Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Back-to Garfield June 1962

It is sixty years since Back-to Garfield celebrations took place. This Back-to was held from June 1 to June 4 in 1962 and all the proceeds from the weekend were to go to the Garfield Swimming Pool Fund.


The head-line to the Pakenham Gazette report
Pakenham Gazette, June 8 1962 p, 1

 There was an extensive list of activities commencing on the Friday when a Cabaret Ball was held in the Picture Theatre, from 8.30pm to 1.30am. This was attended by 250 people. On the Saturday morning Jack Payne, the President of the Back-to committee, performed the official welcome. At 11.00am an Old Scouts reunion was held in the Scout Hall, where there was also a popular display of historic photographs.

Later that afternoon a big crowd attended the football match with Garfield convincingly defeating Nar Nar Goon, 17.16 to 4.21. According to a report in the Pakenham Gazette, Nar Nar Goon had no answer to the dashing play of the Garfield forwards and ruckmen. The best on the field for Garfield were Jim and Tom Miller, Keith Looby, Eric Preston, Wayne Gibson and Tony McMahon. Other players in the team included Pat Looby, Brenchley, T. Christie, Pumphrey and the goal kickers were Jim Miller with five, Tom Miller and Pat Looby, three goals and A. McMahon and T. Christie two goals.

On the Saturday evening 350 people attended the official dinner, in the Garfield Theatre, where the Guests of Honour were the Shire President, Cr Dan Cunningham and the local MLA, Les Cochrane. A teenage dance was held at the same time in the Garfield Hall. Church services were held the next morning, with the service at the Anglican Church being conducted by the Bishop of Gippsland, Dr Garnsey. On Sunday afternoon a large crowd attended the T.Q midget car racing at Cannibal Creek Reserve. More activities were to come with 240 people attending the community singing in the evening. The singing was led by Mr ‘Tiny’ Snell and ex-resident Mr Bumper Gee who enlivened proceedings with his racey stories of pioneering days on the Swamp.

300 ex-students returned to the school on the Monday to chat about old times. On the Monday afternoon a reunion was held for the Garfield R.S.L. The Branch President, Keith Clay gave the welcome speech, a wreath was placed on the memorial by Hector Wikman and an address was delivered by Bert Thomson. Later that afternoon the first sod of the swimming pool was turned in the presence of Mr Hunt, M.L.C. The honour of turning the first sod was given to Mr J.J. Kavanagh, a pioneer of the district.
 
The Pakenham Gazette reported that - Tours had been arranged for the back-to people and many who had been away for years could hardly believe their eyes as they noticed the transformation of the countryside since the pioneering days. The festivities ended with a Celebration Ball, once again at the Picture Theatre, which was scheduled to run from 8.30pm until 2.00am, on the Monday night. The Theatre was packed to the doors. The highlight of this event was the cutting of a 75 pound cake (about 34 kg) made in the form of a swimming pool.

A souvenir booklet produced for the occasion included a history of the township by Bill Parish and a list of Office bearers of the organizing Committee. The Committee consisted of President Jack Payne, who had a timber yard on the corner of the Fourteen Mile Road and Main Street (a house is now there); Vice presidents were Cornelius Hurley, the licensee of the Hotel and Ian Taylor, the Chemist. Secretary was George Fischer, who was the head teacher at the school and the Treasurer was Alan Wallace, the Bank Manager. The Social Secretary was Lorna Walters.

The Garfield and District Memorial Swimming Pool was officially opened by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Rohan Delacombe on February 11, 1967. 

Sources: Souvenir booklet for the Back to Garfield celebrations, June 1962; Back-to program in the Pakenham Gazette April 10, 1962; Report of the Back-to in the Pakenham Gazette June 8, 1962.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Grosby Slipper Factory at Koo Wee Rup


The Grosby Shoe Company purchase the old flax mill at Koo Wee Rup. 
Koo Wee Rup Sun December 3, 1947 p. 1

In December 1947, the Koo Wee Rup Sun announced that the Grosby Shoe Co., P/L had purchased the Flax Mill buildings in Koo Wee Rup. They planned to specialize in the manufacture of slippers and open operations in early 1948. The Flax Mill had operated from December 1940 until November 1946, you can read about it here. As the article from the Koo Wee Rup Sun notes, Grosby also operated a factory at Beaconsfield, which had opened in May 1945 and operated until around 1953 (1).   

There were various advertisements in the newspapers over the next few years for staff at the factory - 


Advertisement for experienced clickers.
 A clicker cuts the leather required for making shoes, into pieces (2). 
Koo Wee Rup Sun December 10, 1947 p. 4


An article in the same issue of the Koo Wee Rup Sun informed the locals that applications for employment at the Koo Wee Rup factory should be sent to Grosby in North Melbourne.
Koo Wee Rup Sun December 10, 1947 p. 1


Advertisement for Sewing machine mechanic in 1949


Excellent salary for the right man at the Grosby decentralised slipper factory 
at Koo Wee Rup. 

The Staff at the Grosby factory were featured in a Weekly Times special on Koo Wee Rup in July 1952.


