Garfield was originally called Cannibal Creek. The term Cannibal Creek is believed to refer to the killing of dogs by dingoes and was the name of an early cattle run, also called Coonabul Creek, based around Mount Cannibal. Another interpretation is the term comes from a corruption of the Aboriginal couna meaning ‘forehead’ and bal meaning ‘he’ or ‘she’. This possibly referred to the shape of Mount Cannibal, which was said to resemble a head. (1)
The town grew up around the Cannibal Creek railway siding which opened 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. (2) In June 1886, the Cannibal Creek Post Office was established at the Railway Station. (3) There was community agitation to change the name and eventually Garfield was selected and the Post Office became known as the Garfield Railway Post Office on May 16, 1887 and in the July the School also changed its name from Cannibal Creek to Garfield, after the assassinated American President, James Garfield. (4)
James Abram Garfield (1831-1881), 1870s.
Brady-Handy Collection, Library of Congress). LC-BH826-1484-B.
So who was President Garfield, the man who gave the town its name? (5) James Abram Garfield was the 20th President of the United States of America. Garfield is considered the last of the ‘log cabin Presidents’ as he was literally born in a log cabin on November 19, 1831 in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Eliza (nee Ballou) Garfield. His father died when he was two and his mother had to raise her five children on her own. Garfield worked in canal boats that sailed between Cleveland and Pittsburgh; then he worked as a carpenter and later supported himself by various jobs whilst he studied at College. These studies lead him to become Professor of Classics at the unusually named Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Ohio. He married Lucretia Rudolph in 1858 and they had seven children, two dying in infancy. Lucretia died in 1918, aged 85.
Garfield’s political career commenced in 1859 when he was elected to the Ohio Senate. During the Civil War (which lasted from April 1861 to May 1865) he served on the Union side and became a Brigadier General and two years later a Major General of volunteers. He was an abolitionist and supported the end of slavery. While he was serving in the Union Army, he stood for election for the Federal House of Representatives and was elected in October 1862. Garfield then went on to win another eight elections.
Garfield became President by defeating the Democratic nominee, General Winfield Scott Hancock, and began his Presidency on March 4, 1881. General Hancock had also served on the Union side during the Civil War.
Garfield’s presidency, noted for his attack on political corruption, was short lived as on July 2, 1881 he was shot by Charles Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station in Washington. Guiteau was an embittered and delusional man as he believed that Garfield should have appointed him to the post of Ambassador to Vienna or Paris - he made a few requests that went unanswered. Guiteau planned the assassination, had purchased the gun, practiced with it and started stalking the President who, unlike today, travelled without a body guard. He shot him firstly in the elbow, and then the back, where the bullet lodged behind the pancreas. Guiteau stood trial for murder, and was convicted and hung.
Sadly, for President Garfield he had a very slow death and this was exacerbated by the medical procedures of the time - there were no antibiotics, doctors didn’t wash their hands before or after any procedures so his wounds became infected due to them prodding around for the bullet, the removal of which was seen as a high priority. Apparently medical practice at the time was to reduce the patients’ diets and Garfield was fed only on eggs, bouillon, milk, whiskey and opium. Because of this, he lost 45 kilograms before he finally died on September 19, 1881, at the age of 49, from an infection and internal haemorrhage; although newspaper reports at the time say he died from sheer exhaustion. (6) His doctor was the ironically named Dr Bliss.
Garfield’s death was well reported in many papers in Australia (7) but it is still an interesting choice to rename a small town in West Gippsland after an American President, six years after his death. Clearly around this time there was agitation to change the name Cannibal Creek. Bill Parish, in his short history of Garfield, which was published in the 1962 Back-to booklet, said it was due no doubt to the fledging government’s urge for mundane respectability (8)
Garfield’s presidency, noted for his attack on political corruption, was short lived as on July 2, 1881 he was shot by Charles Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station in Washington. Guiteau was an embittered and delusional man as he believed that Garfield should have appointed him to the post of Ambassador to Vienna or Paris - he made a few requests that went unanswered. Guiteau planned the assassination, had purchased the gun, practiced with it and started stalking the President who, unlike today, travelled without a body guard. He shot him firstly in the elbow, and then the back, where the bullet lodged behind the pancreas. Guiteau stood trial for murder, and was convicted and hung.
