Front page of local paper on 75th Anniversary of Remembrance day - Wednesday November 10 1993.

State Government agencies have joined local government to oppose lan developers' plans to subdivide an untouched pat of the Yarra. The subdivision involves 565 hectares (Yarra Brae and Stane Brae) and more than 16 kms of bush river frontage at Wonga Park in Lillydale Shire

Edna Barrie describes the Darlingsford property. C.E. Barrrie Land developers bought the property from my husband’s brother. It was one big farm and they were a big family. When the father died he left it to be cut up for the family. The youngest son had to reach age 21 before the property could be divided and portioned out to the mother and children, but it was deferred until Jim returned from the war. Eventually it was cut up into two parts, we were married by then and so was Edgar. Part of the land included the block on the other side of Ferris road, which became the quarry, Edgar’s section was on the Toolern Creek end, he was the last one married and lived in the old bluestone house until 1974. The developers bought this section but they could not get permits due to the state of the old bridge due to the cost. Barries had built the bridge across the creek [1926]. It took the big loads of hay and the family kept it maintained. Once the Barries had gone it did not get any upkeep. The developers found the cost of replacing the bridge and developing site with sewerage and drainage power before they sell. The rural land itself is not worth much as the developer has to complete the subdivision before any blocks can be sold. The developer from Sydney had a man living in the house, who let it go the rack and ruin. He managed to buy from the developer 25 acres with the bluestone house. Bernard Coburn had it for a while but is was well out of our hands by then. There were various people who have bought into and tried to develop and have given up. There was a project sometime ago to save the buildings from ruin but nothing has happened as yet, they are six or seven years to late. The buildings continue to deteriorate and were badly damaged vandals and fire. The Shire bought all the rest of it from the developer, where the tip is now, that was also part of Edgars land. Article about a fire at Darlingsford Estate featured in the Telegraphlocal architecture, local identities, emergency services

Participated in the Formation of Mt Cottrell Fire Brigades Group in 1967Article featuring Stephen John Hirt, Captain of CFA Melton Urban and Rural Fire Brigades.local identities, emergency services

Melton S.E.S members in front of their truck, article featured in the Telegraph. emergency services, local identies

Newspaper articles featuring Stephen Hirt in the Express/Telegraph newspaper and Melton Expresslocal identities, emergency services

Star Weekly article about youth unemployment in Meltonlocal identities

"The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 had an immediate impact on communities across Australia, and it was no different in Melton. Young men began enlisting immediately, and Australia’s initial offer of 20,000 troops was soon exceeded by Victorian enlistments alone. Over the four years of the war, approximately 114,000 Victorians enlisted and around 91,000 servicemen and women were sent overseas. They came not just from Melbourne, but from all over the state; from farms, small towns and suburban areas. They included locals, newly arrived migrants and Indigenous people. The Australian home front was a hive of activity throughout the war, and the Melton community played its part. Following the announcement that Australia was joining the war with Great Britain and its allies on 5 August 1914, the Melton community lost no time in launching into action. A meeting ‘to assist the Red Cross fund’ was held in the Melton Mechanics’ Institute hall on 18 August – just days after the outbreak of the war. Collectors were appointed for each corner of the shire and individual donations were made. A Melton branch of the Australian Red Cross Society was formed in June 1915 and focused its energies on raising funds to purchase material that was used to make clothes for sick and wounded soldiers. A depot was established in Melton to collect clothing and other ‘comfort’ items for the soldiers – including reading material, tobacco, linen, canned foods and soap – and to coordinate the branch’s work and activities. Local cab driver Percival Stubbs volunteered to transport all the packages to the Melton railway station, until he enlisted and departed for the front in 1916. Such were the numbers of people getting involved that branches were also established in Toolern Vale and Rockbank. Regular community events were held to farewell soldiers who were leaving on active service and to welcome those who returned home. Gunner Robert (Bob) Wynne, whose uncle’s family ran the general store in Toolern Vale, was presented with a pair of field glasses (binoculars), a gold watch, inscribed locket and autographed letter by the Toolern Vale community before he set sail for the front in 1916. His mother noted that he ‘sailed away in good spirits with a smile till out of sight’. From June 1915 to June 1919, the Melton Red Cross branch donated 2,156 pairs of socks, 1,357 shirts, 425 kit bags, 251 pillowslips, 224 towels and 121 pairs of pajamas. Countless fundraising events were held, including jumble fairs, concerts and gift evenings. Local schools also encouraged students to contribute through fund-raising and making and collecting comforts for the soldiers. People across the country engaged in similar activities, but Victoria’s rural communities found unique ways of contributing. In Melton, people were encouraged to send rabbits and hares ‘in good condition’ to an exporter in Spencer Street, for export to Belgium ‘for the relief of those suffering". Special Anzac Memorial article featured in the Star Weeklylocal identities, war

