Koo Wee Rup township

This is a short history of the various institutions in the town of Koo Wee Rup.

Schools
The first School was established in 1884 between Koo Wee Rup and Bayles (at Bethunes Road) with 22 pupils. It was known as the Yallock School, until 1903 when the name was changed to Koo Wee Rup. In 1910, the school moved to Rossiter Road (to the Secondary College location) and a new building was built in 1915. In 1953, the Higher Elementary School was completed. This School included both primary and secondary classes (Forms 1 to 3 or Years 7 to 9). The School became a High School in 1957 and shared the building with the primary school students until November 1960 when the Primary School opened in Moody Street.  St John the Baptist Catholic School opened in 1936.

The arrival of the Methodist Church in 1932.

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph.

Churches
The Presbyterian Church is the oldest Church in the town. The building was originally the Wesleyan Church in Cranbourne and when it was no longer required, it was purchased by the Koo Wee Rup Presbyterians for 70 pounds. This church, designed by Architect Alfred Dunn, had been erected in 1888 and it was transported to Koo-Wee-Rup on a large trolley drawn by 13 horses and placed on land donated by Christopher Moody. The first service in this building was on March 20, 1896 (1). The first Catholic Church was built in 1902 and the current church was opened December 1962.  The Anglican Church was built in 1917. It closed in 2012 and the congregation moved to the Uniting Church. The Methodist Church (now Uniting) was moved from Yallock to Rossiter Road in 1932. It is shown in the photograph, above. In 1978 this building was moved to a camp in Grantville and a wooden church from Narre Warren East, was relocated to the site, it was given a brick veneer and a new hall added and opened on February 3, 1980.

Health
A Bush Nursing Centre was opened in 1918. On May 23, 1923 the Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital opened in Station Street; and the Westernport Memorial Hospital in  Rossiter Road on December 4, 1955. The Hospital Ladies’ Auxiliary was established in July 1955.  In 1946, the Infant Welfare Centre was opened in a room at the Memorial Hall and in 1953 the Pre-School opened.

The Koo Wee Rup Hall, before the 1923/24 extension

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph

Community Groups and Amenities 

A Cricket Club started in 1893, the Recreation Reserve opened in 1906, and a football team had started by 1907. The Koo Wee Rup Public Hall opened in April 1903, a brick front was added in 1923/1924 and it was renamed as a Memorial Hall. It was demolished in 2002. The Royal Hotel was erected in 1915. The Koo Wee Rup Sun was first published in 1918, taking over from the Lang Lang Guardian which had commenced publication in 1902. The Masonic Lodge commenced in 1923. The Wattle Picture Theatre was opened in 1927, the same year the Koo Wee Rup Electric Light and Power Company began supplying limited electricity to the town. SEC power was switched on in the town in 1935. In 1929, the first Koo Wee Rup Scout Troop was formed. To add further to the amenity of the town in 1930 the water tower and the water supply system opened and in 1943 the Fire Brigade was formed

Railways
The Koo Wee Rup Railway station was opened on August 18, 1889. The Station was originally called Yallock and was re-named Koo Wee Rup in 1892. In 1922, Koo Wee Rup became a railway junction with the opening of the Strzelecki railway line. This line was closed in stages and the last stretch from Bayles to Koo Wee Rup closed in 1959. Passenger services to Koo Wee Rup ceased in June 1981 were reinstated December 1984 and ceased again in July 1993.

Oldest buildings in town
The 1884 School building, which had moved from Bethunes Road to Rossiter Road, was shifted again in 1919 to become the Island Road School. The School closed in 1974 and ten years later the building moved back to the Primary School site in Moody Street.
However, the oldest building still on its original site is the house, “The Grange”, off Sybella Avenue. This was built in 1887-88 for Andrew and Agnes Hudson, though sadly Andrew died just before they moved in. Agnes, nee Johnston, was firstly married to Alexander Mickle. Alexander and Agnes were the great grandparents of Local Historian, David Mickle.

Footnote

(1) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (F. W. Cheshire, 1968). p.166 and The Mornington Standard, February 29, 1896, see here.

100 years ago this week - Food production

One hundred years ago, this week in March 1913, this appeared in the West Gippsland Gazette, and is a reminder of what a rich area this once was for food production.

West Gippsland Gazette   Tuesday 4 March 1913, page 7

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

At Iona, a Creamery run by the Fresh Food and Frozen Storage Company, was opened in 1897 and by 1900 it had 50 suppliers. The Creamery operated until around 1907. In 1906 Drouin Co-Operative Butter Factory established a factory in Iona on the corner of Little Road and the Main Drain. It closed in October 1928 and was demolished in 1930. Another butter factory, operated by Holdenson and Neilson, operated in Iona from 1912 and was taken over by the Drouin Co-Operative Butter Factory in April 1921. If you have been to Iona recently, it is hard to believe that it ever sustained two butter factories.  Cora Lynn also had a cheese factory, click here to find out more about it.

This is a photo of my grandparents (Joe and Eva Rouse) farm at Cora Lynn, taken in 1928. It was typical of the many small farms on the Swamp.

