Iona Hotel at Garfield

This post looks at the history of the original Iona Hotel at Garfield, which opened in 1904 and burnt down in 1914.

In June 1903 it was reported that a petition for a local option poll for a Hotel in Garfield had obtained 200 signatures from voters in the recently created Iona Riding of the Shire of Berwick; more signatures were also gathered from the Pakenham Riding (1).  This petition led to a local option poll taking place on  August 27, 1903 in the Pakenham Licensing District, as a result of an application by George Ellis for a hotel licence at Garfield (2). It was reported that the statutory number of hotels to which the district is entitled is eight and the existing number is seven (3). The vote was restricted to the Iona and Pakenham Ridings and it was in favour of the Hotel at Garfield. Subsequently, in December 1903, the licensing bench which sat at Berwick on the 12th inst. granted a licence to Mr G. W. Ellis for an hotel at Garfield, subject to the building being completed in accordance with the plans and specifications, by June 1. It is expected that the premises will be ready for opening by March 1 (4). 

I presume that the fact that the Hotel was located in the Iona Riding, which was formed May 31, 1901 (5) and the ratepayers of this riding had supported the establishment  of the Hotel through a petition and voting in the local option poll, that it led to the Hotel being called the Iona Hotel.

The advertisement  for the Iona Hotel which run in the 

South Bourke & Mornington Journal from April 1904

The Iona Hotel at Garfield was opened in mid-March 1904 (6).  A comprehensive report on the new Hotel was published in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of April 13, 1904 - 

Garfield certainly ranks amongst the towns on the Gippsland line of railway which have innovations of improvement during the past two or three years, the most recent step in this direction being the building of a house of accommodation, via, the Iona hotel. Residents in the vicinity have agitated in this respect for some time past and success has attended their efforts, for they have now an hotel which is a credit to the place, and those who have occasion to visit Garfield will find the enterprising proprietor, Mr Geo.

W. Ellis, all that is to be desired as regards a landlord. 

There is no reason now why the place should not become a favorite resort for both holiday seekers and sportsmen, as within a short distance from the town are to be found innumerable fern gullies and caves of marvellous beauty, and, for those who are in quest of game, the surrounding country will be found all that a sportsman wishes, a whether it be with the gun or fishing-rod.

The hotel stands on a prominent site only a few yards from the railway station, and is of very pretty design indeed, presenting a thoroughly up-to-date appearance the hotel and outbuildings, &c. occupy about an acre of ground. The structure comprises twenty-nine rooms, including a spacious bar room, parlors, commercial room, dining room, drawing room, sixteen bed rooms, billiard room (with full sized Alcock's table and fixtures), kitchen &c. The building, which is of weather board, is lathed and plastered throughout, and the front portion outside (six feet from the ground) is of jarrah-wood, oiled and polished, which has a pleasing effect. 

The appointments are of modern style, and in each of the principal rooms electric bells are provided. Add to this the fact that the place has a gas manufacturing plant and a sewerage system, then it will be realised that the hotel is thoroughly complete in every detail. The acetyline gas is laid on right through the building, and is a beautiful illuminant. The septic sewerage system is reed, and an excellent one it is. From the whole of the building the refuse is carried by an underground pipe to the filter beds (which are in the yard) and there treated effectively. This system has been approved of by the Board of Health. The stabling accommodation is also of a substantial nature. Judging by the provision made by the huge underground tank there should never be a water famine here; from this source water is supplied and pumped into iron tanks placed in position for use in bath rooms, lavatory, &c. 

The architects (Messrs. H. W. and F. B. Tompkins), and the contractors (Messrs. Atkinson & Gordon) have every reason to feel proud of their work. The furnishing of the place, which although not yet quite completed, is a matter which clearly shews the heavy expense the proprietor has been under, but good taste is displayed in this direction also. To sum up briefly, Garfield has an hotel sufficient for its requirements for years to come, and it is to be hoped Mr. Ellis' venture meets with the reward it deserves (7).

