Flax Mills at Koo Wee Rup and Dalmore

In 1940, the British Government asked Australia to produce more flax for the War effort. Britain had previously been supplied with flax from Russia, Belgium and Ireland, but as the War interrupted these supplies they looked to Australia. Flax was used for all sorts of clothing and equipment such as parachute harnesses, ropes and tarpaulins (1). 

The Weekly Times in July 1940  reported that - 

The Assistant Minister for Agriculture (Mr Martin) stated on Monday that the normal area of 2000 acres of flax in Victoria had been increased to 8000 acres before the British Government's appeal was received. Since then the following additional areas had been approved for planting: - Ballarat, 1106 acres; Hamilton, 1030; Riddle, 1093; Koo-wee-rup, 1374; Drouin, 366; Leongatha, Thorpdale, Mirboo North, 743. In the Myrtleford district about 300 acres had already been approved, and it was hoped to accept another 300 acres, making the total approved extra sowing 6312 acres. The whole of Victoria's share of the 400 tons of flax seed expected from England shortly would be sown, and it was hoped to send to Great Britain most of the flax grown on the 14,000 acres planted (2). 

The Koo Wee Rup District had been a flax growing area for many years and the fibre was processed at mills at Pentridge Prison or Drouin or Dandenong and from 1919 at a mill at Dalmore (3). The Dalmore Flax Growers Co-Operative bought the plant from Pentridge at a cost of £238 and it was erected on a site north of Manks' road, about forty chains east of Dalmore road, between Peers' road and Cardinia Creek, on Mr Roland Graham's property, and it was operating by early March 1919. The Directors of the Co-Operative were Messrs. Graham, Duff, G. Burhop, W. E. Mills and Christie (4). The Co-Operative was put into liquidation in March 1922 and the plant and equipment disposed of at auction in the April (5).

Dalmore Flax Mill plant and equipment auctioned on April 27, 1922

The Argus, April 25, 1922 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4659855

The Flax Mill at Koo Wee Rup opened in the former Gippsland and Northern Produce shed at the railway yards, with operations commencing at the start of January 1941. The Manager, Mr H.E Clark, had previously been employed at the Drouin Mill.  The opening was celebrated with a sumptuous repast at the Royal Hotel on New Year’s Eve 1940. As the Dandenong Journal noted - It was rather fitting that the dinner to mark the opening of the new flax mill at Kooweerup should have taken place on New Year’s Eve, for high hopes are entertained that the new industry will usher in anew era of development for Kooweerup (6). 

Flax Mill at Koo Wee Rup

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photo

The Koo Wee Rup Sun of March 6, 1941 reported on a meeting of the Koo Wee Rup and District Branch of the Victorian Flax Growers Association.  In spite of over seventy growers being notified there was only a meagre attendance.  The President was Cr Dan Kinsella and the Koo Wee Rup Branch included growers from Berwick and Pakenham. The report goes on to say that the district had 73 growers, growing 1,560 acres, with an average cultivation of twenty one acres (7).   In August 1941, two railway truck loads of flax fibre were being sent each week to the City (8). 

Statistics from the Victorian flax growers conference held March 4, 1941.

Koo Wee Rup Sun, March 6, 1941, p. 1

Fortune in Flax -There is about £10,000 worth of flax in these stacks on a Koo-wee-rup farm. Each of the 30 stacks contains more than 70 tons. A watchman guards them

at night. Recently the British Government appealed for the growing of more

flax, urgently needed for war purposes.

Weekly Times February 22, 1941 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224817480

In March 1943, thirty Land Army women arrived to work at the Flax Mill.  They were housed, under the supervision of Mrs Estelle Deboschier,  in fifteen, newly built fibrolite huts in Station Street.  The complex also had a shower room, mess room, kitchen and dining room (9).   The Australian Women's Land Army (AWLA) was formed in 1942 to provide labour to farming areas to replace the men who had gone off to war.  The women had to be aged between 18 and 55 and be strong and intelligent to carry out the  essential national work connected with Victorian Flax centres.   Conditions included a five day week at award rates, plus overtime (10). 

The Land Army girls arrive

Koo Wee Rup Sun March 18, 1943, p. 1

In September 1944, the Mill was destroyed by fire -  it was  completely gutted in a matter of seconds and thousands of pounds worth of plant totally destroyed.... the rapidity in which the flames spread from when first noticed  [meant] the 13 employees ( mostly Land Army girls) on  night shift at the 

time were extremely fortunate in being able to make their exit without injury....About £800 worth of fibre in an iron railway truck standing on the south side of  mill was also totally destroyed. At the time of the fire the Mill employed forty six males and thirty four females (11).  The Mill re-opened in temporary premises a month later (12). 

The Land Army girls, who worked in the flax mill,  at their Hostel in Koo Wee Rup. 

