French Island - a short history

French Island is not, of course, part of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, but you can see it from the Swamp, especially if you go to the Swamp lookout tower on the South Gippsland Highway, where the Main Drain enters Western Port. French Island does have historical connections to local towns in the old  Shire of Cranbourne through trade, sport, recreation and medical matters. There is a touching article in the Mornington Standard of August 22, 1895 about  a French Island settler, 48 year-old William Warne, who had an accident when he was felling a tree and he was crushed by it. He was then conveyed two and  a half miles on a stretcher to a  boat, where they had to wait from mid-night until 4.30am until low tide, when he was rowed across to Tooradin, a voyage that took two hours. Dr Denton-Fethers, from Cranbourne met him at Tooradin and as William  had to wait until the next day before he could be sent to hospital  by train, the doctor remained in attendance administering morphia. William was accompanied by Constable Cole of Lang Lang to Melbourne. The  article ends with this sad note No hopes are entertained of his recovery.  You can read the full report here. 

Another interesting connection between French Island and Lang Lang was that escaped prisoners from the Penal Settlement landed there or further down the Bay, but the Lang Lang Constables, including the aforementioned Constable Cole, spent his time looking for the escapees. In June 1918 an escapee, made it all the way to Sydney, before being caught, and Constable Cole was sent there to escort him back (1).

View of French Island from the Swamp look-out tower at Koo Wee Rup, taken January 2013.

Image: Heather Arnold

French Island, in Western Port Bay, is the largest island in Victoria and the largest island between Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Stradbroke Island in Queensland (2).  The size of the island has been listed variously as 15,400 hectares or 17, 900 hectares (3). The first European explorer to reach Western Port Bay was George Bass (1771 - 1803), who had left Port Jackson on December 3, 1797 in an open whaleboat, only 28 feet 7 inches long. Along with Bass there were six volunteers and six weeks of provisions. The purpose of the trip was to establish whether Van Diemen’s Land was an island or connected to the mainland. Bass entered Western Port Bay on January 5, 1798. (4) This journey was a remarkable feat of navigation and confidence.

Bass set out from Sydney again on October 7, 1798 this time with Matthew Flinders (1774 - 1814), in the Norfolk and they circumnavigated Van Diemen’s land, thus confirming the existence of the Strait, which was named after Bass. In 1801 the Lady Nelson, under the command of Lieutenant James Grant (1772 - 1833),  and later acting-Lieutenant John Murray (1775-1807) visited Western Port and members of the crew planted  a garden on Churchill Island, prepared the first chart of Western Port and also discovered Port Phillip Bay in January 1802, which they entered on February 14. (5)

Bass, Grant and Murray did not realise that French Island, was in fact an island. It was the French under Captain Jacques-Félix-Emmanuel Hamelin (1768-1839) in the Naturaliste who reached Western Port and circumnavigated and mapped French Island in April 1802, who discovered this. Hamelin was part of a French expedition, under the command of Captain Thomas Nicolas Baudin (1754-1803), whose mission was to map the Australian coast and undertake scientific studies. Baudin was in the Geographe. They named the island Ile des Francais - Island of the French People. The arrival of the French in the area prompted the British to establish a short-lived settlement at Sorrento in October 1803, which was abandoned in May 1804. (6)

In common with other parts of Western Port the first European settlers were sealers and other visitors to French island may have been residents of a settlement at Corinella established in December 1826 and abandoned in February 1828. The first legal settlers, John and William Gardiner who took up the French Island run in April 1847. (7) The land was eventually surveyed and subdivided in the 1860s.  Early industries on the island included the French island Salt Company, operated by Richard Cheetham, from 1869. Saltmine Point is a legacy of this business. (8) Chicory was also grown until the 1960s and when the industry was at its peak there were 22 chicory kilns on the Island. (9)

