Garfield Railway Station

I have written before about how the construction of the Sale Railway line was the seminal event in the establishment of the town of Garfield. The Gippsland line to Sale was opened in stages - Sale to Morwell June 1877 (the material for this stage was shipped along the coast to the Port of Sale); 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 Stations between Dandenong and Bunyip were Berwick and Pakenham. However a number of timber sidings developed along this line including the Cannibal Creek Siding built in 1885. In May 1886, the Cannibal Creek Post Office was established at the Railway Station and this changed its name to the Garfield Railway Post Office on May 16, 1887. The name Garfield came from the assassinated American President, James Garfield, who was shot July 2, 1881 and died September 19, 1881.

View of the Goods Shed at the Railway station in 1920. The Garfield Hall is in the background.

Berwick Pakenham Historical Society photograph

In the book Rigg of the Railways: Station Masters of the Victorian Railways the author Tom Rigg lists the following Station Masters as having served at Garfield.
McLean, Roderick February 1910 to August 1911
Finnie, Norman July 1912 - August 1917
McCauley, John Alexander June 1918 - March 1920
Lanigan, Patrick September 1919 - February 1919
Mather, James around 1920,1921
Stewart, Francis David March 1920 - September 1921
Lang, Elmo Thomas December 1921 - July 1923
Marks, John Alexander July 1924 - January 1927
Bently, Leslie George December 1926 - June 1928
Callaghan, Henry Richard July 1928 - January 1933
Hosking, Henry Towers January 1933 - September 1937. Due to economic depression wife was caretaker part-time at Garfield.
Smith, Arthur Leslie June 1942 - December 1944
Graham, Norman Joseph December 1944 - December 1954. I couldn’t find anyone listed after 1954, but my mother says that a Mr Tighe was the Station Master around the late 1950s/ early1960s.

This is a view from the Station towards Main Street Garfield - taken in the 1980s.

Image: Shire of Pakenham slide, Casey Cardinia Libraries

Apparently, Station Masters were classified according to the Station to which they were appointed and Garfield (in 1923 at least) was a Class 8 station, as was its neighbours Tynong and Nar Nar Goon. Bunyip was a Class 7 and so must have had more freight and was therefore busier. There are other Railway Station employees listed in various sources prior to 1910 but it does appear that Garfield wasn’t busy enough for a permanent Station Master until then. For instance, in Bill Parrish’s notes on the history of Garfield (held at the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society) he lists James Godfrey as ‘Porter in charge’ at Cannibal Creek siding in October 1885 and he became the Post Master in 1886. The Post Masters and Mistresses at Garfield were all Railway employees until around the end of the First World War, when the Post Office moved from the Railway Station. Bill also lists a Mrs Thomson as being the Station caretaker in 1904.

1965 Garfield Railway Station diagram from www.victorianrailways.net

Over the years, all sorts of produce was loaded at the Garfield Railway Station - livestock, milk and other dairy products (such as cheese from the Cora Lynn factory), chaff and timber. There was a spur line that went off the main line to the Goods Shed and loading area (where the car park is now on the Highway side of the railway line)
 My Dad, Frank Rouse, used to load potatoes there. All potatoes in the 1940s and until 1954 had to be sold through the Potato Board and had to be loaded at a prescribed loading area, in this case Garfield.  They were loaded onto the rail and sent to Spencer Street railway yards where the marketing board had their shed. They were then sold by the Board. If you sold ‘out of the Board’ you were up for massive fines. Farmers were given a quota for the week, for instance seven bags (each bag was 150 lbs or 65 kg, later on they were reduced to 50kgs)  and that was all you were allowed.

The railway trucks could take 12 tons but before they were loaded they had to be inspected by the Potato Inspector, Jack Stalker. Apparently, he was a fan of the VW Beetle, so if you wanted to get your potatoes passed you just talked about VWs or if you told him you were a ‘bit worried about them’, and then he would just pass them. If they weren’t passed then you had to empty the bag, remove the bad ones and re-pack them and re-sew the bag. The farmers had to load the railway trucks themselves and some railway trucks had doors but others were like carts, with a wall about a metre or so high and in this case the bags had to be lifted by hand over the wall and then stacked in the truck. Sometimes the produce just sat there for days before they were picked up. The Potato Board finished in 1954 and after that you could sell them where you wanted. Dad and his brother Jim used Dan Cunningham as an agent and they also later loaded at Nar Nar Goon. If you sold them interstate they could be delivered by truck.

In the 1950s, the line was duplicated from Dandenong to Morwell and also electrified due to need to transport briquettes from Yallourn to Melbourne. In 1954, the electrification process was completed as far as Warragul and it was on July 22 in that year that ‘electric traction’ commenced according to the Victorian Railways Annual Report. Duplication works were completed in stages with the Tynong to Bunyip section opened in August 1956. The Bunyip to Longwarry section still remains unduplicated due to the need to widen the bridge over the Bunyip River. Due to the increased number of trains (it was estimated that briquette transportation would require an additional 20 trains per day, over the existing seven) the level crossing which was basically opposite the Picture Theatre was closed and the overpass was opened in 1953. The Thirteen Mile Road used to continue over the railway line to the goods yards and this was closed perhaps around the same time or maybe earlier.

The Goods Shed was originally built around 1905 and a weigh bridge was erected in 1919. At 2.00pm on Thursday February 21, 1924 the Station was destroyed by fire. The Argus reported that a few milk cans were rescued from the goods shed. A number of parcels, including two bicycles and a perambulator, and a quantity of passengers' luggage, were destroyed, in addition to departmental records. Both the Station and the Goods Shed were rebuilt at the time but they were then demolished some time ago and replaced by the banal and tacky structures that pass for railway architecture today. They were still there in December 1989 - if you want a nostalgic look at them, then check out this website ‘When there were Stations’ - http://www.stationspast.net

Sources:

• Rigg of the Railways: Station Masters of the Victorian Railways by Tom Rigg (published by the author in 2001)
• The Electric Railways of Victoria : a brief  history  of the electrified railway system operated by the Victorian railways 1919 to 1979 by S.E. Dornan and R.H Henderson (Australian Electric Traction Association, 1979)

100 years ago this week - an escaped 'lunatic'

This is an account of the capture of an escaped patient from Mont Park Mental Hospital from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of April 30, 1914.  The work Lunatic has now gone out of fashion to describe a person who is mentally ill. According to the Oxford Dictionary the word Lunatic comes from the Old French lunatique, from late Latin lunaticus, from Latin luna '‘ moon’ ' (from the belief that changes of the moon caused intermittent insanity).

