Dandenong lost one its true gentlemen last month with the passing of Bill Brooks.
Bill was a long time member of the Dandenong and District Historical Society and recorded his memories of Dandenong in the Gipps-land Gate of October 2008.
Reginald J Brooks, always known as ’Bill’, was born in 1914.
With his family Bill moved to 38 Robinson Street, Dandenong, in 1920.
The property, which belonged to Bill Greaves, ran from Robinson Street back to Thomas Street behind the Methodist Church and parsonage.
Bill started his education at Dandenong East School 1403 and then in 1925 moved to the new Dandenong West State School.
In 1925 he started at Dandenong High School.
Bill lived the rest of his life in Dandenong.
His home in 38 Robinson Street had no sewerage or electric power so the Brooks family had a dunny out the back and kerosene lamps and candles. As with most houses of that time, there was a fireplace in every room.
Some of the smells Bill could remember from that time in Dandenong included the shoeing forges, the boiling-down of fat, the smell of fresh bread from the baker-house and the aroma of the Dandy Bacon Factory.
Bill remembered the great floods of 1934 and was a lifelong supporter of the Scout movement in Dandenong.
After serving in World War II Bill became an employee of the then PMG where he meet his wife Barbara Macdonald.
Together the couple built a home in King Street where Bill lived until the last 12 months of his life.
That house still stands today and is still owed by the Brooks family.
Bill died aged 100.
President of the historical society Chris Keys said the organisation was extremely grateful to Bill for his many years of support.
History talks
Members of the Dandenong and District Historical Society have a wealth of knowledge about the history of Greater Dandenong and are set to share that knowledge with a series of public lectures.
The first lecture was held on Monday 3 February, in the North Dandenong Senior Citizens rooms. President Chris Keys spoke on early Dandenong from 1835 to 1904. She will speak again on 24 March about the influence of her own family, the Keys, on Keysborough.
On February 10 Ken Mastens spoke on the history of his family.
On February 17 Jenny Ferguson will speak on the history of the Dandenong Market and on 24 Feburary Ray Carter’s topic will be floods in Dandenong
Max Curtain and his influence on the youth of Dandenong in the 1960s with be Carmen Powell’s topic on 24 Feburary.
The lectures are open to the public and all are welcome to attend.
Chris Keys also issued an ongoing invitation to all interested to visit the historical society’s rooms with are open each Wednesday. The society is based at The Houlahan Centre
186 Foster Street East, Dandenong. Phone 9794 8967.
