16 to 22 April 2023
Presented by Mildura & District Historical Society
Compiled by Judi Hyde for Mildura Rural City Council Libraries
100 years ago
At a meeting of the Mildura Carnival Committee it was decided from the beauty contest being run, a portion of the proceeds would go to establishing a cottage hospital at Merbein.
The staff at the Mildura Railway Station are kept very busy apart from their usual work filling two special trains containing water for the Mallee’s acute water shortage.
Matron White’s Auction Sale on the lawn at Deakin Avenue and 7th Street was very successful. A pair of silk stockings 45/-, a 5 pound note 17 pounds 3 shillings, a brief bag topped the amounts raising 18 pounds 1 shilling.
TOWNS: There is also a shortage of water at Wentworth. On 16 mornings there was no water in the storage tank.
Repairs to the Wentworth Hospital kitchen floor covering as recommended by the committee are not to exceed 11/- per yard.
At Merbein, standing boldly on the cliffs not far from the pumps, is the huge building of the Mildura Winery Proprietary – known as “The Distillery” and of much interest to visitors. The low wines or “feints” storage consists of 17 reinforced concrete tanks, total capacity of 122,000 gallons; the 6-bond storage concrete tanks, total capacity of 130,000 gallons. All is electrically lit. The whole plant consists of a 45hp Blackstone engine, a horizontal steam of 30hp backed by two under-fired multi-tubular boilers with a capacity of 12hp each engine.
SLOGAN: If your soul is kept sweet and wholesome by the development of love and charity, moulds will surely find lodgement. There is no eight-hour law in love and loving service, and no rates for overtime – nor is there distress or discontent when we toil and moil for persons or purposes close to our heart. If we find service a fag we need to examine our own motives to see whether selfishness is not the controlling force in our acts.
75 years ago
RED CLIFFS: About 1300 people attended the mixed sports meeting of the Red Cliffs football ground in aid of the Red Cliffs Free Kindergarten. The gross takings were 352 pounds 6 shillings and 8 pence – a profit of 250 pounds is anticipated.
The policy of the Returned Servicemen’s League in working extensions of plantings for soldier settlement is expected to be attacked at tonight’s RSL meeting.
With 20,000 members in 500 branches, the CWA was a power in the land: a body of strong-minded women, prepared to do what they thought and ask for what they wanted, the Red Cliffs members were told. Orchid blooms imported by Mr Hiscox costing 100 pounds each were on display at the meeting.
NEWS: Bailing water in a tin dish from a bath-tub by Mr W Pugsley held in check the shop fire in Madden Avenue till the fire brigade arrived.
A car which disappeared from Mildura on April 10 was recovered in Texas, 1500 miles away – it was hired from Mildura Hire Cars.
LOCAL: Urban Water Trust has decided to allow a limited number of residents along Deakin Avenue to draw water supplies from the aerodrome main.
The transferring of six patients late of the TB Chalet at Mildura Base Hospital was carried out successfully.
TB-testing will begin at schools on Monday.
Mr TW Smith lost five finger joints that were severed by a circular saw at the Mildura Fruit Company where he worked.
50 years ago
SPORT: The Sunraysia Softball Association staged one of the most tense and exciting grand finals ever held at Mansell Reserve. The Eagles and All Stars played their hearts out striving to win. In the end Eagles won 20 to 19 in a match that belonged to both teams.
Saturday 20 April is the 50th anniversary of the Mildura Rowing Club but oarsmen were rowing here well before World War I. In about 1900 a small club was formed consisting of one practice four, a practice pair and one scull, but with the firing of the first gun in 1914 rowing here was suspended. The secretary was Mr Frank Crosier, Mr Bill Bowring President and 12 members. In 1923 Dr Godby and Mr B Adair re-formed the club with 75 members and a new clubroom was built on the old site. The first Henley on the Murray was in 1925. The 1960 regatta at Mildura was the biggest ever held in Australia.
ITEMS: Rev J Houting, of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, insists that young couples attend a “preparation for marriage” before he marries them in a church. Ministers have a right to marry people or refuse to do so. With the increasing number of divorces and broken marriages most ministers are becoming concerned.
Enthusiastic Mildura “ham” radio operator Mrs Joan Beevers was speaking to another “ham”, 9M2TR, known as Ray to her. But he was not just a someone – she later found out he was His Highness the Tunku, Prince A Rahman SMJ PIS, of Muar, Western Malaysia, one of the sons of the Sultan of Johor.
NEWS: Sunraysia police could be among the best equipped in the world if recommendations by an international telecommunications expert are adopted by the state. It was recommended that Victoria Police be equipped with fully electronic cars, pocket-size two-way radios and a sophisticated computer system.
The NSW Department of Main Roads has decided to put a new bridge over the anabranch near Oakbank Station homestead near Wentworth.
Rain generally refreshes but with the brewing of a storm came the brewing of something else: Lake Ranfurley. The gas created by this brewing drifted to Mildura, causing discomfort, but there was a marked decrease in the annoying number of insects too so maybe they can’t stand the smell either.
25 years ago
BUILDINGS: Workers have started to revamp the old part of the Wentworth Services Club, the first stage of building a new accommodation and resort complex.
Construction in 15th Street of Bunnings’ first Australian regional warehouse will start in early May. It will boast over 6000 square metres of retail space offering 42,000 home improvement products.
The Wimmera Mallee will receive an additional $500,000 in Natural Heritage funding for 15 community projects.
ON THE LAND: Purple grape juice may be better than aspirin in reducing the tendency of the blood to form clots in healthy humans, new research shows.
Farmers in the Mallee areas in Victoria, SA and NSW have for some reason not adopted minimum tillage and stubble retention as other farmers have. After three seasons of trials and development, the first export of Japanese pumpkin arrived in Japan, where in 1993 313,000-tonnes were consumed.
About 223,000 tonnes of wine grapes will be crushed by Sunraysia’s major wineries in the region’s busiest and best vintage.
A little money can go a long way. Joe Oubre was flying kites with his grandchildren on his farm in South Carolina when he found a cheque for $A27.30 on the ground. It had come from an Atlanta suburb, carried 211 kilometres by a tornado’s winds last week, all still intact and legible
After their recent catches of hefty Murray Cod, some fishermen are returning their large catches into the river in order to protect the endangered species. The strong flows in the river are a lot less in the last 10 years and more people are fishing and using fish-finding equipment. It took youth Shane Butler 20 minutes on a 20-pound line to gaff his 90-pound cod into the boat. Mr P Simmons put his 40lb cod back into the river.
PEOPLE: Pharmacist Frank Deacon retired from his Langtree Avenue Pharmacy after almost 50 years. He started as a 17-year-old with his friend and mentor Victor Israel.
