Black and White copy print contained within the Wal Jack Bendigo and Geelong Album, see Reg Item 5003 for more details. Photo of the Pall Mall with the Town Hall and Post Office buildings in the background, a mine poppet head. Features an electric tram towing an ex Ballarat double deck horse tram trailer. Has the Bendigo Supply Stores in the right hand side of the photo. Would appear to be a special event given the number of people in the photograph. Copied by Keith Kings from The Bendigonian 19/9/1905. On rear in ink " SA777, Bendigo, Electric tram towing an ex Ballarat old horse tram. Fountain. Copied ex "The Bendigonian 19/9/1905."trams, tramways, bendigo, charing cross, horse trams, pall mall

2 page article printer on A4 printer paper. Handwritten in greylead pencil across top of first page reads: Trad + Now Article written by John Williamson. Peter Ellis Order of Australia Recipient 2012 By John Williams. On 26th of January 2012 Peter Ellis was awarded the Order of Australia (OAM) for his services to the Arts through the collection and preservation of Australia's folk history. Peter has been a long time correspondent to this magazine and has provided the most detailed information on social dancing in Australia. There are many more things about Peter that readers should know. Peter has the largest collection of dance related material in the National Library Archives from over thirty years of collecting. His collecting trips have included Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. The Western Australia trip was with John Meredith who was a long time mate of Peter's. Peter is a founder, charter member and life member of the Bush Dance and Music Club of Bendigo and received the Graham Squance award from the Folk Song and Dance Society of Victoria. He was also awarded a life membership of the Victorian Folk Music Club. Peter is founder of the Celebrated Emu Creek Bush Band which has been performing for thirty years and has played at the opening of the Melbourne Museum, Victorian State Parliament and Centenaries of the Shamrock Hotel and Post Office in Bendigo among many other gigs. Peter has also produced twenty one CDs with Emu Creek in that time which cover quadrilles, couples dances and the History of the Bendigo over one hundred and fifty years. (Emu Creek are already booked for the Canberra Centenary Ball in 2013!) Peter has also played with the famous Wedderburn Old Timers for thirty years during which time that band has received two platinum and several gold recording awards. Peter has also found the time to write several books including his three well know volumes of dance music, 'Collectors Choice' and the definitive volume on social dance in Australia 'Merry Country Dance'. He has also co-authored 'Two Hundred Dancing Years' with Shirley Andrews and 'Music Makes Me Smile - The music of the Nariel Valley' with Harry Gardner. Peter has also contributed to books compiled by others such as Rob Willis, Graham Seal and Dave Di Santi. Peter has trained many young musicians and conducted continuing Ed classes and Deb sets. He is a gold medal standard ballroom dancer in his own right which many dancers say contributes to his understanding of the correct tempo for all the dances he plays for. Peter has also been instrumental in the Bendigo Field Naturalist's Club of which he is a life member. He has been heavily involved in campaigns that have led to the establishment of two flora reserves and extensions to the Greater Bendigo National Park when housing developments threatened native bushland. He has contributed text and photographs to the publication 'Wildflowers of Bendigo'. Peter's award was really well deserved as you can see. What is really fitting is that he received the award on Australia Day. How fitting for a man who has single handedly saved more of Australia's Social Dance music and history than any other person. Australian dancing, music and the environment really owes Peter a lot. Well done from all your Trad and Now readers.person, individual, peter ellis oam

Contour map (copy) of the Government Camp Sandhurst, 1854. Map is mounted on coreflute and laminated. Written in bottom righthand corner 'Contour Plan of the Government Camp, Sandhurst. Dec 1854. Signed by Richard Larritt, Assistant Surveyor, 11th December 1854.' Shown on map: Pall Mall, Bendigo Creek, Commissioner's Gully, View Place (now View Street), Post Office, Bank of Victoria, District Surgeon, Sandhurst Fire Brigade, Police Hospital, Flagstaff, Gold Office, License Shed, Military Barracks, Stables, Commissioner's Buildings, Police Office. Old Cemetery, Garden. Reference on righthand side: 'Stone or brick buildings are tinted in crimson. Wooden buildings tinted in Indian Ink. Tents and other temporary structures tinted in Burnt Sienna.' Scale of Chains, on bottom of map. Sticker on bottom left hand corner and back of map ' Presented by Survey and Mapping, Victoria, 7th Octber, 1994'.map, bendigo, government camp, pall mall, bendigo creek, commissioner's gully, view place (now view street), post office, bank of victoria, district surgeon, sandhurst fire brigade, police hospital, flagstaff, gold office, license shed, military barracks, stables, commissioner's buildings, police office. old cemetery, garden. , survey and mapping victoria. sandhurst, bendigo.

