Koo Wee Rup - an acrostic

This is a potted history of Koo Wee Rup, using the name as the acrostic.

K is for Koo Wee Rup - the name of the town and the Swamp. Koo Wee Rup is Aboriginal for “blackfish swimming”. The railway station at Koo Wee Rup was named Yallock when it opened in 1890 and it was renamed Koo Wee Rup in 1892. There has always been a bit of an issue as to how you spell Koo Wee Rup. It could be Koo wee rup, Koo Wee Rup, Kooweerup, KooWeeRup, Koo-wee-rup or Koo-Wee-Rup.  On my Birth Certificate it has the town spelt as both Koo-Wee-Rup and Kooweerup and various documents from my time at the High School in the 1970s has the name spelt as Koo-wee-rup, Kooweerup and KooWeeRup, so even Government organizations were having a bet both ways. VicNames - the Register of Geographic Names lists it as Koo Wee Rup. You can access their website here https://maps.land.vic.gov.au/lassi/VicnamesUI.jsp  See also, here.

O is for Oil and Petrol, sold at garages. The first garage in Koo Wee Rup, was Mills and Davey, who were agents for Dodge Cars. They began advertising their up-to-date motor garage in the Koo Wee Rup Sun from January 1924.  As well as having the Dodge Agency, Mills and Davey were also Agents for Triumph and Harley Davidson Motor Cycles. The building is still there, it’s the yellow building in Station Street. Dusting’s garage (now the Vet surgery in Rossiter Road) was built around 1926 and owned by Robert Dusting from around 1930. In September 1932, Dusting announced in the Koo Wee Rup Sun that he had secured the Ford Dealership for Koo Wee Rup and Districts. Light’s garage was built for Thomas Burton and opened in February 1939. The Koo Wee Rup Sun described it as a new modern, commodious motor garage with up-to-date machinery and electric light.

Mills & Davey Garage at Koo Wee Rup

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph

O is for Overseas Communication and by this we mean the Amalgamated Wireless (Australia) Ltd Wireless Experimentation Radio Station which was erected off Sims Lane in 1921. It operated until 1922. This Station confirmed that direct and efficient communication between Great Britain and Australia was feasible. Radio communications, at this time, were sent and received by a series of relays. Wireless signals sent from Britain had already been received directly in Australia as early as 1918, as European Stations could be heard at certain times in Australia. These transmissions are affected by weather and especially sun activity.  The experiments at Koo Wee Rup used a heterodyne type receiver, with six stages of radio frequency amplication and two stages of audio frequency amplication. The research showed that wireless signals could be received over long periods each day from New York, Rome, England, Paris and Germany and were consistent enough to prove that direct wireless communication was both practical and reliable between Australia and Britain. See also, here and here.

The A.W.A Radio Station at Koo Wee Rup

W is for Water - 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, however it wasn’t until 1929 that the Koo Wee Rup Water Works Trust was formed. Later that year the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC) approved the plans for a water scheme and applications for tenders for the work were advertised in June. The tenders were for the construction of Head works, including an elevated reinforced concrete tank (the water tower that is still there) and settling basin - tender price was £4985.00 which included the construction of the water tower, the laying of pipes, the pumping machinery.  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. See also, here.

E is for Education - there have been five primary schools called Koo Wee Rup and ironically the original Koo Wee Rup State School, No.2629, was actually called Yallock, until 1903 when it was changed to Koo Wee Rup. The Cora Lynn State School, No. 3502, was known as Koo Wee Rup Central when it opened in January 1907 and changed its named to Cora Lynn in September of that year. The Modella State School, No.3456, was known as Koo Wee Rup East when it opened in January 1904. The Koo Wee Rup North State School, No.3198, at Five Mile, was initially called Koo Wee Rup South when it opened in July 1894. Finally, the Iona State School, No. 3201, was originally known as Koo Wee Rup North.