In the 1890s, Australia was in a depression thus a number of unemployed people were settled on French Island from 1893.  They were given small farms and expected to become self-sufficient. It was not a success - lack of fresh water, lack of roads, poor land, difficulty of shipping in building and other supplies and shipping out produce were some of the reasons for failure. The village settlements were named Energy, Star of Hope, Industrial, Perseverance, Callanan's and Kiernan's (10).  Of course, some of the farmers did succeed and in an article in the paper in 1953 it said there were 35 farming families on the island (11). They had sheep, grazing and crops - potatoes, peas and onions - but dairying was impossible due to the unreliability of getting the milk to market on the barges - which had to battle the tides and the weather. Rabbits were also a source of income with a report in The Age of July 2, 1931 saying Rabbits are numerous, and many trappers are obtaining fifty pairs nightly off Crown land. Great wastage is caused owing to the heavy cost of transport to Melbourne.  During the Great War, over 30 men and one woman, who had a connection to the Island, enlisted (12). 

A bumper crop of pumpkins, grown on French Island, 1901

State Library of Victoria Image H34460

In 1916, the McLeod Prison farm was established on the south-east side of the island. It housed 127 prisoners and closed in 1975 (13). This was another source of agitation for the settlers - escaped prisoners, who even though their aim was to get to the mainland, they sometimes menaced the locals.

Access to the Island was improved when the train line reached Stony Point in 1889, and a regular service to Tankerton on the island was established. Cattle were taken by barge to Corinella or swam across on low tide from Stockyard Point. From around 1940, to supplement the regular ferry, Les Paterson, operated an ‘on call’ service from Tankerton to Stony Point, with his boat, Amanda. Emergencies involved maternity patients, the cartage of coffins and the deceased and the local cricket team (14).

Ken Gartside also operated a barge from Tooradin to French Island from 1946. The Gartsides had 2000 acres on French Island. He was part of the Gartside family who operated the cannery in Dingley from the 1930s to the 1970s (15). 

French Island Barge, leaving Tooradin, 1962. Photographer: Neil Smith.

Neil Smith taught at Tooradin North State School before the Second World War. This photo was donated by his son, Roderic Smith to the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society.

French Island National Park covers 11,000 hectares of the Island (16) and the rest of the land is privately owned French Island is not part of a local government area and so landowner don’t pay rates. However, they also have no electricity, have to use generators, have no made roads and of course rely on the ferry and barges for mainland access. As I said before, the ferry service runs from Stony Point on the mainland to Tankerton. The barge runs from Corinella to Point Leschenault, according to the Parks Victoria visitor guide (17). Théodore Leschenault de la Tour  (1773 - 1826)  was the botanist on Nicolas Baudin's expedition to the Australia that I mentioned previously.

This is the French Island barge, landing at Point Leschenault, French Island.
Photo: Eric Shingles.

Eric and his cousin, Colin Young, the owner of the truck, made two trips to French Island recently to pick up a load of a cattle and a load of sheep, this photo was taken November 27, 2019.

This photo of 'the old State School on French Island'  was entered by Mr Windebank in a competition in Table Talk and was published on April 3, 1930, see here. 

I am unsure if this was Perserverance, No. 3261 or Star of Hope, No. 3262. See below.

There is one primary school on the island at Perseverance, No. 3261 which opened in June 1896.  It operated part-time with the Star Of Hope School, No. 3262. A letter was sent to the Education Department by a resident, John Christophers (18), in November 1894 and he said that there were 47 school age children on the Island and this does not include the largest settlement, which I am assured contains from 20 or 30 children more. Both schools were originally wattle and daub huts with thatch roofs, fairly basic. By 1903 the average attendance at the schools were eleven at Perserverance and seven at Star of Hope. In 1907 new schools were erected at both sites (19).

In 1911, the population was 149, 1933 - 204; 1954 - 178; 1961 -  228 and today the population is around 110 (20).

Footnotes

(1) The Herald, June 29, 1918, see here.
(2) Edgecombe, Jean Phillip Island and Western Port (published by the author, 1989)
(3) Size of the island - Victorian Places website https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/french-island  says it is 154 square kilometres and the French Island Community Association website
https://www.frenchislandinfo.com/  says it is 179 square kilometres.
(4)  Cole, Valda  Western Port Chronology, 1798 - 1839: Exploration to settlement (Shire of Hastings Historical Society, 1984)
(5) Cole, op. cit.

