Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall

Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall were business partners and were prominent land owners in this area  from the 1850s. They controlled over 20,000 acres (about 8,000 hectares) which they called their Western Port Runs and the properties covered the area from around Clyde to Lang Lang.

The information in this post comes from The Good Country: Crambourne Shire by Niel Gunson (Cheshire, 1968); Many a Mickle by Alan D. Mickle (Cheshire, 1953) and the Yallambie blog by Ian McLachlan https://yallambie.wordpress.com/

John Mickle (1814-1885) arrived in Melbourne in 1838. He came from Berwickshire in Scotland, where his family were farmers, and not especially wealthy, but John was ambitious and an astute businessman. He set up as a Stock and Station agent and was later joined by John Bakewell (1807-1888).  Bakewell, from Nottingham in England, had arrived in Victoria in 1840, along with his brother Robert, his sister Phoebe and her husband, Dr Godfrey Howitt, who was a botanist and entomologist.  In 1848, Mickle and Bakewell sold out to Richard Goldsborough who later established the Goldsborough Mort Company which merged with Elders Smith in 1962.

Previous to this, Mickle had built a house in Collingwood, and owned seven acres of land adjoining Chapel Street in Prahran, which was valued at £100 per acre. Mickle and John Bakewell then purchased 159 aces in Kew  - the 75 acres facing Studley Park Road cost them £20 per acre and the rest £13 per acre. According to Ian McLachlan's interesting blog Yallambie Bakewell and his brother Robert purchased land in the north of Melbourne in 1842, which they called Yallambie - the area is now partly occupied by the Yallambie Army barracks. Mickle and Bakewell also held various large properties around Victoria such as the Numeralla run on the Snowy River, near Orbost and the Brenanah run near Wedderburn.

In 1851, Mickle and Bakewell joined with William Lyall and formed the partnership of Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall. William Lyall (1821-1888) had arrived in Hobart in 1836 with his mother, Helen, his two sisters and two of his brothers. William’s father, John, was already in Tasmania, having left Scotland in 1833. William was ambitious and realised that to purchase land he needed to amass capital and so began trading sheep and cattle. By the time he was twenty, William was making frequent trips to the markets in Melbourne with cattle. William settled in Melbourne and was later joined by his widowed mother and other family members.

Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall started their partnership by acquiring, in 1851, the Tobin Yallock (also called Yallock or Torbinurruck) run of 1,920 acres - this run was located on the Yallock Creek. In the same year they acquired Red Bluff (south of Lang Lang) and then the Tooradin Run in 1852 and the Great Swamp Run in 1854.

By 1854, the trio were very wealthy. Mickle had married Margaret Lyall (William’s sister) in 1851 and in 1854 they all returned to Great Britain for a holiday - John and Margaret Mickle, her mother and her brother, William Lyall, and his wife Annabelle (nee Brown) and their three children; John Bakewell and his brother also went plus about seven others. The group embarked on February 25, and did not clear the Heads at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay until March 1; they arrived in London on May 22. The party toured London and other parts of England.  John and Margaret Mickle returned to Melbourne in 1857 and had a house at the top end of Collins Street. However in 1861 they left again and sailed to the port of Suez in Egypt and then overlanded to London and then onto Scotland. They purchased a house in Scotland and John died there in 1885 at the age of 71.  Two personal facts about John Mickle - he was  a man who strictly celebrated the Sabbath and he was described as a  ‘huge man’, well over six foot tall, taller than his wife Margaret who at six foot tall was extraordinarily tall for  a woman in those days. They must have been an imposing looking couple.

