The Morse Code House

For many years when travelling past this house I would look and think it is familiar. Had I been there many years ago but when? Family investigations revealed that as a young boy I had been there when my father visited to learn morse code. In the late 1950s Doctor David Portley a surgeon with the Mater Hospital had taken residence there. The doctor had been in the RAAF during the second world war and was proficient in morse code. Through the amateur radio fraternity he was providing lessons in morse code to those practising for the tests involved in gaining an amateur license. Our family doctor's brother was also a surgeon and an amateur radio operator. Our family doctor wanted to gain an amatuer license so he could talk to his surgeon brother in Sydney and my father was upgrading his amateur license with the morse code test. The learning of morse code was an essential requirement in upgrading your basic license to be able to use more allotted amateur radio frequencies. Dr. David Portley provided these morse lessons at his home. 

The subtle changes have been made over the decades and this is what was playing with the memory. The position, dark brick appearance and unique position to the street had left an indelible image but was this really the house I had visited? Yes this is the house that I had visited on a number of occacions. For a small boy from the working class suburbs of Kedron this home had left an impressionable memory. To be able to walk, ride and drive past this home knowing that I have a connection is quite satisfying. 

This brick home built for James Josephson in 1938 still stands as an outstanding example of the architect Eric Trewern's work in the suburb of Hamilton. Beside this brick home is another example of Trewern's work but in his trade mark Spanish Mission. When it was built the home shown here was featured in the Brisbane Telegraph's Better Homes section. Whilst it may be hard to see that this is the same house when giving a quick glance at the difference in more than 80 years but the structure has been kept intact.