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

"A court was established in Melton by 1864, when the first recorded case was heard before Mr BA Porter JP, with Mr A Carroll as the Clerk of Courts. John James was convicted of being drunk, for which he was fined five shillings or 24 hours imprisonment. The court was held in the ‘long room’ of the old Melton Hotel, before moving to rented accommodation at the Raglan Hotel, and finally to the Roads Board office. Tenders for construction of the present building were called for by the Public Works Department on 13th February 1892. The architect Samuel Edward Brindley was born in Birmingham, England, in 1842. He was articled to the local architect, J.R. Botham, FRIBA, before emigrating to Victoria where he was employed as an architect in the Education Department from 18 August 1873. With the amalgamation of the architectural branch of the Education Department with the Public Works Department in 1884, Bindley was placed in charge of Victorian government building design for the North-Western District. In 1975, the Melton and District Historical Society became concerned at hearsay that the court house was to be demolished to make way for carparking space. Melton had been declared a ‘satellite city’ and was developing rapidly. A new shopping centre had recently been built at a setback of 60 feet (c.18 metre) from 323-329 High Street, and the court house, together with the adjacent weatherboard police station, had been left standing alone. A new police station was planned, and the weatherboard police station was subsequently demolished. In its nomination of the building for National Trust classification the Society argued that the Court House was ‘the best of two early buildings left in the main street’ (the other being a bluestone hotel) and that its loss would be ‘tragic’. However the nomination was unsuccessful, the National Trust at the time judging that it was of no particular ‘distinction’ or ‘antiquity’. The building continued to be used as a court house at least until 1991 when the Department of Housing and Construction (formerly the PWD) conducted a heritage study of court houses. By this time Federation-era architecture had achieved acceptance within the heritage movement. The building was recognised as being ‘the only surviving example in brick of the Federation Queen Anne style which was used for court houses only twice.’ Twenty years later when it was proposed to modify the eastern façade of the building to accommodate a café, the M&DHS was again concerned. This time the National Trust objected that the proposed extension would be an over-development of the site, and questioned the changes to the interior court room furnishings and fittings. The site never appears to have been nominated to the Victorian Heritage Register. It has since been converted into the Shire of Melton Tourist Information Centre". Opening of the Visitor Centre in Meltoncouncil, local architecture

Fairfax community network article asking for assistance to identify people in a photolocal identities

