The 1930 Back to Bacchus Marsh celebrations were held on 23 to 28 October 1930. The committee were Cr L.M. Gugdale (president), A.W. Bond (General secretary), W. Grant Morton, J.G. Wells, Dr E. McDonald, Charles Dickie, G.H. Anderson, F.M. Crisp, W.R. Vigor. Bacchus Marsh State School No. 28 was established in 1851 as a National School in a rented building on the right-hand side of Bacchus Marsh-Melbourne Road, just beyond Woolpack Inn. Several willow trees mark the site. H.G. Ball was the first Head Teacher of the school, and the enrolmen towas 34. In 1854 Governor Charles Hotham visited the school. In 1855 two new schools, East and West, were recommended. School No. 28 closed in 1862 and the sitre was sold. The present school site was purchased in 1865 for 67 pounds. The cost of the building was 782 pounds. (Visions and Realisations, Vol 3., 1973) A clock purchased by public subscription was placed in the front of the building to the memory of scholars who served during World War One. (Back to Bacchus Marsh, 1930)Brown covered book of 44 pages. Contents include Bacchus Marsh and its soldiers, Red Cross, Lerderderg Gorge, Werribee Gorge, Lerderderg Park, Coimadai, Darely Firebrick Co., Myrniong, Underbank, Balliang, Rowsley, Parwan, schoosl, churches, Shire Council, Federal Milk Pty Ltd, Bacchus Marsh Milk, Old Maddingley Bridge Images include: * Bacchus Marsh looking east, 1930 * Bacchus Marsh Looking West, 1872 * Bacchus Marsh Looking West, 1930 * Aerial View of Bacchus Marsh Township looking east * Aerial View of Bacchus Marsh Township looking south * Bacchus Marsh Agricultural Society & Pastoral Society, 1893 (named), * Original Bacchus Marsh State School No 28 * Holy Trinity Bacchus Marsh * Bacchus Marsh Baptist Church * St Bernard's Catholic Church * Bacchus Marsh Methodist Church * St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Bacchus Marsh * View of Maddingley Park, showing Original Courthouse, 1890 * Werribee Gorge * Underbank Stud Farm * Ballarat State School Number 28. Signed 'C. Hodgson'bacchus marsh, maddingley, maddingley park, underbank, lerderderg park, coimadai, darely firebrick co., myrniong, balliang, rowsley, parwan, schoosl, churches, shire council, federal milk pty ltd, bacchus marsh milk, old maddingley bridge, police, police paddock, maddingley gates, crisp, mccormack, cain, harkness, howe, bence, mcdonald, mcfarlane, cosgrave, flagg, burnip, scott, lodge, cameron, vallance, bacchus marsh state school, bacchus marsh state school no 28., geology, r.w. thompson, lederderg gorge, weribee gorge, comadai, darley firebrick company

Bacchus Marsh celebrated 100 years of white settlement in 1936. The centenary celebrations committee comprised of L.M. Dugdale (President), A.W. Bond (Hon. Secretary), Charles Dickie, W. Grant Morton, W.R. Vigor, C.J. McFarlane, G.H. Anderson, T.J. Shea, F.C. McC Crisp, Dr E. McDonald, Robert Elliott (treasurer), R.H. Lambert (Decorations manager)Brown covered book of 28 pages. The book includes an historical essay, official centenary programme, Electric Light Plant, Patriotic Bacchus Marsh, milk industry, Pioneer Women's Memorial Avenue, Bacchus Marsh Gas Works . The book includes numerous advertisement, some illustrated. Images include: * Bacchus Marsh Flats from Anthony's Cutting; * Manor house; * Scene in Maddingley Park * Werribee Valley; * Werribee Gorge * Maddingley Park lake; * ANA Hall and Post Office * Shire Hall and Soldiers' Memorial Hall, * State School No 28 * At Werribee Gorge ** The Gas Supply Co, Bacchus Marsh * Bacchus Marsh Shire Council, 1935-6 (named) Images depicted in the book were supplied by H.J.M. Vallancebacchus marsh, merrimu guest house, anthony's cutting, captain bacchus, manor house, maddingley, maddingley park, werribee gorge, bacchus marsh shire, bacchus marsh shire council

Photograph of the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Sts featuring the Flinders St Station building - c1926?? features a very busy intersection cable trams (No. 17 west bound in Flinders St), tram 160 north bound in Swanston, two W class trams, other cable trams, many motor cars, horse drawn vehicles, cyclist and pedestrians. Note the standing zone in Flinders St. In photo are Young and Jacksons Hotel, Bacchus Marsh Concentrated Milk table cream, and numerous signs on the railway station. See Reg Item 5272 for the photo on a Greetings Card and 103 for a framed photographic print.Yields information about the intersection of Flinders and Swanston St c1926 - after the conversion of Swanston St.Black and white photograph with notes on the rear. Two copies held.Has "1926 Brimson VicRail" in ink along lower edge on rear and "H4505" in the middle of the print back.trams, tramways, flinders st, swanston st, cable trams, flinders st station

