I loved how passionate Barry Humpries was about his own backyard, loved Camberwell with a passion even tho he relocated to London. Saved Camberwell station from redevelopment, labelled the proposed development “Godzilla’s footprint.”
He was a Christowel street lad Scoop. The house he was raised in is still largely intact along with a few others in the area known as the Golf Links Estate in Camberwell that were built by his father who was a builder.
It was originally the Riversdale Golf Club that was relocated to Huntingdale in the 1930s.
Barry didn’t save the station from redevelopment on his own. Rob Quantock was heavily involved along with another famous Camberwell resident in Geoffrey Rush.
He truly loved Melbourne and knew it so well. His live shows as Edna when in Melbourne were incredibly funny because he knew the city and all its foibles.
I saw him a couple of times in Melbourne and I don’t think I ever have laughed as much at any show before and since.