31-03-2025, 12:20 AM
as an officeboy in Melbourne in the sixties I roamed all over the city delivering messages. Goods lifts were often water powered (there was a rope in the corner which ran from the roof to a valve in the basement). The passenger lift that I remember most was near the corner of king and collins, it was an ornate wire cage with a bench seat for the operator and stationary rope outside. The operator would stick his hand through a hole in the wall and give the rope a tug up or down. His only company for most of the day was his budgerigar (also caged) as passengers were not very frequent.