Weekly Times, May 3, 1944 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224836219

The closure of the Mill was announced in the Koo Wee Rup Sun in November 1946, which was a loss to the town as up to 100 people were employed at the mill annually. The locally grown flax would be processed at the Drouin Mill (13). 

In August 1947 the Commonwealth Government advertised the buildings for sale by tender - either for removal or in situ and also auctioned of extensive surplus equipment (14).  

Tenders called for the purchase of the Flax Mill buildings

Koo Wee Rup Sun, August 27, 1947 p.4

Auction of extensive surplus equipment from the Flax Mill

Koo Wee Rup Sun, August 20, 1947 p.4

Some of the buildings remained in the local area. The Koo Wee Rup Sun reported that in February 1948  the Hostel was moved to a site adjoining the State School, for the purposes of Higher Education. The Higher Elementary School in Koo Wee Rup did not open until 1953, so I am unsure of the exact use of the building. I have been told that another building, an army hut, was erected on land adjoining St John's Catholic School in Koo Wee Rup, I don't know the date. Some of the buildings were purchased and used by the Grosby Shoe Company and you can read about this here. In 1964 the old amenities building was purchased and used as the Scout Hall (15).  

Hostel moved to the State School site.

Koo Wee Rup Sun, February 11, 1948, p. 1.

Trove list - I have created a list of newspaper articles on the flax mills at Dalmore and Koo Wee Rup, access it here. 

Footnotes

(1) Melton Express February 10, 1940, see here.

(2) Weekly Times, July 13, 1940, see here.

(3) Weekly Times, April 19, 1919, see here and various articles in my Trove list, here.

(4) The Age, February 22, 1919, see here. These men are Roland Graham, probably Walter Duff, George Randall Burhop, William Ernest Mills and Samuel Kerr Christie. 

(5) Koo Wee Rup Sun, October 30, 1918, see here; see my Trove list, here,  for other references. Tooradin: 125 years of coastal history - Blind Bight, Cannon's Creek, Sherwood, Tooradin North, Warneet 1875-2000 State school No. 1503 compiled by John Wells and the 'Tooradin Celebrates Together 125 Years of Education Committee' (The Committee, 2001), p. 55 says that  the mill operated for a short term until it was destroyed by fire and not rebuilt. This may have been the case, but I can't find a report yet to verify it.

(6) Koo Wee Rup Sun, January 9 1941, p. 1. The Dandenong Journal of January 15, 1941 reprinted much of the Koo Wee Rup Sun article, read it here.

(7) Koo Wee Rup Sun, March 6, 1941, p. 1

(8) Koo Wee Rup Sun, August 14, 1941, p. 4.

(9) Koo Wee Rup Sun March 18, 1943, p. 1

(10) The Age, September 12, 1942, see here.

(11) Koo Wee Rup Sun, September 7, 1944, p. 1.

(12) Koo Wee Rup Sun, October 5, 1944, p. 1.

(13) Koo Wee Rup Sun, November 27, 1946, p. 1.

(14) Koo Wee Rup Sun, August 20 1947 p. 4 and August 27, 1947, p. 4.

(15) Scout Hall - https://1stkwrscoutgroup.org.au/about/group-history/

This post, first written in 2017,  was updated in July 2022.

A trip from Dandenong to Garfield and Bunyip by road

I wrote this for the Garfield Spectator and wrote a companion story for the Koo-Wee-Rup Blackfish about a trip from Dandenong to Koo-Wee-Rup and Lang Lang, which you can read that here. They both start off the same, at Dandenong.

Let’s imagine we were travelling by horse and coach down the Gippsland Road (the Princes Highway) from Dandenong to Garfield in the 1800s - what hotels would we encounter on the way? We would have the need to call in to some of these hotels to get something to eat and drink for both ourselves and the horses. The journey is about 50km or 30 miles so even going by Cobb & Co coach which was a ‘fast’ and relatively comfortable service with modern coaches which had a suspension system made of leather straps, it was still a four hour journey as the coaches travelled at about six to eight miles per hour. The horses were swapped every ten to thirty miles. So we’ll start our journey at Dandenong which had a large range of hotels - Dunn’s Hotel and Dunbar’s Dandenong Hotel were both built in the 1840s, the Bridge Hotel and the Royal Hotel in the 1850s to name a few.

The next hotel on the Gippsland Road was the Emu and Kangaroo, built in 1855 by James Mulcare near the Eumemmerring Creek. It was later taken over by Michael Hennessy and renamed the Eumemmerring Hotel although it was also simply called Hennessy’s, as he owned the hotel from 1865 to 1888. There was a race track next to the Hotel, known as Hennessy’s Course.  Other early licensees were Joseph Edmonds and Emma Birt. The original hotel burnt down, a replacement was built which was delicenced in 1917 and demolished. The Prince Mark Hotel, built in the 1960s, now occupies the site.

