HISTORY

Biographical Material

Alistair Riddell is primarily known for his study and involvement in contemporary music. This has encompassed many activities and associations with other musical practitioners and thinkers for over four decades. Details can be found in numerous sources and publications here:

After a long association with academia and academic music, Alistair’s interests have diversified in an attempt to make sense of this time of creative potential in comparison to that of several decades ago. It would seem, given media interest and promotion, that anything is possible, so the questions are, is it and what does that mean? Through the luxury of time, albeit less than it used to be, contemplation of anything that strays into this field of interest can now be considered. And there seems to be an ever-greater amount of material drifting around to occupy his time.

Writings and publications are here:

Where My First Home Was

18 Humphreys Ave. Nunawading. Victoria

This photograph looks into the original location of 18 Humphreys Ave. I took this photo in 2008. Now the whole site has been reworked and the trees removed. This transformation is visible in the 2021 aerial photograph on the site below. The Pencil pine on the left was on the right of the driveway at the front gate. The driveway is clearly visible in the 1963 photo. The Silky Oak on the right marked the boundary with the property next door. It is nearly at the front corner, and I climbed it many times. The back fence in this picture is probably original. With the street updated and modified at this location, and the houses gone, the perspective when I was there seemed very odd. It is unfortunate that prior to leaving that home no pictures were taken of it or the entire street.

To get an idea of the whole area, see:

https://map.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/index.html

There are several years of aerial photographs that show the area when zoomed in through controls on the upper right of the page.

From https://map.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/index.html

In this photograph, I was 8 years old, possibly at home down there, and it shows more or less what I remember the area to look like. Paddocks behind and lots of open space. In this ariel photograph, Whitehorse rd is transitioning to 6 lanes, and the old road is visible a few streets before the Mitcham shops. I remember it being upgraded and the trees coming down. Our street was dirt all the time I lived there, and I remember hearing the milkman arriving with his horse and cart early in the morning. Possibly earlier than 1963 though. The 6 and 7th houses from the street end belonged to my Uncle Chris and uncle George and Aunty Peg (later my Uncle Tom who also lived there). I more or less recall the name of every household in the street at a given time.

From the last house in the street, the residents were at times:

Burgess, Riddell, Barker, Smith, Fowell(?), Reekie (my uncle Chris), Reekie (George and Peg with Uncle Tom Hobkirk), Pitt, Next (forgotten), Next (Corner house, forgotten). In the second or third house on the left from the corner along Whitehorse Rd, I at one time had speech training lessons. It might have been the fourth house, I’m not certain about that. The second house was unusual, quite large with an extensive veranda at the front and I recall, somewhat vaguely, that at one time a family named De Telegraf (sp.) lived there. Later a family called Harrison, just before I went to Scotland in 1967. These houses were the first to go to make way for the Police station which is visible in the 1975 photograph below and still exists there today.