Looking Back - 1939 to 2011 - the Autobiography of Robert V. J. Padula, OAM

1952 Tennis and Ten Pin Bowling

Home
1941 - Bikes and Cars
1943 - Hiking - Hills and Coasts
1944 - Growing up in the War Years - Part 1
1944 - Growing up in the War Years - Part 2
1944 - Growing up in the War Years - Part 3
1945 - Auburn schooldays - Part One
1945 - Auburn Schooldays - Part Two
1945 - Auburn Schooldays - Part Three
1945 - Upwey and the Puffing Billy
1945 - Gramaphones and Record Players
1946 - Flinders St Station
1946 - Astronomy
1946 - Beach and Swimming Adventures
1946 - Going to the Pictures
1947 - Adventures at the Altona Bungalow
1947 -The Listener-In Magazine
1947 - Balwyn WIldlife Sanctuary
1948 - Fishermen's Bend Aerodrome
1948 - Radio Australia QSL cards
1948 - Excursions
1949 - Australian Rules Football
1949 - Radio Monitoring at Auburn
1950 -Trains and Ships
1950 - Radios for Communications
1950 - Radio Listening Clubs in Australia
1950 - World Radio TV Handbook
1950 - Shortwave Radio Propagation Research
1950 - Medium Wave Radio Propagation Research
1950 - Radio and Hobbies Magazines
1950 - Discovering shortwave radio at Auburn
1951 - Photography
1951 - Competitions on local radio stations
1952 - Camp Buxton - YMCA Shoreham
1952 Tennis and Ten Pin Bowling
1953 - Stamp Collectiong
1953 Camberwell High School
1954 - Royal Visit to Melbourne
1954 - Shortwave Radio reception at Auburn
1956 - Melbourne's Olympic Games
1956 - Trainee Telecommunications' Technician
1957 - Trainee Technician - field work
1957 - National Service Registration
1958 - Laverton Air Show
1958 - MOOMBA Parade
1958 - Trainee Technician - field work
1959 - The move to Mont Albert
1960 - Working at Deepdene Telephone Exchange
1963 - Trade Unions, Staff Associations, Industrial Relations
1964 - Senior Technician work in the Melbourne CBD
1964 - Project support for Radio Australia
1964 - Project support for Radio Australia
1964 - Amateur Radio
1964 - Media Writing
1964 -Travels
1964 - Engineering Support for International Broadcasters
1965 - Professional Employment with PMG/Telstra
1967 - Professional Qualifications - Institution of Engineers Australia
1967 - Australian Radio DX Club Photo Gallery (to 1979)
1972 - Wireless Institute of Australia
1972 - Natural disasters in Melbourne
1980 - Australian Radio DX Club Gallery (to 1995)
1981 - Award of the Medal of the Order of Australia
1995 - Padula Books
EPILOGUE
LINKS TO AUTHOR'S PERSONAL WEBSITES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEPENDENT BIOGRAPHIES
SPECIAL CHAPTER - Oldtime Australian Radio Drama from the 1930s
SPECIAL CHAPTER - Radio Monitoring Clubs in Australia - 1920 to 1949
SPECIAL CHAPTER - Melbourne Picture Theatres - History - 1906 to 1970

tennisngus1957.jpg
1957 - at the court in Caufield with mates . I am at right!

1952
My introduction to tennis was in January 1952, at the YMCA's Camp Buxton, Shoreham.
 
Tennis was one of many optional activities for us boys on our ten-day stay at the Camp. The Camp is long gone, but the remains of the court are still evident in the bushland reserve which was created after subdivision.
 
1952
I continued with my tennis at a local court in Auburn, with a mate on Saturday mornings.
 
1957
More tennis, on Sunday mornings, with another mate, at the Faversham Rd Tennis Courts in Chatham.
 
1957
Still more tennis, with some of my Trainee Technician mates at Caulfield. We met at a mate's house, which had a court in the back yard! 

1962

In that year I was working at tge Deepdene Telephone Exchange, About 200 metres down the road were pubic tennis courts. Some of us used to go there during lunch breaks for an hour or so

1994
After a break of some 32 years, I took up tennis again. I was working in the CBD then, and there were courts on the roof for hire by Telstra staff. We used those courts two or three times a week during the lunch break - they had showers and a sauna!

1996
Our work office was relocated to another part of the CBD and the roof-top activities finished. However, not far from our new office were the public East Melbourne Tennis Courts, in easy walking distance across the Treasury Gardens, so two of us we hired those courts once a week, over a operiod of several months.
 
1997
I left Telstra and the tennis events became only pleasant memories

tenpinbowling.jpg

tenpin.gif
2011 - modern bowling centre

TEN PIN BOWLING
 
1950s
When TV forced most of the movie theaters in Melbourne to be closed down in the late 1950s, some were converted into Ten Pin Bowling centres.

1960
The American tenpin bowling craze came to Melbourne in 1960, with Box Hill, Fairfield,
Hawthorn and St Kilda among the first centres. After the initial novelty wore off, investors suffered financial difficulties and a number of lanes closed. But careful marketing and catchy slogans such as 'bowling brings out the swinger in you' saw the sport 'striking' back by 1967.  In recent years, tenpin bowling has generated new interest, sparking the opening of new lanes at Southbank, Richmond and Prahran.

1964
I was working as a Technical Officer in the CBD, managing the maintenance of telecom services and PABXs.
 
One of our areas of responsibility was the new (1962)  grandiose, Southern Cross Hotel, in Russell St, built on the site of the famous Eastern Market..

The management of this establishment issued us with vouchers for free meals in their staff dining room, at any time, in return for priority attention to any equipment faults.

The Management, there, also had us on tap whenever a visiting dignitary or foreign delegation was about to come to that big grandiose hotel;. We were asked to check out all telephone services to the suites to be used by these visitors, to make sure that everything was in good working order.

In the basement was Melbourne's first Tenpin Bowling centre, which we visited fruently during the week, using our free passes!

I left this work area in 1965, being promoted to full time study at RMIT and this meant an end to the City bowling!

1970
I continued with occasional bowling at the adjacent suburb of Box Hill,  next to the railway station. The centre is still there, known as the AMF Box Hill Bowl  and is quite popular. 

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