South Bourke and Mornington Journal of April 30, 1914.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper  http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/66185203

Trooper Maher, is Stephen Maher, listed in the 1914, 1919 and 1924 Electoral Rolls as living at Pakenham. His occupation is listed as Constable. His wife was  Bridget Catherine (nee Ryan).   There is an interesting account, below, of Constable Maher having his horse taken from him, sounds like it was a bureaucratic decision made without any consultation - so no change there in 100 years. 

Dandenong Advertiser of May 7 1914

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88355315

South Bourke and Mornington Journal of  17 June 17, 1920,

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66198261

Stephen and Catherine had ten children, Rosaline (born 1886), Cathleen (1888), Florence Mary (1890), Olive Veronica (1893), Stephen Raymond (1894), John Thomas (1896), Thomas Francis(1899), Daniel Michael (1901) Leonard Joseph (1903) and Mary Monica (1905). Stephen died in 1931 aged 70 and Bridget died in 1939 aged 77

The E.S. & A / ANZ Bank at Garfield

One of the prominent buildings in Main Street of Garfield is the old ANZ Bank building. The bank was built as an E.S. & A. bank and is one of the three old E. S & A. banks on the Cardinia Shire Heritage Study. The other two are at Koo Wee Rup (built 1919) and Lang Lang (built 1929). (1)  The Garfield Bank is thought to have been designed by Twentyman & Askew, the same Architects as the Lang Lang bank (2)

The 1996 Cardinia Shire Heritage Study, which was undertaken by Graeme Butler & Associates, describes the building as a two storey clinker brick and stucco building...with Greek/Georgian revival stylistic treatment including the hipped and tiled roof, Doric order colonettes at the main window opening, saltire cross glazing mullions, expressed voussoirs over the two doorways, smooth rustication in the central window, the 8-panel door pair, the bayed symmetrical elevation and the multi pane glazing. (3) [A saltire cross is an x shaped cross and a voussoir is a wedge-shaped or tapered stone used to construct an arch]

Main Street, Garfield. The Bank is on the right.

Weekly Times, June 18, 1952 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224019418

Banking services began in Garfield in July 1904, when the London Bank of Australia opened an Agency of the Warragul Branch. This London Bank agency was converted to a Branch a year later, on August 10, 1905. (4)

Notification of the Garfield Agency becoming a Branch

Bunyip and Garfield Express, August 10, 1905, p. 2.

A Branch, as opposed to an Agency, had full-time operating hours and its own manager and the first manager at Garfield was Clarence Adeney (5). In 1920, the London Bank amalgamated with the English, Scottish & Australian Bank (E.S. & A Bank) who in turn amalgamated with the ANZ in 1970.

The Garfield Agency becomes a Branch

West Gippsland Gazette, August 15, 1905 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68715371

So successful was this Garfield Branch that in August 1905 an Agency had been established at Koo Wee Rup and by the next year at Yannathan, Iona and Tynong (6)

Agency of the Garfield Branch established at Yannathan.

South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 6, 1906 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66144774

The Bunyip and Garfield Express reported in October 1906 of the desire for a new bank building in Garfield -

General dissatisfaction is expressed here at the action of the directors of the London Bank in delaying the erection of their new premises. Over twelve months ago they promised to go on with the work, and plans were prepared for a building, estimated to cost £1500. Levels were taken, and all thought the building was to be proceeded with straight away, but time has gone and still nothing further has been done. At a meeting of clients held on Monday night, it was decided to write the directors urging them to proceed with the building without further delay, and it is hoped it will have the desired effect. (7)

It wasn't until July 1908 that the construction of a new Bank, the first brick building in the town, commenced. That month, the contractor, Mr Hayes from Northcote, visited the town to view the site, however soon after his foreman sadly died suddenly, so work was put on hold until his replacement could be appointed. (8).  In December 1908 the Bunyip and Garfield Express could finally announce that -

Mr Hattersley, manager of the London Bank, moved into the new and more commodious premises on Friday last and in future business will be transacted therefrom. (9) This building is now a private house on the corner of Railway Avenue and Garfield Road. 

Mr Adeney did not get to enjoy the new building as he had taken charge of the Koo Wee Rup Branch in September 1906. (10)  It was, as we have just seen, Edward Hattersley, who was the manager at the time. He was in charge until February 1912 when The Argus reported -

Garfield - Mr E.H. Hattersley who has been in charge of the London Bank here for six years has been transferred to Melbourne. Mr Hattersley, who was president of the cricket club for the past two years was presented by that body with a souvenir. (11)

Edward Hattersley was replaced by Ernest Kerr Clarke. Two years later, in February 1914, Ernest was transferred to Taree, in New South Wales. His farewell function was reported on in the Bunyip and Garfield Express -

On Tuesday evening last a number of members of the Bunyip Caledonian Society assembled at Bunyip in order to make a presentation to Mr. E. K. Clarke, manager of the London Bank it Garfield, prior to his departure for Taree (N.S.W.) Chief J. A. Shandley presented the guest with a suitably inscribed gold medal, and expressed the regret felt at his departure. The chief's remarks were endorsed by Messrs P. Mclvor, H. Rodger, T. D. McGregor and H. Bell. Mr. Clarke responded in a feeling manner, and expressed regret at departing from the district and the members of the Caledonian Society. (12)

William Rupert Aspinall was the next Manager, from April 1914. The local newspaper in Stawell provided this background to Mr Aspinall -

Mr W. R. Aspinall, who was for six years accountant at the Stawell Branch of the London Bank, but who for the past 18 months has been on the staff of the Melbourne office, has been appointed manager at Garfield, in Gippsland. Mr and Mrs Aspinall's many Stawell friends will learn with pleasure of the promotion and wish Mr Aspinall every success (13)

William Aspinall left in August 1917, having been shifted to Moama. (14)  William and his wife had made themselves part of the Garfield community, as this report of their farewell shows - 

The members and children of the Church of England Sunday school, Garfield, made a presentation of a very chaste silver rose bowl, suitably inscribed, to Mrs. T. Aspinall, of the London Bank, on Tuesday evening last, the hall being nicely decorated for the occasion. Mrs. Aspinall took a lively interest in church matters, and her removal to Moama is very much regretted by the whole of the residents. The residents of Garfield and district intend to make a presentation to Mr Aspinall, the popular manager of the London Bank, on the eve of his departure to Moama. (15)

Hugh Alexander Gardner was the next Manager and he was in charge in 1920 when the London Bank was taken over by the E.S.& A. Bank.  I believe they used the London Bank premises until the Main Street building was erected. (16)

When was this building built? The Cardinia Shire Heritage Study lists the build date of the bank as 1925, but I believe it was more likely around 1931. Firstly, the Shire of Berwick Rate Books had listed the building through the 1920s under the Managers name and then in 1931 it changed to Arthur Nutting (17) who was a local shop keeper and also owned other property in the area, so I believe this was the time they built the new bank premises and sold off their superfluous old premises. Secondly, local historian, Bill Parish in his history of Garfield, published in the 1962 Back To souvenir book says the building was erected in the 1930s. (18)

E.S & A. Bank advertisement from the Back to Garfield booklet,  June 1962.