E is for Eternal Rest - or Cemeteries. The Koo Wee Rup Swamp doesn’t have a cemetery, I presume because it was too wet and swampy, so residents of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp could be buried at Pakenham, Cranbourne, Lang Lang or Bunyip depending on what area of the Swamp they lived. The earliest cemetery was the Cranbourne Cemetery - the site for the Cemetery was reserved on December 11, 1857.   William and Annabella Lyall are both buried at Cranbourne - they were the owners of Harewood house on the South Gippsland Highway which they built from 1857. A report of the content of his will says that William Lyall ‘directs that his body be buried in the allotment set apart on his property as a private burying ground and that as little expense as possible be gone to in connection with his funeral’.  It doesn’t appear that his wishes were adhered to in the matter of the burial as he has a substantial grave at Cranbourne. Also buried at Cranbourne is Charles Rossiter, the source of the name Rossiter Road.  See also, here.

The site for the Pakenham Cemetery was reserved on February 13, 1865 although it is believed that the first burials actually took place in the 1850s.  The owner of the Royal Hotel at Koo Wee Rup, Denis McNamara, was buried at Pakenham after his death on July 27, 1925. Mr McNamara had started a business in Koo Wee Rup in 1891, then left the area and returned in 1904 when he purchased O’Riordans store and in 1915 built the Royal Hotel. His funeral was described as one of ‘the largest in the district, representative of every class and creed’.  The Bunyip Cemetery site was officially reserved on November 22, 1886. This cemetery was used by folk living on the eastern end of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp such as Cora Lynn and Iona. The first official burials did not take place until eight years after the Cemetery was officially gazetted with the first one in March 1894. Of the first 20 burials in the register, 19 were children. Lang Lang Cemetery site was reserved on December 5, 1887. Christopher Moody, the source of name Moody Street is buried at Lang Lang. In 1890, Mr Moody owned the site of the Koo Wee Rup township and sub-divided the land between Rossiter Road and the Main Drain and Denham’s Road and the Highway. Very little of the land was sold due to the 1890s depression. The sub-division set out Moody, Gardner (called Koo Wee Rup Street by Moody), Henry (called Christopher Street by Moody) and Salmon Streets.

The Bunyip River from a 1940s postcard.

R is for River - the Bunyip River or the main drain of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. It was William Thwaites of the Public Works Department who came up with the scheme to drain the Koo Wee Rup Swamp by the creation of the main drain from south of Bunyip where the Bunyip River entered the Swamp to Western Port Bay. Work started in 1889 and finished in 1893.  Over the years, many more drains were dug or enlarged. The maintenance schedule from the SR & WSC, that we have at the Historical Society, lists 136 different drains, with a total length 465 km.

U is for Unions - the union between a man and a woman in Holy Matrimony commonly known as weddings. I don’t know when the first marriage took place in the town, it was probably officiated by a visiting minister in a private house. The first church building in the town was the Presbyterian Church where the first service was held in 1896 and the first Catholic Church was built in 1902. The Anglican Church was built in 1917 and the Methodist Church (now Uniting) was moved from Yallock to Rossiter Road in 1932. Reports of engagement parties, kitchen teas and weddings were the mainstays of local papers for decades and photographs began appearing in the 1960s in the Koo Wee Rup Sun. Early reports listed all the gifts received and they all had descriptions of the dress, bridesmaid’s dresses, the ‘going away’ outfit and what the mother of the bride and mother of the groom wore.

P is for Potatoes which have been grown on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, since it was drained.  The western end of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp was said to have produced 3000 tons of potatoes in 1894, just one year after the blocks were allocated to settlers. By the 1920s, the area was producing one quarter of Victorian potatoes. Potatoes have also been instrumental in the establishment of local Railway lines. It was recognized from the start that potato traffic would be a mainstay of the Strzelecki line from Koo Wee Rup to Bayles, Catani and beyond which opened in 1922.  The importance of the potato was celebrated by the Annual Potato Festival which took place from 1973 to 2000. It was a major fundraiser for the Koo Wee Rup Hospital.

