What happened in Koo Wee Rup in 1912

This is a look at what happened in Koo-Wee-Rup and surrounds, one hundred years ago, in 1912. These references are taken from various papers on-line at http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

In January, Mrs McKenzie, who had been Head Teacher at the Koo Wee Rup State School for the previous 22 years was entertained in the Hall, prior to her departure to Moolart, where she had been transferred. Over 100 people attended the function and were entertained with performances by her previous students amongst other amusements. Mrs McKenzie was presented with a book of Shakespeare’s poems and a purse of sovereigns (South Bourke & Mornington Journal, January 25 1912)

The South Bourke and Mornington Journal reported that on Saturday, February 17 the Pakenham Magistrates Court was crowded with onlookers to hear the case between two Koo-Wee-Rup residents, William Himbeck and Matthew Killeen. Himbeck had accused Killeen of assault and using bad language. Several witnesses were called from both sides and the evidence given was very contradictory. The paper reports that some witnesses heard very bad language indeed, whilst others heard only the pure Australian accents undiluted with profanity. The Bench found Killeen guilty and fined him £1 for the assault with 28 shillings in costs and five shillings for the bad language with 20 shillings in costs. So all up that was £3 and 13 shillings; a fair bit of money at the time as the average wage for a factory worker was about £3 per week and for a man employed under the Rural Workers Award the weekly wage was £2 10 shillings.

The South Bourke & Mornington Journal of July 4, reported that a concert was held in the Koo Wee Rup Hall with 300 in attendance to raise funds to build a shelter shed at the School. £16 was raised and a dance was held after the concert. The shelter shed was built by John Colvin and completed in October.

On July 5, which was Arbor Day, nearly all the residents of the district turned up at the State School with their horses, carts and spades and planted 50 trees at the School and they laid out the teachers garden and the school garden, planted hedges and erected fences. The ladies of the district provided lunch and afternoon tea. The report goes on to say that a new school building is badly needed as the existing one is too small to accommodate the sixty children.  A new Koo Wee Rup State School building was erected in 1915 and burnt down in May 1950.  The original building had been erected in 1884 between Koo-Wee-Rup and Bayles and relocated into Rossiter Road in 1910 relocated again in 1919 to become the Dalmore East School (No.3925) later known as Island Road School. Island Road School closed in 1974 and the building was relocated back to Koo-Wee-Rup, and became part of the Primary School. (The Arbor Day event was reported in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal on July 11, 1912)

On July 16, the School was closed by order of the Health Officer, Dr Harkness, as three children were suffering from diphtheria. Diphtheria could be fatal and in 1912 257 Victorians died of the disease. (Report from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of July 25, 1912.)

In September, the Railway promised to erect a small sheep and cattle yard at the Station. Locals had complained that the nearest livestock loading yards were at Monomeith, five miles by road. (The Age, September 4, 1912)

The Age September 4, 1912

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196253130

In October, Yannthan defeated Koo-Wee-Rup in the Lang Lang District Premiership League final – Yannathan scored 4 goals and 11 behinds and Koo-Wee-Rup 3 goals and 9 behinds. (The Argus, October 2 1912)

A report in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal on October 10, said that the London Bank purchased the land on which their premises stood. Whatever their original premised were, they were obviously demolished as the existing building (the A.N.Z Bank) was built in 1919.

On November 26, The Argus reported that the passenger platform at the Koo-Wee-Rup Railway Station was lengthened to accommodate the new longer trains and in December a new train was added to the timetable - a Goods train with a passenger carriage attached.  This would leave Koo-Wee-Rup at 6.50am daily and meet up with the Warragul train at Dandenong from where it would leave at 8.57am, eventually arriving in Melbourne at 10.04am. In comparison to today, three hours to get into town isn’t too bad. In 1912 you would have had time for morning tea at the Dandenong Railway Station Refreshment Rooms, which had been built at a cost of £750 in 1908 and there would have been a clean, functioning toilet at the Station - so compared to getting stuck on the Monash Freeway for hours, it sounds like a great alternative. (The report on the extra train comes from the South Bourke & Mornington Journal of December 5, 1912)

What happened in Garfield in 1912

This is a look at what happened in Garfield  one hundred years ago in 1912. These references are taken from various papers on-line at  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

The headline for an article in The Argus on February 19 was Boisterous potato diggers.  The article says that there are many potato diggers in the area at present and that two of them had been drinking  during the day and had created a disturbance in the Main street.  Blows were exchanged between themselves and a manager of a store and a  stone was hurled through a shop window. Constables Anstey and Ryan made several arrests.

