My Life in Pictures

This piece of memorabilia is the notation from the records of the Old Bailey, of my ancestor Charles Rout being sent to HM penal colony at Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land for the crime of stealing a pocket handkerchief.

This photo is of me, circa 2001, with a bottle of my favourite beer.

The following snapshots from Google Earth^® (all hail Google Earth!) tell a graphic and time-consuming story, consuming as they have some four and a half decades.  The shots are accurate as to location, but sadly far from contemporary.  I hope they in some small way go to explaining my life, and in a much larger and more significant way, mitigating it, Your Honour.

1963-1973  16 Anderson St, Lalor  My formative years were spent here.  Ours is the one with the big tree in the middle.  Mum planted it in 1963 and I suppose it's still going strong.  Certainly was when this was taken.  This picture was taken at the front door in the middle 1960's

1973-1975  22 Dryandra Ave, Epping.  My parents, having purchased the property, got divorced - meaning that they were some kind of trendsetters in those first days of the Family Law Act (1974) when people actually believed that people would behave rationally when it came to divorce.  My evil brother once got lost in what were then paddocks to the lower right (or SouthEast) part of the screen.

1975-1976  5 Villa St, Heidelberg.  Now a factory between two car parks, it used to have its own tennis court.  The Old England Hotel can be seen in the lower right.  Sadly I've never had a drink there, due to being too young when we lived over the fence, and too disinterested in the journey there now.

1976-1982  138 Disney St, Crib Point  The scene of teenage follies and the first 1500 pangs of love.  Still, with a tin roof and only two houses from a petrol station, it has the comforts of home and the familiarity of a worn runner.  This image taken after the almost lethal demise of the lilli-pilli tree in the front yard, which tried to kill me several times by making me fall out of it during pruning exercises.

1982  7 Crown Ave, Camberwell  I moved out of home at the now ridiculously early age of 19 into this shared house with two mates from school, who had previously invited me on a trip to Lake Tarli Karng with them over Easter in 1981.  Despite this, or possibly to spite it, they later went on to live full, rich lives.  The house was sold in September 1982 but one day I would like to get it back, as it's the house I most fondly remember.

1982-1983  30 Rossmoyne St, Thornbury  Desperately in need of somewhere to live I foisted myself on my sister and her boyfriend, and of course my charming niece, who now is the reason why your net speed is dwindling.  She's flooding the bandwidth with 15000 instant messenger conversations a minute.

1983  7 Robina Rd, Eaglemont  Vying with 4/963 Rathdowne St, Carlton as the largest house I've ever lived in.  Sadly the shared house split up and we had to vacate it.  Probably a good thing, too, as maintenance on it was hard to come by.  But I do like the area and am only a couple of Lotto wins away from moving back there.

1983-1985  74 Rossmoyne St, Thornbury  On the South side, just one house from the corner.  Friends of my sisters, Mal and Deb Sipthorp put up with me for eighteen months.  What fantastic people.  Also, the meeting place of the infamous Bernie Bright, now grinding the iron heel of gambling addiction into the backs of the world's underclasses.

1985-1986  5/20 Rossfield Ave, Kew  The abovementioned Bernie Bright, the infrequently mentioned Bunghole and I shared this place, perennially late with the rent and living without a fridge for a year.  Also, in April, the site of my first ever burglary - in that I was the victim, not the perpetrator.

1986-1987  13 Yambla St, Clifton Hill  The coldest house I ever lived in.  We had a fridge but didn't need one.  Famous for coming home to the sight of Bunghole on the couch cuddled up to a garbage bag filled with hot water, in a desperate effort to keep warm.

Also in 1986, on the 27th of November, I started my first job.  Here 

The tall building.  I worked on the 4th floor, then subsequently on a few other floors.  In 1990 we got moved

to 538 Collins St.

1987-1988  43 York St, North Fitzroy  The white house with the white car in front of it.  I was living out the back in the bungalow while my Nan was still alive.  Amazingly I got all of my property into that small room.  Couldn't do it now.

1988  2/54 Laburnum St, Blackburn.  The famous Brian Bevan had got an offer of this place from a bloke he met at the cricket club.  Subsequently we were evicted for non-payment of rent.  We had been paying the rent, of course, but the girl who leased the place had several personalities, one of whom was spending the rent money.

1988-1989  2 Spencer St, Nunawading  Birthplace of the nickname 'Hippy'.  Can five blokes all share the same house without driving each other crazy?  Not much else to say about it

.

1989-1991  17 Logan St, Canterbury  Bernie, Alan and I living in the one house.  Me going stir crazy because I couldn't see well enough to get out of the house.

1991-1992  19 Westbourne St, Prahran  Bernie, Gunge and I in the same place.  A recipe for disaster?  No, actually good fun, but the house was sold out from under us for $220 000.  Of course, now I wish I'd bought it.  Ah, well.

1992  43 York St, Nth Fitzroy  Back again, this time looking after the place before Mum and Uncle Bill sold it.  I should've bought it.  But back then I didn't think I'd be living in Australia.  Ah, the dreams and follies of our youth.

1992-1993  4/963 Rathdowne St, Carlton  The red, square roof.  Just across the road from the pub.  Gunge, me and Robert A 'Ravager' Hambrook.  This place was sold out from under us for $300 000 and the new owner was a complete arsehole.

1993-1994  96 Keele St, Collingwood  The two units with the white cars out the front were formerly our house.  Rob, Gunge and I, that is.  Significant because this was the second place that got burged - twice.  But this time they caught the bloke.  Go police!

1995-1996  64 Winter Cres, Reservoir  Pete the PP put me up for a few months in adversity, before some adversity of his own meant he had to abandon the house and happily bankrupt himself.

1996  9/54 Kneen St, Nth Fitzroy  The Guru, formerly known as Gunge, put me up for a few weeks before I magically found

1996-2006  2/2 Hughenden Rd, East St Kilda.  Outside of growing up, this is the place I've lived in the longest.  That's the roof of the top flat, 3/2 Hughenden Rd, but you can kind of imagine me skulking in the lower flat.  Note Murcheson St, scene of many drug deals and associated beatings, to the left of the picture.

2006  8 Ash Grove, Oak Park  Life, if you can call it life, in the Western suburbs.  How long will I stay here?  I have no idea.