Letters

My grandfather was Superintendent of Kings Park when I was born in 1925 and I used to go and stay with my Grand Parents during school holidays at the house (before the present one) just inside the main entrance.

There were big heavy gates at the main entrance, which closed at 6.00 pm and I use to charge people a penny to let them out after that time.

My Grandfather would take me out at night to shoot rabbits up near where the tea rooms are now.

Each weekday we would go up to where the War Memorial is and watch the tug towing a string of barges from Fremantle up to Perth, which was a port in those days.

My Grandfather had a Model T Ford and would take me down to the Chinese laundry where the Aldelphi Hotel now stands to get his collars ironed and starched. On the way back up Malcolm St he would have to turn the Ford around and go up backwards so that the petrol would flow from  the tank to the engine. Cars did not have petrol pumps in those days.

Leaves in the park were swept up into a pile by using a branch of a tree and then loaded into a cart drawn by as horse, which was kept at the rear of the house.

One of the sad things I can remember is that it was during the depression in the 1930s when a number of people committed suicide because of financial problems and my Grandfather would drive off at daybreak each morning looking for bodies.

I consider I was very fortunate to have a Grandfather with such a big park and I spent many happy hours exploring the area.

G Feakes

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