Former Gibb house damaged by fire?
As the year 2012 approached its end, various media including The Australian (online version dated December 28, 2012) reported that a house in Margate, Brisbane, that was the last residence of the Gibb family before they moved back to England in 1967, was damaged by fire early in the morning of December 28th.
Fortunately, the fire was prevented from spreading to the neighboring areas and no one was injured, but the house suffered a major damage and "a valuable part of the history of the Bee Gees went up in smoke," according to media reports.
A neighbor told ABC News that Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb paid a nostalgic visit to the house when they were in Australia about 10 years ago. The elderly lady who lived in the house at that time had afternoon tea ready for them, but they did not have time to stay and just "ran ouf of the car and they had a look at their old home" and they got back in the car and drove away.
However, disputes arose later on as to whether the clapboard house burnt was really a former Gibb home. The Gibb family lived in over a dozen houses during the eight years they spent in Australia from 1958 to 1967 that it is difficult to pinpoint a "childhood home for the Gibb brothers." Anyway, whether it was a mistake or not, the news conveyed us a touching image of the three brothers in their prime running out of the limousine to take a quick look at their childhood home. Incidentally, in one 1968 interview, both Robin and Maurice admitted that their childhood ambition was "to become a fireman."
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