Yvonne ‘Ning’ Ellis and a transient group of surfers lived in two rental cottages overlooking Geographe Bay in Dunsborough during the 70s. These are Ning’s recollections…
Wow. It’s so funny looking back. We had so much love n fun in those little cottages. Great friends were forged forever. It was a rundown ramshackle when Grem (Ron Ellis) & I found it. We found out who the owners were and drove to Perth (Dalkeith) to ask if we could rent it (please). They liked us so we (me & friends) spent a week cleaning it up and it became our house for six years. The back cottage was even more makeshift in that it was built before the boundaries went in, probably as a fisher’s hut. It was a timber frame with tar paper walls and a leaky tin roof. Grem n Me and George Simpson lived in the front cottage. (George lived downstairs) Rick Lobe lived in the back cottage.
1975 The crew & washing hanging in front of Ricky’s rear cottage at Dunsborough. Photo courtesy Peter Mac.
The rest of the crew all came to stay over a long summer that lasted about 3 years, over the period when cyclone Tracy hit Darwin and Albie hit the South West. I say that because some were refugees from Darwin. We all went to Darwin for about 18 months to rebuild. We got married there and shared a house with Mike n Johnny Simpson. Jen M lived next door & came back with Mike. Me n Grem drove home & had our kids (Misty n Jesse) there. George met Tracy, Mitch n Jen hooked up, Ricky Lobe met Janine, and Andy Jones met Sally. Suzy Ware met Blue Nicholson. Jack McCoy met Kelly. There are many more as well.
We had a wonderful old apricot tree a vegie garden and we fished n surfed every day. We all worked where we could (eg Caves House) and shared our resources.
1975 Dunno crew in front of Gremmo’s place. Photo courtesy of Peter Mac Back: Graham Worsely, Horace & Haydon Front: Grem, Jill, Ning, George Simpson, Suzy Ware and Grem’s dad Ernie with Grem’s dog ‘Horse’.
The following picture of the cars is Ricky’s Blue Holden, George’s yellow ute and the green VW was being fixed up for me. That’s Grem and Tracey is on the other side of the car. We bought it from Ralph Redman (it was Ralph and Geoff Culmsee’ s surf car). They patched up the rusted-out floor with fibre glass (of course) and fixed it up for me to drive with baby Misty on a mattress in the back seat. Worked great for a while then I was upgraded to a Holden Kingswood. That’s another story!
1975 Freshly spray-painted cars in the car park of rear house. Ricky’s Blue Holden, George’s yellow ute and Ning’s green VW. Photo courtesy of Peter Mac.
We started our Business in that makeshift cottage shed. Hahaha. Grem n George built the new office for the primary school and Grem made kitchen cabinets for them and lots of others round the area. The Dunsborough Bush Fire Brigade got off the ground there too. One night the fireplace caught fire and we almost lost the house. The fire trucks that existed were in poor condition so after that we made the red tins and started raising money for new equipment. Thank goodness we had a garden hose that reached. Our kettle was always on the old Metters wood stove. Everyone dropped in.
We had some wonderful parties. No one complained because everyone came. It was just great friends n food and lots of happy laughs. Such great memories and funny stories from that ‘little ole cottage on the bay’.
1978 New Years Eve party at Gremmo’s place. Photo courtesy of Peter Mac Lizzie Kegge with Ronny Ratshit and Mitch with Jen.
Yvonne ‘Ning’ Ellis and a transient group of surfers lived in two rental cottages overlooking Geographe Bay in Dunsborough during the 70s. These are Ning’s recollections…
Wow. It’s so funny looking back. We had so much love n fun in those little cottages. Great friends were forged forever. It was a rundown ramshackle when Grem (Ron Ellis) & I found it. We found out who the owners were and drove to Perth (Dalkeith) to ask if we could rent it (please). They liked us so we (me & friends) spent a week cleaning it up and it became our house for six years. The back cottage was even more makeshift in that it was built before the boundaries went in, probably as a fisher’s hut. It was a timber frame with tar paper walls and a leaky tin roof. Grem n Me and George Simpson lived in the front cottage. (George lived downstairs) Rick Lobe lived in the back cottage.
The rest of the crew all came to stay over a long summer that lasted about 3 years, over the period when cyclone Tracy hit Darwin and Albie hit the South West. I say that because some were refugees from Darwin. We all went to Darwin for about 18 months to rebuild. We got married there and shared a house with Mike n Johnny Simpson. Jen M lived next door & came back with Mike. Me n Grem drove home & had our kids (Misty n Jesse) there. George met Tracy, Mitch n Jen hooked up, Ricky Lobe met Janine, and Andy Jones met Sally. Suzy Ware met Blue Nicholson. Jack McCoy met Kelly. There are many more as well.
We had a wonderful old apricot tree a vegie garden and we fished n surfed every day. We all worked where we could (eg Caves House) and shared our resources.
Back: Graham Worsely, Horace & Haydon
Front: Grem, Jill, Ning, George Simpson, Suzy Ware and Grem’s dad Ernie with Grem’s dog ‘Horse’.
The following picture of the cars is Ricky’s Blue Holden, George’s yellow ute and the green VW was being fixed up for me. That’s Grem and Tracey is on the other side of the car. We bought it from Ralph Redman (it was Ralph and Geoff Culmsee’ s surf car). They patched up the rusted-out floor with fibre glass (of course) and fixed it up for me to drive with baby Misty on a mattress in the back seat. Worked great for a while then I was upgraded to a Holden Kingswood. That’s another story!
We started our Business in that makeshift cottage shed. Hahaha. Grem n George built the new office for the primary school and Grem made kitchen cabinets for them and lots of others round the area. The Dunsborough Bush Fire Brigade got off the ground there too. One night the fireplace caught fire and we almost lost the house. The fire trucks that existed were in poor condition so after that we made the red tins and started raising money for new equipment. Thank goodness we had a garden hose that reached. Our kettle was always on the old Metters wood stove. Everyone dropped in.
We had some wonderful parties. No one complained because everyone came. It was just great friends n food and lots of happy laughs. Such great memories and funny stories from that ‘little ole cottage on the bay’.
Lizzie Kegge with Ronny Ratshit and Mitch with Jen.
Hope you enjoy my ‘ramble on’.
Best regards
Ning
Thanks for sharing your memories Ning.
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Living in Dunsborough in the 70s published 2 Sept 2015
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