In December of 1856 the trio divided their jointly owned land. Bakewell’s portion included Tooradin, the Tobin Yallock pre-emptive right (renamed Turkeith), Red Bluff pre-emptive right and Warrook on the Yallock Creek.  Warrook was sold to W.C. Greaves in 1904, who built the existing homestead in 1906. Bakewell, like Mickle, did not actually live on his properties, he divided his land into a number of properties amongst which were Ballarto, Sherwood Forest, Tooradin Swamp and Yallambie - clearly a name that resonated with Bakewell and the source of the name Yallambie Road in Clyde - and they were leased out. Bakewell sold his land gradually in the 1870s and 1880s. These properties provided him with an income to return to England where he lived at Old Hall in Balderton, Nottingham. The 1881 English Census shows that the family had five servants and a teacher living with them, so it was a comfortable lifestyle.  In 1859, John had married Emily Howitt (a niece of his brother in law) and they had four children. He died at Balderton in 1888.

Mickle received the Upper Yallock blocks which he renamed Monomeith. John’s brother Alexander Mickle and his wife Agnes managed the Yallock and Monomeith properties for John Mickle.  Their son David was the grandfather of the local historian, Dave Mickle, who has written various books about the local area.

William Lyall received the Yallock pre-emptive right and it was on this land that William and Annabelle commenced the construction of Harewood house in about 1857.  The Lyall family moved into the completed building in 1868, from Frogmore, their house on 93 acres in Carnegie.   Lyall was an energetic farmer, who had cattle, sheep, grew potatoes, wheat and oats and also tried oyster cultivation. He was a Shire of Cranbourne Councillor, first President of the Mornington Pastoral and Agricultural Society, a founder of the Victorian Agricultural Society, the Zoological Society, the Acclimatisation Society and the Victorian Racing Club. During this time Annabelle ran the household and bore twelve children between December 1849 and April 1869. Three children died before they turned three and one as a teenager. Of the remaining eight, six married with Helen and Florence remaining single. The last Lyall at Harewood was Florence who died in 1951, at home. The property was sold out of the family in 1967.

Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall have streets named after them or family members in Koo Wee Rup, Tooradin and Cranbourne.

William Lyall (on the left) with John Mickle, 1853

Image: Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Cheshire, 1968)

Lubecker Steam Dredge on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp

The Lubecker Steam Dredge was the first machine used on the long running project to drain the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, which had started with small scale works in 1857. The main drainage work to create the Main Drain, following the plans drawn up by William Thwaites, Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department,  took place from 1889 to 1893. In 1893, the Public Works Department took back the drainage works from contractors and their engineer, Carlo Catani (1852-1918) was appointed to oversee future drainage works. (1)

  

Carlo was keen to introduce dredges; however this was not approved because it would reduce the work available for unskilled labour, however after the 1911 flood, the  Public Works Department devised a scheme to prevent a reoccurrence of the damage. As Carlo wrote in his presentation, Earth excavators and their use in Victoria  to the Victorian Institute of Engineers in August 1916 - A scheme was prepared, and it was estimated that by ordinary means the outlay would be £50,500, but I added that by the employment of up-to-date machinery this sum could be reduced by one half

On the occasion of my visit to Europe in 1912 I was commissioned by the Hon. the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Edgar, to look for the best machinery for these works, and with this in view I visited Lincoln, Manchester, Frodigam, and Glasgow, not only for the purpose of obtaining information, but also with a view to inducing English firms to tender in response to an advertisement in London "Engineer," and "Engineering," whereby tenders for the supply of a dry earth excavator had been invited by the Agent-General at my suggestion. 

Three tenders were received on August 8th, 1912. One, that ultimately accepted, was from the Lubeck Dredge Company; two were from English firms.  

In consequence of these enquiries I recommended the purchase of the land dredger now at work at Lang Lang. It arrived in the Autumn of 1913, but the winter floods and the fact that the type of machine was new to this country, delayed its reconstruction here, and it was not ready for trial till the summer of 1914. (2)

Lewis Ronald East (3), engineer and later a Commissioner and then the Chairman of the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission, described the dredge, which had a crew of nine, as of the articulated ladder type.  It weighed 80 tons and had a maximum capacity of  80 cubic yards per hour, or approximately 200,000 cubic yards per annum when working one shift. The purchase price was £2,300, on which £632 duty was paid. The actual cost landed and erected on the swamp, with rails, cranes and other equipment came to £4,716. In its first test, the machine excavated 50,000 cubic yards at a cost of 4d. per cubic yard. This was in 1914 when the basic wage was approximately 9s. per day. (4) At the time a good labourer could dig around 11 cubic yards per day, (5) so you can see why there was concern that  people would lose their jobs.