In 1907, George Ellis sold the Hotel to Thomas O’Donohue who was connected to Martin O’Donohue who built the Garfield Picture Theatre in 1924 (8). In the four years that Ellis owned the Hotel the Net Annual Value of the site had risen from £75 to £125 (9) which is an indication of the growth of the town. Ellis and his family were farewelled from the town at a function at the Hotel in September 1907. Mr Hattersley, who chaired the function said There were few men who had done more for a township and neighbourhood, than their guest, and whatever was for the advancement of the district Mr. Ellis was always in front to do his part. He presented Mr Ellis with a set of pipes which he trusted the pipes would bestow great comfort during hours of worry, and whenever he took and filled it that it would remind him of the friends left behind in Garfield (10).

Sadly, the hotel was destroyed by fire on April 23, 1914. The Bunyip Free Press had this report - 

A fire broke out between 8 and 4 o'clock on Thursday morning, April 23rd, at Garfield, at the Iona Hotel and Mr. E. A. Gabbett's general store. How or where the outbreak first took place appears to be a mystery, but it spread with such rapidity that both buildings and their contents were completely destroyed.

There were 26 persons sleeping in the hotel and Mr. Cryan had difficulty in waking and getting them clear of the burning building. Mrs. Ockenden, the cook at the hotel, states that the fire did not start in the hotel building, and is inclined to the belief that it started at the back of the store. A niece of Mr. Cryan's lost L14/10 in notes and gold in the flames.

The hotel was a fine, up-to-date wooden building, and was owned by Mr. T. O'Donohue, who had it partly covered by insurance, but his loss will be a heavy one, as the companies will not accept more than half the value of wooden buildings used as hotels. Mr. T. J. Cryan, the licensee, had a valuation of L600 on his stock, and he estimates his loss at double that amount, so that he too has suffered through the outbreak. We were unable to ascertain the insurances on Mr. Gabbett's stock or the building.

Only about a dozen chimneys now standing occupy the two blocks and the main street looks very bare (11).

There was another report of the fire, which differed slightly in detail, published in the Bunyip and Garfield Express of April 28, 1914 - 

A disastrous fire occurred on Thursday morning between three and four o'clock at Garfield, which resulted in the total destruction of the Iona hotel and Mr E. Gabbett's grocery store. Between the hours mentioned some employes at Bird's bakery, which is further along the street, observed a fire in the direction of the hotel, Investigation satisfied them that the building was burning and the alarm was raised.

There were between 20 and 30 inmates of the hotel at the time amongst whom were a number of ladies, but fortunately all escaped from the burning building. The fire appeared to some observers to start outside the eastern wall of the building while others declare it came from the kitchen. However, it had a good hold when first noticed and no time was lost by the lodgers and the family and friends of Mr Cryan, licensee, in leaving the doomed structure.

The fire spread with great rapidity, and was favored by a north westerly breeze. A salvage party however, made good use of the little time at their disposal and succeeded in saving a piano and a few other articles of furniture, but there was no time to rescue the heavy furnishings from the building and over £500 worth was destroyed. Miss Cryan, daughter of the licensee lost £14 in gold and notes which she left in the building. 

From the hotel the flames spread to Mr Gabbett's store, which adjoins it and soon the two structures were a seething mass of flame. The grocery stock was completely destroyed and the dwelling portion of the building, which is at the rear of the shop. The household furniture was destroyed. The insurances on the Iona hotel are as follows :-Mr T. Donohue, owner, £1500 on the building, furniture £500, Mr C.J. Cryan licensee, £600 on the stock. The amount of Mr Gabbett's insurance is not available, but it is understood that his stock was only lightly insured. All concerned are heavy losers. The business of the hotel is being carried on in a building next to the old premises, whilst Mr Gabbett has opened his store in Mr Bird's premises, pending building operations (12).

The Iona Hotel, completed.

Dandenong Advertiser, January 14, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88659792

The new Hotel, which is the existing Hotel, was completed by January 1915, according to the report in the Dandenong Advertiser, above. I presume it officially opened soon after that, but once again, I can't find a specific opening date. Mr  Cryan continued to advertise his Hotel in the Bunyip and Garfield Express all though 1914 and 1915, presumably because he was operating in the building next door, so that doesn't give any clues.  There is a report, in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal  from May 27, 1915 saying that the Shire of Berwick Health Inspector, Dr H. White, had inspected the Iona Hotel and he was pleased with the appointments and sanitation of the place and that no expense had been spared by the proprietors to make it all respects one of the best equipped hotels in the colony (13), but whether the Hotel could operate before the official inspection, I cannot say.