Frank Rouse (My Dad)  grew potatoes on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp at Cora Lynn for 57 years, until his retirement from the potato business in 2007. This photograph was taken in 1968 for a fertiliser company.

An Acrostic History of Koo-Wee-Rup

This is an eclectic look at some themes from Koo Wee Rup's  history and the first letter of each theme spells a seasonal greeting!  I did this one for the Koo Wee Rup township newsletter, The Blackfish, in December 2016. I did a similar one for the Garfield township newsletter, The Spectator, in December 2017.  You can read the Garfield one, here.

M is for Mickle.  A well known, early family in the area. John Mickle (1814-1885) owned land from the 1850s, with his business partners William Lyall (who built Harewood) and John Bakewell.  John’s brother, Alexander Mickle, managed his property at Yallock. Alexander’s son, John, sub-divided John Street, Mickle Street and Alexander Avenue (now incorrectly called Alexandra) in Koo Wee Rup in 1926. David Mickle, the author of local history books Mickle Memories of Koo Wee Rup and More Mickle Memories of Koo Wee Rup, is the grandson of Alexander. 

E is for Education.  The first School was established in 1884 between Koo Wee Rup and Bayles (at Bethunes Road). 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.

R is for roads, rates and rubbish - the historical purpose of local councils. Koo Wee Rup was part of the Cranbourne Road Board district when it was established on June 19, 1860. Then it became part of the Cranbourne Shire when it started on February 24, 1868. It was then part of the short lived City of Cranbourne which lasted from April 22, 1994 until December 15, 1994, when the City of Cranbourne and was broken up and Koo Wee Rup became part of the newly created Cardinia Shire.

R is for Recreation and other Community activities. A Cricket Club started in 1893, the Recreation Reserve opened in 1906, and a football team had started by 1907. The Royal Hotel was erected in 1915. 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 supplied electricity to the town. 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.

Masonic Lodge at Koo Wee Rup. The Lodge was built in 1923 and has since 

been extended and new facade fitted. 

Photo courtesy of  Graham Elso.

Y is for Yallock.  The first European settlement in the area was established by Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson on the Yallock Creek Cattle run in 1839. The Yallock Village Settlement, established in the 1890s, was based around Fincks, School, Hall and O'Briens Roads, off Koo Wee Rup Longwarry Road. The Bayles Railway Station, which opened in 1922, was the station closest to Yallock and the township which grew around the railway station soon overshadowed the original Yallock settlement.

C is for Carlo Catani. Catani (1852-1918) was a Public Works Department Engineer responsible for the drainage works on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp from 1893. He also established the Village Settlements at Yallock, Five Mile, Cora Lynn, Iona etc. The town of Catani is named after him. His other works in Victoria include the creation of Alexandra Avenue, which runs along the Yarra River, snd the design of the Alexandra Gardens; the reclamation of the St Kilda foreshore and the design of the gardens there, which were named in his honour in 1927; engineering the road to the top of Mount Buffalo and the creation of a recreational lake, Lake Catani; the drainage of the Moe Swamp.

H is for Historical Society. The Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society was established in 1974 and operates a Museum at Mallow, 325 Rossiter Road, Koo Wee Rup. Mallow was built by John Colvin for his daughter, Margaret, who married Les O’Riordan in August 1918. Les was born in  August 1892 to John and Elizabeth (nee O'Callaghan) O'Riordan and is said to have been the first white child born in the Koo Wee Rup Village settlement. Elizabeth had been born in the town of Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, hence the name of the property.

R is for Religion.  In 1896 the Wesleyan Church from Cranbourne was moved to Koo Wee Rup and became the Presbyterian Church. The first Catholic Church was built in 1902 and the current church dates from 1962. The Anglican Church was built in 1917 and 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. In 1978 this building was moved to a camp in Grantville and a wooden church, the Narre Warren East Uniting Church, was relocated to the site, it was given a brick veneer and a new hall added and opened on February, 3 1980.