The dredge in operation on May 21, 1914, the day it was officially started

There are other photographs taken on the day, here. 

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u873

The local community had heard the dredge had been purchased in October 1912, as the Lang Lang Guardian reported - 
Return of Mr Catani. Dredging machine secured.
Residents of this district will be pleased to hear that Mr Catani, the Chief Engineer, has returned from his trip to the old country, and that he is full of enthusiasm for carrying out of the Kooweerup drainage works. The other day a resident of Yannathan met Mr Catani in Melbourne, and that gentleman informed him that he had purchased a machine which he estimated would shift earth at the cost of a penny a yard. The machine would be effective for both removing silt from the canal and shifting solid earth in the drains. As the ordinary cost of excavation is from 10d to 1s per yard, it is obvious, that if this machine can do anything like what is claimed for it, an enormous saving in cost will be effected. (6)

The dredge arrived at Lang Lang in late May 1913 and its first job was on the Tobin Yallock Swamp, working on the lower reaches of the Lang Lang River, and if the work proved successful it would be later purchased by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC) for use on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. The SRWSC had been established in 1905 and took over responsibility for the Koo Wee Rup Swamp drainage from the Public Works Department in 1912. (7)

The Lang Lang Guardian in June 1913, reported on the arrival of the dredge - 

Dredging Lang Lang River. Machinery Arrives .

Commencement is to be made at once with the work of dredging the Lang Lang River, in order to provide sufficient waterway to carry away all flood waters. The work is to be carried out by the Public Works Department, and Mr Catani, the chief engineer, paid a visit to the locality  last week, to make arrangements for commencing operations. The machinery weighing about 60 tons, is now at the Lang Lang station, and arrangements  have been made with Mr W. Glover to cart the machinery to the ground. The dredge is a German importation and is said to be the finest in the world.  It will be worked from the bank of the river, and it is estimated  it will shift earth at the cost of about a penny a yard. The work will be commenced a few chains from the mouth of the river at the bay, and it is said the river is to be dredged to a width of 40 feet and a depth of 10 feet. (8)

A few weeks later, the Lang Lang Guardian in July 1913 had  a follow up report - 

sleepers and rails are being placed on a cleared track, across patches of dense t-tree and open country avoiding the  low lying portion of the swamp so that operations are not likely to be interrupted by floods. The machinery, weighing over 100 tons, with a powerful engine is scattered over the ground, and it is an insoluble puzzle to visitors who attempt to construct in their mind as mechanical theory as to how this vast and complicated will be put together and how it will work. Mr Catani, the chief engineer, visited Lang Lang last week in connection with the operations. (9)

As you can see, there are some variations in the published accounts of the weight of the dredge -  Ron East said the dredge weighed  80 tons and the two Lang Lang Guardian reports had it weighing 60 tons and then 100 tons, however Carlo noted  in his presentation that it weighed 48 tons. 

A regular columnist in the Lang Lang Guardian, Bill Nye wrote this about the dredge - 

This dredge and its operation will reveal to us the genius of three great nations – namely, the genius of the Italians, as represented by Mr Catani, who made a special trip to Europe to purchase the machine; the genius of the Germans, who invented and constructed it, and the genius of the Australians, who will work it, if some genius is discovered who will put it together and give the diabolical looking thing a start. (10)

They did find a genius to assemble the dredge, engineer F. C. Osborne, who was possibly Frederick Charles Osborne listed in the Electoral Rolls as an engineer, living at Brunswick at this time, with his wife Sarah. The Lang Lang Guardian reported in July 1913 that Mr F.C. Osborne, who has had long experience in the work of erecting dredges in Victoria, has in hand the work of transporting and erecting the machinery (11).  In November 1913, they reported that -

Mr Osborne, has employed a small Tangye engine and secured it to a truck for the hauling of the machinery and goods, having also fitted it with reversing gear to make the return journey.  The little locomotive drags  heavy loads at a good speed, and all who have witnessed this ingenious adaption are strongly impressed by the ability of the Engineers in charge to overcome difficulties. (12)

This is the Tangye engine referred to, above, used to haul machinery, goods and in this case important visitors taken on May 21, 1914, the day the Dredge was officially started.