Staff at the Koo Wee Rup Grosby factory

Less than a  month after the photo appeared in the Weekly Times, the Koo Wee Rup Sun on Wednesday, August 20, 1952 announced that the Grosby factory would be closing that day.  The employees were redeployed to the North Melbourne factory. The building was auctioned on December 13, 1952. What happened to the building after Grosby left? As I wrote in my post on the Flax Mill, here, one building, an army hut, was erected on land adjoining St John's Catholic School in Koo Wee Rup, I don't know the date;  and in 1964 the old amenities building was purchased and used as the Scout Hall.  That's all I can tell you at the moment.


The closure of the Grosby factory at Koo Wee Rup.
Koo Wee Rup Sun August 20, 1952 p. 4


Auction of Koo Wee Rup Grosby factory.
Dandenong Journal, December 10 1952  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222363424


Trove list - I have created a short of articles  relating to Grosby at Koo Wee Rup,  access it here.

Footnotes

(1) Grosby factory at Beaconsfield - the building was owned by Herman Roberts and later Katherine Lucy Roberts, who both leased it to Grosby. The Shire of Berwick Rate books list Grosby as the tenant until 1953/1954. See Marianne Rocke's entries on these people here and here on her Residents of Upper Beaconsfield website.

Saturday, July 9, 2022

The Rossiter family of Koo Wee Rup

Rossiter Road is named after Charles Rossiter. Charles and Ellen Rossiter took up 317 acres of land at Yallock in 1873 (1) and named the property Hawkesdale. It was located at Lot 10b, Parish of Yallock and situated between Koo Wee Rup and Bayles, near Bethune's Road.  Before this Charles and Ellen lived at Ravenhurst (later called Gladys Park and  Tulliallan) on Clyde Road, south of Grices Road in Cranbourne North. 

Charles and Ellen Rossiter, early 1890s. 
Photographer: Yeoman & Co.
State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/39

Dr Niel Gunson, in The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (2) explains the complicated ownership of the Ravenhurst property - Ravenhurst was part of the Garem Gam Run of 3,200 acres (1300 hectares) taken up by James Bathe and T.J Perry in 1837. In 1845, Garem Gam was subdivided and the eastern part was called Ravenhurst Ravenhurst was held by John Crewe until his death in 1850 and was then taken up by Benjamin Rossiter (Charles’ father) and Maurice Feehan. In 1851 it appears that the property (Garem Gam) was leased as a whole by Benjamin Rossiter, Maurice Feehan and Sarah O’Shea.  By 1854, Benjamin Rossiter had the entire property  Sarah O'Shea had been leasing the other section of the Garem Gam property with John Crewe (3). Crewe had also acquired the  Mayune from Frederick Ruffy in 1850 just before he (Crewe) died in 1850 at the age of 31.  Crewe’s widow Eliza then took over the lease of  Mayune until the property which was then acquired by Alexander Cameron in 1851 (4). I have written about Mayune and John  Crewe, here

Benjamin Rossiter (1786 - 1858) and his wife Zillah Baynton (1789 - 1871) had arrived in the Western Port area in 1842, having come out from Somersetshire in 1842 (5).  Benjamin Rossiter died in 1858 and his sons Charles and Thomas, took over the property. As well as the two boys Benjamin and Zillah had two daughters - Ann who died as a teenager and Mercy who married Henry Wedge. Henry Wedge and his bothers Charles and John had the Bangam and Ballymarang Stations (6). Bangam was located between the Dandenong and Eumemmerring Creeks (modern day Doveton) and Ballamarang, which is around modern day Carrum Downs and across to Seaford and Port Phillip Bay. Wedge Road in Carrum Downs is named for the family. Mercy Wedge died in 1903 aged 80. Thomas James Rossiter, who died in Molong, New South Wales in 1908, married Mary Ann O’Shea in 1854, the same year his brother, Charles, married Ellen O’Shea.  Mary Ann and Ellen were sisters, the daughters of  John O’Shea (died 1852 aged 51) and his first wife, Mary Josephine Ryan. The Sarah O'Shea mentioned before is believed to be John O'Shea's second wifeO’Shea’s Road is named for the family (7). 

The aforementioned Eliza Crewe died in 1868 at the age of 44. She was the daughter of Thomas Baynton and Eliza Arabella Smith. Thomas Baynton was the brother of Zillah Baynton who was married to Benjamin Rossiter, who took over the Ravenhurst property from Crewe after his death. You may wonder was this to help out their niece, Eliza Crewe, or they just knew the area and wanted to settle here. A bit more on Thomas Baynton - he had the Darlington Run near Kyneton in 1841. Baynton the town near Kyneton is named after him (8). Totally irrelevant to this story but an interesting fact is that the Bourke and Wills Exhibition passed by the Baynton property on its way north - Ludwig Becker sketched the occasion (see below).


Crossing an ancient crater from near Dr. Baynton's 25 August 1860. Artist: Ludwig Becker. 
State Library of Victoria Image H16486


Charles and Ellen Rossiter had eight children -  Edwin Augustus (1856 - 1939, married Ellen Louisa Craig in 1890), Emily Baynton (1857 - 1883), Helena Ellen Teresa (1859 - 1902), Charles Benjamin (1865 - 1942, married his first cousin Zillah Rossiter in 1899), Hubert (1869 - 1870), Ellen Teresa (known as Nellie, 1871- 1926 married William Brierley in 1906), Norton Baynton (c. 1875 - 1947, married Hilda Hodgson in 1906) and Claude Cecil (c. 1878 - 1947, married Stella Mary Paragreen in 1907). Charles died on February 6, 1895 aged 74 and Ellen died June 3, 1909 aged 73. They are both buried at the Cranbourne Cemetery (9). 

