1975

[W W Biscuit]

Here's one for the oldies!

I began to follow the Doggies in 1975 at the tender age of 6, so my memories of this era are somewhat hazy. I've been watching the Round 2 game vs Fitzroy on YouTube again - the game in which Neil Sachse was injured :(

On paper, we seemed to have a pretty good team. Dempsey was in his prime, we had Sandilands up forward, Huppatz in the guts, a handy recruit in Peter Featherby, Superboot and Barry Round was still with us, Adrian Gallagher, Greg Parke, a young Geoff Jennings...not to mention a raw teenager by the name of Kelvin Templeton.

Looking at the season stats, we won four out of our first five games, so certainly must have been in the five early on. The game that really piqued my interest was the Round 4 game versus the mighty Richmond, where we crushed the reigning premiers at the Western Oval by eleven goals. Does anyone remember this game, and can you shed a bit of light on it? The hype surrounding the Dogs after this game must have been immense.

Footage of the Dogs around this time is so rare, so I am hoping that a couple of you will be able to dust off your memories :)

[ledge]

I remember one of the players saying they thought they could win the flag that year but when the Sache incident happened a lot of them were affected by it and were a little hesitant to go in hard.
It left a mark on the whole playing group and they weren't the same after it.

[Bulldog4life]

I remember one of the players saying they thought they could win the flag that year but when the Sache incident happened a lot of them were affected by it and were a little hesitant to go in hard.
It left a mark on the whole playing group and they weren't the same after it.

Yes you are right Ledge. I was at the match when Neil had that shocking accident. It affected the team throughout the year. None more so than Peter Welsh who lifted Neil up after the accident thinking he was doing the right thing. It wasn't.

[Twodogs]

I vividly remember being at the match when Sasche was injured. The thing that really strikes me all these years later is how quiet the crowd went. There wasn't a sound, I think everyone to a person was in shock at what was unfolding in front of us. The guy he had run into was visibly upset, even a little distraught and Sasche hadn't moved at all so we knew it was serious.

Anyway the Richmond game. I have vague memories of beating Richmond in an upset, but back then no matter where we were on the ladder Richmond were our bitches especially at western oval. In fact it got so bad from their POV that they started coming after our players and managed to pry our captain (David Thorpe) and our head case defender (bones McGhie) loose, they both preferred the glory of being dual premiership players rather than slogging it out at the bottom of the ladder with us-go figure.

The story of the day was something to do with Royce Hart. Did he get injured, reported, carried off the ground out cold sometging along those lines.

[Bulldog4life]

I vividly remember being at the match when Sasche was injured. The thing that really strikes me all these years later is how quiet the crowd went. There wasn't a sound, I think everyone to a person was in shock at what was unfolding in front of us. The guy he had run into was visibly upset, even a little distraught and Sasche hadn't moved at all so we knew it was serious.

Anyway the Richmond game. I have vague memories of beating Richmond in an upset, but back then no matter where we were on the ladder Richmond were our bitches especially at western oval. In fact it got so bad from their POV that they started coming after our players and managed to pry our captain (David Thorpe) and our head case defender (bones McGhie) loose, they both preferred the glory of being dual premiership players rather than slogging it out at the bottom of the ladder with us-go figure.

The story of the day was something to do with Royce Hart. Did he get injured, reported, carried off the ground out cold sometging along those lines.

I think his name was O'Keefe

[Twodogs]

I think his name was O'Keefe



That's it. I think it was Kevin O' Keefe, not Kerry O' Keefe.

I remember players from both sides sort of comforting him and that other players had grouped around Sasche and then some of them started turning away. That's when things started to look really bad.

[Bulldog4life]

That's it. I think it was Kevin O' Keefe, not Kerry O' Keefe.

I remember players from both sides sort of comforting him and that other players had grouped around Sasche and then some of them started turning away. That's when things started to look really bad.

Yes it was Kevin Td.

[I'm Not Bitter Anymore!]

