Peeps into the Past – October 27 to November 2

Presented by Mildura & District Historical Society compiled by Judy Hyde for Mildura Rural City Council Libraries.

100 YEARS AGO

BRIDGE: Ten tenders have been received by the New South Wales government in connection with a construction of a bridge over the Murray River, at Abbotsford. The contract includes manufacture of metalwork for one lift span, four steel truss spans, and a steel superstructure of nine approach spans. The lowest tender is that of Messrs Armstrong, Whitworth, Proprietary Limited at 22,605 pounds. The Abbotsford Bridge is one of those proposed to be placed across the Murray River in fulfillment of the Border Railways agreement between Victoria and New South Wales.

ROWING: Members of the Mildura Rowing Club are concerned at the action of some boys who nearly shot the new boats. The youths made a target and fired at it with a pea rifle. The bullets from it penetrated the front door of the shed narrowly missing the two new boats. Club members are endeavouring to catch the young marksmen.

LIGHTNING: The Mildura Town Council has decided to apply to the National Roads Association of Australia – for the installation of two road lighthouses – one at the Seventh Street railway crossing and the other at the Eighth Street railway crossing.

75 YEARS AGO

HIGHWAY: The Calder highway between Mildura and Ouyen will soon be seven miles shorter when a 21-mile stretch north of Ouyen is reformed. The new section will consist of 14 miles of practically straight road, with only seven small curves. The present 21-mile stretch has 47 bends, some of which are sharp and dangerous. Curves will allow a speed value of some 70 miles an hour.

LIBRARY SERVICE: Mildura Shire will consider the operation of a Bookmobile for outback areas when the regional library service is instituted. Shire Secretary, Mr A D Harvey, said it would take nearly 12 months to get the service properly organized, however, some means of supplying library books to the Millewa and Mallee needs to be considered.

BROADCAST: At 3pm a staff reporter from the Sunraysia Daily walked through the shopping centre of Mildura and heard the broadcast of Foxzami winning the 1949 Melbourne Cup. Not a word was missed although the reporter had covered 400 yards before the race finished. Apart from the sound of radios in every shop there was an unearthly silence, not a car passed through the street, no-one bought anything, and no-one seemed interested in selling anything. Counter attendants gathered in groups to hear the cup description along with customers – there was a strange look on the faces of many – they seemed to be in a daze as if they were at the track. As the horses passed the winning post expressions changed, some smiled – some scowled – cars began to move, cash registered clanged – the 1949 Melbourne Cup was over.

50 YEARS AGO

TRAIN: The growing popularity of the rail service between Mildura and Melbourne has shown in the figures given by the Minister of Transport, Mr Meagher – who said among other things that Mildura was the best paying country line in the state.

BUILDING PERMIT: An application for permission to build Mildura’s RSL’S War Memorial clubrooms has been prepared by architect, Mr R H McIntyre. Mildura RSL (Mr P Dodds) said the application would be designed by sub-branch members and sent to the Building Directorate. The plan for the building has already been inspected by members – the drawing expected next week, and donations are still being received for the building fund appeal.

CENTRE: A five-man steering committee was elected at a meeting to investigate the proposed Merbein Medical Centre – they are Cr H Smith, Cr R Stirrat, Mr C Flenley, Mr C Corbould and Mr S Rogers. It was held in the Merbein Civic Hall, attended by 150 residents. The Federal Government has been making money available in various communities throughout Australia to help cover the costs of Medical Centres.

50 YEARS AGO

TOWER: The proposal to construct a new Telstra mobile telephone base at Irymple has generated several health-related objections from concerned residents. Telstra has said that emissions from Mobile telephone bases made up a small fraction of the total radius environment – in fact the levels of radiation register less than a percent – there is a lot of misinformation available to the public.

SALT: The Murray Darling Basin Salinity Audit had brought to the fore the need for a pipeline to the sea as the only long-term engineering solution to the salt problem. Mr John Forrest challenged the Murray Darling Basin Commission to either discredit the concept or come up with a better solution – saying the pipeline solution’s never been off the agenda since it was first raised about 30 years ago.

HOCKEY: Hockey mad – that’s the Cooke family and their devotion to training has paid off as all three, Adele, Darren and Megan have played with Riverside since they were six and eight years of age. Their mother Glenda has been playing with Riverside for 37 years so its little wonder they play it too. Adele was first into a state side in 1996, the under-16 team and Darren last year in the under-17 Country team – now Megan went one better making the Victorian state under-14 girls’ team.