PRESENTED by Mildura & District Historical Society and compiled by Mildura Rural City Council Libraries.
100 YEARS AGO: 1925
GROWTH: A freak parsnip has been produced in the garden of a well-known Red Cliffs amateur gardener, Mr G. I. Picton. This parsnip which was sown last September from seed supplied by Law, Somner and Company, had a hollow crown, and on being pulled out was found to measure two feet, four inches and weigh four and a half pounds.
DELI: A venture that should be of interest to Red Cliffs is Mrs Paley Hammet’s delicatessen store. During a visit to New York just prior to coming to Red Cliffs, Mrs Hammond was particularly struck with the nature of these stores. A tremendous business was done in these stores with “ready-to-eat” goods. They contained numerous varieties of cooked meats, fresh dairy produce, cooked fowls and numbers of dainties that tempt the palate when one looks at them. It is with such places it mind that Mrs Hammond hopes to model her store. The shop at Diggerland has been fitted with the latest devices including slicers, scales and cheese cutters, and the appointments are befitting the progressive township that Red Cliffs is rapidly becoming.
LAB: The necessity for the establishment at Mildura of a laboratory to deal with outbreaks of infectious diseases received the attention of Mildura Shire Council yesterday, when a letter was received from the Secretary of the State School Committee’s Association, Mr H. S. Corbould. Mr Coulbould placed before the council the urgent necessity that a laboratory be formed at Mildura for the purpose of taking swabs in connection with children attending the various schools in the district, now that the government travelling laboratory had settled permanently in Bendigo. The motion was carried.
75 YEARS AGO: 1950
POLICE: The Victoria Police Force has stationed a resident policeman at Mildura Migrant Centre. He is Sergeant J. Quill, sub-charge sergeant at Mildura Police Station. Although he will continue to carry out his usual duties at the station at Mildura, he has been sent to live in one of the homes at the centre. There has been little crime at the centre, and it thought the presence of a resident policeman will tend to keep crime at a minimum. The establishment of a “station” at the centre almost makes the camp a complete township. The centre has its own hospital, canteen, post office, barber’s shop, recreation ground, library and water supply. Almost anything obtainable at any country store is available at the canteen. Soon the centre will have its own school and kindergarten.
TRAVEL: Two young women who have hitch-hiked over thousands of miles of Australia at no cost for the past three years broke their ‘record’ in Sunraysia yesterday. They paid 2s 2d in bus fares to come from Red Cliffs to Mildura. “Travel light’ is their recipe for successful hitch-hiking. Each has a small valise and carries only the barest necessities. The girls admitted they had failed to make good at fruit picking. “We’ve had jobs that women don’t usually take on, and in all sorts of places,” they said. “We shovelled coal at Mount Gambier, fished on Queensland trawlers and made good at dozens of other jobs. As fruit pickers we couldn’t earn enough to buy a meal.”
COURTHOUSE: What was described as “a milestone in Mildura’s history” was passed yesterday when the first sitting of a Supreme Court was conducted at Mildura Courthouse. The courthouse was packed by leading citizens, members of the Mildura Bar and police. The Mayor (Councillor A. R. Mansell) welcomed Sir Edmund Herring to Mildura as Chief Justice for Victoria. He said he knew the establishment of a Supreme Court here was a step further in Mildura’s progress. Mildura, however, was ashamed of its courthouse, he said, and felt that now the Supreme Court was operating there something could be done to alter the courthouse. Cr Mansell said he hoped the next time Sir Edmund came to Mildura a new courthouse would be built.
50 YEARS AGO: 1975
EXPANSION: Council will investigate building an orchestra pit in the Red Cliffs Civic Centre when repair work following the recent fire is carried out. Doctor Lawrence, of Red Cliffs, who made the suggestion, believes the pit would make the centre more attractive.
CLUB WORK: Mildura’s nationally known Apex Park – on the Murray River – is a long-lasting monument to Mildura Apex Club. Members originally cleared the land and installed facilities at Apex Park which was then known as Chaffey Bend. The club had barely been formed when president Jim McEniry gave details of steps which had been taken to have an area of Chaffey’s Bend vested in trustees appointed by the club. In addition to providing safe bathing facilities, dressing rooms, fireplaces and conveniences, the club proposed to make a children’s sports ground and a sports track. In 1935, Mildura City Council said it was gratifying to know there was another body co-operating with council to promote the scenic beauty of Mildura. The Victorian Forests Commission had no objection to the club’s plan to convert the bend into a motor camp site. The original plans provided for two dressing sheds, toilets, removable netting enclosure for the swimming pool, four fireplaces and 16 tables. On May 11, 1935, the club received a certificate of permissive occupancy for about 20 acres of land. Then on March 26, 1936, Chaffey Bend was officially opened by the Major of Mildura.
FACILITY: Court sittings at Red Cliffs will resume on June 10. Court hearings will then be held once a month. Mr Whiting, MLA, sought on behalf of the Shire to have the court reopened because of the number of cases concerning Red Cliffs Police being heard in Mildura. Red Cliffs and Merbein courts were closed last year.
25 YEARS AGO: 2000
SAFE: Portable classrooms at three Sunraysia schools claimed to be at risk from asbestos contamination were safe to use, Education Minister Mary Delahunty said yesterday. The Education Department yesterday declared safe all 195 portable classrooms moved to schools during the 1999-2000 summer break, including those at Mildura West and the Mildura Special Developmental Schools. Ms Delahunty said she had sent a memo to the school principals which stated that the schools had be audited as part of the relocation process. “The auditor’s report states that the classrooms are safe to be occupied. None have been decommissioned,” she said.
CATCH: What started off as an ordinary annual Easter camping trip for the Thornton family turned out to be their most extraordinary excursion to date. Peter, Glen and David Thornton went on a routine fishing trip and came back with a Murray cod weighing between 100 and 125 pounds. The fish was four feet in length with a three-foot girth and fisheries and wildlife experts estimate it to be aged between 75 and 100 years old. After many photos were taken as evidence the fish was released back into the Murray River to enable it to continue its long life.
INCLUSION: Red Cliffs’ provision of change rooms for female umpires has to be applauded and where possible followed by other clubs. With more females moving into umpiring, it is necessary that change rooms and showers are provided. They can also be used by a football club’s ancillary female staff such as trainers and water runners.
