Fred looks back; Report: Linley Hartley, Picture: Ron Grant Teaching himself German again after 70 years is just one of the many tasks Fred Golgerth, of Greensborough, has undertaken and succeeded in during his lifetime. As the two year old tenth child of a German descendent, Fred learnt to speak German from an Aunt. But World War 1 was raging. Fred’s older brother had gone to Europe with the Australian forces, changing his name … to ….. to sound less German. “I used to get my bottom slapped for speaking German at home,” Fred said. Even his name was changed from Otto to the more anglicised Frederick. Fred claims his involvement with Eltham started two years before he was born! His sister, two years older than him, was a babe in arms when his parents bought a piece of grazing property in Mount Pleasant Rd. “It was about 24 acres on a spur of Mt Pleasant,” Fred said. “My parents bought it from Mr and Mrs Hughes. There was a two-room mud hut in wattle and daub that we lived in from time to time. “My parents had a dairy farm and dairy in West Coburg, and they bought the Mt Pleasant land to put the dry stock on. “At one stage my mother got very ill and my older sister took my younger sister and myself to Eltham for four or five months. I went down to Eltham Primary School then.” That wasn’t the only time Fred stayed in Eltham. His sister, Wilhemina, known as Willa, married Jim Watson who had the Eltham hotel for some years from the end of World War 1. Pillar to post living was the way Fred described his youth, when he stayed with one married sister after another. “After a while Will and Jim lived in the big house at the top of Pitt St, next to the Council depot, and the hotel was managed by Fitzsimmons who had a big place near the river down there on Fitzsimons Lane. There was no bridge in Fitzsimons Lane but we used to cross the river at a ford, rolling up our trouser legs so they wouldn’t get wet, and carrying our shoes. I’d o down to visit some friends I had in Templestowe. And sometimes Jim Watson took his horse drawn lorry across the ford on his way to the brewery, instead of going don through Heidelberg.” “The bridge across the Yarra in Fitzsimons was not built until 1961.” Fred Golgerth, was only a teenager when he was rolled off his pushbike under a car on the bend between Mt Pleasant Rd and the Diamond Creek bridge. He was hospitalised in the little hospital on the east side of Eltham village that served the district in those days. He still carries the scars of the burns he received from the exhaust pipe and recent x-rays have revealed several broken vertebrae. At the time of the accident he was treated for a dislocated neck and was in plaster from his hip to the base of his head for about seven months. But nothing daunted Fred. Bouncing back he began work as an apprentice to a motor mechanic in Bell St, Preston, a man who is still living (at 90) in Queensland and who still communicates with Fred frequently. “He was like a father to me,” Fred declared. He was a marine engineer as well, so I …. that as well as blacksmithing. They taught us properly then.” After finishing his apprenticeship, Fred bought himself a 30 hundredweight Fargo truck and began his own contract carting business, doing most of the work for a firm called Carnegie’s and a subsidiary of that, Howard Radio. It was in the office Fred met his wife. “He taught me to drive the truck giving me lessons in my lunch hours up the Bourke St and Flinders St extension,” she said. “After work I’d have a driving lesson and all the girls from the Howard Radio would pile in the back to get a lift to Richmond Station.” In the 1939 bushfires, the Mt Pleasant Rd property was burnt out and the hut raised. Two years later, Fred and Dorothy were married. Fred paid £7.15.0 ($15.50) for the suit in which he was married. Dorothy had pulled out of the Women’s Air Training Corps to be married. Others with whom she trained went to Darwin and were in a convoy that was bombed. Fred went into the garage business in Brighton and continued his cartage business for a while. His company was employed to do all Brown Gouge’s motor repairs and factory maintenance. Because Fred had a certificate to do steam repair work he often got jobs maintaining industrial boilers. While he was in Brighton, Fred bought an eight-seater 1925 Silver Ghost Rolls Royce from Sir Keith Murdoch. When the couple moved to Rosanna in about 1943, it became a delivery van for the dairy they operated. “I thought I’d like to get back into a dairy business” Fred said. “We used to deliver the milk in the Rolls. “But it was hard work. We couldn’t get the labour and we’d drive to the farm and pick up the milk cans, take them back to the dairy, cool the milk, bottle it and deliver it. The inspectors would come regularly and the walls for bacteria.” Fred was exhausted. The couple gave up the dairy and moved to Eltham to live on the old property where a weatherboard house had now been built. It wasn’t a big house and the glassed in Rolls Royce limousine became the daytime nursery for the Golgerth’s second daughter. We’d put her in there to sleep during the day.” “Dorothy Golgerth was known to drive the Rolls at breakneck speed along Mt Pleasant Rd. Fred took some time off work then began driving a little local bus run by the Lyon Brothers before taking a maintenance job at the Athenaeum Club in the city. He’d ride an old Harley-Davidson to the station and travel into the city by train. Later, when the family moved to Pryor St. (their house stood where McEwans car park is now) Fred could walk to and from the station. “There was no resident doctor in the early days of Eltham,” Fred said. “Dr Cordner used to come from Greensborough to a room in the old house next to the old grocery shop on the corner of York St and Main Rd, Eltham (the grocery shop is now the Eltham Feed and Grain Store). The Golgerths lived in Eltham until “Dollar Day” – the day decimal currency became official. They eventually moved to Greensborough, when they have lived since. Fred has had his share of interesting jobs since then, retiring at 65 seven years ago when he was working in the engineering department at Larundel. Recently, two of his older sisters and a brother died, within a month. They were all in their 80s. They all had a profound influence on Fred, especially during his youth. His sharp wit and amusing anecdotes are the richer for his having been the youngest of a family that made the best of every circumstance. And now, as he enjoys his retirement, he is concentrating on relearning the language of his infancy; teaching himself German from tapes and a ‘teach yourself’ manual. He is fiercely proud of his German ancestry and treasures the diary, written in German in Gothic script, kept by his grandparents during their journey to Australia. On the inside in blue pen: "To Sadie, Wal Margaret & Elizabeth with lots & lots of love & best wishes from Mother"marg ball collection, eltham hotel, herbert james watson, otto (fred) golgerth, wilhemina watson (nee golgerth)