(6) Cole, op. cit.
(7) Billis, R.V and Kenyon, A.S Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip (Stockland Press, 1974)
(8)  Edgcombe, op. cit.
(9) Victorian Places website https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/french-island
(10) Victorian Places website https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/french-island
(11) The Herald, November 28 1953, see here. 
(12) I have written about these World War One Soldiers and one Nurse, here   https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2022/01/world-war-one-soldiers-and-nurse-with.html
(13)  Edgcombe, op. cit.
(14)  Woodley, Arthur E. Western Port Ferries: past and present (Hill of Content, 1973)
(15) Dandenong Journal, June 5, 1946    https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/214793934
(16)  French Island Community Association website https://www.frenchislandinfo.com/
(17)  Parks Victoria visitors guide - scroll down to the bottom of this website to access it https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/french-island-national-park

(18) Surname is actually Christopherson
(19)  Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, edited by L.J. Blake. (Education Department of Victoria, 1973)
(20) Victorian Places website https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/french-island

What happened in Garfield in 1920

This is a look back 100 years at what happened in Garfield and surrounds in 1920.

The Bunyip and Garfield Express (BGE) of January 9, 1920 had a complaint about the slowness of the post. The publishers had received complaints about the late delivery of the paper. They wrote that the paper is mostly posted on Thursday, before the mail closes at 6pm, and subscribers should get their papers on Friday, and certainly no later than Saturday. Sometimes they do not receive them until Monday. They leave here on Thursday’s train, but owing to the absurd practice of all letters, papers etc for Garfield, Tynong, Cora Lynn, Vervale and several other places close at hand, having to go to Melbourne first, no doubt that is where the delay occurs. The paper wrote to the Deputy Postmaster-General about the matter and received a response saying that the matter would receive consideration.

Also, in January in the BGE was this – Naturalists and lovers of birds will be interested to learn that a blackbird has made its appearance near the Junction Bridge [south of Bunyip], and has been seen and heard on several occasions by residents in the locality. It is to be hoped that the rare specimen will not be destroyed. (Bunyip and Garfield Express January 30, 1920) Blackbirds were introduced to Victoria in the 1860s by the Acclimatisation Society, they were set free along with other introduced species such as starlings and skylarks in areas such as the Botanic Gardens and Phillip Island. It’s interesting it took around 60 years for the birds to acclimatise enough and make it out to this area.

In the same issue of the BGE was a report of Tobacco growing in Bunyip. It is now illegal to grow tobacco without an excise license and according to the Australian Taxation Office website there have been no licensed tobacco growers in Australia since 2006 (be interesting to know how much ‘illegal’ tobacco is grown, but that’s another story).  Anyway, in late 1919 a syndicate began growing tobacco in a plantation on Old Sale Road. The Syndicate’s tobacco expert is quoted as saying in his 30 years’ experience in the trade he has not handled a better tobacco leaf as grown at present in Bunyip. The syndicate were in the process of erecting a curing shed. (Bunyip and Garfield Express January 30, 1920)

Before trucks and decent roads, all produce was despatched by rail and there were regular complaints about the lack of rail trucks and therefore tons of potatoes just sat on the railway station for days awaiting transportation. Dairy farmers were also unhappy with the railways - a letter to The Argus signed by ‘Dairy Woman’ of Tynong said that the milk train left Nar Nar Goon at 9.00pm, but they had just been notified that for the future we would have to have the milk loaded by half-past 5 p.m. We all strongly object to such an alteration. It means beginning to milk at 3 o'clock, which leaves very little time to plough, to put in the feed to produce the milk. (The Argus August 27, 1920)

Complaint about the time of the milk train at Nar Nar Goon.

The Argus August 27, 1920.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4587653

In other railway news the local branch of the Australian Natives Association, a Mutual Society which provided medical, sickness and funeral cover, passed a motion to have the railway line duplicated as far as Warragul. (The Age, February 20, 1920) I believe the last part of this duplication, the line between Bunyip and Longwarry, is being planned at the moment - just a mere 100 years after it was suggested. The other bit of interesting railway news took place in July when 38 empty cattle trucks became separated from the engines because the couplings broke and they travelled nine miles from the Drouin Railway Station until they finally came to a standstill between Garfield and Bunyip. No damage was done.

