MEYER COLLECTION - FALLS CREEK PHOTOS In 1947 a determined group of like-minded State Electricity Commission (SEC) staff including Ray Meyer, the chief surveyor of the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme, had a common interest that revolved around the skiing potential of the snow-covered high plains which included what is now the resort of Falls Creek. The six SEC employees, Toni St Elmo, Ray Meyer, Jack Minogue, Lloyd Dunn, Adrian Ruffenacht and Dave Gibson (together with their families) banded together to secretly build a 'hut' that was the first ski lodge at Falls Creek. Using a road built in 1930s to gain access to Falls Creek, their hut project was carried out in secret as efforts by other skiers were blocked by H.H.C. Williams – the engineer in charge of the Hydro Scheme. In 1946 Ray Meyer made a trip to the Lands Office in Melbourne. He came away with a 99-year lease on three acres that was ideally suited for a hut designed by Lloyd Dunn. Adrian Ruffenacht (Design Engineer for the KHS) had suggested where the group should build because of easy access to a spring for water. Much of the building material required was scavenged from derelict huts on the high plains. Due to the need for secrecy, the determined group worked on the hut in the evenings and weekends to avoid detection. During the building period the group had met at Echidna Rock (now known as Eagle Rock) where Skippy St Elmo announced, "This is my favourite ‘Skyline’.” And so the first lodge in the area at Falls Creek Ski Resort came into existence. With the development of the International Poma in the 1970s, the Skyline Lodge, which was sited between the ski-lift’s pole one and pole two, was demolished. However, the legacy of Ray Meyer, Toni St Elmo, Jack Minogue, Lloyd Dunn, Adrian Ruffenacht and Dave Gibson and Skyline lives on in the vibrant atmosphere of Falls Creek Resort. The MEYER COLLECTION documents developments on the Kiewa Hydro Scheme and their life at Falls Creek from the mid 1930s to 1960s.This image is significant because it depicts aspects of the life of a pioneering family of Falls Creek and the founders of "Skyline", the first lodge at Falls Creek.Three images taken on the King's Birthday weekend in 1936. Kelly's Hut and stockyards were built by Patrick J Kelly in 1901. In 1956 the hut was burnt down and replaced with a State Electricity Commission (SEC) hut moved from a nearby site. falls creek, bogong high plains, kelly's hut, kelly's stockyard, tom fitzgerald, perc semmens

MEYER COLLECTION - FALLS CREEK PHOTOS In 1947 a determined group of like-minded State Electricity Commission (SEC) staff including Ray Meyer, the chief surveyor of the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme, had a common interest that revolved around the skiing potential of the snow-covered high plains which included what is now the resort of Falls Creek. The six SEC employees, Toni St Elmo, Ray Meyer, Jack Minogue, Lloyd Dunn, Adrian Ruffenacht and Dave Gibson (together with their families) banded together to secretly build a 'hut' that was the first ski lodge at Falls Creek. Using a road built in 1930s to gain access to Falls Creek, their hut project was carried out in secret as efforts by other skiers were blocked by H.H.C. Williams – the engineer in charge of the Hydro Scheme. In 1946 Ray Meyer made a trip to the Lands Office in Melbourne. He came away with a 99-year lease on three acres that was ideally suited for a hut designed by Lloyd Dunn. Adrian Ruffenacht (Design Engineer for the KHS) had suggested where the group should build because of easy access to a spring for water. Much of the building material required was scavenged from derelict huts on the high plains. Due to the need for secrecy, the determined group worked on the hut in the evenings and weekends to avoid detection. During the building period the group had met at Echidna Rock (now known as Eagle Rock) where Skippy St Elmo announced, "This is my favourite ‘Skyline’.” And so the first lodge in the area at Falls Creek Ski Resort came into existence. With the development of the International Poma in the 1970s, the Skyline Lodge, which was sited between the ski-lift’s pole one and pole two, was demolished. However, the legacy of Ray Meyer, Toni St Elmo, Jack Minogue, Lloyd Dunn, Adrian Ruffenacht and Dave Gibson and Skyline lives on in the vibrant atmosphere of Falls Creek Resort. The MEYER COLLECTION documents developments on the Kiewa Hydro Scheme and their life at Falls Creek from the mid 1930s to 1960s.This image is significant because it depicts aspects of the life of a pioneering family of Falls Creek and the founders of "Skyline", the first lodge at Falls Creek.Black and White Images taken at Summit Hut. Photo 1. Summit Hut Mt. Bogong - Ray Meyer and Wal Johnson. Photo 2. Summit Hut Mt. Bogong - Ray Meyer The Summit Hut was funded by Howard Michell and built in the 1940's. It was deliberately burnt down in the early 1980's. falls creek, bogong high plains, summit hut, wal johnson

