Garfield Racing Club

In December 1901 it was reported that - A meeting of the Garfield  Progressive Association was held this week to consider the advisability of holding a race meeting here. It was decided to hold a meeting on the recreation ground, which is now being cleared and fenced. (1)  

In February 1902, there was an update on the race meeting -

Ever since it was decided to form a race club at Garfield the residents of that district from near and far have met on Saturday afternoons and by steady work have transformed the old reserve into something like a decent place. The reserve consists of some 15 acres close to the station and adjoining  the residence of Mr W. Ritchie. The situation is all that could be desired for the purpose and when the work is thoroughly finished it will be found that the course is one of the finest this side of the metropolis. The racing track will be 1 mile 3 furlongs long and this has been achieved by permission of a couple of landholders who have given the club the right to use the necessary additional ground. A grand stand and the usual appurtenances are to be erected and it is anticipated that the opening meeting of the club on March 12 will see the course in complete order. (2)

The Race Committee consisted of:  President - Joseph Henry Walker; Vice President and Chairman of Stewards - Charles Pitt; Stewards - Messrs John Daly (the Garfield school teacher), J.T Kelly, Donald, Pitt, Fitzpatrick, William Ritchie and Captain A’Beckett;  Clerk of Course - Mr. Shandley; Starter - Mr. Pitt; Judge - Mr. Walker; Saddle cloth steward - Thomas Hegney; Clerk of scales - Mr. Archer; Weigher – Mr. S. Walker; Pony measurer -  Mr. Fitzpatrick; Handicapper - Mr. Smith and  the Hon. Surgeon was  Dr Cowen. (3)

Garfield Weights for the first race meeting

The Argus March 7, 1902 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9630905

The first race meeting was held on Wednesday, March 12 1902 and it was very successful -

The opening meeting of this recently formed club was held on the course near the railway station yesterday, and considering the strong counter attractions in the Cranbourne races and the Warragul Show, was a great success. The day was a good one for the sport and the several events provided some good racing and finishes. The committee of the club were indefatigable in their efforts to provide comfort for their patrons and a great amount of praise is certainly due to the secretary, Mr Smith, for the manner in which the meeting resulted. (4)

The results at this first race meeting were: Handicap Trial Stakes over five furlongs - first Iolanthe, second Premier and third Fly; Handicap Novelty Pony race over four furlongs -  Zoe, Palos then Woodbine; Garfield Handicap over 1¼ mile - Nemesis, second Millman (late Harkaway); Galloway Handicap over five furlongs - Palos, Miss Dive then Fairleigh;  Handicap Flying Stakes over 5¼ furlongs - Iolanthe, Nemesis then Millman; District Maiden Hack race over four furlongs - Patamba, Bung Smith then Honesty. The last race of the day was the Consolation race over four furlongs won by Fairleigh, second Premier with Honesty third. (5)

 
I don’t have a record of the prize money for the first race meeting but the prizes for the November 10 1902 race included 5 sovereigns for the Novice Race, Garfield Handicap, Novelty Pony Race and the Handicap Flying Stakes and 3 sovereigns for the Time Handicap Trot. (6) To give some perspective a sovereign was worth £1 and the average weekly wage of a male factory worker at the time (for a 48 hour week) was around  £2. (7)

The November 1902 race meeting was registered under the Victorian Racing Club Rules. (8). Other Race meetings held included a meeting in November 1903 with over 50 entries, some of them from the very best stables,  and whose appearance will add lustre to what promises to be a brilliant gathering. (9). 