Death notice of Charles Rossiter.

Claude, Nellie and Norton Rossiter at Hawkesdale, early 1880s
State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/17

What do we know about their life in Koo Wee Rup? Once again we turn to Dr Gunson's book, The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire - Rossiter’s property Hawkesdale was regarded as a show place in the district and the homestead was set off by a profusion of flowers – geraniums, dahlias, rhododendrons, roses, broom and cactus. Besides bloodstock and a shorthorn dairy herd, Rossiter applied intense cultivation 'in a paddock on the east side of the homestead seventeen successive crops have been grown and for the last fourteen years without manure - the present crop will yield 2 ½ tons of hay to the acre'. 

The Rossiters at Hawkesdale, early 1890s. Photographer: Sydney Herbert Edwards.
The photo shows Charles on the left, seated are Ellen and one of the daughters, possibly Nellie. Son Charles is at the back and Norton is lying on the ground.
State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/88

Charles was an original Committee member of the Mornington Farmers Society from 1856, a Cranbourne Shire Councillor from 1869 to 1884 and Shire President on four occasions.  Charles and his brother, Thomas, bred horses, amongst their other agricultural pursuits. As he had many children, Charles was interested in having a school established in the area and was one of the local land owners to sign a petition for its establishment. Subsequently, Yallock State School No. 2629 (later called Koo Wee Rup State School) was opened on November 1, 1884 at Bethune's Road (10) 

Hawkesdale, Koo Wee Rup, 1890s.
Photo shows Norton, Claude, Nellie, Charles and their cousin, Zillah. Charles and Zillah married in 1899.
I presume this is the building described as 'the dairy, meat room and buggy rooms' in the sale advertisement, below.
State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/45

The Hawkesdale property was put up for auction in November 1898, by Charles’ executors. It was described at the time as being only two miles from the Koo Wee Rup Railway Station. There was a good four roomed brick house, kitchen and kitchen bedroom, two pantries, a large building 70 x 30, comprising dairy, meat room and 2 buggy rooms, storeroom, man's rooms, stable, tool-house, &c; large 10 stalled cow-shed, and calf-room. with hay-room in front; refrigeration room, pig-houses, &c. Good orchard. There was a State School and creamery adjoining the property and it was one of the finest dairy farms in the district.

The sale of Hawkesdale.
The Australasian November 12, 1898 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138667979


Acknowledgment
We are fortunate that a member of the Rossiter family donated some family photos to the State Library, so we can get a snap shot of their life at Hawkesdale and other properties. The photos were given by Mrs Leila Trickey (1908 - 1985) the daughter of Claude Rossiter.

Footnotes
(1) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Cheshire, 1968) p. 52 Cranbourne Shire Rate Books.
(2) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Cheshire, 1968)
(3) Gunson, op.cit., p. 36
(4) Gunson, op.cit., p. 52
(5) Ibid
(6) Gunson, op. cit., p. 34
(7) Family information - Gunson, op. cit., p. 52; Indexes to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Obituary of Thomas Rossiter in the Molong Express, of January 4, 1908, see here; Personal notices in the newspapers. I had some trouble confirming the relationship between Mary and Ellen O'Shea and John O'Shea, but  a comment left on my original post about the Rossiters on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past, by G. Sibbald explains it - I am a descendant of Charles and Ellen Rossiter. Mary Ann Josephine O'Shea and and Ellen Teressa O'Shea are indeed sisters. Sarah O'Shea was not their mother. Their mother's name was Mary Josephine Ryan. I believe that Sarah O'Shea nee Fitzgerald was John O'Shea's second wife. Mary Ann and Ellen's brothers John and George died in Victoria in 1848 and 1852 respectively. John and Sarah had sons David and Edward, half brothers of the above, who were born in Victoria. 
(8) Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Personal notices in the newspapers; Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip by R. V. Billis and A.S. Kenyon (Stockland Press, 1974)
(9) Early Settlers of the Casey Cardinia Region (Narre Warren & District Family History Group, 2010) Indexes to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages
(10) Gunson, op. cit., p. 111, p. 242 footnote 36. Dr Gunson is quoting the Mornington County Herald, December 4, 1891
(11) Gunson, op. cit., pp 180, 260, 162. 

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, first appeared on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past.

St George's Anglican Church in Koo Wee Rup

This was the original design for St George's Anglican Church in Koo Wee Rup.  The tower was never built and doors were added to the front, rather than having a side entrance. The Architect was Louis Williams of the firm North and Williams. Williams also designed the Finlay McQueen Memorial Presbyterian Church in Lang Lang in 1936 and the St John the Evangelist Anglican Church, also in Lang Lang, in 1959 (1). 


An effective design for  small church - Koo Wee Rup Anglican Building

The text which accompanied the above illustration was - Our illustration shows an effective design by Messrs North and Williams, for a small church. It is being used in the erection of St. George's Anglican Church, Koo-wee-rup, the foundation stone of which was recently laid by Dr. A. W. Pain, Bishop of Gippsland. The nave of the church is to be built first, at a cost of £567, and it is expected to complete the full plans in the next two years for a total outlay of £1200. The Rev. Noel Danne is the priest of St. George's (2).