I was at the match didn’t grasp the significance of the injury at the time

[HOSE B ROMERO]

Great thread Biscuit! I'm a little older than you and 74/75 was when i did my first bulldogs scrap book. Anyway you've just prompted me to dig it out. It's full of round by round match reports etc from the Herald Sun.

The dogs had made a rare finals appearance in '74(first since the 1961 grand final loss), and paid a record amount for a West Australian, Peter Featherby at the end of that season. Bobby Rose was the coach and Dick Collinson was President.

Yes, the Sachse tragedy occurred in round 2 against Fitzroy but the full extent of his injury was not known until later the following week(highly recommend his recently written autobiography). Interesting to note that in the reserves that day, new recruit Templeton kicked 10.

After a round 3 win against Geelong, journo Bob Crimeen wrote 'Bulldogs are a mystery.' He states '...on paper it is hard to detect any deficiencies but they continue to have lapses in games. With a goal to goal line of Merrington, Quinlan, Featherby, Parke and Sandilands; Dempsey, Huppatz, Gallagher and Jennings in the midfield and plenty of pace around the the flanks and wings, they should be doing better'.

Bulldogs slaughter fumbling Richmond, the headline read the following week. There was a double page centre spread with some great photos from the game and stating ' the years of pretending could be over' (they weren't). Sandilands was b.o.g and it looks if Templeton played his first game and got 3 goals. The game was played in front of 25388 (gate receipts $20332!). The dogs were sitting 4th.
Interesting to note teams still played with reserves. Also there may have been the centre diamond and not the centre square.

Round 5 saw the biggest crowd of the round(36,000) at the Western oval for the dogs/pies clash with us winning by 11 points to sit 3rd on the ladder.
The Herald/Sun had a voting system called Sunscore. Basically every player was rated out of 10. Sandilands was coming 3rd behind Jezza and Lethal Leigh.

Hmm, 3 bad losses followed to North, Essendon and the Saints. So much for the years of pretending being over. That must have been the last straw for me. The scrapbook finishes at round 8 with a lot of blank pages following.....

[Twodogs]

I found a scrapbook for a couple of years from 1978 the other day. Goes from Don Mackenzie to Royce Hart. A bit of drama concerning the signing of Simon Beasley. They were chucking serious amounts of money about for the times. Beasley's transfer fee was $175000. That sort of money would have bought a couple of houses (with some change) at the time

[Webby]

The club doctor on the day of the Sachse incident actually delivered me. He was our family doctor for years. I remember my dad (who had a lot of good, long chats with the doc) once telling me he'd asked him about it and he replied "Oh, yep. No, really don't like talking about that day, thanks mate." My dad did know from another account that, the moment the incident occurred, the doc, whilst bouncing up from the bench, yelled "call an ambulance, he's broken his neck."

It was pretty shocking for all involved and left a big impact. I think tat as the gravity sunk in, it must have impacted the club pretty significantly. 1975 was the first year in which we wore our "Hawkins era" triple hoops. Being round 2, Sachse's jumper was hardly worn. Seems silly that this is the first thing that struck me when I saw it in its surgically-cut-form in the club museum. "Geez, it looks brand new!" (This might sound silly to younger generations, but we were renowned for recycling jumpers. Due to the new design we obviously had to kit the side out in brand new garments.)

Seems somewhat poignant for a player who'd just begun and had his whole career ahead of him that the jumper is literally cut down in its prime.

[Twodogs]

The jumper in its casing in the museum is very poignant.

[W W Biscuit]

Great thread Biscuit! I'm a little older than you and 74/75 was when i did my first bulldogs scrap book. Anyway you've just prompted me to dig it out. It's full of round by round match reports etc from the Herald Sun.

The dogs had made a rare finals appearance in '74(first since the 1961 grand final loss), and paid a record amount for a West Australian, Peter Featherby at the end of that season. Bobby Rose was the coach and Dick Collinson was President.

Yes, the Sachse tragedy occurred in round 2 against Fitzroy but the full extent of his injury was not known until later the following week(highly recommend his recently written autobiography). Interesting to note that in the reserves that day, new recruit Templeton kicked 10.

