Lois Daley

Vegemite – Aroma and History in Port Melbourne to Preserve

In the early 1970s my father, the late Albert Edward Daley, a boilermaker, often walked across Murphy’s Reserve in Port Melbourne from our home in garden City to the Vegemite factory to work on the boilers.*

My brother John, who died just recently, worked for Hewlett Packard and travelled overseas for the company.  Taking along with him his wife Wendy and four young children, he was away for nearly five years, setting up new branches in Germany, California and Singapore.

While overseas, they contacted us by phone to tell us they could not buy Vegemite in Mexico, so our dad bought tins of it from the factory to send to them, much to the delight of the children.

I remember sitting at the kitchen table writing letters to go inside the parcels; there was no internet or mobile phones in these times or places.

Listening to today’s stories of preserving the aroma still coming from the factory on Vegemite Way, we are reminded that one can often smell it as we alight from Westgate Bridge.

Going overseas in those days, to places so far away, was a big adventure.  Our parents were a little horrified that they needed this adventure with such a young family, but in the years to come, as Hewlett Packard expanded into many countries around the globe, their travels took them to many parts of the world.  Memories, memories and more memories.

* Postscript: In 1976 dad died from working on those boilers in factories around Port Melbourne, having contracted Mesothelioma from asbestos the boilers were lined with.  The disease was in his body for some twenty to thirty years before it took the toll of a condition not able to be cured – and not a death one would wish on any family, or any enemy either, as most died within eighteen months.

It was fortunate I was a nurse at the time, so came home to help mum nurse him for the fourteen months after diagnosis until his death, here in the home he bought as a 26 year old single man in 1928 when he was an apprentice boilermaker.

How to Enrol

On-line: after bookings have opened

On-line enrolments are preferred as this significantly reduces the amount of back-office work for our volunteers.

  • Login to the U3APP.org.au website.
  • Go to the Courses & Enrolling page.
  • Scroll down to find the course that you are interested in.
  • Does the course have spaces available?
    • Click on the course name to go to the booking page.
    • Click on “Book for this course or event”.
    • You will receive a confirmation email.  Please check your Junk/Spam folders as these automatically-generated emails often finish up there.
  • OR is the course shown as FULL?
    • Click on WAITLIST.

Paper Enrolment Form: before bookings open for First Semester

  • Obtain a paper Enrolment Form either from the Office or by printing an online copy available here.
  • Complete the paper Enrolment Form and submit it to the Office.

The start date for acceptance of paper Enrolment Forms for first semester is published on the U3APP website and in the e-Bulletin. Enrolment Forms received before this date are treated as though they had been received on the start date (ie there is no advantage to be gained by submitting early). On the start date and thereafter, paper Enrolment Forms are numbered in order of receipt.  Paper Enrolment forms are processed by U3APP volunteers on the same day as on-line bookings.

If your enrolment is successful, you will receive a confirmation email.  Please check your Junk/Spam folders as these automatically-generated emails often finish up there.

If your enrolment is unsuccessful,  you will receive an email telling you that you have been waitlisted.

Via the Office: after bookings have opened

  • Contact the office in person, or by email or phone.