The same illustration appeared on the cover of Architecture magazine a year later, in May 1918.


The original design for St George's Anglican Church
Image: Architecture: an Australasian review of architecture and the allied arts and sciences
Vol. 3 No. 5 (1 May 1918) via Trove.

The same issue also had the following photograph of the entrance with the double doors. 


West front of St George's Anglican Church
Image: Architecture: an Australasian review of architecture and the allied arts and sciences
Vol. 3 No. 5 (1 May 1918), p. 128 via Trove.


The first Anglican service in Koo Wee Rup was held on October 7, 1897 by the Cranbourne vicar, the Reverend H. Hitchcock (3). Cranbourne vicars continued to hold services in the area until 1905, when the town became part of the Lang Lang District (4).  For some years services were held at the Presbyterian Church (5), and later the school. In 1915 the parishioners decided to build their own Church and a building committee was formed under Clarence Adeney, a parishioner and the manager of the local London Bank (6).  

The foundation stone of St George’s was laid by Bishop Pain, the Bishop of Gippsland, on May 1, 1917,  before a large gathering of the residents from Koo Wee Rup  and Lang Lang districts. After the ceremony the Bishop opened the annual Flower Show (7)

On September 1, 1917, the Cranbourne Shire Engineer reported to Council that the Anglican Church at Kooweerup has been completed and complies with all the necessary requirements, so would recommend the council to grant its approval (8). 

The Church was dedicated on December 7, 1917 by the Bishop of Gippsland, The Right Reverend George Cranswick. The next week the Lang Lang Guardian had this report -
Koo-Wee-Rup
On the afternoon of Friday, 7 December, the Bishop of Gippsland, the Right Rev. G. H. Cranswick, officiated at the dedication of St. George's Church here. There was a full congregation. Amongst the visiting clergy present were:- Revs. A. Adeney (Morwell), G. H. White (Korumburra), R. Hamilton (Wonthaggi), Backholm (Bunyip), B. T. Syer (Drouin), and the local clergyman Rev. Danne. The secretary to the church, Mr C. A. Adeney, read a petition from the board of guardians asking the Bishop to dedicate the church. 

After singing "O God our help in Ages past" the Bishop started from the font, then went to lectern, chancel steps, and communion table, before which different members of the clergy read appropriate chapters from the scriptures. The Bishop afterwards delivered a helpful address from the text "I was glad when they said unto me, I will go into the house of the Lord." During the service the choir rendered the anthem "The Lord is in His Holy Temple," Mrs Hudson accompanying at the organ. 

Immediately after a baptismal service was held. At night there was an overflowing congregation when 20 persons - 11 males and 9 females - were confirmed. The Bishop gave a fine address to the congregation on the meaning of confirmation and to the confirmees he delivered a message from the text "Thy grace is sufficient for thee." A collection in aid of the home mission fund was taken up.

After the service, Mr C. Adeney, manager of the London Bank, entertained the clergy. During the stay of the Bishop in the district, he was the guest of Messrs N. Bennett, J. Carton, F. Smethurst, of Yannathan, and P. Einsiedel of Monomieth (9).

The Anglican Church closed in 2012 and the congregation moved to the Uniting Church.


The Anglican Church, c. 1940s
See the rest of the photographs in this series, here.


The Church in October 2010
Image: Heather Arnold

Footnotes
(1) Cardinia Local Heritage Study Review - Volume 3: Heritage Place & Precinct citations. Final report, revised December 2020. Prepared for the Cardinia Shire Council by Context P/L.   https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0034/408499/C249card-Cardinia-Local-Heritage-Study-Review-Vol-3-Heritage-Places-and-Precinct-Citations-Revised-Dec-2020.pdf
(2) The Herald, June 4, 1917, see here
(3) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Cheshire, 1968) p. 166)
(4) Clark, Albert E. The Church of our Fathers:  being the history of the Church of England in Gippsland, 1847-1947 (Diocese of Gippsland, 1947), p. 264
(5) Gunson, op. cit., p. 166.
(6) A short history of St George's Koo Wee Rup, 1917-1997. This is a booklet published by the Church in 1997. 
(7) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, May 10, 1917, see here.
(8) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, September 6, 1917, see here.
(9) Lang Lang Guardian, December 15, 1917, see here.

Friday, July 1, 2022

Plowright Brothers sand mining operation

The photographs, below, of the Plowright Brothers sand mining operation on the Main Drain just out of Koo Wee Rup are from the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society collection. The photographs are undated but the Siding closed in 1931 (1), which dates them to between 1926 - 1932.

Marilyn Ramsay in Steam to Strzelecki: the Koo Wee Rup to McDonald’s Track Railway (2) wrote this about the sand mining - 
To service the sand mining industry the Railways Department (during 1925 and 1926) built sidings on the line between Koo Wee Rup and Bayles, at three miles one chain and four miles from Koo Wee Rup. In March 1925 Cameron Bros. began transporting water-washed sand pumped from the Main Drain along a 2-foot gauge steel-railed tramway which they had built to the siding. The next year Plowright Bros and the Koo Wee Rup Water Washed Sand Co, each took over part of  Cameron Bros operations . Plowright's tramline to the 3-mile siding ran almost two miles north-east, and the Koo Wee Rup Water Washed Sand Co.'s. tramline ran about one and a half mile along the line of Backhouses Road to the Main Drain. Initially both tramlines were operated by horse but later Fordson tractors provided motive power. The skips were filled from hopper tanks beside the Drain and tipped from a platform into railway trucks at the siding. I have written about the Strzelecki railway line, here.

