YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1 Volume 1: Thematic Environmental History

Final 28 June 2012

Prepared for Yarriambiack Shire YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

 Context Pty Ltd 2012

Project Team: David Helms, Senior Consultant Dr Aron Paul, Historian Jessie Briggs, Research assistant

Report Register This report register documents the development and issue of the report entitled Yarriambiack Shire Heritage Study Stage 1, Volume 1: Thematic environmental history undertaken by Context Pty Ltd in accordance with our internal quality management system.

Project Issue Notes/description Issue date Issued to No. No. 1433 1 Draft 1 27 September 2011 David Young 1433 2 Final 28 June 2012 David Young

Context Pty Ltd 22 Merri Street, Brunswick 3056 Phone 03 9380 6933 Facsimile 03 9380 4066 Email [email protected] Web www.contextpl.com.au

ii VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VIII

PREFACE VIII

INTRODUCTION X Purpose x Historical Overview xi Yarriambiack Shire overview xii 1. SHAPING VICTORIA’S ENVIRONMENT 1 INTRODUCTION 1 HISTORY 1 1.1 The evolution of the natural environment 1 1.1.1 The natural environment of Yarriambiack Shire 1 1.1.2 Creeks and waterways 2 1.1.3 Climatic influences 2 1.1.4 The impact of Colonisation on the natural environment 2 1.2 Yarriambiack Dreaming 3 1.3 Coping with floods and droughts 3 1.3.1 Floods 3 1.3.2 Droughts 6 1.4 Appreciating and protecting natural wonders 7 1.4.1 Protecting natural assets 7 1.4.2 Appreciating and protecting lakes and waterways 7 HERITAGE 10 2. PEOPLING VICTORIA’S PLACES AND LANDSCAPES 11 INTRODUCTION 11 HISTORY 12 2.1 Living as Victoria’s original inhabitants 12 2.2 The Pastoralists 13 2.2.1 Early pastoral runs 13 2.2.2 Pre-emptive rights and Squatter’s homesteads 14 2.3 Patterns of settlement 15 2.3.1 Surveying the land 15 2.3.2 Selection and freehold sales in the nineteenth century 15 2.3.3 Closer settlement schemes in the twentieth century 16 2.3.4 Private settlement schemes 18 2.3.5 The establishment of towns 19 2.4 Migrating to seek opportunity 21 2.4.1 The German Influence 21 2.4.2 The British Influence 22 2.4.3 The Chinese contribution 23

iii YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1 HERITAGE 24 3 CONNECTING VICTORIANS BY TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS 25 INTRODUCTION 25 HISTORY 25 3.1 Establishing pathways 25 3.1.1 Establishing coach services 25 3.1.2 Establishing a road network 25 3.2 Post offices and telecommunications 26 Telegraph and telephones 27 3.3 Connecting Victorians by rail 27 3.3.1 Establishing the railway network in the nineteenth century 28 3.3.2 Extending the railway network in the twentieth century 29 3.3.3 Railways and township development 29 3.3.4 Railways and water supply 30 3.3.5 The railways and transporting of grain 30 3.4 Country newspapers 31 HERITAGE 32 Establishing pathways 32 Post Offices and telecommunications 32 Connecting Victorians by rail 32 Country newspapers 32 4. TRANSFORMING AND MANAGING LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES 33 INTRODUCTION 33 HISTORY 34 4.1 Grazing and raising livestock 34 4.1.1 Sheep 34 4.1.2 Horses 35 4.2 Cropping and mixed farming 35 4.2.1 The rise of grain 36 4.2.2 Experimentation and developing agricultural knowledge 38 4.3 Managing water resources 38 4.3.1 Early water supply schemes 39 4.3.2 The Irrigation Trust schemes 39 4.3.3 The Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System 40 4.3.4 The Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline 2010 42 4.4 Land Management 43 4.4.1 Controlling rabbits and other pests 43 4.4.2 Land degradation 44 HERITAGE 46 Grazing and raising livestock 46 Cropping and mixed farming 46 Managing water resources 46 Land management 46 iv VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

5. MAKING TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS 47 INTRODUCTION 47 HISTORY 48 5.1 Developing regional centres 48 5.1.1. Malleeopolis – Development of Warracknabeal 48 5.1.2 Developing local Industries 49 5.2 Retailing and commerce 50 5.2.1 The country general store 51 5.2.2 Banks 51 5.3 Entertaining and socialising 53 5.4 The rise and fall of small local centres 54 Decline of small centres 55 5.5 Township amenities 56 5.5.1 Electricity 56 5.5.2 Fire Brigades 56 5.5.3 Reticulated water supplies 56 5.6 Making homes for Victorians 57 HERITAGE 58 Developing regional centres 58 Retailing and commerce 58 Entertaining and socialising 58 The rise and fall of small local centres 58 Township amenities 58 Making homes for Victorians 58 6. GOVERNING VICTORIANS 59 INTRODUCTION 59 HISTORY 59 6.1 Forming local government 59 6.1.1 The formation of local government in the Wimmera and Mallee 60 6.1.2 Yarriambiack Shire 60 6.2 Rural political organisation 61 6.3 Aboriginal self determination, Native Title & Land Use Agreement 61 6.4 Maintaining law and order 62 6.5 Defending Australia 63 6.5.1 Country Militias and Rifle Clubs 63 6.5.2 The Great War (1914-1918) 63 6.5.3 The Second World War (1939-1945) 64 6.5.3 Commemorating the wars 64 6.6 Managing water supplies 66 6.6.1 State Rivers and Water Supply Commission 66 6.6.2 Catchment management authorities 66 HERITAGE 67

v YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1 Forming local government 67 Maintaining law and order 67 Defending Australia 67 Managing water supplies 67 7. BUILDING COMMUNITY LIFE 68 INTRODUCTION 68 HISTORY 68 7.1 Maintaining spiritual life 68 7.1.1 Lutheran Church 69 7.1.2 Roman Catholic Church 70 7.1.3 Anglican Church 70 7.1.4 Presbyterian Church 71 7.1.5 Methodist Church 71 7.1.6 Other Religious & Spiritual Affiliations 72 7.2 Educating people 72 7.2.1 Early schools 72 7.2.2 The rise and fall of rural schools 73 7.2.3 Developing higher education 74 7.2.4 Mechanics’ Institutes & public libraries 74 7.3 Providing health and welfare services 75 7.4 Community life in country towns 76 7.4.1 Public Halls 76 7.4.2 Progress Associations and township improvements 77 7.4.3 Agricultural Societies 77 7.4.4 Forming community associations 78 7.5 Preserving traditions and commemorating 80 7.5.1 Historical societies 81 7.5.2 Honouring the pioneers 81 7.6 Cemeteries 81 HERITAGE 82 Maintaining spiritual life 82 Educating people 82 Providing health and welfare services 82 Community life in country towns 82 Preserving traditions and commemorating 82 Cemeteries 82 8. SHAPING CULTURAL AND CREATIVE LIFE 83 INTRODUCTION 83 HISTORY 83 8.1 Participating in sport and recreation 83 8.1.1 Sporting clubs 83 8.1.2 Picnic Grounds 84 8.1.3 Country swimming pools 84 vi VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

8.2 Minyip and the Flying Doctors 85 8.3 Towards an Australian cultural identity 85 HERITAGE 86 Participating in sport and recreation 86 9. WHY IS YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE SIGNIFICANT? 87 9.1 Introduction 87 9.2 Statement of significance 87 The pre-colonial land and people 88 Contact and pastoralism 88 Creating new towns and settlements 88 Expanding agriculture, water supply and railways 89 Consolidating and maintaining rural communities 89 Transforming and being transformed by the environment 90 9.3 Conclusion 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY 91

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Yarriambiack Shire Heritage Study (Stage 1) was carried out with funds provided by the Victorian State Government through the Public Heritage Program. The following people were involved in the research, production, writing and review of the Yarriambiack Shire Thematic Environmental History.  Dr Aron Paul, historian, researched and wrote the majority of the history and sourced images and maps.  David Helms co-ordinated the preparation of the history, undertook further research and contributed additional material and images and edited copy.  Julia Cusack researched and wrote the sections in relation to Aboriginal themes.  Jessie Briggs edited copy. We would also like to thank the Project Manager, David Young of Yarriambiack Shire, who led the Steering Committee, which comprised:  Cr. Jean Wise and Cr. John Kemfert  Tony Armstrong – Heritage Victoria The Reference Group provided input and feedback throughout the study and their local historical knowledge and insights were invaluable in the production of this history. Our thanks are also extended to the following individuals and organisations:  The participants in the three community heritage workshops held during the Study at Hopetoun, Murtoa and Warracknabeal  Peter Adler and Val Gregory of the Murtoa & District Historical Society and Community Museum Inc.  Doug McColl, Jean Wise and Lesley Stephan of Warracknabeal & District Historical Society  George Armstrong, Andrew Clarke, Leigh Hammerton and Ron Wiseman PREFACE The Yarriambiack Shire Thematic Environmental History 2011 comprises Volume 1 of the Yarriambiack Shire Heritage Study (Stage 1) 2011 (the Study). The purpose of the Study is to identify places of potential post-contact cultural significance within Yarriambiack Shire and to make recommendations for their future assessment. As described in the following section, this environmental history provides an explanation of the themes and activities that have been important in shaping Yarriambiack Shire so as to provide a context to assist with the identification of heritage places that illustrate its rich cultural history. It should be read in conjunction with Yarriambiack Shire Heritage Study (Stage 1) Volume 2: Key Findings and Recommendations. That volume provides an explanation of the key findings including a list of places and precincts of potential heritage significance identified by the Study as well as a series of recommended actions and strategies for undertaking Stage 2 of the Study at a future date. The terms used throughout this report are consistent with The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Heritage Significance. A glossary of these terms and their meanings is provided at the end of this report.

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Yarriambiack Shire (Source: Yarriambiack Shire Council)

ix YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

INTRODUCTION

Purpose This environmental history provides an explanation of the themes and activities that have been important in shaping the present-day Yarriambiack Shire, which was created on 19 January 1995 following the restructure of the Shire of Karkarooc, the Shire of Dunmunkle, the Shire of Warracknabeal, and the Shire of Wimmera.1 It is important to understand that it is not intended as a complete social or political history of the municipality, but rather as a summary of human use and impact upon the landscape in the years since the period of first contact between indigenous peoples and non-indigenous explorers and settlers (this is referred to as the ‘post-contact period’) during the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not intended to be a chronological record and has not been prepared in such a way. Rather, the history is organised according to themes so as to provide a context to assist with the identification of heritage places that illustrate the rich cultural history of Yarriambiack Shire. These heritage places include buildings and structures, precincts, objects, ruins, trees and landscapes. The themes are also embodied in the historic or continuing uses of places and people’s social and spiritual associations with them. The themes used in this environmental history have been adapted from the Victorian Framework of Historic Themes (VFHT) developed by Heritage Victoria. The Australian Heritage Council notes that: The consistent organising principle for the Thematic Framework is activity. By emphasising the human activities that produced the places we value, and the human response to Australia’s natural environment, places are related to the processes and stories associated with them, rather than to the type or function of place. Finally, it is important to understand that the history has not been arranged as a hierarchy giving priority, weighting and privilege to some themes, nor will it simply be a checklist. One place may be associated with many themes reflecting the integrated, diverse and complex way that places evolve over time. The process has been an iterative one, with the themes and sub-themes being revised and refined throughout the study depending on the outcomes of more detailed research, fieldwork and consultation with key stakeholders. On this basis, each chapter includes:  A brief introduction, which includes an explanation of which Victorian historic theme is relevant.  An outline of the history of Yarriambiack Shire associated with the particular theme.  A description of some of the heritage places associated with the theme. The heritage places mentioned in this report are not an exhaustive list; rather they are representative of the many places that the Study has identified.

1 Yarriambiack Planning Scheme MSS Cl. 21.02. x VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Historical Overview As described above, this thematic environmental history is set out in a thematic, not chronological, order. The following table is provided to assist in understanding how the historic themes are associated with key dates in the historic development of Yarriambiack Shire. Please note that this table is indicative only of broad timeframes associated with each theme and reference should be made to the appropriate chapter in this environmental history for more specific information about the actual periods of influence for each theme.

Theme Period of Influence

Pre-1860 Pre-1860 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s Shaping Victoria’s environment Peopling Victoria’s places and landscape Transport & Communications Transforming and managing land and natural resources Making towns and settlements Governing Victorians Building community life Shaping cultural and creative life

Primary period of influence Secondary or continuing period of influence

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Yarriambiack Shire overview Yarriambiack Shire is located in the north west of the state of Victoria. The 2009/10 Yarriambiack Shire Council Annual Report summarises the location of the shire thus: The Shire is situated in the Grampians and Mildura & Murray Outback Regions and provides a link between Horsham in the south and Mildura in the northern end of that region. It is located immediately to the east of some of Victoria’s main eco-tourist attractions, including the Big Desert, Wyperfeld National Park, Lake Hindmarsh, Lake Albacutya and the Little Desert.2 The Shire has been divided into two distinct statistical areas by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with a distinctly more rural remote northern section in the Hopetoun ward, and a more township based population in the southern wards of Warracknabeal and Dunmunkle. The largest town is Warracknabeal, with Hopetoun, Minyip, Murtoa and Rupanyup being the other main centres. The Henty Highway runs north from Horsham through Warracknabeal and Hopetoun; the Shire is also crossed east-west in sections by the Sunraysia, Borung, Western and Wimmera highways. In 2012 four railways (running freight services only) serve the Shire; the Main Line to Adelaide, which passes through the south of the Shire. From the main line at Murtoa the railway to Hopetoun branches off passing through Minyip, Warracknabeal and Beulah en route, while Woomelang, Lascelles, Turiff, Speed and Tempy are situated on the railway line to Mildura. Yaapeet is the terminus of the line from Dimboola that was in 2011 re-opened as far as Rainbow. The Shire’s main industry is dry-land agriculture based around the production and handling of grain, particularly wheat and barley. Lamb and wool are also noted products of the area. The Shire lists its major attractions as being: Murtoa Stick Shed, Wimmera Inland Freezing Works Museum, Water Tower Museum and Concordia Cottage, Marma Lake and Rabl Park, Minyip Heritage Town, Yarriambiack Creek, Warracknabeal Agricultural Machinery Museum and Historical Centre, Federation Place, Corrong Homestead, Mallee Bush Retreat, Pine Plains Wyperfeld National Park, Jack Emmett Billabong, Redda’s Park, and Cronomby Tanks Reserve.3

2 Yarriambiack Shire Council Annual Report 2009/10, p.2. 3 Yarriambiack Shire Council Annual Report 2009/10, p.2.

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1. SHAPING VICTORIA’S ENVIRONMENT

INTRODUCTION This theme relates to the natural environment, particularly native flora and fauna and natural landscapes and human relationships with these. It traces the major natural influences that have shaped the history of Yarriambiack Shire – in particular the cycles of flood and drought. It includes Aboriginal people’s traditions about how the land and its features were created – stories that are unique and of great cultural significance. It also includes the history of post- contact attitudes towards and appreciation of the natural environment and their manifestation through the creation of nature reserves and parks and struggles over environmental conservation in the Wimmera Mallee. This chapter incorporates the following Victorian Historical Themes:  Tracing climate and topographical change  Tracing the emergence of Victoria’s plants and animals  Understanding scientifically diverse environments  Creation stories and defining country  Living with natural processes  Appreciating and protecting Victoria’s natural wonders.

HISTORY

1.1 The evolution of the natural environment The history of Yarriambiack Shire has been shaped by the distinctive natural environments of the Wimmera and Mallee regions and the response of Aboriginal people and European settlers to the environment.

1.1.1 The natural environment of Yarriambiack Shire Yarriambiack Shire stretches across three bioregions from south to north, including sections of the Wimmera, Murray Mallee and Lowan Mallee bioregions. Remnant native vegetation is concentrated mainly in the Lowan Mallee north west area of the Shire, along the Yarriambiack Creek and associated lakes and waterways, and in the south western corner along and around the Wimmera River between Murtoa and Lubeck. The Dunmunkle Creek is also an important waterway in the south of the Shire. The region’s native flora and fauna evolved to survive in the natural vegetation and climate of the Mallee-Wimmera. The Lowan Mallee flora is dependent on episodic fires to regenerate, while many of the native animals and plants of the Shire rely on the periodic flood cycles to replenish waterways and wetlands. The Shire’s topography is characteristically low and flat, with isolated undulations and vast plains consistent with its bioregional context within the Mallee-Wimmera. The Mallee- Wimmera region’s characteristically dry, sandy and flat topography was shaped by prolonged geological periods submerged under the ocean. As noted by Parks Victoria (2011): Some 25 million years ago the whole of north-west Victoria was submerged beneath a shallow sea. As the seas slowly retreated westerly winds blew sand over the exposed inland areas, building a complex of rolling dunes. The dunes we see today were formed between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago

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The north of the Shire is characterised by the dunes of the Lowan Mallee and sandy plains of the Murray Mallee, while the south of the Shire is part of the undulating plains of the Wimmera:

1.1.2 Creeks and waterways Yarriambiack Creek and Dunmunkle Creek are the two main watercourses of Yarriambiack Shire. Both are distributaries of the Wimmera River and, like that river, are north-flowing terminal watercourses that do not reach the River Murray. The Wimmera River itself is just outside Yarriambiack Shire to the west. As we shall see later in this history, Yarriambiack Creek has played a critical role in the settlement and development of the Shire. Yarriambiack Creek leaves the Wimmera River near Longerenong and flows north for 135 km via Jung, Warracknabeal, Brim and Beulah. It flows into Lake Corrong and Lake Lascelles, near Hopetoun and in times of flood has flowed to terminal wetlands north of Hopetoun.

1.1.3 Climatic influences Like the rest of eastern Australia, the area’s climate and weather patterns are strongly influenced by the El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation. This quasi-periodic climate pattern occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean with on average five year intervals. It is characterized by variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean - warming or cooling known as El Niño and La Niña respectively - and air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific - the Southern Oscillation. During El Niño phases of the Southern Oscillation, the area along with much of Australia has experienced periods of severe drought, while La Niña heralds episodes of intense rainfall and flooding.

1.1.4 The impact of Colonisation on the natural environment The transformation of the environment by European settlement and exploitation is dealt with in further detail in Chapter 4. However these waves of transformation were informed by particular attitudes towards the natural environment and by waves of agrarian revolution and settlement schemes. The result of these revolutions was a radically altered environment. The Selection Acts of the late 1860s to early 1870s opened up new lands for farming in the Wimmera and turned the focus of Victorian agriculture north of the Divide (Dingle, 1984:103). The transformation by agriculture of the Wimmera and the clearing of ‘Mallee Scrub’ is a significant theme in the historical development of the region (Dingle, 1984:121). The 1878 Land Act made it easier for those moving into marginal land such as the Mallee by reducing rental and extending licence periods (Garden, 1984:160). The 1883 Mallee Pastoral Leases Act reorganised the pastoral leasehold system, encouraging improvements and rabbit extermination (Garden, 1984:232). By 1890, 500 farmers operated in the Southern and Eastern Mallee; Rabbits and water storage were the major concerns of the region (Garden, 1984:235). In 1885 a rabbit proof fence was constructed roughly following the 36th parallel. Both 1895 and 1902 were the peaks of dreadful drought periods. The spread of settlement into the Mallee and the growth of Victorian agriculture in the 1880s and 1890s were enabled by a minor agrarian revolution which applied technological, scientific research and improved techniques. In the Mallee land was cleared by knocking down scrub with a Mallee roller and then burning it before dragging out the stump with a mulleniser. (Garden, 1984: 235) New dry farming techniques, including the use of superphosphate fertilisers and mechanised harvesters were a part of this agrarian revolution. The history of human interaction with the natural environment in Yarriambiack Shire is repeatedly one of attempting to overcome natural

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barriers to settlement and agricultural expansion, and meeting the limitations ultimately imposed upon these by nature in each successive expansion.

1.2 Yarriambiack Dreaming The Aboriginal Wotjobaluk nation, whose traditional lands included those of Yarriambiack Shire, has creation stories or ‘dreaming’ which explain many of its significant natural features. There are also numerous sites of Aboriginal settlement and cultural significance such as Barrabool Forest that are detailed further in Chapter 2. This section is limited to the creation stories which define country in Yarriambiack Shire and reveal much about the original human relationship with the environment. Wotjobaluk Country includes the area around the Wimmera River and Yarriambiack Creek. Wotjobaluk dreaming says both these waterways were made by Bara the Red Kangaroo; the country was made by Bunjil the great ancestor. (Kennedy, 2003:8) Aldo Massola records the following creation story from his Journey to Aboriginal Victoria (1969:111): According to an Aboriginal legend this river [the Wimmera] is really the track of an ancestral kangaroo. He started off from his camp north of Stawell, travelling swiftly. That made the river bed. After some distance he found a large patch of grass, and stopped there a long time to eat it. That made the depression we call Lake Hindmarsh. From then on he travelled at a more leisurely pace, thus making Outlet Creek. Lake Albacutya was made by him when he stopped to eat the sour quandongs which grew there. After leaving that depression his tracks became fainter and fainter as he proceeded north, until they disappeared altogether in the sandhill country. No man knows where he finished up. The outline of this story is corroborated by Brown in Wotjobaluk Dreaming (2001:49). The kangaroo’s name was Purra, who was being hunted by Doan the gliding possum. The story of the country is also told also in terms of the journeys of the Bram-bram-bult Brothers whose quest to avenge the murder of their nephew Doan by Wembulin the spider who fled northwards following Purra’s tracks. In all these stories, blood ties, journeys and water evoke the revolution of Aboriginal life around family, the country and its paths and resources.

1.3 Coping with floods and droughts The natural ebbs and flows of the waterways, lakes and wetlands have been an enduring theme in the history of Yarriambiack Shire, influencing every facet of local life, its economy, society and culture. The most significant natural phenomenon to affect the history of human settlement in Yarriambiack Shire is the cycle connected with the abundance and scarcity of water – the extremes of flood and drought. The cycles of flood and drought have influenced the pattern and extent of settlement and the development of the agricultural economy – for example the catastrophic drought of 1914-15 was followed by a bumper harvest in 1916-17 as rainfall recovered, each cycle bringing with it concurrent cycles of soaring hope and crushing despair. This section describes some of the key floods and droughts events in the Shire’s history.

1.3.1 Floods Floods have been a recurring natural feature of the Shire’s environment which residents have lived with and managed throughout the history of human settlement. During wet years associated with the La Nina phase, high rainfalls flow into Yarriambiack Creek from the Wimmera River, filling the terminal lakes, replenishing wetlands and flooding large tracts of land. Significant historical floods in the Shire include the floods of 1889; 1894; 1909; the ‘Great Flood’ of 1930; and the ‘Big Wet’ of 1954-56. Significant flood events were experienced in

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Yarriambiack Creek during October 1894, August 1909, September 1915 and 1974 with smaller floods in August 1981 and September 1983. Flooding was also recorded in 1923, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1975 and 1996 (Warracknabeal Herald 13/9/2010). According to the Bureau of Meteorology: Flooding, unlike drought, is often quite localized, and therefore not as closely tied to broad-scale controls like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon. However the La Niña years of 1916, 1917, 1950, 1954 through 1956, and 1973 through 1975, were accompanied by some of the worst and most widespread flooding this century. It can safely be said that, over much of Australia, flooding is more likely than usual during La Niña years, and less likely in El Niño years, though heavy rain and flooding often accompany the breakdown of El Niño in late summer or autumn. (Bureau of Meteorology 2011)

Figure 1: 'Heartbreak Harvest'. A farmer surveys a lost crop after a hailstorm in 1915 following on the heels of the 1914 drought. Source: Cromie 1972

Floods were often unexpected, terrifying and devastating. Teasdale (1970:32) recalls the ‘Great Flood’ of 1909 which came upon Rupanyup in the middle of the night: The screaming of children and the wailing of their mothers from whom they had become separated in the darkness, water rushing up around their knees and with no dry land to be found made an absolute nightmare never to be forgotten. Whole families, some with babies in arms, and clad only in night attire, made for house after house, only to be driven out by the water to find higher spots. A great rush was made for the Mechanics Institute brick hall, where thirty or forty men, women and children huddled on the stage. The water was through the main building, and they were cut off from the town by three feet of running water. The water was rushing through the shops at a terrific rate and timber and foods were washing in all directions. …. Upwards of fifty people took refuge in the Commercial Hotel, some clambering on to the billiard table. More recently, the area was affected by severe flooding in 2011, with Warracknabeal besieged by a ‘once in 200 year’ flood on the Yarriambiack Creek (ABC 18/1/2011) and filling and even overflowing the region’s lakes such as Lake Coorong and Lake Lascelles at Hopetoun: The last time the largest lake, Lake Coorong, looked like it does now, was in the mid 70s. It filled when the Yarriambiack Creek flooded in January. Now it's not just full, it's overflowing, with water spilling out over farmland. Hopetoun farmer Bert Hallam has water flowing through his flood plain paddocks. He's sowed the paddocks down to sheep feed, but says he doesn't mind that it's now covered in water. He says the water is a symbol of good times to grow grain. "Sometimes it can mean we'll have two good years in a row. It seemed to happen in '74 and '75, '83 and '84 and hopefully it will be 2010 and 2011." (ABC, 24 February, 2011) The floods were once again part of a pattern of severe storms and heavy rainfall affecting Victoria and eastern Australia as part of an intense La Nina climate event in 2010-2011.

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Figure 2: 'Adelaide Express. Floods at Murtoa' c.1909 Source: State Library of Victoria

Figure 3: Flooding at Warracknabeal, August 1909. Source: McIlvena 2001

Figure 4: 'Shifting hay during the Great Flood of December 1930' at Beulah. Source: North of the Netting.

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1.3.2 Droughts The cycles of flood and drought have been dominated by long dry spells associated with the El Niño phase of the Southern Oscillation in the Pacific. Significant dry periods occurred at roughly 20 year intervals since the late nineteenth century. The drought which began in the 1890s and peaked in1902 known as the ‘Federation Drought’ was felt Australia-wide. Subsequent droughts occurred in 1911-15; 1937-47 1966-67; 1982-83 and 1991-95. More recently the Shire has endured a drought from 2006-9, which was broken with heavy rains culminating in the devastating floods of late 2010 and early 2011. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Many of Australia’s worst droughts occur when one or two very dry years follow several years of generally below average rainfall. Such was the case in the so-called “Federation drought”, which began in the mid 1890s and reached its devastating climax in late 1901 and 1902. (Bureau of Meteorology 2011) The Big Drought of the 1890s-1902 was particularly devastating, coming as it did in the wake of a great Depression and economic crisis in the early 1890s. It killed huge proportions of flocks and devastated farmlands. In 1901 the year’s rainfall in the Victorian Mallee was 9.39 inches and in 1902, 7.64 inches, compared with an average in the thirty years either side of 13.33 inches. In 1902 the rainfall in the Wimmera and Northern Districts of Victoria were only three fifths of the normal rainfall (Fitzgerald, 1941:242). Such was the combination of financial and climatic crisis in the 1890s that Federation Australia was ‘a chastened society … now that a decade of adversity had been experienced and the total of bank advances was down to two-thirds of the total of 1891’. (Fitzgerald, 1941:242) Immigration too had collapsed – Australian society and economy was exposed for its dependence not only on fragile financial and foreign markets, but on the yet more fragile environment and oscillating weather and climatic system. The 1914-15 droughts resulted in the failure of the crop in 1915 across large swathes of Australia: By the end of October the national wheat crop was a total failure. In south-western Australia - often spared when drought afflicts the eastern states - less than half the normal rainfall fell during the critical May-October period, leading to complete crop failure in some districts. (Bureau of Meteorology 2011) The World War II droughts were remarkable as the 1938 La Nina failed to puncture the drought, with dry conditions prevalent over south and eastern Australia resulting in wheat yields falling to their lowest since the disastrous 1914 episode. The El Niño year of 1940 was among the driest on the continent, giving rise to the added problem of dust storms raging across South Australia and northern Victoria throughout the summer of 1944-5. (Bureau of Meteorology 2011) While El Niño events usually last just a year, extended episodes have caused the worst droughts, including those in 1911-15 and the longest on record in 1991-95. (Bureau of Meteorology 2011) Droughts provided the historic impetus for the irrigation schemes, spearheaded politically by Alfred Deakin and irrigation enthusiasts in the Victorian parliament: In November, 1897, he took the responsibility of bringing before the House the positron of the Mallee country, owing to the small rainfall, and pointed out that, in view of the severe drought in that part of the country, it was necessary that immediate action should be taken. It was predicted that unless something was done to supply the Mallee settlers with water, they would become mere paupers. He urged at that time that the Mallee might be saved by utilizing the flood waters. (Victorian Parliamentary Debates)

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The development of irrigation schemes is discussed in Chapter 4.

