Belfast, Minhamite, Heytesbury, Dundas, Mount Rouse, Hampden, Mortlake and Warrnambool shires. Then there were municipalities that were geographically microscopic- the Borough of Port Fairy, the City of Portland, the Town of Camperdown. All were consigned to the history bin with the Kennett Government’s forced shire amalgamations in 1994. While some see the changes as necessary, others such as upper house MP James Purcell contend the smaller shires should return. 

A pub within close proximity of the beach – it’s the great Australian dream and it used to be on Warrnambool’s foreshore. From Jimmy Barnes to Davy Jones from the Monkees (yes, really) performed at the Bay over the decades. It was torn down in 2001 and replaced by a swish hotel complex with dining area but the old seaside magic has never been replaced.

Duncan Stalker’s long reign as Warrnambool Technical School’s head honcho started in 1978 and lasted for more than two decades. Generations of Caramut Road kids recall the great Duncan’s unique style of running a secondary school, which was re-named Brauer College in 1990. Which other school in Australia boasted a one-way corridor?

REMEMBER the days of the old school yard? If you went to a government school pre-1990, you either went to a technical or high school. State Education Minister Joan Kirner felt that such divisions limited academic potential. So Warrnambool Tech (or ‘Mut Road) became Brauer College while Warrnambool North Tech and Warrnambool High merged to become Warrnambool College. Portland Tech became Portland Secondary, Hamilton Tech became Baimbridge College and similar alterations occurred statewide in the early 1990s. Only Cobden managed to keep its technical school.

Another victim of the digital age, like video stores, newspapers and mixed tapes. Buying music on iTunes just doesn't have the same sense of discovery as wandering into Capricorn, (especially in its original Liebig Street incarnation) and rifling through the seemingly endless racks of vinyl/tapes/CDs (depending on the era). And then you'd spend ages hanging out at the counter, talking and learning about music from the staff. Good times.

There used to be a clear distinction between Warrnambool and Dennington. Few houses were located between Caramut Road and the Dennington overpass except the Drive-Inn cinema and the Golden Fleece petrol station. Then the suburban sprawl took over and the old rural boundary is no more.

Slipping and sliding back into our memories is the Yambuk slide. Yes, it’s still around but it’s nothing like it was in the pre-public safety days. It originally spanned the length of the sand-dune and was truncated once in the mid 1990s. Legal action forced the safety police to scale back the slide further and place a dint in the middle, thus limiting the user’s ability to slide on the slide.

The rise and fall of Fletcher Jones is well-known to most south-west Victorians. The words Warrnambool and Fletcher Jones were almost synonymous between the 1950s and 1980s. Economic reform introduced by Treasurer Paul Keating meant textile manufacturers struggled to complete with an influx of foreign-produced material. A trend towards synthetic suits and skirts in the 1970s also influenced the eventual closure of Fletcher Jones in 2005.

Much like the rise and fall of Fletcher Jones, Hamilton’s fortunes have been predicated on changing fashions. When ladies and gents were keen to spend up following World War II, they bought tweed jackets and tartan skirts by the truckload. Sadly, the “pound for pound” days are long gone and Hamilton doesn’t even try to claim the “wool capital of the world” title anymore.

No, it’s not a particularly Warrnambool tradition. It’s not even an Australian business. But many children of the 1980s have fond memories of Ollies Trolleys, located where KFC now stands on the corner of Raglan Parade and Kepler Street. Originally it was Big Al’s sandwich bar with a gangster theme, then American chain Ollies came along in the early 1980s. Two particular favourites at the fast food outlet were its Fluffy Duck ice cream sundae and its playground slide, which has since been relocated to the Macarthur swimming pool.

There was something reminiscent of Ronnie Barker’s Open All Hours about De Grandi’s Sportsgoods. The Timor Street institution contained an Aladdin’s Cave of sporting treasures. Panicked fathers would rush in prior to Christmas to purchase a cricket bat to put under the festive tree. If you were learning to ride, your first bike would naturally be bought at De Grandi’s. Sadly, the family tradition ended in 2011 after more than a century of retailing history. 

