Free Copy In This Edition: Page Page Portarlington Mussel Festival 2 Australia Day 1788 20 Edward John Eyre 4 No Mixed Bathing! 22 The Suburb of St Albans 6 The Geelong Night Market 24 Geelong Birds 8 Johnny Depp 26 Guy Pearce 10 Recipe—Creamy Tuna Pasta 28 Jet Lag 12 Word Search—Kids Games 29 New Years Day 14 Endangered! Rock Wallaby 30 The Gregorian Calendar 15 150 Years Ago 31 Indented Head—Part 2 16 Then… & Now 32 The Grand Canyon 18 The Portarlington Mussel Festival is held on the 2nd Saturday in January every year in the picturesque village of Portar- lington on the Bellarine Peninsula. The date for this year falls on January 12. Since its inception in 2007, the festival has grown in size every year, and now attracts around 20,000 people. Initially established to promote the Portarlington Mussel Industry, the festival now boasts a full day of activities....including: Live entertainment Kids activities Cooking demonstrations Art & Photo exhibitions Vintage car displays Mussels can live Food and wine producers up to 50 years, although cultured Products to try and buy mussels are usually In 1835 when John Batman first sailed into harvested for Port Phillip Bay, he landed at Indented Head eating after 28 and started to explore the surrounds. He was months. very keen to make contact with the local aborigines, and set off on foot to find them. The 2 It is a fallacy that mussels that don’t open should be thrown away. It just means they need to be cooked a little longer and they are SUPER fresh! Enjoy! first sign of contact was when they came across a rough shelter with empty mussel shells scattered about—the local aborigines had already discovered the abundant growth of mussels in the bay, and regularly feasted on them! While those of European descent had enjoyed eating shellfish, including mussels for many centuries, the local industry was slow to get going. Starting with a small handful of farmers in 1982, the industry now boasts over 20 growers in the Port Phillip Bay area. Most commonly grown are the tasty blue mussels which are sweet in flavour, high in protein and low in fat. The mussel industry is very labour intensive with much of the work very dependent on fine weather. Weather permitting the boats can run 7 days a week doing spat collections, socking, and harvesting. Why not come over to Portarlington on January 12, and join in the fun! Mussels are one of the least expensive sea- foods, are extremely versatile and easy to prepare – making them ideal for an economical tasty meal! 3 Edward John Eyre became one of Australia’s greatest explor- ers. Born on August 5, 1815 in Bedfordshire, England, he was the third son of vicar Anthony Eyre and his wife Sarah. After initially toying with the idea of joining the army, at 17 years of age he took his father’s advice and immigrated to Australia. Arriving in Sydney on March 20, 1833, he saw few opportunities in the town, so he moved to the Hunter River district, There he gained colonial experience in sheep and cattle management, buying 400 of his own sheep soon after. In 1834 Eyre took up 1260 acres (510ha) at Molonglo Plains, near Queanbeyan. The following year, in partnership with Robert Campbell, he overlanded 3000 sheep from the Liverpool Plains to Molonglo. Eyre obviously enjoyed the experi- ence, and decided to change his main occupation from sheep farmer to that of a drover. In January 1837 he went to Sydney where he met Charles Sturt and raised money to transport stock overland to the Port Phillip District (Melbourne). Eyre assembled 78 cattle, 414 sheep, oxen and horses and on April 1 set out, arriving on August 2 in Melbourne where he sold his stock at a good profit.* By October Eyre was back in Sydney, 'most anxious to be the first to arrive in South Australia overland from Sydney.' He assembled an expedition and 300 cattle at Limestone Plains (near Parkes in central NSW), and set out for Adelaide on January 3, 1838. On January 15 he was joined by his overseer, John Baxter, who accompanied Eyre on his expeditions for the next three years. After a short stay in Adelaide he returned to Sydney, and by October was on his way to Adelaide again with 1000 sheep and 600 cattle which, after a journey of fourteen weeks he offered for sale in Adelaide. This resulted in a profit of £4,000, half of which was his. Eyre then purchased an acre of land in Adelaide and built a cottage, but by May 1839 he was on the move again. He was still only 23 years of age! This time he explored the area to the north of Adelaide as far as the Flinders Ranges, hoping to sight the expected inland sea (which of course, does not exist). He then travelled around Spencers Gulf as far as Port Lincoln, naming Lake Torrens and the Gawler Ranges on the way. While the route north looked barren and deso- late, Eyre now became determined to find a route to the west coast of Australia. In January 1840 Eyre and two companions took sheep and cattle by sea to King George Sound (Albany WA) and then drove them overland to the Swan River *Melbourne had been settled only 2 years earlier. This was one of the first overland expeditions to the new township. 