Early Years — Growing up in Whyalla and Port Hedland

I spent most of my early life growing up in Whyalla, South Australia on Eyre Peninsular. My early school years saw the family living at 91 Playford Avenue, Whyalla Playford. I attended the Memorial Oval Primary School.

Memorial Oval Primary School

Whyalla News, Tuesday, 27 March 1962.

Mum and Dad were always actively involved in my education, plus contributed as members of various school committees.

The caption to this item in the Whyalla News read, "Mothers rallied to South Infant School on Thursday to inspect classroom activities. Here Mrs D. L. Borrett, with daughter Susan shyly hiding from the camera, looks at one of the project books of her son Lloyd."

Mrs Smith and the 41 student MOPS Grade 3 class in 1964 (I'm 3rd from left in the back row)

Mr Smith and the 34 student MOPS Grade 7 class in 1968 (I'm last on the right in the back row)

91 Playford Avenue, Whyalla

Cricket in the back yard at Mum's (September 1964)

The family home at 91 Playford Avenue had the sort of back yard that kids love. Interesting nooks and crannys, plus wide open grass areas. Thus it was a bit of a focal point for the neighbourhood kids. Many an afternoon after school was spent playing kick to kick Aussie rules football, back yard cricket etc.

Clubs, Scouts, and YMCA

Setting off on a cub scout camp.

I went through the boy scout movement with the 3rd Whyalla troop in Peters Street, first as a Cub Scout and in October 1967 graduating to become a Scout.

Saturday mornings were spent at the YMCA in the old airport hangar (now part of the Whyalla wetlands) doing gymnastics, athletics and basketball.

I remember well a trip to Broken Hill with the YMCA in 1968 for a state competition. I was still in Primary School, so we had to fudge my age so that I could compete as the competition was meant to be for High School students only.

I was in the basketball team and did gymnastics on the parallel bars. I was also entered in the public speaking contest as no one else would do it. My topic was "Education as Growth and Change." And I won! As I recall this was the only thing the Whyalla YMCA team won during the whole of the competition. Everyone, including me, was most surprised.

Visiting Grandparents

Saturday afternoons were often spent visiting my paternal grandparents in the house my grandfather Robert Lewis Borrett built at 19 Ward Street, Whyalla, or in his tiny workshop at the back of the small three room abode he built for his family of five to live in while he built the main house.

Holidays In Adelaide

At the beach in Adelaide with Uncle John Robertson and his dog.

Our family holidays were often spent in Adelaide, staying with grandma and grandpa Williamson in Military Road, Henley Beach South. This meant plenty of swimming, shopping in the city with Mum, and visiting a lot of relatives. Mum was one of eleven children and many of my aunts and uncles lived in the Adelaide suburbs with their families.

Holidays At The Farm

Lloyd with Great-Aunty Ethel (circa 1959)

We also spent many of our family holidays, down on the farm. My Great-Aunt Ethel Harvey (sister to my grandfather, Robert Lewis Borrett), with the assistance of Clarry Saltmarsh, ran a property called "Lake View" on the northern side of Lake Alexandrina, not far from Langhorne Creek, South Australia.

Noske, Clarry and Lloyd (December 1961)

This farm was what remained of the property of William Borrett, my great grandfather. It had been a fully self-contained farm in its day, with a dairy, piggery, blacksmith shop, shearing shed, horse stables, quarters for the farm hands etc. We slept in what had once been the school room for "Lake View" and the neighbouring farms.

During the 1960s when we visited the farm it was a sheep and wheat property, with just Great-Aunty Ethel and Clarry Saltmarsh running the place. We would help with the wheat harvest, shearing, marking lambs, or whatever else was going on when we visited.

Clarry also had a small place of his own down on Lake Alexandrina, at the mouth of the Bremer River, next to the Lake Plains school, where he raised prize winning Angus beef cattle.

Mount Newman and Port Hedland

Dean Borrett, Chief Engineer, Mt Newman Mining, 1969.

In late 1968, my Dad took on the position of Chief Engineer, Mt Newman Mining Company for its first year of its operation in Western Australia. Thus we spent three months of the 1968/1969 summer in the Pilbara mining town of Mount Newman, and the rest of 1969 at Port Hedland.

We were in Mount Newman on 22 January 1969 for the "Final Spike" ceremony to mark the official opening of the railway between Mount Newman and Port Hedland. At 426 km long, it is still Australia's longest privately owned railway.

We were also at Nelson Point, Port Hedland for the official opening of the Mt Newman Mining Company port facility on 1 April 1969. I was on the guard of honour as a scout, close to the official dias. Dad was on the dias.

The button was pressed to launch the loading of iron ore into the waiting ship Osumi Maru. Nothing happened!

Blokes were frantically gathering at an elevated swiching station to the right of me. Dad raced from the dias to the switching box and entered. A cry of, "You can't do that," rang out.

"I'll do anything I bloody like," Dad shouted. Dad stuck his head out from the switching box, gave a thumbs up signal, the button was pressed again, and iron ore started to stream in the ship's hold.

122 Sutherland Street, Port Hedland, 1969.

Our house was at 122 Sutherland Street, Point Cook, close to what was then the single-men quarters. (You now often see the single-men quarter buildings on the TV news as the Port Hedland detention centre for illegal immigrants.)

43 Wood Terrace, Whyalla

January 1970 saw the family returning to Whyalla and taking up residence at 43 Wood Terrace, opposite the entrance to the Whyalla Hospital. Dad finally had a Men's Shed, where he proceeded to construct a wooden workbench, and then the Heron sailing dinghy.

After an interesting year of high school in Port Hedland, I started in Year 2 at the Whyalla High School, finishing Year 5 in 1973.

Whyalla Basketball

I played senior A-Grade basketball for the YMCA team in both the winter and summer season competitions on the bitumen, open air, courts in Wilson Park on McBryde Terrace.

A skill, now mostly lost to basketall, is allowing for the wind when shooting on open-air courts. Another treasured skill is knowing where the puddles form on the court when it's raining during the winter season and not bouncing the basketball in them!

Our senior Captain-Coach was Barry Wadingham, and I was Secretary of the YMCA club, when we merged with another club to create the Spartans club.

In 1976, the Whyalla Basketball Association competition moved to the new Whyalla Recreation Centre with two indoor courts. Most mornings would see me arriving there and queing up with the swimmers before opening, and then spending an hour before work shooting hoops.

After work would typically see me returning to the Whyalla Recreation Centre, and either doing some more personal training, team training, coaching the YMCA Under-16 and Men's C-Grade sides, referring a game, or playing in the Men's A-Grade side.

I was also fortunate to play with Captain-Coach Mike Osborne, and others like Ray Girvan, in the Whyalla Steelers senior combined side.

Sailing

In the summer, I also sailed, from the Whyalla Yacht Club out at "The Basin", with my Dad in "Jurra", the Heron sailing dinghy he built.

For pocket money, I worked part-time at the BP Lincoln Highway service station on the outskirts of town, near the Sundowner Hotel Motel.