100 YEARS AGO: 1924
ALL CLASS: The Irymple South school additions, costing about £2000, are nearing completion, and a very fine school building is the result. Two fine new brick rooms, with a teachers’ room and wide, airy corridors, are added to the two rooms already in use. The old idea that a school was a building for holding children seems to be dead, as the appearance of the present school with its ornate entrance and interior finish is very pleasing and should have a decided effect on the scholars’ physical and mental health. The parents and teachers have decided to have an official opening, and a strong local committee has been formed to make the function a success.
CRACKED: While ploughing up Langtree Avenue, Mildura between Ninth and Tenth Streets, yesterday afternoon, with the Jelbart road roller, the watermain was burst and a fountain many feet high shot up in the road. Before the water could be turned off, the water had flooded the gutters, even in parts of Deakin Avenue.
SUCCESS: The A.D.F.A. souvenir box scheme has received a full measure of support at Red Cliffs, to judge by the number of applications that have been made for coupons at Barker and Park’s, Straw’s Stores, Game and McNabb’s, and A.T. Henshall’s where specimen boxes have been displayed for the last month. As these specimen boxes have been made up in Australia, it has been suggested by several settlers that the ADFA should make them available for the Commonwealth and New Zealand.
75 YEARS AGO: 1949
SHOCKING: Horror films should not be banned as there is a definite audience for them, the manager of the Astor Theatre, Mildura (Mr R Haire) said yesterday. He was agreeing with a statement made by the Chief Secretary (Mr Legatt), when he indicated that he would consider classifying horror films in Victoria. Mr Legatt opposed a ban on them because some people liked horror films, but he thought some were unsuitable for children. Mr Haire agreed also that horror films were not suitable for children, and for that reason his theatre always indicated clearly that horror films were suitable for adults only. No children’s tickets were sold when horror films were screened. “Of course, sometimes adults buy adults’ tickets for their children, and we can’t do anything about that,” said Mr Haire.
SCULL: “Mildura’s chances are equal to the best,” the secretary of the Australian Olympic Federation (Mr Edgar Tanner) said last night when commenting on proposals for the site of the rowing events for the 1956 Olympic Games. He said he had received a report from a member of the Olympic Federation who had recently visited Mildura. The report had been a glowing one and indicated that Mildura had a better course than had been imagined by Olympic officials. “I was surprised too. Although I knew Mildura had a pretty strong case, I didn’t think it would be good as the report said it was,” he said. Mr Tanner said he believed Mildura had everything the International Committee required. There was a straight course of 2000 metres, which would take between four and six shells, and which could be still water when required.
CARE: Mildura Base Hospital Committee is making a survey of the district to find potential inmates for the proposed home for aged persons which may be built on land adjacent to the hospital. A circular letter has been sent to police stations, churches, and district organisations. The letter states that the Hospital’s Commission is considering construction of an institution and also the establishment of a model village, composed of small cottages for aged couples, separate multiple dwelling units for single men and women, community recreation and dining rooms and infirmary block. Pensioners, persons without financial means and others unable to obtain the service but who could pay for it, needed the home.
50 YEARS AGO: 1974
HEALTH: The Presbyterian Manse at Merbein is to become the town’s medical clinic. And plans are underway to transform the old church site into a modern medical health complex. Merbein Rotary Club announced these plans this week. The club has been trying to establish a medical centre in Merbein for several years. At first, the centre was to be built where the town’s picture theatre had been, but this plan was shelved following the announcement of the Government’s National Health Scheme. It is hoped the town will have facilities to accommodate a new doctor within three months. The club has begun an extensive campaign to try to attract a resident doctor to Merbein.
TURN THE PAGE: Mildura’s Rio Vista homestead is featured in a new pictorial book on Victoria’s historic buildings. The book “Living History of Victoria” was released in Melbourne last week. It was written and photographed by Jocelyn Burt and contains colour photographs of some of the State’s most interesting historic areas and houses, from Mildura to Walhalla. Rio Vista features over two pages, one photograph shows the exterior of the Chaffey home, and a second picture shows the Rio Vista entrance hall.
BLOCKED: One of the few remaining original Soldier Settlers still on his first grape block looks back today on 80 years of live lived mainly in Victoria. When he first came to Sunraysia in 1920, the train trip from Melbourne was a long and dusty 24-hour ride, and at the end of the trip he either walked or cycled to his destination – or sometime rode horse and buggy. All his family will gather at Red Cliffs this weekend to celebrate Mr Dadswell’s 80th birthday. It will be the first time for 25 years that all the family has been together.
25 YEARS AGO: 1999
SPLASH: The paddleboat Coonawarra, which celebrates its 50th birthday in its present form next year, is currently on the Buronga slipway for a maintenance overhaul. In its previous life the Coonawarra was a barge, built in the 1890s, and was converted to its present form in the 1950s. A team of eight headed by shipwright Andrew Cook have been working on the vessel for the past two-and-a-half weeks, – recaulking, replacing wooden hull planks, painting, and anything else that needs work. It will be out of the Murray for a total of five weeks.
RIBBON CUT: Health Minister Rob Knowles will officially open the Murray Pines Cemetery tomorrow afternoon. The cemetery became necessary when the Nichols Point cemetery (which had been operating since settlement) ran out of space. Murray Pines has been carefully established on Natural Resources and Environmental Departmental bushland reserve, not far from Mildura airport. As well as existing vegetation – some of the trees are believed to be up to 300 years old – council has planted avenues of Murray Pine and Belar trees and established sensitive landscaping, including a lake.
COMMERATIVE: Sunraysia Daily will mark the end of this century with a special supplement to be published in October this year titled “The Century of Sunraysia”. The supplement will cover events and people of note from 1900 to 1999 and will be the largest and most comprehensive historical document of its kind ever undertaken. The supplement is being produced as a mark of respect to our forefathers and pioneers who toiled in unimaginable conditions to establish the district as a leading regional centre. From transport to education to the rivers and industry, The Century of Sunraysia will cover the lot.
