Journal columnist Jack Johnson is the author of ’When the clock strikes’, a memoir of growing up in Dandenong in the 1930s. To celebrate the Journal’s 150th anniversary, Jack reflects on his long association with his much-loved “local paper“.
MY MEMORIES of the Dandenong Journal go back over 80 years to 1935. Myself, my two brothers and sister and our parents lived at 88 McCrae Street, next door to the first St Mary’s Primary School.
Among the many great kids we met there were the Bennett family, one boy and three girls. They lived on the other side of McCrae Street on the corner of Wilson Street, in a Californian bungalow-style house that still remains today.
Mr Bennett was manager of the Journal. I think he had previously been with the Argus newspaper in Melbourne.
It was the time of the Great Depression and our mother was a committee member of the newly formed Catholic Women’s Social Guild. Her friend and fellow committee member was Tot McQuade, who owned and ran the Albion Hotel.
There was very little money for anyone, so the guild could only hand out practical donations like food and clothing, blankets and furniture. Mum would give me lists written on sheets of writing paper, which I would take to the Journal office, which at that time was in a small shop in the back of the Royal Hotel.
The Journal would print these notices free of charge. They would tell needy people what help was available, how to contact the guild ladies, or Father Little at St Mary’s Presbytery.
I remember all the Journal offices.
My friend at St Mary’s Tommy Black took up a printing apprenticeship at the Journal’s Scott Street office.
Many times when I went to see ’Blackie’ I would got up the narrow lane past the backyard of the Royal Hotel and in the much-used door that opened onto the printery.
The amazing Marg Stork was a close friend over the lifetime she worked at our local paper.
Former owner and editor Greg Dickson was one of the most incredible and decent men who has ever stood in front of a printing press.
Then the Journal moved to larger premises on Frankston-Dandenong Road where I did a lot of the original plumbing. I also worked on the beautiful home of the Dicksons in Pultney Street and later at the art gallery Greg built next to the house for his and wife Zig’s art collection, which was so extensive it had far outgrown the house.
The move to Frankston-Dandenong Road was a little sad for most locals. I remember Marg Stork saying that she and the other staff greatly missed those personal visits to the office in Scott Street.
They also missed bumping into people as they shopped in Lonsdale Street or had a quite drink or meal at the Club Hotel, just across the old laneway that is now Dickson Lane.
I think in my lifetime in Dandenong, two of the most outstanding and lasting things I have seen are the Journal and the Dandenong and District Historical Society and their close connection over many years.
I had lived a third of my life when the Journal celebrated its first 100 years and now as it celebrates its 150th year I am in my last years.
This local paper has been part of all our lives: it has announced our births, celebrated our coming of age, recorded our engagements, highlighted our weddings and mourned our passing.
Two of my sons delivered the Journal in the 1970s and I have had a lifetime with the Dandenong Journal as my local paper.
I think the Dandenong Journal is a great local paper and, although I no longer live in Dandenong, it is still very much my local paper.
Jack’s column ’Jack Looks Back’ appears each month in the Journal.