1.4 Appreciating and protecting natural wonders Throughout the nineteenth and early to mid twentieth centuries, progress and development were often assumed and uncontested goals of both local and state authorities over the Mallee- Wimmera region. However, despite this the natural wonders of Yarriambiack Shire also have a long history of appreciation and protection. As Taylor (1996:112) notes: … nature was capable of evoking awe and wonder. A woman from the city saw her first Mallee sunset near Rosebery in 1903 and she fell to her knees ‘with clasped hands and face transfigured’. Appreciation of the natural wonders of the Shire is demonstrated by parks and reserves established since the late nineteenth century, and by the lakes and waterways that have been developed for aesthetic and recreational reasons. The Shire also witnessed a significant struggle in the 1960s to preserve the surviving undisturbed remnants of the Lowan Mallee from human destruction, resulting in the creation of important national parks and reserves.

1.4.1 Protecting natural assets Yarriambiack Shire contains significant areas of Mallee Parks and reserved Public Lands which protect some of the least disturbed Mallee ecosystems in Australia.4 High quality areas of cultural, historical and conservation value include Wyperfeld National Park, Paradise Flora and Fauna Reserve, Wathe Flora and Fauna Reserve, and the Barrabool Nature Reserve, which contains largely undisturbed Wimmera forest in the south. Wyperfeld National Park, for example, is situated on land that was partly taken up for pastoral runs in the 1840s-1860s. In 1847 James Clow established the first pastoral run at Pine Plains and in 1856 an itinerant worker George Everard recalled the beauty of the landscape: There is no doubt at that time I thought it one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, such diversity of hills and plains, the hills covered with pines, and the open country dotted with clumps of pine and bulloak. (Pine Plains Lodge website) The beauty of the area came to wider attention following a visit by the naturalist Arthur Mattingly in 1907. Mattingly was said to have been ‘captivated’ by the place and in 1909 he and a number of naturalists persuaded the government to temporarily reserve 3,900 ha of this fast-disappearing habitat. Wyperfeld National Park was formally declared in 1921, and has been considerably enlarged since then. It now covers 361,000 ha (Parks Victoria). Another early nature reserve was created at Hopetoun in the early 1900s. As early as 1892 there was concern about the destruction of native birds and this led to Lake Lascelles being declared a sanctuary for wildfowl in 1906 (Taylor, 1996:112). North of Hopetoun the Wathe Flora and Fauna Reserve was created on land that was used for a failed Soldier Settlement Scheme after World War I.

1.4.2 Appreciating and protecting lakes and waterways The lakes and waterways of Yarriambiack Shire as well as being essential to settlement by providing a water supply, were also appreciated for their natural and aesthetic values. Lake Marma, for example, quickly became an iconic location in forming the identity of the township of Murtoa, and a focus of beautification efforts by the community. Numerous picture postcards from the nineteenth and early twentieth century testify to the significance and high esteem of the Lake Marma landscape in local culture and identity. Murtoa Progress Association, formed in 1888, sent deputations to the Council and Water Trust to have the Lake Reserve gazetted as a Public Park and Gardens, and the Progress Association began tree planting at the lake that year. The Dunmunkle Standard called for

4 Yarriambiack Planning Scheme MSS 21.02.

7 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

people “to assist in the formation of Murtoa’s Botanical Gardens and Perfumed Public Park for Promenading” (Rabl, 1967:63). For its first decade and a half Progress’s activities “were mainly directed to tree planting in the main streets and on crown lands by Lake Marma” (Murtoa Centenary 1872-1972 Booklet, pp. 72). Activities were funded by subscription, donation and Government and local council grants. An account was paid in 1889 for the purchase from Adelaide of 180 trees and another to ‘Jimmy the Chinaman’ for digging at the lake in preparation for tree planting (Murtoa Progress Association: Minute Books 1888-98). Significantly, in 1888, Dr Rabl formed a friendship with Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, one of the most acclaimed botanists of the 19th century colony. The first Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, preceding William Guilfoyle, von Mueller provided advice to Dr Rabl on species selection for the lake tree plantings (Clarke, Lake Marma History). The Victorian Cyclopedia 1905 remarked: The scenery around this lake is most picturesque, and when we saw it, under the influence of a strong south wind, with the blue line of the Grampians in the distance, it was difficult to realise that one was in the very heart of a formerly most arid region. In fact, the whole of Murtoa presents a charming oasis of trees and vegetation amid the monotonous surrounding country. At Warracknabeal the banks of Yarriambiack Creek were developed as parklands in the early twentieth century. In 1914 the noted Victorian landscape gardener, Hugh Linaker, prepared a plan for ‘laying out and planting’ the frontages of Yarriambiack Creek to the north of Dimboola Road. The plan included exotic and native trees as well, playground and pathways, as well as two footbridges in the picturesque rustic style spanning the Creek. It is not known whether this ambitious scheme was ever realized, although there are remnant plantings of palms and Pepper trees near the Bowling Club.5

Sugar Gums, Peppers and Palms

Of the exotic trees introduced by the new settlers three stand out as popular plantings used in municipal landscaping, private gardens and as farm windbreaks. Sugar Gums were introduced to Victoria from South Australia in the late nineteenth century. At Murtoa the president of Murtoa Progress Association, Dr H. Rabl, was advised by Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller to use Sugar Gums for planting around Lake Marma. Dr Rabl raised some of the first trees from seed. The now 120 year old trees are a feature of the Lake Marma landscape. and are also used extensively as street plantings and farm windbreaks throughout Yarriambiack Shire. Pepper Trees (Schinus molle) and palms including Canary Island Palms (Phoenix canariesis) and Wahshingtonia palms were also popular because of their ability to withstand droughts. Remnant pepper and palms are sometimes the only remnant of a vanished homestead garden.

5 The original plans and specifications prepared by Linaker are in the collection of the Warracknabeal & District Historical Society held in the former SSBV in Scott Street.

8 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 5: Arthur Mattingly in Wyperfeld National Park. Source: State Library of Victoria

Figure 6: ‘Entrance to Gardens, Lake Marma, Murtoa’ c.1909. Source: State Library of Victoria

Figure 7: Boating on the Yarriambiack at Warracknabeal photographed by local photographer Discaciati in 1906. Source: State Library of Victoria.

9 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Shaping Victoria’s environment include:  Wyperfeld National Park, Wathe Flora and Fauna Reserve, and Barrabool Reserve  Lake Marma at Murtoa and Lake Lascelles at Hopetoun  Yarriambiack Creek at Warracknabeal

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2. PEOPLING VICTORIA’S PLACES AND LANDSCAPES

INTRODUCTION The historic peopling of Yarriambiack Shire can be divided into several main phases - Aboriginal; Pastoral (1844 onwards); Early freehold sales & township subdivisions (1870-90s); and Closer settlement schemes (1900s-1940s). European-led colonisation in Australia was driven by the demand of imperial markets for raw materials, particularly pastoral and agricultural produce in the nineteenth century. Post-contact settlement in Yarriambiack occurred in several distinct stages: pastoralism in the 1850s; early farming and freehold settlement from the 1870s onwards; and closer settlement schemes in the early twentieth century.. Besides the economic impetus for colonisation, colonial societies and governments soon turned their attention to state-led methods of intensifying settlement and economic activity in order to buttress their share of the imperial market and community. Among these were so called ‘closer settlement’ schemes to encourage new settlers onto the land through government loans to settlers with low capital. The Soldier Settlement schemes after each of the World Wars were prominent among these. Local political pressures also drove closer settlement, in particular the successive Land Acts which were designed to redistribute land from the pastoralists to the small farmers. This battle between the ‘Squattocracy’ and the land reformers was among the great political divides of colonial Victoria. It was driven by the demand that colonial society accommodate the needs of a population swollen by the Gold Rushes of the 1850s who, after the peak of the Gold Rush, sought new lands and occupations in Australia. Besides the resistance of previous occupiers of the land, a major hurdle to successive waves of settlement was the natural environment. Chief among the settlement schemes to overcome such limitations were the Irrigation Settlement Schemes, particularly prominent in the Wimmera Mallee region where water was especially scarce. In the late twentieth century by contrast, processes of economic rationalisation tended to operate against the previous trends of closer settlement, leading to the decline of smaller townships and rural populations and the expansion and consolidation once more of larger land holdings. As we shall see, the pattern of settlement in the Shire was strongly influenced by access to water supplies – firstly natural and later man-made – and later by the development of transport networks, principally railways. These related themes will also be explored further in chapters 3 and 4 respectively. The layering of human settlement can thus be seen as driven by a variety of demands and phases in history, each layer connected to particular broader themes in the development of Victoria, Australia and the world. This chapter incorporates the following Victorian Historical Themes:  Living as Victoria’s original inhabitants  Exploring, surveying, mapping  Adapting to diverse environments  Arriving in a new land  Living off the land  Promoting settlement  Migrating and making a home  Maintaining distinctive cultures  Fighting for identity

11 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

HISTORY

2.1 Living as Victoria’s original inhabitants Aboriginal settlement of Australia has been estimated to have occurred 50,000 years ago (Broome 1984). The Aboriginal Wotjobaluk nation is the traditional owner of the area. Aboriginal settlement has historically been of interest to a number of European anthropologists and travellers whose writings testify to the depth of Aboriginal association with the land. Massola (1969) records several sites of Aboriginal significance in the shire. Among them, a ‘huge camp site’ at the Lubeck Rifle Range ‘which is on, though only a small part of, this huge eighty acre camp site’. Sand blows denoting camp sites also abounded along the Murtoa- Lubeck road as well as red gums scarred with canoe or shield marks along Longerenong College Road. At Rupanyup, “Blackfellow’s Waterhole” was another significant site of Aboriginal settlement marked by its archaeological remains. In Warracknabeal, the air strip south of town on Horsham Road (Henty Highway) stands on the site of another Aboriginal camping ground (Massola, 1969:111). Thence, all along the Yarriambiack Creek, ‘an Aboriginal highway to Lake Coorong’ is marked by ‘camp sites on the sandy rises along the creek, especially on wind sheltered bends, such as the large one about three quarters of a mile north of Lah’. Others include sites a mile south of Beulah. According to Massola, the focus of Aboriginal settlement on the Yarriambiack was the destination point of this riverine highway, the watering hole, meeting place and regional trading hub at Lake Coorong. (Massola, 1969:112) Taylor (1996:16) also refers to Lake Corrong as a major meeting place, known also by its Aboriginal name of ‘Yarrik’. Ian D. Clark, pp145-167, Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 cites recorded deaths of Aboriginal people as a result of conflict with colonial forces, including sixteen massacres in Jardwadjali land. Of those, one incident was recorded in ‘country 40 km north of Longerenong station’ on 19 October 1844. In this incident two Aboriginal people, ‘Jim Crow’ and ‘Charlie’ were killed by Sergeant James Daplin, troopers Sparrow and Bushe of the Border Police, and David Cameron (Clark 1995). Jim Crow is said to have led ‘a particularly annoying band’ of Aborigines who ‘rustled sheep’. In his final confrontation with the border police on the Ashens station, Jim Crow is said to have raised his spear and cried Borack gibbert white bugger, ‘kill all the white men’ (Taylor, 1996:21). This incident was emblematic of the ‘sort of guerrilla warfare’ which marked the clash between settler and Aboriginal at this time (Taylor, 1996:21). It was during the 1840s that the most rapid and greatest clash occurred between Aboriginal and European settlement, as this was the first period of ‘relentless invasion’ during which time ‘over half the estates of the Wotjabaluk, especially their sacred totem sites on creeks, rivers and lakes, had been registered as sheep and cattle stations’ (Taylor, 1996:20). More friendly relations between Aboriginal and settler Australians included the relationship between prominent pastoralist Peter McGinnis of Lake Corrong station and ‘Black Peter McGinnis’, known locally as ‘Jowley’ but who preferred to be called ‘Mac’ (Taylor, 1996:22- 24). Mac ‘Jowley’ was reputedly a survivor of a massacre at Lake Corrong and ‘sole survivor of the Yarrikuluk clan’ of the Wotjobaluk. His Aboriginal name was lost when his parents died and so he took the name of his guardian Peter McGinnis for whom he worked as a sheep tracker and shearer and later lived at Brim. He died in 1911 and was buried in Hopetoun cemetery, where a memorial was also erected to him later in the twentieth century (Taylor, 1996:24).

12 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

2.2 The Pastoralists Victoria’s pastoral era began in the mid-1830s when pastoralists brought livestock, mainly sheep, across Bass Strait from Van Diemen’s Land; or overland from the Riverina District, following Major Thomas Mitchell’s exploration of new pastures south of the Murray River in 1836. It lasted until the 1860s when, as we shall see later in this chapter, a series of Land Acts opened up Victoria for selection and most of the large pastoral runs were broken up into smaller farms. The first pastoralists grazed their animals on vast areas of land illegally, thus acquiring the name ‘squatters’. In 1836 the Government formalised their occupation of the land by means of pastoral licences, for which pastoralists paid £10 per year. The pastoral occupation of what was then known as the Port Phillip District occurred rapidly. By 1850 all the best grassland had been taken up, with only the arid parts of the north-west and the inaccessible areas of Gippsland remaining unoccupied (Dingle, 1984:28, 68). Yarriambiack Shire was thus among the later areas of Victoria to be settled. European-led colonisation was driven by agricultural activity feeding in turn the growth of imperial markets for primary produce in the nineteenth century. Nineteenth century colonisation was dominated by British immigration, however the area saw above average influence from immigrant German agriculturalists (Hammerton, 1997) as well as the usual participation of Chinese immigrants who predominated in the market gardening sector. The first Europeans explorers in the Wimmera region were Major Mitchell’s team who passed south of the Shire in 1836. In Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia – Australia Felix, Mitchell described the ‘open land’ northwards from Mount Zero to the Wimmera River (Adler, 1997:15). Exploration and the advance of pastoralism went hand in hand, as Yarriambiack Shire’s first European explorers were themselves pastoral squatters staking out a claim to the use of the land for livestock grazing. From the 1840s the area was marked by the claims and occupation of pastoral squatters. Access to water was an important consideration in locating pastoral runs, and their extent followed natural water flows and catchments.

2.2.1 Early pastoral runs ‘Ashens’ and ‘Longerenong’ pastoral stations were the first pastoral runs taken by squatters in what is now Yarriambiack Shire6. Douglas McPherson and William Taylor were both Scottish and brought sheep northwards from Moorabool in 1844. ‘Ashens’ station was named after McPherson’s hometown in Argyllshire. Between them they held 206,600 acres. In 1848 this was divided, with Taylor taking 153,000 acres in the west and calling it ‘Longerenong’ (Adler, 1997:15). Other early pastoral runs in the south of Yarriambiack Shire were ‘Marma Downs’, ‘Green Hills’ and ‘Kirkwood’. In 1845 the Scott brothers took up the ‘Warracknabeal’ run. They were followed by Peter McGinnis who squatted at Lake Corrong from 1846; Archibald McMillan at Sheep Hills and Henry Davis at Brim in 1847. Together these were the major squatters of the pastoral beginnings of colonisation in Yarriambiack Shire and were part of the ‘continuous stream of squatters’ to take control of the area until by 1847, most of the then available country from the Wimmera to the Murray rivers was occupied for pastoral purposes (McNabb, 1944:3). The pastoral leaseholds created by the colonial government to regulate the squatters passed through several leaseholders and were finally cancelled in 1884, by which time the pastoral runs were significantly reduced by subdivision.

6 Note: Maroske (1991:4-5) states James Monckton Darlot in 1842 who camped at Dooen on the run he named ‘Brighton’ was the first squatter in the ‘land around the future Warracknabeal’ – however, this was outside the Shire boundary.

13 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

2.2.2 Pre-emptive rights and Squatter’s homesteads In the beginning, the changes to the natural landscape as a result of pastoralism were, comparatively speaking, relatively small. Labour and capital were scarce and on most runs there were no fences apart from those around holding yards. There were no sown pastures, no fodder crops and only the most rudimentary buildings. Dingle (1984:28) concludes ‘Because they did not own the land and had no security of tenure, squatters kept housing and fixed equipment to a minimum’. However, in 1847 as part of the Sale of Waste Lands Act, new regulations were gazetted allowing squatters to purchase ‘pre-emptive rights’ to their homestead blocks. Pastoral run holders who previously held grazing leases (sometimes called ‘grass rights’) were able to purchase up to 260 ha. (640 acres) of their runs before any land in the locality was made available for purchase by the general public. This privilege was given in recognition of their pioneering efforts. This legislation gave landholders more certainty and thus encouraged them to construct more permanent and substantial homes, outbuildings and other structures, which began to alter the landscape of Yarriambiack Shire, a process that was further accelerated by the selection era (Peel, 1974:49-53). For example at Lake Corrong the McGinnis family in 1851 moved from Geelong to settle permanently at the station. A two room cottage was erected using local timbers, which was extended in 1860 to form an L-shaped plan. The homestead was part of a complex of buildings that included a worker’s hut, a separate kitchen and dining area, and a large woolshed (Taylor, 1996:34). The homestead survives today in Evelyn Street, Hopetoun. As the runs became established more elaborate houses were built. In the south of the Shire, the Longerenong pastoral lease was first taken up by squatters William Taylor and Dougall McPherson in 1844. In 1856 the lease was taken over by the Wilson brothers who immigrated to Victoria from Country Antrim, Ireland. In 1862 the Wilson brothers commissioned the Melbourne firm of Crouch and Wilson to design a substantial, double-storey brick homestead villa. Sir Samuel Wilson (1832-1895) established himself as a pastoralist and vigneron, and by 1871 had bought out his brothers interests in the property. Samuel Wilson was a man of innovation and ingenuity. Drawing on the nearby creek, he devised a system of irrigation and drainage channels in the 1850s and 1860s that benefitted his agricultural pursuits. Elements of this system survive. Heritage place – Longerenong Homestead

Longerenong homestead is located on the Yarriambiack Creek near the junction with the Wimmera River. According to Heritage Victoria the Picturesque Gothic design was adapted from one illustrated in an American pattern-book of Andrew Jackson Downing. Distinctive elements include the decorative timber fretwork, balcony veranda, slate roof and elaborate stained-glass entrance panels. The once extensive park-like homestead garden includes Moreton Bay Figs (Ficus macrophylla), Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera), Bunya Bunya Pines (Araucaria auracaria) and Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla), as well as a remnant garden wall. Several outbuildings survive, including the shearing shed and a slab hut claimed to be the original hut on the property which may date from the 1840s. An area set aside for burials on the north bank of the creek includes the grave of Samuel and Jeannie Wilson’s first child, as well as graves of members of the McLean and Gregory families. Source: Heritage Victoria

14 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

2.3 Patterns of settlement The historic pattern of settlement in Yarriambiack Shire is a consequence of settlement schemes, which are in turn inextricably related to the issues of water supplies and railways – the influence of railways will be discussed in Chapter 3, and of water supply in Chapter 4. As noted by Taylor (1996:94) when discussing the settlement of the former Karkarooc Shire: Expansion of settlement after 1896 depended chiefly on three requirements; land opened for application both by the government and Edward Lascelles; the extension of existing railway lines and the provision of a permanent water supply. The whole suite of state policies throughout the colonial period and early to mid twentieth century can be interpreted as geared towards the promotion of settlement in the region and the conversion of unsettled and marginal land to productive, particularly agricultural, use. Early settlement began in the more fertile lands in the south and central parts of the Shire with access to water from the Yarriambiack Creek and continued northward along the creek. Settlement of the more remote areas to the north and west, however, largely did not occur until the early twentieth century after water supply and transport schemes were extended to those areas.

2.3.1 Surveying the land An important and distinctive element of the settling of Yarriambiack Shire was the marking of boundaries, both through the processes of surveying, and the delineation of territory such as laying claim to land and fencing it in. Early fences included the post and rail fence, the ‘cockatoo’ fence and the ‘dog leg’ fence (Teasdale, 1970:5). Surveying and mapping of Yarriambiack Shire followed as part of the process of claiming the land from Aboriginal people and delineating these claims from each other. The process of colonisation intensified with the succession of Land Acts from 1869 onwards which subdivided pastoral claims starting in the south of Yarriambiack Shire and moving northwards with the aim of achieving closer settlement. In part this was a response to the need to resettle huge influxes of population triggered by the Gold Rushes which exerted tremendous political pressure upon the colonial governments to ‘unlock the land’ from the grip of the ‘squattocracy’ and into the common man and immigrant. Mapping and surveying under these land acts followed the laying of claims by land claimants. Thus townships in the Wimmera were surveyed and established in the 1870s as part of this process of closer settlement and colonisation. Survey trees are also a reminder of the surveying process. A notched survey tree, a grey box, was recorded in 1970 by Teasdale (1970:18) as standing beside the Rupanyup North-Banyena Road at the point where the road crosses the Dunmunkle Creek, denoting the northern boundary of Warranooke station.

2.3.2 Selection and freehold sales in the nineteenth century From the 1870s an influx of farmers and townsfolk gradually superseded the occupancy of the pastoralists as their vast stations were incrementally subdivided and sold over successive land acts. Under the Land Act 1869 almost all of the unselected land in Victoria was thrown open for selection, including unsurveyed land. A person could select up to 320 acres, which was held by licence for three years before it could be purchased. During this time the selector was expected to reside on or near the block, and make £320 worth of improvements, including a house, fences and the clearing and cultivation of 32 acres. After the first three years an additional seven-year lease could be granted, during which time the balance was to be paid. An amendment to the Land Act in 1878 increased the period of license and lease to 20 years and halved the annual rent. Even with these easier terms, many selectors found it extremely difficult

15 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

to make the required improvements, pay their rent and make a living for their families during the establishment phase (Maroske, 1991:22; Dingle, 1984).

Figure 8 The Aumann family outside their wattle and daub settlers hut in 1870.

In the Yarriambiack Shire, the 1869 Act applied to the land generally within the southern portions of the Shire. Land to the north of Hopetoun was not generally made available for selection until the passing of the Mallee Pastoral Leases Act of 1883, although some early selections were made on parts of the Lake Corrong station in the 1870s. In the south of Yarriambiack Shire most early settlers in the Dunmunkle area around Murtoa arrived from South Australia and the Western District (Adler, 1997:8). Gustav and Frederick Degenhardt, Martin Uhe, Herman Volprecht and H.P. Anders tossed for pegging rights over 5 blocks at Marma Lake in 1871 (McIlvena p.29). Around Warracknabeal the massive pastoral run occupied by Scotts since 1844 was broken up into smaller holdings. According to Maroske (1991:22) the first areas selected were those carrying little or no timber but eventually the timbered areas were selected and cleared for cultivation. The vast area held by the Scotts was finally reduced to two, 640 acre pre-emptive sections, which were sold in 1887 (Maroske, 1991:23). To the north of Warrackabeal, under the Mallee Pastoral Leases Act of 1883 land between the 36th parallel and the Murray River were subdivided into huge ‘Mallee Blocks’ rectangular in shape, ranging from 50 to 350 square miles in area. To the south of the 36th parallel land was subdivided into ‘Mallee Allotments’, which ranged in area from 100 to 1,500 acres. Initially, neither the blocks nor the allotments were available for sale. Instead occupiers paid an annual fixed rental to the Government. It was not long, however, before the Mallee Blocks were further subdivided. According to Taylor (1996:56) the year 1885 marked the beginning of a significant change. A Warracknabeal syndicate led by Pharez Phillips bought one of the Mallee Blocks, which was subdivided into 640 acre allotments and put up for sale. The sale (which was illegal) was a partial failure, but it did lead the government to passing an amending 1889 Mallee Act, which allowed people to acquire a freehold of 320 acres. According to Taylor (1996:57): Between 1888 and 1891 the government disposed of 487,300 acres in the Mallee blocks and private subdivisions, with the minister’s permission, totalled about 400,000 acres. As a result of these subdivisions the second phase of selection began in earnest. It marked the beginning of widespread closer settlement north of the vermin-proof fence.7

2.3.3 Closer settlement schemes in the twentieth century Groups and corporations like the Closer Settlement Board, and combinations of public and state agencies advocating Soldier Settlement and Irrigation Schemes promoted more intensive settlement patterns in Yarriambiack Shire in the twentieth century, particularly in the largely unsettled areas to the north and west of the Shire.

7 The origins of the ‘vermin proof fence’ situated along the 36th parallel are discussed in Chapter 4.

16 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Closer Settlement The Closer Settlement Act 1904 defied trends towards larger farms in the Mallee (thousand acres) and Wimmera (eleven hundred acres) (Dingle, 1984:125); Dingle thus identified two contradictory trends – for early selectors who were now land owners to increase the size of their farms (land intensive) and for state sponsored settlers to intensify irrigation and small block farming (a people-intensive policy of the state at this time promoting population). The country towns were the initial beneficiaries from the population oriented policy of the government. The more marginal land north of Yarriambiack Shire tended to see more necessity for targeted settlement schemes. For example, in 1912 the Closer Settlement Board released ‘in 100 acre blocks, several thousand acres’ of what the Weekly Times promoted as ‘first class agricultural and pastoral land close to the township of Beulah’ (Back to Beulah, 1988:53). Despite the activism of the state in promoting closer settlement, the 1915 Royal Commission into Victoria’s closer settlement acts found that the schemes had been a failure (Lake, 1987:3). In essence it recognised that farmers in Australia needed also to be capitalists, and that saddling debt upon men with little capital of their own was a recipe for financial ruin. Despite these lessons, that ‘it was not always a kindness to encourage men of insufficient means to become settlers’, and even in the face of more realistic and efficient proposals for greater investment cooperative industries instead of closer settlement, the romantic notion of ‘landed independence’, coupled with the perceived strategic and political needs of conservative governments, led to the continuation of closer settlement schemes. The most notable of these were to be the Soldier Settlement Schemes, which visited the same ‘years of the hardest struggle’ as a reward for the ‘men of Anzac’. (Lake 1987:7-8) Soldier settlement Soldier Settlement specifically represented the efforts of both State and Commonwealth Governments to deal with the thousands of returned soldiers following the First and Second World Wars, in a manner that recognised their wartime sacrifices, while satisfying the aims of closer settlement policies (see 2.5.1 above). The soldier settlement schemes can be divided into four main categories – the post-Great War urban and rural schemes, and the post-World War Two urban and rural schemes. In general, urban schemes were more successful, and both rural and urban schemes after World War Two were more enduring than the much maligned post1918 disasters. The Discharged Soldier Settlement Act 1917 enabled soldiers to become farmers under seemingly generous terms. A large proportion of the land taken up by soldier settlers after the First World War was in the Mallee. After the Great War (1914-18) and the Second World War (1939-1945), Soldier Settlement schemes became another tool used by government and local authorities to promote closer settlement of the regional areas under the slogan of ‘making a land fit for heroes’. Many returned servicemen however were not always suited to farming life, and many were also settled on marginal land which had not already been selected. Fitzpatrick (1941:280) sums up the general and problematic pattern of state sponsored settlement in the marginal lands of regional Australia after the First World War, particularly in Victoria thus: … men without capital were provided by the state with capital, on loan, sufficient as a rule to bring their blocks to production, but insufficient to enable them to earn enough, as a rule, to pay them wages and to pay the Crown its dues. By World War II over 60 per cent of Victorian settlers had abandoned the land, many of them destitute. Lake (1987:xviii) sums up the soldier settlement scheme as ‘the final phase of the great Australian project to settle the land with a yeoman class’: …a project which had initially required the dispossession of Australia’s original inhabitants – the Aborigines – and a drawn out contest with their successors, the squatters. For eighty years, between 1860 and 1940, vast sums were expended by Australian governments in the promotion

17 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

of a particular brand of rural development. The dream began with free selection, continued with closer settlement and expired in the mire of soldier settlement. (Lake, 1987:xviii)

Figure 9: A soldier settlers hut near Hopetoun in 1922. Source: Taylor.

