This post looks at the activities of the Garfield Progress Association (GPA) and its forerunner, the Garfield Progressive Association, mainly through the correspondence it had with the Berwick Shire. The minutes of the Shire meetings were extensively reported in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal and later the Dandenong Journal. You can find these papers on Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
The first mention I can find is in 1901 where the Progressive Association was complaining about the state of local roads - a sign of things to come as roads and drains were the usual source of complaints right up to the 1950s. For instance, in September 1901 the Association wanted ‘the scrub on the road from the Station to the State School to be cut as there was no room for traffic’ (this was when the school was located up the hill on Garfield Road) In December of that year the the GPA had written a letter to The Age newspaper asking why the Department of Public Works ‘cannot do its works properly instead of wasting public money’ - a question many people still ask today of the Government.
In August 1903, the South Bourke and Mornington Journal had a tongue in cheek look at the town of Garfield. The reporter interviewed an unnamed local who, amongst other things, thought that Garfield was progressing so much and the Railway station was so busy that it needed to have a station master instead of a station mistress. He went on to say that Garfield had a strong political body in the town (the Progressive Association) and that they had lots of trouble with the Iona (Ward) Councillors so they were going to ‘put a man into council so he will do what they want him to do’. The local would not be surprised if the GPA was the cause of the agitation to get the Federal site (Canberra) shifted from NSW to Victoria and if it was then Garfield would stand a chance of being chosen!
I can’t find many reports in the 1910s, probably because the community was pre-occupied with the war effort, but it appears that by the mid 1920s the Association was up and running again and they were obviously convinced that Canberra would remain as the Federal Capital and not be shifted to Garfield so they were back complaining to the Council about the state of local roads, especially the North Garfield Road. In February 1928, the GPA was asking for a rubbish tip to be established at Garfield. And later that same year they asked the Council to ‘guarantee’ 15 street lights.
In 1932, the GPA asked the Bills Estate for a trough for Garfield - it was at one stage located outside the hotel. These troughs were funded from a bequest from the will of George Bills, who died in 1927. His will left various bequests and the bulk of his Estate was to be made available by his Executors to Societies for the protection of animals, such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and for the construction of horse troughs for the relief of horses or other ‘dumb animals’. These troughs were to be inscribed with the names of George and his wife Annis.
In 1944, the GPA asked for a street light opposite the west railway crossing (sort of where the 13 Mile Road comes into town) and, of course, more road improvements. In 1945, they had turned their attention to parks. The GPA had written to the council asking how their negotiations were going with the Railways regarding the proposed extension of the park facing Main Street. ‘There is keen local interest in the beautification of this town and the additional park area would be an asset in this direction’ They later (July 1945) asked permission to plant two ash trees in front of the Baby Health Centre - whether that was a priority for the mothers attending the Health Centre is another matter as in August 1943 Sister Spence had reported to the Council that ‘we are looking forward to the improvement of the old baby Health Centre at Garfield which at present is a fine sieve for rain’
In 1946 there were the usual complaints about drains - especially the unsatisfactory drainage on the steep Garfield hill and also a complaint was made to the Council about ‘the cattle and horses which are permitted to wander in streets and roads around Garfield, constituting a constant menace to householder’s gardens and trees’. The Council Ranger was instructed to ‘make a raid’
In April 1947, the GPA made advances to have the Ballarat Starch Company start a factory in Garfield - the factory would obtain starch from potatoes and the establishment of the factory would ‘provide a profitable outlet of unsaleable rejects and rubbishy potatoes’.
In August 1950, the GPA asked the Council to convene a public meeting to consider the erection of a memorial to those who had paid the supreme sacrifice in World War One and Two. In 1953, the GPA was once again on a political bent when they supported the election of Reg Sykes to the Berwick Council. Reg was described as a ‘young man who served the the RAAF as a member of the Air Crew in the south west Pacific’. He also had a 300 acre property on the Princes Highway at Tynong. Reg had also owned 540 acres in Tynong North which he sold in 1949 for £4,500 to the Catholic Church for the establishment of township of Maryknoll.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Monday, January 18, 2016
Bunyip Dramatic Society
When my father, Frank Rouse, was young - around 17 to 19 years of age - in the early 1950s, he was a member of the Repertory Society or Dramatic Society in Bunyip. The Company put on plays at the Bunyip Hall and the Cora Lynn Hall. The plays were usually two acts long, with an interval. Dad doesn’t remember the names of any of the plays but in one play he played the role of an English gentleman on a train who kept getting off the train at the wrong station and in another he played the role of a Minister of Religion.
The Society had maybe 15 to 20 members who also made the stage sets; Dad built the train for the play which was set on the train.
