100 years ago
THE following competitions are open to all Sunraysia Daily readers, whether residents in Sunraysia or not. The prizes in the literary competitions are calculated on the publishing value and length of the poems and essays contributed. All publishable matter is paid for.
BIRTHS DEATHS AND MARRIAGES: The third death from bubonic plague occurred with a man who was employed as a carter. Another case of bubonic plague, a Japanese victim, is reported from Cairns. Alexander Manning, an aged man, of Jeparit, died last evening when on his way to Melbourne to consult a specialist to whom he had been referred. Sixteen births and six marriages took place in Merbein during the quarter ended September 30. There were a few deaths of Merbein residents.
LOCAL NEWS: Mr Bayliss, of Mildura, has secured the agency for a new car which is expected to do great sales in the motor world. When he returned from Melbourne, he said that the motor section at the show was particularly fine. Applications are invited to the Closer Settlement Board for the position of inspector of soldier settlements in the Murrayville district. An elephant belonging to Wirth's Circus evidently was dissatisfied with its accommodation on the railway and badly damaged the "cabin". At the recent opening of the new Yatpool school, £22 was raised toward the cost of a teacher's room, which has now been erected. Last week, one of the largest Murray cod ever seen in the Wentworth area floated down the Darling River dead. There were some boys on the bank. On Wednesday, Master G. Brown, the 15-year-old son of Mr G. Brown, fisherman on the Murray, was bitten by a snake. The shearing on all the stations in the Wentworth area is practically finished. Last Wednesday a team of 18 bullocks brought in a clip, which was big but "burry". The settlers running sheep in the Yatpool-Carwarp district are already noting the vicious attacks of blow flies on their sheep.
EUROPE NEWS: Now that an alternative route to the Mt Everest summit has been discovered, the whole party will return to England in November. A civil marriage took place between Russian princess Nenia, a dark-haired beauty of 18, with 19-year-old William Leeds, a son of an American millionaire.
SPORT: The Champion of Champions golf match was played at Sydney and won by Howard. Miss Marion Hollins won the United States women's golf championship, taking the title in the first round of the tournament. The league football premiership match attracted a huge crowd and Richmond beat Carlton by six points at the cricket ground Melbourne. The Spring Racing carnival was opened today by the VATC. There is a strong fancy for Tangalooma as the most likely horse to win the Caulfield Cup. David is now the favourite for the Melbourne Cup, displacing Eurythmic. District cricket matches began on Saturday afternoon but they were stopped by a thunderstorm in Melbourne, accompanied by hail, which swept over the city shortly before 4.30pm. Ideal weather prevailed on Saturday afternoon when the Koorlong Sports meeting was held. There was a large attendance. The Curlwaa bazaar held last week for the purpose of raising funds to pay for additions and alterations of the hall, was most successful.
75 years ago
ACUTE SHORTAGE OF FEMALE LABOUR: All over Melbourne there is an acute shortage of female labour. All the big shops and the little ones, too, have notices in their windows, but they cannot get the women and girls they want. In scores of instances men are being employed to do what was hitherto women's work. "In a tearoom I frequent there is a new girl every day, and two men are now employed." All kinds of alluring inducements are failing to attract the female workers. Café proprietors are having a very bad time, for every day sees new faces, some of the girls remaining only a day. If they don't like a place they simply walk out. It is a problem how cafes are going to fare during the summer months with so many festivities ahead. Heaven help them when there is an influx into the city for Henley, the Davis Cup, the Melbourne Cup and the cricket matches.
WATER: The Red Cliffs Water Advisory Board has decided to start the second irrigation on Monday, October 21. The water will be available the following day. On Saturday when the century was reached, the largest volume of water since last summer was used in Mildura. This was reported by the manager of the Urban Water Trust (Mr G. Hughes) yesterday. The total amount consumed was 1,346,000 gallons. The river at present has a turbidity reading of 65 parts per million, and the level on the gauge on Sunday was 12 feet, 4 ½ inches.
READING: Sunraysia Daily has received a copy of the Digest of World Reading, an Australian magazine which is rapidly increasing in popularity. Sold at 1/-, this 144-page publication, in its current issue, contains more than 30 articles, including Our Two Attempts to Kill Hitler, an article on a new wonder drug, and The Coast Watchers, a 10,000 word condensation of Eric Feldt's book on men who risked torture and death in the South-west Pacific during hazardous missions. The October issue is an enlarged one, and should command particular attention. Work is proceeding with the construction of additional shelves at the children's library. These are being built in an adjoining room which was once occupied by the library and will provide extra space for about 800 books suitable for older children.
HIGHLAND DANCING: More than 230 entries have been received for the Highland and national dancing competitions to be conducted by the Mildura District Pipe Band on the kindergarten lawns this afternoon. Many more are expected today. A Melbourne judge will adjudicate, Miss Lorraine Heitman, a teacher of Highland Dancing in Broken Hill, has arrived in Mildura with a party of children who will compete in the various events. Miss Heitman will contest the adult open section. Afternoon tea will be available.
CATTLE DEATH RIDE: Railway officials at Campania Station, southern Tasmania, were startled today when an engineless freight train tore through the station at 60 miles an hour. This was one of the incidents in a serious derailment which occurred a few miles north of Campania today. The engine had left the tracks for shunting purposes, when the trucks were started in motion and quickly gathered speed on the main link and 12 trucks laden with cattle and cement crashed over an embarkment and piled up in a tangled mess beside the line. Nobody was injured but 20 head of cattle had to be killed or had to be destroyed. The mishap delayed trains on the mainline for several hours.