Surviving Soldier Settlement schemes in Yarriambiack thus tend not surprisingly to date to the more successful World War Two schemes. These include the Soldier Settlement at Murtoa North (1958) (Adler 1997:19) and the Warracknabeal Soldier Settlement (1950) (Maroske, 1991:163-5). The Warracknabeal soldier settlement was a residential estate established on the site of the former sewerage farm, sold by council to the Service Homes Trust in 1947. It was subdivided and avenue names related to the Second World War battles of Menin, Burma, Alamein, Kokoda, Tobruk and Coral (Sea) were approved in 1950. The Murtoa North soldier settlement also dates to the post Second World War period but was an agricultural scheme and irrigation settlement based on the dairy industry with farms of between 95-118 acres each. (Adler 1997:19) Eight families settled there in 1958 and grazed up to 900 cattle on the eight properties. Two of the soldier homes remain and a plaque commemorates both the settlement and the Murtoa North school which operated there for six years servicing its families.

2.3.4 Private settlement schemes As well as government schemes to encourage settlement there were a number of initiatives by private individuals, which included the private subdivision and sale of land such as that attempted by Pharez Phillips, as described above. However, foremost amongst the private settlement schemes were those enacted by Edward Lascelles, a local luminary known as the ‘Father of the Mallee’ for his advocacy for agricultural development and settlement of the northern part of Yarriambiack Shire. Edward Lascelles and his partner, Alfred Douglas, purchased ‘Lake Corrong’ station in 1878 and soon found that pastoral occupation in the Mallee was under threat from pests such as rabbits and drought, with several stations on the verge of collapse. The story of Lascelles and his efforts to eradicate the pests is told in section 4.4. Significantly, the problems of dealing with pests led Lascelles to conclude that closer settlement of the Mallee area was essential. As Taylor (1996:51) explains: After an enormous outlay in destroying [rabbits] and in fencing, Mr Lascelles saw that the only way to keep down this pest was in the encouragement of population. Squatting would not pay in the mallee; farming might’. The immediate future for the southern Mallee appeared to be in closer settlement and agriculture. In 1891 Lascelles set about realising his vision. He subdivided over 26,000 acres of his land into 60 agricultural allotments averaging 480 acres each, while 84 township allotments were carved out of his pre-emptive right. Streets in the town were named after himself, family members and colleagues, while the town itself was named in honour of the Governor of

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Victoria (later first governor-general) Earl Hopetoun who toured the area at its foundation (Taylor, 1996:60). According to Taylor (1996:59) Lascelles ‘secured a form of political insurance’ by cultivating a friendship with the new Governor. This political connection came in handy when Lascelles’ subdivision was criticized in State parliament. However, despite much debate in both houses of parliament his initial subdivisions and later sales were allowed to proceed (Taylor, 1996:60-1). Lascelles was a master of promotion. He arranged for the publication in 1893 of a prospectus entitled The Mallee Country of Victoria and its Wonderful Resources that included illustrations, a map of Hopetoun and advertisements by local businesses and produced detailed full colour- coded map showing vegetation and soil types in the allotments for sale. However, his ‘finest coup’ was convincing Flora Shaw of the London Times to write a feature article on Hopetoun and district. All of this was used by Lascelles to promote Hopetoun in Australia and Britain (Taylor, 1996:61-3) The promotion had its desired effect with increasing numbers of settlers arriving including several from England. Lascelles offered ‘every assistance’ to these new arrivals until they could purchase outright, such as ‘credit, extra seed and any further assistance he required … to carry him over the difficult transition period from selection to farm’ (Taylor, 1996:63). Realising that further development was dependent upon the extension of the railway network he sponsored extension of the railway north to Hopetoun (See section 3.3) and also established an experiment farm to ‘provide a scientific basis for his frequent claims about the productivity of the Mallee’ (see section 4.2) (Taylor, 1996: 60, 63).

2.3.5 The establishment of towns An intrinsic part of the freehold selections that took place in the 1870s was the setting aside of sites for townships. Both rural and township allotments became available, as government policy envisaged rural farmers and townships supporting each other’s development. Many of the first towns in the Shire were carved out of the early pastoral runs. For example, the township of Murtoa was surveyed and established in 1873 just two years after the 1871 selections by the initial settlers. Originally known as ‘Marma Gully’, it formed part of the Longerenong and Ashens pastoral stations and was situated adjacent to Lake Marma, which supplied water to the town. In the same year Surveyor Tuxen conducted the first survey of 24 allotments of another township, which was situated on the Dunmunkle Creek. Originally known as Karkarooc, then Lallat and finally (by 1876) as Rupanyup, the surrounding area was previously part of two pastoral stations – ‘Longerenong’ in the west and ‘Warranooke’ in the east (Teasdale, 1970:8). The township of Minyip was surveyed on 14 July 1875 on land separated from the ‘Kirkwood’ and ‘Sheep Hills’ pastoral stations. Most of the four sections with ten half-acre lots surveyed for the township were sold on 19 October 1875. The township of Warracknabeal, which was part of Scott’s pastoral run was not officially proclaimed until 4 July 1884 (VGG), but the site was already established as an important centre for the surrounding pastoral and farming district, with a police hut erected in Warracknabeal in 1871 (VGG 16/6/1871), as well as sites reserved for police (1872) and school purposes (1873). To the north of Warracknabeal in the former Karkarooc Shire the first officially gazetted township was Goyura, proclaimed in 1889, where a school had opened in 1887. This was at the centre of a farming district established by the first settlers on part of the ‘Lake Corrong’ pastoral run. As noted above, Hopetoun was created by Edward Lascelles on part of his pre- emptive right. In the twentieth century closer settlement, the expansion of railway networks and water supply schemes led to the development of numerous small towns across Yarriambiack Shire. The development of these towns is discussed in later chapters.

19 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

Figure 10: Murtoa Township Allotments 1873.

Figure 11: Hopetoun town lots advertised 1890. Source: National Archives of Australia.

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2.4 Migrating to seek opportunity A marked feature of the history of the Yarriambiack Shire has been its cultural diversity, which is the result of waves of migration beginning in the nineteenth century with the arrival of pastoralists, which were predominantly from Great Britain. Though politically and demographically dominant as a group, British colonists were themselves divided along cultural and religious lines into the English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholics. Contributing to this diversity were the Germans, Aboriginal and Chinese residents of the Shire among other groups of non-British heritage. The especially significant influence of a distinctive German culture however is one of the distinctive and outstanding markers of the cultural heritage of the Shire compared to many other regions in Victoria. Many early arrivals came from South Australia and the Western District. First European settlement sites are associated with the early history of pastoralism in the 1840s and later the foundation of new towns in the 1870s. In Australia’s case, the need for pastoral labourers combined with the desire for new opportunities by the poor of Great Britain and Ireland (Broome 1984:10) and also by agricultural migrants from Germany and traders and labourers from China. Migrant communities were defined particularly by cultural and religious identities carried from the place of origin. These are represented by the maintenance of distinctive cultures and by places such as churches and hotels.

2.4.1 The German Influence Immigrants from the German states were particularly significant in the history of the Ashens Parish and the townships of Murtoa and Minyip and the Dunmunkle Shire. In Ashens county around Murtoa for example, Germans were between a half to one third of the settler population by 1877 (Hammerton, 1997). Many place names testify to the German influence, such as the hamlet of Lubeck. German colonists included farmers from diverse regions of the then German states, but particularly from Hannover, Bremen, Prussia, Saxony and Bavaria. A large proportion of the immigrants from Germany were Wendish, a race of people who lived in isolated areas including Upper Lusatia in Saxony. According to the Wendish Heritage Society of Australia, The Wends are connected with the branch of Western Slavs, which includes the Poles, Czechs and Slovaks. They are distantly related to the Eastern Slavs, including the Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians and to the Southern Slavs, including the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians and Bulgarians. (Wendish Heritage Society of Australia, 2011) ‘Wendish’ was thus a generic umbrella term for a number of peoples, descended from the ‘Western Slavs’ who had been absorbed into the German states by the nineteenth century but, though predominantly German speaking and Lutheran, who still retained some common elements of the pre-Germanic cultural heritage. Among the reasons for emigration for the Wends were economic and agricultural opportunities, and the desire for greater religious freedom, particularly for those who followed ‘unreformed’ Lutheran faith (Wendish Heritage Society of Australia, 2011). As the case of the Wends illustrates, the German cultural and Lutheran religious influence in Yarriambiack Shire was itself diverse – diverse enough for example for there to be two concurrent Lutheran congregations at Murtoa. Many Wimmera selectors were German or Wendish immigrants via South Australia in 1838 when they followed Pastor Kavel in their quest for religious freedom. Pastor August Kavel has been credited with the foundation of Lutheranism in Australia, whose dissent to the reformation of the Lutheran Church as the state church of Prussia led him to immigrate to Australia (Van Abbe, 1967:33-34; see also Darragh & Wuchatsch 1999). German colonists played an important and often overlooked role in the colonisation of Australia. Germans were particularly prominent in exploration, science and the cutting edge of agriculture either in harsh environments like the Mallee-Wimmera or in less conventional

21 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

agricultural enterprises like wine production. The Wimmera region and the hinterland of Melbourne were the primary areas of German settlement in Victoria in the 1860s and 1870s. (Jürgen Tampke, 2006:3, 85) Two thirds of German colonists to Australia went to the countryside (Tampke, 2006:2). Agents from Australia brought over 30,000 German speaking immigrants to Australia in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. (Tampke, 2006:3) Given the numerical significance of the German colonists in the area, it is impossible to write a history of the shire without coming across a host of German names and families, both of the original early European settlers and of those later immigrants drawn from the Germany by the position of their kin on the Wimmera. Among the most prominent families in Murtoa were the Rabl family. Heinrich Rabl was born in the kingdom of Bavaria where he graduated in medicine at Munich. Thence he travelled via Sumatra, finally settling in Murtoa in 1885. He married into another significant and earlier settler family, the Deganhardts when he wed Helene Deganhardt that year (Adler, 1997:12). Their house, begun in 1897, still stands prominently overlooking the gateway to Marma Lake reserve, to whose beautification they were also dedicated (Hammerton, 1997:110). Such was his contribution to the development of Murtoa that ‘Rabl Avenue’ at Lake Marma was named in memory of Helene and Heinrich, who died in the great Influenza Epidemic of 1919, a particular tribute to the town’s doctor given the recent war which had fanned anti-German sentiment across Australia. A parkland north of the swimming pool was also designed in the form of a Union Jack by the Rabl family, presumably as a marker of their loyalty to their adopted home in the British Empire of which Australia was so loyal a member at the time. Through their association with the Lutheran church, Germans also played a large role in establishing educational and other cultural institutions in the area such as Murtoa’s first school, and the Concordia Lutheran College (see Chapter 7). In Minyip, the Lutheran Church school was important in preserving German culture, with morning classes in German on ‘religious instruction, reading, writing and grammar’ (Members of St John’s Minyip, 1974:7). German instruction ended in 1916 however with the edict from the Minister for Education banning the use of the German language in schools, including church schools. The Great War of 1914-18 and its associated anti-German sentiment severely constrained the influence of German culture and heritage across Victoria and Australia.

2.4.2 The British Influence Various British identities such as Scots, Welsh, English and Irish were maintained through distinctive celebrations and associations such as the Minyip Caledonian Society. Religious associations were also a crucial part of maintaining distinctive cultural identities, such as the Scottish and Gaelic churches, or in the case of the Irish, the Roman Catholic Church which in Australia was ‘virtually an Irish church’. A distinctive British identity which sought to unite the peoples of the British Isles and ‘Greater Britain’ overseas was formed and maintained particularly through the symbols of Empire, such as Empire Day and the British Monarchy and Royal Family, with celebrations for the Queen’s Birthday and other milestones in the life of the Royal Family such as weddings and funerals. Douglas Cole has called this a ‘Britannic Nationalism’ that united British peoples around the Empire, symbolised by the overarching symbol of the British Monarch (Cannadine 2003; Paul 2004). Places such as the Murtoa Rotunda commemorate royal lives and rituals. Queen Victoria was a potent symbol of British and imperial identity, and the Rotunda was built in the Queen’s memory and a plaque added in memory of her successor Edward VII. Despite the growing emphasis on a unified ‘British’ identity, particularly in the push for a ‘White Australia’, the individual British cultural groups also maintained their individual cultural identity through groups such as the Caledonian societies which represented the Scottish heritage.

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Figure 12: Procession including Union and Scottish flags and Britannia in Bell Street, Beulah 1918. Source: North of the Netting.

2.4.3 The Chinese contribution Thousands of Chinese joined the international rush to the Australian goldfields in the 1850s. Of these, not all were ‘sojourners’ who moved on once the gold was finished. Many Chinese moved throughout Victoria, establishing businesses and contributing to the social and economic life of Victoria, even against the draconian and discriminatory regime of the ‘White Australia Policy’ in the twentieth century. (Fitzgerald 2007) Market gardens were a particular area of Chinese endeavour, with Chinese market gardens a recurring feature of country towns. In 1901, 43.4% of all market gardeners in Victoria were Chinese (Loh, 1985:10). Yarriambiack Shire was no exception. Alfred Fong Tong for example grew and sold vegetables in Warracknabeal for over 50 years from the 1890s – he is remembered in the street bearing his name close to the Yarriambiack Creek. Loh notes that the Chinese ‘contributed to rural development by clearing land for settlement, particularly in the Wimmera’ (Loh, 1985:10). ‘Chinaman’s Paddock’ near Murtoa is a likely reminder of the contribution of Chinese colonists to this rural development.

Figure 13: Alfred Fong Tong, Chinese market gardener at Warracknabeal 1890- 1940. Source: Loh, 1985

In Murtoa, two Chinese gardeners, Ah Him and Ah Kee were among the early colonists in 1877 (Hammerton, 1997:17). At Minyip Chinese men were among the gangs who worked clearing the land of box and buloke trees. Several Chinese selected land in the Dunmunkle Shire, with the shire’s 1888 rate books recording seven Chinese ratepayers – Wong Hee farmer, Ah Covey merchant, Ah Yung storekeeper, Ah Sing, Ah Mooey and Hong Li gardeners and Cum Moon shoemaker (Minyip & District Historical Society, 1995:30). Many other Chinese colonists were not land owners, but lived in areas like the so-called ‘Chinese Camp’ at Minyip, an area west of the Railway Station on either side of Kewell Road (Minyip & District Historical Society, 1985:30).

23 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

The Chinese contributed greatly and given their relatively low population towards the social development of Victoria through their charitable and economic activities (Loh, 1985). Among the notable Chinese natives of the Shire was shoemaker Cum Moon’s grandson, Leslie Henry Kew Ming (1897-1960) of Minyip who was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the trenches at the Battle of Ypres in the Great War where he fought in the Australian Infantry Brigade. In 1928 he also made football history by kicking a record punt of 74 yards and a drop kick of 73 yards at Echuca (Minyip & District Historical Society, 1985:31).

HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Peopling Victoria’s places and landscapes include: Living as Victoria’s original inhabitants  Mac ‘Jowely’ Memorial, Hopetoun Cemetery  ‘Blackfellows Waterhole’, Rupanyup The pastoralists  Longerenong Homestead (HO35)  Lake Corrong Homestead (HO11) Patterns of settlement  Glenwillan homestead and stables  Murtoa North Soldier Settlement memorial Migrating to seek Opportunity  St John’s Lutheran Church, Minyip (HO26)  Rabl family house (HO28) and Degenhardt family house (Former), Murtoa

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3 CONNECTING VICTORIANS BY TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

INTRODUCTION The remote location of Yarriambiack Shire made transport and communications an essential and particularly important theme in the development of the area and the viability and vibrancy of its communities. As well as covering transport, this chapter contains sections specifically on wayside places, postal services and newspapers, which were significant themes in the Shire’s history on top of paths, stock routes, roads and railways. This chapter incorporates the following Victorian Historical Themes:  Establishing pathways  Linking Victorians by rail  Establishing and maintaining communications  Linking Victorians by road

HISTORY

3.1 Establishing pathways

3.1.1 Establishing coach services Before the railways, coach services on the roads were the principal mode of transport for regional Victorians and Australians. … outside the cities, there were great areas of sparse population which, without railways, would have had small means of communication with the cities and the ports, had it not been for a private enterprise which became famous in Australian song and story. This was the coaching firm of Cobb & Co. (Fitzpatrick, 1941: 168) Cobb & Co’s Royal Line of Coaches ran a Stawell, Longerenong and Murtoa line in 1878. The coach left Stawell Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3am; and left Murtoa to Stawell Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 4am. The journey took over nine hours and the fare was 10/- (Adler, 1997:33). Roadside inns Some of the earliest buildings constructed in Yarriambiack Shire were the roadside inns that were established along the tracks established between the pastoral stations and the presence of these buildings often led to the development of towns. In the 1860s ‘Woolcocks Shanty’ was established at the crossroads of what is now the Donald-Horsham and Stawell-Warracknabeal roads (Cromie, 1972). The township of Minyip later developed around the site of the shanty.

3.1.2 Establishing a road network Many of the early roads in Yarriambiack Shire followed the routes of early tracks, often those that connected the early pastoral homesteads. For example, what is now the Longerenong- Warracknabeal Road is said to follow the track that once led from the Scott’s pastoral run to Kewell and Longerenong stations in the south. The Henty Highway is also said to follow another of these early routes (Armstrong, pers. comm. 2011). As the land was subdivided in the selection era new roads were usually laid along the edges of the surveyed blocks, leading to the distinctive grid-pattern that was overlaid upon the ‘desire-

25 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

lines’ of the earlier network of tracks. A distinctive feature of the east-west roads on either side of Yarriambiack Creek is the extreme width of the road reservation – according to locals this is because these roads, which provided access to the Creek and were used as droving routes, needed to accommodate large numbers of sheep being herded at various times (Armstrong, pers. comm. 2011). Although a Central Roads Board was established in 1854 it was abolished in 1857 and a series of government Acts effectively decentralised responsibility for road construction and maintenance to local authorities (The local ‘road boards’ and their successors, local councils, are discussed in Chapter 6) and little funds were made available. In the Mallee and Wimmera, as in other parts of Victoria, road making was a difficult and costly procedure, and few Shire councils had sufficient means to provide satisfactory roads. The state of Victoria’s roads led to the creation, in 1913, of the Country Roads Board to provide long-term loans to shire councils and act as a road construction authority, initially for roads declared as Main Roads – one of these was what is now the Stawell-Warracknabeal Road. The Board divided the State into ten districts, which were ranked according to need. The Dimboola Road bridge, erected in 1927 by the CRB over the Yarriambiack Creek at Warracknabeal, is an early example of the works carried out by the Board. The formation of the Country Roads Board eased the burden on local councils and led to significant improvements in the road network. However, it was soon recognised that development of main roads alone would not be sufficient to provide access for farmers to railways. Consequently, the Development Roads Act was ratified in 1918. This provided for roads that connected settlers with railway stations, which were to be funded by the CRB and then maintained by Councils. Consequently, the CRB worked closely with the Closer Settlement Board and local councils to construct new roads, including at least one arterial road, whenever the Closer Settlement Board opened up a new area for sub-division (Anderson, 1994:62) In the mid 1930s new legislation enabled the Country Roads Board to plant trees along roadsides and by 1937 over 8,000 trees had been planted throughout the State. The CRB consequently undertook planting of avenues of trees on the main approaches to the key towns within the Shire including Minyip, Warracknabeal and Rupanyup. The species used exclusively were Sugar Gums (Eucalyptus cladocalyx), which, as noted in Chapter 1, had been introduced into the area in the late nineteenth century and used extensively in parks, reserves and as a street tree (Refer also to chapter 7).

3.2 Post offices and telecommunications Before the formation of the Postmaster General’s Department following Federation in 1901, postal services were privately or state run and were often situated in private homes, local stores or the railway station. At Minyip for example, Matthew Southern opened the first post office in his store in 1875 – at this time the mail came by coach three times weekly. After 1885 this changed to daily by train. The post office became ‘official’ in 1887 with the appointment of a postmistress, Miss King. Post offices also became important social centres as well as markers of a town’s success and prospects. Once Hopetoun in the Mallee had been linked by rail, the Melbourne train carrying newspapers and mail arrives each evening at 8.30. The post office and paper shop reopened for the event and became meeting places as people gathered to await their letters and news of the outside world. (Dingle, 1984:129) For example the first post office in Rupanyup was named Karkarook in 1875 and had unofficial status until 1910 when an official post office building was constructed (Teasdale, 1970:35). In 1909 307,000 items passed through the post office, compared to 48,524

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letters in 1884. These figures demonstrate the historic centrality of the post office and postal service in nineteenth and twentieth century communications. The formalisation of the postal services and the growth of towns were followed by the erection of suitable post office premises. After Federation in 1901, the Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for postal services and embarked on a major building program that saw many new permanent post offices established in towns throughout Australia. For many people in rural areas these post offices were the first tangible symbol of Federation and Yarriambiack Shire is notable for the number of post offices that were constructed in the first decade after Federation. For example, the Minyip Post Office, built in 1905, is believed to be one of the first post offices in Victoria constructed by the Commonwealth. It was followed by new post offices at Warracknabeal (opened in 1907) and Rupanyup and Beulah (both 1911), as well as Hopetoun and Woomelang by the 1920s.

Figure 14: 'New post office, Warracknabeal' c1910. Source: Robertson 1910.

Telegraph and telephones Telegraphic communication was established between Melbourne and Sydney in 1884, heralding, it seemed, ‘the annihilation of space and time’ at last over the vast Australian continent. (Fitzpatrick, 1941:165) The establishment of effective communications was another aspect of the development of society after the gold rushes had brought so dramatic an increase in the population of the colony. By 1889 Australia boasted nearly 40,000 miles of telegraph line, compared to 30,000 each in Canada and Great Britain. On a per-capita basis, Australians sent more telegraph messages than Britain, or even the United States with its 250,000 miles of telegraph lines (Fitzpatrick, 1941:165). Once, again, the state rather than private enterprise came to dominate this vital sector of the economy and society. The Victorian government assumed control of the infant telephone system in 1887. (Fitzpatrick, 1941:165) and as townships grew telephone exchanges were provided at post offices. In 1905 at the new Minyip post office there were 9 subscribers, and continuous service opened out of a purpose built Minyip exchange room by 1915. (Minyip Heritage Plaques:65). Some more remote districts took longer to obtain their service - the telephone exchange established at Yaapeet in 1920 following five years of agitation from the local Progress Association (Fisher, 1966: 13).

3.3 Connecting Victorians by rail As previously noted, railways, alongside water supply schemes, were a critical piece of infrastructure which facilitated agricultural development and settlement in Yarriambiack Shire. As Taylor (1996:63) notes it was ‘recognised early that subdivision of the Mallee blocks must be accompanied by extension of the rail network’.

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The bulk of colonial investment and borrowing in the nineteenth century was based around the railways – in Victoria’s case £29 million of £37 million of loan expenditure was sunk in the railways in the five years from 1884 to 1889. This compared to £6 million on water supply during the same period. (Fitzpatrick, 1941:157) As Fitzpatrick argues: … for though the great wheat areas were opened to the farmer by a variety of ingenuity – irrigation, Mallee-rolling or ‘Mullenising’, the stump-jump plough, the stripper harvester, the breeding of suitable wheats for the climate and conditions – the effective establishment of a great agricultural industry was altogether impracticable without railway services to carry the farmers’ produce over the hundreds of miles between the outback settlements and the mills and seaports. And in each of the Australasian colonies this task devolved upon the state. (Fitzpatrick, 1941:157) Most of the railways in the Shire are testament to this period of intensive investment and construction of railways. By 1890, the Australian colonies had 10,800 miles of railways and public debt of £150 million. The Victorian government spent 78% of its total borrowings to 1891 on railways. (Fitzpatrick, 1941:158) The high capital costs and sparse populations of the country meant that the state, rather than private or local enterprise, was primarily responsible for the building of this critical transport infrastructure. Its critical nature however meant that local communities, through the formation of railway leagues, or wealthy individuals such as Edward Lascelles naturally took a prominent role in lobbying the state for the railways to come their way. In the inter-war and post-war periods, the increasing grain harvest also provided the impetus for increased transport infrastructure connected to the railways, particularly for grain storage and transfer. The centrality of the railways in the economic life of the shire can be seen by the extensive infrastructure that accompanied the railway – sheep and cattle yards, and goods shed and platform, grain shed platform, dairy produce shed and weighbridges (Teasdale, 1970:37). Railways not only brought increased and easier trade in agricultural produce, but also new people – not least among whom were the railway workers and their families who were often accommodated in ‘railway houses’ like those at Warracknabeal, Hopetoun and Murtoa.

3.3.1 Establishing the railway network in the nineteenth century Much of Yarriambiack Shire’s railway infrastructure dates to the late nineteenth century. Following the extravagant expenditure on the construction of the Victorian Government’s first inland railways during the 1850s and 60s, it was to be almost a decade before railway expansion resumed (Museum Victoria website). The next phase of railway development, lasting throughout the 1870s, saw the completion of additional trunk routes or main lines from Melbourne to regional centres to the east, north, west and south-west including Wodonga, Sale and Horsham (Museum Victoria website). The first line in Yarriambiack Shire to open was the railway from Melbourne to Murtoa via Stawell (part of the route that would eventually extend to Dimboola and Horsham and then on to Adelaide), which opened in 1878 (Adler, 1997:48). The 1880s was a decade of economic prosperity and growth in Victoria and saw the greatest period of railway building in the colony. Between 1882 and 1892 an additional 1548 miles of line were opened, more than doubling that built over the previous three decades (Lee, 2010:80). The new lines were constructed in accordance with two Acts, one passed in December 1880 that authorised the construction of 23 railways and the second, passed in December 1884 that proposed over 60 new railways. The 1884 Act, officially known as the Railway Construction Act became infamous as the ‘Octopus Act’ because it authorised railways in almost every electorate in the colony. As Lee (2010:93) concludes it was ‘the most emphatic expression of the boom time mentality in public investment’.

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Amongst other things, the Octopus Act authorised the construction of branch lines from Murtoa to Warracknabeal, via Minyip and from Lubeck to Rupanyup. The former line opened in May 1886, while the latter was completed one year later in June 1887. By 1893 the Warracknabeal line had been extended to Beulah and finally to Hopetoun in March 1894. The extension of the line to Hopetoun was strongly supported by Edward Lascelles who was mindful that his township subdivision would ‘wither without a railway’ and hoped that it would be the first stage of an extension through to Mildura. To this end he offered to build the section from Beulah to Hopetoun himself. However, after commencing construction he encountered financial difficulties after the collapse of banks as a consequence of the economic depression in the early 1890s and work ground to a halt in 1893. Eventually, the extension was completed by the Government after Lascelles offered to surrender some of his land and hand over the completed work (Taylor, 1996).

3.3.2 Extending the railway network in the twentieth century By the beginning of the twentieth century the Victorian country railway network was largely complete with the exception of the north-western Mallee. The railway to Mildura had been mooted since the establishment of the Chaffey Irrigation Scheme in the late 1880s. Following a Royal Commission in 1896, which was critical of the district’s inadequate transport the question of the route to Mildura was decided – not as hoped by Lascelles extending from Hopetoun, but instead leading from the terminus at Birchip. The first section to Woomelang was completed in 1899 and the final sections to Mildura via Hattah, Nowingi, and Yatpool opened in 1903 (Lee, 2007:128). In Yarriambiack Shire the railway led to the development of the small townships of Woomelang, Lascelles, Turiff, Speed and Tempy (see below). Three more extensions effectively completed the railway network in Yarriambiack Shire. In 1909 the Rupanyup line was extended to Marnoo. Five years later Yaapeet was connected to the railhead at Rainbow (the branch line from Dimboola to Jeparit had earlier opened between 1894 and 1899) and, finally, in 1924 the line from Hopetoun was extended to Patchewollock. Although there was local agitation for further extensions from Yaapeet and Patchewollock they never eventuated.