In August, the Traralgon Record reported on a Court case involving two Garfield North families - fifteen year old Leslie Brew sued E. R. Towt for £99 in damages in the Warragul Court. Apparently, Leslie and Mr Towt’s son were fighting and when young Brew got the best of the struggle, Mr Towt set his dogs on to him and he was bitten on both legs. The Judge awarded Leslie Brew £25 in damages, with costs, and said it was a most cowardly thing to set a dog upon a boy.

As a matter of interest when I was writing this article there was a really heavy hail storm in Melbourne being reported on the television and I came across this in The Argus of July 30, 1920. Horatio Weatherhead of North Tynong wrote into the Nature Notes and Queries column and said in January 1887 there was a hailstorm at Daylesford when jagged lumps of ice nearly a foot long and weighing up to 4lb fell. The damage to windows, roofs and crops was considerable. The remarkable thing is that no one was seriously injured. The hailstorm was referred to at the time as "falling icebergs”.

We will finish this with a report which had the headline A Pugnacious Waiter. Walwin Harold Lucas was charged with assault. This man was employed as a waiter for two days, and in that time he had twelve fights with the customers, in addition to assaulting his employer. (The Herald, April 20, 1920) He was fined 40 shillings on each of the charges or 14 days in gaol. His connection to Garfield is that he had also kept a tobacconist's shop, at Garfield, but on account of his behavior he had been warned by the police to leave. So, clearly customer service was not his strong point and neither was anger management. Plus, I did not know that the Police could ‘run you out of town’, I thought that only happened in the Wild West.

What happened in Koo Wee Rup in 1920

This is a look back 100 years at what happened in Koo Wee Rup and surrounds in 1920.

Mickle Memories of Koo Wee Rup by David Mickle, is a chronological look at the history of Koo Wee Rup. David starts the 1920 entry with the following about hay stacks. David’s brother, Fred’s diary entry for January 1 recorded that our big hay shed was filled with close to 100 tons. We had to hire a stack builder as we couldn’t manage to build stacks. The leading stack builder, Jack Kelly, was a real hard case, made us drop the sheaves right where he wanted them. Good stacking is a sort of expanding circular procedure lapping the sheaves as you go. In five days we had two stacks with about fifty-five tons up. When Jack received his cheque on Friday or Saturday he rarely had much left Monday morning. He earned £1 a day, well above the rate for other hands. David also wrote that Fred says we killed twenty snakes during harvest.

David wrote that there was a navvies camp in Koo Wee Rup -  a navvie was a labourer employed to construct roads and railways -  and they were working on the new line that went from Koo Wee Rup to Strzelecki. Fred found 160 beer bottles near the camp. The going rate for the bottles was 6 pence a dozen, which amounted to eight shillings, which was good money as at the time they were getting only 2 shillings and six pence per day picking spuds.

In February, the Koo Wee Rup Sun had this report, with the headline Phone Facilities. It is a surprising oversight on the part of some business people of Koo Wee Rup and Cranbourne who still muddle on without installing a telephone, thus placing themselves and customers at great disadvantage and inconvenience….[they should]  keep abreast of the times and not live as in the days of ancient runners that the telephone service has pushed out of work. (Koo Wee Rup Sun February 19, 1920)

Feat of flying

The Herald March 19, 1920  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242172019

In March, this interesting feat was reported Flight to land sale - a crowded three hours - Flying from Melbourne to Koo-wee-rup, a distance of nearly 50 miles, in 25 minutes, completing a land sale, attending races at Koo-wee-rup, and returning to Melbourne, in a little more than three hours, was the achievement yesterday afternoon of Mr A. F. Witham and Mr B. Kavanagh, of Messrs Witham, Woodman and Kavanagh, land salesmen. (The Herald March 19, 1920) David Mickle also wrote about this in his book - the flight took place on St Patrick’s Day, they flew at 96 miles per hour and landed in what was then a paddock opposite the Secondary College. The pilot, Captain King gave a demonstration for the excited crowd.

