Part One – of Affairs Local
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Darebin’s Great War Part One – Of Affairs Local A Tribute to those from the Darebin District that Fell in the Great War 1914-18 Compiled by Brian Membrey Our cover illustration shows the Elvins family and friends outside the Grandview Hotel in Alphington. The two servicemen are John Martyn and William Leslie Elvins, the latter serving as a veterinary surgeon with the Australian Army Veterinary Corps as mentioned on Page 30. Their step-mother Emily, pictured in the fur stole, took over the license in 1903 as Emily Junkers, remarrying after the death of her husband to becomes Mrs John Elvins. Emily Elvins passed away in 1933, but the hotel remained in the Elvins and Junkers family until 1978. Courtesy Surviving the Six OÇlock Swill - A History of Darebin's Hotels, Gary Edge, Darebin Heritage 2 Darebin’s Great War – Of Matters Local Contents Introduction The City of Darebin 1 "Of Matters Local" is the first and companion volume to the In Memoriam database section of The Whalley Brothers at War 7 our history of Darebin's Great War. The Leader Speaks 14 Today's City of Darebin encompasses Northcote, Preston, Thornbury, Reservoir, Preston’s First Contingent 17 Fairfield an Alphington, the latter two districts Women In Uniform 23 added to the original City of Northcote since the Great War. The Professional Men 30 In this, nominally Part One, we look as some of Uniform and Accoutrements 39 the local issues that impacted Northcote and Preston including a remarkable series of letters Pay Day 41 from the local Leader newspaper editors, Universal Military Service 43 Richard and John Whalley who were fortutiously when in Europe when war broke Sports Of All Sorts 44 out and provided the citizens of Darebin with a Those Bloodstained Letters 46 unique (if perhaps little belated) perspective view of the tumultous events. Soldier Songs From Palestine 71 As a balance against the histories of those that Sources Of Our Research 72 paid the ultimate price, Part One includes some pen pictures of others from the district that The First Casualty 81 served – in particular, women that volunteered Casualty Statistics 83 as nurses, plus others from the medical, dental, veterinary and teaching professions. 1914 The Ships 89 In comparion with most suburban newspapers, In Memoriam - A Summary 99 The Leader provided local readers with an excellent coverage of those that were volunteering, those overseas and, sadly, those killed, wounded, missing or a handful of prisoners-of-war. The Leader also printed many, many letters from those serving overseas covering a wide range of adventures from the sights in Colombo and Eygpt and later the Olde Country, the landings at Gallipoli, later battles on the Western Front and many on the conscription debates home in Australia. We have purposely steered away from most of the local issues not related to the war. Most of these are covered in Andrew Lemon;s Northcote – The Other Side of the River, Ian Rule and Brian Carroll's Preston – An Illustrated History, and Harley Forster's Preston – Lands and People – all available via the reference sections of Darebin Libraries. In reality, there were few major issues outside of the War, recruitment campaigning and the Conscription Referendums - the main interest being the plans for the construction of the Fitzroy - Northcote tramway through to East and West Preston. Darebin’s Great War – Of Matters Local The City of Darebin A Street Tour (1914) From the Municipal Directory, 1914 NORTHCOTE – Flourishing city on Merri Merri creek with post, telegraph and money order offices and court of sessions. New “Carnegie” public and free lending library (5,200 vols) costing $3,590, maintained by Council. Six hotels, agencies of insurance companies, branches of three banks, two State and four private schools, patent brickworks, twelve churches, savings bank and home of Little Sisters of the Poor. Two bowling greens and cricket grounds. Picturesque views obtained from the hill Railway – Melbourne to Heidelberg via Collingwood passes through Northcote; with stations to Westgarth, 3 3/4 miles, fares 3d. and 2d, close to local cable tramway. Melbourne to Preston and Whittlesea passes midway between St. George's Road and High Street. Stations, viz.: Merri, 4 ½ miles, Northcote, 4 3/4 miles, fares both stations 3d and 2d., Croxton 5¼ miles, fares 3½d. and 2½d., Thornbury 6 miles, fares 4d. and 3d. Tramway – Melbourne Tram Co., two cable lines, fare 3d, by ticket 2d, also section from Johnston Street to Merri Creek, fare 1d. Municipal tramway – Property of Council, from the terminus of Clifton Hill tram line to northern boundary of Northcote, fares (two sections), from City end to Separation Street, or from the Town Hall