Historical information

1. Kiewa Valley Consolidated School was established in 1953 combining Dederang North, Kergunyah, Gundowring, Kiewa, Gundowring Upper, Red Bluff, Charleroi and Gundowing North schools on a 10 acre site with 11 rooms at Kiewa. The bark was cut from the canoe tree, by aboriginal craftsmen, to produce a canoe for fishing in the rivers running through the Kiewa Valley either before or just after the 1800's. The tree trunk, located at Kiewa, would have been used at the beginning of European settlement in the Kiewa Valley or just before contact was made.
2. Pictorial record of the graves of early pioneers C Ibbotson, Mrs Elizabeth Eyre and John Eyre who died between 1858 – 1904, all located at Tawonga Homestead

Significance

1. The above schools are in the Kiewa Valley. The date and number of combined schools give insight into the change in population and families in the Kiewa Valley before and after 1953. The tree was found along the Kiewa River and indicates that Aborigines lived by the river and used tree bark to craft canoes to cross rivers and to fish in the deeper sections of the river.
2. Pictorial record of the early history of Kiewa Valley pioneers whose descendants have lived and worked in the Kiewa Valley for many years

Physical description

1. Newspaper article of local school children visiting a canoe tree in Kiewa July 11, 1972. mounted on buff card
2. Black and white photo of pioneer graves at old Tawonga Homestead. Mounted on
buff card

Inscriptions & markings

1. Handwritten in black ink above newspaper clipping ‘Canoe Tree Kiewa Valley Consolidated School. 11 July, 1972’
Handwritten in pencil at bottom of article ’10 Nov. ‘72’
2. Handwritten in black ink above photo ‘Tawonga Homestead graves’
Handwritten below photo ‘T Ibbotson D. 1858, Elizabeth Eyre D. 1879, John Eyre D 1879, John Eyre D. 1904