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u877

The dredge was finally officially started on May 21, 1914. The Lang Lang Guardian reported on the event, and it is a long report but as it is the only account I can find of the event, worth publishing in full -   

Lang Lang Dredge. Official Starting. An Interesting Ceremony

On Thursday morning last the dredge on the Lang Lang River was started in the presence of a representative official party, including Mr Hagelthorn (Minister of Public Works), Messrs Cattanach and Dethridge (members of the Water Supply Commission), with Mr Catani (Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department), Mr Kenyon (Chief Engineer of the Water Commission), Mr Drake (secretary Public Works Department), Mr Kermode (engineer Ports and Harbors), and Mr Grenlees (naval architect). There was also a representative attendance of landowners of the surrounding district and others interested in the starting of this machine, and the weather being pleasantly fine and sunny, those who attended had an enjoyable outing, as well as being greatly interested witnesses of the working of a machine which is the first of its kind to be put into operation in Australia. 

Early in June of last year the machinery of the dredge arrived at the local station and the intervening time was taken up in transporting  the plant to the end of Stanlake’s lane, in constructing a line of rails across the ti-tree swamp to the river bank, a distance of 60 chains, in adapting a Tangye engine to act as a locomotive hauler, and in erecting the machinery – a work which was rendered very difficult on account of the machinery leaving Germany never having, in mechanical terms, been “assembled.” The work of erection, therefore, was one of considerable engineering difficulty. However, on April 15th a trial run of the machinery was given in the presence of Mr Catani, and the excavator worked so well that orders were at once given for a supply of timber and rails to lay a section of the line towards the outlet at the bay in order to commence work, the point at which the dredge was constructed being 23 chains from the bay, and the distance it is proposed to excavate from the bay to the road bridge is 2 miles and 60 chains. 

As before stated, the machinery worked smoothly, and Mr Catani informed our representative that should the operation be a success, it is proposed to construct similar machines in the State.  The dredge was made in Lubeck, Germany and has been used in England, and is employed extensively in India. The cost of the machine was £2000, or, with duty added, £3000, the idea of constructing such machines in the State is on account of the saving in duty. 

At the trial run on the morning in question, 105 cubic yards was excavated in 40 minutes the cost being estimated  at 5d per yard. It was evident to the spectators that the machinery was working in very stiff, gluey soil, but the powerful engine used seemed to have no difficulty in doing its work in the section taken out, which was dredged to a depth of about 4 feet. The width of the proposed channel will be 40 feet at the top, 25 feet at the bottom, and 8 feet, with a batter or sloping bank of about 15 feet. The scoops, or delvers, which work horizontally and upon the principle on which a Californian pump lifts war, can be lowered or raised according to the necessities of working , and the earth removed is carried to a high elevated platform, and there tipped into a chute, from whence the conveyors carry it away. The earth is then deposited in a high, solid bank, which is considered to be on e of the principal features of the scheme. The conveyors can also be raised or lowered to the height required in building the bank. It is estimated that the machine will scoop a length of 50 feet per day, at which rate the plant in about twelve months should complete the work to the bridge. 

