The YMCLC Oral History Group invites you to take a step back in time as they reach back into their files to present a story of years gone by. This month we are featuring an interview with Des Tuttle conducted on June 27, 2013.
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I’m Des Tuttle. I was born on January 19, 1933 in Yarrawonga.
My father started a plumbing business in Yarrawonga in about 1928.
In 1950 I started work as a plumbing apprentice travelling three nights a week to Wangaratta to do my plumbing course. In 1963, I took over managing the business, and I then built new premises now known as the Party Shop and the mechanic, at the back workshop.
Hard at work in the Westside Caravan Park
In about 1950, house connections were to start, with the Shire calling tenders for batches of approximately 20 houses to be connected to the sewerage system. We were lucky enough to be able to do about 50 per cent of the connections.
We had a staff of 12 men working with us. We also did new house plumbing. We did the plumbing and roofing on the ANZ, National, Commonwealth Bank and the new maternity wing along Piper Street, plumbing and sewerage and fire services, and roofing the chemist shop known as Terry White’s, the elderly citizens flats and many more.
In 1956, we did the plumbing and drainage on the new Yarrawonga High School. A big part of our work was with the farming community fitting hot and cold water services, installing their homes with septic tanks, windmill pumps, tanks and stands etc.
We did not have trenchers in those days. Most of our sewer work was done by hand. We used to pay sub-contractors to dig and backfill the house trenches at four shillings a foot.
When I started my apprenticeship with Dad, he gave me a job in Tom Street to connect the sewer to a new house. I was sent around there to find the sewer point on the sewer main. This sewer main was down about 15 feet. So, I was sent around to dig down and find the point where we had to put the sewerage into, and the story was that he would send a man around to give me a hand once I found this point.
So, in due course I found the point and I said to Dad, “Well, I’m ready now, I’ve got the point found and opened up ready for action”. He said, “Well, draw a line up to the gully trap and start digging and I’ll send a man round when one comes available, which will probably be tomorrow”.
So, I dug all day, and the next day, and I said to Dad “When’s this man coming”? “Oh yes, he’s coming, he’ll be round there shortly”. So, in due course I finish the trench up to the house and I reported back and said, “Now the trench is ready for the pipes”. He said, “Well, perhaps you’d better start laying the pipes, and I’ll send somebody around to give you a hand to clean it up”. So, I laid the pipes and got it inspected, and in due course, it was to be filled in. So, I suggested that it was ready for filling in.
He said “Well, look, I’ll send that bloke around this afternoon to give you a hand, but you start”. So, I finished up filling the whole trench in, and I still haven’t seen that man.
Des and Jenny built Westside Caravan Park in 1983.
Jenny and I built business premises on the Murray Valley Highway, next to one of the Wool Stores. We sold in 1982 and went on to build Westside Caravan Park.
In 1983 I saw a sign on a fence, For Sale. So, I pulled up and looked over the fence and come home and I said to Jenny “We ought to buy that block of land”. She said, “How much is it?” I said, “I don’t know”, so we went to the agent, and we eventually come to an agreement on a price. So, we started to build a house on that block, and it was my suggestion, which probably I had in the back of my mind all the time, that we should build a caravan park.
The swimming pool at Westside Caravan Park.
We applied for permits with the Council and we started to build in early 1983. We opened it in November 1983 with 40 sites. Later we established another 27 mobile home sites. We worked the caravan park for 17 years, and by that time we’d had enough and decided to put it on the market. We sold out in 1999 to the Kuepers.
The Yarrawonga Mulwala Community and Learning Centre Oral History Group is currently seeking new members to join our group. If you have skills in basic IT, typing and/or audio editing it would be an advantage. Training and Support are provided.
Please contact the Community Centre on 0357443911 for more information.
