Christopher Bennett

Memoir Reflections

Memoir

Belly Whacker

Image from Morguefile – by D3 Designs

Everybody remembers their first belly whacker.

I do.

It happened at the Fitzroy baths back in the 1960s, when I dived into the pool almost horizontally and my belly hit the water first.

My guts felt like they had exploded, I doubled up in pain and sank below the surface. I eventually surfaced and somehow got out of the pool holding my stomach, which had turned a deep lobster red.

And it was not funny.

Though when some other ‘unco’ kid did a belly whacker, that was funny. You’d hear the whack and the scream, followed by a one or two word curse.

And when your mate did a belly whacker that was especially satisfying. You could stir him up for days on end.

A belly whacker from the side of the pool was painful, but a belly wacker from a diving board looked excruciating. I was lucky to learn my lesson diving from the side of the pool and not from a diving board.

I miss swimming at the Fitzroy baths, but I definitely don’t miss a belly whacker.

One House – Many Stories

357 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy – Photo by Chris Bennett

357 Brunswick Street is the address of the shop in Fitzroy, where I grew up.

While researching online for my memoir, I discovered several newspaper notices from the 19th century about my old home. The notices below are from Trove, an Australian online library database

12-3-1881 – Fitzroy City Press
Attention is directed in our advertising columns to the special stock of Christmas, New Year presents to be seen at Stockton’s Fancy Repository, 357 Brunswick Street.

19-12-1882 – The Argus
Deaths
MOGDRIDGE.— On the 18th December, at 357 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Isabella Rosina, infant daughter of Thos. and Anna Mogdridge, aged 4 months and 3 weeks.

2-5-1887 – The Age
Deaths
MOGDRIDGE.—On tbe 1st May, at Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Thomas John Mogridge, of London, England, aged 47 years, beloved husband of Anna Mogdridge, leaving a widow and seven children to mourn his loss. Respected by all who knew him.

A similar notice published below the above notice describes him as a ‘resident of 357 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy’, a ‘draper’ and that he died ‘after a long and painful illness.’

12-3-1891 – Mercury and Weekly Courier
Health Committee
Attention was directed to two brick houses, Nos. 357 and 359 Brunswick Street, which the Health Officer had condemned as being unfit for human habitation, and recommending that an order be made to that effect. The Inspector reported that he had attended to the various matters referred to in the report of the Department’s Inspector re dairies situated in Fitzroy.

There are 31 entries on Trove, from various local papers. I’ll keep researching so I can learn more about the house, which obviously has a rich history.

Paralysis by Analysis

The Secret to Writing – photo by Chris Bennett

As I write my memoir, I occasionally fall into the writer’s trap known as ‘paralysis by analysis’.

I try and get that paragraph just right – that sentence just right – that word just right. And the end result is that I’ve spent a lot of time writing very little.

Well, I’ve finally found a cure for my paralysis by analysis. As you can see in the photo above, I now have a system card with the words ‘Just Write’ positioned in front of my computer.

When I start to stray and get picky about what I’ve written, I glance at my system card and just write.

This is not easy to do, but it certainly has helped me to write creatively and keep the flow going without having to get everything … just right.

Fitzroy’s Mount Everests

As an adult walking down Brunswick Street, Fitzroy and looking at the buildings around me I can see interesting examples of 19th Century architecture.

As a ten-year-old kid walking down Brunswick Street in the early 1960s these buildings represented a challenge. And that challenge was to figure out a way of climbing these buildings to explore the roof tops, with my mate John.

Left: Corner of Argyle and Brunswick St. Right: Between Argyle St and Johnson St in Brunswick St. – photos by Chris Bennett

There were two reason why we had to explore roofs. It was exciting, because once you reached the summit you felt like you were on Mount Everest – on top the world. The other reason? Well, the challenge of not getting caught doing something naughty was worth the effort of having a go.

The garage roof in the lane way outside of John’s place was easy and we’d often climb to the top by scaling bricks that jutted out from the wall.

One day we achieved the ultimate thrill by exploring several roofs at once. John and I climbed onto his roof, from his backyard, and then explored the roofs along Brunswick Street, between Argyle Street and Kerr Street

Between Kerr St and Argyle St – photos by Chris Bennett

In old Fitzroy terms that’s from Mr O’Brien’s milk bar to Frank Dempsey’s butcher shop.

I’m not sure what curtailed our roof climbing – it may have been because we got too old for kid’s stuff.

Or perhaps it was curtailed when we got sprung one day and people in the nearby house yelled at us.

Down Memory Lane

Fitzroy Lane Way – Photo by Chris Bennett

This blue stone cobbled lane way is one of the many lane ways scattered around Fitzroy.

As a kid I played cricket in our nearby lane way, used it as a short cut to get to my mate’s place and as an escape route so as to avoid any ratbags that may have been lurking around.

The lane way in this photo is located in Fitzroy Street, near Gertrude Street.

If you walk along, and snake around another lane way you’ll get to Nicholson Street, a main road, that divides the suburbs of Fitzroy and Carlton.

In the distance you can see part of the Royal Exhibition Building.

This photo was taken recently but it could very well have been taken in the 1950s and 1960s when I grew up in Fitzroy.

To me the blue stone cobble lane ways of Fitzroy are like time machines – they take me back to old Fitzroy in an instant.