I walk past this building at 129 Durham Road Sunshine a few times a week and don’t give it much thought - it’s been empty since I moved out West two years ago. The art deco ‘ish’ features made me think it was built in the first half of the 20th century but it’s so large I wondered if it was built for a purpose other than as a residential house.
I was going to ask if anyone knew what it was previously used for but a google search did reveal some of it’s previous history as the Sunshine Boys Hostel.
From Dept of Human Services Annual Report 1960
The Sunshine Boys’ Hostel was opened by the Victorian government in May 1959, partly in response to the overcrowding at Turana, the only state-run centre for children committed to state care until 1961.
It was established to accommodate up to 15 young men, who were “not normally acceptable in the hostels conducted by voluntary organizations, who have no interested parents or other relatives, and who require something more than the usual help and supervision, as regards employment and leisure”.
The Department stated that work in the Sunshine-Footscray districts was freely available for the 15 residents and that the ‘parents’ at the Hostel, Mr and Mrs L.T. Lewis, had created a ‘family’ atmosphere.
I also found a 2009 Brimbank City Council Cultural Heritage Study that lists 129 Durham Road as containing a weatherboard house built in the 1920s and that by 1930, it was the home of Headlie Taylor, famous for the invention of the Header Harvester.
I’ve also found indications that more recently, it may have served as a drug and alcohol detox centre but can’t confirm that.
Can anyone fill in the gaps? When did it stop being the Sunshine Boys Hostel? What have been some of it’s more recent uses? And when did it get boarded up, waiting for someone to try and torch it?
Edited to add: A couple of locals kindly shared what they knew. The house is likely still in the ownership of the State Govt and was most recently (perhaps at least between 2006 – 2010) a Women & Children’s Drug & Alcohol Service - Home-Based Drug Withdrawal Service. The program is now called Westadd Women’s Program and operates out of Footscray.
It also looks like the house remained the home of Headlie Taylor and his family for a long time, as this engagement notice in the 15 June 1946 edition of The Argus shows:
The Taylor’s still lived there in 1946
TAYLOR – STEWARD. – Gweneth Shirley, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Taylor. 129 Durham road Sunshine, to Edward (ex-A.I.P) third son of Mrs. S. Steward and the late Mr. C. W. Steward. 3 Alice street. Sunshine.
And if you are looking for a ‘renovators delight’ in a great location, apparently it’s worth around half a million.
I was just doing a search on this place because my Dad was a resident there. He left there in the mid-60′s. My Mum lived up Glengala Road and they met through a mutual friend. I thought this place had been already knocked down – or I’ve just been shown an empty plot of somewhere else every time we’ve driven by ["that's where the hostel was kiddies"].
Hi PJ! That’s interesting – there has been an empty plot at the other end of that block (151 Durham Rd where it intersects with Anderson Road) for a number of years until a couple of months ago when they commenced building townhouses. Maybe they confused that for the location of the Hostel..?
Did/does your Dad talk much about his time at the hostel? It sounds like it was a place that gave boys in state care the help and support they needed and seems like it all worked out well for your Dad in the end but I’m sure the Govt reports of then were as full of spin as they are today!
He passed away about 2.5 years ago and I didn’t get much out of him about certain aspects of his life. My Mum was telling me that he did say that the “hostel” was his favorite out of the lot and he and the owners/landlords got on really well and they helped each other out, even after he left (cause he knocked up my Mum – not with me tho, lol). From what I understand, he aged out of Tally Ho and was moved to Tuarana and when they ran out of room and he was old enough, that’s when he went to the Hostel. He was about 17 or 18 then. They taught life skills like how to get a job and rent a house and iron a shirt etc. I’ve seen other photos of the building from the 60′s and even though there were bars on the window, they could come and go. The only thing I could think of in that respect would be curfews etc. He did tell me a story about some of the guys from this hostel and others, would go and perv on the nurses in training who lived in the Charles Connibere (?) building at the Royal Melbourne Hospital by scaling the fire escape!
During the late 70′s, early 80′s I heard it rumoured that the residents had set fire to the beautiful timber dwelling. For several years, from memory, it looked like a blackened shell.
Just had a quick look at the electoral roles on Ancestry for you, and found that HS Taylor is Headlie Shepherd Taylor. His wife was Ruby Maud. They moved in between 1938 and 1942, and lived there until at least 1954. Headlie was a designer until 1931, then listed on the electoral role as an Engineer. Headlie seems to have passed away between 1954 and 1963, as Ruby is living in Essendon without him in 1963. They had a number of children, but I didn’t take down all their names. I couldn’t find the Lewis’s on the role, but didn’t have a thourough look!
Thanks Maree – That’s what worries me about it sitting empty now.
Thanks Leanne – Yes I wonder if Headlie died while they were still at 129 Durham Rd and then his wife sold/donated it for use as a hostel and moved to Essendon..?
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