100 years ago this week - St Joseph's Convent Iona opened

St Joseph's Convent Iona opened one hundred years ago, on April 11, 1915.  The Convent housed the Sisters of St Joseph, who established a school in Columba Hall (the Parish Hall) to provide the children with a sound secular and religious education. A report two weeks later  said that three Sisters of St Joseph on the teaching staff and sixty children attend daily. (1) School continued in the Hall until it was destroyed by fire on December 26, 1927. A new brick hall (the existing hall), also used for the school, was opened October 21, 1928. A purpose built school was opened at Iona on November 26, 1961. (2)

Opening of the Convent School at Iona

Bunyip Free Press April 15, 1915  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129631211

New Convent School, Iona

The ceremony of the solemn blessing and opening of the new Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Iona, was performed by His Grace the most Rev. Dr. Mannix on Sunday afternoon last. There was a very large attendance, including some from the outlaying parts of the parish, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. 
The Rev. J. J. Malone, P.P., of Clifton Hill, gave an eloquent touching, and instructive address on the Religious Life at the 11 o'clock mass to a large congregation.
The contributions for the day amounted to nearly £400, while donations amounting to £246 had been previously received in response to a direct appeal to the parishioners.

The opening of the Convent  in 1915

Image:  100 years of a Catholic Faith Community: St Joseph's Iona 1905-2005 by Damian Smith. (The Author, 2005)

A more detailed of this momentous event in Iona was reported in The Advocate, of April 17, 1915 (see here)

OPENING OR A NEW CONVENT AT IONA BY THIS COADJUTOR-ARCHBISHOP.

His Grace Archbishop Mannix opened a new convent at Iona on last Sunday. Notwithstanding the severity of the weather and the long distance many of them had to travel, most of the parishioners from Iona itself and the outlying districts assembled on the occasion. Between two lines of people which stretched from the gate of the presbytery to the door of the convent, his Grace walked, accompanied by the pastor, Fr. Cusack, and his assistant, Fr. Macnamara, Frs. Gleeson and O'Connor, of Essendon, Fr. Malone, of Clifton Hill, and Fr. O'Ryan, of West Melbourne. Thanks to a fortunate break in the weather, his Grace was enabled to address the large gathering from the presbytery verandah. 

His Grace, in addressing the people, said that in consequence of the forthcoming meeting to be held in the Town Hall, Melbourne, on April 28th, he was prevented from discussing the new situation created by the recent decision of the Political Labour Council.

The convent itself, which was designed by Messrs. Kempson and Conolly, and erected and furnished at a cost of over £1100, is a commodious and elegant structure, worthy of the place and people, worthy of the pastor and his predecessor, who have done yeoman service in building up a very difficult mission, and worthy of the heroic Order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who have undertaken the task of imparting a sound secular and religious education to the children. There was something stimulating in the enthusiasm and intense religious earnestness of the large gathering, which touched his Grace and thrilled his utterance. 

From the balance-sheet, which was read by Fr. Cusack before his Grace's address, he could see, he said, that priest and people had done great work there for God and religion, and felt sure that whatever decision may be arrived at by the Town Hall meeting, the Catholics of Iona could be relied upon to adopt it whole-heartedly, and, when the time comes, put it into active execution. Judging by the generous donations received in response to the appeal made to them, Fr. Cusack should have no difficulty in wiping out the balance of the debt which lies on the mission. The contributions for the day amounted to £385, while donations of £246 had been previously received in response to a direct appeal to the parishioners. The fact that his Grace's visit was coincident with the break up of the drought opened their hearts more freely and forced them to put their hands deeper into their pockets. 

Clearly, too, they appreciate the privilege of having a staff of self-sacrificing nuns in their midst to provide for the secular and religious training of their children. As one who revisited the place for the first time after a space of twenty years, I have only to add that I was astonished at its marvellous material progress and at the no less marvellous progress of its Catholicity.