Framed, glazed, black and white photograph of the intersection of Flinders and Swanston St Melbourne, looking towards Flinders St railway station. Timber frame, painted brown and gold, with brown paper lining on rear. Has brown string stapled at rear on both sides for hanging. In the central bottom of the rear is "Glen Waverley Picture Framing, sticker, 698 High St Road, Glen Waverley with a 7 digit phone number. Photo c1926?? features a very busy intersection cable trams (No. 17 west bound in Flinders, tram 160 north bound in Swanston, two W class trams, other cable trams, many motor cars, horse drawn vehicles, cyclist and pedestrians. Note the standing zone in Flinders St. In photo are Young and Jacksons Hotel, Bacchus Marsh Concentrated Milk table cream, and numerous signs on the railway station. See Reg Item 5272 for the photo on a Greetings Card and 5217 for a photographic print.on rear top "Donated to Hawthorn Tram Museum Feb 1912 Ron Scholten" in ink.trams, tramways, flinders st station, swanston st, flinders st, melbourne, cable trams

Covers were used to place over a jug to keep insects out of the liquid (usually milk). This sort of item was used in days before refrigeration. It also demonstrated womens ability to make items for the home.Part of Ellen Brown collection. Ellen Brown lived her whole life in Bacchus Marsh - she died aged 103 in 2009. She never married and excelled at home duties, eg., needlework, cooking. She won prizes at local shows for cakes, jam making, and preserves. She was a well known identity in the town.Square white beaded jug cover in ecru colored cotton. Crocheted central bird pattern with triangular pattern top and bottom. White beads attached on perimeter.lace, ellen brown, milk, crochet, jug cover, home duties, blue wren, beads

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

Lifeguard Milk was a product name for milk sold by the Bacchus Marsh Dairymen's Co-operative Association and its subsidiary the Federal Milk company. In 1938 the Diaryman's co-operative began trading as the Lieguard Milk Company. This company was a major employer in Bacchus Marsh and was in business until the late 1960s.Timber box used for packing condensed milk products for export.Stow away from engine room and boilers: Lifeguuard Milk Products on long side. Export Lifeguard Sweetened Condensed Milk 48 x 14 OZ tins Made in Australia on narrow side.dairying, milk factories, lifeguard milk company

This property was located near Bacchus Marsh not far from the Racecourse. The photo shows members of the Dickson family. The oldest man on the left is possibly George Dickson who died in 1885 aged 92. The man second from the right is possibly the younger George Dickson who died aged 77 in 1900. The girl or the woman in the image is possibly Margaret Dickson.Small sepia unframed photograph on card with gold border framing photograph. Housed in the album, 'Photographs of Bacchus Marsh and District in 1883 by Stevenson and McNicoll'. In the foreground of the image are members of the Dickson family. In the background are yards, farm sheds, which are possibly milking sheds. Behind the sheds is the family home.On the front: Stevenson & McNicoll. Photo. 108 Elizabeth St. Melbourne. COPIES CAN BE OBTAINED AT ANY TIME. On the back: LIGHT & TRUTH inscribed on a banner surmounted by a representation of the rising sun. Copies of this Portrait can be had at any time by sending the Name and Post Office Money Order or Stamps for the amount of order to STEVENSON & McNICOLL LATE BENSON & STEVENSON, Photographers. 108 Elizabeth Street, MELBOURNE. stevenson and mcnicoll 1883 photographs of bacchus marsh and district, dickson family bacchus marsh, farmers, farms bacchus marsh

