100 years ago
8 July 1915
Men are Urgently Needed
Last night in a cafe a foreigner – a neutral – said to me: “You will not get many more Australians to go the war unless you have conscription.”
Because he was a foreigner and might have misinterpreted as boasting the indignant denial that rose to my lips I let the remark pass.
But among ourselves we cannot afford to ignore what our foreign fellow citizens think of our valour and patriotism.
We will not send a sufficiency of reinforcements to the fighting line in Gallipoli unless by national compulsion!
Are we behaving so that the impartial observer can think this of us?
Out there on the bloody crags of Gallipoli our brothers are grappling daily with death that our country may be free.
For six solid weeks, in the face of dreadful odds day and night they have held on to their posts in a hell of gunfire and carnage, faithfully believing that as they fall we will step into their places; That in the end we will press on with courage and power sufficient to sweep the Turks into the sea and seal the safety of Australia for ever.
They shall not hope in vain. Our brothers on Gallipoli want help.
Every grudging word in the clipped cable messages tell of their heroic patience, every casualty list breaths of their suffering; every wound of theirs trumpet to us for aid.
Only a few days back an official cable proclaimed the urgency of the case.
“Send as many men as you can,” it ran, “with or without equipment.”
The War Office would not send such a message as that without a sense of imperative necessity.
“Now is the time to rush into the breach.”
50 years ago
4 July 1965
Other Peoples Troubles
Young Arthur had a major problem – a cornsack filled with rusted motor parts and assorted bric-a-brac which clung to him like the Old Man of the Sea who clamped himself on the shoulders of Sinbad the sailor.
Arthur, with the best of intentions set out in his utility to find a municipal rubbish tip.
From his home, Arthur steered north-west through seven suburbs to Sunshine, the home of his Aunt as he had heard her mention there was a municipal tip not far from her house.
Unfortunately she had forgotten to tell him the tip wasn’t open on Sundays.
So Arthur was still saddled with his cornsack of junk, so he decided to dump it.
Arthur emptied the cornsack of a cascade of metal parts, papers and a damming clue – one leaf of a notebook with his name and address on it.
So Arthur found himself £13/10/- poorer and with that a hateful cornsack with its useless contents still on his hands…
20 years ago
3 July 1995
Street facelift
Foster Street Dandenong will receive an $81,000 facelift to help improve the “first impressions” of people arriving by train.
The first stage will include landscaping and street beautification with secondary work to include new footpaths, kerbs and street furniture, and the planting of advanced trees.
5 years ago
5 July 2010
Pavilion for All
A new pavilion development at Warner Reserve will replace two sports’ buildings and provide a multi-purpose community space.
The $2.4 million building replaces a building on the Bird Street side of the reserve that burnt down and the current building used by the sport clubs on the Flynn Street side of the reserve.
Compiled by Dandenong and District Historical Society
