East Melbourne, Albert Street 392

To come.

Personal memory of Kathlyn Gibson:

Our great aunts and uncle all lived together at 392 Albert St in the Burlington Terrace. 
I would often accompany my grandmother and later my aunt to visit them and there were times in the early fifties when I stayed overnight. I still retain memories of Moomba procession or part of it down below in Albert St. I would be seated on the balcony above while a clown on stilts would throw up lollies to the balcony. This was a great place to look out across at the grounds of St Patrick’s College and the boys at play or lining up for assemblies. I also have a memory of attending a high mass. The cathedral was packed and incense and organ music and Latin filled the air. I must have been about five years old and had not made my first communion so the experience was quite overwhelming and long . The forest of adults meant it was impossible to see beyond them. 
 
The interior of 392 was very interesting and reeked of history and mystery. I have several pieces of furniture and a clock from the home. The front of the house was rented out as a medical suite to the Doctors Williams who were ophthalmologists or eye doctors as we called them. A sister whose name I can’t recall was very friendly and she would greet us each time we visited and would converse as if the place was one family. 
 
The large upstairs balcony room was not really used but it contained a layout of Victorian furniture that appeared to have been frozen in time. Our great aunts and uncle inherited the property after the death of the last of the Hennessy‘s in 1948. The Hennessy’s had lived in Regent St Richmond initially, then 334 Albert St before moving to 392. The last surviving member of the family, Annie, a teacher appears to have been active in St Patrick’s Cathedral parish affairs and at some time was the secretary of a woman’s organization there.