The Country Style bakery employed generations of locals. By David Mitchelmore
I HAVE many fond memories of my time at the Country Style bakery in Wonthaggi in the late `60s.
I was employed casually for a couple of Xmas/Easter periods and my main job was loading and unloading the revolving oven. I was normally paired up with my brother-in-law, Jimmy Burns, who helped me gain the position. His sharing of experience and know-how were a most welcome part of my time there.
I HAVE many fond memories of my time at the Country Style bakery in Wonthaggi in the late `60s.
I was employed casually for a couple of Xmas/Easter periods and my main job was loading and unloading the revolving oven. I was normally paired up with my brother-in-law, Jimmy Burns, who helped me gain the position. His sharing of experience and know-how were a most welcome part of my time there.
The summer months proved a challenge in front of the oven but we dressed accordingly in T-shirts and shorts and the cooler times meant it was very comfortable enjoying the heat blast from the oven each time the sliding door went up.
Characters abounded and even after fifty years I can still remember some of those individuals who helped make the job interesting and “educational”. ‘Butch’ Lamers was the bakehouse boss who was gentle, mostly jovial, but prone to looking worried or harried.
Sandy Dunbar controlled the slicing room and you could always hear him before he came into view, usually using words and terminology not printable here! Andre Avander Cratts was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger and could sing like Pavarotti. Dough maker Billy Dunbar was usually covered in flour and his ability to send down the various mixes at regular intervals was very impressive.
Technology was basic - our oven mittens were cut from the endless supply of flour bags and were replaced at regular intervals.
A couple of “episodes” live in my memory still. After a few drinks one night, somehow a pair of shoes ended up in the oven and when they reappeared some time later, the owner – I think it may have been Haydn “Fosdick“ Forsyth – promptly put them on, still smouldering and wore them home!
Another time, as the bread was cooling in the outside area, a hungry stray dog snuck up and grabbed a loaf from one of the racks and took off. Nearby was a watchful worker, it may have been PC Tom Cowell, who intercepted the thief with a well-placed kick in the guts, retrieved the bread and diligently placed it back where it came from! I didn’t bother taking home any of our normal free selection of produce that night.
It was a sad day when the bakehouse finally closed with many of the “players” now passed on or becoming frail. It occupied a valuable position in the local industry at the time and many individuals, me included, were grateful for the experience, the education, the camaraderie and… the bread.
Characters abounded and even after fifty years I can still remember some of those individuals who helped make the job interesting and “educational”. ‘Butch’ Lamers was the bakehouse boss who was gentle, mostly jovial, but prone to looking worried or harried.
Sandy Dunbar controlled the slicing room and you could always hear him before he came into view, usually using words and terminology not printable here! Andre Avander Cratts was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger and could sing like Pavarotti. Dough maker Billy Dunbar was usually covered in flour and his ability to send down the various mixes at regular intervals was very impressive.
Technology was basic - our oven mittens were cut from the endless supply of flour bags and were replaced at regular intervals.
A couple of “episodes” live in my memory still. After a few drinks one night, somehow a pair of shoes ended up in the oven and when they reappeared some time later, the owner – I think it may have been Haydn “Fosdick“ Forsyth – promptly put them on, still smouldering and wore them home!
Another time, as the bread was cooling in the outside area, a hungry stray dog snuck up and grabbed a loaf from one of the racks and took off. Nearby was a watchful worker, it may have been PC Tom Cowell, who intercepted the thief with a well-placed kick in the guts, retrieved the bread and diligently placed it back where it came from! I didn’t bother taking home any of our normal free selection of produce that night.
It was a sad day when the bakehouse finally closed with many of the “players” now passed on or becoming frail. It occupied a valuable position in the local industry at the time and many individuals, me included, were grateful for the experience, the education, the camaraderie and… the bread.
Bread carters Maurice Cengia, left, and Moose Boynes at the former Country Style bakery in Wonthaggi, photographed shortly before it was demolished in 2003. By Catherine Watson
Moose Boynes can still recall the names of everyone who worked at Country Style Bakery, from Tom Callendar, the owner, and Leo Halleman, the manager, right through to Curly Gardiner and Pump Motherwell, who lumped the wheat.
The former bakery was demolished last month to make way for the new Bi-Lo Supermarket in Watt Street. It was many years since it had been used to bake bread, but the demolition brought back memories to Moose and fellow bread carter Maurice Cengia.
Maurice, an Italian immigrant, went to work at the bakery in 1963, delivering the bread around Wonthaggi by horse and cart.
Maurice might have been new to the job but the horse, Tommy, was an old hand. “He knew where to stop. If you got a new customer further up the road, you had a job to drive him there. He knew the route better than you.”
The cart had a cover for the driver but it only kept the rain off on still days, which are few and far between in Wonthaggi. “Wind, rain, hailstones - we got the lot. It was so bad one day, Old Tommy refused to move.”
Whether it was the fault of the ovens or the bakers, the crusty bread was always burnt, he recalls. “I was ashamed to put it out. Then the customers wanted to blame me for it.”
Moose Boynes worked for Country Style for almost 20 years on the Kongwak-Glen Alvie run.
“I knew every pothole and I could hit the letterboxes going at 30 mile an hour. No-one knew my run. I had a sickie one day. My replacement got as far as Kongwak then they came and dragged me out of bed.”
The bakery finally closed in 1971 when Home Pride bought it out and centralised operations at Leongatha. Both men transferred to Home Pride, but Maurice was sacked after he got a hernia. “The boss said the company didn’t want me back because I was at an age where it would happen again.”
“I got the sack too,” Moose says proudly. “I was going to job the manager.”
This article was first published by The Current community newspaper in 2003.
Moose Boynes can still recall the names of everyone who worked at Country Style Bakery, from Tom Callendar, the owner, and Leo Halleman, the manager, right through to Curly Gardiner and Pump Motherwell, who lumped the wheat.
The former bakery was demolished last month to make way for the new Bi-Lo Supermarket in Watt Street. It was many years since it had been used to bake bread, but the demolition brought back memories to Moose and fellow bread carter Maurice Cengia.
Maurice, an Italian immigrant, went to work at the bakery in 1963, delivering the bread around Wonthaggi by horse and cart.
Maurice might have been new to the job but the horse, Tommy, was an old hand. “He knew where to stop. If you got a new customer further up the road, you had a job to drive him there. He knew the route better than you.”
The cart had a cover for the driver but it only kept the rain off on still days, which are few and far between in Wonthaggi. “Wind, rain, hailstones - we got the lot. It was so bad one day, Old Tommy refused to move.”
Whether it was the fault of the ovens or the bakers, the crusty bread was always burnt, he recalls. “I was ashamed to put it out. Then the customers wanted to blame me for it.”
Moose Boynes worked for Country Style for almost 20 years on the Kongwak-Glen Alvie run.
“I knew every pothole and I could hit the letterboxes going at 30 mile an hour. No-one knew my run. I had a sickie one day. My replacement got as far as Kongwak then they came and dragged me out of bed.”
The bakery finally closed in 1971 when Home Pride bought it out and centralised operations at Leongatha. Both men transferred to Home Pride, but Maurice was sacked after he got a hernia. “The boss said the company didn’t want me back because I was at an age where it would happen again.”
“I got the sack too,” Moose says proudly. “I was going to job the manager.”
This article was first published by The Current community newspaper in 2003.