After a round 3 win against Geelong, journo Bob Crimeen wrote 'Bulldogs are a mystery.' He states '...on paper it is hard to detect any deficiencies but they continue to have lapses in games. With a goal to goal line of Merrington, Quinlan, Featherby, Parke and Sandilands; Dempsey, Huppatz, Gallagher and Jennings in the midfield and plenty of pace around the the flanks and wings, they should be doing better'.

Bulldogs slaughter fumbling Richmond, the headline read the following week. There was a double page centre spread with some great photos from the game and stating ' the years of pretending could be over' (they weren't). Sandilands was b.o.g and it looks if Templeton played his first game and got 3 goals. The game was played in front of 25388 (gate receipts $20332!). The dogs were sitting 4th.
Interesting to note teams still played with reserves. Also there may have been the centre diamond and not the centre square.

Round 5 saw the biggest crowd of the round(36,000) at the Western oval for the dogs/pies clash with us winning by 11 points to sit 3rd on the ladder.
The Herald/Sun had a voting system called Sunscore. Basically every player was rated out of 10. Sandilands was coming 3rd behind Jezza and Lethal Leigh.

Hmm, 3 bad losses followed to North, Essendon and the Saints. So much for the years of pretending being over. That must have been the last straw for me. The scrapbook finishes at round 8 with a lot of blank pages following.....

That's awesome, Hose B. Great effort. I hoped that someone out there had a scrapbook! It is interesting that the Bulldogs juggernaut early in the season continued for a couple of weeks after the Neil Sachse diagnosis. Then it fell in a heap. Perhaps it was like delayed concussion...the enormity of it all slowly sinking in and destroying the mood of the playing group. Coming on the back of Robert Rose's accident, which I think was only the year before, it must have been horrible.

Laurie Sandilands looked unstoppable in that Lions game. He was the first Footscray captain I remember, so this era is special to me. All of those names - Quinlan, Dempsey et al - stand tall as heroes and legends to a little kid. I remember being very teary when we sold them off. I may even have discontinued my scrapbook :D

[Twodogs]

There are some copies of match reports in the papers in Google books now pushing into the 80s. I read the one where we won at Moorabbin in '83 after being 39 points down

[jeemak]

I've seen a particular player who I dearly loved playing with go in way too hard too many times, and only played with him a few games. He was a school captain of the school for which I played as an old boy, and was an absolute legend to play with. One day I saw him launch head first for the ball in the most courageous act I've ever seen on a football field, the level he was crunched hit me from 75m away. He lay flat on his back, convulsed to leaning up with blood coming from his eye, lay back down and then his legs just started flipping around perpendicular to the ground, with the odd violent kick.

He's a medicine man now, after stopping after that day. I talked to my Dad who was watching the game and he said it's the closest thing he's seen to Sachse going down. He said it with fear in his eye because he lived the cold bastard day and feeling that was that moment in our club's history, and a bloody horrible day for a loved son of ours.

[bornadog]

Great thread Biscuit! I'm a little older than you and 74/75 was when i did my first bulldogs scrap book. Anyway you've just prompted me to dig it out. It's full of round by round match reports etc from the Herald Sun.

The dogs had made a rare finals appearance in '74(first since the 1961 grand final loss), and paid a record amount for a West Australian, Peter Featherby at the end of that season. Bobby Rose was the coach and Dick Collinson was President.

Yes, the Sachse tragedy occurred in round 2 against Fitzroy but the full extent of his injury was not known until later the following week(highly recommend his recently written autobiography). Interesting to note that in the reserves that day, new recruit Templeton kicked 10.

After a round 3 win against Geelong, journo Bob Crimeen wrote 'Bulldogs are a mystery.' He states '...on paper it is hard to detect any deficiencies but they continue to have lapses in games. With a goal to goal line of Merrington, Quinlan, Featherby, Parke and Sandilands; Dempsey, Huppatz, Gallagher and Jennings in the midfield and plenty of pace around the the flanks and wings, they should be doing better'.

