</Dr Bryce Phillips, in his History of the Southern Peninsula Cricket Association 1922-65>
WHITEHALL GUEST HOUSE SORRENTO [edit]
Whitehall was built opposite the timber Oceanic Guest House for the J.D.Allen family in 1904 from local limestone in Back Beach Rd Sorrento to provide accommodation for the large number of holiday-makers travelling to the southern peninsula on paddle steamers. During World War II the Royal Australian Navy made it available to familiies of servicemen. In 1950 the RAN advertised it for sale for around 11,000 pounds. John Decker and Emily Edith Dunkley (nee Dowd), drapers in Boronia and Belgrave, bought the freehold in a three-way partnership with their oldest son John Stanley Dunkley who had just completed service with the Australian Occupation Forces in Japan. John Skelton remembers working with his uncles resurfacing the tennis court in the early 1960s. The Dunkley's ended their 35-year association in 1985 after Emily died in 1983. Dr McGoldrick was the buyer who later sold to architect Kevin Greenhatch.
Whitehall originally had accommodation for around 120 adults in rooms on both the ground and first floor. Most rooms contained a single or double bed and a set of drawers and wardrobe. Bathrooms were communal, with a mens and womens on each level. The first floor rooms facing Back Beach Road had windows onto the full-length balcony. A narrow passageway between rooms provided verandah access to all guests. Downstairs, the rooms facing the road were larger. They like those above them, had fireplaces. At either end of the ground floor was the lounge room and the billiard room, both with fireplaces. The dining room and ballroom shared the transept, perpendicular to the rest. At the back was the kitchen, servery, laundry, staff eating area, preparation area, store rooms and refridgeration including a cool room replete with solid wooden door with a long metal lever arm to press the door closed ensuring an airtight seal. Outside were several wooden garages, a workshop, out-house for peeling potatoes in a machine, and washing mops. Behind them stands a limestone row of rooms used up until the 1970s as sleeping quarters for male staff. In the 1960s the Dunkleys built female staff quarters parallel to the mens, set into the hill.
When the Dunkleys first arrived around 1950, there was a limestone bunker where the female staff quarters clothes line is today. It was gone by 1970. The Dunkleys widened the rear carpark to accommodate 50 cars on the upper paddock, and another 50 in the lower paddock. The Dunkleys private residences were built in Queens Rd in the mid 1960s. To shield theri homes from the southwesterly winds pine trees were planted in the lower paddock against the Queens Rd boundary and the Grishin cottage land. These pines also provided shade for guests cars in summertime. These were removed around 1990 by the then owner as part of a redevelopment plan that has been unsuccessful due to neighbours protests.
In early photographs there was an arched entry about 3 metres across in the centre of the front fence. Pointy turned inials topped all fence posts, including the archway. The whole structure was painted white and complemented the verandah arches. Between fence posts was patterned wire mesh, very fashionable in the early days. A garden of sorts ran down the inside of the fence. Outside were scrubs. A tennis court, of bitumous surface, and wire netting, lay beside the driveway. Tennis matches were very popular in the 1960s amongst the guests, and large numbers would sit and watch from of a level grassed terrace. The two areas were linked by a narrow wooden stairway. In Argus newspaper advertisements in the early 1900s there a croquet lawn and this is where it must have been, where today is a pool and BBQ. The Dunkleys were not gardeners, but planted two significant trees: a Norfolk Island pine in the tennis court grassed terrace, and a Pheonix palm in the courtyard outside the ballroom. Both grace the skyline today. In the 1990's the owner paved the courtyard outside the dining room and furnished it with tables and chairs for diners in fine weather. A window was removed to provide a doorway access.
What is known as the cottage sits on the highest section of the acre and a half site. Its constructed of timber with corrugated iron roof. Most of its verandahs have been enclosed. When the Dunkleys arrived in 1950, the back section became John juniors family home until another was built in Queens Rd in the 1960s. In the front half plus some, were guest rooms, of very modest quality, some small, some large, suggesting it was intended as the owner or caretakers residence. The Dunkleys upgraded the bathroom in the 1970s. Narrow pathways lead to the front and back entrances from the main driveway. Surrounding foliage obscures the building.
When the Dunkleys arrived water was stored in a large tank at the rear of the property on what was and still is a massive hill where the town's water reservoir was located before being replaced with above ground steel tanks. Water was heated by electricity and stored in smaller tanks on the wall facing the back beach. The mens showers and toilets were located under a large wooden external staircase. They were spartan-like, resembling sheds. The Dunkleys modernsied these in the 1970s. A second smaller external stairway was installed as a safety measure beside the main driveway.
Limestone is a soft material, easily worn away by wind and rain. To prevent deterioration to the southern wall, the national park next door was planted out with pines and cypress. These were removed after 40 years in a campaign to remove all indigenous plants throughout Australia.
During a recent search of old newspapers, an article appeared about the original owners, the Allens, taking a house in St.Kilda for the winter. That was around 1915. Clearly, Sorrento's accommodation, or at least the large ones not selling alcohol, closed between Easter and Christmas. This is not the case today. In the lead up to summer, social commentary articles recorded the activities of proprietors as they known readying their premises for the forthcoming summer season with a new room, paint job or whatever.
Opposite Whitehall was a slightly older timber guest house known by several names over its life. The Allen family may have owned it too. When the Dunkley family arrived in the 1950s it was the Oceanic Guest House, a creamy yellow structure with grand internal staircase. In the 1960s the proprietors were the Hutchinson family, mum the prime mover, dad and several school age children. In a post-WWII postcard teh Oceanic was the Back Beach Palace with proprietors John & Lily Watts, known locally as Jack or Pud. By the 1970s the Watts were running the Nautilus caravan park in Nepean Highway near St.Pauls Rd. Stories abound that the Oceanic was destroyed by fire. This is not true. It was pulled down by local builder Cliff Bird and plumber Ken Opie using ropes and a truck after being classified a fire hazard according to June Opie, Ken's wife, a neighbour to Whitehall. In 1940 Bill Hester's Back Beach Dance Palais, located close to where the Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club stands today, was razed. Hester, had been around since 1912 according to his daughter Noreen Healey and grand daughter Jane Healey, when he first stayed at Mt View in Back Beach Rd with his family. No evidence of this house remains today. As a consequence of the fire Hester, then aged in his 60s or more, suffered numerous strokes, and died a few years later. His remains are interred in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Hester played cricket with Sorrento during the 1930s and is believed to have been the club's president. Dr Bryce Phillips [1] cites Hester presiding over this association in three seasons: 1929/30, 1930/31 and 1936/37.
1.^ Dr Bryce Phillips, in his History of the Southern Peninsula Cricket Association 1922-65
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