A short history of Bunyip

I wrote this for the 35th birthday of the Bunyip & District Community News, and it was published in the October 2017 edition.

The first European settlers in the Bunyip region were squatters who leased the two Connabul Creek runs, which were located between the Ararat Creek and the Bunyip River. In 1845, Connabul Creek 1 run of 8,960 acres was leased by Michael Ready (or Reedy) and James Hook and Connabul Creek 2 run was leased by Terence O’Connor and a Mr Hayes. The other squatting run in the area was the 30,000 acre Bunyeep Bunyeep Run, which was located between the Bunyip River and the Tarago River and taken up in 1849 by Henry Jennings. Around the same time as these squatting runs were taken up (1847) a road was surveyed from Dandenong to the Bunyip River (in the vicinity of were Ellis Road meets the river) and the township of Bunyeep developed there.

This town was surveyed in the 1850s - it had a High Street and a Barkly Street and eleven blocks - two owned by A. McKinnon, two by W.M.K Vale and the rest by David Connor, who built the Bunyeep Inn around 1854. In 1867, Connor built a new hotel called the New Bunyip Inn.  This was built on the Bunyip River on the Gippsland Road, as the Princes Highway was then called. It was on the south side of the Highway, just east of A'Beckett Road and the west side of the Bunyip River.  A small settlement developed around the Inn, William Snell built a bakery in 1878 and a dance hall was erected by Mr Hyne, opposite the Inn. The New Bunyip Inn was closed by the Licensing Reduction Board in 1917.  It is possible that this small township on the Bunyip River would have developed into a sizable town however the arrival of the railways in 1877 moved the settlement further south and the modern town of Bunyip developed around the railway station.

Bunnyip Hotel, North Gippsland.  [David Connor's New Bunyip Inn] Photographer: Fred Kruger

 State Library of Victoria Image H41138/11

The railway line from Oakleigh to Bunyip opened on (depending on what source you use) October 4 or October 8, 1877.  There is a description of Bunyip in The Argus of October 4 from a journalist who took a trip down the railway line before the official opening - There are no visible settlements at the Bunyip at present, save such as have been temporarily called into existence by the railway works, but the hills on the north are stated to have been all selected. Two red-wood cottages have been built at the back of the station, apparently for the purposes of trade. On the whole, the scene is very desolate, and the traveller tempted by railway time-tables to ran down into Gipps Land, will be strongly persuaded when he steps from the train into the open space which has been hewn out of the Bunyip forest to postpone his visit, and hasten back to Melbourne, unless he is of dauntless mind, and hardened to toilsome bush roads.

Another report that contains a description of Bunyip was in the South Bourke & Mornington Journal on August 3, 1887 -  it has two hotels, well conducted by Messrs. Hanson and Finch. These two hostelries, with Mr. Barrow's general store, amicably uniting themselves pretty well form the township. There are also one or two unpretentious dwelling houses about, and a State School.

As is usual in many country towns some of the first establishments were hotels and, according to Denise Nest’s book The Call of the Bunyip, two Hotels opened in 1876 - the Butcher's Arms and the Bunyip Hotel. John O'Brien had the licence for the Bunyip Hotel and in January 1877 he took up the licence for the Railway Family Hotel.  I don’t know if these hotels were the ‘red wood cottages set up for the purpose of trade’ as described by the journalist above.

John O'Brien's tenure at the Family Hotel didn't last very long as it was sold up by the Sherrifs Office in May 1881, according to an advertisement in The Argus. I am a bit hazy on the early details of these hotels - by 1884 there are various advertisements for Lawrence Finch's Gippsland Hotel at Bunyip - this Hotel is still in existence (it's known as the Top Pub); in 1897 Sarah Alice Finch was listed as the licensee and William Kraft took over, sometime between October 1898 and September 1899, according to the Shire of Berwick Rate Books.   I don't know when the original building was replaced by the existing two storey brick building. The other hotel in Bunyip today is the Railway Hotel - Thomas Stacey is listed as a publican in the Shire of Berwick Rate books in 1890 and he had it for many years, but I am unsure of the connection, if any, between the Railway Hotel and early hotels - was John O'Brien's Railway Family Hotel the same hotel as the Railway Hotel or was it the Butcher's Arms? The Railway Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1924 and the new building, which is the existing building, opened in October of the same year.