This report is from the Koo Wee Rup Sun of June 24, 1926, just before the Plowright Brothers operation commenced -

Plowright Brothers commence operations
Koo Wee Rup Sun June 24, 1926

Who were the Plowright Brothers? John Plowright of Station Street in Koo Wee Rup passed away September 24, 1942 aged 55. He was the husband of Isabel (nee Bethune) and the father of Jean and Lindsay. An obituary (3) said that he had been a resident of Koo Wee Rup for 30 years. John and his two brothers, David  (died in 1969 aged 77) and William (died in 1967 aged 74) were born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk in England the sons of John and Sarah Ann (nee Harrison) Plowright (4)


The death notice of John Plowright
Dandenong Journal September 30, 1942 

Another obituary (5) also said that he had been in business for 18 years, which means the business would have started around 1924. At the time of John's death he was a partner and director of the firm Plowright, Albion Sand and Gravel Co.


Obituary of John Plowright

Plowright Brothers was acquired by an new company, Albion Sand and Gravel Co., in 1930 (6).


Plowright Albion Sand and Gravel Co., formed. 

The captions on the photos of the Plowright Albion operation are partially taken from the original captions as written on the back of the photos.


At the Main Drain - Plowright Albion Sand Co. Sand Pumping Unit, c. 1926-1931. 
Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.


At the Main Drain - Loaded truck being towed to rail siding,  c. 1926-1931.
Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.


At the Main Drain - Trucks filled with water washed sand leaving the hopper, c. 1926-1931.
Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.


At the Main Drain - Sand passing through hopper onto trucks,  c. 1926-1931.
Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.


This article from the Koo Wee Rup Sun of April 12, 1926 explains how the operation 
works at the Railway Siding.



At the Railway Siding - Trucks are winched up an elevated ramp and tipped into the waiting railway trucks,  c. 1926-1931.
Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.


At the Railway Siding - The elevated ramp,  c. 1926-1931.
Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.


Footnotes
(1) Ramsay, Merilyn Steam to Strzelecki : the Koo-Wee-Rup to McDonald’s Track Railway (Australian Railway Historical Society, 1991) p. 69
(2) See above
(3) Obituary -  Dandenong Journal September 30, 1942, see here.
(4) Dandenong Journal September 30, 1942, see here and Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(5) The Age September 30, 1942, see here
(6) The Age December 27, 1930, see here

Saturday, June 4, 2022

"Corpse" that came to life

This report appeared in the Sydney Truth newspaper of March 10, 1925. Not sure if it is true or not, but it’s a great story.


What does it feel like to be dead? “Scotty” McDonald, of Koo-wee-rup (Victoria), says it is quite a pleasant experience. "Scotty" ought to know, because he has been officially dead and buried, but confounded his mourners by walking in on them and ordering a pot of foaming beer.

"Scotty" is short and stocky, and somewhere over the 60-year mark in age. A grizzly moustache and stubbly beard mark his weather-beaten features. In a humble hut near Dalmore, five or six miles from

Koo-wee-rup, he lives while the potato-digging is on. Before his miraculous death, burial, and resurrection Scotty's headquarters were the Royal Hotel, Koo-wee-rup. There was he to be found in the intervals between his luring of the elusive spud from the soil.

Not Wilfully Dead.
Man is not master of his own destiny, and Scotty was not to be allowed to have control of his own death. The matter was taken out of his hands without his consent. A body was found in a paddock some miles from Koo-wee-rup, and was brought into the township by a passing carter. There is no such thing as a mortuary in the township, and as is customary in such places bodies are taken to the local hotel, where post-mortems and inquests are held. There the body was taken to the scene of Scotty's best triumphs on the imitation bagpipes, and an awed bar paused awhile over its pots of beer to talk of poor old Scotty's sudden end.

One "Butcher'" (christened Mick), who had quaffed the flowing bowl full many a time and oft with
Scotty, could not contain his tears. So while the habitues of the Royal hostelry held an informal wake for Scotty, the doctors made a post-mortem examination, which showed that death was due to certain persistent poisoning of the heart and other organs. "That's Scotty," said everyone who knew the "deceased.”

Mr Cole, J.P., of Lang Lang, came to Koo-wee-rup and held a formal inquest on the body of John McDonald, deceased. There was no question of foul play, and the medical evidence was accepted as sufficient for the granting of an order of burial. So Scotty was buried. A motor lorry belonging to Gilchrist and Co. was requisitioned, and the coffin was taken to the Lang Lang Cemetery on the Wednesday afternoon, and interred several feet below in the embracing Mother Earth.

Now, whose body was it, since it was not Scotty's? Undoubtedly a body was buried, but whose?
 
Was it a Joke?
Constable Whiteside, of Koo-wee-rup says it was the body of another McDonald altogether, and that someone must have been trying to play a joke on Scotty. But the explanation advanced by those who knew both Scotty and the other McDonald is probably nearer the mark. The other man, though taller, was very like Scotty in facial appearance; "like twins," one man described them. When the body was brought in everyone assumed that it was Scotty, and it was Scotty who was buried.