St George's Anglican Church, Koo Wee Rup, 1940s. The building opened in 1917.

I is for Inundation. Early pioneers had to cope with numerous inundations or floods- 1901, 1911, 1916, 1923, 1924, 1934, 1935 and 1937 being some of the worst historically. The 1934 flood resulted in the Koo Wee Rup township being under two meters of water in places.

S is for Swamp.  The Koo Wee Rup Swamp originally covered about 40,000 hectares or 96,000 acres and is part of the Western Port sunkland.  The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, William Thwaites (1853 - 1907) surveyed the Swamp in 1887 and his report recommended the construction of the Bunyip Main Drain from where it entered the Swamp, in the north, to Western Port Bay and a number of smaller side drains. A tender was advertised in 1889. In spite of strikes, floods and bad weather by March 1893, the private contractors had constructed the 16 miles of the drain from the Bay to the south of Bunyip and the Public Works Department considered the Swamp was now dry enough for settlement. At one time over 500 men were employed and all the work was done by hand, using axes, shovels, mattocks and wheel barrows. By 1904, over 2,000 people including 1,400 children lived on the Swamp. Many more drains have been added over the years.

T is for Trains. 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 was a boom time for the Station. In 1926 eleven people were employed at the Koo Wee Rup Station and they dispatched 50,000 tons of goods and around 7,000 head of livestock were sent or received there. There were 48 passenger trains and 72 goods trains per week. The Strzelecki 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.

M is for Medical Matters.  A Bush Nursing Centre was established in 1918. In 1923 the  Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital opened in Station Street and moved to a new building, the Westernport Memorial Hospital,  in Rossiter Road in 1955. In 1946, the Infant Welfare Centre was opened in a room at the Memorial Hall and in 1953 the Pre-School opened.

The Westernport Memorial Hospital in Koo Wee Rup under construction, photo taken February 5, 1955.

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society collection

A is for Agriculture. By the 1920s, the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp was producing one quarter of Victorian potatoes and was also a major producer of dairy products. Today, more than 90% of all Australian asparagus is produced on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp and many other food items are grown including broccolini, strawberries, cabbage, leeks, celery and lettuces. If the Government can resist the temptation to rezone all the rich agricultural swamp land to residential then the Swamp should continue to produce food for at least another 120+ years.

S is for Shopping. The first shop was opened by John O’Riordan in 1890 in a tin shed where Light’s Garage is now located. Many of the shops in Rossiter Road were built in the 1920s and 1930s, as was the old Theatre and a few garages. This was a boom time for the town with the Hospital, State Rivers & Water Supply Commission, surrounding farms and the railways all providing a steady source of employment.

An Acrostic History of Garfield

This is an eclectic look at some themes from Garfield's  history and the first letter of each theme spells a seasonal greeting! I did this one for the Garfield township newsletter, The Spectator, in December 2017.  I did a similar one for the Koo Wee Rup township newsletter, The Blackfish, in December 2016. You can read the Koo Wee Rup one, here.

M is for Movies, shown at the Picture Theatre. The Garfield Picture Theatre opened with a Grand Ball on Monday, December 22, 1924. Apart from the Picture Theatre locals could also view movies at the Wattle Theatre at Koo Wee Rup and King’s Picture Theatre at Pakenham, which both opened in 1927. Harrington’s Electra Pictures had been shown at the Garfield Hall and films were shown at Tynong - there is still a bio box or projection room, which is currently inaccessible, at the Hall.  The original Bunyip Hall also showed movies however, when it burnt down in March 1940, the ‘picture plant’ was destroyed. The Garfield Theatre closed in the early 1960s although it did reopen weekends in 1970 and 1971. The Theatre has more recently been extensively renovated and is now a live music venue.