The settlement on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp from around 1893 helped the development of Bunyip and Garfield as they were service centres for the surrounding farm lands. The 1903 Electoral Roll shows that Bunyip had 355 adults enrolled of which just under half were female. The occupations listed in the Roll give us idea of the sort of services were available in the town. As you might expect, most of the men were farmers or labourers but there were also railway employees, a carpenter, draper, coach builder, store keepers, baker, gardener, butcher, Hotel keeper and even one sailor. The women overwhelmingly had their occupation listed as ‘home duties’ but there was a dressmaker, a music teacher, a teacher and a saleswoman.

The population of Bunyip increased at a steady rate - in 1921 it was 694; 1933 - 744 and 1961 - 959. It then remained almost static for 25 years as in 1986 it was still only 986. The largest increase has come in the last 20 years when from 1996 to the 2016 Census the population doubled from 1,011 to 2,468.

As the population grew all the necessary trappings of a 'civilised' life developed - the State School opened at the start of 1880; the hotel keeper William Kraft built a hall, which was replaced by the original Mechanics' Institute Hall in 1906 (this hall burnt down in 1940 and the existing hall was opened in1942). Church services had taken place in the hall and private homes until the Methodist Church was opened in 1899 and the Anglican Church in 1902. The Presbyterian Church (now Uniting) was not opened until 1954.

Community groups such as the Agricultural, Pastoral and Horticultural Society was established in 1899; a football club and a cricket club sometime in the 1890s and Bunyip even had ‘young ladies’ cricket team which started in 1909.  The ‘ladies basketball’ club (netball) began in the 1930s. The Fire Brigade started in October 1942. The First Bunyip Scout Troop commenced in 1910 and the Girl Guides in 1959. On the welfare front - the Country Women’s Association started in 1936 and the Baby Health Centre the same decade.  A private Hospital was built in 1912 and another in the 1930s. The Shelley Memorial Hospital at Bunyip was officially opened on March 19, 1966 and closed on May 1, 1991. The building is now part of Hillview Hostel.

There are, of course, many other Community groups or institutions which have played a role in the life of Bunyip residents but we don’t have the space to go into it here. The Call of the Bunyip by Denise Nest, which I mentioned before, has information on some of these groups. You can buy this book from the Bunyip Historical Society. However, we can’t finish this short history of Bunyip without mentioning this publication, the volunteer run Bunyip & District Community News, which has been recording the activities of the area for 35 years.  Congratulations to the News team and we look forward to the next 35 years!

Koo Wee Rup Water Tower

As early as 1918 there was agitation for a water supply scheme in Koo Wee Rup and this issue came up periodically with the Koo Wee Rup Progress Association. In 1927, the Victorian Railways said that they would be able to use about 14 million gallons of water annually from any water supply scheme (this was in the days of steam trains) which would make a system more viable and so a Committee was formed to push the issue and get rate payer support. Eventually, the Koo Wee Rup Water Works Trust was formed and the first meeting was held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday, March 12 1929. We don’t really know what happened at this meeting as the next edition of the Koo Wee Rup Sun reported that the Press was ‘gagged’. According to the Sun, Commissioner William ‘Ernie’ Mills was apparently of the opinion that ‘the public should only be supplied with information that the Trust deems fit’. Ironically it was the rate payer’s representatives on the Trust - Mills, W.K Paterson and William Eason - who voted for the exclusion of the Press, while the Government nominees - Matthew Bennett, M.L.A. and George Burhop - voted against the exclusion of the Press.