Bulldogs slaughter fumbling Richmond, the headline read the following week. There was a double page centre spread with some great photos from the game and stating ' the years of pretending could be over' (they weren't). Sandilands was b.o.g and it looks if Templeton played his first game and got 3 goals. The game was played in front of 25388 (gate receipts $20332!). The dogs were sitting 4th.
Interesting to note teams still played with reserves. Also there may have been the centre diamond and not the centre square.

Round 5 saw the biggest crowd of the round(36,000) at the Western oval for the dogs/pies clash with us winning by 11 points to sit 3rd on the ladder.
The Herald/Sun had a voting system called Sunscore. Basically every player was rated out of 10. Sandilands was coming 3rd behind Jezza and Lethal Leigh.

Hmm, 3 bad losses followed to North, Essendon and the Saints. So much for the years of pretending being over. That must have been the last straw for me. The scrapbook finishes at round 8 with a lot of blank pages following.....

Great Stuff Hose, I remember how exciting it was at the start of 1975 after a final appearance the previous year and new players coming in like Feartherby and Sachse and the exciting players already at the club as you mention above. Sachse had played 84 games in the SANFL including a premiership and was a highly rated player. We were looking at a big season and playing finals footy again.

Following the Sachse incident, it felt like the whole season was shot there and then. I recall the incident so vividly I can still picture it in my mind.

We finished on 11 wins and 11 losses very disappointing.

[BulldogBelle]

I was there on the day of the Sachse incident too. I thought that O'Keefe caused it, he went in with his knees up to a man with his head over the ball. Sachse lay motionless on the ground. It was horrible when Peter Welsh went over to Sachse, grabbed his hand from the ground and tried to pull him up only to see in horror that Sachse's neck just folded backwards. So Welsh dropped him and walked away.

I think that it took 20 years for the club to recover from this.

The umpires already had us in their sights and giving us few frees after Ted Whitten got umpire Montgomery from Western Australia the sack.

[Twodogs]

I was there on the day of the Sachse incident too. I thought that O'Keefe caused it, he went in with his knees up to a man with his head over the ball. Sachse lay motionless on the ground. It was horrible when Peter Welsh went over to Sachse, grabbed his hand from the ground and tried to pull him up only to see in horror that Sachse's neck just folded backwards. So Welsh dropped him and walked away.

I think that it took 20 years for the club to recover from this.

The umpires already had us in their sights and giving us few frees after Ted Whitten got umpire Montgomery from Western Australia the sack.


What's all this? I've never heard about EJ getting an umpire sacked before. Well, not a west Australian umpire anyway. Can you tell us the story please ringer?

[NoseBleed]

I was there on the day of the Sachse incident too. I thought that O'Keefe caused it, he went in with his knees up to a man with his head over the ball. Sachse lay motionless on the ground. It was horrible when Peter Welsh went over to Sachse, grabbed his hand from the ground and tried to pull him up only to see in horror that Sachse's neck just folded backwards. So Welsh dropped him and walked away.

Was 9 years old, standing beside the race with Dad, maybe 40 yards from that one. Whenever we talk a out it, Dad and I can't help but wonder if Welsh's lifting him was what consolidated the damage done by O'Keefe. He must agonise over it. It's certainly burned in my brain.

[Twodogs]

Was 9 years old, standing beside the race with Dad, maybe 40 yards from that one. Whenever we talk a out it, Dad and I can't help but wonder if Welsh's lifting him was what consolidated the damage done by O'Keefe. He must agonise over it. It's certainly burned in my brain.


Yep, mine too. Seeing Sasche do that and the players reaction was what made he crowd go quiet.

[Webby]

I was there on the day of the Sachse incident too. I thought that O'Keefe caused it, he went in with his knees up to a man with his head over the ball.

Sorry, but I've got to say that this account is very unjust on Kevin O'Keeffe. Sachse actually had the footy (he'd just gathered it running away from goal) and looked to be about to do the archetypal swing around to snap or handball. As Sachse gathered the ball, he dropped his head and, tragically, collided with O'Keeffe's right hip. O'Keeffe was upright, if not slightly up on his tiptoes in preparation of tackling a larger player who was in possession of the ball in the vicinity of goal.

