THE MALLEE A journey through north-west Victoria ADAM McNICOL | ANDREW CHAPMAN | JAIME MURCIA | MELANIE FAITH DOVE NOEL BUTCHER | ERIN JONASSON | PHIL CAMPBELL Contents Foreword 8 An ode to the Mallee 10 Contributors 12 Where is the Mallee? 14 A short history of the Mallee 16 Chapter 1 Rainbow to Patchewollock 42 Chapter 2 Morton Plains to Murrayville 100 Chapter 3 Wycheproof to Kulwin 156 Chapter 4 Quambatook to Manangatang 202 References/Further reading 230 120 Victoria Street, Index of towns and localities 230 Ballarat East Victoria 3350 Australia Acknowledgements 231 tenbagpress.com.au First published 2020 Text © Adam McNicol 2020 Photographs © Adam McNicol, Andrew Chapman, Jaime Murcia, Melanie Faith Dove, Noel Butcher, Erin Jonasson and Phil Campbell 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN: 978-0-646-82244-0 Cover: Sunrise at a property between Hopetoun and Patchewollock AC Cover, internal design and typesetting by Philip Campbell Design Previous pages: A flock of ewes and Printed in Geelong, Australia by Adams Print lambs near the Curyo silos AC The photograph on page 17 is courtesy Robby Wirramanda. The photographs Right: A classic Mallee scene near on pages 21 and 27 are courtesy Museums Victoria. The photographs on Rainbow AC pages 23, 29 and 31 are courtesy State Library of Victoria. The photograph on Following pages: A haystack near Beulah; page 33 is courtesy Des and Maree Ryan. The photographs on page 34 are Sunrise at the Manangatang (Lulla) Flora courtesy Terry McNicol and Fauna Reserve AC 5 our journey through the mallee Where is The Mallee? Robinvale Tiega Kulwin Manangatang NEW SOUTH WALES Ouyen The part of Victoria known as the Mallee is best defined as Communicating among ourselves the exact location of Galah Cocamba Walpeup Nunga the area where the species of eucalypts known as ‘mallees’ this southern boundary was a challenge in itself. Jaime and Underbool Mi yack Linga Torrita Chinkapook grow. These incredibly drought-tolerant trees are notable Andrew produced a beautiful collection of photographs of Tutye Boinka Bronzewing for having not a single trunk but rather many stems that rise Brim, which featured the town’s very popular painted silos, Murrayville Pier Millan Chillingollah Cowangie Gypsum from a large bulbous woody structure called a lignotuber only for our subsequent research to confirm that Brim Pine Plains Danyo Nandaly Swan Hill or mallee root. The region was named by European settlers was most certainly in the Wimmera. Nevertheless, this gives Patchewollock Tempy Waitchie who heard Aboriginal people from the Wemba Wemba group, us a starting point for a project about the Wimmera down Nyarrin Speed Gowanford based along the Murray River, use the word ‘mali’ to describe the track! Ninda Willah Turriff Ultima the distinctive trees. The current spelling was settled upon Such was our fascination with the railway map and its Sea Lake Yarto after it appeared on a map published in 1846. list of stations like Galah, Boinka, Chillingollah and Boigbeat, VICTORIA Gamma Boigbeat Meatian It can get confusing at times. The word can be used as an we soon agreed that following the railway lines that traverse Da uck Lascelles adjective to describe mallee country, which exists in north- (or once traversed) the Mallee was a great way to give the Berriwillock Burroin Woomelang Lalbert west Victoria, southern New South Wales and the far east book a sense of journey. For the first chapter, we followed Hopetoun Culgoa of South Australia, along the Great Australian Bight and in the line from Rainbow to Yaapeet and then travelled from Yaapeet Watchupga Cannie southern Western Australia. Only in Victoria, however, is there Beulah to Patchewollock; for the second, we started at Goyura Warne Albacutya Curyo a region named with the capitalised form, the Mallee (though Morton Plains near Birchip, travelled north to Ouyen, then Rosebery Nullawil Quambatook Kinnabulla there is a part of South Australia called the Murray Mallee). headed west to Murrayville; for the third, we began at Pella Rainbow Dumosa Given there is no actual agreed border between the Wycheproof and finished at Kulwin; and for the fourth and Beulah Birchip Mallee and its surrounding regions, we have done our best to last chapter, we started at Quambatook and ended our jour- estimate how far out from the centre we should go with this ney at Manangatang. Wycheproof book. The project began with an old Victorian railway map, Before we begin this photographical tour, however, it’s Morton Plains SOUTH upon which we drew a rough line around the area we wanted time for a history lesson. AUSTRALIA to cover. Our aim was to focus on the small towns in the heart of the Mallee and to stay to the west of the Murray