His acting career started largely because he had the essential attributes of being young, male, tall and willing. Another member of the Society was Win Reid who taught Dad at Sunday School at Cora Lynn and she organised the Sunday school concerts and also taught elocution and encouraged Dad to join the Repertory Society. It was a short lived acting career which was fun while it lasted and he still remembers the advice he was given which was ‘to speak to the back row, so your voice carries’
Other members of the Society were Hughie Pound who ran the Radio store in Bunyip, where Loretta’s Hairdressing is now located; Colin Flett who had a general store, with a good range of hardware, where the Bendigo Bank is; Frank Harker who lived on Eleven Mile road at Cora Lynn (all that remains of his house are the two palm trees in the paddock); Don and Pat Whysall – Don was in the Fire Brigade and Pat was a teacher; Betty Storey, who lived on Murray Road, a neighbour of the Rouses; Dad’s oldest sister Nancy; Nelly Dixon (nee Edis) married to Geoff Dixon, who was a builder; Russell and Elizabeth Spence - remembered as ‘an older couple’ and Arthur Holgate, who was ‘quite old’. Mr Holgate was the local Registrar of Births and Deaths and is remembered in our family because he incorrectly registered the date of my sister Megan’s birth in 1957. He wrote the registration date down as the birth date and we didn’t find out until she had to apply for a birth certificate 20 or so years later.
Denise Nest has a paragraph about the Dramatic Society in her book, The Call of the Bunyip: history of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk 1847 to 1900. She mentions a few other names apart from the ones Dad remembers - Rex Taylor and members of the Thomas and Roberts families.
The Society had maybe 15 to 20 members who also made the stage sets; Dad built the train for the play which was set on the train.
His acting career started largely because he had the essential attributes of being young, male, tall and willing. Another member of the Society was Win Reid who taught Dad at Sunday School at Cora Lynn and she organised the Sunday school concerts and also taught elocution and encouraged Dad to join the Repertory Society. It was a short lived acting career which was fun while it lasted and he still remembers the advice he was given which was ‘to speak to the back row, so your voice carries’
Other members of the Society were Hughie Pound who ran the Radio store in Bunyip, where Loretta’s Hairdressing is now located; Colin Flett who had a general store, with a good range of hardware, where the Bendigo Bank is; Frank Harker who lived on Eleven Mile road at Cora Lynn (all that remains of his house are the two palm trees in the paddock); Don and Pat Whysall – Don was in the Fire Brigade and Pat was a teacher; Betty Storey, who lived on Murray Road, a neighbour of the Rouses; Dad’s oldest sister Nancy; Nelly Dixon (nee Edis) married to Geoff Dixon, who was a builder; Russell and Elizabeth Spence - remembered as ‘an older couple’ and Arthur Holgate, who was ‘quite old’. Mr Holgate was the local Registrar of Births and Deaths and is remembered in our family because he incorrectly registered the date of my sister Megan’s birth in 1957. He wrote the registration date down as the birth date and we didn’t find out until she had to apply for a birth certificate 20 or so years later.
Denise Nest has a paragraph about the Dramatic Society in her book, The Call of the Bunyip: history of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk 1847 to 1900. She mentions a few other names apart from the ones Dad remembers - Rex Taylor and members of the Thomas and Roberts families.
The Bunyip Dramatic Society is believed to have been established under the auspices of the Council of Adult Education (CAE) which was formed in 1947 to encourage, inter alia, community activities including the performing arts*. The CAE also held drama summer schools and I came across this report, from The Argus, December 27, 1956 of Arthur Holgate attending that year. He was 72 at the time, so it is no wonder that Dad, who was 50 years younger, remembered him as being 'quite old'. The article is also interesting as it lists the range of occupations of people involved in amateur theatre at the time.
Report of Arthur Holgate attending a CAE Drama Summer school.
The Argus December 27, 1956 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71773285
* Victorian Drama League website https://vdl.org.au/from-convicts-to-covid-19-amateur-theatre-in-victoria/
Bunyip and the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp 1887
This account of the township of Bunyip and the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp comes from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of August 3, 1887. Click here to access this article on Trove
From an occasional Correspondent.
"Vare iz de downsheep" The interrogator was a foreigner, and the person questioned was, Mr. Barrow, the local storekeeper of the "rising" township of Bunyip. For Bunyip, by the way, is at present only a small hamlet; in fact it is able to do very little more than 'claim to have, a ''local habitation" as well as a name. Nevertheless it has two hotels, well conducted by Messrs. Hanson and Finch. These two hostelries, with Mr. Barrow's general store, amicably uniting themselves pretty well form the township. There are also one or two unpretentious dwelling houses about, and a State School, of which Mrs. Skinner is the tutelary genius, lies back a little out of sight.
