PEEPS INTO THE PAST
4 – 10 December 2022
Presented by Mildura & District Historical SocietyCompiled by Mildura Rural City Council Libraries
100 YEARS AGO
RAIL BOOM: It will no doubt be interesting to the people of Mildura and surrounding districts to learn of the success of the motor-train at present running on the Red Cliffs and Merbein lines.
Since its coming into operation from June of this year, it has been running with increasing success and without mishap.
From reports and figures given by the Mildura railway authorities as to the number of passengers carried, there is warrant for believing that, before very long, the railway department will be compelled to furnish Mildura with another motor-train.
At present 10 trips are run by the motor-train daily, and since its inauguration, there has been a steady increase in the passenger traffic with the majority of the passengers travelling to and from Red Cliffs.
The average number of passengers now carried each trip is 25, which means a total increase of at least 100 passengers a day since the service began.
It is evident that the Railway Department views the motor-train in a favourable light, for according to information received in Mildura this week, more of these cars are under construction in the Newport railway workshops, and these will be of the latest model, having glass windows, upholstered seats, and much more comfort than the motor-train now running.
Another interesting point is that, since its five months of, service on the Mildura suburban line, the miles travelled by the train have totalled up to 13,000.
BE DECENT: A by-law has been framed by the shire secretary, Mr S.H. Semmens and the shire engineer, Mr M.K.N. Johansen, making conditions under which a person may bathe at Lake Hawthorn or any part of the river within the shire of Mildura.
The regulation, which will come up at the next meeting of the Mildura Shire Council, reads: No person shall bathe unless dressed in a Canadian bathing costume, with kilt, which shall effectively cover the body from the neck to the knee so as to observe proper decency.
This will not apply to competitors in swimming races at recognized gatherings when one-piece costumes will be allowed.
HOSPITAL LIBRARY: “Admission by book” tells the story of a meeting tomorrow afternoon at the Mildura Town Hall Supper room called by the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Society.
The suggestion that a hospital library be formed came originally from Mrs W. B. Chaffey.
The aid society (Mrs F.J Hawkes, president, Mrs H.A. Maxwell, secretary) took up the idea with enthusiasm, and the collection of books has begun.
It is hoped that as many ladies as possible will go along and enjoy the social afternoon at the supper rooms tomorrow.
Novels and other light reading matter can be left for the hospital library at the Sunraysia Daily office or at the business premises of Mr. F.J. Hawkes.
The first book to reach the Sunraysia Daily office for the hospital comes from a scoop-driver at the 18 mile camp on the Red Cliffs to North Millewa Railway.
It is Bar 20 Days the second of a series of a dozen cow-puncher stories by Clarence E. Mulford.
Now who will contribute other books, and other series?
Who wants the hospital to have a real library with books for every patient?
The bed-ridden are waiting to read your book now.
75 YEARS AGO
ASK THE KIDS: A man who has been closely associated with swimming in the district for a number of years has suggested a site other than the river frontage for the new city baths.
“After reading the two articles concerning new baths, I fell that someone should put the case for the people who use the baths most – the children of the district,” said Mr. M. Williams yesterday.
Having regularly visited baths over the past four years it was his impression that children, nearly all local, comprised at least 90 per cent of the attendances.
He considered baths should be in a position convenient for these children.
In suggesting the City Council depot in 12th street as the site, Mr Williams said it was readily accessible from Deakin Avenue, 11th and 12th Streets, and was the most central position for Mildura schools.
The new baths would probably have to serve the community for another 25 years, and by that time Mildura would perhaps be well outside the present city boundary of 14th Street. “Chaffey brothers endowed Mildura with a real plan for a city; let us think along these line.
Why put all our eggs in one basket?
Henderson Park on the riverbank would look nice for the tourists, but I think it is better where it is.
Let us have more of these nice spots away from the river,” said Mr Williams.
“If anyone is really interested, have a look at the Albury, Red Cliffs or Merbein baths, and it will be easily seen that a river is not necessary to make baths a success, nor is it essential for their beauty,” was Mr. Williams’ parting shot.
OUR UNI BETTER: University examination results this year are expected to show that, mainly because of environment, Mildura branch students at the Melbourne University have done better than Melbourne students.
This opinion was expressed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University (Mr J.G.D. Medley), who said he believed the students at Mildura had worked harder.
There were fewer distractions at the Mildura Branch, and with all lecturers resident, there was more opportunity for study.
The warden at Mildura (Dr J.S. Rogers) stated today that the students themselves said they could work harder at Mildura.