to terminus, either way 1d., through fare, 2d. Population : 21,167 (26,394, 24.7%) PRESTON - Industrial and horticultural township between the Merri and Darebin creeks, with post and money order office, telegraph station, savings bank, State school, court-house, police stations, police station, eight churches, free library, six hotels, agencies of insurance companies, branch of bank, Bradford and Rechabite halls, fire brigade, brickworks, soap works, pottery, four ham and bacon curing works and six tanneries. Electric light and municipal quarries. Fruits and flowers grown extensively for market. Three public gardens; well-kept bowling green; cricket, football, tennis, rifle and two cycle clubs. Masonic, A.N.A., Rechabite, orange and I.O.O.F. lodges. Reservoir at Preston in connection with Yan Yean metropolitan water supply. Railway – stations at Bell, 5 3/4 miles, fares, 4d. and 3d; Preston, 6 ¼ miles, fares 4½d. and 3½d; Regent, 7 miles, fares 5d. and 4d; and Reservoir 7 3/4 miles, fares 5¼d. and 4½d; also via Fitzroy to Whittlesea. Population : 6,297 (7,901, 25.4%) FAIRFIELD - Improving township with telegraph and money-order office, telephone bureau, State school, three churches, Rechabite hall, branch of bank, hospital, public park, recreation reserve and hotel. Flat tableland, overlying basalt. Railway - 5 miles, fare 3½d and 2d. Population 3,632 (4,985, 37.3%) ALPHINGTON - Horticultural township with State school, three churches, post and telegraph office, branch of bank, police station public hall, tennis club, gasometer, three hotels and public park. Stone crushing works. Rail 5 ¾ miles, fares 5½d and 4½d. Population : 496 (680, 37%) EPPING – Agricultural and dairying district of Darebin creek with post office, two hotels, two State and denominational schools, three churches, public library (over 400 vols), shire hall, police station and cemetery. Railway – 13 miles, fares 11d and 81/2. Population, 605 (not given in 1919). THOMASTOWN – Agricultural township on Epping Road, with State school, two churches, post office and hotel. Railway – 11 miles, fares 9d and 7d. Population, 104 (283, 175%) The figures shown in parentheses are the population as shown in the 1919 directory and the growth percentage. See the table below a more detailed analysis if the comparative figures and growth rates for the two major local government area of today’s Darebin. The directories do not reveal how the population figures were calculated or whether servicemen normally resident in the district but serving overseas were counted. Again the directory did not disclose just who compiled the entries for Victoria;s cities, towns and shires. Given the local entries managed to place Thornbury station as six miles from Melbourne, and the next station up the line, Bell at 5¾ miles (although the fares were the same), we doubt that it may have been the local entities themselves; the latter is correct. 1 The Home Towns Northcote Preston 1914 1919 Variation 1914 1919 Variation Municipal Status City (1) City Shire Shire Acres 2,850 2,850 8,800 8,800 Population 21.167 26,394 24.7% `6,297 7,901 25.5% Dwellings 4,801 6,337 32.0% 1,198 1,757 46.7% Valuation £125,977 £178,637 41.8% £45,202 £63,209 39.8% Rate Revenue £21,390 £38,800 77.7% £8,696 £15,808 81.8% Assessments 8,839 10,044 13.6% 3,896 5.864 47.1% Population per acre 7.43 9.26 24.7% 0.72 0.90 25.5% Dwellings per acre 1.68 2.22 32.0% 0.14 0.20 46.7% Valuation per acre £44 £63 41.8% £5 £7 39.8% (1) Originally Town, upgraded by Proclamation to City, 27 May, 1914. The 1912-13 Rate Revenue passed £20,000 for the first time and automatically enabled Northcote to apply for the upgrade in municipal status. The same level was still in place when Preston was proclaimed a City in 1926. The figures are from the Victorian Municipal Directories of 1914 and 1919. Valuations, rate revenue and number of assessments were based on completed 1912-13 and 1918-19 financial year figures. Northcote did not include Fairfield or Alphington which were then part of Heidelberg Shire. The area for Preston was in both years was shown as 13 ¾ square miles, converted to acres for the purposes of comparison. What is remarkable is that the growth in the the number of dwellings far outstripped the population growth, perhaps suggesting the latter figures did not in fact include servicemen serving overseas. The increase in the number of Rate Assessments issued by the City of Northcote was substantially below the growth in the number of dwellings, suggesting most of the new construction was on land that had already been subdivided and previously rateable. In Preston, by contrast, the increase in the number of assessments and new dwellings was more or less identical, the buildings being erected as some of the large estate were subdivided.