30 April to 6 May 2023
100 YEARS AGO
FIRE: AT the last meeting of the Red Cliffs Progress Association, a letter was sent to the secretary of the Country Fire Brigades’ Board regarding the establishment of a fire brigade at Red Cliffs. It was intimated recently that the Chief officer thought Red Cliffs was too small to justify the establishment of a fire brigade under the control of the board. The appliances that would be required by such a brigade would be 600ft of hose, 1 reel, 6 sets of couplings, 1 Y coupling, 2 branches and 1 hydrant. These could be obtained from the board’s store for 100 pounds.
LOCALS: The dust-holey roads are a nuisance to horsemen as well as to vehicles. Mr H Lapthorne, of Merbein, was riding along 6th Street about a mile from his home when his horse came down heavily. Rolling sideways, it crushed the rider’s left thigh, but he scrambled out of the way of the struggling horse and stood to receive it when it regained its feet. After leading it a chain or two, he re-mounted and completed his journey home, congratulating himself he had sustained nothing serious than bruising. On Saturday he had to call in a doctor who told him he had ruptured a small blood vessel and would have to remain in bed for some time.
SHREWD SHOPPERS: Women read the social news then turn to the advertisements for the household news, the dinner-table news, the house furnishing and family-clothes news. Most women select their shop and buy their goods before they leave home. They read the merchants advertisement, make a mental mark against the item that interests them, and then make a bee-line for that shop with their purse and bag gripped tightly. The merchant may persuade them to buy something else, something better; but it is the advertisement that gives him the opportunity. Women are laughed at but they laugh last.
HEALTH CENTRE: At an invitation of the Town Council, Miss A Peck, Sister-in-charge of the Baby Health Centres’ in Victoria and Matron of the Victorian Health Centre Training School, Melbourne, arrived in Mildura on Thursday. In his annual published report, Dr. N. Henderson stated that although the death rate in Mildura was low, no fewer than 12 infants had died. Councillors on hearing such a good report, of the work of Health Centres in Victoria, they considered that the infancy mortality might be considerably reduced by the establishment of a Health Centre in Mildura. The first public health centre was established in June 1917 with no Government or Municipal support. It was so successful the Richmond Council decided to co-operate. The centre received one pound for one pound subsidy. The first-year attendance was 500. Last year it was 2000 – that shows the progress in six years.
75 YEARS AGO
AT HOME: Of 1280 Mildura children who received Vollmer patch tests for Tuberculosis on May 4, 65 gave positive reactions. They will be x-rayed at the Town Hall on May 23. With the prospect of four meatless days, district housewives are substituting tinned foods, poultry, rabbits and fish for the usual meat courses. Today is the 11th day of the stoppage of work at the Shire Abattoirs.
OVERSEAS: The brother of Captain R Farran, who was acquitted on a murder charge last October of murdering a Jewish youth, was killed when a postal package exploded at his home on the first anniversary of the youth’s death. T the bomb was hidden in a volume of Shakespeare’s plays that had been cut away. In New York, Jewish and Arab representatives to the Security Council on April 30 ,1948 agreed on a 4-point truce plan for the walled section of Jerusalem which contains most of the Christian, Moslem, and Jewish holy places.
VEHICLES: Little is paid to tyre inflation, and few people appear to realise the damage caused to their car tyres by low or high inflation. Some of the effects of operating under-inflated tyres are rapid tread wear, ply separation, cracked walls, loose bends, bruises, and blow-outs. While not so common, over-inflation of tyres causes concentration of the load upon a smaller area of contact, resulting in the pounding of the tread through bouncing which gets up abrasion. This is transmitted to the carcase by means of the heat generated and likely to cause a blow-out. They have a new system in Chicago for testing cars- do not upset the milk bottle which is placed on the floor of your car and you go for an hour’s spin in traffic. This will give insight on whether you habitually waste petrol, cause wear on your car or you are an unsafe driver. Some-one else must watch the bottle. The test is part of a successful driver-training programme at Indiana and Illinois High Schools.