The E.S. & A. Bank from the Back to Garfield booklet, June 1962.

Mr Gardner was at Garfield until July 1926 when he was promoted to Cheltenham. This report of his farewell shows again the high esteem Bank Managers were held in -

Residents from all the surrounding districts assembled at the Garfield Theatre on Monday night to honour Mr. H. A. Gardner and family. Mr. Gardner has been transferred to the Cheltenham branch of the E., S., and A. Bank. He was presented with a gold sovereign case and a cheque, while Mrs. Gardner and Misses Lila and Nancy Gardner each received a gold wrist watch. (19)

His replacement John Jessup was at only at Garfield for a few years before he was transferred to Dunolly in  March 1928. His wife, Winifred, was presented with a handbag as a departure gift from the women of Garfield.  (20)

Mr Jessup’s replacement was Stanley Howell, who was at Garfield until 1935 when he was transferred to Burwood. When Stanley and Margret Howell left Garfield they were entertained and presented with a wallet of notes (21)  Other known staff in the early days was a Mr L.G Evans, accountant, who transferred to Garfield from Dunolly in 1927. Perhaps Mr Evans extolled the virtues of Dunolly to Mr Jessup and that’s why he moved there. Other accountants at the branch were Mr E. Judge who left Garfield for Warragul in 1924. His successor was Mr Pask. (22)

The ANZ Bank is the two-storey building on the left of the FoodMarket.

View from the Railway Station towards Main Street Garfield - taken in the 1980s.

Image: Shire of Pakenham slide, Casey Cardinia Libraries

The Garfield ANZ Bank closed on March 16, 2012. (23)  There was an E.S & A. Agency at Cora Lynn, which was reported to have been opened in January 1911. In the 1960s it was staffed about a morning a week and closed in the early 1960s. (24)

The little building to the right of the bridge is the old E.S & A Bank at Cora Lynn,

 taken October 20, 1937 

(State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photograph)

Trove list  I have created a list of articles on the Garfield Bank, access it here.

Footnotes

(1) https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2016/04/koo-wee-rup-anz-es-bank.html

(2) Cardinia Shire Heritage Study, v. 3 - Heritage Places by Graeme Butler & Associates (Cardinia Shire, 1996), pp. 300-301.

(3) Ibid

(4) Bunyip and Garfield Express, August 10, 1905, p. 2.

(5) The Age, July 15, 1904, see here; Bunyip & Garfield Express, August 10, 1905, p. 2; West Gippsland Gazette, August 15, 1905, see here.  

(6) Koo Wee Rup - South Bourke and Mornington Journal, August 16, 1905 see here; Yannathan - South Bourke & Mornington Journal, April 4 1906, see here;  Iona - South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 6,  1906, see here;  Tynong - South Bourke & Mornington Journal, July 25, 1906, see here.

(7) Bunyip and Garfield Express, October 18, 1906, p. 2.

(8) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, July 8, 1908, see here;  Bunyip and Garfield Express, July 9, 1908, p. 2 ; Bunyip and Garfield Express, July 23, 1908, p. 2; South Bourke & Mornington Journal, July 15, 1908, see here   

(9) Bunyip and Garfield Express, December 24, 1908, p. 2.

(10) https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2016/04/koo-wee-rup-anz-es-bank.html

(11) The Argus, February 20, 1912, see here; Bunyip and Garfield Express, February 20, 1912, p. 3.

(12) Bunyip and Garfield Express, February 19, 1914, see here; Quote from Bunyip and Garfield Express, February 26, 1914, see here; 

(13) Stawell News, April 14, 1914, see here.

(14) Newspaper articles in my Trove list, Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com

(15) Dandenong Advertiser, August 9, 1917, see here

(16) Newspaper articles in my Trove list, Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com

(17) https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/10/mr-nutting-invents-new-type-of-ute.html

(18) Shire of Berwick Rate Books;    https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/09/bill-parishs-history-of-garfield-1931.html 

(19) The Argus, July 23, 1926, see here.

(20) Newspaper articles in my Trove list, The Argus, May 4, 1928,  see here.

(21) The Herald, March 29, 1935, see here.

(22) Newspaper articles in my Trove list.

(23) From the Pakenham Gazette of 15/2/2012 - By Melissa Meehan

https://pakenham.starcommunity.com.au/gazette/2012-02-15/anz-loses-interest-farmer-john-reid-and-cardinia-councillor-graeme-moore-with-the-residents-of-garfield-say-they-want-the-anz-branch-to-stay-in-their-town-76807-picture-donna-oates/

Big banks have turned their backs on small communities according to the people of Garfield.

As news of the ANZ branch closure filtered through the town, residents and shopkeepers have come together to attempt to save it. The ANZ Garfield branch will close at 3pm on 16 March before merging with the ANZ Drouin branch. More than 50 concerned townsfolk came together on Friday to show their support of the Garfield branch, all of them customers.

Dairy farmer John Reid and spokesman for the group said it was important to the town that the bank stayed put. “We don’t all use internet banking, some of us don’t know how to use the internet,” Mr Reid said. “We want to keep being able to go into the branch. “And a hole in the wall isn’t the same.”

Some in the group said they held an account with the bank for 69 years. “It’s not just the ANZ that’s turning their back on Garfield, but it’s all the other towns around us, too,” Mr Reid said. “It makes it very easy for us to bank with the Bendigo Bank.”

Mr Reid and the group said they thought the ANZ had an obligation to the district to stay open.

“We want to encourage people to come to the town, when people do their banking it’s more likely they’ll pop into the pharmacy or grab a coffee,” he said. “Garfield is not a dying town, its worth keeping open and we think the bank should see the bigger picture.”

Cardinia Shire councillor Graeme Moore also attended the meeting, and said he too was a customer.

“Without having a branch in the town means the older citizens of Garfield who were able to walk or get in the car and drive a short distance to do their banking will now be stuck,” he said. “It’s not progressive, they haven’t looked at the growth of the area and how it will grow in the future.

“Without a bank, it turns away businesses that might look at moving here – then once again we become isolated again, like a desolate island.”