John Mickle's Lauriston Park subdivision sale advertisement

Koo Wee Rup Sun, April 1 1920

In the April, David’s uncle, John Mickle subdivided some of his Lauriston Park property. The subdivision started from the Rossiter Road/Station Street intersection, down towards what is now the Secondary College. In 1926 further subdivision took place with the creation of John, Alexander and Mickle Streets.

Also in April the Koo Wee Rup Sun raised this issue - It would be interesting to find out how much money is thrown away by the various Government Departments in the getting of reports.  In Koo Wee Rup we have had a large number of reports in connection with railway matters, while last week officials of the Police department went over the same old routine of several months ago in connection with the establishment of a permanent police station here. This repetition of reports…..is a testimony to money and labour being wasted. So, no change here 100 years later. (Koo Wee Rup Sun April 22, 1920)

1920 saw the opening of two local State Schools - Dalmore School was on August 6. The first teacher was Emilie Pitt. According to a report in the South Bourke & Mornington Journal, the school was on a splendid site, had a nice appearance inside and out and had excellent lighting and ventilation.   The other school was at Monomeith, which first occupied a room in a house. The actual school building was occupied in July 1924. It was a very short-lived school as it closed in May 1933. The Monomeith building was relocated to Tooradin North in 1935, where it was used until 1970. In 2005 it was relocated again, to the Fisherman's Cottage Museum Complex, on the Foreshore at Tooradin.

Photo of the train wreckage at Koo Wee Rup

Weekly Times August 21, 1920  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222557562

On August 18, a tragic accident happened at the Rossiter Road railway crossing when a car collided with the express train from Nyora. Two State Rivers & Water Supply Commission men were killed, William Thomson and Allan Deal. The Coroner in his report had a verdict of misadventure. The evidence of the men from the Railways said it was a good level crossing, but evidence presented by the motor car driver, Jack Dalley, and the owner of the car, Andrew Colvin and others said it was a dangerous crossing.

Also in August the Koo Wee Rup Sun reported on the visit of another aeroplane to Koo Wee Rup, this was in conjunction with 2nd Peace Loan. The plane toured the country and people subscribed to the loan (i.e. lent the Government money and they received interest). The money was for the repatriation of the soldiers. The plane landed behind the Royal Hotel on Monday August 23 and appeals were made and in the four hours the plane was in the town the people of Koo Wee Rup signed up for £4,900. The plane had been at Lang Lang on the same day and it raised £1,850. As David Mickle wrote, aeroplanes were No.1 drawcards in those days.

This is a bit out of Koo Wee Rup, but in August 1920 James Lecky of Cardinia Park in Officer South sold their property. Cardinia Park, previously called Gin Gin Bean, had been in the Lecky family since 1846. Perhaps the decision to sell was prompted by the fact that James lost two sons in the First World War - James (the younger) died of wounds on November 14, 1918 and William was killed in action on September 1, 1918.

Christoper Moody (1833 - 1920)

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph

We will finish this post with another pioneer, Christopher Moody, who passed away November 17, 1920. Moody purchased 1,686 acres of the Great Swamp run in 1875. He sub-divided land in the 1890s in the Koo Wee Rup township - what became Moody, Gardner, Henry and Salmon Streets. In 1902 he moved to Shepton in Rossiter Road.  He is also the source of the name of Moody’s Inlet. You can read more about Christopher Moody, here.

Grandma's garden at Cora Lynn

I am rather fond of palm trees and there used to be a palm tree in the garden at Grandma's house on Murray Road, Cora Lynn. The property was called Evesham. Grandma was Eva Rouse (nee Weatherhead). Her garden was magnificent and the palm tree was out the back, near the water tank and next to a weeping cherry tree and near the holly bush. Growing next to the water tank was a tree dahlia, which as you would know, has a very short flowering season. Behind the palm was the vegetable garden and an orchard.  If we went around the house to the west side, Grandma had lots of dahlias; round the house to the front or the north and the the east side - were trees, blossom trees, magnolias, a feijoa, a camellias, various roses - bush and climbing; lilacs, a wisteria, bird of paradise, and then around the back on the back path to the back door there was a Cecile Brunner pink rose, fuscias, violets, hellebores, Chinese lantern trees, snowball trees, a mulberry tree. Plus various flowers everywhere - stocks, snap dragons etc.  The garden was her pride and joy.