3.3.3 Railways and township development The nineteenth century railways stimulated the development of the existing towns of Murtoa, Minyip, Rupanyup, Warracknabeal and Hopetoun, which developed into regional centres. The growth of these towns is discussed further in Chapter 5. New towns also developed around the railway sidings, for example, at Lubeck and Sheep Hills. The twentieth century extensions, on the other hand, co-incided with the closer settlement initiatives described in the previous chapter and were the result of settlers demanding ‘facilities and services that other towns took for granted’. As a result, new townships soon sprang up around the railway stations. For example, along the Mildura line the township of Woomelang was proclaimed in 1900 as the destination of the first extension from Birchip. By 1911 it had grown into a bustling town with a population of 400. Further along the line a township site was surveyed in the Minapre district and the first lots sold in 1895. However, little development occurred when it became clear that the railway would not be constructed before 1900. Once the railway was opened the town underwent a revival with demand for allotments on which a number of business premises were built. By 1907 the township’s name reverted to Lascelles, the town entered a ‘building boom’ and emerged as the district service centre (Taylor, 1996:95). At Patchewollock, the railhead when completed was some distance from the small town that had emerged to serve the soldier settlers that began arriving after World War I. The problem was solved by moving the town – land was subdivided opposite the station and by 1926 fourteen new buildings had been erected and the old hall moved to opposite the station (Taylor, 1996:149).

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Railways also influenced the pattern of development within towns. For example, at Murtoa the initial survey of the town envisaged that it would grow around the lake reserve as its central geographic focus and the early commercial centre was centred upon Duncan and Marma Streets. However the arrival of the railway in 1878 shifted the focus of development eastwards and the northern end of McDonald Street thereafter became the commercial centre of the town.

3.3.4 Railways and water supply Trains and water supply were also interconnected as in the nineteenth century droughts, trains were also used to carry water to affected areas. Railways also required water and associated infrastructure to supply water to steam engines, such as the 1886 railway water towers at both Murtoa and Warracknabeal and the 1912 water tower at Minyip. (Dunmunkle Sketchbook:59; Cromie) The Railway Water Towers at Murtoa and Warracknabeal were built in 1886 to service steam trains. Shortly after, the Warracknabeal tower was also used to supply the town with water, a function it fulfilled until about 1917 (Warracknabeal Historical Society, 2011).

3.3.5 The railways and transporting of grain Lee (2007:110) notes the considerable impact that rail transport had upon the development of the grain industry in Victoria. As we shall see in the following chapter, the creation of small farms concludes that: The growth of the wheat industry was the most lasting ecological and economic result of the railways in rural Victoria. It remains into the twenty-first century the last rural industry still dependent on rail transport.

Figure 15: Rupanyup railway station and yards during the 1892 harvest. Source: Teasdale 1970.

Figure 16: Wheat stacks by the railway at Lascelles 1911. Source: Robertson 1911.

Wheat was originally packed in bags for transport by horse and cart to railway stations, where it was transferred to trains. As wheat production continued to grow a more efficient system was required and the Victorian Government decided to introduce a bulk handling system, which had been used for some time in New South Wales and overseas. Following its establishment in 1935 the Victorian Grain Elevators Board (GEB) planned a network of 160 concrete silos in country locations, connected by rail to the main shipping terminal at Geelong. Construction of

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the new silos began in 1937 and, despite delays, most were finished by the end of 1939. In Yarriambiack Shire one of the first silos was erected at Tempy, and the GEB then continued in a southerly direction along the line. At Warracknabeal, the GEB used the existing Thomas Bros silos and constructed new silos adjacent to the railway. By the outbreak of the Second World War there was a worldwide glut of wheat, and Australia soon had a massive surplus which it was unable to export. The Murtoa Stick Shed was constructed in 1941 as part of the response to this ‘emergency’ deficit in grain storage during the war (National Trust 2011). The massive growth in wheat production after World War II led to the expansion of facilities. After the record season of 1953-54 the GEB began to construct steel annexe bins at most silos. For example, at Hopetoun new bins were added in 1956 and 1963 to cope with an increase in the wheat harvest in that district from 650,000 bushels in 1956-7 to 922,000 bushels in 1963. In 1963 Beulah became a major grain centre with the construction to the north of the town of a new complex with a capacity of 1 million bushels and a new railway siding. At the same time Beulah became the first elevator in Victoria to receive bulk barley (Taylor, 1996:227).

Heritage place – Grain silos

The tall reinforced concrete grain silos constructed in the late 1930s are an iconic feature of the cultural landscape of Yarriambiack Shire. Towering above the flat, open landscape they herald the arrival of townships or districts long before you enter them and are a tangible and powerful symbol of the importance of the themes of grain production and railways to the historic development of the Shire and the close relationship between these themes. Pictured: Sheep Hills grain silos (Context, 2011)

3.4 Country newspapers Newspapers flourished in Victoria’s colonial towns. Colonial Victoria enjoyed the highest per capita number of newspapers in the world, and it was not uncommon even for country towns to have competing local papers. The earliest newspaper in the area was the Dunmunkle Standard based at Murtoa from 1878-1974; other newspapers included the Rupanyup Chronicle 1880-81; Rupanyup Spectator 1885-1954; Northern Argus 1891-1902; Hopetoun Courier from 1892; the Beulah Record and Mallee Advocate 1894-1914 (Kirkpatrick, 2010:259). Rupanyup, Warracknabeal and Minyip were among those country towns who acquired new newspapers in the 1880s newspaper boom (Kirkpatrick, 2010:60). At this time, the number of newspaper centres in Victoria rose from 75 at the beginning of 1880 to 117 by the beginning of 1890 – an expansion in which the opening up of the Wimmera-Mallee played its part. Figure 17: The Warracknabeal Post offices in 1911. Source: Robertson 1911

The most successful continuous local newspaper has been the Warracknabeal Herald commenced in 1885 (Kirkpatrick, 2010:259). In 1899 it was run by Sydney Simpson, later a

31 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

member of the House of Representatives for the Wimmera District, whose ‘liberal and broad minded editorship’ gave it a wide readership (Robertson 1911). The Herald however was not without competition, with the Warracknabeal Post established in 1908 claiming to serve ‘the news of the day after the city style rather than that of the usual country paper’ (Robertson 1911). In 1902 the Warracknabeal Herald absorbed the Northern Argus and was later run by the notable local newspaper dynasty, the Ward family. The Minyip Guardian commenced in 1885; the office was built in 1886 and the front rebuilt in 1918 (Heritage Plaques:11). At Murtoa the Dunmunkle Standard began in 1878. (Adler, 1997:33) The first Beulah paper was published out of an office near the railway station in 1894, selling 1000 copies on its first day (Back to Beulah, 1988:46). The Rupanyup Spectator was founded in 1885 (Teasdale, 1970:44). Prior to this The Chronicle had been the town’s first paper in 1878. The Rupanyup Spectator was bought and discontinued by the Warracknabeal Herald in 1952. In Hopetoun, the Courier newspaper fan from 1892, with its 1900 office now used by the local Historical Society.

HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Connecting Victorians by transport and communications include:

Establishing pathways  Avenues of mature Sugar Gums lining the main roads leading into Murtoa, Rupanyup, and Warracknabeal  Dimboola Road bridge, Warracknabeal

Post Offices and telecommunications  Early twentieth century post offices at Beulah (HO3), , Hopetoun, Minyip (HO24), Rupanyup, Warracknabeal (HO65) and Woomelang (HO72)

Connecting Victorians by rail  Railway station complexes at Beulah (HO4), Murtoa (HO40), Minyip (HO25), Patchewollock (HO45), Rupanyup (HO50), Warracknabeal (HO66), and Woomelang (HO73)  Marmalake/Murtoa Grain Store (HO39)  Railway staff houses at Hopetoun, Lascelles, Murtoa, Warracknabeal, and Woomelang  Grain silos throughout the Shire

Country newspapers  Newspaper offices at Hopetoun, Murtoa and Warracknabeal

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4. TRANSFORMING AND MANAGING LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION Primary production passed through several main phases and sub-themes in Yarriambiack Shire. In the pastoral and late colonial eras, large farms and holdings predominated up to the early twentieth century. Closer settlement saw the development of smaller wheat and sheep farms in the inter-war period. A significant boom in the grain, particularly wheat, sector occurred after World War II. The significant increase in wheat production after WWII generated increased prosperity in towns and led to the erection of new facilities such as the large 1963 silo Complex at Beulah (Taylor, 1996:225-227). Water – its provision, flows and reservoirs – had always been of central importance to human settlement of the area since Aboriginal occupation, and this centrality did not change with the area’s colonisation by new settlers. The demands of increased agricultural production and population only made new methods of water supply and management more urgent as colonists faced a series of droughts. Ad-hoc collection of water proved insufficient, and government assistance facilitated more concerted local irrigation works in the 1880s-90s, which commenced construction of one of the largest water supply systems in Australia, the Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Water Supply System. In the early twentieth century the state took a more direct role through the State River and Water Commission, which developed and extended the system to cover almost the whole of Yarriambiack Shire. In the 1990s, water management was devolved to the respective catchment authorities, with increasing concern for the rationalisation as well as marketisation of water resources. Intensive agriculture and the channel based irrigation system had also been challenged by soil and land degradation which led to erosion and dust storms among other problems. Pest and vermin control also became a significant land management issue as farmers battled waves of pests such as mice, rabbits and locusts. Numerous attempts have been made to solve these problems, from the ‘rabbit-proof fence’ to experimental farming techniques and new water supply systems. This chapter incorporates the Victorian Historic Themes:  Living off the land  Grazing and raising livestock  Farming  Exploiting other mineral, forest and water resources  Transforming the land and waterways.

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HISTORY

4.1 Grazing and raising livestock Grazing and livestock, in particular sheep and cattle, dominated the pastoral phase of the area’s history up to the 1870s in the south of the Shire, and well into the 1880s and 1890s in the middle to northern areas.

4.1.1 Sheep Sheep were an integral part of the pastoral industry undertaken by the first European colonists. A shepherd’s hut located at 41 Lake Street at Murtoa dated back to the 1850s or earlier (Hammerton 1997:15). Douglas McPherson and William Taylor were among the pastoral squatters who introduced sheep to the region from the Moorabool (Adler 1997:15). They took up the Ashens and later Longerenong runs. Even as wheat and grains became the dominant agricultural activity in the area, sheep farming continued to be undertaken. By 1936, there were over a million sheep in the Mallee, with wool and prime lamb production long an integral part of Mallee farming regimes alongside dryland cropping (Hicks 1988:117; Agriculture Victoria 1995:1). Figure 18: Sheep sales at Minyip. Source: Cromie 1972.

The raising of sheep is illustrated by the ubiquitous shearing sheds found throughout Yarriambiack Shire, typically a gabled structure with frame built of local timber and clad in corrugated iron. At Lake Corrong a shearing shed built by pastoralist Peter McGinnis in the 1860s was among the older sheds and sheep dips across the area (Hicks 1988:7). Another of the earliest surviving examples is the former Kewell or Davey family shearing shed, reputedly built in the 1840s, where up to 100,000 sheep were shorn annually (Curkpatrick, 1983:13). An unusual example is a shearing shed near Woomelang, which due to materials shortages after World War II was constructed using recycled kersosene tins. Shearers included a large contingent of international seasonal labourers on the ‘world circuit’ ranging from Australia and Argentina to America and England (Hicks 1988:12). Workers accommodation, often alongside the shearing sheds, was provided on some farms. Figure 19: Drafting sheep at Lubeck c.1930. Source: State Library of Victoria.

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4.1.2 Horses Horses were bred for a variety of purposes, including for farm work, transport and racing. Horse racing was a popular local pastime, with turf clubs meeting at Lascelles from 1909 and Woomelang by 1911. Horse parades were a common feature of agricultural shows displaying the progeny of local studs (Taylor 1996:110). Figure 20: James Carroll with a prize Clydesdale at Warracknabeal c.1911. Source: Robertson 1911

Clydesdales were bred in the Warracknabeal area from the mid-nineteenth century. Clydesdale horse teams were used widely in wheat farming. The Petersons of Kellalac were among the farmers who also became well known as breeders of the horse (Rose 1999:19). The greatest period of development of Clydesdale horses in Australia was in the first thirty years of the twentieth century. Before this, Victoria became the centre of Clydesdale breeding of horses from Scotland (Commonwealth Clydesdale Society 2012). By 1917, the ‘action and general symmetry’ of J. Bunge’s horse Dalmore won championships of the yard at the Royal Melbourne Show (Priestly 1967:75). In farming, horse and man formed a working bond on the land before mechanisation: As his constant companions in the paddocks all his working days, the farmer respected his horses for their strength and endurance, and loved them for their whims and personality. For more than fifty years, horse teams treading the furrows or plodding the dusty roads set the rhythm by which the district worked and moved (Priestly 1967:74). However, the increasing use of tractors led to a decline in the use of horses by the end of the 1930s (Priestly, 1967:75) Figure 21: ‘Death knell of the horse’. An early IHC tractor at McDonald’s farm at Laen. Source: Cromie 1972.

4.2 Cropping and mixed farming Living and working on farms is a major theme in the history of Yarriambiack Shire. Farming also provided the basis for rural township enterprise and industry. Farming came to be increasingly important from the establishment of towns in the 1870s onwards as these towns and closer settlement were conceived of as essentially farming-based communities. Thereafter, the Wimmera became one of Australia’s major grain growing regions, with a particular emphasis on wheat, as wheat production shifted from the coastal districts of Australia to its inland districts (Dunsdorfs, 1956:185).

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By 1880 most of the Wimmera was cleared and used for grazing or wheat production (Amor & Panagiotopoulos, 1989:3). Agricultural development expanded following the building of the railways in the 1880s and 1890s, but the wheat industry in particular struggled with declining yields until the introduction of new varieties and fallowing practices in the early twentieth century, with yields finally increasing from 1903-1911 (Amor & Panagiotopoulos, 1989:3-4). The Longerenong Agricultural College was the site of many experiments into different grains and practices which contributed to the agricultural prosperity of the region. Consolidation of the irrigation trusts and expanded irrigation works in the early twentieth century also drove further expansion which in turn demanded more impressive storage and transport infrastructure from the 1930s to post-war periods. Farmhouses are significant indicators of the importance of farming to the history of Yarriambiack Shire, and are dealt with further in Section 4.

4.2.1 The rise of grain Grain growing expanded initially into the Wimmera-Mallee area with the development of cheap clearing facilities in the 1880s and 1890s. Chinese labourers were instrumental in clearing land in the Dunmunkle area, while the mulleniser and Mallee roller were among the technological revolution that enabled clearing northwards (Garden, 1989: 235). In the nineteenth century, farms increased substantially in number and size, which softened but did not fully alleviate the affects of a declining yield driven by the exhaustion of soils (Dunsdorfs, 1956:185; see also Sydenham, 1991:21). Declining yields combined with government policies encouraging small non-capitalised farmers led to farms accumulating in the hands of creditors at a time when investment in machinery became critical. The rise of the grain industry was tied to the transport infrastructure – railways were needed to carry the grain to the ports and the ever faster clippers linking Australia with the European, particularly British, markets (Sydenham, 1991:20). The provision of infrastructure, combined with the critical solution of the yield problem with the introduction of new seed varieties such as Farrer’s ‘Federation’ strain, and farming practices such as fallowing, driven by state supported experimental farming, let to a period of rapid growth in grain production where both acreage and yield grew between 1896-1930, particularly in Victoria and South Australia (Dunsdorfs, 1956:187-259; Sydenham, 1991:23-4). Storage space at railway sidings became a greater issue due to the sustained surplus and increase in marketable quantities of wheat in this period and this led to the introduction of bulk handling of wheat in the 1930s as discussed in Chapter 4. At the same time, the depopulation of the wheat area was partly linked to increased mechanisation and the decline in labour needs (Dunsdorfs, 1956:488). This was a marked trend in the 1930s-50s, with the gradual replacement of horse-drawn implements with machines and tractors reducing seeding time and allowing larger acreages (Amor & Panagiotopoulos, 1989:4). In the post-war era the consolidation of larger farms became an established trend, with the average holding increasing in area by 19% between 1959 and 1987. The area of total farms devoted to crops at any one time also rose from 17% to 33% during this period. This increase in production however was in large part a response to declining returns, with concerns over soil structure and fertility, and falling commodity prices from the 1970s plunging the wheat farming sector into ongoing crisis (Amor & Panagiotopoulos, 1989:7-16). This culminated in the imposition of wheat quotas in 1968, which led ultimately to diversification and the increase in area of crops other than wheat. These broader range of crops included barley, field lupins, rapeseed, chickpeas, faba beans, oats and lentils (Amor & Panagiotopoulos, 1989:16).

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Figure 21: Arrival of wheat at Murtoa 1879.

Figure 2 Trucking wheat in the Wimmera, 1949. Source: State Library of Victoria.

Figure 3 Inside the Murtoa Stick Shed c.1940-50. Source: State River and Water Commission.

37 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

Such has been the significance of wheat as a historical theme in the Shire that several monuments to the industry have also been erected by the community. These include the Farrer Monument, Minyip (1935) and the Wheatlands Agricultural Machinery Museum on the Henty Highway. Wheatlands Machinery Museum houses a large collection of historical machinery used in farming. It features tractors and machinery used in the local grain industry, many of which are still working. Every Easter a Vintage Machinery Rally is held when much of the collection is exhibited as well as visiting machinery (Warracknabeal Historical Society, 2011).

4.2.2 Experimentation and developing agricultural knowledge Lascelles’ experimental farm (Taylor, 1996:60) was the subject of a colonial ministerial visit in 1894 (Argus, 10 January 1894), where ministers were shown areas of the Mallee irrigated for settlement by Mr Lascelles near Hopetoun. Lascelles had, according to one correspondent to the Argus , ‘spent thousands of pounds in improvements; alone and single:handed he has paid for miles of, channels that formed artificial lakes, made embankments to take ad vantage of' natural depressions’ (Argus 5 August 1892). This area included an ‘experimental orchard and farm’. In the twentieth century, the State Land Department also engaged in more centrally planned agricultural experiments. Major advances in technology and scientific knowledge took place in the 1930s, but their impact was often not felt on a more widespread scale until after 1945. Knowledge of soil and farming was spread form the 1930s through public campaigns such as the ‘Better Farming Train’ that toured Victoria, including the Mallee, and by Department of Agriculture research stations (Dingla 1984:194-196).. Collins of Hopetoun and Pearce of Woomelang won prizes for barrel medic pastures. The ley system increased yields and protein content. The first aerial spraying took place at Ronins Hopetoun property in 1953. The small Lands Department research station at Hopetoun was run by Hungarian scientist and refugee Vera Molnar, who achieved significant results. By 1963, the Mallee produced 953,000 tons of wheat, up from just 26,000 tons in 1938 (Taylor, 1996:226-7).

4.3 Managing water resources The exploitation of water resources has been a major theme in the history of Yarriambiack Shire from the time of the first post contact settlement by pastoralists who found they needed to harness water resources in order to graze sheep. Subsequent settlement hinged upon the harnessing of water resources through infrastructure such as channels, weirs and dams. Given the particular importance of managing water resources in the region, the irrigation movement played a pivotal role in the development of the shire. One ‘chief difficulty’ in establishing viable irrigation schemes was the scarcity of the population to justify and pay for them (Garden, p.282); Irrigation schemes were thus naturally promoted alongside schemes to attract immigration, and often coordinated with government institutions like the Closer Settlement Board. In fact, the Minister for Water Supply also had responsibility for closer and soldier settlement between 1912 and 1932 and during the post-war period (PROV). The history of irrigation in Yarriambiack Shire can be divided into distinct periods marked by attempts at instituting different water management regimes – the early channels and dams (1840s-1885) marked by independent local activity; the local water trusts (1886- 1904) marked by state subsidised local co-operative management; the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (1905-1984) marked by nationalised management of water resources by the state government; and the post 1984 trend towards marketisation and rationalisation of water resources. The construction of the pipeline and its replacement of the old open channel system also marked the beginning of a new era in the history of water supply management in the Wimmera-Mallee.

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4.3.1 Early water supply schemes Colonial pastoralists found they needed to harness water resources in order to graze sheep and cattle. Early surveys like that of E.R. White in the 1850s followed paths determined by the flow of waterways. White traced a path from Lake Hindmarsh by way of Lake Albacutya to the terminal lakes of the Wimmera (McIlvena p.19), following the course of the creek, encountering many swamps along the way. The availability of water was among the surveyor’s primary concerns. In the 1850s White noted that water could be extracted from the roots of the scrub. At Longerenong Station, for example, the Yarriambiack Creek, which has its origin there as an overflow from the Wimmera River, the water was diverted as needed through weirs and channels on the Longerenong and Ashens stations (Adler, 1997:16). The decision by the Wilson brothers to dam the Wimmera at Ashens and Longerenong to divert water into the Ashens and Yarriambiack creeks (McIlvena:21) was credited by McNabb (1944:3) as ‘the foundation of the Wimmera Mallee schemes of today [1944]’. These efforts were nonetheless primitive by later standards, being ad hoc and driven by local needs and capability. Many of these early dams were simple affairs relying on gravity and the flow of existing waterways to trap supplies. Pioneers made wells and tanks in the ground to hold surface run-off from the rain. The wells were lined with wooden slabs and plastered with clay to fill gaps. (Teasdale, 1970:4) Similar schemes were developed by other early pastoralists. At Lake Corrong station Edward Lascelles extended and improved the systems established by the previous owners. Beginning in 1883 he constructed 15 new dams, 23 miles of channels and converted three swamps into lakes (Taylor, 1994:30). Despite these early schemes the lack of reliable water supplies continued to be an impediment to settlement and the first major droughts challenged the reliance on catching water from natural flows and waterways, with grand schemes resulting from the cry ‘This land only wants water’ (Dingle, 1984:121). In the southern area of the Shire, early efforts to harness water were based around the Dunmunkle Creek, and where settlements were established around lakes and waterholes. Around Rupanyup, as in other areas, Teasdale (1970:4) writes: The absence of water was if the most critical importance, and indeed the greatest drawback. The Richardson River to the east, Paynes Waterhole to the south, Lake Marma to the west, and the Eight Mile Dam at Burrereo were the only plentiful supplies Of these supplies, even Eight Mile Dam dried up in the drought of 1879 (Teasdale, 1970:7). Indeed, while Yarriambiack Shire was settled in relatively wet years, it was the droughts and succession of dry years between 1877 and 1881 which drove local activism and government interest in finding a ‘solution’ to the problem of water supply, providing the impetus for the break between the policy of local unco-ordinated schemes and a more interventionist and coordinated policy facilitated by the state.

4.3.2 The Irrigation Trust schemes Fitzpatrick (1941) argued that Victoria was a policy leader on effective irrigation, steered by Alfred Deakin who investigated American irrigation schemes as a Royal Commissioner. The need for irrigation was partly driven, Deakin noted in his speech introducing the Irrigation Bill 1886, by the movement of people from the goldfields to agricultural areas from 1865, the year of Grant’s Selection Act. The impetus for new water supply schemes in Yarriambiack Shire was the flow of settlers northwards, which as noted in Chapter 2 intensified in the 1870s (Fitzpatrick, 1941:155) and the first severe droughts experienced by those new settlers. The year 1880 was one of drought in which the now established northern farmers urgently needed water. In the 1881-2 drought season, water was carried to afflicted country towns on the railways. (Fitzpatrick, 1941:154-5)

39 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

As Taylor 1996:71) notes: It was recognised early that for agricultural development to prosper in the Mallee the extension of the railway network should be accompanied by an adequate water supply for stock and domestic supply purposes. In 1881 the colonial government passed a Water Conservation Act providing for the establishment of local water trusts and further irrigation trusts were established following the passing of Alfred Deakin’s Water Conservation Act of 1883. The concept is attributed to engineer E.C. De Garis (Russell, 1992:12). Irrigation trusts were empowered to borrow the necessary funds from the Board of Land and Works at a nominal interest rate (Bell, 1890:88). The trusts were permitted to charge a water rate to water users, and this money would be used to pay the interest and to recoup any costs. In Yarriambiack Shire two water trusts were established – the Wimmera United Waterworks Trust, formed at Murtoa in 1882, and the Wimmera Irrigation and Water Supply Trust in 1888. The Wimmera scheme envisioned irrigating 1.75 million acres under 20 Waterworks Trusts which would locally implement construction and storage works. Decentralisation was a key principle of the early irrigation movement led by Deakin, who credited the local trusts with raising the value of a million acres of the Victorian Wimmera. The investigations of the 1884-87 Royal Commission presided over by Alfred Deakin included visits to Minyip and Rupanyup to review local works and prospects in the region. Deakin argued that four and a half million acres of Victoria was irrigable, and his 1886 Irrigation Act provided for government loans to finance local trusts which could in turn levy rates on irrigated land to cover interest and charges (Fitzpatrick, 1941:155). Irrigation efforts at this time were largely focused around gravity-fed canalisation of water resources from rivers into dry areas. Ambitious plans abounded for the irrigation of the northwest of Victoria, and it was hoped that the formation of the independent water trusts might allow for their realisation. Among these was the proposed Grand Victorian North-Western Canal mooted in 1871. This was ‘indicative of the concern and interest at the time in future large scale water works’. (McIvena, 2001:31). However, the schemes carried out by the Trusts were, initially, far more modest in scale. In 1882 the Wimmera United Waterworks Trust built the Lake Wartook Reservoir on the McKenzie River in the central Grampians. The trust then used the natural watercourses - the Wimmera River, Yarriambiack and Dunmunkle Creeks, and the Richardson River - as the main distribution channels and constructed several weirs across the Yarriambiack Creek to divert water via a series of extension channels to serve outlying districts remote from the creek. The diversion channels fed into natural swamps or lakes and into holding ‘tanks’ (i.e., dams set into the ground) constructed by the Trust (Yarriambiack Creek Heritage Area brochure). For example, an earthen embankment and weir was constructed across the Yarriambiack Creek at Batchica. A channel from this point supplied water to Lah West, Brim West, Beulah west, the Township of Beulah and all country in the vicinity of the channel and its branches (Yarriambiack Creek Heritage Area brochure).

4.3.3 The Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System The works carried out by the Trusts between 1882 and 1903 formed the basis of what would become known as the Wimmera-Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System. As the name implies the principal purpose of the system was to supply water for stock and domestic use, but it was extended to include some irrigation.

40 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 22: State River & Water Supply Commission promotional picture of women in a Wimmera wheat field c.1949. Source: State Library of Victoria.

Figure 23: State River & Water Supply Commission promotional picture of wheat harvesting in the Wimmera c.1949. Source: State Library of Victoria.

Figure 24: The 8-Mile dam near Rupanyup during the 1879 drought.

41 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

In the early stages of developing the system the Yarriambiack Creek remained the only supply of water to towns and country in the vicinity of the creek. However, as towns grew larger and needs grew accordingly, water storages were enlarged and the System grew in the sophistication of the design and technology employed. Settlement in the Northern Wimmera and Southern Mallee in the late 1880s and 1890s, placed further demands on the water supply, and led to many new channels being constructed. The 1902 drought placed enormous pressure on the new water supply, which resulted in the construction of Lake Lonsdale in 1903. The process of connecting all households in Yarriambiack Shire to a reliable water supply was slow and onerous and was often disrupted by parochial concerns. In the longer term, Victoria’s many irrigation trusts proved incapable of financing and constructing viable water supply systems and so in 1905 the Bent Government passed a Water Act establishing the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC) to control all water supplies outside of Melbourne and Mildura (Don Garden, 1986:282). The SRWSC took over control of the Wimmera Mallee scheme in 1906 and undertook extensive development of the system using a range of components including artesian bore supplies, catchment tanks, artificial catchments, channel and pipeline water supplies. It is said that ‘No matter where settlement occurred in the Mallee, the Commission devised a method of water supply to meet its needs’.8 The SRWSC commenced a channel construction program for stock and domestic supply with branches from the Sea Lake and Long Lake main channels in 1906-7, Sea Lake being the first Mallee township to receive a reticulated water supply as a result. Following the 1914 drought the SRWSC constructed additional reservoirs at Fyans Lake and Taylors Lake; in 1919 (also a dry year) Pine Lake was authorised. The Waranga Western Channel, which brings water from the Goulburn and Loddon River systems, was extended westwards following the dry years of 1927-30 in order to supply the northern part of the system. New reservoirs, including Moora Moora Reservoir, Green and Dock Lakes, further extended the system between 1934 and 1935. The construction of the Rocklands and Toolondo reservoirs in 1953 made it possible, by 1962, to draw the water supply from the Grampians reservoirs instead of the Waranga Channel. However the drought of 1967-68 made this new measure no longer effective and the channel was once again drawn on. Upon completion the Wimmera-Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System was one of the largest schemes of its kind it the world and represented a major technical and logistic achievement - it supplied water by gravity in open channels to about 22,000 farm storages on over 15,000 rural properties and to some 50 towns spread over 28,500 square kilometres. The scheme radically improved the lives of both rural and township water users. Pre- irrigation water harvesting was also manually intensive and time consuming. In areas where the channel system was yet to reach, as late as the early twentieth century farmers in northern remote areas like Patchewollock still had to cart water on a daily basis in the summer time. Barney John Moloney recalled regular 18 hour journeys: On arriving home late, the animals that were waiting for water could hear the team coming. They would start bellowing out as they were parched waiting for a drink. Often between horses and cows, the water would be drunk by morning and a return journey would be required the next day …. It was a never-ending job. (McKinnon, 2005:104-5)

4.3.4 The Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline 2010 Concern for water conservation and efficiency underlie the development of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline which was one of Australia’s most significant water-saving projects. The $688 million project, which was opened in 2010, involved building almost 8,800 kilometres of

8 Andrew Ward & Associates, Mallee Area. Review of Historic Sites, LCC, 1986 p.28

42 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

reticulated pipeline to replace 17,000 kilometres of open channels, saving around 103 billion litres of water a year. The pipeline supplies stock and domestic water to approximately 9,000 farms and 34 townships across a region that covers almost 10 per cent of Victoria, from the Grampians to the Murray River, including Yarriambiack Shire, and managed by GWM Water.

