Presented by Mildura & District Historical Society. Compiled by Judi Hyde for Mildura Rural City Council Service.
100 years ago
MIDGLEY: Mr Richard Midgley was a Yorkshireman of farming stock, from Bartsea, a tiny village near Leeds. When he was 16, one of 12 children, his parents decided to give them better opportunities and so they embarked on a sailing ship bound for Melbourne. Shipmates were the parents of Mr E.J. Roberts of Irymple and so a strong bond was formed. The Midgley family decided to stay in the Warrnambool district forming a little colony – many of their descendants still live there. Many years after founding a flourishing business and family in Mildura, Mr R. Midgley retired to Warrnambool and built a house there in which he died. He was one of Mildura’s strongest advocates of irrigation here – he lived long enough to see his irrigation dream here realised. He went to Mildura and, undeterred by the fact that he soon discovered that alcoholic “temperance” was not an outstanding characteristic of the new colony, he established the present factory in Madden Avenue, one of the first buildings in Mildura to supply workers with soft drinks. The factory closed in Mildura’s dark days and later forged ahead and became an indispensable industry. His daughter ran it after her father retired to Warrnambool.
HAWTHORN: Since Lake Hawthorn was converted into a permanent water sheet with a connection to the Murray River, Mildurians are slowly realising what an important asset it is to the community. Mr Casey of the Lake School realised what great facilities it provided, primitive though they now are – it is popular for swimmers and should be realised as a holiday resort area. Its purchase by the Mildura Shire has displayed greater vision than most local authorities and could become a commercial asset. With the coming of the motor-train for passenger service it would be east to arrange cheap-fare runs to the Lake if a siding was constructed there and the result would be a pleasure resort and a paying asset to the community.
NEWS: The Mildura Carnegie Library is visited each week by hundreds of persons and all the state and interstate papers that it contains are well read and appreciated. Some visitors however, do not consider others and quite frequently paragraphs are found to have been cut out. Much annoyance is caused by this selfish, dishonest practice. Another new school is being erected on the Merbein side of the railway line in 9th Street it will have two large airy classrooms, lavatory, storeroom and passage. The Merbein Presbyterian new tennis court that is fenced and prepared, is to be officially opened. Neighbouring clubs are invited to a series of inter-club games. A Merbein horse, owned by Mr Hiscock, evidently likes a departure from the conventional chaff and grain as when Mrs Hiscock was throwing out some pickled pork she held it out to the horse and he devoured it to her astonishment. The next day Mr Hiscock offered his horse a plate of meat and vegies –this he ate and licked the plate clean. It is thought that he would like to be one of the team of a Swiss mountain “diligence”, the members of which are regaled with black bread soaked in beer in great wooden troughs outside the inns that guard the Alpine passes.
75 years ago
DARLING: Early memories of the Darling district were recalled by Mrs R. Ballantyne, who spent 77 years on the western NSW stations – watching Mildura develop from a grazing run and many well-known pastoral properties change hands. Her father, Mr H. Richardson came from Tasmania in 1868 to manage Lake Victoria Station, when the Gells sold the station, and not liking the new owners he went to Moorara in 1871 and from there to the back station Kinchega, which was 55 miles, or seven days’ travel, both ways by bullock team. At Moorara there were sheep herds till Mr Richardson ran the lines and erected fences. In 1883, Mr Richardson secured a government appointment, and the family moved to Gillowa and in 1887 they moved to Pamararoo, a back station of Kinchega. As a girl, then Regina Richardson, Mrs Ballantyne loved riding, shooting and boating – she used to ride “Zephyr”, Mr C. McMahon’s horse, over the jumps and the steeple double at Wentworth shows and compete in the Adelaide shows. At 16 her father gave her a double-barrelled shotgun and she would spend days in a duck punt on the lagoons shooting ducks, gathering duck eggs, riding after scrub turkeys and shooting them from horse back. She often rode 75 miles to a dance at Pooncarie starting at 4pm and changing horses at Moorara en route. Women always rode side-saddle – Mrs Pelloe, wife of a former manager of the National Bank in Mildura, was the first woman to ride astride – she and a Miss Cox rode to Broken Hill and spent a few days at Cuthero that was managed for Mr Ben Chaffey. In 1894, Mr Ballantyne was out mustering when they saw smoke – it was the paddleboat Rodney on fire – it had 20-plus non-union shearers on board.
ITEMS: A war memorial for South Merbein and the form it is to take will be discussed at a meeting chaired by Mr Garlick MLA on Tuesday in the Merbein South Hall. The clearing of the site for the Irymple War Memorial Park may commence after the next harvest. The land is at present planted with vines in full bearing. Money from the harvested fruit will go towards the park fund. Provision has been made for a modern swimming pool, bowling green, lawns, shrubs, trees, flowers, park seats, dressing sheds and other amenities.
