By Tyler Wright
On 26 October 1959, dutch-born Leny Broekhof arrived in Monbulk with her husband Nick and four children in tow.
The family left Holland from the Port of Rotterdam on a ship called ‘The Waterman’ and would first settle on McCarthy Road in Monbulk in a house with no electricity; a far cry from their house near Hillegom in their home country.
Sponsored by a friend, Leny and Nick were able to live in the packing shed next to the Churches of Christ children’s camp without paying rent, but Leny would make coffee and tea for morning workers.
Barely three years after the Broekhof’s move to their new country, the 1962 bushfires swept through the Dandenong Ranges and outskirts of Melbourne destroying their house and around 450 others.
With no radio, no warnings, limited English skills and a lack of education about bushfires the family were evacuated to Van Berkels’ property on Silvan Road.
“That was an experience I’ll never in my life forget,” Leny said.
Not only did the fire take their home, but photographs from their life in Holland and possessions also.
“I was fast asleep, and my husband came in and he said ‘we’ve lost everything, we’ve got nothing left, now go back to sleep,” Leny said.
“That was terrible because we wrote our memories and photos when we came here, and we lost all of that.”
Needing somewhere to live again, the family moved into a neighbouring farmers’ house on Moores Road, caring for their four children alongside two children of another friend who was in hospital giving birth; all packed into a house with one bedroom and one living room.
“I used to lift the mattresses, sweep the floor and put the mattresses back down,” Leny said.
After about a year, the family found their forever home on Monbulk Road and purchased a Lakeside Nurseries; running a mail order business selling bulbs and flowers.
In 1983, the Ash Wednesday bushfires would threaten the Dandenongs, and Leny was contacted in the very early hours of the morning by the then president of the Monbulk Fire Brigade’s Ladies’ Auxiliary, Dawn Fleming, asking for assistance.
Leny heeded the call and contacted friends and neighbours, mainly from the Dutch community, who ransacked their cupboards to provide suitable clothing for children sheltering at the Cockatoo kindergarten.
Leny and her daughter Trudy delivered the clothing to Cockatoo at around 5.30am despite horrible conditions, and the day after worked with evacuees at the community hall in Monbulk.
It was the devastation of these bushfires that motivated Leny to join the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Monbulk Fire Brigade in April 1983, and has been a member for almost 40 years; two of those as auxiliary president.
Over the years, she served on committees of the Monbulk Pre-School, Monbulk Primary School, Monbulk Secondary College, Rotary Anns, Sylvan Glades Retirement Village Committee of Management, is a Life Member of Monbulk Senior Citizens for transporting the members weekly, and is a member of the Belgrave VIEW Club.
She was also awarded a Life Membership at the Monbulk Fire Brigade, after decades of countless feedings at fires in the Dandenong Ranges, fundraising events, brigade events and annual packing of lollies for the Christmas Santa Run.
Leny lost her son after came back from serving in the Vietnam War in the ’70s, lost her eldest daughter to cancer in 2009 and also lost her husband to cancer at 88 years old.
“There’s been good and bad,” she said.
While the Broekhof’s mail order business was eventually sold to Tesselaar’s, the legacy of the family still lives on – with Leny’s granddaughter Shane now running Lakeside Flowers as a florist.
On Wednesday 21 December, Leny will be turning 100, but she makes sure to remind others she’s still technically 99.
“My doctor told me I’m ‘disgustingly healthy,” she laughed.
As for Monbulk, while the landscape has vastly changed over the years, she “wouldn’t live anywhere else”.
“It has been a bit of a hard life, but I’ve never regretted it and I’ve always liked it here,” she said.
And her advice after a century worth of experiences and memories?
“Do everything in moderation, and don’t worry about things you can’t change.”
On Wednesday 21 December, locals will be able to visit Monbulk RSL to celebrate and pass on their best birthday wishes to Leny.