TOM COLLINS–from the reel to reel tape recording at Melton 1969 In the years between 1890 and to about 1913 Melton was a quiet little hamlet alongside the Toolern Creek, once called the Pennyroyal Creek, 24 miles from Melbourne on the Ballarat Road. There was a fair amount of woodland left around it, mostly grey and yellow box with sheoak, and golden wattle, which in spring time made a rather attractive setting. Most of the premises were in the main or High Street, with its line of elm and pepper trees on each side. Unitt, McKenzie and Henry streets each contained only a few dwellings. Hotels were four in number, Minns’s, Mrs Hay licencee, now Mac’s, Golden Fleece – Sheblers. The Royal or Ryan’s as it was then called, later Graham had the licence, and the Raglan - Kilpatricks had the licence and afterwards Tom Manning. This was situated about where Mr K. Young had his residence. There was a store attached to the hotel until about 1900. Both the Royal and the Raglan were delicensed, later on the Royal being converted to a green grocery and a boarding house, the Raglan was demolished. The Royal green grocery and boarding house was kept by E Carew and after he retired, E Radford. The Post and Telegraph Office was on the opposite side of the street to the Raglan Hotel about two doors west of the Shire Hall and was kept by Mrs Ferris and Lady Farmer until her retirement, when it was carried on by Miss Lottie Ross. A store was attached to the Post Office and was sometimes used as a store and at one time housed the National Bank. There were two full time banks at Melton, the other being the Commercial which built premises about 1904 and on the corner of High and Smith Streets, which it still occupies. Mr G Egan was the manager of the Commercial and Mr Stradling and later Mr Lee of the National. However as business was not thought good enough they reverted to a part time branch operated from Bacchus Marsh. Grocer shops were Chalmers, with a news agency and drapery now Arnolds, Jongebloeds had the bakery. Mr Fox also a produce merchant, was where Melton Real Estate is now, it was later occupied by Buchanans, Atleys, and Mrs Ross. Not long after the War Mrs Ross built the Post Office, since demolished where Miss Lottie Ross was the Post Mistress and later built the store which she conducted. It was later turned into a factory and in now the barbers shop. McNichols was just west of the Minns Hotel. He travelled as far a Ballan weekly, buying calves and dairy produce for sale in Melbourne. Afterwards he sold the business and bought Minns Hotel and changing the name to Macs. Blacksmiths were three in number. Blackwoods – later James Byrnes next door to Jongebloeds. Alex Cameron who learnt his trade with Blackwoods had his shop about the rear of where Ken Youngs Garage is now he later moved to the north west corner of High and Alexander Street. He was also the Registrar of Birth and Deaths and Electoral Registrar. After his retirement he was weighbridge keeper at Melton South. Two of his sons were engaged in the carpentry trade, but both died at an early age. Whittingtons shop was a few doors east of the Mechanics Hall and it was later occupied by Gordon Macdonald who did business there until about eight years ago. The butchers of the period were George Graham, that is where Mandy Lees hairdressing establishment is now. Euan MacDonald had premises later occupied by Whittingtons blacksmith shop. Later shifting next door. He left here about 1901, he slaughtererd animals at a slaughter house right where Chas Jones now resides, it had previously been a slaughter house and butcher shop of that site. George Spring also operated as a butcher for two or three years about the 1900 or so. Ted Simpsons shop was where John Kontek now has his Estate Agency, he used it as an branch shop from Bacchus Marsh bringing meat from there by a two horse lorry. Jimmy Butler the manager was well known and loved, his son was later a steeplechase jockey. The Court House and Police Station would be built sometime before 1900. The Constables at the time were McGuire, later Wade, Riely and McKenzie after that Robert Wilson and Seinfort were here, they were a bit later on. The Mechanics Hall was first opened by Ryan of the Royal Hotel who sold it to the Hall Committee. It was on Unitt Street