By MARG STORK
IT’S a bridge not too far from the beating heart of our city, so it can’t afford to stay off limits to traffic for too long.
When that meandering sliver of water that’s Dandenong Creek was transformed into dangerous rapids that drenched our town in February 2011, the Hammond Road bridge took a fair hit and needed to be mended.
Back in the 1930s, when I was a student at Dandenong High, floodwaters covered the same area as well as parts of Dandenong South, Kirkham Road in Bangholme, and Keysborough.
Low-lying paddocks in Lyndhurst turned into huge lakes. Also deluged were Abbotts Road, Frankston-Dandenong Road and parts of Cranbourne and Clyde. Livestock and crops were wiped out.
Although the exact date escapes me, there were floods in more recent years. I was working at the Journal office and our photographer Barry Palmer and I covered the floods at the Southern Obedience Dog School in a Bangholme road appropriately called Sodden.
The club had 700 members and its youngest handler was a nine-year-old girl. The front area of the club was awash as Barry clicked away. He had stashed several pairs of gumboots in the car boot and loaned me a pair.
They were too big and I remember him chuckling as I took a tentative step and got stuck in the mud!
Family fun day
With pupils from 30 nationalities, there’s a good lesson in geography happening at the Dandenong South Primary School.
Established in 1961, the school is noted for being one of the city’s most multicultural schools. Since its doors opened for the first term on January 29, it’s been a rollercoaster of learning and fun, the latter to culminate in a family fun day planned for March 8.
Parents are asked to bring a picnic lunch, watch their children enjoy an animal farm, face-painting and other kiddie favourites.
Leonie Fitzgerald, the popular principal of 14 years, says the 86 preppies are settling in nicely.
Most of them live close by. “I love my job,” she gushes. And it shows!
Take a swing for charity
You don’t have to be Greg Norman to tee off at the Take a Swing for Charity golf day next Monday. Pros and amateurs have been invited to join the Sandhurst Golf Club event organised by members of the city’s business community.
The proceeds will support Madcap Cafe, which helps people with a mental illness gain skills to enter the workforce.
Over three years, thanks to the generosity of the businesses, Take a Swing for Charity has raised more than $120,000.
If you want to book a team for the day, become a sponsor, donate an item for the auction or help in any way, visit greaterdandenong.com.
Do you have a milestone, memory or question for Marg? Email marg@yourweekly.com.au or post submissions to A Moment with Marg, c/o The Dandenong Journal, PO Box 318, Dandenong 3175.
For all the latest breaking news, stay with this website. Also, follow the Weekly at facebook.com/dandenongjournal or on Twitter @DandyJournal.