De Soza park was developed as a public amenity from the early 1980s. The poppet head and Chilean wheel sculpture are representative of the gold mining origins of the town.The park, located centrally in Buninyong is of social and historic significance.Original B/W photograph of streetscape of De Soza park frontage to Warrenheip St., Buninyong, with poppet head, rotunda and Chilean Wheel sculpture, former post office in background. Large eucalypt tree present behind rotunda, large cypress tree to north of park.buninyong, de soza, park, rotunda, poppet head, sculpture, chilean wheel, post office, warrenheip st, streetscape

Building historyB/W photo of original photo of Corduroy Bridge Hotel, High St. Clarendon, circa 1906, shows Clarendon Post Office and members of Brown family.corduroy bridge hotel, clarendon, high street, clarendon post office

Image copied from older postcard (c.1890-1900) showing horse drawn vehicles and a horse tram. Since then, the southern side of the street has been widened. Businesses identified in the photograph include the Ryan's Council Family Hotel, the Greyhound Hotel, the Clifton Hotel, the ES&A Bank and Jellis' Bakery. Black & white photograph of a postcard showing Main [High] Street, Kew looking south west showing horse drawn tram centre.Reverse - "High St Kew looking down from Post Office to Kew Junction"horse tram kew, clifton hotel - kew junction, ryan's council family hotel kew, horse tram - kew (vic), kew junction

A civic campaign for new public offices developed in Kew in the 1880s. After much deliberation, the location chosen was the junction of Bulleen and Cotham Roads. The buildings were designed by George Watson and John Henry Harvey, architects within the Department of Public Works (Victoria). Building was commenced in 1887, and after one year, the buildings were opened. The Post Office was transferred to the new Commonwealth Government in 1901. The Police Station and Court House, sold by the Victorian Government to the City of Boroondara in 2007, are now a community cultural centre and performing arts venue.The buildings were listed on the Victorian Heritage Register Register (HO885) in 1991. They are historically and architecturally significant to the State of Victoria because Watson and Harvey's designs exhibit diversity in integrating civil offices, they accommodate the apex of road junctions, and they demonstrate a departure from the contemporaneously favoured High Victorian Classical to the Queen Anne style in the design of civic buildings.View of old weatherboard outbuildings, including a toilet, constructed in the formerly open area behind the Post Office, Court House and Police Station. In the distance is a wall of the former Post Office.kew court house, public offices -- kew (vic), kew police station, kew post office

The 'Jubilee History of Kew, Victoria, 1910' was written by FGA Barnard to celebrate 50 years since the founding of Kew. It is an early authoritative source on Kew's history. It includes a series of 'framed' photographs as illustrations.This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers (1905-1973), donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian from the 1960s to the 1970s. Photographic copy of a pair of photographs included in 'Jubilee History of Kew Victoria 1910" by FGA Barnard. The upper photo is of Barnard's pharmacy, which was in the 1870s the Kew Post Office. "The Block" was the name given to a series of Victorian shops in Cotham Road opposite the post office. These were later replaced by a row of Victorian two-storey Italianate shops.Inscribed verso: "Barnard's Post Office on present P.O. Corner & Howieson's store (1st post office)"dorothy rogers, jubilee history of kew, howiesons, kew post office, barnard's pharmacy, fga barnard

