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.