Jun. 2009 Vol. 9 No. 2 Mildura Brass Band, 1891! The above photograph was loaned by Ann Newberry, which belonged to her grandfather INSIDE THIS EDITION Johnson of Merbein. Merbein Centenary 2, 16 Am looking for a date of photograph believed to be Mulga Fred 3 1891 and names of band members. On the back of photograph the name Mr Johnson James Law, PelacoShirt Co. 4-6 appears and he is believed to be in the photo. 1911 Census Online 7-8 Hawksbury and Bathurst Advocate 9 Software class times Man they could not hang 10-11 Family Tree Maker and Legacy software classes Rising Sun Badge/Tasmanian BDM 12 are now held on the third Wednesday night of each month at the Mildura Carnegie Centre, Legacy Henderson Park, Mildura 13 class commences at 6.30pm and F.T.M. class at Victorian BDM/Mildura POD 14-15, 15 7.30.pm, all newcomers welcome. For further infor - Research Queries 13 & 16 mation contact Graeme Butler on 5024 3986. Australia’s Army War Dead 14-16 NOMINATION FORM FOR William Camin story 16 OFFICE BEARERS Ralston Family 17-19 IS ON PAGE 19 Newsletter Reporter required, contact Editor Mildura & District Genealogical Society Inc. P.O. Box 2895 Mildura, Victoria 3502 Email: [email protected] 100 years of Merbein Irrigation Settlement by Raylee Schultz In August 2009 the town of Merbein in Northern Cliffs (Merbein) 18th August 1909. Victoria will be celebrating 100 years of the To acquire White Cliffs land, the prospective settler Irrigation Settlement. The celebrations will com - had to make formal application to the local Land mence on Friday 14^th August with a Meet and Office, or to the Secretary for Lands, Melbourne. Greet registration at the Merbein Hotel. The pro - Every application had to be accompanied by a gram of events includes a Centenary Ball, sporting deposit equal to the first installment of the purchase events, a Settlers picnic, a Street Parade, School money and the lease fee of one pound. Applicants had events, Historical Walks and Land Sale re-enact - to attend a Land Board Hearing, be examined for their ment and many more. Sunday 23rd August will see suitability for the taking up the land, and agree to live the end of the 10 days of celebrations with an Inter- on the property for at least 8 months of the year. Denominational Church Service at the Kenny Park To encourage prospective settlers, the Government Rotunda followed by lunch and a tree planting. ran railway excursions from Melbourne to Mildura at For further information regarding the Centenary the special rate of one penny per mile for interested please visit their website at parties. www.merbeincentenary.com.au During 1909 and 1910 there were a number of Land <http://www.merbeincentenary.com.au/> Board Hearings and allocations and at the 3rd Land In 1909, approximately 5,600 acres of surveyed Board Hearing and Recommendation, my Great Grand land in White Cliffs, The Parish of Merbein, was Father, William John Camin, met all the criteria need - opened up under the Victoria Closer Settlement ed and his application was successful. Scheme under conditional purchase. The first Land Board hearing was held at White Continued on Page 16 THE MILDURA & DISTRICT GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Inc. A002391P Founded 1978 Carnegie Centre, 74 Deakin Ave. P.O. Box 2895, Mildura 3502 Telephone (03) 5022 0172 Email: [email protected] www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausmdgs/ President Graeme Butler (03) 5024 3986 Membership Benefits:- Vice Pres. Barry Adams (03) 5023 2751 Free use of library. Secretary Raylee Schultz (03) 5023 8778 Receive quarterly Newsletter. Asst. Sec. Kaylene Charles (03) 5021 4763 Free research queries published in Newsletter. Treasurer Malcolm Williams (03) 5027 4591 Librarian Lyn Grant (03) 5023 6753 Meetings :- Ist Monday of month except January and Research Thelma Bock (03) 5023 3541 December. June Greatz (03) 5023 2837 Editor Robin Parker (03) 5027 6307 Library Hours:- Asst. Editor Ron Oxley (03) 5023 1041 Monday 11.00am-4.00pm N’letter Tuesday 11.00am-4.00pm Reviewer Lynn Grant (03) 5023 6753 Wednesday 11.00am-4.00pm Public Officer Kaylene Charles (03) 5021 4763 Thursday Closed Webmaster Flo Carruthers (03) 5023 7544 Friday Closed Carnegie Saturday 11.00am-4.00pm Centre Rep. Graeme Butler (03) 5024 3986 Malcolm Williams (03) 5027 4591 Library Fees:- $5.00 for Non Members Barry Adams (03) 5023 2751 Photocopying & Computer printouts 10c each Catering Anne Newberry (03) 5024 1417 Membership Joining Fee $10 Newsletter:- “The Grapeline” published Ordinary $22 March, June, September and December. Concession $16.50 Closing dates for newsletter submissions Joint $33 20th Feb, 20 May, 20th Aug. and 20th Nov. Badge Fee $10 2 Mulga Fred, Pelaco icon MULGA FRED (c.1874- In 1917 the clothing manufacturers J. K. Pearson 1948), Aboriginal buck - and J. L. G. Law had renamed their firm Pelaco Ltd. jumper, was born about The company’s advertising soon depicted a bare- 1874, probably near Port legged and bare-foot Aboriginal man striding along in Hedland, Wilson and also a pristine white Pelaco dinner-shirt and exclaiming: Fred Clark, he became an ‘Mine Tinkit They Fit’. A. T. Mockridge drew the orig - expert drover and horse- inal sketch. By the 1930s ‘Pelaco Bill’ sported a mon - breaker, but never learned ocle and cigar, or stood resplendent in shirt, tie and to read or write. trousers beneath the Australian flag. What began as a After travelling to racist play on civilization and savagery had become Adelaide by cattle-ship about something more inclusive. Pelaco Bill proved popular 1905, he joined ‘Broncho’ for almost forty years and contributed to the company’s George’s rodeo troupe; he later toured with the Mulder rising fortunes. Mulga Fred always maintained that he brothers and with Billy Kinnear, riding in shows was the model for Pelaco Bill. Although the company throughout south-eastern acknowledged his claim by sending him shirts, it has Australia. Nicknamed ‘Mulga Fred’, he gave out - oscillated (from 1948) about its connection with him. standing performances at a buckjumping rodeo held at Mulga Fred was 5 ft 10 ins (178 cm) tall, full- the Melbourne Hippodrome in June 1911, and subse - bearded and softly spoken; in later life he walked with quently won several Victorian titles. a limp, a legacy of rodeo work. A favourite with chil - By the 1920s Mulga Fred’s ‘beat’ lay in the dren, he was respected by adults, even when cadging a Wimmera and Western districts. From Lake Condah ‘shillin’. He never married and spent his earnings on Aboriginal mission in the south, he toured as far north his drinking mates. Between 1927 and 1940 he was as Kaniva, Dimboola and Swan Hill; in addition, he gaoled fifteen times for drunkenness: he reacted some - regularly appeared at the Melbourne Royal Show. times with defiance, sometimes with gentleness and Kinnear regarded him as one of the greatest rodeo rid - sometimes with wit. En-route to an appearance at the ers of their day. Fred was rarely thrown; he could vault Dimboola Regatta, he was killed when hit by a train on on to a moving horse; and he could ride from ‘head to the night of 2/3 November 1948 at Horsham station. tail’. He continued to ride buckjumpers professionally He was buried in the Horsham cemetery with Catholic until the 1930s, then turned to giving exhibitions: his rites. His tombstone is engraved with a stockwhip and last, for ten seconds at Swan Hill in 1948, brought him boomerang, symbols of the two cultures he mastered. thunderous applause and a shower of coins. In old age he concentrated on rural labouring, and Select Bibliography: Victorian Police Gazette, on subtle horse-taming as distinct from crude horse- 1927, p 260, 1934, p 468, 1936, p 914, 1938, pp 51, breaking. He was also an expert at stockwhip-cracking 291, 429, 928, 1007; Age (Melbourne), 23 June 1911; and boomerang-throwing. Crowds at the football and Horsham Times, 5 Nov 1948; Coleraine Albion, 4 the show frequently saw him whip a cigarette paper Feb 1960; Aborigines Protection Board (Victoria), from the hands and lips of a volunteer. While lying on personal file, CRS B337/0, item 551 (National the ground, he could even use a stockwhip to crack Archives of Australia); inquest no 1704, VPRS 24, paper from his own mouth. box 1605 (Public Record Office Victoria. Urgently Wanted: Family Research Finds Society Items for Sale Sunraysia Daily Indexes $20.00 Merbein Cemetery Index $25.00 Red Cliffs Cemetery Index $25.00 Mildura Law Courts Index 1889-1910 $10.00 Society Coffee Mugs $10.00 Settler in the Sun Conference Book FREE Wall Charts — Seven Generations $1.50 *Disclaimer: The Editor does not accept any responsibility for the opinions or the accuracy in the information contained in this newsletter. 3 Pelaco connection revisited LAW, JAMES LINDSAY GORDON (1881- ment, using physical conditions of work and length of 1963), shirt manufacturer, was born on 21 January work periods to maximize the productivity of the work - 1881 at Ballarat, Victoria, eighth child of Scottish force. The outcome was a modern, well lit and venti - migrants James Law, contractor, and his wife lated factory, equipped with recreation and lunch Margaret, nee Bartholomew. rooms, a piano, and radios provided for the use of James senior was killed in an accident in Tasmania workers. when the youngster, known as ‘Lin’, was only 6. He Pelaco was one of the first companies in Australia was educated in state schools at Ballarat but left at 11 to employ an industrial psychologist, and published a and was subsequently tutored by his eldest sister, a regular factory newsletter, Pelacograms, to inspire a schoolteacher.