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand.The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.A print made for Dorothy Rogers of a book plate originally published in F.G.A. Barnards 'Jubilee History of Kew' (1910) showing a view of Barnard's pharmacy and post office on the corner of High Street and Cotham Road, where the Kew Post Office was to be built in 1888."Barnard's Post Office on present P.O. corner prior to 1880. 1st P.O. was in Houwiesons Shop. This is the site of The Block . See other photo"francis barnard, dorothy rogers, kew post office

The ‘Alexandra Gardens’ in Cotham Road were designed and laid out by George and Thomas Pockett. The Governor of Victoria officially opened them in 1908. A report of the opening stated that “…the gardens have been laid out in large sloping lawns, divided by wide graveled paths, and dotted with tastefully arranged flower beds, which are now bright with autumn bloom”. The massed beds of shrubs and flowers included beds of chrysanthemums, a specialty of George Pockett, the Garden’s first curator. A large rotunda was constructed in 1910 to mark the Jubilee of Kew. A plaque memorialising the contribution of George Pockett, was attached to the original rotunda after his death in 1922. By 1911, electric lighting was installed to allow the public to access the Gardens, and the concerts that were held within them on summer nights. The Gardens were later to include the Jubilee Fountain, moved from the front of the Kew Post Office in 1925. The Kew Council commissioned the substantial bluestone entrance gates in 1933.The Kew Historical Society is fortunate that the City Engineer, Mr Poulter, donated a number of items held by the City of Kew to the Society for safekeeping, rather than identifying them for destruction. The most significant items donated included old maps, including those issued by the Board of Works. Other items included photographs of public works undertaken by the Department. The By-laws are part of that donation and tell us lots about the social values of the period.The Mayor, Councillors and Burgesses of the Borough of Kew published By-Law No.45 in 1908 to regulate the “Conduct of Persons whilst at or Within the Gardens known as the Alexandra Gardens”. The By-Law also set a charge for “Persons Using or Entering in or upon the said Gardens”. The 17 by-laws included predictable prohibitions on expectorating, using indecent language, interfering with the floral displays, or indeed with the caretaker gardeners. Other acts prohibited included a warning that “Children under the age of ten years not being under the control of some competent person may be removed from said gardens”. The Alexandra Gardens were at one stage surrounded by a picket fence. This might explain the prohibition on climbing upon or getting through over or under any fence at or within the gardens. The financial penalty for breaching the By-Law was determined as “…not exceeding Ten pounds and not less than Five shillings”. This original copy of the By-Law was donated to the Kew Historical Society by the City of Kew.alexandra gardens (cotham road, kew), city of kew

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand.The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.Small, black and white photo of Kew Post Office in 1967."1967 / Kew Post Office / Commissioned in 1887; completed 1888 at a cost of 10,000 [pounds]. Court House is seen at extreme left. (See other picture for Police Station & residence)."kew post office, public buildings -- kew (vic.)

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand.The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.Sepia postcard, one of a series of views of Xavier Preparatory School [Burke Hall], located in the house in Nolan Avenue formerly known as Waverley, then Studley Hall."Boy's Library, Xavier Preparatory School, Kew / POST CARD / A REAL PHOTOGRAPH / PRODUCED IN AUSTRALIA" / "Office"burke hall -- kew (vic), xavier preparatory school, postcards -- kew (vic.)

Depicts local scene: Ely's House:- First Office, Keilor Roads Board 1863; Church of England School 1853 to c. 1865; Keilor Post OfficeOld House picture made out of bark, early keilor

Gold Reef Mall Post Office c1985 looking north. Two colour photographs one shows grassed area in front of Post Office and Langford's old pharmacy., second shows community Calendar plant holders and children's play area, State bank on left, Monahan's Pharmacy on right.. stawell main street streetscape

Gold Reef Mall Stawell looking West from area in front of L.C. langsford's Pharmacy showing grassed area beside Wimmera Street intersection. Post Office on right old Bank/Chemist building corner of Main and Wimmera Streets near centre and Town Hall in distance.stawell streetscape