Garfield Picture Theatre, 1920s/1930s

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

E is for Education.  The first school in town, the Cannibal Creek State School, opened in 1886. The School was located on the Princes Highway, west of North Garfield Road. The school changed its name to Garfield around May 1887. In 1899, the School building was re-located to Garfield Road at the top of the hill, half way between the Princes Highway and the Railway Station. In 1910, the Garfield School No. 2724 moved to a new building on its present site near the Railway Station. The old building was removed in 1914 to North Garfield where it became State School No.3489.

R is for Religion.  Garfield has had a number of Churches - St Mary’s Church of England or Anglican Church was opened in March 1935 by Archdeacon Weir of Sale. It was dedicated to the memory of the late Mrs Beswick, who had raised funds for the building.  It was demolished in 2010. The Uniting Church began life as the Methodist Church. There was a Methodist congregation in Garfield from the 1910s, but I am not sure if they met in the Hall initially or a purpose-built Church as I don’t have a date for the construction of the church. There was a Presbyterian Church at Iona which opened in 1908 and, also at Iona is St Joseph’s Catholic Church which opened in 1900. The existing brick Catholic church dates from 1940.

R is for Racing. The first race meeting was held on Wednesday, March 12, 1902 at the Recreation Reserve. The Garfield Race Club had fluctuating fortunes - it went quiet over the War Years but had a revival in the 1920s - a Race meeting held in November 1920 had so many horses entered that the last race had to be abandoned or else the horses and patrons would miss the special train back to Melbourne at 5.55pm. In March 1923, a report says that over £400 was spent in remodeling the track. However, in 1933 the Chief Secretary wanted to curtail the number of race meetings in country areas and thus at a meeting held in the July, Garfield had its races reduced from two to zero, and Bunyip, Iona, Cora Lynn Clubs also suffered a similar fate. So, it was all over for Garfield and these other Clubs.

Y is for Youngsters.  The Garfield Baby Health Centre was opened in July 1935 with Mrs J. Patterson as President and Mrs A. Nutting as Secretary. Sister Mitchell was in charge. A new Infant Welfare Centre and Pre-School was constructed on the corner of Main Street and the Fourteen Mile Road in 1952. It was built by E.C Cox & Sons.  In that year, the Clinic cared for 42 babies under two years old and 6 infants over two - with a total of 351 visits for the year. 

The  Infant Welfare Centre and Pre-School that was built in 1952.

Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries, Shire of Pakenham photo.

C is Cars. The first cars appeared in the town in the 1910s and by the 1920s cars were increasing in popularity.  From the 1940s Frank Dean had the garage near the bakers and George Hamm had the garage near the Hotel. Hamm’s garage was taken over by L.J Brenchley in March 1947 and the Brenchley family operated the garage for decades after and were Austin and Morris dealers.

H is for Hall. The Hall was built by Ingebert Gunnulson and opened December 1904. The usual range of events were held in the Hall - dances, dinners, use as a polling booth, concerts, wedding receptions etc. Then on Thursday, April 15 in 1937 the Hall was destroyed by fire. It had apparently started at 1.30am in the supper room and everything was destroyed. It was rebuilt and was re-opened possibly as early as September 22 the same year. The Hall was destroyed by fire, once again, in February 1984.

R is for Reading Newspapers (the way we used to get news before the Internet). This area is fortunate that its history has been recorded in local newspapers since the 1860s. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal was published from 1865 and covered everywhere from Dandenong to Warragul to Phillip Island to Mornington.   Garfield and Bunyip have had coverage in the West Gippsland Gazette which started in 1898 and became the Warragul Gazette in 1931. The same publisher also had the Bunyip Free Press from around 1909 to 1915. The Bunyip & Garfield Express was published from 1883 to 1979. The area is now covered by the Pakenham Gazette, which started in 1909 and is still owned by the Thomas family.