Came a public holiday, and all Scotty's cronies were gathered in the bar of the hotel. They missed the clank of his unconventional beer billy made from a 2lb jam tin. The beer splashed merrily on thirsty throats, and the till clanged cheerily. Prominent in the gathering was Mick, still willing to join in toasts to the memory of departed Scotty.

The swing doors opened from the street. Casually the company turned to see who was coming in. Then the silence of the tomb fell upon the crowd. With beer mugs poised in mid-air they stood as inert as the stuffed fox in the corner: An apparition from Eternity was framed in the doorway! The wraith of Scotty had come to haunt his former resting-place. "It's Scotty's ghost!" shrieked Mick. “It's a banshee, O-ooh !" He would not look, for had not his own scarf-pin been used to pin the blanket around Scotty's lifeless form? The ghost announced himself in full blooded human language to the gaping bar. "What the hell are you staring at?" he demanded. "What's the joke?"

Movement returned to the awed company. It might be Scotty's ghost that stood in the doorway, but at least it was a ghost that put on no superior ethereal airs. If Scotty had some back to haunt the bar he was going to do it properly, for as wondering eyes were dragged from the spellbound contemplation of the familiar face it was seen that the ghost carried Scotty's beer-billy. It seemed to have come prepared to haunt the place in a respectable manner, with the rattle of glasses rather than chains.

Cautiously the more daring spirits investigated, and were met with pointed instructions to go to the place that it might have been reasonably expected Scotty had come from, judging by his adjectives. A babel of explanations smashed the silence, and everyone tried to tell Scotty that he was dead.

He Ought to Know.
He refused to believe it, and told them so, asserting that he was the person who should know. Panting dispensers of news gasped word of Scotty's return to the people who did not happen to be in the pub at the time, and he became the show sight for the day - the man who had returned from the grave. Mick was the last to be convinced, and then, like the doubting disciple Thomas, he would only be convinced of the resurrection by physical contact. To him it seemed that Scotty's ghost had come before him as a warning, and it was some time before he would approach. Then, much to Scotty's indignation, Mick convinced himself by vigorously pinching the man who should have been dead.

The earnest explanations of the erstwhile mourners mollified the anger of Scotty, over what he thought was a rotten joke, and over a few "welcome back to earth" pots, he forgave them all and realised what had happened. While he was being "buried" he had been out some miles and he had not been able to assure them that the reports of his death, like those of Mark Twain's, "had been grossly exaggerated."

When a man is so unceremoniously shuffled off this mortal coil, without having a say in the matter, it is up to him to prove conclusively that he is very much alive. Was it not Constable Whiteside who had had some part in this dastardly attempt to take a man's life away from him? To be sure, and the honor of the McDonalds demanded a bout with the doughty limb of the law. Scotty decided that the honor of the McDonalds would be compensated by a wrestle for drinks, and therefore he challenged the constable to a fall - the loser to shout for the company. But the policeman declined to satisfy any ghost, and informed Scotty that a night in the lockup was all the satisfaction the pride of the McDonalds would get.

Koo-wee-rup had thought that it had seen Scotty make his last motor ride when the motor lorry bore away the rough coffin, but a few days later it witnessed a very hilarious ghost leave by motor for Lang Lang with the constable. On the Saturday morning he was fined 6s for being drunk. The fine was inflicted by Mr. Cole, J.P., who had three days before signed the order for Scotty's burial!

Source: Sydney Truth newspaper of March 10, 1925 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168706639

Friday, May 20, 2022

Native cats or Quolls in the West Gippsland area and beyond

I came across this snippet in the book Early Days of Berwick (1), first published in 1948. It was referring to farming areas around Berwick - The native cats were a pest amongst the poultry but they appeared to contract some form of epidemic and they died out and now appear totally extinct (2). What are native cats? They are a type of quoll, a carnivorous marsupial - the Eastern Quoll - Dasyurus viverrinus - and were described by a writer as - the colour of native cats varies greatly. I have seen them practically all black, except for the characteristic white spots, but in others the colour has been grey, brown, bluey-grey, yellow, and a mixture of the above colours, but always with the white spots (3). They are about 60 cm in length, including the tail. Eastern Quolls are considered to be nearly extinct on the Australian mainland, but still exist in Tasmania (4).


Quolls or 'Native Cats'
Wild cats, c. 1880s. State Library of Victoria Image H29681/2

I did a search on Trove to find any references to quolls in the West Gippsland region in newspapers. The first report came from October 1872. This was a sad account of a farmer, named Wilhelm Tinzmann, of Dandenong, who committed suicide in October 1872 by drinking strychnine. He had legally obtained the poison from a local chemist to kill 'native cats'. Thirty four year old Wilhelm had been suffering from great pain in the head and had been desponding of late (5).

In April 1880, there was a report on the activities of the Acclimatisation Society, later called the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society, who had released Californian Quail into Victoria and they reported that it has succeeded wherever the scrub, as at Gembrook, is sufficiently dense to enable it to escape from its numerous enemies, in the shape of hawks and native cats (6). The activities of this Society were reported on regularly and in another report from April 1886, the Society was sent one white native cat, from Mr Staughton, near Pakenham to add to their collection (7).