Newspaper articleThe Diamond Valley Cricket Association have adopted the Money name for its Division 2 shield, named for the family associated with the Riverside Cricket Club since the 1950s. The Riverside Cricket Club is located at Kalparrin Avenue, Greensborough.money family, riverside cricket club, diamond valley cricket association

greensborough, main street, shopping centre, tom lane chemist

greensborough, main street, shopping centre

greensborough, main street, shopping centre

Morrison Kleeman Real Estate sales information material. Property history Sold $1,005,000 August 16, 2018 by Morrison Kleeman - Eltham, Greensborough, Doreen Sold $165,000 June 1, 1986 https://www.realestate.com.au/property/1-abbey-mews-eltham-vic-3095/ Colour brochure, 4 pages, 1 fold, double sided, 23.5 x 23.5 cmgayle blackwood collection, houses, morrison kleeman real estate, abbey mews, eltham, properties, woodridge estate

concept plan, melbourne metropolitan board of works, plenty river, report

Invition to Richard Edward Fielding and a friend to attend the wedding reception for Dorothy Fawcett and Leslie Wislon at Plenty Hall, Greensborough on April 27, 1940 Mr - Mrs Fawcett request the pleasure of the Company of Eddie - Friend at a Reception in honour of the Marriage of Dorothy with Leslie Wilson at Plenty Hall on April 27th at 8 P.M Main Road, Greensborough. R.S.V.P. April 13thdorothy may fawcett, greensborough, leslie anzac wilson, main street, plenty hall, reception, richard edward fielding, tom fielding collection, wedding invitation

Published in Hurstbridge but claims to have a wide circulation around the area, including Eltham and Greensborough. It contains numerous advertisements by businesses in the district. This edition records the death of Victor Barnes (uncle of the donor) from the after-effects of service in the trenches in France during WW1. Digital copy accessible via Trove (1927, April 22). Advertiser (Hurstbridge, Vic. : 1922 - 1939), p. 1 (AFTERNOON). Retrieved July 26, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page5870397the advertiser, advertisements, victor barnes, david smyth collection

