Coogee Media

Huge Purpose Built Facility
In 1968, the federal government completed construction of a huge complex in South Coogee that could accommodate around a thousand people and more, with its own commercial kitchens, laundries, playgrounds, kindergartens, recreation rooms and post office. It was the size of a small country town and for a couple of decades was the first home in Australia for thousands of newly arrived migrants. Called the Endeavour Migrant Hostel, it has now been demolished and replaced by a large housing development, yet most people in Coogee do not remember it being there.

The Endeavour Hostel was planned to replace the aging Bunnerong Hostel at Matraville which had repurposed former naval stores sheds and military barracks. Migrants were no longer refugees seeking emergency accommodation - the skilled migrants who were coming by the 1960s needed higher standards. Endeavour's network of internal roadways was accessed through Moverley Road, South Coogee and was built on unused land that had been Sydney's main naval stores site.

Aerial view of Endeavour Migrant Hostel at South Coogee, c1970 - National Archives of Australia -C5102-15

Purpose of Migrant Hostels
Migrant hostels were established after World War II by the federal government to accommodate displaced persons and assisted migrants. The largest hostels were at Bonegilla (northeast Victoria) and Bathurst (New South Wales). Other hostels in New South Wales included Adamstown, Balgownie, Bankstown, Berkeley, Bradfield Park, Bunnerong, Burwood, Cabramatta, Cronulla, Dundas, East Hills, Ermington, Goulburn, Greta, Katoomba, Kingsgrove, Kyeemagh, Leeton, Lithgow, Mascot, Matraville, Mayfield, Meadowbank, Nelson Bay, North Head, Orange, Parkes, Port Stephens, St Marys, Scheyville, Schofields, Unanderra, Villawood, Wallerawang and Wallgrove.

Migrants and their dependents were permitted to remain in the hostels from 3 to 12 months, and were given training to assist with settlement in Australia, it was often said: "to help them get themselves on their feet". The reality was that in the post-war period, Australia was desperate for new productive labour, and wanted workers to be on-the-job as soon as possible without having to worry unduly about life's basics. Much of the early accommodation consisted of disused army huts and other converted buildings. These were gradually replaced with purpose built structures with improved facilities.

When the Endeavour complex was officially opened in 1970, the emphasis of Australia's migration program had shifted in favour of European family groups. The design attempted to give enhanced accommodation standards and more privacy to family groups.

One notable alumnus of the hostel was former Labor Senator Doug Cameron who arrived at Endeavour with his family in 1973. He recounted in his inaugural parliamentary speech that, like many other of the residents at Endeavour, he soon got work at the General Motors Holden car manufacturing plant at nearby Pagewood.

Replaced Dis-used Army Huts
Often, newly arrived migrants came expecting very basic conditions. Many were warned by Australian officials before they left for Australia that the hostels, in general, were designed as temporary accommodation and often used World War Two era Nissan huts and accommodation was very basic. However, those lucky enough to arrive at the purpose built Endeavour Hostel were often pleasantly surprised at the quality of the accommodation and range of services available. People had self-contained accommodation units with bathrooms and bedrooms. They had small kitchens to prepare snacks and only needed to go to the communal dining hall for larger meals.

Marie remembers arriving at the South Coogee centre in 1972 as a child with her family in a group of Swedish immigrants. A bus dropped off the very jet-lagged group in the car park, and they went off to breakfast in the canteen. Her first Australian meal was pancakes. The children were taken to the education centre where they received lectures about all the "dangers" they might encounter in Australia such as snakes and spiders. They were told to always check the inside of their shoes before they put them on in case an insect had crawled in! When the gardener asked her the time, her reply was the first time she had used her school-learnt English in a conversational setting. Schooling for the children was at the nearby South Coogee Public School.

Monica, of South Coogee, says the meals had a reputation of being quite good. She remembers some local youths, not living at the hostel, regularly heading down to the hostel's dining room when the meal-time alarm was sounded, to have a free, catered lunch. They lined up in the cafeteria with the hostel inmates to collect a meal and seated themselves at a table. No-one questioned them!

Evacuees also Housed
In December 1974, evacuees from Darwin, after the city had been devastated by CycloneTracey, were accommodated at the hostel. Some did the best they could to make it seem like normal by decorating the communal hall and holding a New Year's eve dance. A little later in 1975, some refugees from the conflict in East Timor were housed at Coogee.

Another local resident remembered the time his family lived in the public housing (Housing Commission) nearby. They were sometimes looked down on by the general community as "Houso's". It was a relief to see the migrants coming and going because they felt they could, in turn, look down on them: some-one worse off. It was, in turn, a shock to meet some of the migrants who were professionals ready to take up highly paid positions - sometimes just staying at Endeavour until regular housing could be arranged.

Sporting Teams Billets
At times the hostel was used to house sporting teams as a base for training. In 1978, the Australian Commonwealth Games boxing team stayed there while using training facilities at nearby University of NSW. In September 1982, 43 members of the Australian Commonwealth Games swimming team stayed for a month there, sharing facilities with 700 migrants. Some made complaints about the food and mattresses which did not suit the training regimes of athletes.

Migrants could come and go as they pleased. One account has a newly arrived migrant being concerned after an official told him that he would soon have him at Stalag Coogee when picked up at the airport and did not realise it was a lame attempt at humour. Once he had settled in, he ran into the official later who asked him if he would like a lift to Coogee Beach. "Is it allowed?" he asked. The official replied: "Mate, this Australia, you can do whatever you like!". Endeavour was specially designed to be an open institution where residents were expected to to use outside shopping facilities, schools and other facilities. It was expected that some residents would buy cars and 120 car parking places were provided.

Sporting team members billeted there were not so free. They had to abide by strict curfews and training programs. In 1982, double gold medalist Neil Brooks, was "charged" by the swimming union for being 16 minutes late for the curfew after spending too much time on the phone with his girlfriend.

UNSW Students
During the 1980s, the hostel was also used to accommodate students studying at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The university's newspaper Uniken noted in 1985, that there was accommodation for 200 students housed in two and three bedroom flats, each had its own toilet and wash basin, with communal bathrooms adjacents. The rooms were serviced daily Monday to Friday and linen and towels changed weekly. For $75.60 per person a week, three meals were served daily, including a cut lunch.

Marriane, who now lives at Maroubra, remembers arriving at Endeavour Hostel in 1980 as a student at UNSW. When she had received a placement offer at the university, her parents enquired about accommodation at university colleges but discovered that all places were taken up by Sydney-based students whose parents were "in the know", they had secured college accomodation well in advance. The university offered a place at the hostel as an alternative. In her wing, she shared with other students, and being a country girl, found the arrangements suited her because she could meet other like minded young people - many of whom became life-long friends. Other wings still housed migrants - but by then Australia's migration policies had shifted a notch and most of the migrant residents were now from Eastern Europe and the old Soviet Union.

Demolished for Houses
By the later part of the 20th century, Australia's immigration program had shifted from being mainly concerned with attracting labour for industry shortages, to the goals of attracting highly skilled professionals and to family reunions. The former tended to want to find their own housing and the latter tended to stay with families. The need for temporary migrant accommodation dropped off significantly and by August 1987, the Eastern Herald was among those complaining that, what was then a relatively new facility, was left empty and disused. During the 1990s, the hostel was demolished and the Department of Defence developed the land. The site is now occupied with private houses with the streets named: Asturias Avenue, Fairsky Street, Grevillea Place, Ash Place, Argyle Crescent, Lomanda Place, Tallow Place, Macdili Place, Jacarandra Place and Georgic Place.