WOMEN: Volunteers of the United Women’s Movement are not afraid of the union’s threat to enrol strikers’ wives and other women to prevent them from unloading gas coal at wharves and taking it to gasworks. They had been promised adequate police support and would use gas companies’ trucks and if garage hands decided to declare them black, the companies had enough petrol to keep them going.
50 years ago
NEWS: Tile after tile was the story of demolition at the Avalon in Madden Avenue as workers tossed tiles to workmates below and Geoff Evans carted them off in barrow loads. It was built in 1920, home of the Recreation Club, the members of the Independent Order of the Rechabite Club playing a bit part in the founding of the club. It had a fine library, reading room, table tennis facilities, billiards and a gymnasium. The portraits of two of the founding members Dr Cameron and Rev Harvey hang in the Presbyterian Church, Mildura. During the 1930s it was a guest house then during the war the Australian Comforts set it up a recreation centre for the WAAFs who were at the Mildura airport. It was named Glendon House after the Second World War and operated as a guest house again. Many cheques cashed yesterday did not have the 1 cent duty stamp on their backs as they were practically unobtainable. After today the friendly voices of Faye Elliott, Dulcie Mitchell, Ann Wilson and Ruby Doering will no longer be heard as Sunraysia and Red Cliffs telephone exchanges will be automatic. Mr G. Downing didn’t know until Saturday morning that the strong winds from Friday’s storm had uprooted a 50 yard rack and tipped it upside down – steel posts and all. Cr S. Mills would like to see Deakin Ave between 8th and 9th Streets become a permanent “light spectacular” at night.
ITEMS: Once upon a time a good laundry would not be complete without a metal washboard and when mother finished the washing with it the family musician strummed its bumpy surface. Then came the era of washing machines, powerful detergent and gradually skiffle groups gave way to more sophisticated pop groups with electric guitars – Peter Maggs of Merbein would like to know as at Flinders Uni, S.A., he wants to start a band but nobody has an unwanted washboard. You have heard about being so wet it rained cats and dogs, well in the Washington town of Ocean Shores, USA, three to four dozen anchovy fingerlings rained down on Tom James’s yard half a mile inland from the surf in a waterspout, then eaten by his greedy chickens.
LAW: Merbein policeman Harry Lawn has resigned from the Victorian police force after 15½ years’ service. Senior Constable Lawn, born at Lake Cullulleraine and educated at Merbein, where he has been stationed since 1966 after being at Mildura for 8 years. He intends to now run his 35-acre fruit property at Birdwoodton and look after his aviary, where he breeds canaries, finches and other birds, also go fishing and bowling. (11.1.1972)
25 years ago
PEOPLE: Moving from Darwin to Merbein, Mr and Mrs Hocking are now the owners of the Parkside Private Hospital in Merbein that operated from 1925, with Dr Spargo attending for 10-12 years. Then it became a boarding house, they are now asking for help to return it to its original period style. The very talented Carter Sisters, Val Gray and Rose Perry, born in Merbein, the daughters of Bert, an organist-pianist and Jean Carter, a trained singer, have released another cassette tape of their singing. Until 5 years ago the Pioneer Cottage in Hunter St, Mildura, had about 3000 visitors a year and now it hardly attracts 1000 said World War Two veteran Max Taylor. The museum illustrates some of the hardships the early settlers had and has the largest collection of antiques, lamps, lanterns and household appliances in Australia. RAAF pilot and former Pomona man, Flight Lieutenant Ian Whyte, did not come home for Christmas as he was on a search and rescue duty at Edinburgh, SA. He has been part of three rescue missions in two weeks which stunned the world – rescues in conditions he had never encountered before. The Hodge couple, Ian and Beth Hodge, have almost completed their epic trip across Asia in their 35-year-old Volkswagen Beetle, which required nothing more than two new tyres and one shock absorber in the 16,000km covered since that left London. It is the second time in 35 years they travelled around the world in their Beetle – they took it back to its birthplace, the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, for a VIP visit.
CARP: They might be fun to catch but they are “rabbits of the river”. Carp are the bane of the Murray, unpopular and we want to get rid of them. Young “Spud” Eugene Murphy, of Gol Gol recently had great success trapping carp with an opera house yabbie net. If he can catch 3200 carp in four hours and his idea was used on a large scale carp numbers would be cut dramatically. “You’d clean out millions in a day,” he said.
MAYOR: Hundreds of people gathered at St Margaret’s Anglican Church to farewell Kaye Gambetta, one of Mildura’s greatest servants. She was honoured by two men closely associated with some of her achievements, Inland Garden president Milton Whiting and Sunraysia Institute of TAFE director Mr Bob Cruise. The quote Arthur Clarke said was: “The only way to discover the possible is to go beyond them to the impossible and Kaye was constantly doing that.” She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1987 for services to the community and to education. Her presentation to the then Education Minister, Lindsay Thompson, in a campaign for a TAFE in Sunraysia, stressed the importance of colleges as semi-autonomous bodies – it was so successful that the model became the operation and legislative standard for all TAFE colleges in Victoria.
