Porteous Park And Ross Avenue

Overthe years I have been asked a few times if the Porteous Park located in Sorrento is “related” to our family. And more recently interest has been expressed by several people, including our own Neville Odell and Ken Foggo about the origins of this park which is located just to the west of Marmion Avenue and bordered by Parnell and Jerome Avenues and Porteous Road.

In 1955 Dad and Mum had split up and Dad had purchased some 10 acres of land in Sorrento on the old West Coast Highway which was just a narrow sealed track in those days. He had built with his own hands, a caravan park of sorts on the site which he operated for a number of years.

In those days the North Beach Bus Company as the name implies, ran the only public transport service to that area of the coast usually terminating at Waterman’s Bay. So, visiting Dad was an adventure but, with a sizeable journey ahead of us, we had to set out from our home in Mt Lawley pretty early.

From Watermans to Sorrento there were miles of bush and no homes of substance along the way just a few weekend getaways and fishermen’s huts. All accept one. Rob (my brother) and I used the “nice house” as a landmark as to how far we still had to walk. Can you imagine our surprise and shock when one weekend the “nice house” had been reduced to a pile of rubble?

Now Dad (Keith Porteous) was the chairman of the Wanneroo Road Board and, as such, was a fountain of knowledge when it came to know what was going on in the area.

Evidently the “nice house” was lovingly built by a builder as his own home but it was later revealed that the building was on a future gazetted roadway. He had appealed to the Wanneroo Road Board to shift the road alignment so he wouldn’t have to demolish his house but not surprisingly, his appeal had failed.

As we locals know, the land along the coast is riddled with outcrops of limestone which had to be removed before any building commenced. Clearing the land with the troublesome limestone was difficult and so, quite often, gelignite was used. Now, unfortunately (or fortunately) the builder of the “nice house” had stored in his laundry a quantity of the said gelignite. Did It become unstable over time? For suddenly there was a spontaneous explosion. It blew up! The whole house was flattened. Not a wall left standing.

It was fortunate there was no one home at the time and the owner was able to claim on insurance. How lucky!!!!!

Dad eventually subdivided the land on which the caravan park sat naming the southern boundary Ross Avenue after me and the northern boundary Robin Avenue after my brother. Later the Wanneroo Council named Porteous Park after my Dad in recognition of the work he had done over the years.

– Ross Porteous

Australia versus the "Rest of the World"

Atotalof 63 bowlers registered for this annual event, sponsored by Spraggon and George. Entries were relatively evenly matched between Australia and the Rest of the World, although a couple of late-nominating Australians were surprised to find themselves reassigned for the afternoon to balance the numbers.

Eight rinks of fours were contested, with teams created by Trevor Orton in a delicate balance of abilities and interests. Matches were played on over 18 ends under very pleasant conditions.

In contrast to 2022, when ROW suffered a flogging, this time around the "foreigners" triumphed by five rinks to three and 132 shots to 118. The highest winning margin was recorded by Bob Mulroy’s team (playing for ROW in case you could not tell from his accent), followed by Ron Rogers (Australia). Prizes for best national costume went to Charmain Harris (ROW) and the Hutchinsons (Aus). The contest was played in very good spirits, and the sausage sizzle put on afterwards by Ian Lucas and his helpers was greatly appreciated.

– Dan Greig