In May, Jefferson Siding was closed. The Siding was between Garfield and Bunyip and used mainly for bricks and firewood. (The Argus May 9, 1912)

In July, three cases of Diphtheria were reported in Garfield. Dr Oliver visited from Pakenham and decided that Mr Rileys home was the centre of the outbreak. He also ordered that the School be closed for one week for fumigation and cleaning.  Diphtheria could be fatal and in 1912 257 Victorians died of the disease. (South Bourke & Mornington Journal August 1, 1918)

On July 13, The Argus reported that Lennon Brothers Circus performed in Garfield and a windstorm arose and wrecked the tent. The audience which was not very large was uninjured and showed not the least sign of panic or confusion beyond the wailing of a few young children at being plunged from a glaring light to absolute darkness.

In December, the license for the Iona Hotel was renewed at a sitting of the Dandenong Licensing Court. The licensee, F.A Carrroll had to pay the assessed fee of £75.00. As a comparison the fees for the Gippsland Hotel (Top pub) and Stacey’s Railway Hotel at Bunyip were both £55 as was the fee for the Nar Nar Goon Hotel. The Pakenham Hotel (near the Railway Station) was  £100 but Bourke’s Hotel at Pakenham (on the Highway next to Toomuc Creek) was £45. (South Bourke and Mornington Journal, December 19 1912)

However, the most unusual thing that happened in Garfield in 1912 was in the October when a Beer Strike took place  The story goes that the hotel keeper decided to increase the price of pints of beer from four pence to six pence.  A meeting of beer drinkers was held to protest against the increase and it was unanimously agreed  to abstain from beer  until the price returned to four pence. Anyone  found paying six pence would be fined £1.00.  This was reported in papers as far away as the Cairns Post, The Adelaide Advertiser, The Worker (which was a Brisbane paper) and the Broken Hill Barrier Miner. I am not sure how true the story is or  how this issue resolved itself.

Barrier Miner, October 19 1912

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45223730

This article is from the October 19 edition of The Barrier Miner, which had an interesting headline, as you might expect from a newspaper from a strong union town.

100 years ago this week - Hotels

This was in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of December 19, 1912, 100 years ago this week. It is an interesting listing of local hotels - many still in existence. 

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Starting from the top - the Border Inn, also known as the Berwick Inn, is still operating. It was established in 1857 by Robert and Susan Bain. After Robert's death in 1887, Susan took over as licensee until her death in 1908. Bourkes Hotel at Pakenham is on the Princes Highway where it crosses the Toomuc Creek. It was started in 1850 by Michael and Kitty Bourke and was originally called the La Trobe Inn. Michael died in 1877 and it was then operated by Kitty until 1910. The Cardinia Park Hotel at Beaconsfield still operates. It was originally called the Bush Inn and would have opened in the 1870s or 1880s. The Racecourse Hotel at Eumemmerring - not sure where  this was exactly, however it would have been on the Princes Highway near the Eumemmerring Creek. The Pakenham Hotel is the one near the Railway station. When it opened around 1880 it was known as the Gembrook Hotel; the existing building dates from 1929. The Gippsland Hotel at Beaconsfield, is now known as the Central hotel and was built on the Princes Highway near where it crosses the Cardinia Creek. It was started around 1855 by David and Janet Bowman. The existing building dates from around 1928. The  Gippsland Hotel at Bunyip is known as the Top Pub and was built around 1925. The Hallam Hotel is still operating on the original site, it started around the early 1870s. The Iona  Hotel at Garfield still operates, it opened in 1904, burnt down in 1914 and the existing building dates from 1915. The Nar Nar Goon Hotel is also still operating,  though the original building, built in 1883 for Michael O'Brien,  burnt down. The New Bunyip Hotel, was on the Princes Highway where it crossed the Bunyip river, it started in the 1870s. The Pine Grove Hotel, first started in the 1880s in Upper Beaconsfield and still exists. The Railway Hotel in Bunyip was built in 1924 to replace the 1890s building which was destroyed by fire, it is still operating. The Ranges Hotel in Gembrook apparently started in the 1890s and has been extended over the years.  I don't know about the next four hotels - the Albion, the Bridge and the Club Hotels in Dandeong and the Bridge Hotel in Mordialloc. The Cranbourne Hotel was opposite the Motor Club Hotel in High Street Cranbourne and the building was demolished in the 1970s. The  Halfway House Hotel at Lyndhurst no longer exists, it was opened in 1871. The Motor Club Hotel at Cranbourne, known as Kellys is going strong, the existing building was built inn 1926.