The defective feature in the work from the viewpoint of local opinion is the cutting of a parallel drain instead of widening the river. However, it is explained the reason of this is that to work into the river would necessitate great expense in the leveling of the bank for the rails to run on, whereas by working  some 15 feet from the present waterway this bank can be avoided. It is not intended, as originally proposed, to join the two streams by crosscuts. One of the principal drawbacks in working is the necessity of carting fresh water about two miles, as the salt water in the river would be very destructive to the boiler. This official starting was satisfactorily carried out by Mr R. Carr, the engineer in charge, who was ably assisted by his staff. (13)

From a report in The Argus on October 13, 1915 there are other details of how the Dredge operated - 

The dredge is an impressive looking machine weighing about 40 tons or more. It excavates or means of an endless chain arrangement, wherein each link of the chain consists of a heavy steel shovel head. These shovel heads first scrape away the "spoil," then they deliver it on to a mechanical conveyer on the far side of the machine. The conveyer in its turn, dumps the earth on to a regular embankment or if necessary, into waggons that cart it away. (14)

Lubecker Dredge taken on May 21, 1914, the day it was officially started. 

Carlo Catani is on the ladder, see here for another photo of Carlo on the day. 

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u855

The work at Lang Lang was practically completed in December 1916 and in April 1917 the Lang Lang Guardian could report the the SRWSC had taken over the Dredge. Also in April Carlo Catani visited Lang Lang to explain to  Mr G. Kermode, Engineer for Ports and Harbours, who will probably be his successor, details of the work being done by the land dredger. (15) 

Draining Swamp Land at Lang Lang - left caption: Land Dredging excavating 80 yards an hour; right caption: View showing excavated channel with railway for dredger

The Weekly Times October 30, 1915 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132708829

A year later, in March 1918 it was reported that the dredge was working on the Yallock  Creek, this is the earliest report I can find of it on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, however it had obviously arrived much earlier as the next month it was noted that the work there was finished and it was being moved to the Main Drain -

The outlet which is to be substituted for the Yallock Creek has been cut by the dredge, and the machine is being transferred to the main drain, where excavating is to be commenced at once. Owing to the great weight of the dredge it has been found necessary to construct a special bridge to enable the dredge to be taken over the main drain (16) 

In December 1918, the Koo Wee Rup Sun could report on more progress of the dredge on the Main Drain  - 

The land dredge previously worked at Lang Lang by the Public Works department was kept working steadily throughout the year with good results. After enlarging the existing Yallock cut to the Melbourne road [South Gippsland Highway] and connecting it at this point to the Upper Yallock Creek proper, the dredge was transferred to the north western side of the main drain, near the sea end. It is now cutting new outlets for the new main western drain and the main northern catch drain. The results obtained by the operation of this dredge have been so satisfactory that the Commission is now arranging for a similar machine to be built in this State. (17)

It was later put to work on the Cardinia Creek in the 1920s. It would actually be interesting to know if it worked at other locations in Victoria, I have no information about that, and it is hard to pick up references in the newspapers, as after the War they didn't seem to mention the fact that it was a German dredge. 

This photograph of the dredge on the Cardinia Creek was taken by Albert Arnell, sometime between 1922 and 1929 during his travels around Victoria. 

State Library of Victoria image H2013.48/77

In March 1935, Ron East,  presented a paper Swamp Reclamation in Victoria to the Institute of Engineers Australia. He noted that by June 1934 total excavation by the Dredge was 1,332,231 cubic yards; it never worked at more than at 60 percent of its capacity.  The average cost of excavation was 7.9 pence per cubic yard, but with interest and depreciation the total cost was 9.15 pence per cubic yard, well over the Lang Lang Guardian’s original estimate of one penny per yard.  East also reported that the dredge has now practically completed its useful life. (18)

Lubecker Dredge,  May 21, 1914, the day it was officially started.