Beryl Knox speaking about early life in Melton. Page 1 1949 – 64 years ago. We began our married life at Melton Sth. The house on the corner of the Exford Rd and Staughton St-- dusty gravel roads, box thorns and noxious weeds everywhere and a sprinkling of houses and vacant land. It was a friendly community consisting of old family names. McDonalds, Blacks, Dodemaide, Cahill, Coopers, Minns, Tinklers, Nesbitts, Cochranes, Wickhams, Exells. Mavis Butler. The home owned by Mr. Robinson and Miss Robinson had been shifted in two parts transported from Diggers Rest and it is still standing 2013. Bruce’s father purchased the house and two adjoining blocks, the Conways built on one and the Rawlinson family on the other block. Eileen still resides there, she was only a baby in a pram and the family had not long arrived from England. The railway line was close to the house and the contents would rattle when heavy steams trains went through, and on a clear frosty night the 1am paper train would echo roar through very loudly when labouring towards the Exford Bridge. Then the two carriage motor train was introduced, this was great for the workers and schoolies who travelled to Melbourne. The train pulled up at the crossing or riding to pick up or drop off. Melva Gillespie (nee Hirt) Bill Cahill delivered the milk by the billy and then in bottles. Len Kennedy (Paul Kennedy’s father, Norma Murrays son) delivered Jongebloeds bread, he always had a sweep going for the Melbourne Cup and raffles for the footy club. Mr. Woodgate owned an old bus and pick up point was the Post Office when there was a Saturday film on a Melton. There were no doctors or dentists in the district. If we need a Doctor we had to travel to Bacchus Marsh or discuss problems over the phone. In later years a Bacchus Marsh Doctor rented the Bluestone building in McKenzie St a couple of days a week. If we needed the Dentist we had to travel to West Footscray or Footscray. We did our banking at “State Savings” then the Miss Minns had the agency and then Bardsleys Store. We travelled to Bacchus Marsh to the National and Commercial banks. Station Rd to Western Highway, now (High Street) was a narrow stretch of bitumen and gravel farmland either side and a couple of farm houses and large gum trees on the properties. Page 2 North of the Railway line Mrs Bessie Jones, mother of Chas and Betty Jones managed the Post Office, next door to her Chas and Betty had the Shell Centre, and later moved the business to Melton. Hughie Nesbitt and mother owned the grocery and hardware store, and I bought my first set of saucepans there. On the opposite side of Station road Mr Coombe owned the fruit shop, and also provided soft drinks and lollies for children. The Chaff Mill was on the corner of Station Rd and Brooklyn Rd. Mr Lumsden was manager and later years Bernie Trethowan and Jack Butler were partners. It finally burnt down and is a Service Station now. Along Brooklyn Rd there were a few houses and Victoria Hall, not a very big hall, but catered for lots of functions, Balls, Fancy Dress, Bazaars, Square Dancing and meetings. The Bacchus Marsh Baptists held Sunday School in the hall. A group of shops were built south of the railway line Molly and Len Skinner managed the Post Office and handled a few essential groceries. Tom McDonald and Ron Lunsberg were the butchers. Mary and Syd Cooper lived next door to us and often in turn would run out of something when we had a baking spree we would borrow or exchange, sugar flour etc over the fence. Mavis and Jack Butler lived there before the Coopers. Bernie and Iris Trethowan lived two doors up. Neighbours were invited into their home to view the first black and white television in Melton Sth. Bill Exell was one of the first Melton Sth farmers to sell his land to developers, the land was idle for years before housing developed. I joined the Melton Valley Golf Club in 1960. The Gun Club as our Club House, an old tin shed consisting a water tank, trestle table and forms and dirt floor. It was a 9 hole course with sand scraps and landscape putting before greens. The Common or parkland was part of the Golf Course. It was open for every ones recreation. Roy Norton an old identity trained his trotters on the Common and wouldn’t clear the track for the golfers. The golfers had to avoid him to continue to play. We had to keep clear when the young youths came in their paddock cars and motorbikes. Over the years the Toolern Creek flooded its banks, water and debri covered the course on one year our first Club house was flooded out. It took several working bees to clean it up. We lived at Melton Sth for 15 years and moved to Melton on the farm “Croxton Park.” The Nixon family farm “Mowbray” adjoined the farm. Bruce worked the land cropping the farm when Mrs Nixon died. Page 3 (page 4 on the handwritten script) Bruce had the first offer to buy, in those days it wasn’t easy to get good bank loans. Part of the land is the Golf Course now and Mr O’Shea purchased the bulk. Moving to Melton was totally different – I became involved with Committees, Scouts, Guides, Mothers Clubs, CWA, Church Op shop (8 years). Melton Amateurs players produced and tutored by Mabel Rogers exerts from Pyjama Game, South Pacific, Carousel - later years a group of ladies did gentle water exercise at Essendon and Station Road swimming pool. I was 20 or so years in Probus. The local followed the football, there was always a Gymkhana on the long weekend in June. The tennis always created a lot of interest during the finals. It didn’t matter which team played the supporters were treated to a cup of tea and leftovers from their afternoon tea. In 1978 were the first residents to move into the Jennings Estate Kurunjang and lived there 31 years and retired 4 years ago into Unit. The amazing changes I have experienced. Merrimu supplied our water, after depending on tanks. The landscape changed completely when developers came in, no more dusty plains \ typed web Sept 2013 McFarlane, Mrs Knox and Beryl Gillespie at the First Hundred Years Celebration of Melton State School 430. The event was held at Mechanics Hall, Melton.local identities, local significant events, education