The Hotels in the second column are outside my area of knowledge, apart from the Paradise Hotel, which is listed at Paradise Valley, this is now known as Clematis.

100 years ago this week - Weather

This is a weather report from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of December 12, 1912. The 'terrific storm' happened Monday, December 9.

The terrific storm

 South Bourke and Mornington Journal December 12, 1912  

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66182023

Koo-wee-rup

A terrific storm struck this district at 10.30 on Monday night and lasted about 20 minutes. The rain came down in torrents and the wind made houses shake, but not much damage was done to buildings. The weather we are getting is like that of two years ago, when a wet summer followed by a wet winter caused a heavy flood here and brought down a lot of sand, which is now lying in large heaps on the banks of the canal. It would make a splendid top dressing for our roads. The road on east aide of canal between Denham's road and Commercial road badly wants sanding.

100 years ago this week - Railways and Monomeith Railway Station

This appeared in The Argus, on November 26, 1912, 100 years ago this week. It has both a Railway connection (one of my historical interests) and a Swamp connection as Dalmore and  Koo-Wee-Rup were Swamp Stations and Tooradin, Monomeith and Caldermeade were on the edge of the Swamp.

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The Argus,  November 26, 1912 page 10 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

This line is part of the Great Southern line - the line to Dandenong  (part of the Oakleigh to Bunyip section) opened October 8, 1877. Dandenong to Tooradin, with stations at Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde and  Tooradin opened October 1, 1888. Dalmore (originally called Peer’s Lane, then Koo-Wee-Rup West) and Koo-Wee-Rup (originally called Yallock) opened August 19, 1889. Monomeith (originally called Glassock’s), Caldermeade, and Lang Lang (originally called Carrington) opened in February 1890. The line went all the way to Port Albert by 1892.

Patsy Adam-Smith wrote about the Monomeith Railway Station in her book Hear the train blow. Her mother was station mistress and post mistress and her father was a fettler. She wrote that Monomeith had no pub, no shop nothing but us. The Railway Station was also the Post Office. The family lived on a house on the platform and Patsy went to Monomeith School until it closed in 1933 and she then travelled by train to Caldermeade School. The family were at Monomeith during the 1934 flood. This is (partly) what  Patsy wrote about the flood - At home we were perfectly safe because of the house being off the ground up on the platform. On the second day Mum heard on the radio that homeless people were being brought into the Railway station at Koo-Wee-Rup. She walked in to help. Where she walked on the five-foot the swirling waters lapped over her shoes, the ballast had been swept away and the sleepers were held up only because they were fastened to the rails. The whole line in parts was swinging…..Dad and other fettlers brought in scores of people who had been cut off on high ground or in the ceilings of their homes. The water had run over the land so suddenly that most people were taken unawares. The Bush Nursing Hospital was caught this way. The fettlers cut through the roof of that building to take out the patients…… Mum, helping patients out of the boat when it reached Koo-Wee-Rup station found Dad’s coat around an old lady who had only a thin nightdress beneath it.