Don Brown was born in 1924. He commenced work as a messenger at the Surrey Hills post office on 12 July 1938. The photo was taken in early 1939 in the yard beside the post office. He became the postal assistant in 1940. This work involved some counter duties, but mainly despatching the mail. In January 1940 he enlisted in the RAAF. In November 1987, Don visited Surrey Hills on a trip 'down memory lane' from his then home in Canberra. He sent this photo to the historical collection following this trip and recorded the following memories of staff at the Surrey hills post office during the period 1938-1941. The post master was HS (Stan) Shaw; the postal clerk was AH (Bert) Mitchell; the postal assistant was Alec Walsh, then Terry Gawne, the Don Brown. There were 9 postmen at any one time. Postmen Don remembered were Len Collins, Bert Binns, Frank Johnson, Ern Harding, Len Warmbrunn, Merv Daley, Chris Larsen, Charlie Woodford, Pat Ginnane, Bill Carlson, Jim Payne and Bill Devlin. There were 2 telegraph messengers at any one time; apart from Don himself there were George Smith, Ron Paez and Bob Nelson. Terry Gawne and George Smith also joined the RAAF. Terry was shot down and killed in the Pacific in 1943. Ern Harding, Bill Carson and Bill Devlin joined the army. At the time of his employment George Smith, Bill Devlin, Jim Payne and Don himself were under 40; the others were in their forties or older. Don remained in contact with George Smith, who in 1987 was living in Box Hill.Black and white photo of a young man wearing a uniform astride a bicycle. In the background is a corrugated iron fence. don brown, surrey hills post office