In October 1884 there were various reports about the tragic death of eleven year old Edward Williams of Tynong who died after having been bitten by a snake. Edward had put his hand into a hollow log, in which he thought a native cat lay concealed, only to find that it actually contained a four foot tiger snake (8). This happened at eight o'clock in the morning and shortly afterwards he began to feel the deadly effects of the poison, and his father, alarmed at the lad's appearance, hurried with him to the railway station, and took him to the Alfred Hospital. The boy was quite insensible when admitted, at about two p.m., and was evidently dying. He expired very shortly after admission (9).

In 1899, the West Gippsland Gazette reported this story, which took place at an un-named location in Gippsland - A boy, son of a selector climbed a high white gum after a magpie's nest, but slipped from a bough, and, falling, just managed to catch a limb, from which he hung by his hands. After making repeated efforts to draw himself up he abandoned the endeavour as hopeless, and remained hanging, calling for help all the time. When he had been in this position for about a minute, a native-cat crept along the limb and smelt at his fingers. It then bit them. The boy shrieked at the animal, but it took no notice, and set deliberately to work to eat his hand. After the third bite, the youngster let go; and fell to the ground, breaking a rib and stunning himself in the fall. When he recovered consciousness, the cat had descended the tree, probably with the intention of resuming its meal if conditions were favorable. But the boy left (10)

A story was published in 1907 about life on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, shortly after the Village Settlements were established in 1893. The story outlines the trials and tribulations faced by the settler and his family including the native cats killed the fowls.... and a vagrant kangaroo dog stole the baby out of the gin case cradle, and only dropped it after a two mile chase through the ti-tree (11). The last part  is particularly interesting given what happened to Lindy and Michael Chamberlain's baby, Azaria, in 1980.

This story was published 1912, but took place some time before and is a perfect example of why rabbit traps are now illegal - A mate and I were rabbiting in the Beaconsfield district, Victoria, and in one week we bagged [trapped] four sheep, one native cat, two opossums, one water-rat, one flying squirrel, one curlew, two magpie larks, and several hares. In addition, to these we also trapped a farmer's pet wallaby and our own fox-terrier dog. The animals that made the most noise were the hares, which screamed like terrified women. Native cats, as a rule, quickly tore themselves away, leaving behind a bunch of fur, and perhaps portion of a leg. Probably the week's trapping was even more varied, because several ot our traps had entirely disappeared — chains, pegs, and all. On another occasion we trapped a bull-frog (12).

The Australasian from August 1940 published this memory - "In the early 'nineties," writes Mr. A. H. McKibbin (Croydon), "I lived at Lyndhurst, near Dandenong. Immediately opposite our home was a primeval area of redgum bush which was a great stronghold of the native cats. These animals were a serious menace to our poultry, and some mornings I picked up as many as a dozen dead fowls resulting from carelessness in not closing the hen house door as tightly as it should have been shut. My father's method of dealing with these spotted terrors was kerosene case box traps with a drop door set on an internal trigger with bait attached. If the trap was sprung then without doubt the marauder was inside (13).


The Eastern Quoll
The spotted Opossum, 1789. Engraver: Peter Mazell.
State Library of Victoria Image 30328102131546/16. http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/320121

The articles also talk about various urban locations where these quolls were found. This report is from 1910 -  the common native cat was until a few years ago very plentiful. In the early eighties it was not an uncommon occurrence to capture one or more of these creatures in the old Museum work-shops in the University grounds. The old stone fences around Coburg afforded good shelter, and here they were commonly hunted with terriers. In 1902 a female and two half-grown young ones were trapped by an old inmate of the Immigrants' Home on St. Kilda road (14) and brought to the Museum. In Victoria of recent years it has become so rare that it will soon be numbered with the animals of the past (15).  In 1926 a small colony was reported at Ivanhoe - the journalist from The Herald described them thus with its brownish coat, spotted and mottled with white, the native cat is almost a handsome creature (16). As late as 1956 there was  an isolated colony in one of the wilder parts of Studley Park; and every now and again the body of one is brought into the Museum after being dazzled and knocked over by a car at night on Studley Park rd, or the Yarra Boulevard (17)

As we have seen, the 'native cat' was not very popular with the early settlers, primarily because they attacked poultry. The quoll would kill multiple chickens in one session, unlike the fox [which] will usually take a fowl and depart, but the native cat is apt to kill a dozen or more before calling it a night (18). Because of this farmers seemed to have engaged in an all-out war against the quoll - they used poison, guns, traps - both rabbit traps and native cat traps - after which the captured animals were either shot or beaten to death. As quolls lived in hollow logs they were sometimes burnt to death if the timber was being burnt and if they escaped from the burning logs they were killed by waiting dogs (19). Interestingly, quolls were not killed for their fur, even though fur from all types of animals, both native and introduced species, was used extensively in the nineteenth century for garments (20). The skins were never valuable; in fact, it was such an unpleasant job skinning them that few men bothered about the skins at all (21).


A simple Native Cat trap
This illustration, plus full instructions on how to make the trap appeared in the

How prolific were the quolls? A writer to The Australasian from Gembrook on 1905 said - Throughout the county of Mornington (22) the cats disappeared about 24 years ago, when there was about a rabbit to the square mile in it. At that point and previously, there were about 50 cats to the square mile. Now I believe you could not find one. So far as I can remember the grasshopper plague, then the rabbit one, came soon after the disappearance of the cats (23). There was a theory that rabbits may have been responsible for the decline of the quolls and this was both raised and dismissed by a correspondent to The Australasian in 1918 - The mystery regarding the almost total extinction of the native cat, along with the native bear, has been the subject of controversy in this column for many years past. Yet no one has suggested a theory that can be regarded as satisfactory. The suggestion that it was due to the cats swallowing the fur of the rabbits was frivolous. In Gippsland, for instance, the native cats had practically disappeared before the appearance of the rabbit. The latter pest was extremely scarce before '98. Regardless of this fact, there are still people who persist in the nonsensical theory that rabbits were the sole cause (24).