But still Bunyip may be designated as a rising township, for it stands prominently upon a steep "rise" overlooking the great Koo-wee-rup Swamp. To the foreigner's enquiry, "vare iz do downsheep," the interrogated resident replied with a majestic and comprehensive sweep of the hand, which took in the whole of the vast municipal settlement, "it is here." The foreigner looked puzzled and gazed earnestly round the whole sweep of the horizon, and then a bright idea penetrated his befogged intellect. "Oh! over de hill" he said, and was about to rush on thitherward to seek the goal of which he was in quest; but he was intercepted in his intention by the resident, who rejoined-"No; here. This is the township. Circumspice!" It was calculated to wound the civic patriotism to have thus with minute emphasis pointed out the locality in which one lives, but there is nothing for it but to remit it to the category of "another injustice to poor old Ireland," and Bunyip must bear its trials with what heroic fortitude it can.
It was only the other day that a young lady in a passing train, looking out over the dreary stretch of Koo-wee-rup Swamp with its forest of dead timber, expressed somewhat emphatically, if not euphoniously, the opinion that this was the last place the Creator made, and was left unfinished by Him. But then the day was a gloomy one, and the prospect from the train was not enlivening. Had the critic been able instead to have stood on the summit of the hill on which the township stands, on a bright day and have seen the magnificent view of the Cannibal ranges, and a sweep of mountain scenery right away to the snow-covered Baw Baw; and again, out over the Koo-wee-rup Swamp, the hills and the sea (ships being sometimes even discernable to the naked eye) had this opportunity been afforded to the fair critic, she would doubtless have been less severe in her comments. More than this, had she been gifted with prophetic, not to say poetic, vision she would have had presented to her mind's eye a still more attractive picture, when the now dismal-looking Koo-wee-rup Swamp shall be moved by the industry of the husbandman, and picturesque homestead with beautifully verdant fields shall gladden the eye and heighten the beauty of the even now splendid panorama.
And this enhancement of the beauties of the locality should not be hidden in the very far distant future, and that some are far-seeing enough to perceive that this is evident from the fact that at a recent sale of Bunyip land lots at the outside boundary of the suburban area realised as much as £6 per acre. During his election tour Dr. L. L. Smith pledged himself to get the reclamation of the Koo-wee-rup Swamp entered upon as one of his first Parliamentary works, but the hon. gentleman substituted a trip to England, and since his return has forgotten to redeem his promise. But the work is one which must inevitably be undertaken before very long, for such a splendid tract of richly fertile country cannot long be allowed to lie waste within so short a distance of the metropolis. Here is a direction, Mr.Editor, in which your pen, so long wielded in advocacy of the interests of this district, might usefully be exercised. Meanwhile Bunyip is dependent for its existence upon the firewood trade. In a small place like this little can be expected in the way of social news. The arrival and departure of mails and trains constitute the excitements of the place.
From an occasional Correspondent.
"Vare iz de downsheep" The interrogator was a foreigner, and the person questioned was, Mr. Barrow, the local storekeeper of the "rising" township of Bunyip. For Bunyip, by the way, is at present only a small hamlet; in fact it is able to do very little more than 'claim to have, a ''local habitation" as well as a name. Nevertheless it has two hotels, well conducted by Messrs. Hanson and Finch. These two hostelries, with Mr. Barrow's general store, amicably uniting themselves pretty well form the township. There are also one or two unpretentious dwelling houses about, and a State School, of which Mrs. Skinner is the tutelary genius, lies back a little out of sight.
But still Bunyip may be designated as a rising township, for it stands prominently upon a steep "rise" overlooking the great Koo-wee-rup Swamp. To the foreigner's enquiry, "vare iz do downsheep," the interrogated resident replied with a majestic and comprehensive sweep of the hand, which took in the whole of the vast municipal settlement, "it is here." The foreigner looked puzzled and gazed earnestly round the whole sweep of the horizon, and then a bright idea penetrated his befogged intellect. "Oh! over de hill" he said, and was about to rush on thitherward to seek the goal of which he was in quest; but he was intercepted in his intention by the resident, who rejoined-"No; here. This is the township. Circumspice!" It was calculated to wound the civic patriotism to have thus with minute emphasis pointed out the locality in which one lives, but there is nothing for it but to remit it to the category of "another injustice to poor old Ireland," and Bunyip must bear its trials with what heroic fortitude it can.