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u871

  

Other machines, as noted by Ron East, owned by the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission, and not necessarily working on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp,  included a steam powered Stiff Leg Dragline, weighing 25 tons, purchased in 1925 for the cost of £2,200.  This had a five man crew and was rail based and a working cost per cubic yard of 7 pence.  In 1929 a 45 ton steam powered Full Swing Dragline was purchased for £3,100. This had a three man crew and a caterpillar undercarriage and a per cubic yard cost of 4.4 pence.  In 1929 the first non-steam powered machine, another Full Swing Dragline was purchased for £3,700. This weighed 26 tons, had a two man crew a caterpillar undercarriage and had a working cost per cubic yard of 2.4 pence.  East said that the economy of caterpillar traction and of crude oil power are obvious. (19)

Finally, what happened to the Lubecker Dredge? We don’t know but presumably it was cut up for scrap, perhaps around World War Two,  as all that remains are a set of wheels on display at the Swamp Look-out tower on the South Gippsland Highway.

The Lubecker Dredge wheels at the Swamp look-out tower.

Image: Heather Arnold

Trove list - I have created a list of articles on Trove, connected to the Dredge; access it here. 

Footnotes

(1) Read an overview of the history of the drainage of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp here - https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-short-overview-of-drainage-of-koo-wee.html  I also write about Carlo Catani here https://carlocatani.blogspot.com/

(2) Catani, Carlo Earth excavators and their use in Victoria, published in Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. XVI 1916 (14), see here.   Link to the entire 1916 volume  http://hdl.handle.net/11343/120

(3) Lewis Ronald East (1899-1994) Australian Dictionary of Biography entry   https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/east-sir-lewis-ronald-ron-29428

(4) East, Lewis Ronald Swamp Reclamation in Victoria published in the Journal of the Institute of Engineers, Australia, March 1935, pp. 85-86

(5) Roberts, David From Swampland to Farmland: a history of the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection District  (Rural Water Commission, 1985), p. 25

(6) Lang Lang Guardian, October 30, 1912, p. 3

(7) Lang Lang Guardian, June 11, 1913, p. 2; Roberts, op. cit., p.24.

(8) Lang Lang Guardian, June 4, 1913, p. 3.

(9) Lang Lang Guardian, July 16, 1913, p. 2.

(10) Lang Lang Guardian, July 16, 1913, p. 2.

(11) Lang Lang Guardian, July 23, 1913, p. 2.

(12) Lang Lang Guardian, November 12, 1913, p. 2.

(13) Lang Lang Guardian, May 27, 1914, p. 2, see here.

(14) The Argus, October 13, 1915 see here. 

(15) The Age, December 30, 1916, see here; Lang Lang Guardian  April 18, 1917, see here; The Herald, April 30, 1917, see here.

(16) The Age, April 2, 1918, see here.

(17) Koo Wee Rup Sun, December 18, 1918, see here.

(18) East, Lewis Ronald Swamp Reclamation in Victoria published in the Journal of the Institute of Engineers, Australia, March 1935, pp. 85-86

(19) Ibid.

Flax Mills at Koo Wee Rup and Dalmore

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

The Weekly Times in July 1940  reported that - 

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

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

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

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

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

Flax Mill at Koo Wee Rup

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photo

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

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

Koo Wee Rup Sun, March 6, 1941, p. 1

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

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

flax, urgently needed for war purposes.

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

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

The Land Army girls arrive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tenders called for the purchase of the Flax Mill buildings

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

Auction of extensive surplus equipment from the Flax Mill

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

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

Hostel moved to the State School site.

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

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

Footnotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A trip from Dandenong to Garfield and Bunyip by road

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bourke's Hotel in Pakenham, 1909. 

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

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

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

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

Halfway House Hotel, 1900

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

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

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

Garages at Garfield

Bill Parish wrote in his short history of Garfield, which was published in the 1962 ‘Back to’ programme, that the first motor cars appeared in town in the 1910s. They were J. Barker’s T-model Ford and H. Hourigan’s Renault. Henry Hourigan, was a coach builder (according to his occupation listed in the Electoral Roll) so there is no surprise that he would be first with a motor car. John Barker was the Model T owner, his occupation was orchardist but I believe he was the Barker of Barker Reidy Co that later became Barker, Green and Parke.