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

Bob (Herman) Hymans (a former member of the Royal Netherlands Navy) was born in Bloemendaal, Holland on 30th September 1922. During World War II he fought against the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and was imprisoned in Changi and on the Burma Railway. After gaining qualifications as a Ski Instructor, Bob arrived in Falls Creek in July 1950. Working as an Instructor and Supervisor at Bogong Lodge, Bob decided his future was in accommodation. He was successful in negotiating an indenture for land from the State Electricity Commission (SEC). It took Bob two years to build his Grand Coeur Chalet but, tragically, it was burned down in August 1961. Bob also built the first Chairlift in Australia. This was a single chairlift and the structure was built from wooden electricity poles. He was constantly full of new ideas and proposals for the village. Bob Hymans die on 7th July 2007. This Collection of documents and letters tells the story of Bob's endeavours to develop Falls Creek into the ski village it is today.This item is significant because it documents actions taken by the Falls Creek Tourist Area Management Committee in their role overseeing the Tourist Area.This letter accompanied a policy for Public Risk Insurance with the Insurance Company of North America. The policy had been increased to cover a further £10,000. However the Management Committee felt this may need to be increased by an additional £10,000 if Mr Hymans was to go ahead with further development of Site 4A. It also requested that Mr Hymans sign and return lease documents which had been sent to him.Hand written at bottom of letter: Ski Lodge and Site 4 5 Flats 4A & Burnt out Shell of Chalet Dan (?) 512663falls creek tourist area management committee, falls creek administration, parking regulations falls creek

This item from the Border Morning Mail, Albury reports on the total destruction of the Albury Ski Club Lodge in 1958. The Lodge had been built by the Albury Ski Club members during their weekends and spare time starting in 1948. The fire was probably caused when a drum of petrol stored in the lighting plant room exploded. The building had fortunately been insured and the Albury Ski Club was able to build a new lodge to replace it.This article is significant because it documents an importance incident in Falls Creek.A newspaper item reporting on the destruction of the Albury Ski Club Lodge from the Border Morning Mail on Saturday 19th April 1958.albury ski club, albury ski club lodge fire

In 1948 Bob Hymans (1922-2007) built a small lodge on the corner of Falls Creek Road by the oversnow called Four Seasons or The Grand Coeur Annexe. Believed to be a wonderful host Bob also owned and operated Southern Cross and Grand Coeur. Grand Coeur unfortunately burnt down in 1961. These skis, now located in the Falls Creek Museum, were donated by Bob’s daughter Bridget. They hung in the main room of the Lodge for many years, never touching snow.These skis are significant because they were owned by Bob Hymans, a pioneer of Falls Creek, Victoria.A pair of wooden skis with bindings and poles.bob hymans, four seasons, grand coeur chalet