Heritage place – Irrigation schemes

Historic nfrastructure includes channels, dams, windmills, water towers, pipes and other items. As the advent of the pipeline brought to an end the era of the channel and dam based water supply system, their social significance was recognised and recorded (McKinnon et al, 2005). Water was not merely of economic importance as the agricultural lifeblood of the Mallee-Wimmera, but its places had also become significant sites of social interaction, recreation and cultural meaning. Though man- made, the dams also became places appreciated for their contribution to

the natural landscape. Glenda Boschen of Minyip Primary school typified a recurring sentiment: Our farmhouse dam is an oasis in the Kewell East plains, lined with graceful weeping willow, melaleucas and acacias. It’s a haven for bird life. Ducks, mud larks, willy wagtails all call it home. It is a swimming pool, fishing and yabbying hole and a boating spot. During the warmer months it becomes alive with the colour of yellow, pink, apricot and white water lilies. Lots of children and adults have been entertained over the years with the summer-time delights of our dam. (KcKinnon et al, 2005:19)

4.4 Land Management The introduction of exotic, non-native species included the introduction of pests which threatened not only indigenous flora and fauna but also introduced agricultural produce. Intense agriculture itself also led to declining fertility and soil structure, making land degradation and land management a significant and ongoing issue for the region.

4.4.1 Controlling rabbits and other pests The introduction and management of new species which have transformed the environment have been a major theme in the historical development of the area. Rabbits and the efforts to control them are a prominent example of human transformation of the natural environment. Rabbits were introduced into the region by so-called acclimatisation societies such as the Wild Rabbit Propagation Committee. Such schemes envisioned

43 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

rabbits providing sport for hunting. In 1867 the visiting Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, shot 200 rabbits on a visit to Thomas Austin (McIlvena p.23). Rabbits and natural predators such as dingoes had a significant impact upon the early pastoral runs. At ‘Lake Corrong’ station the number of sheep declined from 93,000 to just over 20,000 in the space of a few years – the cause was summed up in one word ‘vermin’ – rabbits had increased tenfold and in the past year dingoes had killed almost 23,000 sheep (Taylor, 1994:41-42). The combined impact of pests and drought led to the near collapse of several stations such as ‘Brim’ and threatened to derail the settlement of the Mallee. The situation led Edward Lascelles, by then part owner of ‘Lake Corrong’ station, to take action. He formed the Mallee Wild Dog and Rabbit Extermination Association and successfully lobbied the Government to include statutory regulations for the control of vermin in the Mallee Pastoral Leases Act of 1883. Under the Act, over 11,000,000 acres of Mallee land was subdivided into seven vermin districts, each with a local committee, which had the power to enforce a lease requirement to destroy vermin ‘and do so continuously’. The actions of the committees were strongly influenced by Lascelles’ success with poisoning and restrictive fencing (Taylor, 1994:44-47) It was following the inaugural meeting of the seven vermin boards that a decision was made to erect a vermin-proof fence over 200 miles from Tytynder on the Murray River to the 36th parallel near Birchip and from there to the border with South Australia. This fence was completed in 1885 and was maintained for almost 70 years (Taylor, 1994:47) Despite the actions of the local committees landowners and government rabbits and pests continued to be a problem. In 1894, Warracknabeal Council declared hares to be vermin (Maroske, 1991:173) while in 1895 rabbits overran Beulah in ‘plague proportions’ (Back to Beulah, 1988:50). As late as 1910 Victorian Shires Rabbit Suppression Vigilance Committee notified Warracknabeal that the railways would give freight concession on wire netting (Maroske, 1991:175). Other vermin which affected Yarriambiack Shire historically and on an ongoing basis have included mice and locusts, with a serious locust plague affecting the northwest of Victoria as recently as 2010-11.

4.4.2 Land degradation Modern farming methods, introduced species and land clearing caused serious degradation of the land. This meant that managing land degradation, particularly erosion, became a major and ongoing challenge for farmers in the Wimmera-Mallee region. Combined with long dry spells and high north winds, the loss of topsoil in dust storms from the Mallee became infamous in Victorian history. Erosion also threatened the viability of the channel based irrigation system. Widespread soil erosion and declining fertility in the 1920s and 1930s resulted in the development of new systems to reverse this trend – for example green manure crops in rotation (Amor & Panagiotopoulos, 1989:6). In 1940 the Minister of Water Supply and the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission were early sponsors of soil conservation studies in Victoria because of growing concerns over sand drift in the Wimmera-Mallee. In 1944, a post war plan of £250,000 was proposed to tackle soil erosion in the Mallee (Age, 6 December 1944). Dust storms off the Mallee have historically affected the state of Victoria as far south as Melbourne, with some of the worst dust storms recorded in the nineteenth century as topsoil, loosened by scrub clearing, was swept away by north winds, not only choking the state but further threatening fertility. As late as 1983 a dust storm that hit Melbourne in February was dramatic and made it as far as New Zealand.

44 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 25 Map of the Vermin Proof Fence on the 36th parallel. Source: North of the Netting.

Figure 26: A cartload of mice during a mouse plague at Minyip. Source: Cromie 1972.

Figure 27: Members of the 1936 Royal Commission on Water Supply inspect sand drift and brush protection of a water channel at Patchewollock 1936. Source: State Library of Victoria.

45 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Transforming and managing land and resources include:

Grazing and raising livestock  Longerenong homestead (HO35)  Lake Corrong homestead (HO11)  Former Kewell (Davey family) shearing shed  Kerosene tin shearing shed near Woomelang

Cropping and mixed farming  Grain silos at railway stations  Site of Lascelles experimental farm near Hopetoun  Farrer Memorial, Minyip  Wheatlands Agricultural Museum, Warracknabeal

Managing water resources  Infrastructure associated with early irrigation schemes and the Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Water Supply System.

Land management  The vermin proof fence memorial at Galaquil.

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5. MAKING TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS

INTRODUCTION Settlement in the Shire historically progressed northwards along the Yarriambiack Creek, with the older townships in Dunmunkle ward, Wimmera region, among the Shire’s earliest. These southern townships were established by the farming communities who took up land in the 1870s under the 1869 Land Act and included farmers from South Australia and the Western District. The northern townships in the Hopetoun ward by contrast were established much later, generally in the 1890s, with township status often proclaimed in the early twentieth century. In this, the township settlement pattern followed the advance of irrigation, transport and agriculture into the Mallee region, and the progression from pastoralism to farming. The primary purpose of country townships established with closer settlement from the 1870s was servicing the small farmer community – retailing thus was among the first activities established in the form of the general store. Essential services such as blacksmithing, baking and butchery also thrived. As well as the general store, another distinctive element of both economic and social life in the townships and districts were the high number of hotels and public bars which became not only important local institutions but also icons of Australian national culture based around the iconography of the Bush and country life. Many of the economic activities of the townships were a function of the process of creating regional centres, and these centres were in turn defined by their economic and social relationship to their hinterlands, as providers of services and society. Economic activity related to the processing of raw materials and the of manufacturing related to agriculture, such as the implement industry, have also been important generators of employment. The service industries in the townships also grew to service increasing numbers of rural labourers and related workers, particularly in the late twentieth century following the arrival of the railways, and in the early twentieth century with the consolidation and expansion of irrigation efforts. Swelling populations thus created employment in the townships. Labour saving technological advances thus proved a double edged sword for rural communities, both improving productivity and lowering labour costs for farmers on one hand, but also requiring a restructure of the township economy around lower populations. This chapter incorporates the following Victorian Historic Themes:  Processing raw materials  Developing a manufacturing capacity  Marketing and retailing  Banking and finance  Entertainment and socialising  Working  Surveying and establishing townships  Making regional centres  Living in country towns

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HISTORY

5.1 Developing regional centres As previously noted, the first townships in Yarriambiack Shire began as small centres serving their respective hinterlands, but it was the opening of the railways from 1878 that enabled the towns of Murtoa, Minyip, Rupanyup, Warracknabeal and Hopetoun to develop into regional centres. Often, the development of towns was promoted by wealthy pastoralists or landowners such as Edward Lascelles at Hopetoun. The historic development of the towns reflects the settlement patterns described in Chapter 2. Most towns have a nineteenth century core, with an overlay of buildings daring from the early and mid-twentieth centuries as the towns grew rapidly in the wake of closer settlement and agricultural development. In the south, Murtoa, Minyip and Rupanyup were established in the 1870s and competed vigorously for dominance in the Dunmunkle area – a competition represented not only by their vigorous local works but also by the civic contest over the situation of the southern shire’s seat of local government as described in Chapter 6. In the northern area, in what would become Karkarooc Shire, Hopetoun was already established as the centre of the pastoral district as the seat of the Lascelles family, and this role developed after the proclamation of the township in the 1890s. Oriented to Lake Lascelles and Lake Corrong, Hopetoun was designed as a lakeside agricultural town. To encourage development Lascelles improved the water supply and promised to supply water to future residents for two years free of charge until they formed a water trust (Taylor, 1996:60). In 1891 he built his own residence Hopetoun House, the town’s premier residential landmark and early life in Hopetoun revolved around the homestead, out of which the first post office ran.

5.1.1. Malleeopolis – Development of Warracknabeal Of all the towns, however, it was Warracknabeal that eventually assumed the position of the pre-eminent regional centre in Yarriambiack Shire. According to Priestly (1967:80): Warracknabeal’s rise to dominance in the district was really confirmed when it became a railhead and could act as the jumping-off point into the Mallee country to the north, when it too was beginning to bloom into commercial value. The town grew quickly after the opening of the railway – between 1884 and 1891 the population of the town (and surrounding district) trebled and the town was expanded by sale of special allotments southwest of railway reserve offered in 1886 (Maroske, 1991:20). By 1910 the town was said to have one of the busiest railway stations in the State (Robertson, 1910). Commercial development of Warracknabeal centred along Scott Street, named after the Scott brothers who occupied the ‘Werracknabeal’ pastoral station. In 1910, businesses recorded in the town included Messrs Lemon Bros, H.Janes, and David Campbell tailors; Messrs Bullus, Letch & Parry coachbuilders; Messrs Young Bros and Laidlaw & Co stock auctioneers; Gunn the drapers; Hutchinson & Co. and the Mackenzie’s general stores; saddle makers; emporium; two newspapers the Herald and Post; plumber; tobacconist; butcher; undertaker; and Mr Discacciati’s photographic studio. The town’s commercial competition was further enhanced by three major hotels – the Royal Hotel, Warracknabeal Hotel and the Commercial Hotel. Warracknabeal also boasted several industries, such as the North Wimmera Foundry and the Warracknabeal Brewery. (Robertson, 1910) Warracknabeal’s status as a regional centre was further consolidated during the inter-war era, when it powered through the Depression relatively unscathed because of its status as the ‘main business centre for a very extensive area of excellent country extending into the southern Mallee’ (The Age, 3/3/1933). In fact, the Age reported in 1939 that Warracknabeal had entered a ‘prosperous era’ driven by public works, including the new town hall, which were in turn the

48 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY result of government policy that envisaged Warracknabeal as a regional centre through which it could affect the social and economic conditions of the wider region (The Age, 14/9/1939).

Figure 28: Special allotments released for sale at Warracknabeal in 1886 show township expansion alongside the railway. Source: National Archives of Australia.

Warracknabeal experienced a marked post-war civic expansion, with a number of public buildings constructed along with their associated community services such as the public swimming pool (1957), civic centre (1963) including infant welfare centre (1964) and library (1968); the Warracknabeal museum (1972) and sporting complex (1975).

5.1.2 Developing local Industries The development of secondary industries to process local produce followed quickly on the heels of agricultural expansion and the foundation of townships in Yarriambiack Shire. As farms became increasingly mechanised other industries such as blacksmiths and foundries sprang up to service the needs of farmers. The development of secondary industries supported the development of the main towns in the Shire. For example, Warracknabeal by 1886 had two flour mills, a butter factory, brewery and a large coach building works among many smaller industries (Blake, 1973:225) Flour mills The first and most important secondary industry in Yarriambiack Shire were the flour mills, which were established from the 1870s onwards. In 1870 William Charles Thomas established a flour mill at Murtoa. The operation was expanded in the 1920s and the old mill was replaced by a brick mill in 1924-5 (Adler, 1997:49). It eventually closed in 1977. Flour milling was also a prominent industry in Warracknabeal. In the mid-1880s there were two flour mills in the town – one run by Joshua Rowe and the other overseen by the son and namesake of W.C. Thomas of Murtoa. Thomas rapidly expanded his mill including the installation of what was said to be the first grain elevator in the country and by the 1880s they had seen off their competition. The Thomas’ continued to expand their business in the early twentieth century, shifting their operations to Melbourne and also acquiring a rival firm from Ballarat, which had been their greatest competitor in the Wimmera. In the meantime another competitor had opened a mill at Warracknabeal, however, it too succumbed and was taken over by the company (Priestly, 1967:65-6).

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At Rupanyup the flour mill began not long after the construction of the railway line in 1886 and by the post-World War Two period, Brunton’s Flour Mill employed 21 men and exported flour to Britain, Africa and Asia. Three of its smaller silos were designed by Sir John Monash during his early career as an engineer (Teasdale, 1970:68). Foundries and implement works Victoria led the way in colonial Australia in terms of protecting and developing a manufacturing base. In Yarriambiack Shire manufacturing was particularly based around the needs of the local agricultural sector. Prominent amongst these types of industries were implement works, which manufactured and serviced machinery used the agricultural industries in the Shire. The Messrs Rawlings and Coy implement factory at Warracknabeal was foremost among these, established in c.1890 near the railway station. Robertson (1911) claimed: the Government is throwing the Mallee open, and the successful applicant for a Mallee block more often than not seems to think that it is incumbent on him to get a Rawling implement to start operations with. By 1911, Rawlings, which started with two employees had expanded to over 40 employees, boasted ‘one of the best equipped foundries outside of Melbourne’ (Robertson, 1911). Another important implement works was at Rupanyup, where in 1932 farrier, wheelwright and blacksmith Arthur Ackland established the Ackland’s Implement Works which employed as many as 50 men in the post-war period (Teasdale, 1970:68). Acklands manufactured tillage and bulk grain handling equipment and were known for developing the ‘Acky Bar’, reputedly the world’s first wide span broadacre cultivator (Heritage plaque). Such was the demand as a result of the growth of agriculture that almost every town in the Shire had an implement works – For example, August Roll operated a foundry in the township of Rosebery from 1904 to 1922. Other local industries Another local industry based on agricultural produce was the Warracknabeal Brewery, established in 1890, which produced light beer as well as aerated water and cordial. In Hopetoun, a significant local industry arose in the Hopetoun brick-making industry. At Murtoa, the Murtoa Freezing Works operated freezing local meat for export, in particular lamb, from 1911 to 1924 (Adler, 1997:52). In 1994 the Schier cabinet makers relocated to the site of the Freezing Works, supplying cabinets and lounge suites throughout Victoria and South Australia (Adler, 1997:53). An unusual industry established within Yarriambiack Shire was the alcohol distillery plant. During the war, Australian national policy turned towards industrial development, and Warracknabeal Shire Council played its role in supporting industrial expansion and self sufficiency, with the construction of the power alcohol distillery to produce an alternative source of motor fuel, given the lack of petroleum supply in Australia (Maroske, 1991:123-4). The plant was opened in 1942 and its installation included a railway siding and devoted water supply and grain storage. Severe drought, and the successful conclusion of the war however, meant that the plant soon closed and the plant subdivided in 1947, emblematic of the brief industrial flourishing and its dissolution brought on by the war.

5.2 Retailing and commerce Retailing and associated shops were among the first businesses to open in new townships. Initially some were opened by the families or associates of pastoralists, however the number and variety quickly expanded with the growth of local population. Examples of early shops include Young’s Horse Bazaar at Minyip and Currington’s general store at Murtoa. The Messrs Young Brothers were important auctioneers in the stock and station trade across Yarriambiack Shire, with prominent offices including those in Warracknabeal established in 1896 (Robertson,

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1911) and at Minyip (Cromie, 1972). The Minyip ‘Horse Bazaar’ specialised in auctioneering horses, which were vital to both farming and general transportation, was among the long running businesses of the area, established in 1888, with new premises built in 1907 (Minyip Plaques:48).

5.2.1 The country general store General stores were vital for provisioning settlements and towns, and thus establishing a commercial and retail core for local and regional centres. Among the prominent general store franchises in Yarriambiack Shire was Cust & Son. The Weekly Times declared in 1912 there to be ‘no better known business firm in the Mallee than that of Messrs Cust and Son, whose headquarters are at Beulah, and a branch in Hopetoun’ (Back to Beulah, 1988:54). William Cust had earlier run Cust & Hutchinson in Warracknabeal and Cust’s general store at Rupanyup. Such was the importance of the general store that Cust’s store was reputed to be the first business at Rupanyup around 1871 (Teasdale, 1970:8). Cust’s cooperative business model and generous line of credit during droughts made Cust & Son an important retailing institution in the area. The Hopetoun branch was established by Ernest Cust in 1907. (Back to Beulah, 1988:56) Cust & Son was a prominent local example of the grown of a marketing and retailing franchise from humble beginnings in the colonial era to growth and success as an integral part of the community and local economy in the early twentieth century. Other general stores included Currington’s Store established in 1874 at Murtoa (DSB 63), Mackenzie’s at Warracknabeal established in 1870 (Robertson 1911), and Hutchinson & Co rebuilt at Warracknabeal in 1901 (Robertson 1911).

5.2.2 Banks The provision of credit was vital to the economic development of the area, particularly so because many farmers started with small amounts of capital or, in the case of state assisted settlers, with hardly any capital at all. The rise and demise of local bank branches were an important marker of the prosperity and prospects of towns as local and regional centres. As towns became established, the banks purchased prime sites to open new permanent premises as well as accommodation for the manager, who often came to play a prominent role in the social as well as economic life of the town. At Murtoa for example, the Sprott Fountain was so named in honour of the town’s departing bank manager Mr W. Sprott, of the Colonial Bank ‘a very active citizen in the young community’ in 1894-5 (Dunmunkle Sketchbook p.75). The most prominent banking presence in the area in the nineteenth century appears to have been the Commercial Bank. The Commercial Bank of Australia commenced in 1866, partly to meet the demand for capital to finance the great expansion of farming following the successive land laws of the 1860s and 1870s (Wood, 1990:2-3). As the Age declared in 1865, ‘the country needs more liberal bank accommodation and the people want cheaper houses’ (Wood, 1990:3). The extension of farming into the grain growing Wimmera district was especially tempting to the Bank which expanded northwards at the ‘entreaty of potential customers’, including at Murtoa and Rupanyup. At Murtoa, the Commercial Bank reached an agreement with the Colonial Bank in 1877 whereby the latter would surrender its branch there in exchange for the business in other selected centres in the region (Wood, 1990:92). Premises for the Bank were erected in Murtoa in 1882 (Adler, 1997:61). Meanwhile in Rupanyup, a branch of the Commercial Bank first opened in a room adjoining the Royal Hotel in 1880. Ten years later the bank opened in its own premises and also constructed another branch in the same year at Minyip. (Teasdale, 1970:9, DSB, 1984:33-4) Another locally important bank was the State Bank of Victoria, which was established by 1912 when the Savings Banks Act (No.2365) provided for all Banks then operating under the Savings Banks Acts to be collectively named The State Savings Bank of Victoria (Public

51 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

Figure 29: Special Sheep Sale at Young Brothers Auctioneers, Minyip in 1919. Source: Cromie, 1972.

Figure 30: A rural commercial enterprise, Cust & Son store and staff, Beulah c.1900. Source: North of the Netting.

Figure 31: Union Bank at Warracknabeal in 1910. Source: Robertson 1910.

Figure 32: Colonial Bank of Australia at Minyip c.1910. Source: Minyip Plaques.

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Records Office 2011). The bank then embarked on building programme. At Warracknabeal, the State Savings Bank opened in 1907 and a permanent branch of the Union Bank was also operating by 1910. The second storey was added to the Warracknabeal State Savings Bank in 1921 and used as a Manager's residence (Warracknabeal Historical Society, 2011). Other SSBV branches were established at Minyip (Branch in 1912, new premises built by 1930) and Murtoa (c.1924). The status of Warracknabeal as a regional centre is reflected in its banks, which reflect key periods in the growth of the town. In 1890, the Union Bank built an imposing two storey branch when the town was experiencing a period of prosperity. The State Bank followed in 1907, as noted above, and as the town experienced further growth after World War I new branches of the Bank of New South Wales (c.1925) and the Bank of Australasia (1936) were erected in the town. Banking in the north of the shire came later, once settlement and farming was established in the district, with the Commercial Bank and National Bank opening branches in Hopetoun in 1925; the State Savings Bank at Beulah in 1925 and Hopetoun in 1926; the Bank of Victoria at Patchewollock in 1926 (Taylor, 1996:148). In the late twentieth century a series of takeovers and rationalisation of services led to many banks closing their country branches. In Yarriambiack Shire this meant that key centres such as Minyip, Murtoa, Rupanyup and Hopetoun, which had once had two or more banks, were left with none. Community outrage led to the creation of ‘community banks’, a concept intiiated by the Bendigo Bank. In 1998 Australia’s first community bank was opened at Minyip by Bendigo Bank in the former ANZ bank after the bank closed its doors in 1997, leaving the town without a bank (Minyip Plaques:27). Similar banks have since been established throughout Victoria, not only in country areas but also suburban Melbourne.

5.3 Entertaining and socialising Along the vast plains of the Wimmera-Mallee, hotels provided much more than hospitality for those away from home or entertainment for locals. Hotels also served as important community centres, providing venues for Council meetings, lodge functions, church services and court hearings, and places of refuge in times of disaster. Accommodation was also provided in boarding houses and ‘coffee palaces’, the latter being alcohol-free venues that were popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the Temperance movement was at its peak. As noted in Chapter 3 some of the early hotels were established as inns along the early coach routes and sometimes led to the development of a town. As towns developed, so did the number and size of hotels and the fortunes of towns can often be gauged by opening and closing of hotels over the years, and the prosperity of towns can also be measured by the renovations and additions to existing hotels. For example, the first Commercial Hotel in Warracknabeal burnt down in the 1870s and was re-built on the same site. As the town grew around the time of the opening of the railway a second storey was added to the building, which was followed by an additional single storey wing in the twentieth century. In the twentieth century many older establishments were rebuilt or refurbished, a process driven by higher populations, improved infrastructure and booming agricultural prosperity, as well as changes to licensing laws. This was the ‘sweet spot’ where the benefits of agricultural improvement were still combined with a significant agricultural workforce who provided a market for services in the townships. For example, in Minyip, the Commercial Hotel which first opened in 1876 was replaced by a new and imposing building in 1908 (DSB:105, 31, 28-9) at a time when significant residential and commercial development was taking place in the town. The new Commercial Hotel boasted 14 bedrooms, two dining rooms, a billiards room and three cellars, parlour and a

53 YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 1

panelled bar.(Minyip Heritage Plaques:8). Similar patterns of hotel building and rebuilding took place in Rupanyup and Murtoa. Warracknabeal by 1911 boasted of ‘only’ six hotels, but claimed that ‘any one of them would be a credit to any town in the State’ (Robertson, 1911). The Royal Hotel, for example, boasted of it ‘handsome and splendid construction’ including ‘the advantage of a wide, lengthy balcony, from which a fine view can be obtained, and is also found most convenient in the Summer months, when a peaceful sleep in a cool atmosphere is assured’ (Robertson 1911). The Royal Hotel also boasted two dining rooms, several parlours and 40 bedrooms. Figure 33: The Shamrock Hotel at Minyip. Source: Cromie, 1972

5.4 The rise and fall of small local centres Small local centres flourished in the form of hamlets and small townships in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as the land was being opening up for agriculture and grand dreams of future towns fuelled land speculation, subdivisions and town plans. Infrastructure such as halls, religious and educational facilities marked the rise and fall of such small local centres. Whereas squatters were usually ‘male, young and unmarried’ and conditions made it difficult to sustain family life, the family became “the foundation stone of the selection era” (Dingle, 1996: 28, 68), which encouraged the development of permanent settlements to act as service centres for the developing rural hinterland. As Dingle (1984:130) has pointed out: Although farmers sold their produce across the world, their personal mobility was limited to what could be comfortably achieved in a day by horse and cart. The nearest township thus had to supply most of their social, intellectual and spiritual as well as their economic needs. As a result a vigorous community life flowered in the country towns between about 1880 and 1914 … There was a proliferation of small towns within a few miles of each other, invariably clustered around a public hall, school, hotel or store. The fate of these towns depended on the fortunes of the selectors and, as we have seen, connection to transport links and water supply. However away from main transport routes, small townships were initially necessary to serve the immediate needs of local communities. As we have seen in previous chapters the development of a town may have been due to closer settlement, the opening of a railway, improved water supply or a combination of all three. For example, rush of selectors to the Galaquil district in the early 1890s resulted in the need for a service centre ‘more convenient than Warracknabeal’. While a township reserve had been set aside it had not been surveyed and despite two petitions from local residents the government refused to act. The problem was solved by a local landowner who subdivided a portion of his own selection north of the township reserve into township allotments, which were auctioned in August 1890. A reliable water supply was provided and the new town, christened Beulah, grew quickly. The opening of the railway saw population grow from 24 in 1893 to over 200 two years later (Taylor, 1996:57-9).

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Figure 34: Advertisement for new township allotments at Beulah 1890. Source: National Archives of Australia.

Sometimes official ‘township’ status followed late, such as at Lubeck where a township grew up around the railway siding, which by the mid 1880s supported the Lubeck Mechanics’ Institute established by 1880, a school opened in 1884, and associations like the Gun Club formed 1885 (VGG, 18/6/1880, 4/4/1884,23/10/1885). The township of Lubeck however was only proclaimed in 1908, but later declined in population as the century progressed.

Decline of small centres Many small centres flourished early, but later declined, particularly in the late twentieth century. Such decline was often expressed by the removal of its public infrastructure to other locales and centres. Some early centres were often dependent on a particular local industry or natural resource. Milltown, for example, was at one time a ‘sister town’ to Rupanyup, so named for its flour mill, which operated in 1873-1890. The town included a hotel, cordial factory, blacksmith, wool press, Chinese market garden and store. A central feature of the town was Lake Duncan once ‘alive with swans and wild ducks’. Duncan’s flour mill was still marked by remains and firebox grate irons in 1970. (Teasdale, 1970:25) Milltown’s fortunes faded with the destruction of the mill and opening of the railway at Rupanyup, alongside the rival Frayne’s flour mill. Burrereo was an example of a settlement which owed its existence not to industry, but to its proximity to water - the early watering place known as Eight Mile Dam, a significant source of water for settlers before irrigation. The hamlet included, at its height, a hotel, stores, blacksmith and two wine saloons. South of Burrereo, the ‘Black Forest’ was known as ‘Morgan’s Lookout’ for its history associated with the notorious bushranger (Teasdale, 1970:26). Irrigation however, rendered the dam unnecessary and the settlement declined. In the twentieth century, after growing in population since 1900, many parts of what is now Yarriambiack Shire experienced a net loss of population in the 1930s after the Great Depression forced many farmers off the land. This process continued in the post-World War II era. As noted by Taylor (1996:243) this process: … reflected changes in agriculture: larger farms, mechanization with larger machines, smaller farm population, the decreasing importance of agriculture to the national economy and, in the 1970s less income from farming. Increased car ownership and inexpensive fuel enabled people to shop in larger towns. Taylor (1996:244) describes how the town of Rosebery ‘struggled valiantly’ during the 1950s, but eventually succumbed as closures marked the gradual disappearance of the town; the hotel, school football club and Country Party Branch in 1970; the Presbyterian Fellowship in 1971, the post office in 1974, and soon after the store. The old hotel, described as ‘a landmark in the town since it was built in 1895’ was demolished in 1974. While Rosebery today is still marked by the Presbyterian Church, a memorial, and a few houses (not to mention several interpretive signs installed by local resident, Alan Chivell) many

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towns now exist only in name or are remembered by memorials such as the one at the site of Goyura.