100 years ago this week - the Bunyip

This interesting account of  a Bunyip appeared in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal, 100 years ago, in February 1913.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal Thursday 20 February 1913, page 2.

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

100 years ago this week - the state of the drains

This was in the The Argus, 100 years ago this week, in February 1913. 100 years on, local residents are still concerned about the state of the drains, so no change there.  It's a bit hard to read, so I have copied the text, below.

The Argus February 5,  1913 page 11

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

Sir, It is about two years since the big flood on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp and the Government promised to clear out the main canal and remove the sand and silt which had accumulated in it and so prevent it from overflowing again. But nothing has been done and if heavy rains fall there will be a recurrence of the flood and much valuable produce will be destroyed. It is scandalous that the Government, after spending so money in reclaiming this rich country, should allow the canal to silt up, where for a small outlay, it could be kept clear. The cost of this should be borne by the settlers at so much per acre. They would gladly pay to make themselves safe from floods. I hope that Mr Watt will keep his promise over this matter and instruct the Public Woks Department to proceed with the work before the coming winter. 

Yours etc    K.W.R  Feb 4

Mr Watt was William Alexander Watt, Premier of Victoria from May 18 1912 to December 9 1913 and December 22 1913 to June 18, 1914.

Cora Lynn General Store

The Cora Lynn was opened in 1907 by George Petrie Murdoch.  As we saw in the last post George and his father, George Petrie Murdoch Senior (1851-1934), were some of the earliest owners of township allotments in Cora Lynn. George Petrie Murdoch, junior, was born in Bunyinong in 1872 to George and Alice (nee Dean) Murdoch. He married Emma Rose Parker in Balranald in NSW in 1897 and they had the following children  - 

Arthur Charles (born 1897, birth registered at Bunyip South, alter called Iona.  Arthur served in World War One and is listed on the Cora Lynn War Memorial, here and the Iona Honour Board, here)

Mary Ellen (1899, Bunyip South)

Baby girl (1900, Bunyip South, died one day old)

Hugh James (1902, Balranald)

Allan John (1904, Bunyip South)

Lily (1906, Bunyip South)

Stanley (1907, Bunyip South)

Archibald William (1909, Dandenong. See an example of his poetry, here)

Alice Jean (1911, Bunyip South)

Emma Murdoch died in March 1920 aged only 39 years old and is buried at the Bunyip Cemetery. George married Mary Jane Whitta in 1921 and they lived in Bayles, where they had opened the Bayles General Store in January 1921 (read about this here.) They were still in Bayles in 1963 according to the Electoral rolls, but the 1967 Electoral roll lists him at Booran Road, Caulfield South. Mary Jane died 1963, aged 86 and George died on Christmas Day, 1971, aged 99 in Glenhuntly.  

Cora Lynn store, c.1910. 

Peter Corcoran standing in front with bicycle.
(Photograph from the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society collection)

The Weekly Times of November  16, 1907 published a letter to Uncle Ben, one of the editor's of the children's pages about Cora Lynn and the store his father was building -

Arthur Murdoch's letter

Weekly Times of November  16, 1907 

 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222777407#

Cora Lynn, 7th October.— Dear Uncle Ben,

This is the first time I have written to you. I would very much like to see my letter published in "The Weekly Times." I go to school every day, and I am in the second class. I have two miles to walk to school. We have a football at school, and we have great fun with it. My father is getting a new store

built in Cora Lynn. It will only be about two chains from the school. We are having lovely weather here now. The grass is looking beautiful in the paddocks. My sister has a little pet lamb. There are a good many hares about here. My father shot one yesterday. There are a great many snakes here this season. I killed a small one last week. With love to yourself, Aunt Connie and the little children in the cots - I remain your loving friend, ARTHUR MURDOCH, aged 10 years and 3 months.

Cora Lynn, possibly 1911. The building on the right is the E.S.& A. Bank, 

and the store is next.

This was a postcard my grandfather sent, read the story here. 

George Murdoch opened a store in Bayles in 1921 (see here) and operated the Cora Lynn store until 1922 when Alexander and Elizabeth Beatrice Chisholm took over. The Electoral rolls list her as Elizabeth Beatrice, but her death notice as Beatrice Elizabeth, so I will call her Beatrice.  Alex had married Beatrice Knox in 1920 and they had a daughter Jean, who was born in December 1921. Jean attended Cora Lynn State School in 1926 and 1927. I haven't found anything much about their time in Cora Lynn, they left in 1927, but in the 1931 and 1937 Electoral Rolls the are at 158 Victoria Street, Richmond and his occupation is Postmaster. In the 1943 and 1949 Electoral Rolls, they are at 3 Wishart Street, Kew, and again his occupation is that of Postmaster.  Elizabeth died in March 1953, aged 68,  at 21 Church Street in Abbotsford. Her death notice in The Argus,  lists  Alex and Jean as well as Jean's husband, Phil, and their daughter, Susan. Alex was in the 1954 Electoral Roll at 21 Church Street, occupation Postmaster; then in the 1958 to 1967 Electoral Rolls he was living with his daughter, Jean and her family in Hortense Street, Burwood. He died in 1968

Death notice of Beatrice Chisholm

The Age, March 16, 1953  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23233441

Death notice of Alexander Chisholm

The Age, April 16, 1968, p. 14

The Chisholms had the Cora Lynn store until 1927, when Edwin Ernest and Sophia (nee McMahon) Dillon took over. The couple had married in 1910  in Woods Point and Edwin (known as Ted) at first supported the family by gold mining, but then decided to go into the hotel business in various country towns. Before they arrived in Cora Lynn they operated the store at Woods Point. 

