I have added the footnotes. Heather Arnold,
Garfield 1921-1930 by Bill Parish
This period was marked by a boom, during which most of the shopping centre was built and farming properties were improved.
Many local people purchased their first motor cars and trucks. Radio arrived and aerial masts sprouted like the television antennas of today; some of them reaching up to 80 feet. This prosperity would later be marred by the onset of the Depression at the end of the decade.
Horses were becoming rarer and rarer on the roads, with the ever increasing number of motor cars taking their place. The last was seen of the bullock teams and due to the lack of timber, saw milling faded out.
One of the greatest secondary industries seen in Garfield also ceased production. This was Jefferson’s Brick and Pipe works, which had at its peak employed many men and had its own railway siding (1).
Those involved in the service to the public at this stage included storekeepers A.V. Tonkin, Pedersen and Tresize, Crouch Brothers, R. Pitchers, Kerr and B. Thompson; bakers Harrington, Jack and Wall Brothers; butchers Walsh, Whitehead and Faukner; plumber F. Marsh; cafe proprietors and fruiterers Little, Trotter, Isherwood, Barnes, Harris and Hannon; Doctor McLeod; blacksmiths Parke, Edis and Hourigan; newsagent W. Wright and W. Maybury; school teacher W. Waugh and police R. Mason and D. Dale.
The Boy Scout Troop was formed in 1926 under E.G. Hill.
After a very dry season in 1925, the following year saw one of the greatest bushfires ever endured by the district. It swept from Gembrook to Pakenham and Warragul. Not a fence was left and much trouble was experienced with cattle, horses etc (2).
Electric power was supplied firstly by the Picture Theatre. A power plant was built in 1924, and this was used until the advent of the S.E.C. The main S.E.C powerlines passed through North Garfield (3).
Reconstruction of the Princes Highway was commenced at this time, as was work on the State Rivers channel, which supplied water to the townspeople (4).
(1) Joseph Jefferson established a sawmill in 1877 on the site of what was to become his clay pit, off Railway Avenue. He sent this timber out via Bunyip Station until a local siding, the Cannibal Creek Siding, was built in 1885 to accommodate the timber tramline which was constructed by William Brisbane, a contractor on behalf of Francis Stewart. This tramline run for about 8 kilometres, to the Two Mile Creek, the Garfield North road basically follows this tramway. Getting back to Joseph Jefferson, his was a very successful business, as well as producing timber products such as fence posts and rails and firewood, he also mined the sand on his property to be used in the building industry in Melbourne and when he discovered clay on his property, he began making clay bricks. The 1880s was a boom time for Victoria and Jefferson could produce over 50,000 bricks per week and fire 75,000 at a time in his kiln. The Depression of the 1890s saw a decline in the building industry which flowed onto his business and the brickworks eventually shut down in 1929.
(2) Bush fire – the fire began at 2.30pm on Thursday, December 31, 1925. It was said to have been caused by campers ‘smoking out rabbits’. The fire was subdued by rain on the Sunday night/Monday morning. It was reported that around 4,000 acres were burnt out.
(3) SEC Power arrived towards the end of 1929, in conjunction with the power supplied to the Tynong Quarry. The Quarry had been established to supply the granite for the Shrine. The tender for the construction of the Shrine was given to Vaughan & Lodge Bros., in June 1928. Their tender was for £153,886. The quarry was established around this time, but it was some months later before power was supplied to the quarry. Read more about this, here, https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2023/02/tynong-short-history.html
(4) A water supply to Garfield was established around September 1930.
There are two interesting omissions from Bill Parish’s look at Garfield in the 1920s.
Firstly, the Garfield Picture Theatre was opened. It officially opened with a Grand Ball on Monday, December 22, 1924. The theatre was built by Martin O’Donohue. It had a power house at the rear and a 230 volt generator and was thus the first source of electricity in Garfield. One of the first films shown at the Theatre was Where the North Begins, a Rin Tin Tin movie. I have written about the Picture Theatre here
Secondly, the Garfield Railway Station burnt down on Thursday, February 21,1924. There was a short report in The Argus of 25/2/1924 - The Garfield railway station was completely destroyed by a fire which occurred about 2 o'clock on Thursday morning. The fire was first noticed by the crew of a goods train who awakened the station master. Owing to no water supply being available, the onlookers were unable to prevent the flames from spreading. A few milk cans were rescued from the goods shed. A number of parcels, including two bicycles and a perambulator, and a quantity of passengers' luggage, were destroyed, in addition to departmental records. The origin of the fire is unknown.
1931-1940 https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/09/bill-parishs-history-of-garfield-1931.html
1941-1950 https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/09/bill-parishs-history-of-garfield-1941.html
1951-1960 https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/09/bill-parishs-history-of-garfield-1951.html
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