Spokeswoman for ANZ Ingrid Nugent said the bank was currently looking for a new ATM location in Garfield that will be available to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “We had a detailed look at our operation in the area and the number of customers using the branch has, unfortunately, fallen quite dramatically over the years,” Ms Nugent said. “As a result, we have decided to centralise all our banking for the community to a larger branch that offers a range of services including investments, transaction accounts, financial planning, insurances, as well as home and investment loans.” In the meantime, the ANZ will continue to provide an ATM service in Garfield at the current location inside the Garfield Newsagency.

(24) Cora Lynn Bank - opening - The Argus, January 31, 1911, see here; Closure date -  from my parents.

Garfield Rifle club and other local Rifle clubs

The first Rifle Club was established in Victoria as early as 1860 and two years later the Club was holding inter-colonial matches against New South Wales. In 1876, an Australian Rifle Team officially represented Australia overseas, at competitions in Britain and the United States. This was the first team to represent Australia in any sport overseas.

Local Gun Clubs were established from 1891 when a mounted rifle corp was established in Cranbourne. The rifle range at Cranbourne opened in 1894. The Tooradin Rifle Club was established around 1900 and had a rifle range at what is now Rutter Reserve. This club eventually closed, date unknown. In January 1907, the Garfield Rifle Club was formed  - more on this below. A Lang Lang Gun Club was also established in 1907, in the April. The Lang Lang Guardian reported on their first Club activity which was held on May 15, 1907. A pipe, valued at less than £1, was a prize. That was a fairly substantial prize, as around this time the average weekly earnings of clothing factory workers was 1 pound, 2 shillings and for workers in a boot making factory it was 1 pound, 8 shillings. The Tooradin/Koo-Wee-Rup Rifle Club operated from June 1930 until October 1934. A report in the Koo-Wee-Rup Sun of June 12, 1930 reported that the Club had over 130 members.

The Lang Lang Guardian reported that the Garfield Rifle Club was established on Thursday, January 17 1907. The Club was formed with 36 members, with Frederick Edis, a farmer, appointed Secretary. George Ellis, who chaired the meeting, owned the Iona Hotel, where the meeting was held. James Shreive, a farmer of Garfield, moved the motion that the Club be established. That’s all I know about the Club, however Denise Nest, in her book Call of the Bunyip: a history of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk, says that a Bunyip and Garfield Rifle Club was established on March 3, 1900, with E.C Hill as the Chairman (most likely Edward Hill, a farmer of Bunyip South); Captain A’Beckett as the Secretary (William Heywood A’Beckett, farmer of Bunyip) and a Committee consisting of ‘Messrs Archer, Kraft, Campigli, McMenamin and Roffey with 35 other intending members’. These men are George Archer, a storekeeper of Garfield; William George Kraft, owner of the Gippsland Hotel (Top Pub) at Bunyip; James Campigli, was the Station Master at Bunyip from February 1901 to May 1904 but the family had been in Bunyip earlier than that as his son, Donald, was born there in 1896; David McMenamin and John Roffey were both farmers from Bunyip.

Mrs Nest says that the Bunyip and Garfield Rifle Club established a rifle range ‘between Garfield and Bunyip on a closed and unused road with a hill at one end of it’. The book goes onto say that the first social function was held October 1901 and £2 was raised to purchase a Martini-Enfield rifle, which became a trophy for the club. The club was still operating in 1919 but disbanded a few years later. The late Bill Parish, who spent many years researching and writing about the history of Garfield (his papers are now held by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society) wrote that there was a Rifle Range at Garfield ‘which started on Garfield Road opposite the old State School site extending 1,000 yards to the east across the now Jefferson road’.

Working on the premise that all this information is correct, was there a breakaway group from the Bunyip and Garfield Rifle Club which formed a rival gun club at Garfield in January 1907? Certainly the descriptions of the Rifle ranges seem to indicate that there were two different Ranges. The only other mention I can find (in The Argus) of the Garfield Rifle Club was that in November 1915 it needed to spend £20 in order to put the Range in proper order, however in the same year The Argus reported at least three times on events at the Bunyip Rifle Club, including a report in August about the Bunyip Club having the most successful year in its career. At the time the Club had a credit balance of £22. Apparently before Federation, Rifle clubs were civilian organisations but between 1901 and 1921 they came under Army control. There is a list of grants given to Rifle Clubs in The Argus of December 27, 1907. Each club was granted five shillings for each ‘rifleman qualified as efficient in the musketry course’. Bunyip had 35 members who qualified and so received a grant of 8 pounds 15 shillings. Garfield did not receive any grants.

Other local Rifle Clubs included Nar Nar Goon which was established in 1901.  The article about the grants to rifle clubs also listed clubs at Drouin, Buln Buln and Warragul. It does seem amazing that both Bunyip and Garfield could support a Rifle Club; however in September 1916 Rifle Clubs throughout Australia had 104,184 members of whom at the time 14,499 had enlisted for active service. This meant that around five percent of the total male population of Australia belonged to a Rifle Club, so it was obviously a popular, and during World War One, a patriotic past time. In 1939, Victoria had 313 Rifle Clubs with over 12,200 members, but by then it appears that both the Garfield and Bunyip clubs had disbanded.

The Rouse family buys a car

The first car ever purchased by the Rouse family of Murray Road, Cora Lynn was an Austin A40 ute from Brenchley’s garage in Garfield. This was in 1948. It was dark blue with black guards. Previous to this, the family travelled in a jinker pulled by the ‘white horse’, apparently the only name the animal ever had, or else rode their bikes.  Part of the deal of buying the car was that Mrs Brenchley had to teach nineteen year old Dorothy and seventeen year old Jim how to drive. Frank, who was fifteen, taught himself to drive. Jim could get his licence at seventeen, but by the time Frank was that age, the law had changed so he had to wait until he was eighteen before he could get his licence in December 1951. However, the lack of a licence did not seem to be an obstacle to driving as he used to drive his parents, Joe and Eva, to the Dandenong market where they sold eggs, chooks and calves (all carried on the ute). He also used to drive his eldest sister, Nancy, out to Pakenham Upper on a Monday morning, when she was teaching at the school and pick her up on the Friday afternoon and bring her home.


According to Dad (Frank) the Rouse family were about the last in the area to get a car.  At the time neighbours, Joe and Stella Storey, had a 1930s 4 cylinder Dodge (we think)  with a cloth top; Bill and Rubina Vanstone had an American car, most likely a pre war De Soto, with a gas producer on the back. Dan McMillan had big Ford; Mrs King, who lived on Sinclair Road (as the northern part of Bennett Road used to be known) had a Standard. Dad’s uncle, Frank Weatherhead, who lived on Pitt Road, had an Armstrong Siddley and a 1920s Chev truck. Other cars that Dad remembers from his early years included Norman Kinsella’s 1938 Chev and Mrs Rita Simcock’s late 1940s Chev that she used to deliver the papers and the mail.  She later purchased a VW Beetle to do the mail run.

