I started school at the Catholic school in Kensington and soon after we moved to Pascoe Vale. That would have been about 1940 or 1941. I started at Pascoe Vale Primary School then all the Catholic children transferred to Blessed Oliver Plunckett’s.
We spent many years in Ray Street, Pascoe Vale. Most people in the area had very little money, many families had someone away at the war [World War 2]. The area was well serviced with the tram and shops close by. At that time most people walked, even in the rain and cold, and so there was a familiarity amongst the community.
The milkman, baker and woodman all delivered. There was a dairy across the back paddock and it was often my job to take a pan and collect milk for the family. As food was rationed during the war, I suspect that the milk was not properly recorded and so we were able to avoid the rationing. When the milkman delivered it was from the back of flat cart with large milk cans from which milk was ladled into the household billy or pan.
During the war we constantly felt under threat from the Japanese so I think that was probably the reason people didn’t want to spend too much money on their houses. Most of the houses were old and even after the servicemen returned to the area there was not much money spent.