The Independant order of Rechabites "Hope of Australia Tent No. 109" was formed in Harcourt in July 1869 and celebrated its centenary in 1969. With a strong -minded core of Methodists and members of the Church of Christ the group provided moral leadership and social framework to a wide area for a long time. At first they met in a small hall but, the lodge having inflamed partisan passions, the hall was deliberately burnt down in 1877. Undeterred the Lodge rebuilt the hall in the same year and thus provided the only district public hall. The Hall was sold by the lodge in 1937.; The Independent order of Rechabites, a temperance and social organsiation, was particularly strong in the Harcourt, Barkers Creek district, due to the high proportion of Methodists in the population, a demographic phenomenon resulting from the courage, prevalence and influence of Wesleyan lay preachers on the Mount Alexander Goldfields. Ribbon/collar sashes,white, with red longitudinal stripe (Chief Ruler & Deputy Ruler only) and red border, red machine embroidery, angle stitched at lower front to form a fitted collar."CHIEF RULER"," DEPUTY RULER", "TREASURER", "GUARDIAN", "LEVITE" plus IOR triangle - "Truth, Fortitude, Justice" plus three heraldic shields with background foliage, Plus "Independant Order of Rechabites" plus a further decorative sheild surmounting a swage-like motto " Peace & Plenty the reward of Temperance" and "Rechabites Salford Unity" all in red on white background

Today’s Panton Hill Hotel was built around 1920. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p61 Panton Hill was originally known as Kingstown, and consisted of only one hotel when the Orams Reef was discovered in 1859. Kingstown was a quartz mining centre and many old mine shafts remain in the area.1 Orams Reef was one of the first reefs with a rich find of gold in the area. The Hotel Francais, which had been operating in 1861, was well situated on the way to Queenstown (later St Andrews). So was Herr Hirt’s Hotel and store at Smiths Gully. The Kingstown hotel, known as the Frenchman’s and in 1864 as the Hotel de France, was run by a Monsieur Emile Hude and his wife Jeanne, and known for its good food. They hosted social events, business conventions and debates, attracting patrons from as far as Melbourne. The hotel’s name was changed to Panton Hill Hotel in 1905.2 In 1883 Charles Caudwell built another hotel nearby, possibly in Long Gully Road,3 which it is thought, was burnt down early last century. Today’s Panton Hill Hotel, built around 1920, is the only one of the cluster of buildings in the main road, not to date from around the turn of last century. It was severely damaged by fire in 2003, then underwent extensive alterations. It is the township’s only hotel and is an example of a modest hotel building exterior, constructed early last century. In its early days the hotel also housed the first post office, newsagency and store. Orams Reef yielded a total of £100,000, and fossikers also found alluvial gold in the creeks and gullies, but there is no record of the total value of their finds.4 Gold greatly increased the Panton Hill population, which peaked between 1865 and 1885. On holidays large sports meetings were held with wood chopping contests and foot races and the day would end with a ball. Miners came from various countries to seek their fortune, including many from China. The Chinese became unpopular however, and gradually left the district, although some stayed and grew and sold vegetables.5 Panton Hill was named after Joseph Panton, who in 1862 was appointed Police Magistrate for the Woods Point, Heidelberg and Yarra districts. Panton was an outstanding man, who in 1852, was Commissioner of Crown Lands and Assistant Commissioner of Goldfields at Bendigo. In 1874 he was promoted to Chief Magistrate for the Melbourne Police. Panton was also an artist, becoming president of the Victorian Arts Society in 1888, and in 1913, president of the Royal Geographical Society. Despite Panton Hill’s prosperity, it still lacked many services as poor roads made access to Melbourne difficult. A horse-drawn mail coach travelled to Melbourne until 1890, when the railway came to Heidelberg. The nearest doctor was at Yarra Glen or Heidelberg, and the Indian hawker Singh’s annual visit was very welcome. A miner’s shack opposite the school was used as a post office. Today’s general store and post office in the main road dates from early last century, and has changed considerably. While most people searched for gold, the more enterprising ones established farms to feed the diggers. Farmers grew wheat, barley and oats, and sent animal skins to the Eltham tannery, to make furs in Melbourne.6 As gold became scarce from around 1880, miners took up farming on 19 to 20 acre (8ha) allotments. The first settlers in Cherry Tree Road included Purcell, Smith, Owens, Hughes and Shillinglaw. By 1900 all the land had been taken up around Panton Hill and Hurstbridge. The orchards in Panton Hill and the wider district, particularly of apple and pear, were very successful, and made Panton Hill a cohesive and successful community. About 1914 the Moores built the first cool-store and refrigeration plant at their orchard in Cherry Tree Road. Many settlers planted vineyards and made high quality wine, but in 1922 the blight destroyed them.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, panton hill hotel