For those travelling between Warrnambool and Port Fairy or Koroit, it was an unforgettable aroma. The waft of roasting coffee beans as you passed over the Merri River bridge sadly ended in 2001 and Nestle later sold the factory to NZ company Fonterra.

There’s nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear – Slim Dusty once sang – than to stand in a pub with no beer. For Camperdowners everywhere, the sight of Leura Hotel in the main street without the flow of Carlton Draught is a distressing image indeed. While the amber fluid may still flow through the Hampden and Commercial, the Leura has remained dry for more than five years.

Sure AquaZone’s indoor pools protect you from those harmful ultra-violet rays, but where’s the fun in that? Generations piled on the sun-tan or block-out and headed to the Olympic swimming pools when the mercury passed the 25-degree mark. The old kiosk was also a favourite, dispensing Redskins, Milkos, Jungle Chews and all other sorts of sugary treats.

The chief of VicRoads appeared on talkback radio this week to address a bureaucratic bungle. Tellingly, he referred the people who used VicRoads services as “customers.” How about “motorists” or “citizens”? 

It wasn’t the case in the days of the Country Roads Board. The state government office was located where Reunion Cafe is today, on the corner of Koroit and Kepler streets.

When John Cain won power at the 1982 state election, the CRB became the Road Construction Authority (RCA) and VicRoads followed another re-branding in 1990. Whether it’s government penny-pinching or something systematic, south-west Victorian roads haven’t been the same in recent years.

The domes remain but the piscean legacy is no more. Warrnambool Aquarium delighted children for years despite getting a tad run down by the time it closed in 1997. When The Standard put the call out for memories of the deep-sea attraction, many remember the giant crabs and one is pictured in the image above.

Ah, those were the days when Port Fairy was a sleepy seaside village. Summer and the Folk Festival in March were the only times the place would come alive but in the past decade, things have changed.

Fashionable restaurants and boutiques have replaced the daggy charm of old shops that used to line Sackville and Bank street. Slowly but surely, Port Fairy is gaining that twee/commercialised aura that Daylesford, Torquay and Byron Bay already have.

London has Harrods and Selfridges. New York has Macys and Bloomingdales. Warrnambool had Youngers and Stephens. The Liebig Street fixtures were treasure troves for apparel, manchester, home goods and general bits and pieces.

Readers have reminded us of the Youngers Snack Bar, noted for its generously portioned sandwiches and green cordial. Stephens was the place to get your school gear. Both are now long gone with Youngers replaced in the early 1980s by the Centrepoint Arcade and Stephens by another retail walk-through.

We tend to view these places through rose-coloured glasses, forgetting the sticky floor, the filthy dunnies and the threat of violence in the air. But there's no need to gloss over the awesome rock bands and the great live music scene that revolved around the Cri and the Cellar downstairs (previously Bung's Wine Bar). And kids will never understand the joy of crowdsurfing to a grunge band with a lit cigarette between your lips.

Never in Warrnambool history has a non-view offended so many. Speak to any long-term residents and they’ll have an opinion on McGennan’s Car Park and how you can’t view the beach from the car. Back in the days of the Leyland P76 and Holden Kingswood, you could eat fish and chips and look out at the Lady Bay vista over the dashboard. A conservation push in the early 1990s changed all that. Numerous native bushes were planted and the view has not been the same since. 

On Friday nights, Liebig Street would come alive with farming families, high school students and factory workers enjoying their weekly shopping expedition. It was a time before Saturday afternoon shopping and Sunday trading, so nine-to-five workers were limited in their retail options.

Businesses fondly recalled by The Standard readers from the 1970s and ‘80s include Eason’s Tearooms, BPF – for Starsky and Hutch-style cardigans, the Floral Gift Centre, The Coterie- for meals, Pat Browne Salon, Alice’s Restaurant, Jessons Material Shop, Parkers Arcade and romantic dinners-for-two at Sno’s Restaurant.

