Going back in history through Dorrofield’s lens

“I NOW live in a very changed Bluff.” These are the sentiments of resident, Dudley Dorrofield, who recently detailed his experience of the surburb as a lad. The octogenarian crisply recalled a very dimly lit and gravelled Bluff in the early 1940s when he moved into the area as a boy of seven years-old.

“I came to live with my uncle, aunt and three cousins, the Steele-Boes. We lived in a very large three bedroom wood and iron house affectionately known as the Buckingham Palace situated at about 148 Maxwell Avenue, which was a dirt road. There was no electricity, we used paraffin lamps and a very efficient coal stove. The only water was from one tap in the front garden and our toilet was a long drop in a shed in the backyard.”

The only other house on that road was number 115, owned by a vet, Mr Arsholt. Further down the road, recalled Dorrofield, was the Catholic church and Monastery, run by Father Ian, who walked all the tracks and dirt roads on the Bluff. “When he saw us children, we had to show him our hands and if they were dirty, we got a whack with his cane.”

His family kept a piebald horse called Pony, which was ridden by the houseboy, Philip, to the only tea-room, at the time, for supplies. “The tea-room was the Bend store owned by Cecil Coleman at the corner of what is now Cradock Avenue.”

“Only two buildings existed at Crossways. The hotel with three terraced gardens, from the hotel to the bus stop on Marine Drive and Beach Road. The other building was Les Flook’s Garage where the garage still exists and when things improved after the war, some developments started taking place. A double-storied building went up on the corner of Marine Drive and Beach Road. Arthur Osborne opened a chemist at the front and a tea-room opened at the side.”

A very big fig tree towered the bush near Blackpool Road, where they fixed a zip line ending in a clearing where Casbah is, a thrilling adventure of time.

“The area from Island View Road and Lighthouse Road, where Chicken Lickin is, was all bush and once a month, families queued along the roadside waiting for the green rations truck which parked under the tree that is still there.” Each family received a block of white margarine, a packet of sugar, a packet of rice and six eggs.

Years later when the site was cleared, a general dealer with school uniforms and upmarket clothing, Stead’s store was built, and Osborne’s Chemist moved there. A rugby field used to be where the swimming pool now is. “Every Sunday afternoon, a competitive game of soccer took place between us youngsters, coloured, white, black and Indian, with great comradery and friendship. Many of us played for Fynnlands Club. In the corner by the rugby field was a green corrugated building which comprised two-rooms and a tuck-shop on playing days. This was the only building at the grounds, at the opposite corner, a pathway through the bush led to the tea-room.”

Further along from where the Bluff Meat Supply to where Pick n Pay now is, was a huge swamp, the vlei, with no houses, just a place that allowed Dorrofield to exercise his boyhood mischief. “One day a friend and I were looking for bird nests in the area and saw some beautiful mauve water lilies and thought we should pick some for our mothers. We had to wade knee-deep in the water to pick them. Coming out of the water, our legs were stinging and we saw that they were covered in leeches, which we brushed off leaving blood running down our legs. Our mothers enjoyed the lilies but scolded us for going into the swamp.”

Green Shadows, later Barbeque, was a restaurant and pub, situated at the bottom of Bluff Road, past Fynnland Station was popular with the locals and many seamen, who walked from their ships moored at Dolphins Quays. He said that fights between the seamen and the locals often broke out.

The era of tarred roads ushered in a new sport in the area in 1950s, marking the beginning of the Bluff Grand Prix for motorcycles, which lasted about four years. The 10 lap race would start from behind the oil refinery, up and along Marine Drive to the army base, down Lighthouse Road, through Chamberlain Road, over Landsdowne Road and back to the starting point.

“A very smelly whaling station was in full operation and walking along the beach to go fishing, we used to get whale skin and meat for bait, occasionally getting a ride on the flatbed whale train around the end of the Bluff to the slipway, where the whales were kept before being taken to the whaling station. From there to the South Per, was a short walk. The Bluff train terminus was at Wests, near the whale slipway and across the road to the Trust Hotel.”

The Steele-Boes then moved to a new house, 7 Thomond Avenue, off Island View Road. “Across the road was a leper colony and quarantine station, between Stott and Ivernia Roads, which was a fenced off restricted area. When the yellow flag was hoisted meant that a new patient had been admitted. If the flag had a black spot in the centre, a patient had died.”

Fridays afternoons were for fishing, but not before homework was done. “We’d pack a box of sandwiches and a bottle of water into the fishing bag, grab the rods and walk to Island View Station and follow the tracks to the terminus. A short walk from there to the South Pier, or stop at the Coaling Appliance, which was a good spot for grunter and snapper salmon. Or my favourite spot, the dolphins. Fishing was good and if we got tired, we curled up in a corner and slept till early morning.”

As he got well into his teens, fishing to switched to babes, bikinis, and boobs which meant a long walk up Armstrong Road, over Admiral Road, along Crossways, down the bush path to the beach and along to the tidal pool at Brighton Beach on Saturdays.

“Periodically the municipality empitied the tidal pool to remove the build-up of sand on the bottom and clean the sides, we used to dig in the sand before it was removed and found gold and silver bracelets, rings, chains, charms any many dentures. Once the service was done it was left to the incoming tide to fill it, which took a few days. After Saturday, it was a long walk home and back to the beach on Sunday.”

“But, I now live in a very different Bluff,” added Dorrofield.

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