Site of East Hills Migrant Hostel (Greater Western Sydney)

Australia / New South Wales / Sydney / Greater Western Sydney / Sirrius Rd
 hostel, historical layer / disappeared object
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This site was the East Hills Migrant Hostel that I stayed in the sixties. It was full of Nissan Huts. Aroun 1970 most of them were demolished and replaced by brick flats. You can still see the outline of the concrete pads for the Nissens at the top rhs. The Canteen was to the left of the central oval and the Recreation Hall directly opposite. You can still just see the outline. This was home to many a young boy and girls adventures in the 1960's
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Coordinates:   33°57'33"S   150°58'9"E

Comments

  • I ALSO LIVED IN EAST HILLS HOSTEL FROM 1963 UNTIL 1965; I ATTENDED HAMMONDVILLE PRIMARY AND EAST HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
  • Hello .I also lived at East Hills Hostel in 1972. I dont know how long we lived there but I would like to know. My sir name is Salamon.How can I find out?
  • I lived here too in 1964. I went to East Hills Girls School where they were all lovely. One Australian girl wrote up all the work I had missed for me as I started after the beginning of term. She had beautiful writing and was so kind to do it. I have good memories of that time but my mother found it very hard after leaving a lovely home in England to find that she had to live in a nissan hut. I didnt realise at the time as I was only 15, but it must have been awful for her. We returned to England in 1967. I returned to East Hills in 2006 to try to find the hostel. I walked over the bridge which is now metal. The river looked so wide much wider than I remembered it. There was no one around and I found it quite scary walking across it. When I got to the other side I tried to walk to find the site but I could only get to the gazebo they have built on the pathway. I saw the houses but turned around as it was like a ghost town. I think everyone must have been at work. I ran back to East Hills Station where there were some people but even the town was very quiet with a lot of the shops closed down. I was relieved to be back on the train back to Sydney but I did wish that I had had more courage to walk through the estate to the old hostel site shown on this map.
  • Hi I lived at Heathcote Hostel 1962 to 64, went to East hills boys high school, had fond memories but those nissan huts, you could fry an egg on them in summer, no insulation, but certainly an experience. Ray
  • hi mary, we the wright family stayed at heathcoat road hostel in 1965.but i remember east hills hostel also. i hope to return one day. crossed that old wooden bridge everyday to work at h g parmers in bankstown.best wishes dave.
  • We emigrated to Australia in 1956 I was 8yrs years old my sister was 12 we moved onto east hills hostel I went to Hammondville school I think we lived there for 14 month life was good then we moved on to Moorebank and went to liver pool high school came back to England in 1966 to coventry loved my school days my friends were from Holland Italy and Australian and my Bert mate was Scottish nice memories
  • Paul Murdoch I lived on Heathcote Hostel from 1961 -1964 and went to Hammondville Primary School and on to Liverpool Boys High. My time at the hostel was fantastic. I got to know lots of kids and played till my heart contant. We used to swim in a creek down the road, and spent many an hour playing in the bush. A simply life and a happy one. I now live in London and recently retired from work. I would love to contact anyone who knew me or was around at that time. I have never been back to Australia, but now that I am retired would definitely like to.
  • Not sure how long we stayed on East Hills hostel but we arrived June 1963.. Think we stayed 18mths.. I went to Hammondville Primary School.. My name then was Christine Knight..
  • David Clive, I live at the hostel early 1951 - 1957, people I knew were Vallery Grimstitch, Johnny Vallens, Peter Cavernon. We lived in the bottom section. Loved to hear from anyone living there at that time. My father was the one who started the British Migrants Association.
  • I was there in 63 for 6 months.I went to Hammondville primary school.I was also there when Monica Schofield was murdered and was a friend of her brother.
  • My family and I live there for 6 months in 1978 and Skip was still managing the youth club then. I have many fond memories of our first 6 months in Australia after arriving from the refugee camps in Thailand. I went to Mount Pritchard East primary school and my teachers name was Miss Allen. There would be a 25 minutes bus trip from the hostel to school every morning. Mount Pritchard was fairly Hilly and I can recall a special dip in the roads that always catch us by surprise. You'd fell it every time the bus drives over. There's a falling sensation and your stomach is suddenly inside your throat, followed by a loud "Whaoooo!" from all the kids in the bus. There were such Fun times.
  • My family " Hill " lived at the hostel from 1954 to 1958 ? will need to look up dates. I recall a family called the Steamburgers. I have an older sister who recalls more . Would be interested in hearing from you.