Vol. 7, No. 1, Mar-Apr 2002 CONTENTS Comment 2 Cultural Tourism Centre for Nillumbik In Search of stones by Anne Mullholland 3 CD Review 5 Elizabeth Scarlett on Continuum Short Story 6 The Thin Black Line by Jocelyn Harewood Poetry 9 Homage to Lloyd Rees by Christine Crowl Book Review 10 September 11 by Noam Chomsky Doing the Country Thing 12 With Brian Woodstock and Ross Henderson Heritage Across Cultures 14 The City of Whittlesea Heritage Week 2002 Photography 16 Rusty Stewart Book Review 18 Planting the nation, edited by Georgina Whitehead Poetry 20 Radiant Awnings by Shelton Lee Book Review 22 A Girl’s Best Friend: The Meaning of Dogs in Women’s Lives; Jan Fooke and Renate Klein Heide Museum of Modern Art 23 First Stage of Heide Museum of Modern Art Redevelopment CD Review 24 Cloud Lining Grace Notes Professor Ratbag aka Lisa Bellear by Christine Croydon 26 Artin' About 28 Wining and Dining 30 "Peter Dougherty has been involved in the local art scene for many years. As publisher and editor of the arts magazine Artstreams, his comments on the various branches of the arts are widely respected. His "The Arts" column in the Diamond Valley Leader presents a brief summary for a much wider cross section of the local community. Peter also operates his own gallery and the Artstreams Cafe at the St Andrews market. Peter has a wealth of knowledge about present day and historical aspects of local art and artists." - Eltham District Historical Society Newsletter No. 161, March 2005Colour front and back cover with feature articles and literary pieces with photographs and advertisements printed in black and white. 36 pages, 30 cm. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 1996) - Vol. 10, no. 5 (summer ed. 2005/​06) art streams, brunswick music festival, cultural tourism, drystone walling, stones, willy wonka's ice cream gourmet food, jocelyn harewood, eltham fullife pharmacy, chris pittard, mary-lou pittard, lloyd rees, christine cowle, smiths gully general store, montsalvat, bulleen art & garden centre, manningham arts centre, brian woodcock, ross henderson, eltham wiregrass gallery, manningham gallery, city of whittlesea heritage week, greensborough cake kitchen, arts on burgundy, were st food store, shelton lee, thompsons pharmacy, heide museum of modern art, dynamic vegies, christine croydon, bundoora homestead, lisa bellear, stolen generation, tony tuckson, john borrack, viewbank

Vol. 9, No. 1, Mar-Apr 2004 CONTENTS Comment 2 Coming to a festival near you 3 Eltham Jazz and Blues Festival 7 Marco Luccio - printmaker, by Clive Dickson 8 Easy Living at Dizzy's by Odette Kelada 10 Reading Arcadia by John Jenkins 12 Poetry News by Ian McBryde 14 Local Colour - photography by Bill Bachman 16 Tributes to Melanie Shanahan 18 Nel Douglas & the Murrumbeena Connection 20 Book Reviews 22 CD Review 24 War Memorial Sculptures 25 Artin' About 26 Wining & Dining 30 Art Services and Classes 32 "Peter Dougherty has been involved in the local art scene for many years. As publisher and editor of the arts magazine Artstreams, his comments on the various branches of the arts are widely respected. His "The Arts" column in the Diamond Valley Leader presents a brief summary for a much wider cross section of the local community. Peter also operates his own gallery and the Artstreams Cafe at the St Andrews market. Peter has a wealth of knowledge about present day and historical aspects of local art and artists." - Eltham District Historical Society Newsletter No. 161, March 2005Colour front and back cover with feature articles and literary pieces with photographs and advertisements printed in black and white. 36 pages, 30 cm. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 1996) - Vol. 10, no. 5 (summer ed. 2005/​06) art streams, city of whittlesea community festival, chris smither, mary coughlan, eliza carthy, alison brown quartet, music festivals, sushi wushi eltham, bundoora homestead, eltham jazz festival, marco luccio, warrandyte cafe, clive dickson, bahnhof cafe, montsalvat, eltham fullife pharmacy, nyora road gallery, john jenkins, latrobe university, poetry, ian mcbryde, potters, eltham gourmet poultry & game, eltham wiregrass gallery, bill bachman, melanie shanahan, neil douglas, murrumbeena collection, hurnall's decorative arts gallery, st andrews hotel, leigh conkie, greensborough war memorial park sculptures, il primo restaurant carlton, bulleen art & garden centre, northcote pottery, hurstbridge galleries, thompsons amcal pharmacy, bendigo bank, hurstbridge & districts community bank branch