In those early days the horses were transported by rail and in April 1904 the Garfield Club Secretary wrote to The Argus newspaper with the following complaint -

Mr. J.T. Kelly, hon secretary of the Garfield Race Club, writes:- "I desire to bring under your notice the manner in which our race club has been treated by the Railway department. It is a common occurrence for horses to be left behind at railway stations owing to no horse boxes being available. Several horses were left behind between Melbourne and Garfield and a like number from Warragul owing to no horse

boxes being available. It is a great loss to  our country meetings when horses intending to race are left behind by the Railway department. The same loss must also apply to the Railway department. The common cry is "Why don't our railways pay?" The Garfield Club does not stand alone in this matter. Other country clubs are located in the same way. Considering the revenue the Railway department derive from racing people it seems only a fair thing to ask for a little more consideration. (10)

In spite of what sounded like a successful few years in December 1904 it was reported that the Garfield Race Club would be disbanded and was  to reorganise on fresh lines.  (11)  There are very few reports of the Club over the next few years and then in February 1909 there was a report that - A meeting of gentlemen was held at the lona Hotel on Saturday evening last, when it was decided to form a race club. (12). The office bearers of the new Club were -  President - Mr. E.J Hattersley; Vice President - Mr. M.J Walsh; Treasurer - Mr. H.A Hourigan; Secretary - Charles Cail and Stewards were John Daly, Charles Pitt (who was also Starter), M. Walsh, D. Danson, M.Doran  (who was also Clerk of Course); Clerk of scales - Mr. R. McNamara; Starter - Charles Pitt  and Judge was Mr. C. Pearson. (13). 

It would be interesting to know why a new Club was formed in late 1904 and another in 1909 - did people just fall out with each other? Did it go broke and have to start again?  It is hard to know 100 years down the track.

Garfield Race meeting,  March 1909

The Argus, February 24, 1909 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10711226

In any event, the new Garfield Racing Club held a race meeting on March 5,  1909 with a prize of £12 for the one mile Garfield Handicap, £10 for the six furlong Welter Handicap and £6 for the Iona District Handicap over six furlongs (14). 

Special train to the Garfield races

The Argus, March 1, 1910 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10838362

Race meetings were reported up to 1913, including one held in the December of that year when the Garfield Race Club held its spring meeting on Tuesday under delightful weather conditions. There was a large attendance, and the racing was splendid  (15).  There are fewer reports of race meetings during the First World War, although a patriotic race meeting was held on May 6, 1915 - 

but unfortunately the attendance was not so large as anticipated. The president, Mr. T. J. Cryan, and the various officials were energetic in attending to their respective duties, whilst Mr. M. Reidy was thoroughly efficient as hon. secretary. In four out of six events on the programme good fields faced the starter, and three of the races furnished exciting finishes. (16)

After the War, attendances were booming, this is a report of a meeting held in November 1920 - 

The programmes at the Garfield races yesterday was lengthened to such an extent by divisions, rendered necessary by the large number of acceptances in the various events, that the second division of the second last race, and the last race, had to be abandoned, as the special train was timed to leave on the return journey to Melbourne at 5.55 pm. The attendance was large. More than 70 horses and ponies went from Melbourne. (17). 

In 1923 the track was upgraded. In February it was reported that - 

The trustees of the Garfield recreation reserve have leased an adjoining property of 15 acres for three years, with the option of purchase. They have also leased for a term of 21 years an allotment, portion of which they intend to use as a birdcage for race meetings and the remainder as a public park. (18)  In  the October of the same year - Improvements to the race course are approaching completion, and a fine track had been prepared. Over £500 has been spent during the past few months. (19)  Some of the works included - running track has been widened, and agricultural drain pipes have been put down to carry away all surplus water. (20) 

In the 1920s and early 1930s there were regular reports of Pony races at Garfield, especially the St Patrick's Day meeting. This was the report from the 1929 event -

Probably the most successful racing fixture in Gippsland is the Iona St. Patrick's Day meeting, and the celebrations this year are likely to eclipse previous efforts. A pony race meeting will be held at the Garfield racecourse on Saturday, March 16, and other attractions are included. The Warragul Brass Band will be in attendance, and the catering and soft drink booth will be controlled by the usual and practically permanent ladies' committee, who have been canvassing and working hard for the past three weeks. (21)

Garfield wasn’t the only racecourse in the area. Racing at Nar Nar Goon had started in the 1889;  Racecourse Road in the town is  a reminder of the location of the racecourse. Bunyip, Iona, Cora Lynn and Koo Wee Rup also held race meetings.