and it was moved by McLellans the house shifters from Unitt Street to its present site. Bluestone premises formerly occupied by the bootmaker Carew, were later demolished and replaced by the brick frontage to the Hall. Keith Orensini [?] the local bricklayer built brick portion to the Hall. In the cottage adjoining the Hall a Frenchman named Baudin, had a boot repairing business.This cottage was the later residence of J Hill, a local carpenter and builder from whom I learnt my trade. Granny Watts was the well known local nurse and operated the Mid-Wifery Hospital in Yuille Street on the Sherwin Street corner. Mrs Nissen was on the opposite side of Yuille Street a short distance nearer the township. She conducted the laundry. Carew had a greengrocers shop next door to the Post Office in the High Street for some time before transferring to the Royal Hotel site. He also bought [?] calves for killing. W Cecil was a tank maker and also had a produce round, he lived on Pyke and Sherwin Street. Later Gus Shebler, builder and carpenter engaged in tank making being well known for good workmanship. Shebler was very energetic in forming the Gun Club which met for a good number of years where the golf course now has its headquarters. Of the four churches only three are in use, Christ Church, Scots and St Dominics. The Methodist closed down but later transferred to Melton South. Monthly stock sales were held at the yards in Unitt Street at Minns Hotel by McPhail Auctioneers, later held by McCarthur and McLeod. After the Council built the pound and sale yards they transferred sales to these premises, but lack of patronage caused them to be abandoned. A familiar sight in the district was blind Bob Nixon, who lived in a tumbled down cottage in Centenary Road near W Coburns, being led by his dog down the road to Melton, that is Palmerston street, to the Post Office, butcher and baker for his supplies and then back home. He was able to do his own cooking and other chores. Sundays he would come down Raleighs Road to the back of the church and tie his dog to a tree. Someone, mostly one of the boys would guide him into the church and out again after the service, when the dog would lead him home again. State School 430, a two roomed bluestone building it was the only school in the district, none at Melton South. The nearest would be Rockbank and Toolern Vale. Scholars had a fair distance to walk in most cases. The teachers were Mr T Lang Headmaster. I put a query here, Miss Winters, I’m not certain of the name, Mrs Skinner and Miss Silke as Assistant Teachers. Miss Augusta Cecil and Miss Maud Lang were Junior teachers. One boy who attended the school about the turn of the century was Hector Fraser who resided with his parents in Keilor Road, where Jim Gillespie now lives. He was an excellent gun shot and at the age of about 17 years his father took him to France or Monaco where he won the Gran Prix for pigeon shooting and became the champion boy shot of the world. However he died there from pneumonia. He shot under the name of “Parvo”. The Melbourne Hunt Club used to meet in Keilor Road north side just east of the Toolern Creek on what was originally Pykes Run. This was also the place where the races were held and the Sports Meetings. Dave Murphy, employed at Clarke’s Rockbank Station usually provided the fox which he liberated for the Club. Greyhound coursing was usually held on Moylans property Mt Kororoit, or Mt Misery as it was known then. Later it was held at Melton Park, Mr Matt Carberry was the judge and Percy Cook the slipper. Early in the 1900’s the Recreation Park was created and the Caledonian and the ANA sports meetings were held there, they were annual events. L Paterson from Melton South was a successful competitor in all the cycling events as a young man. He later in life became the Deputy Chief Officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. The present Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade is John Paterson, nephew of his, and spent his early life in Exford where his father was manager of the Exford Estate. Notes Tom Collins was born c 1895. He lived on the south side of the Ballarat Road near the intersection of Keilor Road.Historical image of Palmerston Street in Meltonlocal architecture, landscapes of significance

