Page 54 - Willi Distel Diary

Proofread for easier reading. Willi wrote this page in English himself.

Melbourne, 1 February 1930 On Monday 7 February 1930 I started work with Mr Villard in Collins Street - a business upstairs, but very nicely furnished. Here I met Miss Cyroger, Ramsay, Moulder (Nance) and Evlen, and Mr Bush. It was just a hot spell, and I must say it was very hard for me: the heat under the glass roof was terrible. But I was determined to keep the well-paid shop, and I did. Mr Bush got the sack after two months, and I felt sure of being in the picture for a while. The staff were among the worst I ever struck - fighting all the time, and often one party would ask for my support only to get me mixed up in it too. I soon found that the best way for me was to stay strictly neutral. Mr Villard himself is a bachelor and one of the strangest men I ever had for a boss. He is far too shy to look you straight in the face, and consequently he very seldom gave orders [...]

People: Willi Distel, Mr Villard, Mr Bush, Miss Kroger, Miss Ramsay, Nancy Moulder, Evlen

Interesting facts

Collins Street. Collins Street was, and remains, Melbourne's most fashionable address - a smart boulevard of elegant shops, salons and professional rooms. A well-appointed business there marked Willi as working at the respectable end of the trade.
The Depression begins. By early 1930 Australia was sliding into the Great Depression, and unemployment was climbing fast. For a recent migrant, holding on to a "well-paid shop" was no small thing, which is why Willi was so determined to keep it.
Melbourne's summer heat. February is late summer in Melbourne, when the city can be gripped by fierce hot spells. Working all day beneath a glass roof in such weather, as Willi describes, would have been genuinely gruelling.