Arthur Charles (born 1897, birth registered at Bunyip South, alter called Iona. Arthur served in World War One and is listed on the Cora Lynn War Memorial, here and the Iona Honour Board, here)
Mary Ellen (1899, Bunyip South)
Baby girl (1900, Bunyip South, died one day old)
Hugh James (1902, Balranald)
Allan John (1904, Bunyip South)
Lily (1906, Bunyip South)
Stanley (1907, Bunyip South)
Archibald William (1909, Dandenong. See an example of his poetry, here)
Alice Jean (1911, Bunyip South)
Emma Murdoch died in March 1920 aged only 39 years old and is buried at the Bunyip Cemetery. George married Mary Jane Whitta in 1921 and they lived in Bayles, where they had opened the Bayles General Store in January 1921 (read about this here.) They were still in Bayles in 1963 according to the Electoral rolls, but the 1967 Electoral roll lists him at Booran Road, Caulfield South. Mary Jane died 1963, aged 86 and George died on Christmas Day, 1971, aged 99 in Glenhuntly.
Cora Lynn store, c.1910.
Peter Corcoran standing in front with bicycle.
(Photograph from the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society collection)
(Photograph from the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society collection)
The Weekly Times of November 16, 1907 published a letter to Uncle Ben, one of the editor's of the children's pages about Cora Lynn and the store his father was building -
Arthur Murdoch's letter
Weekly Times of November 16, 1907
Cora Lynn, 7th October.— Dear Uncle Ben,
This is the first time I have written to you. I would very much like to see my letter published in "The Weekly Times." I go to school every day, and I am in the second class. I have two miles to walk to school. We have a football at school, and we have great fun with it. My father is getting a new store
built in Cora Lynn. It will only be about two chains from the school. We are having lovely weather here now. The grass is looking beautiful in the paddocks. My sister has a little pet lamb. There are a good many hares about here. My father shot one yesterday. There are a great many snakes here this season. I killed a small one last week. With love to yourself, Aunt Connie and the little children in the cots - I remain your loving friend, ARTHUR MURDOCH, aged 10 years and 3 months.
Cora Lynn, possibly 1911. The building on the right is the E.S.& A. Bank,
and the store is next.
This was a postcard my grandfather sent, read the story here.
George Murdoch opened a store in Bayles in 1921 (see here) and operated the Cora Lynn store until 1922 when Alexander and Elizabeth Beatrice Chisholm took over. The Electoral rolls list her as Elizabeth Beatrice, but her death notice as Beatrice Elizabeth, so I will call her Beatrice. Alex had married Beatrice Knox in 1920 and they had a daughter Jean, who was born in December 1921. Jean attended Cora Lynn State School in 1926 and 1927. I haven't found anything much about their time in Cora Lynn, they left in 1927, but in the 1931 and 1937 Electoral Rolls the are at 158 Victoria Street, Richmond and his occupation is Postmaster. In the 1943 and 1949 Electoral Rolls, they are at 3 Wishart Street, Kew, and again his occupation is that of Postmaster. Elizabeth died in March 1953, aged 68, at 21 Church Street in Abbotsford. Her death notice in The Argus, lists Alex and Jean as well as Jean's husband, Phil, and their daughter, Susan. Alex was in the 1954 Electoral Roll at 21 Church Street, occupation Postmaster; then in the 1958 to 1967 Electoral Rolls he was living with his daughter, Jean and her family in Hortense Street, Burwood. He died in 1968
Death notice of Beatrice Chisholm
The Age, March 16, 1953 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23233441
Death notice of Alexander Chisholm
The Age, April 16, 1968, p. 14
The Chisholms had the Cora Lynn store until 1927, when Edwin Ernest and Sophia (nee McMahon) Dillon took over. The couple had married in 1910 in Woods Point and Edwin (known as Ted) at first supported the family by gold mining, but then decided to go into the hotel business in various country towns. Before they arrived in Cora Lynn they operated the store at Woods Point.
'Mr Chisholm leaves the Cora Lynn store and Mr Dillon arrives.
The Argus, June 25, 1927 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3862859
Ted and Sophia had six children Doreen (born 1911), Phillip (1914), Molly (1918), Eddie (1920), Joyce (1925) and June (1930). Sadly, Ted died August 7, 1932, aged only 49, clearly a shock to the family and the community. Doreen and Phillip then helped their mother run the store and they were assisted by Elva Watson and Frank Hester.
The death of Edwin Dillon
Koo Wee Rup Sun August 11, 1932 p. 1
Dillon's Store, c. 1930s
Image courtesy of Des Dineen.
Dillon's Store, c. 1950s.
Image courtesy of Val Slade.
As the years went by the children married - Doreen married local farmer Harry Dineen in 1938; Phil married Aileen McGrath in 1939 and they lived at the store with Sophia, until she retired to Warragul in 1950, where she died March 25, 1968. Joyce married Raymond Jarred in 1946. In 1950, Eddie married Mary Egan, whose grandparents had arrived on the Swamp in 1893; Molly married Ray Hammond in 1954 and June married George Krygger, who worked at the store.
The Cora Lynn store, known far and wide as Dillon's Store, was run by Phil and Eddie until Eddie left about 1960 to take up farming. Phillip and Aileen then operated the store until they retired in 1973. This ended 46 years of ownership, of the store but not the Dillon connection to the community, especially the football club and Mary Dillon's noteworthy contribution as the long-term Secretary of the Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival Committee. In the early days the local telephone exchange also operated from the store. After the Dillons, the store was then operated by the Thompsons, then the Van den Berghes, then Norm and Kim Dalziel, then the Simons and it closed in 1999.
Acknowledgement
The Dillon family information comes from a short history of the family supplied to me by Val Slade; she received the information from Helen Uren (nee Dillon). I am unsure if Helen wrote the history or it was another family member; if so happy to acknowledge the author.