50 years ago
VISIT FROM BISHOP: A bishop who took confirmation from servicemen in New Guinea between Japanese raids in World War II will visit Wentworth next month. Archbishop Sir Philip Strong, who is a previous primate of Australia, will come to Wentworth to take part in the centenary celebrations of St John's Anglican Church. Archbishop Strong was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral in London in 1936 and became the fourth Bishop of New Guinea. He had this position for 26 years, including the World War II years from 1939 to 1945. At the beginning of the Pacific war most civilians left New Guinea, but not the Anglican missionaries. A few government officers and some other civilians remained to join the ranks of the coast watchers. The coast watchers operated behind the enemy lines and transmitted information about Japanese activities back to Australian and American forces. During the war he built up a strong ministry and appointed the first Papuan assistant bishop. He was elected the Bishop of Brisbane and Metropolitan of Queensland in 1963. He became primate of Australia in 1965 and held this position until his retirement last year.
WONDERS WITH WEEDS: Weeds are weeds, but in the hands of Red Cliffs CWA members they become floral art arrangements. At the branch's September meeting, Mrs Brooks won the weed arranging and got a CWA spoon for her effort. Mrs Caughey was second. The same women were first and second in the bloom of the month. In September each year the ADFA donates prizes for the best fruit cake, and this year it was won by Mrs Thwaites. Second was Mrs Hollings and third Mrs Rogers. Judge for the competition was Mrs Cherie Wolfe, who said all the cakes entered were of a high standard. She had a difficult task. Mrs McNally moved a vote of thanks to Mrs Wolfe and she was presented with a small token. Birthdays in September were remembered with sprays. Branch president Mrs Gedling welcomed a new member, Mrs H. Brown, and a guest from Melbourne, Mrs Milburn.
POSSUM DAMAGE: Locusts may be an impending danger in the Riverina but possums have already begun defoliating vines in local vineyards. A dozen vines on a Benetook Avenue block owned by Mr Ern Bennett have been stripped of foliage by possums from nearby trees. Mr Bennett said yesterday the possums had worked each night stripping off leaves and buds. He said the only vines that were affected were the vines growing at the end of rows. A small path has been worn by the possums around the edge of the block. Mr Bennett said this was only the second occasion that possums had damaged the vines on his block. The possums had stripped leaves off some vines about four years ago. He believed the possums had come to eat the new growth over the past four weeks. The possums were also reported to have attacked some apricot trees at Trentham Cliffs.
NEW GERIATRIC WARD: Mildura Base Hospital's new geriatrics ward is now ahead of schedule. Hospital manager-secretary (Mr H. Rogers) said yesterday work was about a fortnight ahead of plans. He said the unit would be completed about March 31 next year. The ward will have more than 50 beds for geriatric and infirm patients.
LATE-NIGHT SHOPPING: The Parliamentary Liberal Party decided to abolish the law which requires retailers to close between 6pm and 8am Mondays to Fridays. The State Government will legislate soon to clear the way for late-night shopping in Victoria retail shops. The Government will also extend the range of goods that can legally be sold by "corner shops" and plant nurseries.
SPORT: Australian golfers Bruce Crompton and Bruce Devlin will play a challenge match at the Mildura Golf Club on Monday, November 1, Victoria's first day of daylight saving. Wentworth District Bowling Club will open its Pennant season with a match against Mildura next Saturday.
25 years ago
PLAQUE: A memorial plaque dedicated to the pioneers of Red Cliffs was unveiled at Barclay Square yesterday. Red Cliffs Secondary student Camilla Brown gave a brief address to a crowd of about 150 onlookers, before Commodore Tom Dadswell, a retired member of the Royal Australian Navy and son of an original settler, unveiled the plaque. The memorial reads: "This plaque is dedicated to the WWI veterans and pioneers of the Red Cliffs district established 1921 and is placed here with pride as a tribute to their achievements". The town's 75th anniversary celebrations were seen as an appropriate time to uncover the new pride of Red Cliffs.
PARADE: Ten days of festivities celebrating Red Cliffs 75th anniversary wound up yesterday with an open-air church service, following a parade through the streets of Red Cliffs. Anniversary committee secretary Betty Krake said the celebrations had been filled with highlights. She said 3000 to 4000 people watched the parade on Saturday, with the size of the crowd delighting organisers.
CRICKET BAT MACHINE: Fifty years ago, World War II had finished and life was returning to normal in Sunraysia. Young men returned from the armed services and were keen to get back into cricket, but there was a problem. English cricket willow was in short supply and good bats were hard to get. New bats had to last and to last they had to be well prepared. But bat preparation was not an exact science. Some players used rolled soft drink bottles up and down the face of the bat, while others used a wooden mallet to pound the bat's face and toughen the surface. Looking for a better solution, sports store operator Murray Linton approached Mildura manufacturing firm of William and Lawler for help. The proprietor of the business, Maurie Williams, had his designer, Les Stack, solve the problem of the bat-pressing machine. A turning handle on top of the machine pressed a roller on to the face of the new bat. The pressure compacted the willow fibre, hardening it to take the impact of a new cricket ball. For years, the roller was used at Linton's Sports Store and when it closed last year the machine was handed over to Mildura Sports Centre operator John Thompson. Thompson's cricket specialist, Mark O'Donnell, has put the machine back into operation using this year to prepare bats.