Instancing the better conditions for study, he said students had only to walk 200 yards to lectures instead of travelling long distances in trams and trains.
“I think results are going to be satisfactory,” he said.
“The whole plan has been a striking success.
Students have co-operated, and their behaviour has been excellent.” He said the students had become fond of Mildura, and would like to finish their courses there, but this would not be possible.
BURIAL MILESTONE: It will be 100 years next year since the first known burial of a white man took place in Mildura.
He was John Hawdon, aged 21, and he was buried in what is now known as the Station Graveyard Reserve, on the road to Apex Park, on November 14, 1848.
In this graveyard, which is now being tended by Mildura Cemetery Trust employees under direction of the secretary (Mr A.K. Harvey), are six graves.
Apart from Hawdon’s grave, only two have been identified.
They are A.L. Reid and A.W. Forster, both of whom died in 1889.
Until some years ago all that marked the graves were wooden headstones, which had deteriorated considerably, and the area was in a bad state of disrepair.
However, it has now been cleaned up, and Mr Harvey has had the graves concreted. It is his intention to obtain appropriate headstones.
Hawdon’s original grave was marked by a tree on which had been imprinted, with charcoal burning, the date of his death.
Records held by Mr Harvey show the date of the earliest burials in the present Mildura Cemetery as 1891.
50 YEARS AGO
NEWS ITEMS: Middle order batsmen again failed to make runs for the Sunraysia Schoolboys’ Cricket team and it was left to the tail-end bats to make the necessary amount for victory in yesterday’s State Schoolboys’ Cricket match against South Gippsland.
Tony Lang said yesterday from Melbourne that if the Sunraysia team was going to win the carnival, more runs would have to be scored by the team’s top bats.
Tourism is becoming big business in Outback areas surrounding Sunraysia.
Two big station properties have now thrown open their boundary gates to visitors – and more graziers are thinking seriously about doing the same thing.
In the middle of a drought, they realise that tourists will pay good money to get away from it all in the wide open – and dry – spaces.
The first station to cash in on the tourist dollar was Mungo, 68 miles north of Mildura.
Mildura Shire Council is to take steps to have itself proclaimed as the authority to control Lake Cullulleraine.
The move follows council’s views that controls are necessary at the lake, particulary for the zoning of waters of the lake for aquatic sports.
Some zoning of the lake has already been functioning although this was unofficial.
25 YEARS AGO
TOP TIP: The Koorlong Tip has won an EcoRecycle Victoria Resource Management gong in the North West Region Tidy Towns Awards.
The awards were announced simultaneously in Nhill and Inglewood last week.
Other local Tidy Towns projects did well too, with Red Cliffs being the Tidiest Town in its population category and Murrayville Community College being the best of the schools with student populations below 250.
Southcorp Wines at Red Cliffs and the Mallee View Hotel at Ouyen shared the award for Tidiest and Most Attractively Landscaped and Maintained Commercial Site and the Colignan Community Recreation reserve was named the Most Attractively Landscaped and Maintained Community Establishment.
CO-OP SALE: Directors of the historic Curlwaa Co-operative Packing Society, established in 1924, have announced they are seeking a buyer for their Delta Road citrus packing complex and Curlwaa Fresh juice business.
Curlwaa Co-op is one of the few remaining Australian co-operative citrus packers and currently has about 30 shareholders.
The directors placed an advertisement in yesterday’s Sunraysia Daily and before 9am, Thompson’s consulting group’s Nick Walker, had received the first “serious” expression of interest.
Mr Walker said potential buyers would have to sign a confidentiality agreement before the release of any information about the businesses.
“Curlwaa Fresh is a top product and popular with consumers – we expect considerable interest. It is a good shed and has plenty of potential to handle large volumes of fruit.”
WEB WONDERS: Farmers have taken to the web like ducks to water, Federal Communications Minister Richard Alston said yesterday.
And the internet, like the humble dog, could be a farmer’s best friend in the 21st century, Senator Alston said while launching a new guide to help farmers use the internet.
“I had a very recent example of that … we had a chat room going for a couple of hours only a few weeks back and I think if we’d really been able to, we would have stayed there all night.
It is quite extraordinary how people saw this as almost a liberation in terms of the tyranny of distance because they were able to ask all the questions they’d ever wanted to.
They could get views and frustrations off their chest; they could really make it clear they felt part of the new information economy.
The Australian farmers guide to the internet takes farmers through all the steps to connect to the web, including e-mail, chats, newsgroups, and mailing lists.