4 The Eyre Highway is a highway settlement (now named Perth). He returned to linking Western Australia and Adelaide by ship, bringing with him an aboriginal South Australia via the man named Wylie. He found a committee had Nullarbor Plain. It was named been formed in Adelaide to examine the possibility after explorer Edward John of an overland route to Albany. Eyre offered to Eyre, who was the first to lead the expedition, and even paid half its costs. cross the Nullarbor by land. On June 18, 1840 Eyre left Adelaide, with six white men (including Baxter), two Aborigines, 13 horses, 40 sheep, and stores for three months. More supplies were shipped to Port Lincoln. After further exploration to the north, Eyre’s party eventually made it to Streaky Bay on November 3. Moving westward, Eyre established a supply depot at Fowler’s Bay and then made it to the top of the Bight. It was there that Eyre decided to send back most of the party, to speed up their pace. He continued on with Baxter, Wylie, and two other aborigines– Joey and Yarri. On the night of April 29, Joey and Yarri murdered Baxter and stole most of the supplies, including the guns. For over a month Eyre and Wylie struggled on to the west, until on June 2 at Thistle Cove (near Esperance) they sighted the French whaler Mississippi which picked them up and gave them several days hospitality and replenished their stores, for Eyre insisted on completing his overland journey to King George Sound. Moving on through heavy rains and cold weather, they reached Albany on July 7, 1841. Eyre returned to Adelaide in a whaling boat. For this incredible journey Eyre was awarded the founder's gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1847. Edward John Eyre went on to become a Protector of Aborigines, Lieutenant- Governor of New Zealand, Lieutenant-Governor of St Vincent in the West Indies, and, in 1861, acting Governor of Jamaica. It was there he brutally put down a native up-rising, which brought him much criticism. However, an official report by the British Government cleared him of any wrong-doing. He died on Novem- ber 30, 1901 in England, survived by his wife Adelaide, and their 5 children. 5 The Early Years In 1865 St Albans was sectioned off and considered part of the Shire of Bellarine. However, before that it was included in the township of Geelong. The area was first settled by Geelong’s first two pioneering women, Anne Drysdale and Caroline Newcomb, who established their property, Boronggoop. As more free settlers came to the district in the 1850’s, land sub-divisions began. The people were very religious by nature, (in 1871, 42% of the residents in the area were identified as Wesleyans), who frowned on drinking alcohol. The small hamlet had its own Temperance Society, which met in the school hall until a separate hall was purchased and relocated to St Albans. Thus, when William Frazer applied for a licence for a hotel there in 1854 it came as no surprise that his application was refused, and no hotel appeared in subsequent years. Any liberal souls living in St Albans had to travel closer to the town centre to refresh themselves at the Black Swan or Breakwater hotels. The establishment of a meat works on the old Boronggoop run of Drysdale and Newcomb gave employment to settlers in the area for a short time, but by the 1860’s the area had become the property of John Lowe, MLC. After his death in 1867 his son Edwin built a boiling down works on the property which had soon produced 270 casks of tallow from 15,000 sheep. This process also provided cheap meat for the masses, with legs of mutton being sold at sixpence each and in many cases three for one shilling (10c). Although creating employment and a source of cheap meat for those living nearby, the smell coming from the open drain that ran down to the Barwon River was horrendous! In 1871 the Geelong Meat Preserving Company bought the property from Lowe.