Sadly, for President Garfield he had a very slow death and this was exacerbated by the medical procedures of the time - there were no antibiotics, doctors didn’t wash their hands before or after any procedures so his wounds became infected due to them prodding around for the bullet, the removal of which was seen as a high priority. Apparently medical practice at the time was to reduce the patients’ diets and Garfield was fed only on eggs, bouillon, milk, whiskey and opium. Because of this, he lost 45 kilograms before he finally died on September 19, 1881, at the age of 49, from an infection and internal haemorrhage; although newspaper reports at the time say he died from sheer exhaustion. (6) His doctor was the ironically named Dr Bliss.
Garfield’s death was well reported in many papers in Australia (7) but it is still an interesting choice to rename a small town in West Gippsland after an American President, six years after his death. Clearly around this time there was agitation to change the name Cannibal Creek. Bill Parish, in his short history of Garfield, which was published in the 1962 Back-to booklet, said it was due no doubt to the fledging government’s urge for mundane respectability (8)
One of the names suggested was Hopetoun, however The South Bourke and Mornington Journal in February 1887 reported that at the Berwick Shire Council meeting, a letter had been received from the Railway Department, stating the name of Cannibal Creek cannot be altered to Hope Town [sic], as suggested, as there is already a postal town of that name in the colony. (9) Lord Hopetoun was a British politician and the Governor of Victoria from 1889 until 1895. (10)
At the same meeting in February 1887 the Council had also received a letter from Hugh Paul of Cannibal Creek, stating that at a public meeting held there on the 29th ult. the following names were agreed to, the first to be selected if eligible, if not the second, and so on in rotation - Mount View, Gladstone, Garfield, Kenilworth, Soho. - The list of proposed names to be forwarded to the Railway Department. (11)
Suggested names to replace cannibal Creek
South Bourke and Mornington Journal, February 9, 1887 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70394536
As for these options - the meaning of the Mount View name is obvious. Gladstone would have been after William Ewart Gladstone (1809 - 1898) who was British Prime Minister on four occasions. Kenilworth is a town in England or perhaps it was named for the novel Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1821. This book was still popular in the 1880s; in fact a new illustrated edition de luxe version of the novel was printed in 1885 according to advertisements in the paper at the time. Soho is a district in London, which later developed a reputation as a trendy entertainment and red light district, so perhaps we are lucky that Soho wasn’t selected. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal reported on April 13, 1887 that the Railway Department had written to the Berwick Shire stating that the name of Cannibal Creek had been altered to Garfield, as suggested by the residents. (12)
Acknowledgment
Unless footnoted, the life and death of President Garfield is from -
Encyclopaedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-A-Garfield
Smithsonian magazine - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-stalking-of-the-president-20724161/
East Carolina University - Dr Williard Bliss
Footnotes
(1) Blake, Les Place Names of Victoria (Rigby, 1977)
From Bullock tracks to bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick (Historical Society of Berwick Shire, 1962)
Watson, Angus B Lost and almost forgotten towns of Colonial Victoria : a comprehensive analysis of Census results for Victoria 1841-1901 (A.B Watson, 2003)
For other information on the Cannibal Creek name see here -https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2024/02/mount-cannibal-origin-of-name.html
(2) McCarthy, Mike Settlers and Sawmillers : a history of the West Gippsland Tramways (Light Railway Research Society of Australia, 1999)
(3) Warragul Guardian, June 10, 1886, see here.
(4) Riverine Herald, May 6, 1887, see here; Cannibal Creek to Garfield: a history of Garfield Primary school, No. 2724, 1886-1986, published by the Centenary Committee. The Committee consisted of - Mary White, B. Andrews, R. Spencer, Kevin Daley, Rosemary Parham and Mick Whiting.
(5) See Acknowledgement, above, for the sources used for the President's life and death.
(6) The Argus, October 25, 1881, see here.
(7) The Argus, September 21, 1881, see here.
(8) Parish, William Back to Garfield, 1887-1962 (Back-to Garfield Committee, 1962)
(9) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, February 9, 1887, see here.
(10) Lord Hopetoun - Australian Dictionary of Biography
(11) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, February 9, 1887, see here.
(12) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, April 13, 1887, see here.