The next evidence we can find regarding the workings of the Trust was that the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission had approved the plans for the water scheme and applications for tenders for the work were advertised in the June 27, 1929 Koo Wee Rup Sun and the results were announced in the October 24 paper. The tenders were for the construction of Head works, including an elevated reinforced concrete tank and settling basin - awarded to Monier Pipe Construction Co. - tender price was £4985.00; Supply of pumping machinery- McDonald & Co.; Trenching and laying of pipes - G.L Clemson £628.00; Manufacture of cast iron pipes - Monteath & Sons, South Melbourne £1214; Galvanised pipes - John Danks & Son £287; Cartage of pipes - A.J Gilchrist of Koo-Wee-Rup £18 18 shillings. The Engineer in Charge was Mr A.C Leith, who was also Secretary of the Society of Engineers.

The Sun reported in their March 6, 1930 edition that the Press gag was lifted and there was a report on the progress of the works. The official opening of the Water Scheme took place on Thursday, May 1 1930. The Opening Ceremony was attended by Mr Matthew Bennett, M.L.A, who was standing in for the Minister of Lands and Water Supply, Mr Bailey; SRWSC Engineer Mr Neville and representatives from the Companies involved in the construction of the scheme and the Victorian Railways. Commissioner W.E. Mills said in his address that the area was going ahead and would continue to forge ahead due to the surrounding rich agricultural land. He also said that old residents would know that land that was worth 5 shillings per foot, ten to fifteen years ago, was now worth £12 per foot. Another benefit of the water supply was that it would make their homes more picturesque and that from a social point of view the water supply would enable the construction of a bowling green and croquet lawn. Mr Bennett, M.L.A., talked about the health benefits of a water supply as streets could be flushed and that would make for cleanliness and health and the water supply was also a protection against fires. Mr Bennett, then turned a tap and allowed water to flow into a street channel and the scheme was declared open.

How did the Scheme work?
Water was obtained from the Bunyip Canal (Main Drain) and was pumped into a concrete settling basin of 160,000 gallons (one gallon is about 4.5 litres) having passed through a filtration process. It was then pumped into a 90 foot (about 27 metres) tower which had an 83,000 gallon capacity. The water was then distributed around the town. In the March 27, 1930 Koo Wee Rup Sun there was a notice to owners of properties that pipes had been laid in Station, Moody, Salmon, Henry, Gardiner and Charles Streets; Rossiter and Denhams Roads and Alexander and Sybella Avenues. Householders were required to lay a pipe and stop cock to their properties to be connected to the main pipe. The water rates were set at minimum charge of 30 shillings for a residence and 15 shillings for a vacant block. In the December of 1930 the water consumption since the Scheme started was 800,000 gallons of which the Railways had used 635, 000 gallons. On January 13, 1931 35,000 gallons was consumed in one day.

In the end, Koo Wee Rup not only got a reliable water supply but also a landmark construction which is still prominent today.

The Western Port Road

The Western Port Road started at Dandenong and traversed the old Shire of Cranbourne from Cranbourne to Tooradin to Tobin Yallock (the original Lang Lang township). This section is now known as the South Gippsland Highway. The road later continued onto Corinella and Bass and this section eventually became known as the Bass Highway.  The section of road from Dandenong to Tooradin had obviously been passable to some extent as early as 1839 because we know that Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson overlanded their cattle to Tooradin in the December of that year and then continued on by boat to their Yallock Station on the Yallock Creek (1).

Niel Gunson in his book The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (2) says it was fairly clearly defined by the 1850s, however it wasn’t until 1859 that a permanent roadway was surveyed which allowed access by wheeled traffic and livestock (3). In spite of this, Dr Gunson writes that transporting stock from the Yallock Creek Station to Melbourne still took four days in the 1850s and 1860s (4). Even though the road was formed it wasn’t until 1868 that the section from Dandenong to Cranbourne was metalled (5).