 The 'new' Iona Hotel, taken most likely after it opened in 1915.

Image: Berwick Pakenham Historical Society

Trove list  - I have created a short list of articles connected to this post, access it here.

Footnotes

(1) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 3 1903, see here.

(2) The Age, August 28, 1903, see here.

(3) Ibid

(4) The Argus, December 15 1903, see here.

(5) From Bullock tracks to bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick (Historical Society of Berwick Shire, 1962). p. 10.

(6) I can't find a  specific opening date - The Argus of March 15, 1904, see here, reported that the building is now completed, and will be opened for business in a day or two.

(7) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, April 13, 1904, see here.

(8) Licence transfer - South Bourke & Mornington Journal, September 18, 1907, see here. Garfield Picture Theatre

 https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2014/03/garfield-picture-theatre.html

(9) Shire of Berwick Rate Books

(10) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, September 11, 1907, see here.

(11) Bunyip Free Press, April 23, 1914, see here.

(12) Bunyip and Garfield Express, April 28, 1914. This report was also republished in the Gippsland Independent, May 1, 1914, see here.

(13) South Bourke and Mornington Journal,  May 27, 1915 see here.  

A trip from Dandenong to Koo-Wee-Rup and Lang Lang by road

I wrote this article for the Koo-Wee-Rup newsletter, The Blackfish.  It is a companion piece to the one I wrote for the Garfield Spectator 'A trip from Dandenong to Garfield' which you can read here. They both start off the same at Dandenong.

Let’s imagine we are travelling by horse and coach down the South Gippsland Highway (also known as the Western Port Road, the Bass Road or the Grantville Road) from Dandenong to Lang Lang 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.

An advertisement from the South Bourke & Mornington Journal from February 14, 1877.

The next hotel I could find was run by Mrs Fagan on Lyndhurst Hill, where the ABC Radio station was later built (the triangle of road formed by the intersection of the Highway and Hallam Road). Mrs Fagan, who arrived in Victoria in 1853, was a survivor of a shipwreck. The ship she was a passenger on, Earl of Charlemont, went down off Point Henry near Geelong in June 1853. All the passengers were rescued but they lost all their possessions.  Mrs Fagan started the hotel in 1857 after her husband, Alexander, died at the age of 65. Her establishment was said to have dispensed the ‘water of life’ to coach drivers and she and her daughters were said to have a reputation for generosity and kindness. Who was Mrs Fagan? She was born Sarah Jones in Northern Ireland and married to Alexander Fagan. The two daughters referred to were Sarah, who married George Hall in 1855 and Agnes who married Mr Nelson - that’s all I know about him. Apparently, Sarah Hall used to walk from Narre Warren to Dandenong, even when she was 80, so she was an energetic woman. I don’t know when the Hotel ceased trading, nor can I find out when Mrs Fagan died.

After leaving Lyndhurst we travel to Cranbourne where there were two hotels. The Mornington Hotel (on the same site as Kelly’s Hotel) was started around 1860 by Thomas and Elizabeth Gooch, who like Mrs Fagan, were also survivors of a ship wreck. Thomas had been sailor and was on the Sacramento, which was wrecked off the Port Phillip Heads. He had met Elizabeth who was a passenger on the Sacramento - they both lost everything in the ship wreck, but found true love, as they married in 1854 and had eight children between 1855 and 1867. By 1912, the Hotel was known as the Motor Club Hotel and in 1919 it was taken over by the Kelly family. The existing Kelly’s hotel was built around 1926.  

The Mornington Hotel at Cranbourne 

(Photo from The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson)

 The other hotel in Cranbourne, called the Cranbourne Hotel, was established in the early 1860s by Robert and Margaret Duff. It was located next to Clydesdale Square, where the Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre is. Robert Duff died at the age of 34 in August 1861 ‘from being driven violently against a tree by his horse’ as his death notice in the paper said. He was the brother of the Reverend Alexander Duff, the first Presbyterian Minister in the area. Margaret’s maiden name was also Duff, so I presume she married a cousin, not unusual in those times.  Margaret continued to run the Hotel after her husband’s death and in 1866 married Edward Tucker, who owned a store in Cranbourne. The Cranbourne Hotel was demolished in the 1970s. Duff and Tucker Streets in Cranbourne are named after these people.