Mr Parish writes that in the 1920s many local people were able to purchase their first motor cars and trucks and that horses were becoming rarer and rarer on the roads with the ever increasing number of motor cars taking their place.

In the 1940s, Mr Parish lists G. Hamm, F. Dean and J Brenchley as the garage proprietors. Francis (Frank) Antonio Dean is listed in the Electoral Roll as a Motor Mechanic at Railway Street Garfield from 1931 to 1954 and from the 1960s as a garage proprietor. Frank operated the garage near the bakers.

According to the Shire of Berwick Rate Books in May 1941 George Hamm purchased the Garfield garage from the Estate of Thomas O’Donohue and in March 1947 Leonard John Brenchley took over from George Hamm. The property at Lot 6, Garfield (on the corner of Thirteen Mile Road) had operated as a garage since 1932 with the building being owned by Thomas and Eileen O’Donohue. They presumably employed a mechanic but I have no information about that. The Brenchleys (Leonard John and Linda Frances according to the Electoral Roll) had come to Garfield from Werribee.

The Brenchley's move from Werribee to Garfield

Werribee Shire Banner January 9, 1947  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75207089

By the 1950s there was huge choice in the area for buying motor vehicles - W.D. Hilder at Pakenham East (as Pakenham used to be called) sold Hillman Minx, Sunbeam Talbot and Humber cars and they also sold Commer trucks and Lanz tractors. Chas. Plummer also at Pakenham East sold Austin cars and International trucks and Highway Motors in Pakenham sold Vauxhall cars. R.F. Dusting at Koo-Wee-Rup sold Ford cars. Also in Koo-Wee-Rup Burton’s Motor Service Garage was an agent for Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Buick and Holden and at Colvin’s Koo-Wee-Rup Motor Garage you could purchase a Standard Vanguard. E.N. Jones at Lang Lang sold Vauxhalls and the Bayles Service Station was an agent for Morris and M.G Cars and Morris Commercial trucks.

Brenchley's Garage at Garfield advertisement

Pakenham Gazette February 1949

The Rouse family purchased their first car from the Brenchleys, you can read about it here. The first advertisement I could find in the Pakenham Gazette for Brenchley’s garage was in February 1949 where they advertised Austin trucks (see above) They had a regular ad in the paper for years after that and the first advertisement in the Koo-Wee-Rup Sun was February 1950 (there would likely have been ads in the Bunyip and Garfield Express but I don’t have access to that paper)

Brenchley's Garage at Garfield advertisement

Koo-Wee-Rup Sun February 1950

The garage was operated by the family until recently (maybe ten years ago?). I have found some ads from 1965 when they sold BMC cars - the Morris and the Wolseley amongst others - three advertisements from the Pakenham Gazette from 1965 are shown, below.

    

Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival 1987

Here are some photos from the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society collection of the 1987 Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival. I have written a history of the Potato Festival, which operated from 1973 - 2000, here.

 

 A professional photo, probably the Cranbourne Sun photographer. 1987 Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival - Annette Turner, Fassifern Festival Queen, 1987 Queen - Lynette Schroeder and 1986 Queen Michelle Hansen.

An engaging, but slightly out of focus photo of the Festival Princesses.

1987 Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival - Bag picking champions with A.P.D Sponsor, David Roberts. The winner is listed as Neville Marson, anyone know who the others are? They are with Queen, Lynette Schroeder and Fassifern Queen - Annette Turner

Koo-Wee-Rup Potato Festival

The first Koo-Wee-Rup Potato Festival took place on February 17, 1973. Over 4,000 people attended the event. It started with a Grand Parade of thirty floats from business and community groups. The floats assembled in the Railway yards, took in Station Street, Rossiter Road and other streets and then ended up in Cochrane Park. The official opening then took place at 11.45am by Sir Gilbert Chandler, the Minister for Agriculture. After that the spectators could choose from a wide range of activities including dancing exhibitions, decorated bikes, a gem display, a pet parade, vegetable competition and a cooking contest with prizes for the best sponge, fruit loaf, scones and lamingtons.