The Convent in 1922

The Advocate November 16, 1922 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page20363246

The New Convent
The building is of wood, with Californian pine dado outside. The roof is of corrugated iron, walls of lath and plaster, ceiling of stamped metal, flooring of Queensland pine. The hall, front and back, is 6 feet wide. The oratory is 18ft. by 16ft.; refectory, 20 by 16; reception-room, 16 by 11; dormitory, 16 by 15½. Other rooms are 16 by 14. There is a verandah round the front and two sides, 6ft; wide. The building is well ventilated and lighted. The parish hall has been fitted up and renovated and furnished as a school in accordance with the requirements of the Board of Health.

The works have been carried out from designs and under the superintendence of Messrs. Kempson and Conolly, architects, Oxford Chambers, Bourke-street, Melbourne, by Mr. T. Bain, contractor, Coburg.

Footnotes

(1) Bunyip Free Press, April 29, 1915, see here.

(2) The Age, December 27, 1927, see here; The Advocate, October 25, 1928, see here; Smith, Damien, 100 years of a Catholic Faith Community: St Joseph's Iona 1905-2005 (The Author, 2005), p.  63.

Growing up on a dairy farm in the 1940s and 50s.

Small family Dairy farms used to be the predominant farm on the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp until the 1970s or so. In the 1920s, for instance, it was estimated that there were close to 12,000 dairy cattle in the Parishes of Koo-Wee-Rup, Koo-Wee-Rup East and Yallock (approximately Koo-Wee-Rup to Bunyip and south to Bayles, Caldermeade and Catani) at the same time the human population would have been maybe 4,500.

My father, Frank Rouse, grew up on a small dairy farm on Murray Road at Cora Lynn and this is his story.  Family farms relied on the (generally unpaid) labour of family members and Dad, his brother Jim and their two older sisters were expected to take part in the daily chores on the farm.

The family milked cows and separated the cream which they sold to the Drouin factory to make butter; the rest was fed to the pigs, which when they were fat enough were sold at the Dandenong Market.  This wasn’t especially profitable and around 1949 when Jim was 18 and Dad was 16, Jim got the family a milk contract.  This meant they no longer had to separate the milk; it was sold as whole milk for the Melbourne market for a much higher price and thus the family income increased by 250 per cent.  Jim had arranged the contract through Campbell Buchanan, of Cora Lynn, who was also the carrier.

Lucy Rouse (Dad's aunty) and the little girl is Dorothy Rouse (Dad's sister), c. 1938. 

When they got the milk contract the family began the change from Jersey cows, which produced less milk but more cream to Friesians, they were bigger cows, had less trouble calving and produced more milk.

However, this meant that they had to build a new cow shed. The original cow shed had been built by Frank and Jim’s grandfather when he took up the block in 1903. It had six single bails, 25-30 cows were milked daily by hand, before school and after school.  Neighbours, including Joe Storey and Johnny King had milking machines. Maybe not everyone did but Dad feels fairly sure that they were the last dairy to become mechanised.

Rouse family farm, 1928.  Dad remembers it as 'acres of mud'

The new cow shed was built by Frank and Jim and, because of the conditions of the milk contract, the shed needed concrete floors and walls. For the concrete they needed sand, so they had to take the horses and dray up to the end of Dessent Road to the Main Drain. There was no levee bank then so they walked the horses, attached to a scoop, down into the drain where they pulled the scoop along, filled it up with sand and pulled it up the bank where Dad and Jim shovelled it onto a flat section then later shovelled it all into the dray, which belonged to their neighbour the aforementioned Johnny King, take it home and shovel it out.