The Grantville coach at the Cranbourne Hotel at Cranbourne 

(Photo from The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson)

  

Continuing down the Highway, we would have come to the Sherwood Hotel, in Tooradin, which was near the corner of the South Gippsland Highway and Tooradin Tyabb Road. It was built around 1870 on land owned by Matthew Stevens. The Sherwood Hotel and 258 acres were put up for a mortgagee auction on March 14, 1878 and it is thought that the Poole family purchased the hotel at this time. The Poole brothers, Frederic (1826-1894), George (1827-1909), and Thomas (1837-1906) were early settlers in the Cranbourne area. Frederick was elected to the Cranbourne Road District Board and later the Cranbourne Shire, he lived at Lyndhurst. Thomas lived at Lang Lang and it was George Poole who became publican at the Sherwood Hotel. The ground of the Sherwood Hotel had a large stable, a diary and milking shed and the Pooles milked forty cows. George also constructed a racecourse and bred horses. When the Melbourne Coach refused to stop at his hotel, he built himself a Coach, which met the Cranbourne train and travelled on to Grantville.  George Poole had left the Hotel sometime before 1906 and after that there were a series of Licensees. The Sherwood Hotel was deprived of its licence on December 31 1917, after a ‘Deprivation Sitting of the Licenses Reduction Board’ hearing.

The next hotel was the Bridge Hotel at Tooradin. In January 1870, John Steer applied for a Beer Licence for his Bridge Inn and when he died in May 1876 the Hotel was taken over by Matthew Evans. Later publicans included Larry Basan who took over the licence in 1888 and rebuilt the hotel in 1895 and sold it around 1900. The hotel was demolished in 2016.

The Tooradin Hotel, 1970s. 

Photographer:  John T. Collins 

State Library of Victoria Image H98.251/1951

We have to detour off the Highway for the next Hotel which is the Royal Hotel in Koo-Wee-Rup built in 1915 for Denis McNamara. It was officially opened on Thursday, September 9, 1915.  A report in the Lang Lang Guardian at the time described it as a ‘fine commodious building of nearly 30 rooms’ and ‘one of the finest edifices of the kind in Gippsland’. 

Back out to the Highway and continuing down to Lang Lang was the town of Tobin Yallock on the corner of the Highway and McDonalds Track. The town started in the mid 1870s with a Church, a general store and Post Office and eventually had a drapery, bootmaker, bakers and Mechanics Institute Hall.  In 1877, the Flintoff family built the Tobin Yallock Hotel. The Tobin Yallock township declined when the Great Southern Railway was constructed and the Lang Lang Station opened in February 1890. By 1894 most of the businesses and public buildings had transferred to the new settlement near the Lang Lang Railway Station. In 1893 the Flintoff family built the Lang Lang Coffee Palace near the station.   The building later acquired a liquor licence and was renamed the Palace Hotel. The original building burnt down in May 1933 and the new Palace Hotel was built on another site (where it is now) and opened in June 1934.

How do you spell Koo-Wee-Rup?

What's the correct way to spell Koo-Wee-Rup?  Any way you want apparently. The article below, a letter to the editor of the Kooweerup Sun written by Mr C. Einsedel, suggests that Koo-wee-rup or Koo Wee Rup are the most acceptable. The way I usually spell it, Koo-Wee-Rup, is 'an absurdity' according to Dr Niel Gunson, historian and author of  'The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire' a history of the Cranbourne Shire,  published in 1968. It is a book that I admire and use frequently.  

Kooweerup Sun (that's how they spell it) March 21, 1973.

I was interviewed in the Pakenham Gazette about this very issue - here is the article from April 3, 2013. What I said was that my Birth Certificate has the town spelt as Koo-Wee-Rup and Kooweerup and that various documents from my time at the High School in the 1970s has the name spelt as Koo-wee-rup, Kooweerup and KooWeeRup, so  even Government organizations were having a bet both ways.

VicNames - the Register of Geographic Names lists it as Koo Wee Rup. You can access their website here https://maps.land.vic.gov.au/lassi/VicnamesUI.jsp

Whatever it is,  I believe that it should be three words. I agree with Dr Gunson as quoted in Mr Einsedel's letter that running the word together is a 'mark of laziness'.

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.