Oral History Recording with Newman and Esther Dubinsky Part 2

Digital sound recording in two parts

Subject: Ship's Chandler; Second World War

OHY/6//86/2 - 2.1 GB 01:37:20
Quality: 4/5

00.15 – Dubinsky prices used as benchmark across Maritimes; refused to profit from wartime demand; only learned after the war that their invoices guided pricing
01.06 – Captain Fletcher (Gluxinia): frequent visitor, stamp collector, friend of Commander Mitchell; also knew Rear Commodores responsible for convoy guns
02.06 – Captain Branch; wartime ship ledger; [Interview recorded 35–40 years after the war]
02.58 – ship suppliers grew from one to around 14 during war; only Dubinsky and Kelly remained afterward
03.50 – business continued postwar supplying British coal and steel ships; expanded beyond food into general ship stores
04.50 – prewar experience at sea gave firsthand knowledge of ship operations and departmental needs; valuable as a ship’s chandler
06.19 – three supply boats delivering stores and transporting official personnel; crew ferries operated by private company
07.35 – Dubinsky boats operated in storms when taxi boats could not; transported last-minute convoy personnel
08.24 – strict rationing of food, cigarettes, fuel, whisky; harbour's only bonded warehouse; supplied convoys before departure
10.28 – merchant seamen enjoyed Sydney's hospitality; many returned for holidays after the war
11.35 – Navy League dances open to all ranks; friendships, marriages, and families resulted
13.14 – sailors returned years later to visit wartime friends; one ship delayed sailing so crew could visit the Dubinskys
14.20 – convoys carried food, ore, machinery, and armaments; community understood their importance
15.35 – smaller naval presence than Halifax but important escort base
16.37 – counterfeit currency rumours led businesses to discount sailors' money; notes later proved genuine; Dubinskys unaffected
18.25 – red-light district near port; occasionally helped police locate missing seamen before convoy departures

Administrative / biographical background
Oral history with Newman and Esther Dubinsky conducted by Campbell McMurray