Photo is named 14880011.jpg on CD

Mary Tolhurst M&DHS - March 29th Dunvegan Willows Park Melton 1992 Ladies Oral History Day Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transfer to CD 2011 by Tom Wood Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 I was born in Rockbank, and when I was five years old moved to Toolern Vale and started and finished school there. Toolern Vale only consisted of the Store, Post Office and shop, where you could buy your fodder, and pollard supplies, the Hall, the little Church and the bluestone School. The School changed shape three times from the 1800s[1869] til the time I went there. There was four generations of my family that went there and it was destroyed by fire in 1965. Marjorie nee Myers Butler. Yes, I remember along with it your lovely Ronisch piano. Mary, quite true! Marj what you say about the Ronisch piano. When I came the age to learn music my mum and dad couldn’t really afford it, but still what parents do for their children. They had Marj go along with them and pick this lovely Ronisch piano. It was known round the district. Everyone commented about the loss that lovely piano. After leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I was 7 year old I was put out into the cow yard. In 1940 when the soldiers were going away our milk was confiscated it had to go to Bacchus Marsh. It used to go the Sunbury to be brine cooled and then go to Melbourne. Then they took it then to the Lifeguard Milk Factory at Bacchus Marsh. It had to go as condensed milk to the soldiers. This year is 50 years of the Land Army. I was an unofficial Land Army but they still kept check on me. I went onto married life and I followed the cows right through [howls of laughter] and we went on until the 1965 fire. That’s when we got out of the cows. Marjorie asks, was Granny Watts your grandmother or great grandmother? Mary: She was my great grandmother, the midwife of Melton. The 1965 fire started ¾ of a mile above our place, Frank Ryan’s sheds were burnt and his house was saved, then it wiped the School out, the Hall, the Church the Post Office and Store and little house that was Charlie Charlton’s in the early days. Mrs Wilson’s place was saved by the Fire Brigade by pulling boards off the side, and from there it went over the hill and it was stopped at the Rockbank Railway Station. If it had of got over the railway they said it would have gone into Werribee. A lot was burnt out in that strip. Mary nee Nixon Collins: 18 houses burnt that day. Audience question, did Melton get burnt that day? Ray: No. It came down through the Toolern Vale road and cut across about a mile and a half from the cross roads at Toolern Vale from north westerly to the south east and cut through over the Keilor road. Mary: It came in across the creek at Funstons in Toolern, then through Jim Minns. Dorothy was it your place then [nee Knox Beaty] to Ken Beatty’s and from there it went through to Doug McIntosh’s and to Cockbills and the wind changed and it came across to the railway line, and that is where they stopped it. [the cause of the fire was controversial, they had been burning off the night before and there was some talk of someone starting it. It was very hot and very strong wind, it was a terrible day] Ray: When the fire went through McIntosh’s they had a haystack on the north side of their house and the haystack got caught and the fire burnt a hole through the side of the house and the boys pyjamas on the bed. The house was saved. It came through like and express train roaring at you, I was at McIntosh’s when it went roaring past. You couldn’t see, dust and ash and tremendous heat. The fire started about 12 o’clock Jack [husband] said to me, fire, I said where, where? Just up the road, what have I got to do? and he went out and he had gone to the fire and left me. I tried to get the animals and I put out buckets of water, putting the buckets of water out saved my life. Chas Jones and another friend of his came in and they picked up the buckets of water, I thought I had better get out because the fire was on the haystack up the paddock and when I went to go out through the north side of the house and couldn’t get out, I’ll go through the front gate so I went around the other side of the house. I got caught there and Chassy Jones and his friend came round carrying the bucket of water and I panicked. He threw the bucket of water over me. Well that is what saved my life because I was damp, whenever we tried to leave the ball of fire came over me and over my shoulder and my hair was scorched. Chassy Jones lost his truck and Keith Watt his big truck because he had the water tank on it and they couldn’t get out of the yard. Granny Watt’s house, the first private hospital had condemned and Jack and I pulled it down and had it moved up to Toolern and had it in the yard a fortnight and it was all burnt and we didn’t get the shed we wanted. Every 13 years right up until Ash Wednesday fires, there has always been fire close at hand. The 1952 fire went down the back of the house, the 1965 fire took the house, and the house that I live in now, it is the third house that has been on that spot. When the Hunters owned it, Mrs Hunter was nearly burnt in her bed. They had a 13 roomed house. In 1924 the house burnt down, and there was another house was built there and that was the one that burnt down. Edna: So Mary built a brick veneer house. Marjorie: like the three little pigs [laughter] Collins - Mary M &DHS - March 29th 1992 Ladies oral history day at Dunvegan, Willows Park Melton. Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transferred to CD 2011 Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 Mary Collins nee Nixon born in Terang 1907 down in the Western District and we shifted to Melton when I was 5 and a half then I started school here in Melton, and spent all my school life at Melton State School, next to the Church of England, it’s called the Primary School now. I got my Qualifying and Merit Certificate then I left School because there wasn’t a High School. When I was 16 I got and job in the Melton Post Office and I worked there, I was the first girl in Melton to deliver the mail, and worked on the telephone and the Bank business. Mrs Ross and myself behind the counter, there were about 500 – 600 people in the Shire at that time and now when I go into the new Post Office there is 36,000 here there’s still 2 people behind the counter [laughter from the audience] and wait in a queue right out to the door. Times haven’t changed much have they! There was a manual telephone and you had to ring the handle, and there were eight subscribers when I went there and when I left there were 46 I had coaxed that number to join the telephone, even the police station didn’t have the phone on. The two Hotels and the two Chaff mills and Mr Ernie Barrie, Parkers the butcher, the Shire Office was No 8, and the Police house was next to the Courthouse on the corner. They were number 9. I can remember a lot of the numbers still. The Post Office was the Agency for the Commonwealth Bank [comment from audience member] I used to do the Bank business too, I left after four years there, mother wasn’t very well. The Inspector who used to come up to the Post Office asked me if I would take up casual Post Mistress and to go around the different districts but I refused and when Mrs Ross’s holidays were due I was the replacement. I wasn’t 21. I loved my work meeting everybody and most people had horse and jinkers and when the elderly would come in there would be Mr Tom Morrow, he only had one arm and Mrs Dunn came from Bulman’s road in their horse and jinker. They were elderly I would see them pull up out the front and quickly get their mail and run out to them because they didn’t have to get out of the jinker to tie up their horse. If someone had a baby in arms I would tear out and hold the baby while they got down. Mrs Ross was very very strict. I had to sweep the Post Office, she had a couple of mats and there would be a threepence or a sixpence under the mats show she knew whether I lifted the mat, I was whether I was honest or not. Graham: How much were your wages? I got 27/7 pence a week for a 52 hour week. I had to work every holiday except Good Friday and Christmas Day and even when it was Monday holiday I always had to go to work from 9am - !0 am, the Post Office was always open. In the winter I had to wait until twenty past six in case there were any telegrams to deliver. I delivered them on a push bike. One time Tom Barrie told me this years afterwards. I used to go home for lunch. We lived on the Keilor road and I used to ride my bike home. On the hot days the boys used to go and swim in the swimming pool down near a turn in the creek there was a hole where the boys would swim in the nude, they didn’t have any bathers and they didn’t have any watches in those days. Tom Barrie said they always used to watched for me as I was always about 3 minutes past 1, my lunch hour was from 1-2. One particular day they missed seeing me and swam on, and of course they were all late for school when they got back and were all kept in a night. I did get a fortnight holiday. I loved my work and I knew everyone in the district right from Toolern Vale to the Marsh and everybody at Melton South. Did you listen into conversations on the Switchboard? Oh no. [laughter] Melton did not have electricity then. I had to fill the lamps everyday with kerosene. The Staughton Memorial was outside the Post Office. It had four posts with the chain looped around it, and that’s where the people used to tie up their horses. Marjorie nee Myers Butler comments about sitting and swinging on the chains. Mr Fred Coburn lit the acetylene gas light in the Memorial. It was the only streetlight in Melton. There was no electricity until 1939. Ray Radford comments about another gas street light which was on the corner of Station road. [later] Mary passes around her school photos. Mary mentions the names of those who have passed away, Maisie McDonald, ,Marian Wraith, Hilda McCreey, and Valda McDonald. I have written the names on the back. Marjorie comments about Marie Jongebloed and Greta are the only two girls left out of big family of ten I think there were [hesitates] 4 or 5 girls and the rest were boys. Mary. Flora Woodley, Dorrie Flynn and Margaret McDonald are still alive. They are my age we were all born about 1907. Marjorie points out herself in a later photo [1921 and 1922 School ] Mary mentions the name Walsh and identyfies following names, the Parker boys, Ken Beaty, Malc and Linda Cameron, Maisie Mc Donald, Ted Radford, George Nixon, Norman Minns, he was later the Shire Secretary of Werribee. One of the Woodley girls. [Maisie Arthur] Marjorie: Rosie Shearwood, June Whiting Mary. Lily Mc Donald, she has passed away. Isabel Harrison nee Tinkler, she lives at Werribee, Doreen Rogers, Marjorie Walker, Jess McIntosh, Mary Gillespie. Mr Malone was the Junior teacher Mr Roe and Miss Cooke. Fred Myers, my sister [Elizabeth] and the year was 1921. Myers (Barrie) School Photo Collection. Many of the names were identified at the 1970 Centenary of Melton State School No. 430. Edna Barrie organised, compiled and typed the lists to accompany these photos for the year 1921. The 1922 photo shows the higher grades. Ladies Oral History Day event held by Melton and District Historical Society, article featured in the Telegraphlocal identities, local special interest groups