Launch of "Pioneers and Painters: One Hundred years of Eltham and its Shire" by Alan Marshall. The history was commissioned by the Shire of Eltham and published as part of the Shire of Eltham centenary celebrations. Cr. G.C. Dreverman, Cr. A.F.C. Glover and Mr Robert W. Fell, M.L.A. for the electorate of Greensborough. Fell was a founding councillor for the Shire of Diamond Valley in 1964. He served as M.L.A. 1970-1973. This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book, "Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital imagebook launch, cr. a.f.c. glover, cr. g.c. dreverman, robert w. fell, painters and pioneers, shire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, sepp, member of parliament, councilors, shire of diamond valley, greeting, municipal officials

Cardboard ticket in beige with red strip.Day of use stamped1976, eltham, greensborough, train ticket

Digital file only - Digitised by EDHS from a scrapbook on loan from Beryl Bradbury (nee Stokes), daughter of Frank Stokes.beryl bradbury (nee stokes) collection, eltham copper butterfly, greensborough plaza

Newsclipping, full page advertisementNewsprint Newsclipping, full page advertisement Focus feature on Wally's Carpets of Greensborough on reverse1994, combined service clubs festival committee, eltham festival, shire of eltham

Newsprint Feature focus on Wally's Carpets of Greensborough on opposite side of Eltham Festival advertising1994, eltham festival, greensborough, wally's carpets

Part of a presentation on "Significant Trees, Wildflowers and Local Gardens" by Russell Yeoman to the 10 November 2004 Eltham District Historical Society meeting35mm colour positive transparency Mount - white 7 dots (Technodia Italy)greensborough, partington's flat, pear tree, significant tree, partingtons flat

Part of a presentation on "Significant Trees, Wildflowers and Local Gardens" by Russell Yeoman to the 10 November 2004 Eltham District Historical Society meeting35mm colour positive transparency Mount - white 7 dots (Technodia Italy)greensborough, partington's flat, pear tree, significant tree, partingtons flat

Part of a presentation on "Significant Trees, Wildflowers and Local Gardens" by Russell Yeoman to the 10 November 2004 Eltham District Historical Society meeting35mm colour positive transparency Mount - white 7 dots (Technodia Italy)batman apple tree, corowa crescent, greensborough, malus pumila, plenty river walking trail, significant tree

Part of a presentation on "Significant Trees, Wildflowers and Local Gardens" by Russell Yeoman to the 10 November 2004 Eltham District Historical Society meeting35mm colour positive transparency Mount - white 7 dots (Technodia Italy)batman apple tree, corowa crescent, greensborough, malus pumila, plenty river walking trail, significant tree

Part of a presentation on "Significant Trees, Wildflowers and Local Gardens" by Russell Yeoman to the 10 November 2004 Eltham District Historical Society meeting35mm colour positive transparency Mount - white 7 dots (Technodia Italy)batman apple tree, corowa crescent, greensborough, malus pumila, plenty river walking trail, significant tree

The original bridge over the Plenty River was replaced by a single lane bridge each way fed by two lanes each way on either side. As traffic grew a second bridge was added to complete the divided road across the riverFilm - Kodak CM 400 5079 7 strips, 26 framesinfrastructure, roads, bridge construction, greensborough, main street bridge, road construction

The original bridge over the Plenty River was replaced by a single lane bridge each way fed by two lanes each way on either side. As traffic grew a second bridge was added to complete the divided road across the riverFilm - Kodak CM 400 5079 7 strips, 26 framesinfrastructure, roads, bridge construction, greensborough, main street bridge, road construction

The original bridge over the Plenty River was replaced by a single lane bridge each way fed by two lanes each way on either side. As traffic grew a second bridge was added to complete the divided road across the riverFilm - Kodak CM 400 5079 7 strips, 26 framesinfrastructure, roads, bridge construction, greensborough, main street bridge, road construction

The original bridge over the Plenty River was replaced by a single lane bridge each way fed by two lanes each way on either side. As traffic grew a second bridge was added to complete the divided road across the riverFilm - Kodak CM 400 5079 7 strips, 26 framesinfrastructure, roads, bridge construction, greensborough, main street bridge, road construction