Six generations of one Gippsland family have enjoyed a centenary of Christmas, Easter and family celebrations at their Seaspray holiday house.
Longford grazier Harry (Bert) Andrew Senior purchased ‘Ocean View’ on February 24, 1923, and on Saturday January of this year, more than 60 family members and friends of the Andrew family gathered at ‘Ocean View’ to celebrate 100 years of memories at the beachside holiday house.
Bert Andrew Snr’s granddaughters and current owners of ‘Ocean View’, Wendy Skewes of Maffra and Noeline Andrew of Glen Iris, hosted the event.
The sisters said they were thrilled to pay tribute to a house that has always been much-loved by their great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and more recently by their own children and grandchildren.
“First and foremost this house has been about family,” Noeline said.
“And the times we have spent in this house has strengthened the values the Andrew family lives by, which are friendship, community, sharing a generous table and appreciating the local environment.”
“Even though we have never lived here, ‘Ocean View’ and Seaspray has always been our home.”
The guest of honour for the occasion was Lilydale’s 96-year-old Thelma Cock, who is the only surviving child of Bert Snr and his wife, Alice.
Bert Snr and Alice had seven children – Doris, Ray, Albert (Bert Jnr), Keith, Anne, Thelma and George – the descendants of those siblings gather at ‘Ocean View’ each January for a family reunion.
Thelma said her earliest memory of ‘Ocean View’ was travelling along the sandy track from Longford to Seaspray in the family’s 1928 Dodge car – which had canvas panels and plastic windows – when the house had just three rooms with a front and back porch.
“When we arrived, which was usually in the afternoon, one of the first things we did was to go and get some fresh bread from Hawkins Bakery,” Thelma said.
“Once we were here we always enjoyed lots of fish breakfasts because dad and ‘Stumpy’ Cartledge next door always loved to go fishing each morning.”
As ‘Ocean View’ didn’t then have a bathroom, Thelma recalled her father’s strict rules.
“If we’d been swimming in the creek we had to have a swim in the salty ocean before we could come home,” Thelma said.
“We weren’t terribly happy with that rule because the creek was nice and warm, and the sea was icy cold, but Dad was hard and fast.”
Thelma said Seaspray’s early days were quite similar to the present day, as many of the holiday houses were owned by families from Sale and surrounds, which strengthened the friendships between families, many of which remain today.
“For entertainment, each Tuesday night, there was a euchre and dance night at the Hall, and on Thursday nights, there was a children’s dance,” Thelma said.
“Before these functions, Jack Hawkins from the bakery and my brother George would go around town and ring a bell and call out ‘roll up, tumble up, come to the dance tonight’. And for that, they got sixpence, which was quite a lot in those days.”
Thelma recalls the polio epidemic in the 1930s.
During that time, we were here from just after Christmas until about April,” she said.
“There was part-time school up in the Hall each morning, and in the afternoons, we were free to go to the beach. But I don’t recall there being any polio cases from Seaspray.”
Cheryl Long (nee Sheean) travelled to the ‘Ocean View’ celebration from Melbourne and said she had many happy memories from when she holidayed at the house throughout her childhood and teenage years.
“My family was from Omeo and my parents knew the Andrews so we would set up our caravan in the front yard every January,” Cheryl said.
“I remember fishing every morning, competing in the annual (Australia Day) fishing competition, swimming in the creek and all the mozzies. It was a real beach holiday.
“There were always people coming and going from ‘Ocean View’ and it’s been absolutely wonderful to return after 50 years and relive those memories.”
Sale’s Anne Fleming attended the event in memory of her father Bernie Lazzaro, who served in WWII and was a lifelong friend of Wendy and Noeline’s father, Bert Andrew Jnr.
Mr Lazzaro also owned a holiday house in Seaspray – ‘Malfa’, at the corner of Bock and Bearup street- which also recently celebrated its own centenary of being owned by the same family.
“My dad and Bert (Jnr) spent a lot of time fishing and mucking up around Seaspray together,” Anne said.
“There are so many connections between the families in Seaspray and an event like this to celebrate that is just fantastic.”
Sadly, Wendy and Noeline’s uncle, George Andrew of Sydney, who was a long-term co-owner of ‘Ocean View’ died on December 17 and so, just missed out on this occasion by a matter of weeks.
“Uncle George and his family played a significant part in our lives and in the history of ‘Ocean View’, and this occasion also gave us an opportunity to remember him,” Wendy said.