However, the highlights of this Festival and the many that followed were the Australian Potato Picking Championship, the Potato Loading competition and the Potato Carrying competition. The potato picking competition required the entrants to pick two bags of potatoes - each the standard size of 150lb (about 68 kg). The inaugural winner of this competition was Frank Spano. The potato loading competition required two men to load a 150lb bag as high as they could onto a load of pallets, the height of which was raised after each round. Winners would lift up to eight feet or about 2.4 meters. Barry and John Hester were the first winners of this event. The potato carrying competition required the men to carry the bag of potatoes over 40 yards (about 36 metres) and Norm Bethune was the first winner of this event. It all sounds like a bit of a health and safety nightmare, but men were obviously tough in those days.

 
The first festival also introduced the Festival Queen. The first Queen was crowned at a ball held on Friday, February 9 at the St Georges Hall (Wattle Theatre). The ball was organised by the W.H.Y.L.O.S. (or the Westernport Hospital Young Ladies Organisation, a fund raising group for young women to supplement the efforts of the Hospital Ladies Auxiliary). The inaugural Queen was Jenny Burton. Jenny received a sash and a transistor radio. Subsequent entries into the Queen competition, the Princesses, had to be sponsored and raise (in 1974) at least $50.00. The entrants were also judged on appearance and dress, the ability to speak in public, general knowledge of the potato industry and a willingness to represent the Koo-Wee-Rup Festival at the Fassifern Potato Festival in Queensland. The Queen was always crowned at the Festival Ball.

The Festival was promoted in the media and attracted some high profile visitors – it was opened by the Premier of Victoria, Sir Rupert Hamer, in 1979; the next year by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Henry Winneke and in 1981 by media personality, Sir Eric Pearce. From 1975, the Festival had a float in the Moomba Parade, where the Festival Queen rode on the ‘King Spud’ float. In 1977, a new ‘King Spud’ was made as a potato costume and worn to publicise the Festival. We have this costume at the Historical Society. As the Festival grew other events were added, for instance in 1974 the Australian Potato Peeling competition was introduced (the inaugural winner was Mrs Joyce Mills); in 1977, the heaviest potato; in 1978, junior bagging and carrying competitions and in 1981 the Ladies potato bagging.

The 1979 Potato Festival Promotion in Bourke Street, Melbourne

Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photo

The whole idea of the Potato Festival was to raise money for the Westernport Memorial Hospital and the first Festival raised over $2,000. The concept of a Festival was discussed in 1972 and in the October of that year the Chamber of Commerce Sub-committee for the Koo-Wee-Rup Potato Festival met for the first time. Those present were Keith Ridgway, Ken Huxtable, Ron Townley, C.Fisher, J. Acciarito, Keith Doherty and Harry Graham. Harry Graham was elected Chairman and the planning and organisation undertaken by this group resulted in the first successful Festival. Around September 1973, the Koo-Wee-Rup Potato Festival Committee was formed, with Harry Burton as inaugural President, and the members of this Committee continued to manage successful Festivals with great support from local business and community groups.

The last Festival was held on March 25, 2000. From reports that we have at the Historical Society it appears that in the previous years support in some quarters was dwindling, plus there was some uncertainty over the future of the Hospital, which was renamed Koo-Wee-Rup Regional Health Services in February 1997. On Friday, February 16 2001 the former Potato Festival Committee members met to ‘farewell a community institution’ as the Pakenham Gazette reported. The Committee had an opportunity to reflect on the success of past Festivals which raised large amounts of money to support the local Hospital and put Koo-Wee-Rup and its potato festival on the map.

There are photos of the 1987 Festival, here. 
 

The late Fred Hooper, Head Master at Koo-Wee-Rup High School for close to twenty years from 1963, has written a book on the history of the Potato Festival, At King Spuds Court: the story of the Koo-Wee-Rup Potato Festival’s first ten years (1972-1982). It is available from the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society for the very modest price of $5.00.