O'Keeffe did nothing wrong. Had Sachse stayed upright, O'Keeffe would have simply bear-hugged him and the ball would've likely been balled up. It was just an awful accident. I know we always like a culprit to blame, but it's simply not fair to do so on this one.

[Twodogs]

Sorry, but I've got to say that this account is very unjust on Kevin O'Keeffe. Sachse actually had the footy (he'd just gathered it running away from goal) and looked to be about to do the archetypal swing around to snap or handball. As Sachse gathered the ball, he dropped his head and, tragically, collided with O'Keeffe's right hip. O'Keeffe was upright, if not slightly up on his tiptoes in preparation of tackling a larger player who was in possession of the ball in the vicinity of goal.

O'Keeffe did nothing wrong. Had Sachse stayed upright, O'Keeffe would have simply bear-hugged him and the ball would've likely been balled up. It was just an awful accident. I know we always like a culprit to blame, but it's simply not fair to do so on this one.

Yeah, that's more my recollection too. O' Keefe was distressed but it would be wrong to conflate that distress with guilt. That's what I've always thought.

[bornadog]

Sorry, but I've got to say that this account is very unjust on Kevin O'Keeffe. Sachse actually had the footy (he'd just gathered it running away from goal) and looked to be about to do the archetypal swing around to snap or handball. As Sachse gathered the ball, he dropped his head and, tragically, collided with O'Keeffe's right hip. O'Keeffe was upright, if not slightly up on his tiptoes in preparation of tackling a larger player who was in possession of the ball in the vicinity of goal.

O'Keeffe did nothing wrong. Had Sachse stayed upright, O'Keeffe would have simply bear-hugged him and the ball would've likely been balled up. It was just an awful accident. I know we always like a culprit to blame, but it's simply not fair to do so on this one.

You can watch it here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXXHMrdKcoY) but not a pretty sight. It is the sort of thing that happens many times in a game. Neil actually ducked his head, but then again it happens all the time, so agree can't blame anyone at all. I am surprised there aren't more serious injuries in games.

[Twodogs]

You can watch it here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXXHMrdKcoY) but not a pretty sight. It is the sort of thing that happens many times in a game. Neil actually ducked his head, but then again it happens all the time, so agree can't blame anyone at all. I am surprised there aren't more serious injuries in games.


Does Sasche duck his head (it's why I hate watching Selwood play, he is tempting fate so much leading with his head they way he does. It only takes a minor misjudgement and he's in a chair the rest of his life) or does he stumble as he gathers the ball? My memory is he stumbles and cannons into O' Keeefe but I'm not watching it again.

[bornadog]

Does Sasche duck his head or stumble ss he gathers the ball? My memory is he stumbles and cannons into O' Keeefe but I'm not watching it again.

Ok I took another look, O'Keefe comes through with an elbow about to clean him up and Neil, ducks from the elbow but then collected with the knee or maybe hip as Webby says.

[Twodogs]

Ok I took another look, O'Keefe comes through with an elbow about to clean him up and Neil, ducks from the elbow but then collected with the knee or maybe hip as Webby says.


Thanks mate. Saved me watching it myself, I appreciate it.

I never want to see tgat again as long as I live. I have a lot of old days footage that I love watching. I have the entirety of this game but have never watched it. It's the only game that I have that I haven't seen and never will see. I started watching it one day until the commentater mentioned a guy playing his first game for Fitzroy called Gary Wilson (what a player!) and I thought to myself "shit I know what else happens in this fame" switched it off and haven't watched it since. Even Harvey knows the disk is marked with a black texta for a reason-we don't watch that one...

[BulldogBelle]

What's all this? I've never heard about EJ getting an umpire sacked before. Well, not a west Australian umpire anyway. Can you tell us the story please ringer?

It was umpire Ray Montgomery and it happened in 1965.