This ad is  from the Koo-Wee-Rup Sun of January 15, 1950.

Cora Lynn Telephone Exchange

From the Koo-Wee-Rup Sun of June 16, 1954 comes this report about the extended opening hours of the Cora Lynn telephone exchange. No doubt some young people would be surprised to know that you can exist without 24 hours access to phones.

A festival in Koo Wee Rup to celebrate the Coronation in June 1953

These are photographs from the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society collection and show the street parade, which took place on June 2, 1953 to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth.  

The programme for the day

Koo Wee Rup Sun, May 27 1953, p. 4

This is the intersection of Station Street and Rossiter Road. The Railway Station is on the left, you can see the elevated water tanks. The float is the Koo Wee Rup Building Trades, with the men all busily engaged on a fowl house converted into a would-be modern villa .

Looking west down Station Street, from its intersection with Rossiter Road. The band is the Coburg Ladies Pipe Band.  You can see the Union Jack flags on the parked cars. 

Rossiter Road - Phil Colvin is on the penny farthing bicycle. This must be taken from the Wattle Theatre.

The Koo Wee Rup Sun of June 3, 1953 reported on the day, and I have transcribed it below.

The Coronation Day celebrations

Koo Wee Rup Sun, June 3 1953 p 1

Kooweerup Goes Gay. 

Its Biggest Day In History

On Tuesday Kooweerup gaily celebrated Coronation Day under beautiful calm weather conditions, all were of the opinion that it was the most spectacular event ever witnesses in the tonwnship. With only one exception, all business houses, including Government and private offices (33 in all), had their premises gaily decorated with Union Jacks and Australian flags, red, white and blue streamers, with photos of the Queen, H.R.H, the Duke of Edinburgh and members of the Royal family prominently displayed. The houses of many residents were also bedecked with flags.

The Day’s Activities
At 9.30 a.m. a special Mass for England and the Queen was conducted b the Rev. Father J. Opie at St. John’s Church before an overflowing congregation.

At 11.00 a.m 16 members of the Coburg Ladies Pipe Band, with Mrs Amy Parsons as drum major arrived. At noon the ladies’ committee entertained the band at a very nice luncheon in the Memorial Hall, the supper room being well decorated with flags and bunting.

At 1 p.m an impressive civic Coronation service was held in the Wattle Theatre, where a very large congregation assembled, the number being 550. Members of the pipe band also attended. The stage was beautifully decorated with flowers, gum tips and photos of the Queen and Royal family. Mr W. Hubbard officiated as organist and Cr. L.J. Cochrane, M.L.A., as chairman. The latter warmly welcomed all present on such an auspicious occasion. It being the Queen’s Coronation Day, he said, they had gathered together to dedicate themselves to serve her and join with all her other loyal subjects throughout the Empire in wishing her a long, happy and peaceful reign. Following the singing of the National Anthem, the service took the form issued by the British Council of Churches, with the approval of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and Assemblies of Free Churches. The clergymen taking past were the Rev. M.F. Green (Anglican), M.S. Campbell (Presbyterian), and Pastor V. C. Jones (Methodist).

Following the service, the band assembled outside the theatre and played and marched to the local hospital, where they rendered several items for the benefit of the inmates prior to heading a procession which started from the corner of John and Station street and proceeded up Station street to Rossiter’s road, thence up Rossiter’s road to the Recreation Reserve via Denham’s road, the streets being lined with people and cars enroute. The procession included no less than 14 gaily decorated floats, and also a dozen decorated bicycles, three prams, one child’s turnout on wheels, and not forgetting an old penny farthing cycle ridden by Phil Colvin bedecked in a brightly coloured red, white and blue vest, long-tailed black flogger, black hat and black and red socks and disguised by an extra long flowing back moustache.

Another attractive and amusing entry was that staged by the local cricket club, comprising four men on bicycles, two on each side, bearing a miniature cricket pitch and attired in pyjama coats and white pants. The procession was ably marshalled by Mr. L.C. Walker, and the following floats took part:- Kooweerup Fire Brigade, conveying members in uniform, reel and fire-fighting equipment. Kooweerup branch, I.O.O.F., with its motto, Friendship, Love and Truth, vividly displayed. Bayles Dairy Co and V.D.A., with coloured streamers and various manufactured dairy products. Westernport Memorial Hospital, displaying a plan of a typical Trusteel hospital. Church of England Fellowship in red, white and blue streamers, with its motto, Endaevour, Courage and Faith. Kooweerup Sub-branch R.S.L., with a uniformed soldier, sailor and airman appearing behind a 6ft. high wooden carved league badge. The brightly shined war medals on the soldier (Cec Donnelly) were most dazzling. Holden car drawn by an Holden utility. Kooweerup Anglers’ Club and Buffaloes Club, conveying a 14 ft. fishing boat, with Sailorman Bill Myall standing ready to board same. Kooweerup Building Trades, the representatives being Messrs S.L. Cochrane (carpenter), A.E. McKay (electrician), E. Wealands (plumber); all busily engaged on a fowl house converted into a would-be modern villa. Dalmore Progress Association, bearing a monster crown and conveying a queen and four young ladies in waiting dressed in white. The float was completely covered in red, white and blue streamers and the Australian flag. Kooweerup Boy Scouts, Cubs and Cub Mistresses, with a big membership seated at a camp surrounded by gum trees. Kooweerup Mothers’ Club, nicely decorated with numerous autumn toned paper flowers and streamers and conveying a brightly gilded crown. The mottos We Serve the Queen and We Serve the Children were neatly woven in the coloured paper rosettes. Kooweerup Basketball Club, with black and white bunting and playing equipment . Presbyterian Sunday School portraying a wedding with a large congregation. The officiating minister being John Laurence; bride Heather Harris; groom Billy Jeffrey; best man Robert Marshall; bridesmaid Christine Laidlaw. No more solemn and serious looking parson could be located within the Empire. A couple of privately decorated cars also joined in the procession.

Arriving at the Recreation Reserve, the encircling fence of which had been decorated with gum tree limbs by embers of the cricket club, the procession paraded around the arena for the benefit of the judges (Mesdames W. Plowright and Fordham, of Melbourne). Afternoon tea was in the hands of the Kooweerup Football Club Ladies’ Committee, and they with the publican’s booth recorded good business. The pipe band again rendered much appreciated items. So numerous were the cars that they were parked right around the arena. In a tarpaulin collection the nice sum of £39/2/2 was collected in aid of the local hospital.  In a football match, married v. single, Phil Colvin officiated as umpire, but what rules he adjudicated under no one knew, and as there were neither goal umpires or time keepers the result of the game was unobtainable. Fortunately there was only one casualty, viz., that of the oldest Kooweerup footballer, Jim Shelton, who had to leave the field owing to a dickey leg or cold striking a bald top patch!