I is for Iona Hotel.   The Iona Hotel at Garfield was originally opened around April 1904. A newspaper report of April 13, 1904 said the hotel is of very pretty design, presenting a thoroughly up to date appearance. The hotel had twenty-nine rooms including the bar room, parlours, commercial room, dining rooms, drawing rooms, billiard room with a full sized Alcock's table and fixtures and sixteen bedrooms. The building was constructed of weatherboard and had gas lighting and an 'excellent' septic sewerage system. There was also substantial stabling. Sadly, the hotel was destroyed by fire on April 23, 1914. The existing Hotel was erected the next year and a report in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal from May 27, 1915 stated that no expense had been spared by the proprietors to make it all respects one of the best equipped hotels in the colony.

S is for Swamp.  Garfield owes some of its early prosperity to the drainage of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp as it became a service town for the Swamp residents.  The Swamp originally covered about 40,000 hectares. The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, William Thwaites, surveyed the Swamp in 1887 and his report recommended the construction of the Bunyip Main Drain from where it entered the Swamp, in the north, to Western Port Bay and several smaller side drains.  Work started in 1889 and despite strikes, floods and bad weather by March 1893, the private contractors had constructed the 16 miles of the drain from the Bay to the south of Bunyip and the Public Works Department considered the Swamp was now dry enough for settlement. At one time over 500 men were employed, and all the work was done by hand, using axes, shovels, mattocks and wheel barrows. By 1904, over 2,000 people including 1,400 children lived on the Swamp. Many more drains have been added over the years.

T is for Timber Industry.  The Gippsland Railway line to Sale was opened in stages between 1877 and 1879. Sidings developed along the line which allowed timber to be despatched and so the local timber industry boomed.  In Garfield, Jefferson’s Saw Mill and brick works and the Cannibal Creek Saw Mill Company were established. Joseph Jefferson established a saw mill 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 the Cannibal Creek Siding was built in 1885 to accommodate the timber tramline which run for about 8 kilometres, to the Two-Mile Creek. The Garfield North road basically follows this tramway.  As well as producing timber products Jefferson 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.

M is for Medical Matters - the Garfield Hospital. The push to get a hospital in Garfield started about 1930 when the community raised around £340, but due to the Depression the momentum for Hospital slowed. Money continued to be raised, new Committees were formed in 1940 and again in 1945 but all the development was stalled due to the Second World War. After the War there was still no government finance available. Various submissions were made in the 1950s to the Hospital Commission to get the Garfield Hospital established but to no avail. In the end the Garfield money (over £2,600) was added to the money left to the community by local chemist, Mr Emile Shelley, and it went towards the Shelley Memorial Hospital at Bunyip which opened in March 1966 and closed in May 1991. The building is now part of Hillview Hostel.

A is for Agriculture. Garfield is surrounded by farms - apple orchards were planted north of the town in the hills area from around 1890.  South of the town was the Koo Wee Rup Swamp which by the 1920s, was producing one quarter of Victorian potatoes and was also a major producer of dairy products. Today, over 90% of all Australian asparagus is produced on the Koo‐Wee‐Rup Swamp and many other food items are grown including broccolini, strawberries, cabbage, leeks, celery and lettuces.

S is for Shops and Businesses. According to the 1903 Electoral Roll the following businesses were in Garfield - there were three bakers, two blacksmiths and two butchers. There was a Draper and three men with the occupation of storekeepers. George and Thomas Ellis were Produce Merchants and Joseph Rutledge was a saddler.  Garfield had one builder and three carpenters - Ingebert Gunnulson, Samuel Harvey and Phillip Leeson. Joseph Jefferson is listed as a brick maker and John Jefferson as a wood merchant. To satisfy the grooming needs of Garfield, Percy Malcolm was a hairdresser and John Daly, the School Teacher, took care of educational needs. There was also one woman with an occupation listed – Florence Mason was the Post Mistress.