. The market town of Dandenong was about 8 miles distant and most people travelled there by horse drawn vehicle.
We had a telephone and a motor-car, but in winter the latter spent most of the time in the garage as the roads were under water and only able to be negotiated by horses or on foot,
Our weekly visits to Dandenong on Tuesdays market day were always fun. Often we took a small calf for sale into the stock market and walked around the yards looking at the cattle. Then it was into the produce section, which had a great variety of things much as today. In fact, during the war years this was the only place one could buy good silk.
When petrol was rationed during the war, it was my aunt living at 'Netherlea' in Lysterfield Road who made weekly trips to Dandenong, where she and her husband George Hyden bought or sold dairy cows. She picked up our meat and other goods and in the hot summer would frequently arrive on her way home with a big block of strawberry ice cream (a great treat before the days of refrigerators) which all of us would enjoy sitting out on the shaded verandah. Eventually, when the war was over, we graduated to a kerosene refrigerator.
On one memorable occasion, when I was about six or seven years old, my mother and I joined the stockmen taking cattle to market, meeting the the GippsIand drovers coming in along the Heatherton/Hallam Road junction. We left 'Chandanagore’ before daylight in order to reach the sale yards in time, I on my Shetland pony and my mother on her lovely grey Arab.
There were few children of my age nearby, so my most constant companion was 'Mr Fox', quite invisible to every but me. It was fortunate for me that neither my family, nor my governess tried to stifle my vivid imagination. If I should see 'him' as we drove along the road, the car was always stopped to let 'him' in. Similarly if 'he' should appear at mealtime, an extra place was set at the table. I suffered no apparent mental damage from this, nor from the visits of Father Christmas.
I had numerous dolls and soft animal toys which lived in a small building in the garden. Only a few favourites joined me in the house. Tea parties with the dolls kept me happy for hours, and sometimes another little girl might be invited to join us. Gretchen lived just over the crest of the steep Hallam’s Road hill and our mothers were good friends; Phyllis lived with her parents at the Lysterfield store. Apart from my ponies which were my most treasured companions, I had a pair of goats which pulled a little cart, two white rabbits, and a black cocker spaniel. Not all at once, but different animals over the years. We also had the usual farmyard mixture of poultry and it was always a great surprise to see a turkey hen proudly bringing her chickens home after being hatched in the garden somewhere. It was fun to seek out the turkey eggs, as a speckled, big, boiled egg for breakfast was a rare treat.
Then it was off to boarding school for eleven years, firstly coming home at weekends, but during the war only at holiday time. Getting home to my ponies filled my thoughts constanly and letters to my mother were filled with questions as to their well being! Sometimes I brought a school friend home and we would go for long rides together to pick up the mail (a mile or two from home) or drive the little pony cart for bush picnics
During the war years I met Margot whose father ran sheep on a property nearby. They lived in Dandenong on a farm and
we spent part of all school holidays together, one of us riding across country through what is now Endeavour Hills to stay with the other. She was also away at boarding school, and we became close friends.
I don't remember being lonely or bored, there was always so much to do. When Heany Park was opened as a swimming pool this was wonderful on hot days, and we enjoyed visiting the Golding family who lived nearby. I left school after mother was elected Shire President and helped her carry out the requisite duties. I had intended to go on to university and study Veterinary Science, but settled for marriage instead and have kept my beloved ponies with me always.

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