Prize Winners were as follow:- Child’s decorated bicycle: Robert Dusting. Juvenile turnout: Peter Cougle and Dianne Crameri 1, Peter and Annette Gane 2: consolation, cricket club; honorary mention P. Colvin. Decorated float: Dalmore Progress Association 1, Kooweerup Mothers’Club 2, Kooweerup Hospital and Kooweerup Builders (equal) 3, Kooweerup R,S,L honorary mention. The prizes were presented to the successful competitors by Cr. L.J. Cochrane, M.L.A.

At 5.45 p.m. the pipe band partook of a sumptous tea in the hall, and at 7 p.m nicely played and perfectly marched to the Railway Reserve, followed by an enormous band of juveniles. Rossiter’s road and Station street were brightly lighted, also the various business premises, and thousands of people had already gathered to witness same. By 8 p.m. cars were parked bumper to bumper along each side of Rossiter’s road from the hall to Sybella avenue and down Station street as far as the Royal Hotel.

At 7.30 p.m. a large bonfire erected on the reserve, comprising logs of wood, ti-tree, motor tyres etc. was set alight. Being a frosty night, this was greatly appreciated. Costly fireworks, similar to those exploded at St Kilda the previous Saturday night, brilliantly illuminated the sky and could be seen for many miles away. Music and dancing by the pipe band, were again greatly appreciated up to its departure at 8 p.m. Square dancing was held in Grosby’s vacated factory, which had been especially lighted and powered by the local S.E.C gang. The caller was Mr Phil Colvin. Butcher the Butcher and his assistant underwent a strenuous ordeal in dealing out frankfurts on a 6ft. griller at 3d. a piece, and the Boy Scouts done a thriving business in disposing of hot dogs at 6d. each.

Mr S.L. Cochrane as secretary of a hard working committee comprising ladies and gents is to be congratulated on his untiring effort. 

Thus ended at a late hour the biggest gala day ever held in the Cranbourne Shire.

Garfield Picture Theatre

The Garfield Picture Theatre opened with a Grand Ball on Monday, December 22 1924. An advertisement in the Pakenham Gazette advertised the ball (see left), which was free to all and it also advertised Pictures every Saturday night and dancing every Friday night. One of the first films shown was Where the North Begins, a Rin Tin Tin movie. (1)

The Argus of December 30, 1924 reported on the opening –
The Garfield Picture Theatre was opened on Monday night. lt is one of the finest theatres outside the suburban area, and cost Mr. M. O'Donohue more than £5,000 to erect. In addition an electric-lighting plant, costing £1,000, has been installed. Mr. Meagher, of Collins street, was the architect, and the builders were Messrs. Rose and Wales, of Melbourne. The opening ceremony was performed by Councillor Dowd, and short addresses were delivered by Messrs. H. Coombs, H. Gardner, R. James, and H. Hourigan. Councillor P. Walsh occupied the chair. Mr. O'Donohue afterwards entertained about 700 guests, who enjoyed dancing and supper. The theatre will seat about 800 people. (2)

The Garfield Picture Theatre was one of the many cinemas constructed during the Australia wide boom in cinema building in the 1920s. In December 1925, The Argus could report the following interesting statistics regarding cinemas in Victoria -
Including the new theatres there are now 87 picture theatres in the suburbs. In the country the number is 242 of which 45 are of modern construction. In addition there are 170 touring shows, this including public halls and small places where pictures are exhibited only occasionally. There is scarcely a village without some sort of picture entertainment and the number is constantly being added to. As far as the suburbs are concerned a warning note has become necessary. Many are already fully supplied; some suburbs already count three or four cinemas, and in such cases there should be strict investigation before adding to their number.....The cinema attendances on an ordinary Saturday in the city including those at the continuous shows number approximately 32,000 while the 87 suburban cinemas, whose holding capacity is approximately (including afternoon exhibitions) 120,000 are all generally crowded. At a conservative estimate the Saturday and holiday attendances, under favourable climatic conditions number 150,000. (3)

The Garfield Picture Theatre

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society 

The Garfield theatre was built by Martin O’Donohue. It had a power house at the rear and a 230 volt generator (4) and was thus the first source of electricity in Garfield. This was an interesting situation and in January 1925 the Shire of Berwick received a letter from Martin O’Donohue asking for particulars of size of poles required for street lighting. (5) The Theatre supplied Garfield with power until SEC power arrived in conjunction with the power supplied to the Tynong Quarry, towards the end of 1929. (6)

As recorded in the Shire of Berwick Rate Books of 1924/25, Martin O’Donohue, whose occupation was listed as Hotel keeper, jointly paid the rates on the Garfield Hotel with Margaret and Daniel O’Donohue. Thomas O’Donohue was listed as owning the Hotel. Martin also owned sale yards and the Picture Theatre. Martin and Margaret also owned two other Garfield lots. Eileen O’Donohue paid rates on a Garage, owned by Thomas. Thomas also owned a saddlers shop, a confectionary shop, two lots in the Tynong township and 155 acres. I am unsure how all these O’Donohues are related, however I believe Martin and Thomas were brothers. A later source connects Martin O’Donohue to the Club Hotel at Warragul, and by all accounts they were an entrepreneurial family. (7)

J.Taylor initially leased the theatre from Martin O’Donohue. In February, 1925 the magazine Everyones: the Motion Picture Authority reported that   

Mr. Taylor, the proprietor of the new show at Garfield, was also a visitor to see us last week. Mr. Taylor informed us  that business was fair. Fox and  Universal were screened. A Hahn-Goerz projector and two Universal sets were giving excellent results. (8) 

In 1929, Mr Tomlinson took over the lease, and this was also reported on in  Everyones, whose edition of August 21, 1929 had this colourful report -

Garfield, where it rains every second day in the winter, and potatoes grow in abundance in the spring, is now controlled by Mr. Tomlinson, of Lang Lang, as far as picture interests are concerned. For some years Mr. Tomlinson has run successfully at Lang Lang, and the Garfield proposition has only recently been acquired. Quite a number of exhibitors have had a lease of the cosy little Garfield Theatre, but none have come out very successfully. The theatre is a bit ahead of the town, where the population diminishes to a mere 300 souls in the winter and increases a bit in the potato season. However, with a careful showman like Mr. Tomlinson, income should exceed the expenses nicely. (9)

Garfield Picture Theatre, March 1932

Image: Museums Victoria https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/770388

The Shire of Berwick Rate Books indicate that in 1931 the theatre was sold to Walter Anderson Lawson and Roy Everard Ross of Warragul. They closed the theatre for two weeks in March 1932 to install new sound equipment, renovate and redecorate. In April 1932, Everyones magazine could report that R. E. Ross and W. E. Lawson opened up very successfully with their new enterprise at Garfield. Their theatre is equipped with Raycophone, and results are said to be very satisfactory. They sold it to James Murphy in 1953. Mr Murphy owned the theatre until it closed in the early 1960s. (10)

Theatre reopens after renovations.