My Dad (Frank Rouse), my aunty  Marion, and Grandma - off to church on a Sunday, around 1955 - and there's our palm tree in the back, behind the water tank.

Grandma in front of the tree dahlia, 1966 - and there's our palm tree on the right,  next to the elevated tank.

No palm tree in this photo - but this is Evesham and Grandma with two children and holding a baby, most likely my dad, who was born December 1934.

Evesham, 1958. No palm trees in any of the following photos, but here are some other photos of Grandma's garden. The fence was constructed by my Dad and my uncle, Jim Rouse. The top pipe was  a water pipe, which could have  a hose attached to the end and it had taps at various intervals to connect hoses.

Evesham, 1958

Evesham, 1958. This is the driveway, the little building on the right is the chook feed shed. The bricks on the left are for a 3 bay open-fronted shed that was being constructed.

Evesham, 1964

Matthew Bennett, farmer and M.L.A

Matthew Bennett was born January 20, 1862 at Carngham, near Ballarat, to Joseph and Elizabeth Ann (nee Temby) Bennett. The family later moved to Benjeroop where they farmed. As well as Matthew there were three other sons - Edward (died 1919 at Nathalia, aged 63); Richard (died 1900 at Kerang, aged 41) and Thomas (died 1914 at Kerang, aged 41) and a daughter, Emma (Mrs Chester Eagle, died 1943 at Barham). When Joseph died on March 24, 1906 he and Elizabeth were living at Kerang. Elizabeth died May 1, 1924 at Barham in New South Wales.

Matthew had a farm in his own right at Benjeroop and on October 31, 1889 he married Mary Simpson at the Baptist church at Benjeroop. This church had been moved in June from its original location to a more central location in the town protected on the north and west by the high timber growing along the river, and [where] there is also a nice little grove of young trees close by, which will be a very convenient shelter for horses and vehicles, both in hot and cold weather (Kerang Times May 8, 1888).  Mary was the daughter of Charles and Emma (nee Bond) Simpson. They were also farmers from Benjeroop. Matthew and Mary had four daughters whilst they were living in the Benjeroop / Murrabit region.

Around 1893, Matthew was elected as a Trustee of the Benjeroop and Murrabit Water Trust. In 1905 the family moved 400 kilometres south to Yannathan, on the recently drained Koo Wee Rup Swamp. A ‘send-off’ was held for the family on March 21 and attended by 150 locals. The Kerang New Times reported on the occasion – the room being decorated with evergreens, pampas grass, palm leaves, etc, and with the tables attractively laid out and laden with enticing comestibles from the substantial ham and turkey to the lighter trifle and jellies.  Many complimentary speeches were made about Matthew, as you would imagine – He was a gentleman who was appreciated by all and had carried out whatever public duties he had performed honestly and fairly.  He had original ideas of his own and endeavoured to give them effect and was not afraid to have the courage of his opinion….He was an up to date farmer, ready to adopt any new method which would improve the farming interests and had shown what could be done in the district by irrigation.

After the speeches Matthew was presented with a handsome gold Albert and locket and Mary was presented with a silver hot water kettle with spirit lamp attachment. A ‘gold Albert’ I have just found out is a watch chain. The evening finished with the National Anthem, followed by a dance which was kept up to an early hour.  (Kerang New Times March 24, 1905, see here)

The family moved to Crown Allotments 28 and 29, Parish of Koo Wee Rup East. The allotments  were 159 acres and 154 acres respectively - 313 acres in all. They were near Bayles on the north side of the Bayles-Modella road. When the Bennetts moved to the area it was called Yannathan, but the area was later known as Catani.  Both Bayles and Catani came into existence as they were stations on the Koo Wee Rup to Strzelecki Railway line which opened in June 1922 and the towns soon developed around the stations. Catani, was, of course, named for Carlo Catani, the Public Works Department engineer who worked on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp drainage scheme.  Initially Matthew was a dairy farmer, but he gave up dairying in September 1915, held a clearing sale and became a grazier.