5.5 Township amenities

5.5.1 Electricity The formation in 1921 of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) was the beginning of a state-wide electricity supply for Victoria. Prior to this electricity was supplied by private companies or municipal authorities, which were progressively taken over by the SECV from the 1920s onwards. As the north-west of Victoria is remote from the main power generation centres in Gippsland, Yarriambiack Shire was not connected to the state-wide electricity grid until after World War Two. Prior to this limited power supplies to township and some rural areas were provided by municipal authorities. For example, in 1910 Karkarooc Shire investigated providing electricity for street lighting at Beulah and Hopetoun. It eventually obtained a loan in 1912 to build two power houses, which were officially opened in September 1913. Cables connected the supply initially to about 50 users. (Taylor, 1996:105). The power houses were upgraded in the 1950s just prior to the connection to SECV supplies. Woomelang was the first town in Karkarooc Shire to be connected; the ‘turning on’ was celebrated with a grand concert and ball held on 8 May 1958 (Taylor, 1996:233). As Yarriambiack Shire was progressively connected the SECV set up offices to manage the roll- out and deal with new customers enquiries. A district office of the State Electricity Commission was established in Rupanyup in 1956 (Teasdale, 1970:75).

5.5.2 Fire Brigades Rural and urban fire brigades were an important addition to the services of the area in the early twentieth century. Before this, fire defence had been more ad hoc and individual, often involving ineffective attempts to douse fires with buckets. Residents often had to watch helplessly as buildings burned, such at the Rosebery Hotel and railway station in the 1890s, and a series of fires at Hopetoun including nine shops in Toole Street in 1893 (Taylor, 1996:82-3). It was not until the twentieth century however that fire brigades began to be established. At Rupanyup for example, the Fire Brigade was registered in 1901. The first Fire Brigade building at Rupanyup was built in 1907 on the corner of Cromie and Walter Streets. A new building was completed in 1959 (Teasdale, 1970:76). The rural unit was the Bush Fire Brigade established by soldier settlers in 1922 to control farm outbreaks and crop fires. At Minyip the Bush Fire Brigade was formed by 1929; the urban fire brigade however was formed in 1901-2, and a fire bell installed in front of the mechanics institute in 1903 (Cromie, 1972). A fire station was built in 1905, and a new modern building opened in 1969. At Hopetoun, where fire had been such a curse, the fire brigade was finally established as an initiative of the Progress Association in 1910. Significant fires usually had to occur before local brigades would be established. Fires at Woomelang and Beulah for example, led to brigades being established in those townships in 1912 and 1913 (Taylor, 1996:105).

5.5.3 Reticulated water supplies The development of the Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply system enabled reticulated water supplies to be progressively made available for towns throughout Yarriambiack Shire. Reticulated water supply was established at Rupanyup around the turn of the century when the first township water tower was erected near the Presbyterian church – it was replaced with a concrete water tower in 1913 (Teasdale, 1970:75). In the north of the Shire, water reticulation also accompanied the good seasons and rising property values in the early twentieth century (Taylor, 1996:105).

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The provision of a water supply for townsfolk was life-changing. It meant easier access to water, and in most cases, cheaper water. At Murtoa in the 1880s, there was excitement at the prospect of household ‘baths’ as local tradesmen clambered to provide suitable plumbing for these as yet unknown facilities (Rabl, 1986:7). The new water supplies prompted the availability of new household fittings, and some of the more substantial new homes were fitted with proper ‘indoor’ bathrooms. As in Melbourne, the arrival of a reliable water supply meant comfortable bathrooms for wealthy country residents.

5.6 Making homes for Victorians Distinct types of homes are associated with the pastoral, agricultural and township development of Yarriambiack Shire. The homes left by the pastoral era range from the modest early pioneer’s house such as Lake Corrong homestead at Hopetoun, to the grand villa erected for the Wilson brothers at Longerenong. These were often built in the same historical era as the homes of the townships, as both farms and towns developed together in the post-pastoral era. Both types of home expressed a similar ideal constrained only by their different settings and capacity – the ideal of independent land ownership common to the making of colonial homes (Davison, in Troy, 2000:9). The most significant periods of housing construction appears to be the 1880s land boom period, coinciding with the early expansion of irrigation and the railways; and the early twentieth century which saw increasing agricultural productivity and expanding township populations. At Murtoa, ‘Salisbury’, the historic home of the Degenhardt family, epitomises the layered development of residential properties in the area over time. There, a straw, buloke and thatch house was erected in 1873. The red brick home with verandas and pillars was constructed in the 1880s, with a northern section added in the 1920s and a kitchen in 1946 (Curkpatrick, 1983:53). Another prominent Murtoa family, the Rabl family, built a single storey building in 1896, which was later extended to two storeys (Curkpatrick, 1983:71). The consolidation around Warracknabeal in the 1880s and the early twentieth century was particularly marked, as it developed as a market town servicing its Wimmera and Mallee agricultural hinterlands. Increased prosperity and population led to a variety of fine homes in the township areas, especially Federation and Edwardian villas. At Hopetoun, a period of prosperity in the 1920s saw seventy new buildings including many houses constructed in the six years after 1924 (Taylor, 1996:149). Many of these houses were in a style that could be described as the ‘Mallee Bungalow’. This featured a steeply pitched almost pyramidal room extending to form a contiguous verandah on at least three sides. In the post-war period a housing shortage led to construction of houses in Warracknabeal by the Housing Commission of Victoria and the development of an estate of War Service Homes.The provision of housing for low income groups also became a municipal concern, with the Warracknabeal Apex Club and the Shire Council joining with the Housing Commission of Victoria to build units on Council land in Warracknabeal in 1966 (Maroske, 1991:145).

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HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Making towns and settlements include:

Developing regional centres  Minyip Town Centre (Main Street – HO27)  Murtoa Town Centre (McDonald Street – HO44)  Warracknabeal Town Centre (Scott Street – HO68)  Rupanyup Town Centre (Cromie Street – HO52)  W.C. Thomas Flour Mills (Former), Warracknabeal and Murtoa (HO31)  Wimmera Flour Mill and Silo, Rupanyup (HO48)

Retailing and commerce  Former Union Bank, Minyip (HO21)  Former State Savings Bank, Murtoa (HO33) and Warracknabeal (HO63)

Entertaining and socialising  Commercial Hotel (HO20) and Majestic Hotel (HO22), Minyip  Marma Gully Hotel, Murtoa (HO36)  Minapre Hotel (HO16)  Commercial Hotel, Sheep Hills (HO53)  Commercial Hotel (HO59) and Warracknabeal Hotel (HO70), Warracknabeal

The rise and fall of small local centres  Beulah Town Centre (Phillips Street – HO5)  Patchewollock Town Centre (Federation Street – HO46)  Former Store, Lubeck (HO17)  Former National Bank, Speed (HO55)

Township amenities  Former Council power houses at Hopetoun and Minyip  Infrastructure associated with the Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System, e.g., township water towers

Making homes for Victorians  Hopetoun House (HO10)  Houses in Scott Street, Warracknabeal, Evelyn Street, Hopetoun, Main Street, Minyip and Hamilton Street, Murtoa.

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6. GOVERNING VICTORIANS

INTRODUCTION This section considers the impact on the landscape of services provided by the different levels of government, and also the role of communities, politics and communal struggle in securing these services. Much of the infrastructure associated with service provision is significant from a heritage perspective, not just because of its form but because of the memories and connection that members of the local community have with it. The various agencies associated with the management and development of water supply infrastructure are discussed in this chapter. This section addresses some of the important political movements and events to affect Yarriambiack Shire, in particular the impact of war and more local or national political movements such as the struggle for Aboriginal rights and the formation of country based political movements like the Country Party. The chapter also includes the contribution made by the Shire’s people to the defence of Victoria and Australia, and the ways in which the sacrifices of wartime have been commemorated in the landscape. This chapter incorporates the following Victorian Historical Themes:  Developing institutions of self-government and democracy  Struggling for political rights  Maintaining law and order  Defending Victoria and Australia  Fighting for identity  Protecting Victoria’s heritage

HISTORY

6.1 Forming local government The history of local government in Yarriambiack encompasses the history of the former shires of Karkarooc, Dunmunkle, Warracknabeal, and the Shire of Wimmera. Local political life in the Warracknabeal area was particularly marked by a prolonged agitation for self governance and autonomy from the earlier local government based in St Arnaud (Maroske, 1991). The subject of self government and government generally in Yarriambiack Shire was intimately connected to the themes of transportation and irrigation. In an environment where individuals could not triumph in a battle against an adverse environment, residents looked to collective methods of securing the infrastructure necessary to succeed on the land. Self government was thus a method of gaining representation and a voice to ensure local interests were defended and not neglected when it came to divvying up the pie of government assistance. Self government was also a key step in the development of towns as regional centres and was thus an issue of intense interest and competition for towns and their residents. Local Roads Boards were enabled by an act of parliament in Victoria in 1853. District road boards were elected, and their creation followed on the heels of settlement. The first road boards covering the area were those of St Arnaud and Swan Hill in 1861, and Horsham in 1862 (Taylor, 1996:85). These boards, based in their respective centres, tended to neglect the pastoral runs of the Yarriambiack, which were invariably managed by their squatters.

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6.1.1 The formation of local government in the Wimmera and Mallee The Shire of Wimmera was created out of the Horsham Road Board in 1864. The Shire of Dunmunkle, covering the southern portion of Yarriambiack Shire, was proclaimed in 1877 when it was severed from the Wimmera Shire. It first met at Miller’s Hotel, Rupanyup in December of that year (Teasdale, 1970:22). There was controversy over which town would become the ‘seat’ of the young shire. The first shire hall was converted from Short’s Commercial and Family Hotel at Rupanyup in 1878. However, the building was removed by stealth in the middle of the night to a location in Murtoa. Nonetheless, council meetings continued in Rupanyup in the Mechanics’ Institute until 1951. New shire offices in Rupanyup were finally constructed in 1958 and extended in 1970 (Teasdale, 1970:22). Sections of the central and northern parts of Yarriambiack Shire around Warracknabeal up to Lake Corrong east of the Yarriambiack Creek by contrast were first joined to the Shire of St Arnaud in 1864 (Maroske, 1991:16-19). The Shire of Borung was formed around Warracknabeal in 1891, and extended in 1893 west of the Yarriambiack Creek and northwards beyond Hopetoun. Its first council met in Holyoaks’s Hall in Scott Street, Warracknabeal (Maroske, 1991:46) and subsequent meetings took place alternatively at Warracknabeal and Sheep Hills mechanics institutes until the construction of the first shire hall in 1905 (Maroske, 1991:63-65). This was demolished for the second shire hall, opened in 1940 (Maroske, 1991:108). The Karkarooc Shire, covering the northern section of Yarriambiack Shire, was proclaimed in 1896 following on the subdivisions around Hopetoun and the establishment of new townships there (Taylor, 1996:73-93). A permanent office for the shire was built in 1910 (Taylor, 1996:93). Figure 35 Scott Street, Warracknabeal showing the new town hall c.1941. Source: State Library of Victoria.

6.1.2 Yarriambiack Shire Yarriambiack Shire was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Warracknabeal, Shire of Karkarooc, and parts of the Shire of Dunmunkle and Shire of Wimmera. This was the result of a radical local government restructure program initiated by the state government in 1993 seeking to rationalise and expand local governments across the state. The boundaries were drawn by a Local Government Board, and drew together the shires on the Yarriambiack Creek to be administered from Warracknabeal by government-appointed commissioners for a transition period during which other economic reforms, such as compulsory competitive tendering and council property sales were conducted, sometimes resented by local residents (Taylor, 1996:266-267; Costar & Economou 2010). On the upside, the population and financial basis of the new shire promised to be more sustainable than the situation which faced its predecessors (Taylor, 1996:266).

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6.2 Rural political organisation Various forms of country based political organisation forms have been an important political, social and economic influence in the history of Yarriambiack Shire. Chief among these were the Country Party and Victorian Farmers Union (VFU), and their more contemporary manifestations the National Party and National Farmers Federation. The Country Party in Victoria had its origins in the activism and agrarian radicalism of the Victorian Farmers Union (VFU), which drew support in the Mallee from farmers hard hit by the 1914 drought (Taylor, 1997:136). Before farmers established a political organisation of their own, many of the regional areas were early strongholds of the labour movement and Labor Party. The VFU distinguished itself not only by its militant agrarianism but by its anti-socialism, by which it contrasted itself to Labor. Branches were established across Yarriambiack Shire throughout 1917-1921, and rapidly became a mass movement standing candidates for parliament. In 1919, Wimmera returned a VFU member of parliament, Percy Stewart, who held the seat until his death in 1931, by which time he was an Independent. The Country Party was formally established nationally in 1920 and enjoyed a mass membership including local branches. While the character of the area has been historically conservative and opposed to the Labor Party, socialist organisation did have its appeal to railway workers and some labourers in the area, such as at Beulah where a branch of the Political Labor Council was formed in 1910 (Taylor, 1996:105). More typical of the area’s majority opinion was the Australian Women’s National League, also with a branch at Beulah in 1911 and Hopetoun in 1913 – the AWNL was opposed to ‘socialism’ and labour strikes (Taylor, 1996:105-6). The Country Party and the Country Women’s Association became not only political but also important social and economic organisations, providing forums and spaces for community meetings, social activities and opportunities for community and political activism.

6.3 Aboriginal self determination, Native Title & Land Use Agreement The Victorian Aborigines Advancement League was formed three weeks after Charles McLean tabled his report and followed a public meeting held in February, 1957. The formation of the League was a response to the threat posed by the assimilation policies set out in the McLean report, which ‘heightened the need for a broad-based umbrella organisation that could deal with Aboriginal needs on many fronts’. The objective of the League was integration rather than assimilation and it aimed to establish a ‘general policy of advancement for Aboriginal people’. The League ‘worked quietly at first’ but soon came to national attention when it launched a campaign to establish a defence fund for Albert Namatjira, the painter arrested and thrown in jail for supply alcohol to his kin. As a result, support for the League grew and branches began ‘to spring up everywhere’ (Landon, 2006:26-27). At Rupanyup, a branch of the Aboriginal Advancement League was established in 1958 (Teasdale, 1970:79), and a branch was also established at Murtoa. Since that time the struggle for Aboriginal self-determination and land rights has continued. This struggle culminated in a landmark native claim handed down in 2005. In Clarke on behalf of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk Peoples v Victoria [2005] FCA 1795 (13 December 2005) the Federal Court determined Native Title on behalf of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk Peoples in Western Victoria at Horseshoe Bend in the Little Desert National Park. The decision of the tribunal was ‘a determination which recognises native title rights to hunt, fish, gather and camp for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs along approximately 153 km of the length of the Wimmera River, and a determination that native title does not exist over the remainder of the claim area.’

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Figure 36 Area of the Indigenous Land Use Agreement 2005.

6.4 Maintaining law and order The development of early settlements into regional centres was marked by the construction of imposing public buildings such as court houses and police stations. These buildings and structures document the impact of government policy on local areas and were prominent features in the streetscapes. Designed by the Public Works Department, the often grand styles of the buildings emphasised government authority, the importance of the functions - justice, law and order – and the town’s prominence as a regional centre. For example, at Warracknabeal, a site for police purposes was established in 1872 (Victorian Gazette, 18 October 1872:69 1926). The Log Lock-up was built there in 1872 and was mainly used for overnight detention such as drunk and disorderly. Court would be held the next morning and guilty offenders would be taken to Ararat. It served Warracknabeal for nearly 100 years until a new jail was built in 1965 (Warracknabeal Historical Society, 2011). In 1877 confiscated goods including gin, whiskey and beer were sold at auction at the Warracknabeal Police Station (Victorian Gazette, 3 August, 1877:1500). A Bailiff of Crown Lands was appointed in Warracknabeal in 1872. As the town grew quickly after the opening of the railway in 1886 the need for improved facilities became evident. The Warracknabeal Court House was built in 1891 and was used until the 1980s. In the 1920s and 30s it was used for General Sessions cases so Jury seats were installed (Warracknabeal Historical Society, 2011). At Minyip, the police reserve was originally on the site of the Catholic Church, and until the court house was constructed in 1886, fortnightly sessions were held at Carroll’s Club Hotel (Cromie, 1972). Of particular concern for law enforcement in the area was dealing with the seasonal influx of labourers and itinerant workers in the harvest period, with assistant officers regularly appointed during these seasons (Cromie, 1972). At Murtoa, the Police Department rented premises for a police station from 1877, with a mounted constable relocated to the town that year (Adler 1977: 60). Government quarters for the town constable were established at the same time as the railway arrived, and in 1899 a new residence was built on the corner of Degenhardt and McDonald Streets (DSB:61). New police stations were built at Murtoa in 1952 and 1994 (Adler 1977:60).

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6.5 Defending Australia

6.5.1 Country Militias and Rifle Clubs Military and paramilitary encampments, rifle clubs and rifle ranges were a feature of colonial life in the late nineteenth century, particularly in the context of heated debates at that time over the defence of the colonies in the face of several security scares over perceived threats from France and Russia in the mid 1880s and the rise of Japan in the early twentieth century. These clubs were thus not merely recreational but served a strategic purpose as well as expressing the martial values of the time. It was common, for example, for boys of twelve and up to be trained in the use of rifles, A Victorian 'Militia' organisation replaced the volunteer forces from 1884. The Militia were paid, and enrolled for a fixed term. Although service remained part time, members were obliged to attend a number of full days training per year, in the form of annual camps, to qualify as effective (National Archives, 2011). The Defence Act 1909 made training and service compulsory. Between 1911 and 1929 Australian males aged between 18 and 60 were required to perform militia service within Australia, following the recommendations of Lord Kitchener, who toured Australia in 1909 to great acclaim. A plaque at the Murtoa rotunda commemorates Lord Kitchener’s death during the war in 1916. Among the earliest rifle clubs to open in Victoria was the Rupanyup Rifle Club, formed in 1885, which enjoyed particular success winning Victorian Rifle Association matches, including the Sargood Shield three times in a row. The club was also long running, disbanding in 1970 (Teasdale, 1970:78). The Minyip Rifle Club was established only a year after Rupanyup, in 1886 and ran into the early 1900s, when many rifle clubs were superseded by the mobilisation of Australian men in the Great War of 1914-18. It was notable for sending members as volunteers for the Boer War. A Minyip Gun Club was re-established in the interwar period (Minyip Heritage Plaques:20). The Beulah Rifle Club opened in 1900 with 53 members under Captain J.M. Davies (Back to Beulah, 1988:65). During the Great Depression, citizens militias and unofficial paramilitary groups such as the anti-Communist White Army were again active across Victoria. Figure 37: Members of the Warracknabeal Rifle Club, c.1910. Source: Robertson 1910.

6.5.2 The Great War (1914-1918) Australia joined the Great War of 1914-18 automatically as a part of the British Empire in its struggle against the German Empire and its allies, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the Great War coincided with a terrible drought in the Wimmera-Mallee and across eastern Australia. The vicissitudes and hardship of rural life and agricultural work has been credited with a lower than average enlistment rate for recruits in the area when compared to the state and national averages, with a high rejection rate of 38 per cent for medical reasons (Taylor, 1996:119). Nonetheless the ‘war fervour’ whipped up by imperial patriotism and both the local and national press saw a significant proportion of the able bodied population enlist in the imperial forces. In Karkarook Shire for example, 11 per cent of the male population

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enlisted, and one woman, Sister Katherine McArthur of Turriff joined the 25th British General Hospital (Taylor, 1996:119-120). Of these, 26 per cent, or 96 men from the Shire of Karkarook were killed in the war. This was almost double the fatality rate for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) generally. The experience of war not only had the capacity to unite the national and local community, but also to divide it. This was evidenced by the debates over how much manpower rural areas in particular could afford to lose, by the nation-wide conscription debate, and by the suspicion and opprobrium that fell upon the members of the community of German heritage. The ‘Yes’ vote for conscription won in Victoria but failed nationally in 1916. In the Mallee- Wimmera the ‘Yes’ vote was particularly strong. At the mechanics institute at Hopetoun in 1916 the local Australian Natives Association won a debate in the affirmative for conscription. Divisions and tensions were also high, with many voters of German heritage disqualified from voting at the polling station under Section 9 of the Military Services Referendum Act of 1916 whereby persons born in a foreign country or whose parents were born in a foreign country could have their vote set aside at the discretion of the electoral officer. Twenty six per cent of all such votes thus disqualified (631) were in the Wimmera electorate, coinciding with its large population of German descent (Taylor, 1996:123-24). Figure 38: Soldiers farewelled for the Great War, in front of the old Union Bank in Cromie Street, Rupanyup c.1914. Source: Teasdale 1970.

6.5.3 The Second World War (1939-1945) Warracknabeal Shire Council played a role in the conduct of World War II through the formation of a military department in the district headquartered at Warracknabeal (Maroske, 1991:119). The 26th Machine Gun Regiment was formed and first camped at the Warracknabeal Showgrounds in November of 1939. Local women’s associations such as the Red Cross and Country Women’s Association also mobilised to support the war effort, establishing a Defence and Emergency Service in case of an attack upon Australia (Maroske, 1991:121). The Second World War was also a watershed event in the development of local industry, particularly around the emerging regional centre of Warracknabeal, and from an agricultural perspective also saw an intensification in the production and transport capacity of grain, particularly wheat.

6.5.3 Commemorating the wars The scars and losses of war were all the greater during the Great War because the bodies of the dead remained interred in the field of war, some unidentified or undiscovered. Families thus often had no body to mourn nor opportunities to travel to such distant graveyards. This absence, combined with the high casualty rate, contributed to the general movement to memorialise the dead in the landscape through any number of war memorials. (Inglis, 2008; Damousi, 1999) The positioning and form of such memorials was a difficult and sometimes controversial task, all the more so because the trauma and loss of the Great War was unprecedented both in casualties and in the public desire to commemorate it.

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Municipal councils often took the lead in such debates, convening and supporting memorial committees such as that established by Borung Shire to investigate options for a memorial in Warracknabeal. According to Priestly (1967:106-7) the Returned Soldiers’ and Sailor’s League had already decided that a sports and recreation area would be the ‘most fitting memorial for their fallen comrades’. Money raised by local women during the war was joined to money raised by the League, which financed the development of what would become ANZAC Park. The money raised funded the construction of a grandstand, a large kiosk and dining room, sporting facilities, and a pair of memorial gates at the entrance. The park was landscaped under the direction of the curator of Melbourne’s botanic gardens (Priestly, 1967:106-7). Despite this impressive achievement the Shire went ahead with the erection of another memorial, which was unveiled in 1922 not at Anzac Park, but in front of the post office near the centre of town (Maroske, 1991:98). In Yarriambiack Shire, memorial halls were also a popular method of commemorating the war. Minyip Memorial Hall opened in 1922 (Cromie, 1972). In 1923 former Brigadier General and Senator Harold Elliot opened the Soldiers’ Memorial Hall at Hopetoun, calling it ‘the best hall outside Melbourne’ (Taylor, 1997:135). Memorial halls were also built across the shire’s townships and hamlets, including at Rainbow, Brim, Lascelles, Turriff, Tempy and Beulah. The Rupanyup Memorial Hall was built in 1920 and funded by public donations of £3000 (Teasdale, 1970:73). Figure 39: Opening of the Hopetoun Memorial Hall in 1923. Source: Taylor, 1997

Another common form of memorial was the avenue of honour. Hopetoun’s avenue of honour contained a tree each individually named with a plaque for each soldier. It ran down the southern end of Lascelles Street and consisted of sixty sugar gum trees, making it distinctive as an early example of native plantings for such purposes. Other avenues of honour included the forty eight trees planted along the creek at Beulah (Taylor, 1996:134). At Rupanyup, the Avenue of Honour Committee formed in 1918 and was responsible for planting 290 trees in memory of soldiers who served in the war (Teasdale, 1970:73). The most common form of memorial in Australia were obelisks – for every cross raised as a memorial for example, Australians raised at least ten obelisks, sometimes adorned with digger figures. Diggers on pedestals were second only to obelisks as memorials (Inglis, 2008:160-161). Arches, such as that erected at Murtoa were less common as they were seen to symbolise triumph – as Inglis argues, ‘when people did choose an arch they gave it more often than not the character of an entrance to a park or sportsground, with gates attached, prompting rhetoric not about winning, but about crossing a threshold from peace to war’ (Inglis, 2008:157). Commemoration of World War II was frequently layered atop the already established commemorative landscape of monuments. Memorials also more commonly now took the form of community infrastructure such as swimming pools and, in Warracknabeal’s case also a rare example of a memorial kindergarten.

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Figure 40: Murtoa War Memorial Gates at Lake Marma c1920. Source: State Library of Victoria

At Minyip the Recreation Reserve Memorial Gates commemorating those who served in the Second World War were opened in 1952 (Minyip Heritage Plaques:84). It was common for Second World War memorials to be added to those established for the First World War, particularly with the addition of names on honour rolls.

6.6 Managing water supplies

6.6.1 State Rivers and Water Supply Commission As noted in Chapter 4, the SRWSC was established in 1905 to control all water supplies outside of Melbourne and Mildura (Don Garden, 1986:282). As well as constructing irrigation schemes the SRWSC also constructed township supplies. Across Victoria by the mid 1930s, the SRWSC provided water to 98 country towns and supervised the local trusts responsible for 138 cities and towns outside the Melbourne metropolitan area. The major achievement of the SRWSC in Yarriambiack Shire was development and expansion from 1906 onwards of the vast Wimmera-Mallee Stock and Domestic water supply system. The SRWSC was abolished and its successor, the Rural Water Commission, established on 1 July 1984. The Commission continued the work carried on by its predecessor.

6.6.2 Catchment management authorities As a means of providing improved leadership in the sustainable management of land and water in regional Victoria, the Victorian Government established Catchment Management Authority Boards in 1997; these covered the Mallee, Wimmera, Glenelg, North Central, Corangamite, Goulburn, West Gippsland, North East, and East Gippsland regions. Whereas the focus of rural water authorities is upon the management of the storages and distribution systems that form part of water supply systems under their control the CMAs take a broader strategic role based on the concept of integrated catchment management that promotes the sustainable use of all the land and water resources within catchment areas. They also have a ‘hands on’ role in protecting and monitoring the health of all waterways within catchment areas. Yarriambiack Shire’s water supply fell under the authority of the Grampians- Wimmera-Mallee catchment authority, or GWM Water.