Koo Wee Rup Sun, March 17, 1932, p.4.

An article by Gerry Kennedy in Cinema Record, Volume 1, January 1994 (the newsletter of CATHS, the Cinema and Theatre Historical Society www.caths.org .au) has some technical details about the theatre - the bio box was built above the entrance vestibule. To the left of the bio box was the rectifier room and, to the right, the winding room, both with ports to the auditorium. Apparently when the theatre was constructed there was no ceiling which interfered with sound quality and caneite panels were fitted to the walls in the 1950s to improve the sound. A 30 foot wide cinemascope screen was installed and the theatre was equipped with R.C.A Star Projectors. Kennedy also writes that the Garfield Theatre re-opened at weekends from 1970 to 1971 and was operated by Dennis Grigg. (11)

Garfield Picture Theatre, late 1970s/early 1980s.

Shire of Pakenham photographer

In the 1980s the Theatre was used as a second-hand furniture and antiques shop. In 2016, after many years of renovations, it was opened as an entertainment venue by the current owners, Fred and Susan Perez. The Theatre today, can honestly be described as the hub of entertainment for the area. (12)

Two other Picture Theatres were also built in the 1920s in the area. The Wattle Theatre at Koo Wee Rup opened with a grand ball in July 1927 and King’s Picture Theatre at Pakenham opened on September 7, 1927. However even earlier, local residents had been able to view movies at the Pakenham Mechanics’ Institute. Harrington’s Electra Pictures had been shown at the Garfield Hall and Colvin’s Pictures began weekly screenings in September 1922 at the Memorial Hall in Koo Wee Rup. (13)

Of the three purpose built theatres the Garfield Theatre was by far the most substantial building being constructed of brick. Koo Wee Rup has external walls of corrugated iron and Pakenham (which was located roughly opposite the Uniting Church in Main Street and demolished in the 1990s) was made of asbestos cement sheet. Apart from these venues, films were shown at Tynong - there is still a bio box or projection room, which is currently inaccessible, at the Hall. They were also shown at the Bunyip Hall and when the original 1906 Hall was burnt down in March 1940, a ‘picture plant’ was also destroyed. (14)

Garfield Picture Theatre was a great source of entertainment for not only Garfield locals but those further afield. As noted by David Mickle in his book More Mickle Memories of Koo-Wee-Rup the Garfield, Pakenham and Koo Wee Rup theatres were in keen competition to provide Saturday night entertainment (15) and issues of the Koo Wee Rup Sun in the late 1930s have advertisements for the three theatres. Mr Mickle also wrote that the ‘talkies’ had arrived at the Garfield Picture Theatre by May 1931, a few months earlier than Koo Wee Rup (16)

Koo Wee Rup Sun, July 6, 1939, p.1

My father, Frank Rouse (1933-2020), remembers that at its peak, the Garfield Picture Theatre had shows on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturday nights. Simcock’s Bedford bus used to travel out to Murray Road, Cora Lynn and surrounding areas on a Saturday night and pick up theatre goers and return them after the show. There was always a rush to get served at Simcock’s milk bar during the intermission. 

Footnotes

(1) First film shown was listed in Bill Parish's notes on the history of Garfield, held by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.

(2) The Argus, December 30, 1924, see here.

(3) The Argus, December 17, 1925, see here.

(4) Bill Parish's notes on the history of Garfield, held by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.

(5) Pakenham Gazette, January 16, 1925, p. 3

(6) I have discussed this in my post on the history of Tynong - https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2023/02/tynong-short-history.html

(7) Martin O'Donohue - died in May 1941. His family had a long connection to Buckhurst Street in South Melbourne. A short obituary in the Emerald Hill Record, of May 31, 1941, here; His daughter Annie, married Bart Kavanagh of Garfield, her short obituary is in the Emerald Hill Record on November 7, 1942, here; Reference to the Club Hotel in Warragul, Gippsland Times, June 1, 1939, see here. I will do more research into the family one day.

(8) I don't have any other information about Mr J. Taylor. Everyones: the Motion Picture Authority, February 18, 1925, p. 10 on Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-558649466

(9) Everyones: the Motion Picture Authority of August 21, 1929, p. 46 on Trove- http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-566229515

(10) Koo Wee Rup Sun, March 17, 1932, p.4; Everyones: The Motion Picture Authority,  April 6, 1932, p. 20 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-546318882; Cinema Record, Issue 1, January 1994, published by the Cinema and Theatre Historical Society. 

(11) Kennedy, Gerry The Garfield Picture Theatre in Cinema Record, Issue 1, January 1994, published by the Cinema and Theatre Historical Society. 

(12) https://www.garfieldpicturetheatre.com.au/

(13) Various advertisements in the Koo Wee Rup Sun; Cardinia Shire Heritage Study, volume 3: Heritage Places by Graeme Butler & Associates (Cardinia Shire, 1996), pp 229-231.

(14) Cardinia Shire Heritage Study, volume 3: Heritage Places by Graeme Butler & Associates (Cardinia Shire, 1996), pp 229-231; https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2023/02/tynong-mechanics-institute.html; Nest, Denise Bunyip Mechanics' Institute Hall 1906-2009 (The Author, 2006)

(15) Mickle, David More Mickle Memories of Koo Wee Rup (The Author, 1982), p. 159

(16) Ibid, p. 55 & 56

I first wrote this post in 2014, but substantially updated it in October 2024.

100 years ago this week - Gay life at Garfield

100 years ago this week - from the Bunyip Free Press of February 14 1914 comes the following report. The headline indicates how the meaning of word gay has changed over the years. 

Gay Life at Garfield.

Two Men and a Woman.

On Saturday the Bunyip police got word that two men and a woman of the nomad travelling class, all under the influence of liquor, were behaving in a disgraceful manner in Garfield township. Constables Anstee and Phillips proceeded to Garfield, and a short investigation convinced them that the report was only too true. They arrested John Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, and A. Moss. Two vehicles were chartered, and the unsavoury cargo was landed in the Bunyip look-up. On Monday the trio were brought before Mr. C. Pearson, J.P., when the two men were each fined £5, in default one month in gaol; while the "wife" was fined £2, or a fortnight imprisonment. None of the fines were paid, and Constables Anstee and Phillips escorted the trio to his Majesty's hominy factory in Melbourne.