The theory mentioned in the Early days of Berwick that they died of some form of epidemic is also supported by some writers - Despite the war waged against them by men, women, and children in the sparsely settled areas, the native cats seemed to hold their own, but a strange disease broke out amongst them and so many were wiped out that they never recovered from the epidemic (25). In 1940, Mr McKibbon, who shared his memories of the quolls at Lyndhurst also wrote that Epidemics of disease at the close of last century and first years of the present one probably quite unconnected with the rabbit were responsible for the disappearance of native cats, and naturally the increase of the rabbit was facilitated with the removal of this little marsupial carnivore, which previously destroyed large numbers of the young bunnies (26).

In 2014 the Australian Journal of Zoology published a research paper by David Peacock (Biosecurity SA, Primary Industries and Regions South Australia) and Ian Abbott (Science and Conservation Diviosn, Department of Parks and Wildlife, Western Australia) called When the ‘native cat’ would ‘plague’: historical hyperabundance in the quoll (Marsupialia : Dasyuridae) and an assessment of the role of disease, cats and foxes in its curtailment (27). This is the abstract - From an extensive review of historical material, primarily newspaper accounts, we collated >2700 accounts of quolls. We discovered 36 accounts that demonstrate the propensity for quolls to become hyperabundant. The geographical distribution of accounts implies that most refer to Dasyurus viverrinus...More than 110 accounts demonstrate that disease/parasite epizootics occurred in south-eastern Australia, commencing on mainland Australia possibly in the goldfields region of Victoria in the 1850s, or in south-eastern South Australia and south-western Victoria in the mid to late 1860s, and implicate these as the initial primary factor in the regional extirpation of Australia’s quolls. The loss of D. viverrinus populations in south-eastern Australia was reportedly from population abundances and densities that were sporadically extraordinarily high, hence their loss appears more pronounced than previously suspected. Accounts describing the widespread, rapid and major loss of quolls suggest the possible involvement of several pathogens. Ectoparasites such as Uropsylla tasmanica and ticks appear to be described in detail in some accounts. A few others state comortality of Felis catus and Canis lupus familiaris, suggestive of a disease of either or both of these species, such as Canine Distemper Virus, a morbillivirus with a propensity to be non-host specific, that may have caused the decline of the quolls, perhaps vectored by the reported ectoparasites.... Read the full report, here.

The researchers conclude - We emphasise that disease should receive as much focus as the conventional explanatory factors of predation and habitat loss. It would appear then that the book Early Days of Berwick which suggested in 1948 that the native cat appeared to contract some form of epidemic presented a plausible explanation for the demise of the quoll.


Trove list
I have created a list on Trove on articles relating to the 'native cat' in the West Gippsland region and beyond, access it here.

Footnotes
(1) Early Days of Berwick and its surrounding districts: Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield, Harkaway, Narre Warren and Narre Warren North (Berwick Pakenham Historical Society), 3rd edition.
(2) Early Days of Berwick, op. cit., p. 18.
(3) The Queenslander, June 15, 1938, see here.
(4) Department of Environment and Heritage Quolls of Australia fact sheet, see here
(5) The Argus, October 9, 1872, see here.
(6) The Australasian, April 24, 1880, see here.
(7) The Argus, April 21, 1886, see here.
(8) The Age, October 24, 1884, see here.
(9) Geelong Advertiser, October 20, 1884, see here. The Leader of October 25, 1884 also has an account of the tragic story, see here.
(10) West Gippsland Gazette, February 7, 1899, see here.
(11) Mudgee Guardian, January 31, 1907, see here.
(12) Sydney Mail, December 18, 1912, see here.
(13) The Australasian, August 24, 1940, see here.
(14) The Immigrants Home, read about it here on the eMelbourne.
(15) The Argus, October 4, 1910, see here.
(16) The Herald, April 15, 1926, see here.
(17) The Argus, June 16, 1956, see here.
(18) The Queenslander, June 15, 1938, see here.
(19) The Queenslander, June 15, 1938, see here.
(20) I have written about a furrier, Mrs Mary Jane Gardner and the many types of fur she used in her business in my Victoria's Past: Rescued and Retold blog, here.
(21) The Queenslander, June 15, 1938, see here.
(22) County of Mornington - For Land Administration purposes Victoria was divided into Counties and then into Parishes – all of the City of Casey and nearly all of the Cardinia Shire is in the County of Mornington. Some of the Cardinia Shire north of Emerald, may be County of Evelyn. The Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast and Phillip Island are also part of the County of Mornington. You can see a map here.
(23) The Australasian, July 29 1905, see here.
(24) The Australasian, April 13, 1918, see here.
(25) The Queenslander, June 15, 1938, see here.
(26) The Australasian, August 24, 1940, see here.
(27) Read the full research paper, here.

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, has appeared on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past.