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HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Governing Victorians include:

Forming local government  Warracknabeal Town Hall (HO69)

Maintaining law and order  Former police station, Murtoa (HO32)  Former Lock-up, Warracknabeal (HO64)  Court houses at Warracknabeal (HO60) and Woomelang (HO71)

Defending Australia  Soldiers’ Memorial gates and cenotaph, Lubeck (HO18)  Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, Hopetoun (HO12)  ANZAC Park, Warracknabeal  Memorial Gates, Lake Marma, Murtoa (HO38)

Managing water supplies  Former State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (Now Goulburn Murray Water) Office, Hopetoun

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7. BUILDING COMMUNITY LIFE

INTRODUCTION Community and local identity within Yarriambiack Shire is evidenced in the range of public halls, schools and churches that sprang up in even the smallest townships and hamlets, and in the local sport and social clubs and associations. These community facilities and institutions were achieved through the public-spirited work and generosity of local people sometimes with the assistance of government and private agencies. In very small settlements, one building often served many purposes - many early churches often acted as schools and public halls before purpose-built facilities could be obtained (and sometimes vice versa). For some community facilities, such as hospitals, people looked to the larger townships. Bonds of mutual support were expressed in the friendly societies that had branches in the towns. Agricultural Societies were founded amongst farming communities and Progress Associations lobbied, planned and raised funds for the improvement of its townships. The community forms of community life and association were distinctive and expressive of the unique characteristics of rural life in Victoria, particularly in the Wimmera-Mallee region with its sparse population. Community associations, events and the places in which they met were vital not only in forming a sense of community but in terms of finding friendship, mutual support and forming relationships which were the basis of life in country towns and in the country at large. These places became socially significant and meaningful to the community which then sought to protect them. This chapter incorporates material from the following Victorian Historic Themes:  Maintaining spiritual life  Educating people  Providing health and welfare services  Forming community organisations  Preserving traditions and commemorating  Marking the phases of life  Protecting Victoria’s heritage  Living in country towns

HISTORY

7.1 Maintaining spiritual life Establishing and building churches were an integral part of maintaining spiritual life. Before churches were built, religious services would often be held in private residences or in public places such as halls or even in parks. Manses were built to accommodate clergymen and their families, and as such were an integral part of building a local religious community with a resident priest. Sunday schools were a common form of spiritual education for children of the various congregations. ‘Ladies guilds’ or other associations run by women for the benefit of the local community and congregation also became a recurring and characteristic accompaniment of religious institutions in the area. Their establishment often followed that of churches, such as those at Rupanyup including the Presbyterian Ladies’ Guild and Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, the Church of England Ladies’ Guild established in 1922 and the Catholic Women’s Social Guild established in 1958 (Teasdale, 1970:54-57).

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7.1.1 Lutheran Church Yarriambiack Shire’s historically distinctively high number of Lutherans is related to the high number of German and Germanic colonists who settled there in the colonial period from the 1870s. Lutherans at Murtoa held early services in the home of the Deganhardt family and once it was constructed in 1873 in the first school (Adler, 1997:20). A timber church was dedicated at Murtoa in 1877. A Sunday school room was added in 1908 and a new manse erected in 1913. Pastor Hiller was notable as a long serving pastor of the Murtoa Lutheran congregation from 1875-1917 (Adler, 1997:20-21).

Heritage place - Concordia College

Concordia College was a product of the strong Lutheran influence in the Dunmunkle area around Murtoa. Education was an important part of maintaining a distinct culture and religion, hence the interest of religious institutions in establishing their own educational enterprises. Prominent Murtoa Lutheran Mr Boehm opened a private school to this end in 1887, and in 1890 he joined forces with pastors Schuemann, Peters and Schoknecht in establishing a Lutheran College specifically to train pastors for the church. (Adler, 1997:23) The building itself was constructed in stages, with two classrooms completed in 1892 and another in 1894. In 1898 control of the college was passed to the Victorian Division of the Lutheran Church, and in 1903 to the General Synod. In 1905 Concordia College moved to Adelaide, South Australia, where it continues operating to this day as a Lutheran, co-educational secondary school (Concordia College 2011; See also Leske, 1990). In all 32 teachers for Lutheran schools were trained at Concordia College, Murtoa, and ten pastors. (Adler, 1997:24) The last schoolroom of the old building was moved from Breen Street in 1997 to a new site adjacent to the Murtoa Water Tower Museum. Pictured (At left): Concordia College today Pictured (Below): Concordia Lutheran College, Murtoa. Source: Peter Adler 1997

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In Minyip, a Lutheran congregation was established south of Minyip by 1874 with its first services in the home of August Price presided by Pastor Schoknecht, who also ministered at Natimuk, Green Lake and Murtoa. The first wooden church was built in 1875 on land donated by Carl Petering and had a congregation of 70-80 members from 25-30 families (Cromie, 1972; Members of St John’s Minyip, 1974:3). A new church was built in 1889 at Kirchheim, from whence it was moved in 1935. This was the remarkable timber church including a spire of 62 feet and an original pipe organ (Cromie, 1972; St John’s Minyip 1974:15). The 1889 opening of the church included a ‘procession headed by the Dimboola and Bangerang brass bands, which marched to the church. Following the bands were some ladies who carried the altar candlesticks, communion plate and other articles’. An altar was added in 1923, new windows in 1889, and chandelier from Germany in 1897. (St John’s Minyip 1974:15). Numerous places in the area associated with the Lutheran Church in the Minyip area included a new Kirchhiem teachers residence in 1907, a church hall in Minyip in 1925, and a new manse in 1954. A Lutheran church and hall were also built ant Bangerang in 1901 (St John’s Minyip 1974:16-30). Lutherans were particularly numerous in the south of Yarriambiack Shire around Murtoa and Minyip, but also came in significant numbers to the area west of Hopetoun around Rainbow. Lutheran services commenced at Warracknabeal in 1891, and in 1903, Kewell, Murtoa and Green Lake become one parish. Kirchheim, Bangerang and Warracknabeal joined the Minyip parish (Members of St John’s Minyip, 1974:5). The Lutheran church school was the first school in Minyip, and maintained a significant educational presence after the opening of the state school in 1879, the Minyip Guardian complementing the school’s students in 1891 that ‘the larrikin element being almost unknown amongst them’. The Lutheran Church in Australia, and the Wimmera region in particular, experienced a surge of growth in the post-war period. A new church was built at Murtoa in 1965 and opened in 1966, incorporating two leadlight windows from the old. Murtoa also had a second concurrent Lutheran congregation, that of St. Luke’s. The first St. Luke’s Lutheran Church was destroyed by fire in 1916 and a new church built of concrete in 1923.

7.1.2 Roman Catholic Church Before the construction of churches, masses were celebrated in other public places, for example in the loungeroom of the Royal Hotel in Rupanyup or in the local hall (Teasdale, 1970:56). St. John’s at Rupanyup was built in 1912 and opened by the Bishop of Ballarat. At Rupanyup masses were celebrated monthly by priests travelling from Horsham until the mid 1930s. Brigidine nuns from Horsham also travelled to instruct children in the Dunmunkle area until the erection of a Catholic School in Murtoa. The history of Roman Catholic religion and education are closely connected. The Catholic Church in Australia, and in the region, was predominantly Irish, and experienced a period of marked growth and consolidation in the period 1889-1939 (Turner, 1992:5). In 1875, the resident priest at Stawell was appointed to include the Murtoa and Minyip congregations, with masses held in family homes at each, or in the Jung public hall (Adler, 1997:26). The first Catholic Church at Murtoa opened in 1881, with additions made in the 1890s and around 1920, 1950s and 1969, and a commemorative rose garden in 1995 (Adler, 1997:26). At Minyip, the Roman Catholic church St Patrick’s opened in 1900. It replaced an earlier church of 1876 (Cromie, 1972). Post-war churches included St. Augustine’s church in Beulah (1963).

7.1.3 Anglican Church The Anglican Church was associated with the English colonists, and was the established state religion of the United Kingdom, with the Monarch at its head as ‘Defender of the Faith’. When it federated in 1901, Australia elected not to follow an established church.

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Early church services were held in the homestead of pioneer colonists, including at ‘Knowlings’ of Lallat Plains (Teasdale, 1970:54). In Rupanyup, services were also held in the old Presbyterian Church and the ‘Good Templars’ Hall in Main Street, until the first purpose built Anglican Church, St Phillip’s, was built in 1893 (Teasdale, 1970:54). By 1906, the congregation at Rupanyup was 65 when regular services commenced. The small size of the congregation there meant that services were often presided over by Lay Readers, with irregular holy communions celebrated by visiting priests. The first Vicar of Rupanyup, including Burrereo and Lubeck areas, was ordained and inducted in the 1920s (Teasdale, 1970:54). In 1935 a new church was built on the site and the old church was removed to Lubeck. At Murtoa, the Holy Trinity Anglican Church was built in 1887. The first Vicar was appointed in 1922 and around this time the vicarage was built in Marma Street (Adler, 1997:27). The Sunday school was opened in 1901, and additions made in 1959 for kindergarten rooms. Holy Trinity Ladies’ Guild was established in 1922, with a guild room built attached to the church in 1963. Guild member Kathleen Crouch wrote a history of the church for the 1987 centenary, ‘Faith Among Friends’.

7.1.4 Presbyterian Church The first Presbyterian service at Rupanyup was held in 1872 ‘in the open beneath some shady trees just north of where the railway station stands today’ (Teasdale, 1970:57). At that time, the Rupanyup area was visited by the Presbyterian minister from Stawell. Many early Presbyterian services were combined with or held on premises also used by the Methodist church (Teasdale, 1970:57). The first Presbyterian church at Rupanyup was dedicated in 1914, opened in 1919 and joined by the addition of a manse in 1921 (Teasdale, 1970:57). St Andrew’s Presbyterian church at Murtoa was built in 1876. Before this, services were held at the McDonald farm at old Marma Swamp. (Adler, 1997:25) Presbyterians were generally Scottish. At Murtoa they started sharing with Methodists in 1968 and the United Methodist- Presbyterian Parish was formed in 1972. A Christian Education Centre was built at Murtoa in combination between the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations, operating a joint Sunday School there from 1966 (Adler, 1997:25). At Minyip the Presbyterians moved a church building from Areegra in 1897. The stone church was opened in 1925 (Cromie, 1972).

7.1.5 Methodist Church Methodist worship in the Wimmera was established by four pioneer families at Horsham in 1872. By 1874 services were held at Warracknabeal and Murtoa; in 1875 Longerenong and Kewell East; 1879 at South Rupanyup and by 1880 Lubeck and Bangerang were added to the Horsham circuit (Horsham Circuit Centenary Committee, 1972). In 1881 a second Circuit of Wimmera separated from Horsham and was based at Warracknabeal. In 1883 Murtoa, Rupanyup and Lubeck formed a third circuit. Methodist services were characteristically led by local and travelling preachers, beginning in homes of its congregation, and at one stage in a barn at Rupanyup owned by Mr Starbuck (Teasdale, 1970:57). The pattern in the later establishment of churches in the northern areas followed a similar pattern, with the first home missionary in Hopetoun in 1893 ‘gathering people around him in an old woolshed’. Their first church at Hopetoun later that year was sold to the Lutherans, and it was 1927 before another church was constructed for the Methodists there (Benson, 1935:485). When first formed, the Methodist circuit in the south of Yarriambiack Shire comprised Murtoa, Rupanyup, Kewell, Lallat and Lubeck (Adler, 1997:24). Murtoa later separated from Rupanyup to become Primitive Methodists. At Warracknabeal the first Methodist church was built in 1879, and a Bible Christian church added in 1889 (Benson, 1935:481). At Brim, originally part of the Warracknabeal Circuit, with its first service in a shearing shed in 1887, a church was built in 1891. Brim formed its

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own circuit with a minister in 1923, with churches at Willenabrine in 1891 and Lah in 1894 (Benson, 1935:482). At Beulah the first Methodist church was built in 1892 and a later one in 1910; first St Augustine’s Catholic Church built in 1899, St Andrew’s Presbyterian in 1902, Baptist church in 1904, St Peter’s Anglican 1906, Methodist church 1910; St Paul’s Lutheran built in 1951 (Back to Beulah, 1988:75) The Methodist church at Rupanyup was built in 1913 (Teasdale, 1970:55) and replaced an earlier timber building. At Minyip the Methodists were also Primitive Methodists. Their first church was built in 1876 (Benson, 1935:486) with possibly another by 1888. Minyip was reunited with Rupanyup with the amalgamation of Primitive and Wesleyan branches in 1903. The ‘Centenary Church’ was built in 1935 and so named to celebrate 100 years of Methodism in Victoria (Cromie, 1972). In the post war twentieth century, the Methodist and Presbyterian churches combined in 1969 to form the Uniting Church.

7.1.6 Other Religious & Spiritual Affiliations The Salvation Army and the Baptists were also among the significant spiritual groups in Yarriambiack Shire. At Hopetoun, the first church was Baptist. At Beulah, a Baptist church was built in Taverner Street in 1904 (Back to Beulah, 1988). The Baptists poured considerable effort into evangelising the northern area, with W.A. Robertson of Port Campbell send on a mission to the district ‘when Beulah was only a small cluster of houses and the railway was just opened’ (Wilkin, 1939:87). By 1901 the Baptists reported 100 members at Beulah, but both the church and manse were sold by the 1930s as supporters moved to other districts. At Hopetoun the Baptists met with similar initial success and later decline, with a limestone church and manse built at considerable cost but a declining membership of only 50 members by 1939, for which the church blamed ‘frequent changes in pastorates’ and ‘the attraction of the metropolis’ to its college trained men (Wilkin, 1939:87). In Warracknabeal, the Salvation Army erected a particularly fine hall. There was also a substantial Baptist Church.

7.2 Educating people The establishment of both private and public schools occurred quick on the heels of closer settlement in Yarriambiack Shire. This was because many of the first land sales took place around the same time as secular state school education was established by the colonial government. In 1872, the Free, Compulsory and Secular Education Act was guided through the Victorian parliament by George Higginbotham, which heralded a new era of State education in Victoria and is also credited with encouraging settlers from South Australia. Schools, like halls and churches, are a tangible symbol of community formation and illustrate the rise and sometimes decline in a district over time.

7.2.1 Early schools Prior to 1872 religious denominational schools were the primary education providers in the colony. In 1872 the colonial Victorian government introduced free, compulsory and secular education and established the first Education Department. Most of the townships in Yarriambiack were established in the dawn of this era of state education, meaning that many of their first schools were either state schools or began as private, often church-based, ventures that were quickly taken over by the state system once they were large enough. An example of this pattern was the first school in Murtoa, established by Gustav Degenhardt who hired the first teacher J. Meier in the year of the town’s foundation, 1873. This first school was conducted in a mud and thatch schoolroom built by parents in the same allotment as the later Murtoa kindergarten. In 1875 it had 40 students. That same year, the Education Department assumed control of the school with the arrival of a state teacher, J.F.Walther, and shortly thereafter Murtoa School No. 1549 opened in a new schoolhouse in ‘an imposing

72 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY position’ on the rise at the north end of Duncan Street (Adler, 1997:36). By 1921, SS1549 at Murtoa boasted an average attendance of 190 pupils (Blake, 1973:225). Nearby Rupanyup’s first school was also a private school – this time established by the Presbyterian Church in 1875. Yet after just a few weeks, it was acquired by the Education Department as State School 1595. By 1878 it had enrollment of 100 students, with the construction of a new one room brick schoolhouse and a residence for a teacher (Blake, 1973:227). At Minyip, when the state school opened in 1879, 15 of its 37 pupils shifted from a nearby private school run by the Lutheran Church. At Kewell, the Lutheran school was established in 1900 and closed in 1945 (Rabl 1959:11). Figure 41: Murtoa State School and students in 1909. Source: State Library of Victoria.

The history of Warracknabeal primary school, first established on the site of the current Commercial Hotel, tells a similar story. Established as a private school in 1873 under the tutelage of the postmaster, it became State School 1334 the following year, with an attendance increasing from 24 in 1875 to 44 in 1876 (Blake, 1973:225). As school attendance grew with the expanding population, this was reflected in the physical growth of the townships schools. In Warracknabeal, a new building was constructed for the school in 1879 on the corner of Lyle and Anderson streets, and another new brick building in the late 1890s at a time when the town was undergoing expansion as a regional centre with local industries such as the flour mills and brewery drawing new employees and their families. By 1906, Warracknabeal SS1334 had over 300 enrollments. Brick extensions were added in 1920, and a new building added in 1960 (Blake, 1973:225).

7.2.2 The rise and fall of rural schools Closer settlement from the 1870s onwards resulted in the need for schools in rural areas. Schools illustrated the growth and patterns of settlement. In the former Shire of Karkarooc 12 schools were established during the first rush of selectors from 1887 to 1895. A further 18 schools were opened in the first decades of the twentieth century (Taylor, 1996:100). It was not unusual for school buildings to be relocated according to need. For example, Marma SS1744, south of Murtoa on the Murtoa-Lubeck Road – this building was shifted to Lubeck in the 1880s and again moved to join the Murtoa Higher Elementary School in 1932 (Blake, 1973:229). At Wallup, the school occupied three sites in the late nineteenth century, moving according to the new areas opened for selection. Many schools were short lived, closing only a few years after opening. The process of school closures accelerated after the Second World War as the population of rural areas continued to decline and State government policies encouraged the development of ‘consolidated’ schools in larger towns, which were served by buses conveying children from outlying areas. Consolidated schools were established at Patchewollock and Hopetoun in 1945 and Woomelang in 1946.

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The effect was immediate with 11 schools in Karkarooc Shire alone closing by 1946 (Taylor, 1996:218). As a consequence virtually all of the rural one-room schools in the Shire were closed by the 1980s, as well as many in some of the smaller towns such as Patchewollock and Speed. Most of the school buildings were removed – The former school at Beulah West is a rare survivor – after closing the building was acquired by the local community for use as the hall. Others are remember only by signs marking their site, with dates of opening and closure, and remnant trees, which are a reminder of Arbor Day activities.

7.2.3 Developing higher education Warracknabeal also became the centre for the state school system’s higher elementary education in the area with the opening of Warracknabeal College in 1901. This was a two room weatherboard building on the west bank of the Yarriambiack with 40 pupils. It closed in 1912, merging into the Warracknabeal Higher Elementary School. In 1924 Warracknabeal Agricultural High School opened with 8 teachers and 150 students. By 1945 this grew to 290 students and 13 staff. A four room technical wing was added in 1954, with an ‘explosion’ of the school population from 320 in 1955 to 540 in 1968 (Blake, 1973:260). A Higher Elementary School also opened at Murtoa in 1922 and became a district high school in 1956 (Adler, 1997:37).

7.2.4 Mechanics’ Institutes & public libraries The origin of the Mechanics Institute lies in the mass movement towards working class education and improvement arising in industrial Britain in the early nineteenth century. It had strong links to the breakaway protestant movements active at the time in popularising education among the working classes. In 1799 Professor George Birkbeck, a Quaker and professor of natural philosophy at Glasgow has been credited with inspiring the movement with his series of free lectures aimed at disseminating knowledge of science among the general population. Victoria’s first Mechanics’ Institute was established in Melbourne in 1839, and ‘this pattern of establishing an institute almost at the beginning of a town was to be followed throughout the following decades’ (Baragwaneth, 2000:xi). During the 1870s 110 institutes were established; in the 1880s this rose to 268; in the 1890s 140 were established (Baragwaneth, 2000:33). The popularity of the mechanics’ institute was aided by Victorian government subsidies towards the cost and maintenance of institute libraries, as the movement enjoyed broad political support and was widely seen as part of the need to create social infrastructure in rapidly expanding municipalities – as Baragwaneth points out, ‘in almost every city there was invariably a component of people interested in moral and mental improvement’. The establishment of the townships in Yarriambiack Shire coincided with the crest of this wave of mechanics institutes in the 1880s. In 1886 mechanics institutes were established in both Warracknabeal and Minyip (Baragwaneth, 1973:280,203). At Murtoa the decision to establish an institute had been made at a public meeting in 1881, with community fundraising including a bazaar leading up to the foundation of the institute in 1887 (Baragwaneth, 2000:211). At Rupanyup the mechanics institute was established in 1889; at Lubeck in 1890 and at Hopetoun in 1893. These buildings were important social centres fulfilling a variety of community functions, including meetings, political debates, concerts, lectures, travelling shows and even roller skating. In the twentieth century they also frequently evolved in usage to accommodate picture shows. In the post-war period, local government assumed greater control over many of the educational and community services provided by the institutes, in many cases precipitating the buildings demolition, replacement or refurbishment (Baragwaneth, 2000:34). For example, the Warracknabeal Mechanics’ Institute was demolished after

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1968 when it made way for the new municipal library (Maroske, 1991:146-153); at Rupanyup the old hall was replaced by a new one in 1965. While mechanics’ institute hall design was typically simple and functional rather than monumental, particularly in the nineteenth century, there are notable examples of more monumental design in later years, as some mechanics’ institutes almost seamlessly transitioned into memorial and public halls. This was the case in Hopetoun, where the 1924 Soldiers Memorial Hall replaced the old mechanics’ institute. In Minyip, the mechanics’ institute was refurbished and reopened as the Memorial Hall.

7.3 Providing health and welfare services The Shire of Dunmunkle appointed its first medical officer in 1882. Small private hospitals run by nurses already operated. The first public hospital was established at Warracknabeal, which was opened in 1891. The hospital served a catchment estimated at 7,500 people at the time. Figure 42: Warracknabeal Hospital c.1910. Source: Robertson 1910.

In the 1920s the Minyip Progress Association turned its attention to lobbying for a public hospital. This was at a time when issues around public health, particularly as it pertained to the maintenance of a healthy race and eugenics debates came to prominence in the popular imagination. The Minyip and District Hospital was established in 1924, and extended in 1956 (Minyip Heritage Plaques:82). At Rupanyup a private hospital known as ‘Stonehaven’ opened in 1926, running on the dedication of local ‘legend’ Sister Pfundt until her death in 1946 (Teasdale, 1970:69). The following year, the Rupanyup Community Hospital opened and was taken over by the Bush Nursing Association the following year, conducting extensive renovations of the old hospital in 1953-4. Attracting a local doctor was an ongoing concern, and in 1966, a residence was constructed using funds collected through a public appeal (Teasdale, 1970:69). Maternal and child health became a major issue in the first decades of the twentieth century and led to a baby health movement that was driven by committed volunteers frustrated at government inaction. Dr Isabella Younger Ross (1887-1956) who had studied infant health in England helped set up Victoria’s first baby health clinic in Richmond in 1917. By 1918 the voluntary Victorian Baby Health Centres Association (VBHCA) was formed to oversee the growing number of centres. Financial support also came from local councils and in 1926 the State government formed the Infant Welfare Section of the Public Health Department and appointed Dr Vera Scantlebury Brown as the first Director. In the post-war period, the State Government introduced a construction subsidy of £1,000 to assist with the establishment of centres and from 1917-76 54 centres were established throughout Victoria (Heritage Victoria, File No. HER/2000/000033) The Shire of Dunmunkle was among those in the twentieth century who adopted a more progressive and interventionist role in the provision of community health services, particularly for the young and mothers. In 1929 the shire operated an Infant Welfare Centre in the Minyip Memorial Hall Soldier’s room with the support of the Minyip CWA. The location was appropriate as a healthy race was seen as important in defending Australia in an age when

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eugenics and public health were intertwined with ideas about national vitality. A purpose built centre was opened in 1956. At Rupanyup dedicated Infant Welfare sisters provided services out of the Soldiers Memorial Hall, with the first such nurse Sister Chidlow appointed in 1929. The interwar period was one of increased national interest in infant welfare and public health, in line with the popularised ‘eugenics’ movement of the time and heightened strategic concern over the population of Australia. For this reason, many local government as well as state and national authorities took growing interest in the provision of infant welfare services.

7.4 Community life in country towns The development of civic and public life was a critical and sometimes challenging endeavour in areas that were isolated and sparsely populated. Country towns and hamlets were important centres for their hinterlands where people could gather away from farms and rural workplaces to socialise together and to form community ties. Halls were places where organisations met (such as those discussed below) .Swimming pools became an important addition to community infrastructure in the post-war period where social events could also be held.

7.4.1 Public Halls Halls, like schools and churches, are one of the most tangible and enduring signs of community formation and were important in providing opportunities for regular socialising and community-building in the more isolated areas of the Shire. Often, a hall was the first building constructed by a community and would often be used as a school or a place or worship until a permanent school or church could be provided. In the larger townships the halls were often Town or Municipal Halls, which provided meeting places for people in their broader hinterlands. As noted above the most common kind of public hall in the 19th century was the Mechanics’ Institute hall. Other community halls were known simply as public halls, particularly after the Mechanics’ Institute movement waned, around the turn of the century. In many areas around the Shire the trend to memorialise the Great War also led to a number of memorial halls (see section 7). For example, the Minyip public hall opened in 1904 with a gala ball, was refurbished and renamed as the Memorial Hall in 1922, with the addition of adjoining RSL rooms for the returned soldiers (Heritage Plaques:83). Figure 43: Opening of the Memorial Hall in Minyip 1922.

In the early twentieth century the closer settlement resulted in another flurry of hall building. Examples include the public halls at Bangerang (1912), Aubrey (1923), Boolite (1926), WIlkur South (1929). As noted above, many of the halls constructed after World War I (and after World War II) were dedicated as war memorials. However, the continuing decline in

76 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY population of the rural areas of Yarriambiack Shire has seen the closure and removal of many of these halls and few rural halls remain.

7.4.2 Progress Associations and township improvements Progress Associations were a significant and distinctive voice for the local community, which relied heavily on political intervention for its development, for example in securing funding and support for settlement, agriculture and irrigation, railways and other infrastructure. Yaapeet Progress Association agitated in 1915 for the town’s Recreation Reserve. (Fisher 1966:13-14) The Murtoa Progress Committee was established by Mr Habel at a public meeting at Holt’s Club Hotel in 1888. Progress associations like this were stages for ‘a long line of public spirited men, drawn from many walks of life’, and at Murtoa its early efforts at municipal improvement included the planting of 416 trees in main streets and by Lake Marma (Adler, 1997:77).

7.4.3 Agricultural Societies Agricultural Societies originated from early traditions of ploughing matches between farmers, which were taking place in Victoria in the 1850s (Argus, 24 May 1856). These matches provided an opportunity for farmers to discuss implements and farming methods, and were the forerunners of Agricultural Shows. They are particularly associated with the showgrounds, which feature large in the recreational as well as social and economic life of the townships and their surrounding farms. For example, the Murtoa Agricultural and Pastoral Society was formed at a public meeting at the Murtoa Court House in 1881. Thereafter it met at Holt’s Club Hotel until 1916. Its first meeting resolved to hold an agricultural show for 1881. The first, informal showgrounds were ‘the Hill’. Formal showgrounds were gazetted in 1895. The most significant development of the Murtoa Showgrounds however occurred in the post-war period (Adler, 1997:75-77). The A&P Society’s Annual Show became a regular event in the Shire with social as well as economic functions. The annual show at Rupanyup, […] was an occasion when one fitted oneself out with a new outfit of clothes, cleaned up the buggy, and set off early with one’s entries. The best of the district’s produce and livestock was on display for the scrutiny of the judges, just as it is now. But perhaps a little more ‘colour’ was reflected in the old-time shows with their exhibits of Clydesdale draught horses, the exhibits of show specials in locally made ploughs and beautifully painted wagons, and new buggies and gigs. Even the sole remaining Blackfellow King Billy turned up, with his carved wooden plate strung around his neck inscribed “King Billy”. (Teasdale, 1970:28-9)

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Figure 44: The new grandstand and spectators at the 1908 Minyip Agricultural Show. Source: Cromie 1972.

At Minyip, the Agricultural Society was established in 1886, with its first show at O’Callaghan’s sports ground (Cromie, 1972). By 1908 a new purpose built showground with a new grandstand had been opened. The first Agricultural and Pastoral Society show at Minyip in 1885 (Cromie, 1972) provided a snapshot of the range of agricultural pursuits and wares typical of the era, with prizes listed (and numbers of entries) for draft stock (50); blood stock (32); hackneys (81); cattle (16); sheep (21); swine (9); poultry (11); dogs (13); buggies & carts (32); harness & saddlery (11); implements & machinery (60); dairy produce (71); grains (22); wines and ales (3); and miscellaneous (106).