"Edna Barrie was a founding member of the Melton & District Historical Society in 1968, and was passionate about preserving and sharing local history. The formation of the society at that time, during a period of increasingly rapid growth for the municipality, was crucial, ensuring that many photos, documents and stories of early Melton were not lost".The Mail Express article featuring the Melton and District Historical Grouplocal identities, local significant groups

Newspaper clippings of Toolern Fire Brigade emergency services, local identities, education

Melton and Moorabool Leader Star Weekly article about the Riddell District and Ballarat Football leagues Anzac Day Match local special interest groups, local identities

Melton and Moorabool Leader Star Weekly newspaper articles of Melton Shire Councillorscouncil, local identities

Built in the 1850s, The Willows was purchased by Melton Shire Council in a dilapidated state in 1972. At a time of rapid change and growth, the restoration of the homestead, its transformation into the headquarters of the Melton & District Historical Society and the creation of The Willows Historical Park saw the community embrace its past while simultaneously looking to the future.History of the Willows Homestead Melton and Moorabool Leader articlelocal identities, local architecture, local significant groups

History of Melton Court house article featured in the Melton and Moorabool Leader local architecture

Dry stone construction as a technique is used for much more than paddock walls. Across the volcanic plains of western Victoriaare marvelous sheep dips, stock loading ramps, huts, dams, retaining walls, and the rich and largely undiscovered heritage of indigenous dry stone structures. Dry stone walls indicate many aspects of our rural environment; the geological beginnings of the way the landscape was created, the patterns of early settlement by pastoralists and squatters, the types of stock that grazed the land and the methods of cattle and sheep management, of the efforts to thwart the spread of rabbits .... "For the casual but interested observer dry stone walls are good to look at, to photograph, to get up alongside and see the way they are constructed, to appreciate the varying shapes and sizes of stones and learn of the techniques of keeping often quite rounded stones in place. Apart from walls and other dry stone structures on grazing land we can also see dry stone techniques used in other places and in other phases of our history. Indigenous Australians have built, and continue to build, structures for shelter or hunting or trapping eels and fish in rivers and estuaries around the country. At spots around our coast line there is evidence of simple stone structures built by early maritime explorers. Prospectors in early mining encampments used dry stone construction to build retaining walls or the low walls of rudimentary shelters. If the future of dry stone walls in the Australian landscape is to be assured. wall owners and local governments have to accept and embrace their custodial role in assuring the preservation and celebration of walls. This is not an easy task, but, along with putting the necessary statutory mechanisms to ensure their retention, it is a task that must be pursued. The Dry Stone Walls Association of Australia has as its primary goal the increase in awareness of wall owners and local governments of the importance of dry stone walls. It also seeks to increase the level of training of skilled and semi skilled wallers, and the gaining of rudimentary skills by farmers so that they can maintain their own walls". Melton Star Weekly article about the Stone Wallslandscapes of significance

"A weatherboard cottage built in 1911 and known as Mac’s Cottage was also relocated to the park in 1977, and converted into a caretaker’s residence". Newspaper articles about the future of Mac Hotel and Cottagelocal architecture

"The Mechanics Institute movement flourished in Victoria from 1839 to 1950. It was based on the development of Mechanics’ Institutes in Scotland and England from the 1820s, which were intended to educate and enlighten the working classes. The term ‘mechanic’ in those days meant an artisan, craftsman or working man, especially those who had moved from rural areas to work in new city factories during the Industrial Revolution. The early Institutes were usually equipped with a reading room, a library and a lecture room. Although enjoying mixed success in Britain, they contributed to the development of public education and library services. The movement was adopted more enthusiastically in the colonies. It began slowly in Victoria but its expansion after the gold rushes population influx was rapid, especially in rural areas. Every suburb and town wanted to have a Mechanics’ Institute. During the 1850s approximately forty Institutes were established, with even greater growth in the period 1860 to 1900. By 1900 there were 400 Institutes in Victoria. The establishment of a Mechanics’ Institute was often a great achievement for a local community, requiring organising committees to raise substantial funds for a building site (where this had not been granted by the Government), and the building. Once built, the committee then had to purchase books, provide a caretaker or librarian, and finance the ongoing use of and improvements to the building. ‘The history of many Institutes is a story of tremendous community effort, and often, financial difficulties’. In addition to being monuments to local enterprise and community life, the Mechanics’ Institutes played a vital role as an intellectual forum, and in contributing to an informed and participatory democracy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They provided journals and other reading matter on local, state, national and international issues, and hosted of lectures and held debates about wider issues such as Federation, colonial nationalism, defence, female suffrage, the price of land and labour. With the development of the school and technical education in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the need for community technical and adult education declined. As a result of the introduction of government library grants in 1867, many Mechanics’ Institutes incorporated a free library in their buildings to finance collection of their books. By 1884-85, there were 257 free libraries in Victoria. However, government support and library grants dropped off in the 1890s depression. Entertainment took on a greater role in the 1890s, with the introduction of moving pictures, billiards rooms, games rooms (chess), concerts and dances. The First World War had a devastating impact on many rural communities, and some Mechanics’ Institutes were no longer viable. On the other hand the early twentieth century was also a time of agricultural development, and many country towns were growing in this period. The 1930s depression further limited growth of many libraries and reduced grants substantially. In response many Mechanics’ Institutes were renamed, for example as memorial halls, in order to retain and attract more patrons (eg at nearby Sunbury). The diminishing role for Mechanics’ Institutes and the preference for larger and better appointed halls (with supper rooms, cloak rooms etc) resulted in demolition of some small Institutes. The advent of cars, radios, and television also provided other opportunities for recreation, learning and entertainment. The greater role of municipalities in providing library services also eroded the need for free libraries. While over 500 Mechanics’ Institutes or halls are extant, very few of these retain their original role as ‘diffusers of useful knowledge’. Most are still available for community purposes, as venues for meetings, socials, civic occasions etc, while others are employed as museums, shops and theatres. Most buildings are on Crown land, and managed by a delegated committee of management, who are responsible for raising revenue to maintain aging buildings. Many of those which were originally established on private land, such as Melton, have since reverted back to the Crown, and municipal Councils. The most common Mechanics Institute building form is the simple weatherboard gable building with iron roofs, notable for their ‘honest simplicity’ rather than as ‘monuments of the ancients’. At the other extreme there are some magnificent two storeyed brick and stucco structures with elaborate ornamentation (as was apparently envisaged by some in Melton in 1905-10)". The future of Melton Mechanic Institute Gazette articlelocal architecture