However, in 1933 the Chief Secretary decided to curtail the number of race meetings in country areas, for the season which was to begin on August 1. Thus on July 10, 1933 he announced that Garfield had its races reduced from two to zero, Bunyip three to zero, Iona one to zero and the same for Cora Lynn and Koo Wee Rup.(22). 

The Age newspaper supported this decision -

Although unable to reduce the number of race meetings in the country below the minimum number allotted in 1929, action taken by the Chief Secretary in allotting the race meetings to be held in the new racing year, which opens on 1st August, will result in the closing of ten racecourses situated within easy distance of Melbourne. The action will be warmly endorsed by all persons, who have a sincere wish to serve the welfare of the sport of horse racing. It has long been recognised in sporting circles, that some of the country courses easily accessible to Melbourne by motor car should be abolished. There is no legitimate need for them. The local attendance is generally very small. The clubs depend mainly on visitors from Melbourne, and as genuine lovers of the sport are otherwise sufficiently catered for the meetings in question have had to depend to a very large extent on the undesirable class of patron from the metropolitan area (23).

Racecourses to be closed

The Age, July 11, 1933 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204370690

So it was all over for Garfield and the other courses close to Melbourne, as this effectively closed these Clubs. A race meeting was held at Pakenham to liquidate the liabilities of the Garfield and Bunyip Clubs in December 1933, and then again over the next few years. Garfield had a debt of £344 and Bunyip of £1133, and both Clubs still had debts in 1936 (24).  

The Nar Nar Goon Race Club survived until 1942; but as they were only allowed one race meeting that year it was not worthwhile continuing.  All  the buildings on the site were sold at auction in November, 1942. (25). 

Trove list

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

Footnotes

(1) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, December 25, 1901, see here. 

(2) West Gippsland Gazette, February 18, 1902, see here. 

(3) Ibid. I found the given names of the men in the Electoral Rolls.

(4) West Gippsland Gazette, March 18, 1902, see here.

(5) Ibid

(6) The Argus, October 29, 1902, see here.

(7) The Tocsin, June 19, 1902, see here.

(8) The Argus, October 29, 1902, see here.

(9) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, November 4, 1903, see here.

(10) The Argus, April 5, 1904, see here.

(11) The Argus, December 7, 1904, see here.

(12) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, February 10, 1909, see here.

(13) Ibid

(14) The Argus, February 27, 1909, see here. 

(15) The Age, December 17, 1913, see here. 

(16) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, May 13, 1915, see here.

(17) The Argus, November 24, 1920, see here.

(18) The Argus, February 27, 1923, see here.

(19) The Age, October 11, 1923, see here.

(20) The Age, January 15, 1925, see here. 

(21) The Advocate, March 14, 1929, see here.  

(22) The Age, July 11, 1933,  see here.

(23) Ibid

(24) Dandenong Journal, November 9, 1933, see here. The Herald, June 23, 1936, see here.

(25) Bairndsale Advertiser, October 27, 1942, see here. Dandenong Journal, November 4, 1942, see here.

100 years ago this week - Railways and Monomeith Railway Station

This appeared in The Argus, on November 26, 1912, 100 years ago this week. It has both a Railway connection (one of my historical interests) and a Swamp connection as Dalmore and  Koo-Wee-Rup were Swamp Stations and Tooradin, Monomeith and Caldermeade were on the edge of the Swamp.

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The Argus,  November 26, 1912 page 10 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

This line is part of the Great Southern line - the line to Dandenong  (part of the Oakleigh to Bunyip section) opened October 8, 1877. Dandenong to Tooradin, with stations at Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde and  Tooradin opened October 1, 1888. Dalmore (originally called Peer’s Lane, then Koo-Wee-Rup West) and Koo-Wee-Rup (originally called Yallock) opened August 19, 1889. Monomeith (originally called Glassock’s), Caldermeade, and Lang Lang (originally called Carrington) opened in February 1890. The line went all the way to Port Albert by 1892.