Matthew Bennett's clearing sale.

Lang Lang Guardian September 29, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119512940

The family took part in the life of the community, whilst they were at Yannathan.  Matthew was the president of the Yannathan New Year’s Day Sports Carnival; Mary was the vice-president of the Yannathan branch of the Lady Mayoress' Patriotic League and the whole family were involved with fund raising for ‘patriotic causes’ during the Great War. We will have a quick look at the lives of four Bennett daughters. The eldest daughter, Janey Gertrude was born in 1892. In 1917, she married Joseph Henry Carson, whose parents owned a property at Yannathan. Joseph had a property at Balldoran, north of Dubbo; Janey spent her married life in that region and died in 1984. The second daughter, Elsie Marjorie Elizabeth, was born in 1894. She married Abraham Alfred Patullo, of Lang Lang, in 1920 and they farmed some of the land that was owned by her parents. She died in 1980. The third daughter, Isabel Emma, was born in 1896, she never married and died in 1983. The fourth daughter, Josephine Eleanor was born in 1899 and married Jack Reeve Dowling, an Accountant from Melbourne, in 1936. She died in 1989.

Matthew Bennett was involved with the Victorian Farmers’ Union which became the Country Party in the late 1920s – he was on the Central Council at both State and Federal level and President of the local Yannathan branch, so it was no surprise that he would stand for election. On August 27, 1925 he was elected as a councillor to the Cranbourne Shire. His platform, as published in a letter in the Koo Wee Rup Sun of August 20, was primarily concerned with roads good roads are very essential in this Riding in particular, as it is one of intensive culture almost throughout. They facilitate production, which means wealth, cheapens transport, help to stop the drift to the city, brightens country life and very materially help primary producers and country townspeople to prosper. Mr Bennett was Shire President on two occasions and remained on the Council until his death, in 1951. He was the Shire President 1931/1932 and 1941/1942.    In 1953, his grandson Stewart Patullo was elected as  a Cranbourne Shire Councillor.

Matthew Bennett

Dandenong Journal September 17, 1931 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201085220

On October 1, 1929 at a by-election, Mr Bennett was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the seat of West Gippsland, representing the Country Party.  He retired from Parliament after nearly 21 years on April 1, 1950. Apart from the fact that he was then well into his eighties, his health had been affected by illness and a serious car accident in January 1949. Matthew Bennett was a farmer and had country interests at heart and one of his achievements was the establishment of the Milk Board in December 1933, which regulated the dairy industry.

Matthew’s wife, Mary died on August 2, 1925. The death notice said that she died at her residence 16 Service Street, Hampton. She is buried at the Brighton Cemetery. It was just after her death that Matthew decided to stand for Council - I wonder if those two events were linked?  Of interest though is the fact that in 1925, Mary Bennett was not living at Catani or Yannathan. Even though Matthew Bennett maintained property in the area, he also did not live in the country. From 1926 his residential address in the Shire of Cranbourne Rate books was 631 Inkerman Road in Caulfield, so maybe the roads still weren’t good enough for them and country life was not ‘bright’ enough for them and they ‘drifted’ to the city.

However, he was still popular as he kept getting re-elected and there are various reports of ‘complimentary socials’ being held in various local towns.  In fact, in August 1944 at a function at the Catani Hall, Mr Bennett was presented with an illuminated address, and he was congratulated on having won such universal esteem and on having attended to his parliamentary duties in the interests of all, irrespective, of party. (Dandenong Journal August 2, 1944).

Matthew Bennett died on January 16, 1951 and he was buried with his wife Mary at Brighton Cemetery. His obituary in the Dandenong Journal of January 17, 1951 said he was affectionately known as “Mattie” throughout the length and breadth of Gippsland, was a wonderful character, who made friends everywhere, but never an enemy. Matthew Bennett Park in Drouin is named after him as is Bennett Road in Catani.

I have created  a list on Trove on newspaper articles on Matthew Bennett, you can access it here. All the articles referred to here are on this list.