[ganly export.FTW] THE SCAMMELL THE SCAMMELL William Pride was the original owner of "the Scammell", having had it built from the deckhouse of the wrecked ship of that name, to become one of the very few buildings (perhaps 10 or so) in Torquay at the time. He passed the Scammell to his wife, thence to the unmarried sisters of William Herbert (Uncle Bill), thence to Bill [WHP], perhaps as the more interested and capable of their children, and the one who paid the rates & ensured the upkeep as the only one with employment in the times of mass unemployment in the 1930s. Then, after being passed to Ag, it was given to Margaret Rosalie (Marj Burn/Ganly - MRB), his surrogate daughter, who loved the Scammell like he did, and loved him as her surrogate father, her unknown own father having been killed in France in WW1. Bill had given explicit instructions for this in the face of various encircling nephews. Marj was 37 when Bill died in 19. Final ending of the first era. There was considerable debate about exactly where the wrecked Scammell lay, how, and by which path the deckhouse was brought up from the shore. A substantial section of the ribs of the Scammell was washed ashore at Spring Creak after a large storm in the 1970's. This is NOT EVIDENCE OF THE WRECK HAVING OCCURRED NEAR THERE. The wreck was reliably remembered by people into the 1990s as being at POINT DANGER, and some poor photos showing foreground rocks appear to testify to this. Probably the wreck lay exactly where Peter Naylor (diver, WDHVC, 2000-04-00) recovered artefacts from the ocean bed in the 1960s, at Point Danger. And, probably it was dragged up by a team of horses. Others say bullocks were used, but as William had a saddlery business and ready access to horses, this may be the more likely. Whatever the case, it was too difficult to drag the deckhouse up the cliff in winter, so it lay on the beach until spring. As everything about the wreck had been heavily scavenged, it is remarkable that the deckhouse survived this period. When the deckhouse was finally installed on land ready for use, it was found after a week or more to be on the wrong block of land and had to be moved again. Perhaps the horse team had to come from the Geelong saddler's connections again? In any case, though the bullock/horse team debate frages often, the means of bringing about the second shift, and what this may enlighten, is left out of any consideration. The deckhouse settled at last, a carpenter from Geelong was engaged to build the upper storey, above the deckhouse, and shore up the damaged sections, this taking about 6 weeks. The present Scammell is substantially as it was created then. Minor changes have been made over the years, such as to enclose the balcony, move stairs, windows, and later (1970s) to add, unfortunately, new brick-veneer living quarters in unsympathetic style and materials. In the 1939 heatwave & devastating bushfires Marj & Bill fought together to save the Scammell. The Coffee Palace was not as lucky. With "progress" after WW2, the old beach huts were demolished, the foreshore cleared of tea-tree scrub, uneven sandhills flattened to make a wide lawn picnic seafront with concrete retaining walls and groynes to "correct" man's intrusion. Torquay, overall, has also changed markedly since the time of the 1970 additions to the "Scammell" and its emergence as a permanent dwelling for Marj & Jack Ganly. For some time after then, the direct access to the beach from the Scammell, via a side gate and an informal lane, past an old hut-dwelling that spilled classical music into the more languid Torquay air of that time, and on past a traditional old "corner shop" on the esplanade road. Short term rental flats stood beside the "Scammell" from the 1980s. The village shopping area, 2 blocks away, has grown a supermarket dominated parking lot. The "action" and real estate development moved firat to Jan Juc, then to the other side of town, then down the coast to Bells Beach. The "Scammell" is now just part of a quiet suburban street. Fortunately, it doesn't know.