Peter “Dock” Dockendorff (SPC 1965-68)

 

The College is saddened to learn of the passing of Peter “Dock” Dockendorff (SPC 1965-68) recently.

We pass our condolences onto Peter’s wife Leonie and their extended families including Peter’s brothers David (SPC 1965-70) (dec) and Mark and their families.

A memorial service was held for Peter on 6 September 2024 at Brighton.

Peter was a full-time boarder from the Melbourne suburb of Brighton and loved playing football and cricket for SPC.

He was a member of the Second XVIII Football team and was described in the 1967 College Annual as “a real workhorse … always worked tirelessly and took on bigger opponents successfully”.

In the 1968 College Annual, Peter received a special mention, being named as the first Second XVIII player to play in a combined BPS team against the Associated Grammar Schools of Melbourne.

Peter was also a member of the winning Under 15 Hill footy competition team and was one of the six captains of the Open cricket/basketball/baseball competition, alongside fellow captains David Cleary, Brian Munro, Denis Belleville, Xavier Maher and Frank Selvin.

Peter recounted the joy of this Open competition, authoring a piece in the 1967 College Annual.

Peter attended the Winter Paddy’s Seasonal Lunch in south Melbourne earlier this year.

Fellow classmate Peter Finn (SPC 1966-67, PY1968) has also kindly shared his memories of his friend “Dock”.

“Vale Peter Dockendorff.

It is sometimes difficult to find the words when long-time friends pass away but it is not difficult to find the memories.

Peter Dockendorff’s family home was in Brighton about a ten-minute walk from my family home in Bentleigh, we both straddled the border of the Nepean highway.

Just after Christmas day in 1967, Dock called around to my place with the inspired proposal that we see in the new year at Lorne. Yes, of course we should. I don’t recall if he had a driver’s license, I didn’t, not old enough, and in any case, there was no car. Dock’s proposal was that we hitch hike over a couple of days. This was not uncommon at the time and we felt confident that we would get lifts, at that age almost anything is thought possible. We’d both been boarding at St Pat’s for a few years which gave us a certain level of feeling independent. Besides, the prospect of unencumbered days at Lorne was a great lure.

We’d both had jobs before Christmas so we each had some money.  I don’t recall the reasoning, if indeed there was any, but we just left the next day in what we were standing up in, jeans, T shirts and windcheaters.

Our first ride was a hair-raising trip down the Geelong highway with two blokes who’d been celebrating long and hard in Melbourne, we were relieved to finally arrive at their destination.

Our next ride to Anglesea was a more sedate event squeezed into a VW. We spent a long night on the beach.

The next day we got a lift with two very helpful terrific young blokes who were likewise travelling to Lorne for the festivities and were impressed with our adventurous spirit, although I reckon they thought we were a bit crazy reckless. They were probably right. On the way they dropped us outside the Aireys Inlet pub, which burnt down some years later, saying they were going in for lunch. They said that if we didn’t get a lift by the time they’d had lunch they would take us onto Lorne. And that’s the way it worked out. We ran into them a few times during the week, they seemed to have that air of incredulity that we were getting by so well and having such a wonderful time.

We met girls, drank beer, lived on takeaways and for just a short time over that summer we lived a very carefree life, no one there to tell us what to do. Just what every young bloke loved.  We ran into people we knew, visited various camp sites and met lots of other people. The weather was kind to us so we had no trouble sleeping on the beach, they were the happiest of days.

On reflection, that trip helped us to realise that the whilst the future must be planned for, life happens in the present, if risks aren’t taken and opportunities acted on then there won’t be any lifelong memories to share.

 Those wonderful days and times are now long gone; that adventure and memories would not be there if not for Peter Dockendorff.

Thanks for the memories Dock.
Peter Finn.”

 Thank you to Noel Sheehan (SPC 1964-70) and Peter Finn (SPC 1966-67, PY1968) for their help in preparing this tribute.