I don't have any photos of Bunyip from 1887, but this is the Gippsland Hotel (Top Pub) and Main Street in 1908.
Photograph from The Call of the Bunyip by Denise Nest.
And this enhancement of the beauties of the locality should not be hidden in the very far distant future, and that some are far-seeing enough to perceive that this is evident from the fact that at a recent sale of Bunyip land lots at the outside boundary of the suburban area realised as much as £6 per acre. During his election tour Dr. L. L. Smith pledged himself to get the reclamation of the Koo-wee-rup Swamp entered upon as one of his first Parliamentary works, but the hon. gentleman substituted a trip to England, and since his return has forgotten to redeem his promise. But the work is one which must inevitably be undertaken before very long, for such a splendid tract of richly fertile country cannot long be allowed to lie waste within so short a distance of the metropolis. Here is a direction, Mr.Editor, in which your pen, so long wielded in advocacy of the interests of this district, might usefully be exercised. Meanwhile Bunyip is dependent for its existence upon the firewood trade. In a small place like this little can be expected in the way of social news. The arrival and departure of mails and trains constitute the excitements of the place.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Cora Lynn Church
The
Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church used to hold services at the Cora
Lynn Hall from around the 1920s to 1960.
Most people attended every Sunday regardless of which religion they
were. The average congregation was around 25. Sunday School started first at 1.30pm and
Church was at 2.30pm.
Dad
and his sisters and brother all went to Sunday School and Church at Cora Lynn, initially
driven by horse and jinker, until the family got their first car in 1948.
Cora Lynn Sunday
School 1948
Back row - Fourth
from left is Frank Rouse, far right is Nancy Rouse, to her left is her sister
Dorothy and in front of her is another sister, Daphne. Do you recognize anyone?
Apart
from Cora Lynn there was a Methodist Church at Five Mile and one at Garfield and
Modella. Garfield and Modella were serviced by the Drouin Minister and Cora
Lynn and Five Mile by the Koo-Wee-Rup Minister. The only Methodist Ministers Mum
and Dad can remember is a Mr Rosewarne and the Rev Blainey - the father of
historian Geoffrey Blainey. There was also a Presbyterian Church at Iona and
Bunyip.
The
Presbyterian Minister from around 1953 was the Reverend Quentin Huckson. He
lived in Bunyip with his wife Peggy and their four children - Judith, John,
Peter and Andrew. Rev Huckson had a
service at Bunyip every week; then went to Iona which was an 11.30am service
then alternate weeks did Cora Lynn and Longwarry at 2.30pm. He also conducted a
monthly service at Tonimbuk and a service at Longwarry North. He drove to these
services in a Peugot 203 and Dad said he was happy to talk about his car for
hours. It was an unusual car in this area as it was the first foreign car they
had seen in the district.
The
Reverend Huckson left the Parish on August 25 1957 but the week before he left
on August 18 Mum says he ‘rounded up’ all the babies in the area that were due
to be christened and did a ‘mass baptism’ of about 12 babies all at once at
Iona, including my sister Megan and our cousin Bruce Forte.
Before
the next Presbyterian Minister came there was a period of about 16 months where
retired ministers filled in. They often came by train the night before and then
on the Sunday had at least three services to conduct. The next minister was the
Reverend Ron Traill who came around the end of 1958 and almost immediately
closed down Tonimbuk and Longwarry North Churches, but Cora Lynn lasted a bit
longer and closed at the end of 1960.
Getting
back to Cora Lynn - the big occasions at Cora Lynn were the Harvest Festival
and the Sunday School picnic. The Harvest Festival would receive two to three
tons of potatoes, onions, pumpkins etc that would all be taken to the
Presbyterian Kildonan or Canterbury Babies Home or similar Methodist Homes. The
Sunday School picnic was held at Glen Cromie and many of the children got there
on the back of a truck owned by Ern Wilkinson.
This
brings us to the Cora Lynn congregation - here is a list of people that Dad and
Mum remembers attending the Cora Lynn Church. Ern and Elsie Wilkinson and their
son Keith; Jim and Mabel MacDonald and their children Lorna, Jack, Bob and
Joyce; Mrs Whitta and her son Donald; Mrs Julia Clapperton and her son Keith;
Dan and Corrie Kinsella; Norman and Lorna Kinsella; Mrs Aileen Higgins of Toner
Road - she had 5 or 6 children including Merna, Maurice, Ron, Joy and Wayne;
Mrs Jocie Clay who lived on the Nine Mile and had young children; Mrs Nell
Leamon, the wife of Clarrie the Scout Master. After Mr Leamon passed away she
married Cr Dick Wakenshaw, the father of Bob and Don; the Slater family - the children
were Euan and twins Andrew and Mary; Jack and Grace Huntingford and children
Garry, Pam and Gwenda; Harry and Florence Huntingford and children Elaine and
Jim; Mrs Harker and her children Frank and Joyce; Mrs Pearl Townley, Mrs
McKenzie (wife of Les), Alan and Audrey Reid and Win Reid, who was the Sunday
school teacher. Win was a cousin of Alan and Audrey. Sorry, we don’t know all the first names.