River and Warracknabeal to the south of the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. We agreed 25 Kilometres that we needed to go all the way to the South Australian border and to the south until we reached the Wimmera. Original rail line Dimboola Victoria Station Other towns 14 15 RAINBOW Town established: 1900 Rainbow was originally named Rainbow Rise, after a nearby Peak population: 1303 (1911) crescent-shaped ridge, which was often covered with wildflowers Population at 2016 census: 683 and said to resemble a rainbow. Situated between Lake Hindmarsh and Lake Albacutya, which are fed by the Wimmera River but have rarely seen water in recent decades, Rainbow was Yaapeet a boom town in the early 20th century. The first town blocks were sold in 1901, and by 1911 the town was home to more than 1300 people. This led to Rainbow being dubbed the ‘Mallee Albacutya Metropolis’. At its peak, Rainbow had three pubs, an oyster saloon, its own newspaper, a butter factory, a cinema, a Federal Stores Pella emporium, a Magistrates Court, various car dealers and farm Rainbow equipment suppliers, along with numerous sporting clubs and community groups. A large number of the early settlers were immigrants from Germany who brought surnames like Strauss, Petschel, Fischer, Schumann, Schulz, Kruger and Heinrich to the district. You can still see some of these names on the team sheets if you look up the scores of the Jeparit-Rainbow Football-Netball Club. Today’s Rainbow is a far cry from the town of a century ago, but the locals are making a great fist of reinventing the place, with a thriving arts and culture scene developing in recent years. Meanwhile, the development of a multi-million-dollar brewery promises to put the town on the tourist trail. Rainbow has also benefited from the multi-million-dollar project that united its primary and secondary schools in one location. Opposite: Sunrise in Federal Street, Rainbow EJ 46 47 Opposite: Mick Frazer and Rodney Clarke in Mick’s Shopfronts in Rainbow AC garage in the centre of Rainbow JM 48 49 Originally from Hyderabad in southern India, Dirya and Santhosh Kumar migrated to Australia and bought the only service station in Rainbow six months later. They say they are very happy and have found A newsagency and general store that doubles as a museum in the main the locals welcoming and friendly JM street of Rainbow EJ & JM 50 51 patchewollock Town established: 1919 Built as a service centre for post–First World War soldier settlers, Peak population: 338 (1933) Patchewollock has the feel of a place on the edge of the Never Population at 2016 census: 133 Never. It is situated in sandy country not far from the northern edge of the Wyperfeld National Park. The surrounding land was once covered in a tough native grass that the early European Patchewollock explorers named porcupine grass. The name Patchewollock comes from an Indigenous word used to describe the grass. Willah The last football and netball matches were played in the town in the late 1990s after the local team, the Tempy-Gorya- Yarto Patchewollock Tigers, merged with the Ouyen Rovers. Then the last Easter Sports Meeting, an event that had been held since Dauck 1918, took place in 2001. When the primary school closed in 2006, Patchewollock seemed locked into a slow decline that would eventually wipe it from the map. Yet the tiny bush outpost has been revived by tourism in recent years. The painting of the silos, as part of the Silo Art Trail, has dragged in thousands of visitors, many of whom stop off for a cold one at the legendary Patchewollock Hotel. Meanwhile, a music festival held to celebrate the Year of the Farmer in 2012 was so successful that it has turned into an annual event, bringing household names like Eric Bogle, Neil Murray and Mick Thomas into the heart of the Mallee. Opposite: The Patchewollock General Store closed in 2004 AC 86 87 A passion for the Mallee No one is more passionate about the Mallee than Michael ‘Boozer’ Robertson. Although he spends quite a bit of time in Mildura these days, Robertson still runs his family farm at Tempy and has been at the heart of Patchewollock’s revival. Among the people responsible for getting the popular Patchewollock Music Festival off the ground, he delights in promoting the ‘magnificent Mallee’ to everyone he comes across. ‘Festivals and events are so important,’ he says. ’They give visitors an unforgettable Mallee experience while helping local businesses remain sustainable.’ A wise-cracking, yarn-spinning, ever-smiling bloke, Robertson loves a tall tale. He can sometimes be heard on ABC Mildura-Swan Hill, the radio station heard across the Mallee, and once gave a report that the fish were biting at Lake Agnes near Pine Plains.