The next Hotel was the Hallam Hotel, which was started by William and Mary Hallam in the 1870s. They also had a general store. In 1885, Edmund Uren took over the property and he operated the Hotel until he died in July 1892 when his wife, Elizabeth, took over the licence. Elizabeth operated the hotel until June 1898.  The original single storey building was refurbished and a second storey added in 1930/31.   The double storey part of the hotel that you see today is the 1930s building. In 1855, the Mornington Hotel was established on the corner of Narre Warren North Road and the Gippsland Road by J. Gardiner and later taken over by John Payne. It was dismantled in the 1880s or 1890s.

We now come to the Berwick Inn also known as the Border Hotel - it’s still standing on the corner of High Street and Lyall Road in Berwick. It was built by Robert Bain in 1857. The triangular single storey part is the 1857 construction which is made of hand-made bricks from local clay. The two storey sections were added in 1877 and 1887. Robert Bain died in 1887 and his wife Susan took over the hotel and operated it until she died in June 1908.

We continue down the Gippsland Road and we come to the Central Hotel on the Cardinia Creek at Beaconsfield. David and Janet Bowman were granted a licence for the Gippsland Hotel (as the Central Hotel was originally called) in 1855. David Bowman died in 1860 and Janet Bowman continued running the Hotel until around 1866. It was later taken over by the Souter family. There were Cobb & Co stables at the Hotel. The existing Central Hotel was built around 1928.

Bourke's Hotel in Pakenham, 1909. 

Photo is from 'In the wake of the Pack Tracks' published by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society. 

The next hotel was on the Toomuc Creek - the Latrobe Inn also called Bourke’s Hotel for the obvious reason that it was established by Michael and Kitty Bourke in 1849. This was a ‘hostelry of high repute’ and had good accommodation. They operated the Hotel and the Post Office together until Michael died in 1877, when Catherine continued operating both businesses, with the help of her daughter Cecelia, until she died in 1910.This was also a Cobb & Co stop. Michael Kelly built a hotel on the west side of the Toomuc Creek around 1869. In 1881 it was taken over by Eliza and Alexander Fraser and known, not surprisingly as Fraser's Hotel. Eliza Fraser (nee Mulcahy) died in July 1890.  Another hotel was built near the Railway Station sometime between 1877 when the railway arrived and 1880 – I have seen various dates listed in various books. This Hotel was built by Daniel Bourke and at one time was called the Gembrook Hotel and is now called the Pakenham Hotel. The current building dates from 1929. 
 

In 1863, David Connor built the Halfway House Hotel just down from the corner of Abrehart Road and the Gippsland Road.  It was delicenced in 1899 and became a private house.  The building is said to have been moved to the Moe Folk Museum. 

Closer towards Nar Nar Goon was the Limerick Arms Hotel built in the 1860s by Daniel and Brigid O’Brien.  It was on the corner of Wilson Road and the Gippsland Road. Daniel, Brigid and their daughter Ellen had arrived in Melbourne in September 1841. Also on the same ship were the Dore family - John and Betty and their children Edward, Thomas, Patrick and Ellen. In 1844, John Dore and Michael Hennessey took up the Mount Ararat Run at Nar Nar Goon of 1,900 acres. The partnership existed until 1855. This was the same Michael Hennessy who had the Eumemmerring Hotel. The Limerick Arms was also a Cobb & Co stop and it was delicensed in 1908 and the building later demolished. Daniel and Brigid’s son, Michael and his wife Johanna opened the Nar Nar Goon Hotel (near the Railway Station) in 1883.

Halfway House Hotel, 1900

Photo is from 'In the wake of the Pack Tracks' published by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.

The next hotel was at the old town of Cannibal Creek on the Old Coach road, a bit further north than the Gippsland Road. This township was located on the banks of the Cannibal Creek, sort of in the region of Bassed Road. The Hotel was the Pig & Whistle, established by Jabez Janes around 1866. Kathleen Leeson then operated the hotel from 1869 to 1910.  Back onto the Gippsland Road - in 1867 David Connor established the  New Bunyip Inn  on the south side of the Highway, just east of A'Beckett Road and the west side of the Bunyip River.  His son-in-law, David Devanny or Devenay  or Deveney (I’ve seen the name spelt three ways) later took over the Hotel and he was still there in 1897, but the hotel was closed by the Licensing Reduction Board in 1917, the same time as the Eumemmerring Hotel.

If we go back in to the town of Garfield, the Iona Hotel opened around April 1904. It was built by George Ellis. Sadly, the hotel was destroyed by fire in April 1914 but the existing Hotel opened on the same site in 1915. There were two hotels that opened in the township of Bunyip around 1877 which, as we saw before, was the year the railway arrived.  The Hotels were the Butcher's Arms and the Bunyip Hotel, according to Denise Nest in her book Call of the Bunyip and they are (I believe)  the forerunners of the current Bunyip Hotels, the Railway Hotel and the Gippsland Hotel (the Top Pub).