100 years ago
ICE CREAM: Record sales of ice and ice-cream blocks for the months of December and January are reported at the Mildura Ice Works in Madden Avenue. By the production of ice and ice-cream of exceptional quality, the proprietor, Mr G Virgona, has built up an extensive trade, not only throughout these districts, but over a large area of northern Victoria. Large quantities of ice and ice-cream blocks are dispatched daily by rail to distant towns.
FRUGAL: It appears that there are some persons in the community who will go to no end of trouble if by so doing they can obtain their desires without being put to any expense. Quite a crowd of people braved the risky climb to a high position on the scaffolding of the new Commercial Hotel in Eighth Street on two nights last week. From this point of vantage a clear view of the pictures in the theatre on the other side of the street is obtained, without cost.
BUILDING: Without doubt one of the wisest moves of the committee of the Mildura, Merbein and District Horticultural and Agricultural Society is the erection of a large shed or hall on the Mildura recreation ground. The building is practically completed and improves materially the general appearance of the recreation ground. The building has a wide veranda, which runs almost the whole length of the building – as far as the secretary’s office at the near corner of the arena. The committee have certainly made a bargain in getting this building constructed for 375 pounds. It is well built and raised above the ground: it is constructed of iron with red gum uprights and is situated between the caretaker’s house and the grandstand now being roofed by the town council. During show day the building will be used for dried fruits and other exhibits and the veranda for trade displays.
75 years ago
BOOT: The Mildura Shoe Factory of A W Barr and Company is temporarily laying off many of its employees because suppliers throughout Australia are unable to make available the quality or quantity of components required. Mr Barr said yesterday, that after next Friday a small staff would be kept on to use what materials could be obtained. The rest would be laid off. With a staff of 180, the shoe factory has the biggest permanent payroll of any organisation in Mildura. Mr Barr said he had explained to the staff why the factory was closing down. Mr Barr said that the shortage of materials was not only affecting the Mildura factory, but manufacturers of shoes throughout Australia.
CWA: The Mildura branch of the Victorian Country Women’s Association celebrates its 21st birthday this year. It is only one year younger than the first Victorian branch formed in 1928. The reason that the Mildura and other Mallee branches were established before those in larger and older towns was the loneliness and isolation of the wives of English settlers recently arrived in the country who welcomed the companionship which CWA activities provided. Nearly 100 women became foundation members of the Mildura branch in August 1929, and since then the number has steadily increased.
MACHINE: Today can be seen in the yard of Holcombe’s blacksmith shop, Eighth Street and Lemon Avenue corner, a full-size working specimen of Mr S Mansell’s cold-dip device. The type to be seen is fitted with a 24-bucket carrying wheel, allowing of two minutes’ immersion of fruit and six minutes’ drainage. The whole device is a solid piece of work, easily handled and “foolproof”. Questions as to prices of various sizes of this machine may be asked of Mr Mansell, who will be at the yard most of the day. The machine is well worth seeing and seems very practical and ingenious.
50 years ago
GONG: To chime, or only time? That is the question posed to Mildura City Council for the town clock in the Carnegie Library tower. Many years ago, the clock used to gong away the hours, day and night. Some people use to like it, others did not. One who obviously believes Mildura’s chiming clock should be restored is Mr S Hannah, of Burrows Street, Mildura, who has written to the council asking if it is possible to restore the chime. Councillor Syd Mills said that it was probably from 15 to 18 years since the clock chimed. But some of the bits and pieces responsible for the chiming were worn right out, and he understood some pieces were missing. Cr Laurie Andriske said he had a lot of feeling for the old clock. As a child he used to climb inside the tower and watch how the clock and its chimes worked. Cr Gambetta closed the debate by saying that even if it did not cost much to have the clock set chiming again, council still did not have the money to do it at this time.
PANTS: Michael Bottreill was having trouble with his trousers on Wednesday afternoon while walking along Deakin Avenue. Every few minutes the top of his jeans would fall below his hips, but Bottreill would just hitch them up and keep walking. On one occasion, his jeans slipped as two young girls rode past on bicycles. His difficulties were observed by Senior Constable Mick Nemtsas of Mildura police who was parked near Deakin Avenue. In Mildura Court yesterday, Bottreill pleaded guilty to a charge of offensive behaviour. He told police he had left his belt back in his car. He was sentenced to two months’ jail.
THRIVING: Coomealla, the biggest dried fruit producing centre in New South Wales, 10 miles from Wentworth, is a thriving town which has seen phenomenal development. In a comparatively short time period, Coomealla has grown from Mallee sheep country into a closely settled district. A confusing feature to the visitor is the two names which apply in the area. The irrigated blocks are in Coomealla but the township is Dareton. Coomealla, an Aboriginal name meaning the meeting of the waters.
25 years ago
COD: Anglers have been urged not to take large Murray cod out of the water. Mildura-based Denis Moy, a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Fisheries and Wildlife officer, said larger cod should be released because they were the brood stock so vital to maintaining the cod population. “The larger the cod, the more eggs they produce,” he said. “For example, a 20kg Murray cod lays 40,000 eggs, while a 5kg cod lays only 13,000.” He said he got personally frustrated when he saw photographs of anglers with large cod which they had taken.
MOTEL: Wentworth will have a new $3 million motel operating at the “top end” of the local hospitality market and drawing on the lucrative conferencing and corporate sectors by March 1. Lessee and manager Kevin Quinlan said the 50-room motel complex which abuts the Wentworth Services Club is on schedule for the opening date and will provide the town’s economy with a substantial boost once it is operating. Three presidential suites with verandas overlooking the Darling River have been developed in the former Wentworth Club dining room, the largest has a board room attached with seating for 12 people. Mr Quinlan and his partner have five motels in Melbourne.
CHURCH: The historic Lutheran Church at Meringur will hold what will possibly be its final service early next month. The church once housed congregations of as many as 100 followers, however with the decline in families on the land in the Millewa, that figure has dropped to as low as 13. The church was constructed in 1929 after Lutheran settlers took up land in the Millewa in the mid-to-late 1920s. It is expected the church and surrounds will continue to be maintained but at a cost much less than the present $3500 a year.