Patsy Adam-Smith wrote about the Monomeith Railway Station in her book Hear the train blow. Her mother was station mistress and post mistress and her father was a fettler. She wrote that Monomeith had no pub, no shop nothing but us. The Railway Station was also the Post Office. The family lived on a house on the platform and Patsy went to Monomeith School until it closed in 1933 and she then travelled by train to Caldermeade School. The family were at Monomeith during the 1934 flood. This is (partly) what  Patsy wrote about the flood - At home we were perfectly safe because of the house being off the ground up on the platform. On the second day Mum heard on the radio that homeless people were being brought into the Railway station at Koo-Wee-Rup. She walked in to help. Where she walked on the five-foot the swirling waters lapped over her shoes, the ballast had been swept away and the sleepers were held up only because they were fastened to the rails. The whole line in parts was swinging…..Dad and other fettlers brought in scores of people who had been cut off on high ground or in the ceilings of their homes. The water had run over the land so suddenly that most people were taken unawares. The Bush Nursing Hospital was caught this way. The fettlers cut through the roof of that building to take out the patients…… Mum, helping patients out of the boat when it reached Koo-Wee-Rup station found Dad’s coat around an old lady who had only a thin nightdress beneath it.

Sadly, none of the Monomeith railway buildings remain. According to a report in a  Korumburra & District Historical Society newsletter, that we received a few months ago at the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society,  passenger services beyond Dandenong  ceased in June 1981 but goods services continued to operate. In 1992, the goods trains ceased and this is when the line beyond Leongatha was taken up. The passenger service to Leongatha was reinstated on December 9 1984 and continued to run until July 23 1993. The trains now stop at Cranbourne.

100 years ago this week - Motor Club Hotel Cranbourne

100 years ago this advertisement appeared in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of November 21, 1912 for the Motor Club Hotel (more commonly known as Kellys) at Cranbourne. Cranbourne is not really part of the Koo-Wee-Rup, being on the western edge, but it is part of my area of interest, so I will be talking about it in future posts.

J.Taylor respectfully announces that he has purchased the Freehold of the above established hotel and invites a share of public patronage. It is the home of the Commercial traveller, has first class cuisine and meals (second to none) at all hours. There is a Large billiard room with two up-to date tables and all appointments as well as the best stabling in the district, six loose boxes and 16 stalls. The Hotel cab meets all trains.

The site of the Motor Club Hotel has been occupied by a Hotel since  the Mornington Hotel was built around 1860 by Thomas and Elizabeth Gooch. By 1912, at least, it was known as the Motor Club Hotel, which may have been related to the birth of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria in Tooradin or may have reflected the fact that Cranbourne was a popular destination for early motor car excursions. 

The Kelly family, who were also licensees of the Cranbourne Hotel (which was situated where Greg Clydesdale Square in High Street is now located) took over the license of the Motor Club Hotel in June 1919. 

The existing Motor Club Hotel, was built around 1926 - it is pictured above, most likely just after it was built. This picture is from the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society collection. The picture, below, was taken in the 1960s.

Frank and Alf Weatherhead

In honour of Remembrance Day, I am posting photographs of my two Great Uncles who served in the First World War. They are the sons of Horatio and Eleanor Weatherhead and the brothers of my grandma, Eva Rouse.  

This is Frank Thomas Weatherhead (June 8, 1893 - September 9, 1970). Frank enlisted on September 22, 1915; served in France and was discharged on April 13, 1919. When he returned he operated a saw mill at North Tynong and was later on a farm at Vervale and Cora Lynn. He married Alice Burleigh on May 2, 1923 and they had two children John (b. 1924 and died 1925) and Betty, born 1927 who married Alec Glasson.

This is Alfred Herbert Weatherhead (September 20, 1895 - May 3, 1976) . Alf enlisted on February 13, 1915; served mainly in France and was discharged June 29, 1919. Alf suffered from shell shock after the war, operated a saw mill at North Tynong and lived for  a time at Morwell.

Dad has good memories of both Frank and Alf; he saw Frank frequently as they lived close and Alf used to come and stay at Grandmas.

