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.

What happened in Garfield in 1911

The article I wrote for the first edition of The Spectator looked at what happened in Garfield in 1910, (read it here) and this is the article I wrote for the February 2011 edition of  The Spectator - a look back at Garfield, 100 years ago, in 1911. These references are taken from The Argus, on-line at  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper. There are plenty of reports about the Garfield Races, of which Mr W.Reidy was the Honorary Secretary, so The Argus is a good source of information if you are a race fan.  

There is a report of April 13 in which a bookmaker, Walter Turnbull, was charged with uttering counterfeit sovereigns, at these races on March 31.The case was heard by the Police Court Bench at Bunyip under Police Magistrate Harris and J.P’s Pearson and A’Beckett. The conclusion reached by Magistrate Harris was that there was a grave doubt of feloniously uttering and the accused was discharged. Uttering means putting into circulation counterfeit coins or notes.

The Argus August 2, 1911

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11604720

 Amongst the farming reports in The Argus is a report of June 16 said the Barker Brothers of Garfield sent a consignment of Jonathan apples to Hamburg in Germany and realized an average price of 18 shillings and six pence per case.  On August 2, a report said that in the past six months nearly 6,000 tons of farm produce had been trucked away from the Bunyip, Garfield, Tynong and Nar Nar Goon Railway stations, representing a sum of over £4,000 in freight. Garfield despatched 3,287 tons.  This indicates the significance of rail as a form of transport and the amount of produce grown in the area, which also would have included the Swamp.  

The agricultural wealth of this eastern end of the Shire of Berwick, may have been a factor in the decision, made in 1911, to re-locate the Shire Offices from Berwick to the more central town of Pakenham. The original Shire Offices had been built in 1865 for the Berwick Road Board, on top of the hill at Berwick.  The new Building opened in 1912 and  has since been relocated to the corner of Main Street and the Princes Highway in Pakenham, and is now the home of the Berwick  Pakenham Historical Society.

However, it is the personal stories in The Argus, which I find most interesting.  On October 11, there was a report of a Breach of Promise of Marriage case. Mrs Charlotte Ewen, formerly of Garfield, a widow with a two year old child, was claiming damages of £1,000 against Mr William Park Temby, farmer, of Bunyip for damages of breach of promise. A subsequent report on November 21 said that as part of Mrs Ewen’s damages she was claiming £40 for the cost of her trousseau. Mr Temby, 33, who had a farm of sixty acres, claimed that Mrs Ewen had broken off the engagement because she wanted more than I could give her, the furniture, and a  longer honeymoon than I was prepared to spend.  His financial position had changed due to considerable losses through potatoes with the Irish blight. A witness, Elizabeth Flett of Bunyip, said that that Mrs Ewan had told her she had broken off the engagement as Mr Temby deceived her about his property and that most of it belonged to his mother, she also did not think she would get along Mr Temby’s mother. The jury of six took 45 minutes to make a decision and awarded Mrs Ewen £50 in damages. To put that in perspective, a female factory worker, at the time, had an average annual wage of £70. Was she just a gold digger or was he a heartless cad? Who knows, but as you can no longer sue for breach of promise when an engagement breaks up then these sort of press reports are, unfortunately, a thing of the past.

What happened in Garfield in 1910

I wrote this in 2010 for the Garfield Spectator, I have done one for every year and they are still an interesting snap shot of the town, 100 years on.

One of my favourite sources of historical information is The Argus newspaper. You can search The Argus and many other Australian newspapers on the Trove website. An absolute wealth of information can be found on this website and even though The Argus was a Melbourne newspaper, it had a lot of country coverage.

Here are some of the events which happened in Garfield, one hundred years ago, in 1910, as reported in The Argus.

On March 26, there was a report of a fire in a stack of wheaten hay belonging to Mr J.J. O’Leary. The fire was started by his son who was playing at burning off. The stack contained 50 to 60 tons of hay and was totally destroyed and uninsured.

In April 4, there was an account of an outbreak of typhoid fever amongst the men employed on the railway line. The Shire of Berwick Health Officer, Dr Keogh, said that due to the fact that these men had no sanitary conveniences, the only wonder was that there was not a much greater outbreak of fever.

The Argus March 1, 2010

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10838362

If you are a racing fan there are lots of accounts of the Garfield Horse races, both advertising the races and the race results, such as the one above.

The Argus also had many stories about local residents, so if you have an interest in family history then you may find information about your own ancestors.  For instance, on May 24, there was a report headed Broken leg at 80 and it went on to tell us that Mrs McNab, who was visiting her son, was retiring for the night, when she fell and broke her leg in two places, the sufferer was attended by Dr Withington, who ordered her removal to Melbourne.

An article in September 5 reported on the funeral of Mrs R. Leeson, who for many years conducted the old Pig & Whistle Inn at Cannibal Creek, near Garfield. The deceased who had resided in the same house for over 50 years, was 100 years old.

The Argus November 29, 1910

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10480848

Finally my favourite report for 1910 is this one from November 29. Obviously no-one worried about privacy issues in 1910! If you have an interest in local history or family history, then The Argus is well worth a look.