7.4.4 Forming community associations Friendly Societies and Lodges Friendly societies originated in eighteenth century England as a way of providing self-help and mutual support amongst working people. With no state welfare, the societies were an important form of social security. Members made regular contributions of a few pence to a fund upon which they could draw if illness prevented them from working. Funds were also available to pay funeral expenses and assist widows and orphans of members. In the nineteenth century, Victoria was a stronghold of friendly societies, probably because of its industrial base. Blainey estimates that in 1890 up to one in three Victorians came under the protective umbrella of a friendly society. Although meetings were sometimes held in hotels, friendly societies generally promoted temperance, as sobriety was regarded akin to respectability and prosperity (Blainey, 1991:22-3). Some lodges, particularly the Freemasons, had a secret ceremonial dimension, which bound members even closer together. Groups such as the Freemasons also provided mutual aid to members and erected significant edifices such as the 1924 Masonic Hall at Hopetoun. Other friendly or mutual societies were connected with other aspects of identity, most notably the Australian Natives Association (See also Section 2.4.6 Towards an Australian cultural identity). The Australian Natives Association (ANA) was essentially a friendly or mutual society established in 1871in Melbourne, with membership open to Australian born males 16 and over, extended to females with its amalgamation with the women’s associated organisation in 1964. However it came to be active in the movement for Australian federation (Menadue, 1971:5). The Murtoa ANA was established in 1883 with 15 members. It was branch number 22, ‘formed only 11 years after the pioneer families had taken up land and sponsoring debates such as ‘Is farming in the Wimmera likely to be permanent?’ (Menadue, 1971:6). It grew to 80 by 1908, and peaked at 222 in 1971 when it planted 14 golden pines flanking the Murtoa Memorial Gates to celebrate its centenary. The Murtoa ANA was continuously involved in

78 VOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY beautification, education, recreation and tree planting efforts in the township (Adler, 1997:82; Menadue, 1971:43). At Warracknabeal, ANA branch 115 had 100 members by 1900 and it too ‘took a very lively interest in municipal affairs’ sponsoring debates, lectures, musicals and sporting events (Menadue, 1971:53). Temperance Associations The Women’s Christian Temperance Union began in America, and formed an Australian branch in Sydney in 1885. In 1900 the constitution of the national organisation affirmed total abstinence and prohibition of alcohol, equal standards and wages for women and men, female suffrage, ‘arbitration between nations’ and ‘the Holy Bible as our standard faith’. Among the temperance associations established in the area was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which lobbied Warracknabeal Council in 1909 to introduce the drinking fountain so that thirsty citizens might have a public alternative to quench their thirst to the beer at the public bar (Maroske, 1991:67). The fountain was unveiled in 1911 outside the shire offices and removed in 1939 to ANZAC Park. Women’s Associations The Country Women’s Association in Victoria had strong roots in the settlement of the Wimmera-Mallee region. Its founders were a combination of women who were ‘highly privileged city dwellers, with a love of the country,[and] strongly minded country women’ with a goal to ‘improve life for rural people, the food producers, the most important people in the state’ (Stevens-Chambers, 2008:3). Their activism was particularly driven by the hardships of farming families in the north-west regions, where the ‘triumph of idealism over common sense’ had led to marginal lands being settled and much hardship by its settlers (See 2.3 Settlement Schemes). In 1926 Lady Mitchell and Lady Somers, who were also involved in the Overseas Settlement Committee and the New Settlers League were inspired by Women’s Institutes in Britain and Canada, and the establishment of CWAs in New South Wales and Queensland, to establish a similar organisation in Victoria (Stevens-Chambers, 2008:7). Local branches opened across the region, such as that at Rupanyup where a branch of the CWA opened in 1933, holding evening meetings and sponsoring town amenities and scholarships (Teasdale, 1970:77). Veterans’ Associations Veterans’ associations were formed across the Shire in response to the needs of returned servicemen from the Great War of 1914-18 (See Section 6.5 Defending Victoria and Australia). At Rupanyup the local Returned Soldiers’ Association formed in 1918 with 41 members (Teasdale, 1970:73). The veteran’s association met at the Memorial Hall erected in 1920, with a lounge and library dedicated for use by its members. New clubrooms were built in 1956 after the Second World War. The Rupanyup sub branch of the Returned Service League had as many as 65 members, as well as an R.S.L. Women’s Auxiliary – in 1944 252 people from Rupanyup and district enlisted in the services, including 22 women (Teasdale, 1970:73). Youth and Senior Associations Some associations were specifically connected with the phases of life, from youth groups like the Scouts and Girl Guides, to ‘Elderly’ and later ‘Senior’ societies, which catered for a growing older population in the post-war period. Rupanyup Senior Citizens’ House of Friendship was formed in 1964, with 60 members engaged in social activities and recreation (Teasdale, 1970:79). The Rupanyup Lions Club, established in 1957, also commenced ‘meals on wheels’ as well as local scholarships (Teasdale, 1970:79); the Red Cross branch was formed during the 1914-18 war, reformed in 1939, and met monthly thereafter (Teasdale, 1970:79).

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At Warracknabeal, the Elderly Citizens Welfare Committee was among the projects of the Warracknabeal Apex Club in 1960 (Maroske, 1991:118). The Elderly Citizen’s Club building was built in 1963, the first of four community buildings in the Civic Centre. The Civic Centre itself was among the significant post-war community facilities developed by the Council, with the support of the Apex Club (Maroske, 1991:133-136). Rupanyup Girl Guides and Brownies Pack was formed in 1937, with its own Guide Hall meeting room established in 1965 (Teasdale, 1970:78). A joint Guides and Brownies hall was also established in Minyip by 1962 (Cromie, 1972). The Murtoa Scouts were formed around 1925 and formed a Senior troop win 1968 with seven boys receiving their Queen’s Scouts certificates. Murtoa Girl Guides were formed in April 1932, and a Brownie Pack in 1934 with a Brownie Hut on the shores of Lake Marma (Rabl 1972:81; Cowie 2011). Artistic Associations Artistic associations, particularly concerning drama and music, were an integral part of community life, often based around halls, meeting places and parks. Purpose-built facilities such as band stands testified to the artistic interests of the community. Artistic associations ranged from the large number of small local bands such as the Boolite Brass Band (pictured) to the grand Warracknabeal Lyric Club which claimed in 1910 to be ‘one of the finest and most successful in Victoria’, performing such popular theatrical spectaculars as the Mikado (Robertson, 1910). The earliest musical society in Murtoa was the Philharmonic Society. The Murtoa Orchestra was formed in September 1921, with a piano, 11 strings, 2 cornets and a clarinet, with Dr S. Rabl as conductor, and remained active until the 1950s (Rabl 1972:84-5). Other less formal local artistic associations included choral societies, brass bands and music clubs, such as the Murtoa Music Club established in 1934 with an emphasis on educating, socialising, and encouraging amateur talent among the area’s young people. Figure 45: The Boolite Brass Band 1895.

Figure 46: The Warracknabeal Lyric Club c.1910

7.5 Preserving traditions and commemorating Historical memory is strong across the Yarriambiack. Besides the commemoration of those lost in wars (dealt with in Section 7), significant commemorative efforts have revolved around important local historical events and people. The tradition began with the ‘Back tos’ that started around the 1920s and 30s to celebrate 50 years since the arrival of the first selectors in some districts, which led to the formation of historical societies and groups, and the formal recognition of historic achievements and events by various memorials throughout the Shire.

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7.5.1 Historical societies Local regard for heritage has also manifested through the foundation and work of historical societies, including at Murtoa, Minyip, Hopetoun, Rupanyup and Warracknabeal. Warracknabeal Historical Centre operated out of the Mechanics Institute until 1969 when it moved into the old State Savings Bank (Maroske, 1991:172). The Warracknabeal and District Historical Society has maintained the original Banking Chamber and the residence is now used to display local historical items, information and records (Warracknabeal Historical Society, 2011). Around 1990 the Warracknabeal and District Historical Society restored the Warracknabeal Court House with the help of the National Trust. The court house is now used for monthly meetings (Warracknabeal & District Historical Society, 2011). The Warracknabeal and District Historical Society has maintained the Log Lock-up (1872) at Warracknabeal since 1965, as well as the Water Tower (1886) since the 1970s. Other historical societies in the area followed similar patterns and interests, with the Murtoa & District Historical Society converting the town’s old water tower to the Water Tower Museum, now a Public Records repository as well as housing a taxidermy collection of over 500 birds, eggs, reptiles and animals (Collections Australia 2011). The Minyip Historical Society took over the Guardian offices as a historical research centre, while the Hopetoun and District Historical Society established a local museum in the old primary school (Australian Heritage 2011).

7.5.2 Honouring the pioneers Yarriambiack Shire contains a remarkable number of memorials dedicated to the memory of pioneer settlers and events. At Minyip for example, avenues of trees at the four main roads into town commemorate significant local figures, while at Beulah the settlement’s pioneers are remembered by memorial gates. At Murtoa, the Rabl family were memorialised in an avenue of trees at Lake Marma, and in Hopetoun locals erected a fountain in the main street to commemorate Lascelles’ first source of water supply for the town. The proliferation of pioneer memorials was partly attributed to the rash of pioneer memorialisation that occurred in the early to mid twentieth century, with the Wimmera Regional Committee proposing that all shires should set up and preserve historic monuments in 1954, and a Pioneers Memorial Committee established in 1957 (Maroske 1991:167).

7.6 Cemeteries Cemeteries are an important and tangible record of the historic development of Yarriambiack Shire. They reflect the social and cultural changes in a district over time. Cemeteries are invariably laid out on denominational lines and the German influence is marked in various cemeteries such as Sheep Hills and Murtoa. Cemeteries illustrate the rise and fall of communities and are sometimes the only remaining place associated with a former township, providing an insight in the difficulties faced by isolated settlers in early years. The high number of children’s graves – and sometimes their young mothers - provides a poignant insight into the high rate of infant and maternal mortality until well into the twentieth century. Prior to the formal reservation of cemeteries it was not uncommon also for burials to take place on family farming properties and the earliest cemeteries in the Shire are those associated with the pastoral runs. Examples include the Lake Corrong Station Pioneer Cemetery at Hopetoun, where graves from the pastoral era include those of George Bell (d.1854) and Thomas Lawrie (d.1867), while the lone grave of James Simson at Brim is believed to be part of the former Brim station cemetery, which may include unmarked graves in the surrounding area.

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HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Building community life include:

Maintaining spiritual life  St Mark’s Anglican Church, Areegra (HO1), St Paul’s Anglican Church, Brim (HO7), St Luke’s Anglican Church (HO14) and the former Presbyterian Church (HO9), Hopetoun, St John’s Lutheran Church (HO26), Minyip, Holy Trinity Anglican Church (HO34), Murtoa, St Phillipsyes Anglican Church (HO51), Rupanyup, Christ Anglican Church (HO57), Warracknabeal, Former Presbyterian Church (HO47), Rosebery

Educating people  State primary schools, e.g., Murtoa, Beulah, Beulah West, Patchewollock and Hopetoun  Mechanics’ Institutes, e.g., Beulah (HO2), Murtoa (HO37) and Sheep Hills (HO54)

Providing health and welfare services  Warracknabeal Hospital  Minyip Community Health Centre

Community life in country towns  Public halls, e.g., Aubrey, Boolite, Brim (HO6), Hopetoun West, Minyip (HO23) and Wallup  Masonic Temples, e.g., Hopetoun, Warracknabeal and Rupanyup  Temperance fountain at ANZAC Park, Warracknabeal  Kurrajong Avenue, Comyn Street, Murtoa  Agricultural society showgrounds at Hopetoun, Minyip, Murtoa and Warracknabeal

Preserving traditions and commemorating  Pioneer memorials, e.g. Beulah, Goyura, Bangerang, Rosebery

Cemeteries  Early pastoral station cemeteries – Simson Grave at Brim, Lake Corrong Cemetery at Hopetoun  Cemeteries – e.g., Sheep Hills, Minyip, Murtoa

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8. SHAPING CULTURAL AND CREATIVE LIFE

INTRODUCTION Cultural and creative life in the rural shires and country towns were intrinsically related to the formation of community and community associations (See Section 7 Building Community Life). However sport and recreation also had their dedicated places and distinct organisations. The distinctive environmental characteristics of the region also made it a site of significance for the creation of a broader Australian culture and identity. This chapter incorporates material from the following Victorian Historic Themes:  Participating in sport and recreation  Creating popular culture

HISTORY

8.1 Participating in sport and recreation Leisure, sport and recreation have a long public history in Australia, with colonial governments supporting the formation of recreation reserves and mechanics institutes for public sporting and intellectual development (Lynch & Veal, 1996:67-69). The creation of Mechanics Institutes (see 7.2.4 Mechanics Institutes and Libraries) was an important component of what the colonial state and society considered a valuable form of recreation in providing for moral and intellectual development. Hotels (see 5.1.4 Entertaining & Socialising) were also an important and more informal site of recreation as well as social interaction, with country pubs in particular playing a variety of social functions beyond merely catering for the drinking public. Their social important helps explain why Australia had more hotels in 1877 than it did in 1977, by the time a broader variety of different spaces and forms of recreation and entertainment was available (Lynch & Veal, 1996:70- 71). In country areas, the Showgrounds also became multi-purpose sites for both agricultural exhibition and public entertainment. Given the scattered population centres and spirit of rivalry between them, the local sporting club also became an early and prominent aspect of the social life of the townships and hamlets. Another marked feature of the area, given its natural attributes and open spaces was the early popularity of the picnic and picnic ground as a recreational and social institution.

8.1.1 Sporting clubs Sporting clubs play an important role in building social networks in the context of rural isolation, and building community identity in towns and rural communities. For example, the Rupanyup Cricket Club started in 1888, playing in competition which extended from Nhill to Beaufort (Teasdale, 1972:77) Football matches were played regularly form the 1870s onwards between Murtoa, Minyip, Coromby and Warracknabeal. The sites of football ovals, like recreation reserves of which they often formed a part, moved from time to time, one example being the Rupanyup oval which transferred from a site south of the cemetery, to the Racecourse and Recreation Reserve, and later a purpose built oval in the 1920s (Teasdale, 1970:70). Recreation Reserves were also subject to ongoing improvement and expansion as townships developed, for example the Minyip Recreation Reserve was improved by a grandstand in 1908, club room in 1965 and public facilities such as a new toilet block in 1971 (Cromie, 1972). Sporting clubs could also be associated with various cultural groups and places, such as the Minyip Tennis Club which formed in 1897 and used the Church of England Courts, and from

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1913 Gregson Park (Cromie, 1972). There, tennis was a favoured sporting arm of the church associations with inter-church as well as inter-town competitions. Figure 47: The Rupanyup Football team 1900. Source: Teasdale 1970.

8.1.2 Picnic Grounds Picnic grounds became early favourites as sites of group recreation and community events, combining recreation with appreciation for the natural environment (See Section 1.4 Appreciating Natural Wonders). Special and extraordinary events as well as regular celebrations were often marked by picnics, such as the ‘monster picnic’ at Woomelang Recreation Reserve in 1918 to mark Armistice Day (Taylor, 1996:132). Picnics were also held to raise funds for community projects or charities such as bushfire relief, or in order to bring different communities together such as the 1937 ‘monster combined picnic’ of schoolchildren from Baring and Patchewollock at Mount Jenkins on Pine Plains, ‘one of the most natural picnic grounds in the Mallee’ (Taylor, 1996:194). Figure 48: A picnic near Minyip 1895.

8.1.3 Country swimming pools Swimming pools became not just popular sites of recreation but also an important addition to community infrastructure in the post-war period. The importance of the swimming pool became especially marked in country towns, and was part of a national trend which saw the public swimming pool as a safe, sanitary and healthy venue for regulated outdoor recreation which took advantage of the country’s natural climatic and spatial advantages (Lewi & Nichols, 2010:114-115). For the Yarriambiack area, the popular movement for swimming pools was reinforced by the seasonal variation of its natural water places, and concerns over their safety and cleanliness (Maroske, 1991: 110-111). Minyip’s first swimming pool was established in 1929 following lobbying by the local Progress Association, and was constructed out of the Old Mill Dam. A new pool was opened in 1963 – it was renamed the John A. Cromie Memorial Pool after one of the leaders of the pool committee (Heritage Plaques:94). In Warracknabeal, the post-war swimming pool was the subject of controversy over situation and naming, taking over a decade to finalise despite the longstanding popular demand for dedicated swimming baths fromc.1909 onwards. The Warracknabeal Memorial Swimming Pool opened in 1957

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(Maroske:110-14; Warracknabeal Pool Committee, 2008). The opening of the pool at Warracknabeal was the highlight of a 5 day ‘Back-to Warracknabeal celebration in November, featuring a picture sho, mixed bowls tournament, ex-servicemen’s reunion and a street carnival. Over a thousand attended the opening despite hot north winds in a ceremony that featured the inaugural march of the Warracknabeal Marching Girls (1957- 1972). The Warracknabeal Swimming Club claimed to be ‘the premier Wimmera club’, attracting Olympic exhibition swimmers like Faith Leech in 1956. The pool also benefitted from several additions, including a kiosk in 1957-8, installation of lighting in 1958 and a major upgrade in 2006-7 (Warracknabeal Pool Committee, 2008). At Murtoa, swimming baths were opened in 1926 and proved instantly popular (Adler 1997:83). The new pool, constructed to meet updated health regulations, was opened in 1977 (Adler 1997:84). Figure 49: Old Minyip Swimming Pool c.1920-50. Source: State Library of Victoria.

8.2 Minyip and the Flying Doctors Because of the longstanding association between the ‘bush’ and Australian national identity (Ward, 1958), country towns have played a significant role as icons of a perceived national culture and character. In 1984 the town’s Main Street became iconic as ‘Cooper’s Crossing’, the setting for the Flying Doctors television series 1984-1989. Several premises in Minyip have continued to trade off their fame as locations for the Flying Doctors through reference to the names, places and characters in the series, such as ‘Emma’s Garage’, while the Club Hotel and Senior Citizens also featured prominently. Councils throughout North West Victoria joined forces to promote potential film locations for film makers in the region through Film North West Victoria.

8.3 Towards an Australian cultural identity New identities such as the Australian national identity were also formed through associations such as the Australian Natives Association in the 1880s and 1890s. The Australian Natives Association was a mutual society established in 1871 for native born Australians, which became prominent in the late nineteenth century amidst the movement for national federation. The Murtoa branch of the A.N.A claimed to be the oldest in the Wimmera region, established in 1883 (Adler, 1997:79). The A.N.A. was an important organisation in the struggle for an Australian identity. In the Wimmera it also played an important educational role, providing scholarships and prizes for Australian students. The Murtoa ANA was particularly active in tree planting, with 14 golden pines flanking the Memorial Gates at Lake Marma planted to mark the ANA’s centenary in 1971, and further native trees in 1983 and 1990 (Adler, 1997:82). See also Section 8 Forming Community Associations.

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HERITAGE Some examples of heritage places associated with the theme of Shaping cultural and creative life include:

Participating in sport and recreation  Minyip Sports Oval  Anzac Park, Warracknabeal

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9. WHY IS YARRIAMBIACK SHIRE SIGNIFICANT?

9.1 Introduction This chapter contains the statement of significance for Yarriambiack Shire, which is based upon the information contained in this history and seeks to describe the principal reasons for the significance of the municipality. It is intended to be: ... a brief, pithy but comprehensive statement of all the ways in which the place is significant. It should not just be a list of every conceivable reason for significance that the assessor can think up, however, it must state clearly and unequivocally the major reasons why the place is important. It must be supported by the presentation of sufficient evidence to justify the assessment judgement. (Pearson & Sullivan 1995.) The preceding chapters each provides information about the cultural heritage values associated with specific historic themes in the development of Yarriambiack Shire and identifies some of the representative places associated with each. In order to more readily understand the significance of the Shire’s heritage the thematic historical development has been divided into the following broadly themed periods or waves of historical development, which, because of the northwards path of settlement through the Shire vary in chronology across its landscape.  The pre-colonial land and people (pre-1844)  First contact and Pastoralism (c.1844-1870)  Creating new towns and settlements (c.1871 – 1890s)  Expanding agriculture, water supply and railways (c.1880s – c.1930)  Consolidating and maintaining rural communities (c.1930 onwards)  Transforming and being transformed by the environment (throughout). In assessing the significance of each period, this chapter considers:  What is significant? This identifies and summarises the heritage places, which illustrate the various themes described in detail in the preceding chapters. The heritage places may be ‘tangible’ (or physical) elements (such as buildings, parks & gardens, monuments, railways etc.) or ‘intangible’ (such as historic events or associations, community identity or associations, etc.).  Why is it significant? This provides a summary of the reasons why each stage is significant. In accordance with the definition set out above (Pearson and Sullivan 1995), this does not attempt to list every reason, but provides an overview of the key reasons why the heritage places of Yarriambiack Shire are significant, particularly in the context of the Wimmera and Mallee regions. The exception is the Aboriginal landscape where further consultation with appropriate communities and research is required in order to establish the significant values of this stage.

9.2 Statement of significance The heritage of Yarriambiack Shire is historically significant for its association with many Victorian historic themes. These include transforming and managing land and natural resources as it applies to the Mallee Wimmera region. Many of the heritage places are associated with the development of agriculture, regional settlement and associated infrastructure in transport, communications, water and community that marked the

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colonisation and post-contact settlement of the northwest of Victoria progressively through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The heritage of Yarriambiack Shire is significant for aesthetic, historic, scientific, social and spiritual values. The heritage places of the Shire in particular tell the story of the northern advance of this intensified human settlement into the Wimmera-Mallee, carried successively by pastoralism, the railway, wheat farming, irrigation and water and farming technology. The historic markers and remnants meanwhile of so many smaller settlements in turn tell the story of that settlement’s consolidation and changed character of agricultural business as well as the environmental limits of human occupation and industry.

The pre-colonial land and people Significant heritage places and landscape elements that remind us of the pre-colonial landscape and the occupation of its traditional owners before contact identified by the Stage 1 study in Yarriambiack Shire include:  The Yarriambiack Creek and its connected network of waterholes and wetlands are significant as markers of the Aboriginal creation stories.  Natural reserves such as the Wyperfeld National Park, Wathe Flora and Fauna Reserve, and Barrabool Reserve are significant. The places associated with the pre-colonial land and people are significant as evidence of the enduring spiritual and cultural relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the land and its features. The reminders of the pre-colonial landscape are significant as rare and scientifically valuable evidence of the nature of the land before its transformation by European and other colonists. (Criteria A, B, C, D, E, G) Yarriambiack Shire’s precious water places are particularly important both environmentally and culturally as sites of ecological importance and of community meaning and social gathering. Aboriginal gathering places such as Lake Corrong (Yarrik) and ‘Blackfellow’s Waterhole’ are among these significant pre-colonial cultural sites. (Criterion G)

Contact and pastoralism Significant places associated with the first contact and relations between Aboriginal peoples and early colonists the pastoral era identified by the Stage 1 Study in Yarriambiack Shire include.  Homesteads, such as at Longerenong and Lake Corrong, and other remnants of pastoral runs such as trees, landscapes, farm buildings and shepherd’s huts.  Pastoral era graves, including those to Aboriginal workers such as ‘Black McGinnis’ are also significant reminders of the settlement patterns and living conditions of this era. The places associated with the period of contact and the pastoral occupation of the land are significant as evidence of the relations between Aboriginal peoples and colonists, and as evidence of the pastoral and farming communities that developed in the time after first contact in the area and prior to the development of permanent townships. The rarity of these early places enhances their significance. (Criteria A & B)

Creating new towns and settlements Significant places associated with the laying out, selection and early development of the towns and settlements by the Shire’s early waves of colonists identified by the Stage 1 Study in Yarriambiack Shire include:  Places associated with the creation of European towns and settlements in the colonial era such as the buildings and layout of towns and villages; historic markers of settlements and pioneer colonists, early houses and civic spaces.

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 The first cultural sites established by pioneer colonists that illustrate this formative era of building and setting down of roots by old peoples in a new land – the various immigrant groups who carried and sought to rebuild their cultural inheritance in the Shire while seeking new opportunities for a better life. Such places include the early churches of the various denominations, the first schools, reserves and early businesses such as general stores. Places associated with the creation of towns and settlements in the area are significant as they provide evidence of the different immigrant groups that were among the early settlers in the Shire. Towns and settlements were established at different times in the area, progressing northwards, and places associated with the establishment of each town or settlement tell the story of the early colonists, their hopes and struggles as they founded new communities, often based on old principles, in a land that was often alien to them, in which they were brought together in new as well as old associations and activities. (Criteria A, D, E, F, G)

Expanding agriculture, water supply and railways The development of wheat farming and water irrigation went hand in hand with the expansion of the railways as vital transport infrastructure taking the produce of the developing agricultural areas to the national and world market. Significant heritage places associated with the development of agriculture, in particular wheat farming and its contribution to the wheat industry of Australia include farm complexes, shearing sheds and other farm outbuildings, grain and produce storage facilities and agricultural research facilities. Significant heritage places associated with the development of irrigation infrastructure such as the Wimmera Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System include channels, dams/tanks, water towers, pipelines, pumping stations and like. Places associated with the expansive phase of agriculture, irrigation and railways are significant because they tell the story of the booming growth of the Wimmera Mallee as new technologies and schemes ‘opened up’ vast areas and produced burgeoning harvests. They also demonstrate the challenges of the environmental conditions and the extent to which human activity attempted to overcome them. These places are significant as they tell the story of the development of wheat farming and irrigation in Victoria and the Wimmera Mallee region. (Criteria A & D)

Consolidating and maintaining rural communities The Yarriambiack Shire contains significant local heritage sites associated with consolidating and maintaining communities. Following the establishment of new towns and settlements and with the period of expansion driven by agricultural, irrigation and transport advances, rural communities had to be consolidated and maintained through a variety of political, economic and social means. The challenges of rural isolation and population became increasingly important with the introduction of labour saving technology to farming and the consolidation of larger farms. At the same time, communities that survived the transition through consolidation saw improved urban services and infrastructure. Warracknabeal in particular developed as a regional centre, and political amalgamations followed this logic. Significant heritage places of this phase in the Shire’s development identified by the Stage 1 Study in Yarriambiack Shire include include:  Historic township amenities such as the shire power houses, historic industries such as flour mills, residential estates, town and community halls, services and other places used by community associations.  Commercial and industrial places associated with township growth.  Housing and residential area in the Shire, such as the old homes of Warracknabeal, for association with the development of these regional centres and the consolidation of rural

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towns through residential development. Certain of the Shire’s heritage streetscapes have become iconic of the country town, for example in Minyip.  The country hotel was also an important social and recreational institution connected to this theme. Other places that can be connected to this broad theme are a high number of places associated educating, worshipping, and recreation, and cemeteries. Places associated with the phases of consolidation and maintenance of rural communities are significant because they tell the story of the survival, and in some cases the demise, of local communities after the boom time expansion efforts of agriculture, water and railways into the northwest of Victoria. These places include country stores and banks, whose lines of credit and services were so vital to the maintenance of local communities, especially farmers, and the centres that relied upon their custom. Places such as schools, churches and halls are historically significant on a local level as reminders of the rise and fall of so many rural centres and settlements. The Yarriambiack Shire contains memorials to pioneers, which are important reminders of the endeavours to settle the land, of vanished settlements, and failed settlements schemes. The collection as a whole is historically significant to the Yarriambiack Shire as markers of the conditions and challenges of building rural communities in the Mallee-Wimmera region. The heritage places also illustrate the influence of a wide variety of cultural groups, significant to the history of migration to Victoria and the peopling of the region. The Yarriambiack Shire is particularly distinctive for its heritage places significant on a state level for their association with the particular colonisation of the region by members of the German and Wendish community, who were a distinctive influence in the region. (Criteria A, D & G)

Transforming and being transformed by the environment Throughout the history of the Yarriambiack Shire area, people have transformed and been themselves changed by the environment and their interactions with it. The Mallee in particular has been a persistent and larger-than-life presence in the social as well as economic life of the region. This interaction between people and environment is the heart of the creation of a cultural landscape. Awareness of this interaction has increased over time, particularly since the rise and popularisation of ecological awareness since the 1960s. Significant heritage places associated with this ongoing transformation include the remnants of the vermin proof fence, transformed natural places such as Lake Marma and Lake Lascelles, natural reserves that were preserved as the result of changing attitudes towards the environment, and other places and landscape elements that tell the story of human and environmental interaction. Places associated with the various periods of transforming and being transformed by the environment may often be associated with concurrent phases in development such as the expansion of irrigation schemes, however they are also significant because they tell the story of the changing attitudes towards the environment and the intimate interaction between nature and people, which is a distinctive feature of life in the Wimmera Mallee and a critical influence upon the historical development of Yarriambiack Shire. (Criteria A)

9.3 Conclusion The thematic environmental history and the statement of significance both convey the sense of the cultural layering of the history of Yarriambiack Shire, both thematic and chronological, that is demonstrated by the heritage places throughout the Shire. It is important that all aspects of this ‘layering’ are recognised, protected and conserved to ensure that the history of Yarriambiack Shire as it is ‘written on the landscape’ can continue to be interpreted and understood by future generations.

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