100 years ago this week - Koo-Wee-Rup rains and a Health report

From the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of November 14, 1912. 

Available on Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

This is interesting for a number of reasons - firstly we have had too much rain in the area over the past eighteen months or so and potato farmers especially have suffered. Secondly,I don't believe peas are grown around here any more. Thirdly. the second paragraph is a reminder to us how devastating diseases such as measles and influenza could be before immunisation and antibiotics. For instance, in 1912, the Infant Death rate in Victoria was 74; that is for every 1,000 babies born, 74 would die before they turned one. This was down from 108 in 1902. The rate is now a bit less than five. 

Horatio and Eleanor Weatherhead

I was looking through the South Bourke and Mornington Journal, on Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper and came across this reference to my great Grandfather, Horatio Weatherhead. Horatio had worked with James Lyon in the Wombat State Forest, at Lyonville and then in 1908 Horatio took up the lease, for saw milling purposes, of 2,000 acres at Tynong North. In December 1909 he built a mill at Wild Dog Creek, the east branch of Cannibal Creek.The mill was powered  a Buffalo-Pitts traction engine.  Until 1913, the timber was hauled away by bullock teams every second day - either dispatched to Melbourne from the Tynong Railway station or off-loaded into the Weatherhead timber yard in Tynong.*  No doubt this constant traffic was causing the road's 'terrible condition'.  I am not sure what Horatio's response would have been, I believe he was a 'strong personality' and would have no trouble getting his viewpoint across.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal, February 16, 1911 page 3

Horatio was very inventive and applied for at least two patents. You can access Patent information in the Victorian State Government Gazettte http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/  They have been digitised from 1836 to 1997.

 Victorian Government Gazette May 8, 1891

Victorian Government Gazette August 13, 1890

This is Horatio William Weatherhead, the son of Henry Fortescue Weatherhead and Ellen Ramsdale.  He was born June 28, 1853 at Portland and died October 24, 1925 and is buried at the Bunyip Cemetery. Horatio was said to be 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighed 19 stone.On January 5, 1880 Horatio married Eleanor Hunt, the daughter of Walter Davidson Hunt and Mary Ann Osborne. Eleanor was born at Dennington on February 17, 1856 and died on May 15, 1927. Eleanor is also buried at Bunyip. This is Eleanor, below. I know this photograph really well as Grandma (Eva Rouse) had it above her bed in the house at Cora Lynn.

*The information about the Weatherhead sawmill comes from Settlers and Sawmillers: a history of West Gippsland Tramways and the industries they served by Mike McCarthy. Published by Light Railway Research Society of Australia, 1993.

Swamp wedding

 It is 90 years since my grandparents, Eva Eleanor Weatherhead and Joseph Albert Rouse married at the Methodist Church in Garfield on November 2, 1922. Joe was the eldest son of James and Annie (nee Glover) Rouse. You can read more about his arrival on the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp in my first blog post. Eva was the youngest and and ninth child of Horatio and Eleanor (nee Hunt) Weatherhead of North Tynong. Horatio and his sons came  to North Tynong, from Lyonville, in 1909 where they set up a timber mill. Eva and her mother stayed behind in Lyonville so Eva could finish school and they then moved to Tynong. Eva was Post Mistress at Tynong from late 1919 until she was married three years later.

Joe and Eva lived on the 56 acre farm at Cora Lynn selected in 1903 by James Rouse which they ran as a dairy farm. They had seven children - Nancy, Florence, Dorothy, James, Frank, Daphne and Marion - with six surviving to adulthood. Grandma's passion was her garden, and you can see in the photographs of Evesham, as they called their house, below.

Evesham, soon after it was built, after their marriage, and below, around the mid 1930s.

Life on the farm, Eva and Nancy, taken about 1929. 

Joe with Jim and Frank, taken about 1937.

Joe was born November 9, 1892 at Clydebank (near Sale) and after he died on on September 3,  1954, Grandma run the farm with her children. She was born on August 30, 1901 and she died on February 8, 1982.