Vervale had a State School, and although it had three names it was never called Vervale. State School No. 3201, located on the corner of Thirteen Mile Road and Main Drain Road, was established in 1894 as Koo Wee Rup North School, changed its name in 1899 to Bunyip South and changed its name again in 1905 to Iona. The School closed December 1993. (1)
Vervale didn’t have a lot of facilities – there were no Churches, for instance. Until around 1960 Methodist and Presbyterian Services were held on alternate Sundays at the Cora Lynn Hall, or Presbyterians could attend the Iona Presbyterian Church. Catholics could attend St Josephs Church at Iona and those of the Methodist and Anglican faiths could attend Churches in Garfield. (2) There were no Vervale sporting teams – you had to go to either Cora Lynn or Garfield to play sport.
Vervale did have a General Store and Post Office, established in 1907 by John Andrew Kirwan. John had married Alice Gleeson in 1904 and they had six children - Isabell Mina (born 1906, birth registered at Northcote), John Andrew James (1908, Northcote), Henry Patrick (1910, Clifton Hill), Thomas Michael (1912, Bunyip South), Mary (1914, Bunyip South), Margaret Sarah (1916, Garfield). Sadly Alice died on March 3, 1917 aged only 32. She was buried at the Bunyip Cemetery. John died only five years later, on August 22, 1921, he was buried at Fawkner Cemetery. (3)
Alice Kirwan's death notice
The Argus, March 5, 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1601447
John Kirwan's death notice
The Age, August 25, 1921 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206711686
However, at the time of Alice's death, John had lost the right to operate the Post Office, as the Bunyip Free Press reported - for some year residents of Iona obtained their mail at Kirwans’ store. Since Mr Kirwan was fined for selling liquor without a license the Postal authorities have removed the post office to the residence of Mr Clark. (4) This was possibly Richard Clarke, listed in the Electoral Roll in 1916 as a farmer at Iona, with his wife Ethel Edith Clarke.
Mail Service tender
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette , September 30, 1920 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232517605
Mr McMannis died April 9, 1959, aged 90, and Mrs McMannis died June 4, 1967, aged 88, thus ending 51 years of store ownership. (6) I only remember going there once, it must have been just before Mrs McMannis died and all I remember was that Mrs McMannis looked really old. Given that she must have been well into her eighties and I was only about seven, it's not surprising. Mr and Mrs McMannis are buried at the Bunyip cemetery.
However, Vervale does have one claim to fame as it was the first place in Victoria in which asparagus was commercially grown. Thomas Roxburgh, who was a Shipping Agent, planted the first commercial crop of asparagus at his farm on Fallon Road, Cheriton Park, though locally it was referred to as Roxburgh Park. The earliest reference I can find to this planting is an article in The Argus from 1912.
It's a bit hard to read - so here's what it says. Asparagus Culture. Bunyip, Tuesday. - Mr Roxborough, an enterprising resident of Melbourne, who owns land on the Koo-wee-rup Swamp, has grown nine acres of asparagus at Iona, and a jam company has offered to erect a canning factory on the land if he grows 20 acres.
The jam company, was, I presume A.J.C., as the farm was later called the A.J.C farm. Even though it says Iona it was really Vervale, but as I said before, Vervale wasn't used as a name until about 1917. You can read more about Thomas Roxburgh and asparagus growing, here.
The name Vervale was adopted for the area in 1917, when at a Berwick Shire Council meeting held on September 8th 1917 it was recorded that communication had been received from the Post Master Generals Department approving the change of name of the Post Office from Kirwan's to Vervale. (7)
The adoption of the name Vervale
South Bourke & Mornington Journal, September 13, 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66192725
The name was then adopted for the surrounding area which had previously had various other names. It was sometimes referred to as Kirwans; however, the Shire of Berwick Rate Books listed ratepayers in the area with the address of either Cora Lynn or Iona. In the 1916 Rate Books, some of these same ratepayers had Clarke’s Post Office as their address (after the new Post office manager). From the 1917 Rate books the name changed to Vervale, which was first written as Vere Vale. (8). Vervale means “green valley”, a bit ironic as it is just flat Swamp land.
Vervale General Store and Post Office, taken 1967 or 1969.
National Archives of Australia photograph. www.naa.gov.au
Asparagus Culture
The Argus, May 8, 1912, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11673611
It's a bit hard to read - so here's what it says. Asparagus Culture. Bunyip, Tuesday. - Mr Roxborough, an enterprising resident of Melbourne, who owns land on the Koo-wee-rup Swamp, has grown nine acres of asparagus at Iona, and a jam company has offered to erect a canning factory on the land if he grows 20 acres.
The jam company, was, I presume A.J.C., as the farm was later called the A.J.C farm. Even though it says Iona it was really Vervale, but as I said before, Vervale wasn't used as a name until about 1917. You can read more about Thomas Roxburgh and asparagus growing, here.
Footnotes
(1) I have written about the school here https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2018/06/early-swamp-schools.html
(2) I have written about the Churches here https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-1910s-spiritual-decade-for-iona.html and here https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2015/11/cora-lynn-church.html
(3) John Andrew Kirwan, was the son of Henry Patrick and Sarah (nee Crowe) born in Geelong in 1868. Alice was the daughter of James and Margaret Gleeson. Information about the children from the Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(4) Bunyip Free Press, December 2, 1915, see here.
(5) Shire of Berwick Rate Books
(6) Death dates - headstone at Bunyip Cemetery -https://www.australiancemeteries.com.au/vic/cardinia/bunyip.htm James McMannis was the son of Frank and Ann (nee Fitzgerald) McMannis, born in Piggoret in 1869. Edith Carter McMannis, was the daughter of Phillip and Charlotte Emma (nee Taylor) Williams, born in 1879 at Mologa (between Pyramid Hill and Mitiamo). They married in 1904.
(7) Other reports of the name change -
Dandenong Advertiser, September 13, 1917 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88818260
Pakenham Gazette, September 14, 1917 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/92155922
(8) Shire of Berwick Rate Books