THRILLER: Apex got 60 pounds from the Mildura and District’s Motor-Cycle Club’s T.T. Scramble attended by 2000 people. Western Australian Champion Alan Pike, after nearly losing the race when he became unseated while taking a corner, won the All-Powers Championship from Col Bennett (Mildura) and Harrie Beek S.A. Pike’s greatest danger Alan Melville was forced to withdraw after the 4th lap on a borrowed machine as his 350 Velocette dropped a valve earlier on.
50 YEARS AGO
BOWLS: With overcast skies the 35th annual Merbein Bowling Carnival was opened by Vice-President of the VLBA, Mrs Lillian Vaux. Noted among the players was Australian singles champion Norma Massey and local champion Dot Jenkinson, State pairs champion Gwen Spell who won the title with Mrs Rasmussen, Muriel Murnane and Bobby McCallum who won the Merbein championship pairs last year. Past president of the RVBA, Cr J Spear objects strongly to the suggestion of Poker machines being installed in bowling clubs, it would be detrimental to them.
THE LAW: Pentridge Jail would ultimately become obsolete, said Mr Hamer. His Government was seeking to modernize the whole prison system and to train and rehabilitate prisoners. Three new alternatives to imprisonment are weekend jail, periodic detention and work release. A new security prison in a country centre to replace “H” Division at Pentridge is to be built. A man who stole a car in Mt Isa, Queensland, then drove it to Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, and Mildura was jailed for 12 months. There were 5 main reasons why teenagers run away from home said a parole officer. Three reasons are parents are too strict, unhappy, or separated. In the past 12 months, 15 children have been reported missing in North-West Victoria.
ITEMS: “The people have been good to me,” said Mrs E Gooch, “and I want to do something for them”. With the closing of “Caprice”, her store in Langtree Avenue, after 17 years of business, she donated all her stock, mainly shoes and accessories, to Mildura Apex Club for auction, about $1000 worth. Mr T McCullough said he would like to open the Mildura Arts Centre 24 hours a day, but it would be too expensive. A record crowd passed through the doors of the Wentworth Museum over Easter- Ruby Park was also well attended. The famous Pooncarie Hotel, which has provided drinks and soft beds for outback travellers since pioneering days is to be rebuilt as an inland fishing resort. Mr T Baldwin is retiring after looking after the pub for 25 years.
25 YEARS AGO
SAFETY: A week-long course educating people about the operating of explosives and safety procedures took place at Red Cliffs under the teaching and supervision of blast management consultant Daryl Lyons. There were 4 days of theory and field demonstrations with an exam on the final day. Some components included were recognizing cable and detonator materials, using fire and design shots, safety regulations and the history of explosives.
CAR SAFETY: The biggest survey ever conducted into the safety of Australia’s used cars found alarming differences in the performances of some vehicles. It also looked at the Road Survey results of 431,000 drivers involved in crashes in Victoria and NSW that occurred between 1987 and 1996 including 86,000 drivers who were killed or seriously injured and safety performance ratings for vehicle built between 1984 to 1996. On average you are more than 4½ times safer in any of the top 5 performers than you are in the worst 5.
PEOPLE: The priest said his piece, the bride and groom said “I DO” then the hairy best man lent them a helping hand. The best man was not a man or a woman. It was Muttley his Border Collie who was kitted out with a matching Bow Tie and Cuffs with the rings held on his collar. The groom chose Muttley as his best man as he did not want to choose between his brother and his best friend – the dog meant a lot to them.
Mr Ozcakmak began growing roses when he was a child in Cyprus, supplying his grandmother with them as she made perfumes and aromatic oils. His hobby expanded when he came to Australia aged 18 in 1970 and he retained his fascination with roses and has been growing them ever since.
HISTORY: Who are my ancestors? When did they come here? Where did they come from and why did they come here? These are some of the questions that compiling a family history can answer. Since 1853 the Victorian Births, Deaths and marriages has been responsible for recording these events and recently the Registry has made available to the public several indexes to these records. They are on Microfiche and as CD Rom databases- the Mildura Library has four available.