Mary Tolhurst M&DHS - March 29th Dunvegan Willows Park Melton 1992 Ladies Oral History Day Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transfer to CD 2011 by Tom Wood Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 I was born in Rockbank, and when I was five years old moved to Toolern Vale and started and finished school there. Toolern Vale only consisted of the Store, Post Office and shop, where you could buy your fodder, and pollard supplies, the Hall, the little Church and the bluestone School. The School changed shape three times from the 1800s[1869] til the time I went there. There was four generations of my family that went there and it was destroyed by fire in 1965. Marjorie nee Myers Butler. Yes, I remember along with it your lovely Ronisch piano. Mary, quite true! Marj what you say about the Ronisch piano. When I came the age to learn music my mum and dad couldn’t really afford it, but still what parents do for their children. They had Marj go along with them and pick this lovely Ronisch piano. It was known round the district. Everyone commented about the loss that lovely piano. After leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I was 7 year old I was put out into the cow yard. In 1940 when the soldiers were going away our milk was confiscated it had to go to Bacchus Marsh. It used to go the Sunbury to be brine cooled and then go to Melbourne. Then they took it then to the Lifeguard Milk Factory at Bacchus Marsh. It had to go as condensed milk to the soldiers. This year is 50 years of the Land Army. I was an unofficial Land Army but they still kept check on me. I went onto married life and I followed the cows right through [howls of laughter] and we went on until the 1965 fire. That’s when we got out of the cows. Marjorie asks, was Granny Watts your grandmother or great grandmother? Mary: She was my great grandmother, the midwife of Melton. The 1965 fire started ¾ of a mile above our place, Frank Ryan’s sheds were burnt and his house was saved, then it wiped the School out, the Hall, the Church the Post Office and Store and little house that was Charlie Charlton’s in the early days. Mrs Wilson’s place was saved by the Fire Brigade by pulling boards off the side, and from there it went over the hill and it was stopped at the Rockbank Railway Station. If it had of got over the railway they said it would have gone into Werribee. A lot was burnt out in that strip. Mary nee Nixon Collins: 18 houses burnt that day. Audience question, did Melton get burnt that day? Ray: No. It came down through the Toolern Vale road and cut across about a mile and a half from the cross roads at Toolern Vale from north westerly to the south east and cut through over the Keilor road. Mary: It came in across the creek at Funstons in Toolern, then through Jim Minns. Dorothy was it your place then [nee Knox Beaty] to Ken Beatty’s and from there it went through to Doug McIntosh’s and to Cockbills and the wind changed and it came across to the railway line, and that is where they stopped it. [the cause of the fire was controversial, they had been burning off the night before and there was some talk of someone starting it. It was very hot and very strong wind, it was a terrible day] Ray: When the fire went through McIntosh’s they had a haystack on the north side of their house and the haystack got caught and the fire burnt a hole through the side of the house and the boys pyjamas on the bed. The house was saved. It came through like and express train roaring at you, I was at McIntosh’s when it went roaring past. You couldn’t see, dust and ash and tremendous heat. The fire started about 12 o’clock Jack [husband] said to me, fire, I said where, where? Just up the road, what have I got to do? and he went out and he had gone to the fire and left me. I tried to get the animals and I put out buckets of water, putting the buckets of water out saved my life. Chas Jones and another friend of his came in and they picked up the buckets of water, I thought I had better get out because the fire was on the haystack up the paddock and when I went to go out through the north side of the house and couldn’t get out, I’ll go through the front gate so I went around the other side of the house. I got caught there and Chassy Jones and his friend came round carrying the bucket of water and I panicked. He threw the bucket of water over me. Well that is what saved my life because I was damp, whenever we tried to leave the ball of fire came over me and over my shoulder and my hair was scorched. Chassy Jones lost his truck and Keith Watt his big truck because he had the water tank on it and they couldn’t get out of the yard. Granny Watt’s house, the first private hospital had condemned and Jack and I pulled it down and had it moved up to Toolern and had it in the yard a fortnight and it was all burnt and we didn’t get the shed we wanted. Every 13 years right up until Ash Wednesday fires, there has always been fire close at hand. The 1952 fire went down the back of the house, the 1965 fire took the house, and the house that I live in now, it is the third house that has been on that spot. When the Hunters owned it, Mrs Hunter was nearly burnt in her bed. They had a 13 roomed house. In 1924 the house burnt down, and there was another house was built there and that was the one that burnt down. Edna: So Mary built a brick veneer house. Marjorie: like the three little pigs [laughter] Mary Tolhurst member of the Melton & District Historical Society in the Melton and Moorabool Leader local identities, local special interest groups

Murray Comrie Collection. Murray Comrie's information about Tarnagulla Post Offices to be added. This photograph is a fair copy created from an older original.Monochrome photograph of numerous people standing outside the then new Tarnagulla Post Office, during its construction.Handwritten: 'Post Office during building - 1886 opened'.tarnagulla, post office, construction, businesses, commercial road

Murray Comrie Collection. Murray Comrie's information about Tarnagulla Post Offices to be added. This photograph is a fair copy created from an older original.Monochrome photograph of eight people standing outside the Tarnagulla Post Office.Faintly printed on front: 'Post Office Tarnagulla'.tarnagulla, post office, construction, businesses, commercial road