Montgomery was the premier umpire in Perth. He umpired from 1952 to 1964 in the WANFL (later called the WAFL). In 1965 he umpired about 2 matches in the VFL and then went back to WA to umpire the WANFL to umpire for a further 6 years.

His umpiring life was marked with incidences, such as when one supporter in Perth tried to run him over in the car park once. The award for best WAFL field umpire is named the Ray Montgomery Medal in his honour. In 2002 Montgomery was named as one of three field umpires in the WANFL Umpires Association Team of the Half Century. In 2004 he was inducted into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame.

According to the stories around at the time he was brought over to Melbourne as we should have the best umpires here in Melbourne. He enrolled at a Melbourne Technical College and started VFL umpiring.

Read The Age newspaper page 26, Tuesday 1 June 1965: - "BULLDOGS SEEK ACTION ON UMPIRES"; "Lift Standard". Regarding the appointment of 36-year-old former West Australian Ray Montgomery and outburst by the club's captain-coach Ted Whitten at the weekend. I don't have access to this article and would be interested if somebody could print it.

It was Round 7, 25 May 1965 at the Western Oval. We were playing Melbourne, I was there. Raymond Montgomery was the umpire and it was to be his second and last match of VFL. Bulldogs greats such as Ted Whitten, John Schultz, Ian Bryant, Dave Darcy, Merv Hobbs, Alan Hunter, John Jillard, Graham Ion, Don McKenzie, Algy Vosilitis and Murray Zeuchner were playing. Stan Alves, Hassa Mann, Frank Davis, Tassie Johnson and Barrie Vagg were among those playing for Melbourne.

We may have kicked with the wind in the first quarter as at quarter time we were in front. Then at half time we were 14 points down. We kept them goal-less in the third quarter to take the lead but they won in the end by 4 points. They won the free kick count 29 to our 23. Four free kicks were given against Ted Whitten.

I remember Ted getting interviewed on television complaining about Montgomery's umpiring and questioning why we should bring umpires out from WA, the game is about players, not umpires. There were also articles in the paper.

Ray Montgomery then disappeared from the scene. Was it because he was sacked, or had he just done his planned stint of two matches, I don't really know. Seemed like he was sacked though. Also seemed like the umpires extracted their revenge on us after that.

[Eastdog]

As a younger Bulldog born in the late 1980s these threads are great to get an insight of the old school days. One thing to do when I go to the Whitten Oval next is to check out the museum.

[Twodogs]

Walk around the streets Easty. Swan st, Adelaide st, cross st, Barkly st. Walk up to Sims and back, that trip should be on the bucket list of every bulldog supporter.

[Webby]

Ray Montgomery then disappeared from the scene. Was it because he was sacked, or had he just done his planned stint of two matches, I don't really know. Seemed like he was sacked though. Also seemed like the umpires extracted their revenge on us after that.

51 years of favourable treatment..... smooth sailing... barely noticed, to be honest...

[Eastdog]

Walk around the streets Easty. Swan st, Adelaide st, cross st, Barkly st. Walk up to Sims and back, that trip should be on the bucket list of every bulldog supporter.

Hocking, Cross, Gordon, Barkly the big 4 :)

[Twodogs]

Hocking, Cross, Gordon, Barkly the big 4 :)


Yeah, I don't know a walk along Gordon street would be advisable mate. It would be a bit like standing on the side of a Grand Prix race track hitchhiking.


And it's more the streets across the road from the ground like Adelaide, Swan, Sydney, Eleanor, Southampton streets that will give you a feel of what it was like. Those blocks have barely changed in 100 years, although I can't see the redevelopers waiting forever.

[bornadog]

Yeah, I don't know a walk along Gordon street would be advisable mate. It would be a bit like standing on the side of a Grand Prix race track hitchhiking.


And it's more the streets across the road from the ground like Adelaide, Swan, Sydney, Eleanor, Southampton streets that will give you a feel of what it was like. Those blocks have barely changed in 100 years, although I can't see the redevelopers waiting forever.