There
was also the Cora Lynn Combined Church Ladies Guild which continued on for
several years after the services were stopped at Cora Lynn.
This is the Cora-Lynn
Combined Churches Ladies Guild c.1965
Left
to Right - Mabel McDonald (nee Wilkinson), Elsie Wilkinson, Rene Huntingford (nee Stephenson), Mrs Benham, Pearl Townley,
Audrey Reid, Nell Wakenshaw, Mrs McKenzie, Grace Huntingford, Corrie Kinsella
and Eva Rouse (nee Weatherhead, my grandma).
I am indebted to Bruce Stephenson for identifying Rene Huntingford, as we had her listed as unknown.
I am indebted to Bruce Stephenson for identifying Rene Huntingford, as we had her listed as unknown.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
100 years ago this week - Kirwan's store at Vervale
100 years ago this week - John Kirwan, store owner, was caught illegally selling alcohol. Kirwan's store, at Vervale, was on the corner of the Thirteen Mile and the south side of the Main Drain. I have written about the store and its owners - The Kirwan family and James & Edith McMannis, here.
SEIZURE OF LIQUOR AT BUNYIP.
A large quantity of whisky, beer, and stout in cases, was seized on Koo-wee-rup Swamp on Friday by Constables Allen and Anstee, of Bunyip. For some time the police have suspected that there was trafficking in liquor at Iona, and they watched the store owned by John A. Kirwan. They saw a man leaving the store with a bottle of whisky, and he admitted to the police that he obtained the liquor at
Kirwan's. The police took the liquor to the Bunyip police station, and Kirwan will be prosecuted on one or more charges of having trafficked in liquor illicitly.
Seizure of Liquour from John Kirwan.
Dandenong Advertiser September 23, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88661288
A large quantity of whisky, beer, and stout in cases, was seized on Koo-wee-rup Swamp on Friday by Constables Allen and Anstee, of Bunyip. For some time the police have suspected that there was trafficking in liquor at Iona, and they watched the store owned by John A. Kirwan. They saw a man leaving the store with a bottle of whisky, and he admitted to the police that he obtained the liquor at
Kirwan's. The police took the liquor to the Bunyip police station, and Kirwan will be prosecuted on one or more charges of having trafficked in liquor illicitly.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
100 years ago this week - Dalmore Roads
100 years ago this week comes this report from the Lang Lang Guardian of September 8, 1915 about Dalmore ratepayers prepared to pay extra to get their roads fixed. Apparently Dalmore was a 'quagmire covered with scrub' The roads were partly bad as a great many tons of potatoes were being sent to the Dalmore Station. Dalmore Station had opened on October 1, 1888, it was originally called Peer’s Lane, then Koo-Wee-Rup West, then Dalmore.
The School at 'the end of Ballarto Road' was the Cardinia State School, No. 3689, which had opened on November 3, 1911. The Church they are referring to is the Cardinia Presbyterian Church which was completed in October 1915.
Lang Lang Guardian September 8, 1915.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
100 years ago this week - Junior teacher position available
Want a job as a teacher? Then apply to the Bunyip State School. You must be over 16, apply in your own hand writing, and prepared to pay a fee of 2/6 to sit the examination!
Junior Teacher wanted at Bunyip.
Bunyip Free Press, August 26, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129630790
Junior Teacher.
The head teacher of the Bunyip State School (Mr. T. Slattery) has been instructed by the Education Department to invite applications for the position of junior teacher, which is now vacant in the school. The candidates must hold the merit certificate or have passed the Junior Public or higher examination of the University, and be over 16 years of age. They must apply in their own handwriting, stating full Christian names and date of birth to the head teacher, and be prepared to pay a fee of 2/6, to be handed to the officer conducting the examination.
The head teacher of the Bunyip State School (Mr. T. Slattery) has been instructed by the Education Department to invite applications for the position of junior teacher, which is now vacant in the school. The candidates must hold the merit certificate or have passed the Junior Public or higher examination of the University, and be over 16 years of age. They must apply in their own handwriting, stating full Christian names and date of birth to the head teacher, and be prepared to pay a fee of 2/6, to be handed to the officer conducting the examination.
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