This plan was for the sale of parcels of land from the Lerderderg Park Estate property in 1911. Advertising for the sale appeared in the Bacchus Marsh Express newspaper through July of 1911. The property was situated only a few kilometers from the township of Bacchus Marsh. The agents for the sale were L. A. Fairbairn & Co.Lerderderg Park Estate was a significant and early colonial property in the Bacchus Marsh area. This plan provides details about the first time the property was subdivided for sale. It is therefore documents an important moment in the history of this property and the broader trend of the subdivision of older and larger properties in the district.A single page paper plan showing allotments of land for sale from the Lerderderg Park property owned by John Wills. The parcels of land for sale are coloured in red.The Lerderderg River and Pyke's Creek Irigation Channel shown on the plan are in blue ink. The rest of the plan is a dark cream or beige colur with the text in black ink. The plan has been extensively annotated with hand-written notes indicating the names of people who purchased the various parcels of lands and the prices paid for those lands. Part of the top of the plan containing some text appears to be missing. The plan is pasted into a bound volume containing 76 maps or plans in total. Top: Have received instructions to Sell, account Mr John Wills, his renowned LERDERDERG PARK LANDS, so well and favourably known throughout the Commonwealth. In areas from 3 acres to 1276 acres. Every lot is either rich lucerne land (or portion now under lucerne) with some higher land adjoining Railway Station, and 2 Milk factories within 2 miles, absolutely the finest land in Victoria. Bottom: THIS IS THE FIRST SUBDIVISIONAL SALE of Rich Flats in Bacchus Marsh since the Pyke's Creek Scheme, and every lot is commanded by it. Only 32 miles from Melbourne.bacchus marsh victoria maps, land sales, lerderderg park estate, land subdivision

Small pamphlet. Stapled softcover. 23 unnumbered pages. 11cm x 16cm. Contains photographs and cover illustration. BMDHS Location: AR/SU5 Pamphlets Box 4.non-fictionThis pamphlet outlines the early history of the house constructed for William Bacchus in 1846-1847 and briefly describes its condition as it was in 1957. William Bacchus was one of the first European colonists to live in the area in which a township (Bacchus Marsh) was later named after him. He arrived on land occupied by the Wurundjeri and Wadawurrung peoples in 1838 and established a large sheep farm. Between 1846 and 1847 he contracted builders and other skilled workers to construct a large brick and stone two storey house. William Bacchus died in 1849. His son Henry Bacchus sold the house in 1851. For many years it was owned by the Crook family. When this pamphlet was published in 1957 the house was owned by the Lifeguard Milk Company of Bacchus Marsh. By this time the property had become derelict and was almost demolished. Around this time the Young Mens Christian Association Club in Bacchus Marsh became involved in efforts to help preserve this historic property. This pamphlet was part of those efforts. PUBLICATION DETAILS: Y's Mens Club Bacchus Marsh, Bacchus Marsh, Vic., 1957. Text written by Ronald G. Westood. william bacchus, bacchus family, henry bacchus, bacchus marsh, manor house bacchus marsh, houses bacchus marsh, historic buildings bacchus marsh

The number of cattle in this photo suggests that it was a small holding, at the beginning of the dairy industry in Bacchus Marsh. This industry became a major source of employment in Bacchus Marsh. By the early twentieth century, the Bacchus Marsh region was a significant contributor to the dairy industry in Australia. Small sepia unframed photograph on card with gold border framing photograph. Housed in the album, 'Photographs of Bacchus Marsh and District in 1883 by Stevenson and McNicoll'. This is a photo of a dairy farm in an unknown location in the Bacchus Marsh district. It has been taken from an elevation looking down at the farm. On the left, the roadside can be seen running alongside a stream or river which is fenced off by a line of trees and a post and rail fence. Parked on the road outside the farmhouse is a wagon which is unhitched. The wagon has a white rooftop and on the side can be seen a professional logo, details unclear. This wagon is most likely the wagon used by the photographers to access outlying properties with their photographic equipment. The farmhouse itself faces the road with side doors giving onto the yard. The roof is partially covered by new slates, possibly slate covering bark. Six milking sheds of post-and-rail construction adjoin the farm yard. In the first and fourth stalls (l to r) the farmer and his wife can be seen seated, miking cows. The rest of the herd are awaiting milking in the yard which also has a post-and-rail fence. A bull of milking shorthorn breed stands outside the fence. The milking herd itself is of various breeds; Herefords, roan shorthorn and roan and white shorthorns can be identified. On the right is a shed of rough-hewn boards and a shingle roof. In the yard at the back of the house stands a cart or dray. On the front: Stevenson & McNicoll. Photo. 108 Elizabeth St. Melbourne. COPIES CAN BE OBTAINED AT ANY TIME. On the back: LIGHT & TRUTH inscribed on a banner surmounted by a representation of the rising sun. Copies of this Portrait can be had at any time by sending the Name and Post Office Money Order or Stamps for the amount of order to STEVENSON & McNICOLL LATE BENSON & STEVENSON, Photographers. 108 Elizabeth Street, MELBOURNE. dairy farms, stevenson and mcnicoll 1883 photographs of bacchus marsh and district