Bill Cahill in conversation at Victoria Hall Melton South July 1974 Chaff Mills Melton’s hey day, as I call it in the days when more hay was grown in Melton and Rockbank than, I’d say in any where in Victoria. We had two chaff mills. If I can remember rightly I’m sure of this, that in one month the amount of hay and chaff that went from Melton to Melbourne was about 1800 tons, that’s hay and chaff. There was a lot of hay went from the Melton Railway Station. I have often seen whole train load going down the Schutt and Barrie, that’s Bonnie’s father’s mill at West Footscray. The mills in those days employed up to from 18- 20 men in each, that was before electricity when the mills were run on steam then, there was no power. At times those chaff mills they got a lot of shipping orders, to the Philipines and other Asian countries. They’d work shifts at night on the second shift at night time they would have an old hurricane lamp hanging above from the ceiling just over the chaff cutter, you could hardly see yourself, or see the anything. Well they worked through the whole night they might have an order come in for perhaps 100tons up 500 tons of chaff to go a boat would be in and be waiting to be loaded in Melbourne and they’d have to go and work two shifts. Then they brought in casual labour to help them through and get the order cut and get it down by rail to ship board to send it away. Talking about the hay I’ve seen wagons of hay in the farmers carting to both mills and also hay going down to West Footscray. There would be a quarter of a mile without exaggeration wagons and teams would be waiting to get into the mill, they would come down at the weighbridge at about 3-4- o’clock, 2 o’clock waiting for the bridge to open to weigh their loads, the ones that would be running late would be there at the weighbridge about half past 7 - 8 o’clock. They would be lucky to get away by night before getting their load off. A funny episode I remember well was a farmer from up, Alan Hurley you would remember him, Sam McCorkell he would put on his load in the afternoon or evening leave it up the yard, and would leave Toolern Vale about 12 or 1 o’clock in the morning and he would get down to the weighbridge and when it was breaking day he would bring half of his fowl yard down with him. The fowls would hop up on top of the load and have a ride down and when it came daylight they’d hop off and away they’d go, and I suppose everybody had some of McCorkells poultry. [laughter from the audience] That always tickled my fancy and everybody would be laughing about the fowls getting off his load of hay. I reckon that was about one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard of. The Victoria Hall, where we are tonight was originally known as the Exford Hall. I believe Bonnie’s father was the original builder and owner of the chaff mills here round the corner which is known as Wards today. Later on I understand that his father had a chaff mill here were this hall is, then Dixon Bros were just a bit on the other side. I believe Bonnie’s father sold it to Dixon Bros, and they shifted this part of the mill here and took it over and joined it up. That’s the history of the early chaff mills. Is that right Bonnie? You might like to correct, I’m about right am I? Bonnie answers yes. The original audio tape was recorded on the reel to reel tape recorder by Bon Barrie using his own tape recorder. Transferred to CD by Tom Wood using computer technology capable of adjusting the recording to a legible speed for reproduction to compact disk. Bill Cahill article featured in the The Mail Expresslocal identities

Hubert Oppermanwas part of the launch of the 'Plains of Promise' book local identities, misc.

Melton Express article of Rino and Joanne Bee who married at Dunveganlocal identities