The good thing about those streets is the blocks are not wide, so if a developer wanted to get in they would have to buy at least 3 or 4 houses to knock down.

I grew up in Wales street and most of the streets around there like Empress, Coronation, have small blocks as well. My cousin lives on Kingsville st, and the blocks are huge and therefore lots of flats.

[Twodogs]

The good thing about those streets is the blocks are not wide, so if a developer wanted to get in they would have to buy at least 3 or 4 houses to knock down.

I grew up in Wales street and most of the streets around there like Empress, Coronation, have small blocks as well. My cousin lives on Kingsville st, and the blocks are huge and therefore lots of flats.


Mum lives in the area bounded by Francis and Somerville road where the new suburb is being built 100 metres away. It's weird watching the neighbours you've known for decades get tattslotto offers for their property and then have to make a decision. Amenity or money? And if I stay how much of the amenity is going to be left? Dr Wong in Roberts st retired last year and his old practice is about to be redeveloped into units so that's one less doctor in the neighbourhood and 20 more residents traipsing into Footscray to see a doctor. As a result Thring the Chemist in Somerville rd doesn't get as much business so she is thinking of closing so yet another very useful to the locals fast food place takes her shopfront meaning the closest pharmacy is a 30 minute walk away. Less amenity, more people looking for a parking spot.

I'm an only child and I already know what my choice between amenity and money will be when the time comes.

[Eastdog]

Yeah, I don't know a walk along Gordon street would be advisable mate. It would be a bit like standing on the side of a Grand Prix race track hitchhiking.


And it's more the streets across the road from the ground like Adelaide, Swan, Sydney, Eleanor, Southampton streets that will give you a feel of what it was like. Those blocks have barely changed in 100 years, although I can't see the redevelopers waiting forever.

Yeah a lot of cars turning off from Geelong Road into Gordon Street.

[bornadog]

Mum lives in the area bounded by Francis and Somerville road where the new suburb is being built 100 metres away. It's weird watching the neighbours you've known for decades get tattslotto offers for their property and then have to make a decision. Amenity or money? And if I stay how much of the amenity is going to be left? Dr Wong in Roberts st retired last year and his old practice is about to be redeveloped into units so that's one less doctor in the neighbourhood and 20 more residents traipsing into Footscray to see a doctor. As a result Thring the Chemist in Somerville rd doesn't get as much business so she is thinking of closing so yet another very useful to the locals fast food place takes her shopfront meaning the closest pharmacy is a 30 minute walk away. Less amenity, more people looking for a parking spot.

I'm an only child and I already know what my choice between amenity and money will be when the time comes.

Is that the same Dr Wong (i think that was his name) that operated on Williamstown rd near the corner of Charles st or something?

The trouble is when you sell you have to buy something else.

[Twodogs]

Is that the same Dr Wong (i think that was his name) that operated on Williamstown rd near the corner of Charles st or something?

The trouble is when you sell you have to buy something else.


Dr S. K. Wong. I don't know if he had another practice but it would surprise me because he didn't come across as a dilettante or an empire builder. He derived his satisfaction in life from actually helping people to get better not seeing how much he money he could extract out of them.

25 years ago my dad wasn't feeling very well and mum rang Dr Wong and described the symptoms. He listened to the symptoms, put the phone down and ran to my parents' house, took one look at dad and rang 000. The woman on the 000 number wasn't all that keen on dispatching an ambulance until Dr Wong told her he was a doctor and he'd like her name to pass onto her superiors during the investigation he would institute if dad died! about 90 seconds later we could hear the sirens.:D

He was magnificent that day.

[W W Biscuit]

Is that the same Dr Wong (i think that was his name) that operated on Williamstown rd near the corner of Charles st or something?

Sounds a bit dangerous. Surely he could have done that in a surgery?!

(boom tish)

[Twodogs]

Sounds a bit dangerous. Surely he could have done that in a surgery?!

(boom tish)


He is a man of many talents.

His wife and son used to come to bulldog games with us. Mrs Wong could cut up pretty rough at times!