 I had never come across the term hominy factory before; it means prison as apparently hominy is a slang word for prison food; hominy being a thin gruel or porridge made from cornmeal.

Gay life at Garfield

Bunyip Free Press, February 14, 1914, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129628335

100 years ago this week - British Association Football

100 years ago this week - on February 4 1914, the Lang Lang Guardian published this article about forming a league for British Association Football or 'soccer'.  Mr Frank Garwood of Modella wanted to start the League which would cover the area between the two Railway lines - Koo-Wee-Rup to Lang Lang and Garfield to Longwarry.  There was already at least one team practically formed at Modella. Mr Garwood urged anyone interested in playing the English soccer game (NOT rugby) to contact him. 

I have no idea how it went, but I suspect that it was not successful.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

In February 1914 Frank Garwood was appointed the Secretary of the Modella Cricket Club and at the Presentation night on April 15, 1914 he came second in the batting averages. I don't know anything else about him.

100 years ago this week - Yallock Methodist Sunday School Picnic

100 years ago this week, on January 23 1914 the Yallock Methodist Sunday School held their picnic on the Yallock Creek. Mr Reiter provided music from his dulciphone - which I believe is a sort of gramophone and there was a freezer containing ice cream - no doubt appreciated as the heat was rather severe. 

Lang Lang Guardian January 28, 1914, page 3.

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

Yallock Methodist Church being moved to Koo-Wee-Rup, 1932

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

The Methodist Home Mission Station was opened in Yallock in 1907, with the hall being used for services. The Yallock Methodist Church was opened in 1909, built by Thomas Pretty. In August 1932, it was moved from Yallock to Rossiter Road, Koo-Wee-Rup and used by the Methodists and later the Uniting Church. In 1978 this building was moved to a camp in Grantville and a wooden church, the Narre Warren East Uniting Church, was relocated to the site, it was given a brick veneer and a new hall added and opened on February, 3 1980.

A tramway through the Swamp June 1893

An early account of life on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp from  page three of the Warragul Guardian and Buln Buln and Narracan Shire Advocate from  June 23, 1893, see here. I have transcribed the article.

Those of the unemployed who were sent to work at Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp by the Public Works department some time ago, and who have since obtained 20-acre blocks fronting the Main Drain from the  Lands Department, with the view of cultivating  them and making homes for themselves and their families there, are showing a praiseworthy desire to assist themselves. Each alternate week they devote towards clearing the ti-tree off their blocks, and now they have entered into an arrangement with the Public Works department to construct a tram way from Koo-Wee-Rup Station, on the Great Southern Railway, along the Main Drain to Bunyip Station, on the Gippsland line, a distance of 15 miles. They have formed themselves into a co-operative company, and each man on the settlement is to give one day's work free towards constructing the tramway.

They have also agreed to give a shilling a month for six months towards the purchase of the rails, which are to be supplied by the Government, and each man undertakes to go into the bush and cut 50 sleepers without making any charge. The gauge of the tramway will be 2ft. 8in., and it will be worked by horses. The spongy nature of the country precludes the formation of good roads, and hence the necessity for the tramway. As soon as it is finished they will work it and charge freights according to distance. The Government intend giving the men every encouragement, and an expert in horticulture from the Agricultural Department will shortly visit the settlement and give the men instructions how to plant fruit trees, &c., on their holdings.

Official visit to Koo-Wee-Rup December 1893

This is an interesting account of the early days of Koo Wee Rup Swamp settlement from page six of  The Argus of December 22, 1893, see here. I have transcribed the article.

The Minister of Public Works, Mr Webb, paid his first official visit yesterday to the drainage works and village settlement in connection with the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp. He was accompanied by Mr Methven and Mr Winter M.L.A’s; Mr Davidson, Inspector General of Public Works and Mr Catani, the engineer in charge of the drainage works. At the Bunyip end of the Main Drain the prospects of the Village Settlers seem very good, the land being exceptionally rich, though heavily timbered. Very good progress has, in some cases, been made with gardens, and the Government experimental plot, though the results are those of  a few months’ work only, forms a very useful object lesson to those not familiar with the cultivation of the soil. All the fodder grasses as well as Lucerne, maize, mangels [a type of beet, related to silverbeet and beetroot], flax, hemp, beet and vegetables of many varieties were growing splendidly, though the land, cropped for the first time has hardly lost its sourness. Early potatoes especially give a splendid crop. 

There can be no doubt as to the value of this Bunyip land eventually, but the clearing is heavy work, and though there is an impression in Parliament at one time that 20 acres was too large a block here, a visit to the spot shows that by the time the land has been brought into proper cultivation the new home will be well earned. A wooden tram has been laid down for the carriage of goods and this worked on co-operative principles, has already paid a dividend. There were a great many children running about idle in the settlement and the school, for which residents are still pressing, is badly needed. 

The principle of a fortnight’s work on the Swamp and a fortnight on their own land works admirably and a vast improvement is manifest since May, when the first settlers were just building their huts and not a tree had been cut. The Department consider that they will be able to provide work on those lines for the next tree years and by that time the settlers at the Bunyip end at any rate will be in a position to get a profit from their blocks.

Travelling down towards Koo-Wee-Rup the land is not nearly so good. The clay is at too great a depth and the surface is soft and peaty, so that now, even in dry weather a horse cannot leave the beaten track or he is at once bogged in the soft soil. The Minister and members saw for the first time a sled for dragging up scrub by the roots at work, but though it has achieved good results on sounder land, the soil was too soft here for a team of 18 bullocks to do much good. It would appear as though the cost of clearing here and getting land ready for grass even has been somewhat under-estimated. The bullocks in this case were, however, new to the work, and much more better results are obtained when they become accustomed to sinking in the treacherous soil. Most of the ti-tree has been burned off, but the thick network of roots and short stumps remain, making it almost impassable. Most of the settlers at the Koo-Wee-Rup end of the drain are making gardens, but the results are not quite so good as at the other end, through the land apparently being more sour. 

The first steps towards building a second school here are being taken. By-and-by a tramway will run the whole length of the Main Drain from Bunyip to Koo-Wee-Rup, but at present there is a gap of several miles in the middle of it. Mr Webb was not at all impressed with this end of the Swamp and to anyone acquainted with the difficulties of clearing scrub lands; it was obvious that with hand labour only it is a slow and toilsome task. The Minister was inclined to think that the same amount of work given to the founding of a home in the northern irrigable lands would give a better result in quicker time. All, or nearly all, the men settled in the Swamp at present are married men with large families, who prior to coming here were barely able to keep body and soul together.