Sadly, none of the Monomeith railway buildings remain. According to a report in a  Korumburra & District Historical Society newsletter, that we received a few months ago at the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society,  passenger services beyond Dandenong  ceased in June 1981 but goods services continued to operate. In 1992, the goods trains ceased and this is when the line beyond Leongatha was taken up. The passenger service to Leongatha was reinstated on December 9 1984 and continued to run until July 23 1993. The trains now stop at Cranbourne.

100 years ago this week - Motor Club Hotel Cranbourne

100 years ago this advertisement appeared in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of November 21, 1912 for the Motor Club Hotel (more commonly known as Kellys) at Cranbourne. Cranbourne is not really part of the Koo-Wee-Rup, being on the western edge, but it is part of my area of interest, so I will be talking about it in future posts.

J.Taylor respectfully announces that he has purchased the Freehold of the above established hotel and invites a share of public patronage. It is the home of the Commercial traveller, has first class cuisine and meals (second to none) at all hours. There is a Large billiard room with two up-to date tables and all appointments as well as the best stabling in the district, six loose boxes and 16 stalls. The Hotel cab meets all trains.

The site of the Motor Club Hotel has been occupied by a Hotel since  the Mornington Hotel was built around 1860 by Thomas and Elizabeth Gooch. By 1912, at least, it was known as the Motor Club Hotel, which may have been related to the birth of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria in Tooradin or may have reflected the fact that Cranbourne was a popular destination for early motor car excursions. 

The Kelly family, who were also licensees of the Cranbourne Hotel (which was situated where Greg Clydesdale Square in High Street is now located) took over the license of the Motor Club Hotel in June 1919. 

The existing Motor Club Hotel, was built around 1926 - it is pictured above, most likely just after it was built. This picture is from the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society collection. The picture, below, was taken in the 1960s.

100 years ago this week - Koo-Wee-Rup rains and a Health report

From the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of November 14, 1912.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66181744

This is interesting for a number of reasons - firstly we have had too much rain in the area over the past eighteen months or so and potato farmers especially have suffered. 

Secondly, I don't believe peas are grown around here any more. [I wrote this in 2012, but I can tell you that in 2024 there was a large pea crop in Bennett Road, Catani and also one on the 13-Mile Road at Vervale]

Thirdly, the second paragraph is a reminder to us how devastating diseases such as measles and influenza could be before immunisation and antibiotics. For instance, in 1912, the Infant Death rate in Victoria was 74; that is for every 1,000 babies born, 74 would die before they turned one. This was down from 108 in 1902. The rate is now a bit less than five. (Source: Australians: Historical Statistics (Fairfax, Syme and Weldon, 1978)

100 years ago this week - Place names and railways

What was happening in the area 100 years ago this week? These are  two railway related articles and are from the South Bourke & Mornington Journal of November 7, 1912. Available on Trove  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

 South Bourke & Mornington Journal of November 7, 1912, page 2

Pakenham is a northern neighbour to the the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp, however as this article is about both railways and place names - two of my favourite historical subjects - then I had to include it. The Gippsland line to Sale was opened in stages - Sale to Morwell June 1877, Oakleigh to Bunyip October 1877, Moe to Morwell December 1877, Moe to Bunyip March 1878 and the last stretch from South Yarra to Oakleigh in 1879. Originally the only Station open between Dandenong and Pakenham was at Berwick.

South Bourke & Mornington Journal of November 7, 1912, page 2

The article, above,  lists all the revenue taken at the stations between Oakleigh and Bunyip, including the now defunct stop at the spur line that went to the Necropolis at Springvale and Jefferson's siding - a siding established for the Jefferson timber mill and later brick works at Garfield. It closed in May 1912.  The Necropolis (or Springvale Botanical Cemetery as it is now blandly known as) opened for burials in March 1902 and the railway line from the Springvale Station opened in 1904 - February  for visitors and March for mortuary trains. The Mortuary trains ceased in 1943 and the last visitor train was December 1950.