Trevor Street

Trevor Street

Saturday past we took the kids to the Ulverstone fire station (on Trevor Street) to check out their ‘open day’. Next to the fire station was a cemetery that we parked in front of. And across the street was the remains of a long closed kick boxing dojo. That’s a lot of action for such a short side-street.

The Fire Station:

The Ulverstone Fire Station on Trevor Street is staffed by about two dozen volunteer firefighters. On this open day we got to check out the equipment, both contemporary and historical. The boys used a hose, tried on some old period masks, and sat in one of the old fire trucks (circa 1960s).

The Cemetery:

There were a lot of older burials here (1800s). Some had Pioneer Plaques. But what really stood out was a large headstone with eight names on it... all with the same death date. I researched the names and the event. Apparently, over a three day period (April 3^rd -5^th 1929) there had been a lot of rain and flooding in this part of Tasmania (500 mm/20 in). On the 4^th, a car with 9 people tried to cross a bridge, which collapsed. Eight of them, mostly kids, drowned.

I chose to not take photos in the cemetery.

Dragon Dojo:

Martial Arts trends ebb and flow. It seems that each style has the era or decade when it was ‘big’. Yes, the styles continue after this time, but their fifteen minutes of fame is over, the student numbers drop, and many dojos close. Next thing you know, what was once a dojo is now a dvd rental store. The dojo banner gets removed, the sign gets painted over.

That’s what makes this building bloody rare. Not unique. I saw one other many years ago. But very rare anyway.

It’s an old besser block shed. Looks like part of the roof is compromised, and there’s trash front and back. The style of name, font and specific martial art, suggests to me that it operated in the nineties.

I’d love to have seen it when it was open.

It’s amazing what exists on those little side streets that we just don’t know about.