Those bloody fun police. While they haven’t succeeded in stopping Warrnambool lappers performing their Saturday night ritual, the same cannot be said for Camperdown. 

Hanging laps around the town’s beloved clocktower and war memorial was a favourite past-time before the roads were closed and the town square and cenotaph forecourt were installed. 

Other Camperdown memories include the Martin's Corner store which was popular with children after church on Sundays for the two-cent bags which contained enough mixed lollies to last a whole day. The sound of the town’s butter factory siren that signaled the start of lunch and knock-off time for the hundreds of workers each day is also fondly recalled.

When Youngers and Stephens disappeared from Liebig Street, Warrnambool could still lay claim to one department store – The Co-Op. Where else could you buy an indoor heater, a circular saw, a tin of fuchsia paint, a crystal decanter, an Akubra hat, school shoes and a paisley dress all in the one location?

Bill Quinlan was the Co-Op godfather and presided year-on-year over growth. His departure in the early 2000s marked a troubled period for the co-operative. By 2007, it was in a financial quagmire and was forced to shut its doors for the final time. Timor Street has never been the same.

Back when the taxpayer-funded postal service wasn’t a quasi-corporate entity, there were historic post offices in every town across the Western District. Then Australia Post had the bright idea of selling most of them off and replacing them with characterless ‘Post Shops’. Such was the case in Warrnambool. When a post shop was established in Koroit Street in the early 2000s, customers were assured the city’s historic post office in Timor Street would remain open. Return to sender.

It was the cafe were you could order home-cooked fare that had gone out of style in the age of the foccacia and pork belly. The Savoy Cafe, smack bang in the middle of Liebig Street, had spaghetti and toast on the menu alongside malted milks and home-made soup. Veteran owners Alan and Roslyn Tampion called time on the Savoy last year after 29 years of friendly service. Oddly enough, it has been replaced by a retro-themed cafe. You really couldn’t get more retro than the Savoy.

A GIANT of Australian politics metaphorically and literally, Malcolm Fraser’s time at the top put the Western District on the map. Only weeks after The Dismissal and his elevation to the prime ministership, he attracted a crowd of thousands in Penshurst for a 1975 election rally. The Nareen grazier was a fan of “street walks” around Warrnambool before and during his period in power and made several pitstops to the city’s pubs for an election day beer.

While Big Mal had nearly eight years at the top, Denis Napthine’s tenure as Premier of Victoria was short-lived. Yet, there was something reminiscent of the Fraser years in seeing Warrnambool, Port Fairy or Portland on the nightly news bulletins while Denis was top dog in Spring Street. Plus, we finally secured the cancer centre.

It was almost a right of passage. Once you had passed your driving test and secured your licence, the first port-of-call was the drive-in. The Shandon Drive-Inn, as it was originally dubbed, was situated on the old Calco Timbers site in west Warrnambool. It opened in 1956 when Marilyn Monroe, Rock Hudson and Doris Day were gracing the silver screen. By the 1970s, the entertainment favourite had been renamed the Warrnambool Drive-In and many still fondly remember its Dixie Cup ice creams and hamburgers with special sauce.

Remember when you could drive across Raglan Parade through a red light if there was no oncoming traffic? The old road rule used to baffle motorists from out of town but up until about 20 years ago it was perfectly acceptable.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of traffic lights along Raglan Parade continues to grow. With the recent addition of Rooneys Road and Dennington, the number of highway traffic lights from the Hopkins River in the east to Merri River in the west is 13.

Sure it looked a little worse for wear in its final days but the Tatts was one of Warrnambool’s most loved hotels. Standing on the corner of Liebig Street and Raglan Parade, it was a noted live music venue and its Sky Lounge was famed among baby boomers. The hotel was replaced in the mid-1990s by McDonalds Central.