The main problems with the road was the need to cross the inlets (such as Lyall’s and Moody’s Inlets) before bridges were constructed.  In 1845, Edward Cockayne was given the right to operate a ferry service but he was a bit eccentric and unreliable and sometimes ignored the signals of the travellers (such as a lit fire or the firing of a pistol) so they were forced to spend a night marooned on the side of the inlet. His licence was finally cancelled in 1853 (6). Cockayne occupied a hut where Harewood is now located and it is believed that the stables on the property date back to the time of Cockayne’s occupancy (7). Cockayne Inlet in Western Port Bay is named after Edward.

In 1864, a John Carson offered to conduct a ferry service, but this was declined by the Cranbourne Road Board. In 1865 James Smethurst erected two bridges  over the Inlets, according to Dr Gunson, I am not sure which Inlets he is referring to but the same year the mail contractor, John Murphy, complained about the state of the Yallock and Tobin Yallock bridges (8). The bridge at Tooradin was built in 1873 (9).

However, people were resourceful in those days and traversing creeks and inlets didn’t stop commerce and the trappings of civilisation as on November 13, 1860 a weekly mail service was introduced to Corinella via Yallock and by 1865 there was a two day a week coach service from Cranbourne to the Bass River also via Corinella (10).

The southern end of the Western Port Road was constructed in the 1860s. Joseph White, author of the book One hundred years of history: Shire of Phillip Island and Woolamai 1875-1928, Shire of Bass 1928-1975 (11) said the road was originally surveyed in 1862 and the first route from the settled areas near Tobin Yallock in the Shire of Cranbourne was by a cattle track that kept to the tops of the range as the coastal route was swampy and needed many creek crossings. The opening of the road led to settlement being opened up and as we said before the establishment of a Cobb & Co. coach service. Very little work was done on this section of the road until the Shire was formed in 1875 and it received another boost in 1913 when the Country Roads Board was established and took over responsibility for the road (12).

There was a report on the state of the Western Port Road in the Leader newspaper of September 19, 1874. The newspaper correspondent was talking about the development of the Grantville area and had this to say about the journey to the settlement.

 A coach (Cobb's) leaves the Star Hotel from Dandenong every morning in week days. There is a very good metalled road from thence to the flourishing post town of Cranbourne - 9 miles - but the remainder of the road from the latter place here is simply execrable. Some portions of it are even worse than execrable, for they are, in this season of the year, and the three months just passed, absolutely dangerous, and do anything but credit to the road surveyor's department. After leaving Cranbourne, there is a couple or three miles of fairly metalled road, but after that (and this passage I pen for the especial benefit of the above department) come the counterparts of the Great Dismal Swamp, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death. One spot in particular, called Frenchman's Hole, or Flat-bottomed Creek, is highly dangerous to a stranger. The mails are carried over this beautiful spot twice a week, on horseback, and no doubt the man who carries them could give a much more graphic account of this picturesque route than myself. Be that as it may, the traffic on it is much on the increase, and I consider it shameful neglect on the part of the post-office authorities not to organise a better system of mail delivery for this district; and the sooner they let us have three deliveries a week instead of two the better for our convenience and their reputation (13).

Frenchman’s Hole was near Lang Lang and according to Niel Gunson, a Frenchman had tried to cross the two miles of the flat land but he disappeared down a hole, covered with water and only his hat was ever discovered or so the legend goes (14). 

Footnotes

(1) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Cheshire 1968), p. 21

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

(3) Gunson, op. cit., p. 54 and p. 49

(4) Gunson, op. cit., 78.

(5) Gunson, op. cit., p. 89

(6) Gunson, op. cit., p. 48

(7) https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/30287

(8) Gunson, op. cit. p. 90

(9) Ibid.

(10) Gunson, op. ci., p. 62.

(11) White, Joseph One hundred years of history: Shire of Phillip Island and Woolamai 1875-1928, Shire of Bass 1928-1975 (Shire of bass and Phillip Island, 1974)

(12) Information in this paragraph from - White, op. cit., pp 13-14.

(13) The Leader, September 19, 1874, see here.

(14) Gunson, op. cit. p. 162.