  • My family were also there for 6-8 months in '63. I went to scr ipture classes with Monica Schofield too. My parents were good friends with her mum and dad, but of course after her death they couldn't face staying in Australia and returned to the UK. Best news ever hen we all heard that the animal who killed her, proceeded to do himself in. Shame he didn't do that before that he killed her.
  • Sorry, absymal spelling above.... I also went to Hammondville Public School. Dad's pride and joy was a white and blue Ford Zephyr. I have a picture of me and my bestie Sadie (Scottish) girl sitting on the bonnet of the car. We will always remember the walk across the "desert" to the shops at East Hills, when we had missed the bus. The summer heat in the huts was almost unbearable too and of course there was no air con or fans back then. We had a window and a front door, but no flyscreens either. I remember a small hot plate in the room and a Birko water kettle. We had communal toilets and showers. I remember the frogs that were always present. The other vivid memory was around cracker (bonfire) night. A young lad put what he thought was unexploded bunga in his pocket. Next thing we all heard was his screaming in agony when it went off in his pocket and he was taken off to hospital. He lost a lot of skin from his thigh I was told. Reading other stories here brings it all back.
  • I lived on East Hills Hostel from June 1956 till 1959 when my parents got a housing commission house at Lalor Park. My maiden name is Jackson. I was only 7, my younger brother was 5 & my older brother was 15. We emigrated from Scotland. My younger brother & I went to St. Mary's Catholic School Liverpool. I remember the huts, the outside bathrooms, the canteen where we all queued with our trays for our meals, the huge common laundry/ironing room for all the mothers, the long walk across the bridge to East Hills Shops. Makes me really angry when I see today's " refugees" with all their lovely facilities, smashing things up & complaining. Try 3 years on the old Migrant Hostels in 1956. These people are living in Paradise. Bernie.
  • HI i was at east hills and heathcote feb 68 - feb 70 i also went to hammondville school philip key
  • We stayed at East Hills during 1962 as we came out for my ex RN husband to join the RAAF, We had a toddler who I put in the nursery and 4/5/of us went to work in a sweet packing factory. I was on my own once my husband was signed up and sent to train at Wagga Wagga, eventually we joined him there and after the basics of the Nissan hut a 2 rooms rental with a washing sink in the garden was quite a step up! We did go to Point Cook and then back to UK when his time was up. All part of our family story and I challenge any young families of the modern generation to deal with the conditions prevalent in these hostels. There were 2 young lads who had big lizards on leads which they brought into the canteen at meal times and I remember the English children refused to go to school as apart from the changes they had a long walk in the heat. They just hung around whilst their parents went off working.I was allowed to sort out a room which had been used to dump books - so I made it into a library which was well used. Its hard to believe what we experienced but we were young then.
  • I arrived at East Hills hostel with my sister and parents in 1959 aged thirteen. As I was the only child of high school age in that intake, we were told that there was no room for me at Liverpool Girls' High School and I should have to go to Fairfield. My parents refused to send me because of the distance and a lonely walk to the bus stop near the Holsworthy army camp. Consequently I did not attend school for six months. When I finally was granted a place at Liverpool Girls' High School I was only there for a short while when exams came up. I was required to visit the office of the headmistress to apologise for failing some subjects. The packed lunches called 'cribs' remain firmly in my mind- tasteless white bread and madeira cake. Bush roaches inhabited the drawers in our bedroom and the ruling was that we had no food in our huts. Not a good start to life in a new country! Patricia
  • http://www.migrantweb.com/hostelsforum/viewforum.php?f=29 great site
  • i lived on the hostel in 1963 till 65 as kids we had great fun . remember the band,s coming to play easybeats played there before they were discovered snowy t6he drummer lived on the hostel . my name is veronica. had a great friend called sylvia pierce. also vivian and another friend who moved to maquarie fields . also carol errington . phillip too.
  • I lived in East hills hostel for ten months till early October 1972. The only Christina I recall was Argentinian. Lots of south American migrants present in 1972, also Europeans, mainly British Dutch, Danish and German like myself. I went to East hills girls high school, walked across the Georges river every day. I liked hostel life, I recall many first names but only a few surnames. A friendly English chap known as Skip ran the youth club. Life never seemed easier. School was different, not really in touch with pupils, rigid and staid approach to education, school seemed to retain a measure of the convict / master relationship. I enjoyed migrant English lang
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This article was last modified 11 years ago