100 years ago
ORANGES: Overanxiety to reap the benefits which are popularly believed to be gained by marketing trust before it has been fully supplied to the market is one of theorist features connected with the disposal of citrus crops. Actually no benefit of consequence is derived by those growers who hasten to market their oranges as soon as they commence to change colour. It is obvious to those that are in close touch with the marketing of the orange crop that the early season demand was much smaller – absence of colour in the fruit is regarded with suspicion.
NANGILOC: A Euchre party and dance was held at Nangiloc to aid school funds – it was a great success. The Hall was crowded owing to the unexpected arrival of a charabanc of Mildura young folk and a number from Carwarp. The residents of Nangiloc held a working bee to erect a tennis court in the school grounds on the Sunday.
PACK: This year’s pack was taken to the sheds up to last week. Mr K Goodland, secretary of Mildura district council of the ADFA stated that he had received figures showing the amount of Dried Fruits taken to the sheds were – Currants 7.121 tons, Sultanas 14.145 tons and Lexias 1.316 tons. The total received up to the end of the previous week was 21,912 tons.
75 years ago
FOOD: After living a week on home-made scones and damper, people of Pooncarie are treating their local hotelkeeper as a hero after he drove a mail-car though 160 miles of bogging, treacherous roads for supplies as only horses and camels could get through the quagmire. The stoppage of the mail by Mr Jack Cleary after he became ill was aided with the help of Mr Tom Baldwin who used chains to pull the truck through the 80-mile bog, he collected fresh supplies and returned to Pooncarie receiving a great ovation.
COMPANY: Red Cliffs Co-operative Packing Company celebrated 25 years of achievement and benefit to shareholders. On May 12, 1924, the company was registered and has since grown from a small co-operative to now one of the biggest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. In its first year the turnover amounted to 20,000 pounds compared to 124,203 pounds in 1948, the first dried fruits packed in 1924 were 21 tons of currants, 194 tons of sultanas and 218 tons of lexias – up to now it has packed 161,992 tons.
DOCTOR: Dr F J Jude, who in 32 years of service to Mildura became one of the most respected and loved men in the district – passed away in Adelaide. He was known for his almost legendary efforts in the 1919 influenza when for some time he did not come down with the disease, to his work among the poor frequently without recompense. He graduated in Edinburgh, came to Mildura in 1911 staying here till his retirement in 1944, was a member of the Settlers Club for 28 years, President and judge of the Mildura Racing Club. Dr N Henderson said he was universally beloved by the rest of the profession who thought a great deal of him – he worked for charity as an honorary of the Mildura Base Hospital.
50 years ago
POLICY: Trees and shrubs and flowers around a car park to be built next to a Mildura supermarket will set the pattern for all future car parks in the city as Mildura City Council is declaring 1974-75 the year of gardens and asking clubs and businesses to clear up eyesores by planting more natural screens. “Our own carparks are in need of shading” said Councillor Jobson. The matter arose from discussions between Council officers and the owner of a supermarket chain – Mr B Fisher who bought a house in a garden setting next to his Deakin Avenue store. He wants to pull down the house to make way for another car park. Council agreed to the idea providing the brick fence with a wrought iron ornamentation at the front and existing garden bed and shrubs area of 5 ft stay-making the area look better.
HOME: Reconstruction of the original Mildura Homestead in Cureton Avenue is slowly but surely becoming a reality. City Engineer, Mr A Thomson has been asked to peg out the various buildings on the riverfront site and the project committee is busy trying to obtain the necessary building requirements working with old documents and photographs in an effort to make the homestead and its outhouses almost exact replicas of the originals. The Victorian Forests Commission was contacted about the supply of slabs, posts, bark, timber and other building materials.
HOSTEL: Irymple Technical School hopes to be able to build a large hostel on its farm near Cardross. About 7 acres on the farm property have been left undeveloped so that future building could be carried out – the hostel would cater for students who live long distances from school and are doing agricultural courses. The school had developed the whole farm on its own.
25 years ago
SCHEME: In a co-ordinated effort between Access Employment, Sunraysia and Murray Group Training and Ranfurly Primary School, 29-year-old Chris Riordan was employed under the Disabled Apprenticeships scheme as a radio technician on a 4-year basis. Now almost 12 months later the project has proven a resounding success and Chris has proven himself a valuable member of the Ranfurly teaching staff. Under the title of radio technician Chris is responsible for maintaining the school’s computer network and teaches 19 computer related classes per week under teacher supervision.
CARS: With many baby boomers now on the wrong side of 50, auto makers’ thoughts are turning to ways of making driving easier and more comfortable. Those whose bodies, especially their eyes, are no longer working as they once did will appreciate the attention being given to their well-being. Many of the changes are simple ones – like making door handles thicker and easier to use and interior controls reachable without stretching – the latter leading to controls being on the centre console rather than the dashboard. Steering-wheel mounted controls are already in production, larger dials and instruments that cause less glare. Ease of entry and egress is a real bugbear in some of today’s low-slung cars – swivel seats are another possibility.
SCHOOL: Students from Mildura West Primary School are continuing their work toward the improvement of the Lock Island environment. About 460 students and 30 staff members took part in a range of environmentally based activities – children are encouraged to take responsibility for the preserving of flora and fauna and have carried out extensive tree planting projects and activities including hydrology, environmental art, orienteering, scavenger hunt, and games such as environmental I-Spy.