They had purchased a second hand 2hp Rosebery petrol engine which powered the concrete mixer, thus the floor and lower wall (five feet high) were built (using formwork, not bricks) and the rest of the walls were timber, with a corrugated iron roof. The dairy, connected by a 6 ft wide breezeway also needed to be concreted.   Once the shed was built, Joe (Jim and Frank’s dad) purchased a second hand Mitchell milking machine plant from a farm in Koo-Wee-Rup. It took 90 minutes to get to Koo-Wee-Rup with a wagon and three horses – then Frank and Jim had to take the plant apart, load them and then they had to put them back together and install the machines. The plant was powered by the Rosebery engine.  After this, the family milked 45-50 cows. The Rouse family had four horses, which Dad describes as ‘3 reasonable and one mongrel’ – the best two were called Ned and Rats.

Dad had been used to working with horses as when he was 15 he worked a team of horses for Sandy Priest who lived near Bayles. He used to plant crops, scuffle spuds etc. Sandy was also a top cattle breeder and often topped the sales at Newmarket. Dad was actually paid for this work which was a bonus as they never got paid at home.  Sandy Priest, who lived somewhere on the Bayles - Longwarry Road had 100s of acres, his land backed up to the Railway Line, but he lived in a small shed.  His bed was two spud bags stretched over poles, there was a stove in the shed and a windmill outside which filled a trough for water.  When Dad was about 16 he grew some spuds on Sandy’s land and which he rented and then paid the rent in labour.

Rouse farm at Cora Lynn, c. 1930s

Around the time of the construction of the cow shed, Jim and Frank also began growing potatoes together, at home. Initially, all the work was done by horses but it wasn’t long before they purchased a brand new grey Fergie tractor - it was petrol, 16 hp and even though they were only aged 19 and 17, the Company financed them.  Four years later, in 1955, they purchased 60 acres from Johnny King, in Sinclair (now Bennetts) Road at Cora Lynn. It was, we believe, about £6,000 but he allowed them to pay it back a certain amount per year – he had always been a good support to them. Jim and Frank milked cows for a year or two after that, then other family members took over and the Rouse dairy farming came to an end on June 22, 1960 when all the cattle and plant were sold at a clearing sale. 

100 years ago this week - Cora Lynn Ball

This report of one of the best balls ever held in Cora Lynn comes from the Bunyip Free Press of March 11, 1915.

The Ball at Cora Lynn

Bunyip Free Press, March 11, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129630397

Cora Lynn Ball. A Great Success
The annual Ladies' Ball at Cora Lynn was held at Keast Hall on Monday evening last. There was a very large attendance, the building being crowded. Visitors attended from Iona, Garfield, Tynong, Kooweerup and Bunyip, whilst the local residents were also well represented. The dressing of the ladies was above ordinary of such functions, whilst the supper and general arrangements were provided on such a scale that reflected great credit on the hon. secretary, Mrs. M. Rigby. Mr. D. Danson officiated as M.C, in his usual able way, and first-class music was provided by Miss Leight and Mr. Hoggin. During the evening a waltzing competition was held and the winners were Miss Stella Shipton and Mr. McMillan. The ball was voted by most of the visitors as one of best yet held at Cora Lynn or the district.

Flood photos Koo-Wee-Rup

These are some photographs of  Koo-Wee-Rup and surrounds in what maybe the 1924 flood or the 1934 flood from the  Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society collection.

This is the Railway bridge, there  are people at either end of the bridge. 

Rossiter Road

Four people in a row boat

I have seen this one dated 1916 and 1924.

Andrew Colvin's Shackcloth cycle factory

Stranded cars

Drying out after the flood, this is possibly the 1934 flood.

Country Women's Association - Koo-Wee-Rup Branch 1963

This is the booklet produced by the Koo-Wee-Rup Branch of the Country Women's Association for 1963.

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Cora Lynn Races - March 28 1932

Here's the  programme from the Cora Lynn Race meeting held on March 28, 1932.

100 years ago this week - Granite quarry

It seems that quarries haven't always been unwelcome in this area - this is a report form the Bunyip Free Press of December 31, 1914. Granite from Tynong was used in the construction of the Shrine of Remembrance

Bunyip Free Press  December 31, 1914

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129630055