'

Mr Chisholm leaves the Cora Lynn store and Mr Dillon arrives.

The Argus, June 25, 1927  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3862859

Ted and Sophia had six children Doreen (born 1911), Phillip (1914), Molly (1918), Eddie (1920), Joyce (1925) and June (1930). Sadly,  Ted died August 7, 1932, aged only 49, clearly a shock to the family and the community.  Doreen and Phillip then helped their mother run the store and they were assisted by Elva Watson and Frank Hester.

The death of Edwin Dillon

Koo Wee Rup Sun August 11, 1932 p. 1

Dillon's Store, c. 1930s

Image courtesy of Des Dineen.

Dillon's Store, c. 1950s.

Image courtesy of Val Slade.

As the years went by the children married - Doreen married local farmer Harry Dineen in 1938; Phil married Aileen McGrath in 1939 and they lived at the store with Sophia, until she retired to Warragul in 1950, where she died March 25, 1968. Joyce married Raymond Jarred in 1946. In 1950, Eddie married Mary Egan, whose grandparents had arrived on the Swamp in 1893; Molly married Ray Hammond in 1954 and June married George Krygger, who worked at the store. 

The Cora Lynn store, known far and wide as Dillon's Store, was run by Phil and Eddie until Eddie left about 1960 to take up farming. Phillip and Aileen then operated the store until they retired in 1973. This ended  46 years of ownership, of the store but not the Dillon connection to the community, especially the football club and Mary Dillon's noteworthy contribution as the long-term Secretary of the Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival Committee. In the early days the local telephone exchange also operated from the store. After the Dillons, the store was then operated by the Thompsons, then the Van den Berghes, then Norm and Kim Dalziel, then the Simons and it closed in 1999. 

Acknowledgement

The Dillon family information comes from a short history of the family supplied to me by Val Slade; she received the information from Helen Uren (nee Dillon). I am unsure if Helen wrote the history or it was another family member; if so happy to acknowledge the author. 

Cora Lynn township plan and early land sales

This is the Cora Lynn township plan. This shows the original township allotments and the first owner of the allotments after the Government land sales. 

Township of Cora Lynn plan - the town is split between the Parish of Koo Wee Rup and that of

 Koo Wee Rup East.

Click on image to enlarge.

See the entire plan on the State Library of Victoria here 

http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/93024

In Section T some of the sales must have taken place in 1904 as Allotments 14a to 14c have a purchase date of  June 28, 1904. Land sales were generally advertised in the newspapers and I have found this report in The Argus of October 5, 1909 with Allotments 10b, 10d and 10f of Section T for sale - each about half an acre. According to the Plan, above, George Petrie Murdoch Senior (1851-1934) and George Petrie Murdoch Junior (1872-1972) purchased this land and the other adjoining allotments. George Junior also operated the Cora Lynn store, which opened in 1907 on what I believe are Allotments 14b & 14c, Section F; J.L. Stein being listed as the land owner on this plan. More information on the  Cora Lynn store, see here.

Crown land sales, including blocks at Cora Lynn

The Argus, October 5 1909 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10738242/357108

100 years ago this week - Ice Cream manufacturers

This is from a report, in the South Bourke and |Mornington Journal, 100 years ago this week,  of  the Berwick Shire Council Meeting held on Saturday, January 11 1913 and refers to applications to make Ice Cream at Garfield and Bunyip.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal January 16, 1913 page 5.

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

In the 1914  Electoral Roll, Catherine Louch was listed as the Newsagent at Garfield. Margaret Bell of Bunyip is listed as a 'Confectioner'.  Commercial production of ice cream was relatively new in Australia. According to the book Cream of the Country: a history of Victorian dairying by Norman Godbold (Dairy Industry Association of Australia, 1989) ice cream became popular around 1910 and there were many manufacturers. They originally used custard in the ice cream but this was revoluntionised by Fred Peters, an American, who had arrived in Sydney in 1908 with his mother's ice cream recipe which used only pure dairy products. It took Peters four year to accumulate enough money to go into the ice cream business  and when he did in 1912 the demand for his 'American' style ice cream was amazing. Peters Ice Cream is now part of Nestles.

I don't know how successful the new ice cream making ventures of Catherine and Margaret were, however in the 1919 Electoral roll Catherine is still listed as the Newsagent, but in the 1924 Electoral roll there is a Catherine Louch listed in the St Kilda area and her occupation is listed a 'Confectioner', so it seems likely that her career started in Garfield. You can read more about Margaret here.