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HISTORY NEWS
ISSUE.346 FEBRUARY 2020
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
President’s report History Victoria Support Group
Weston Bate oration report
Victorian Community History Talented and energetic: Ashley
Awards Smith
Holsworth Local Heritage Grants Windows on History
Awards of Merit Castlemaine pioneers
What’s on Smokers’ Nights
History Month Book Fair
If trees talked Books received
Heritage report Around the societies
A Hall of Fame
Windows on History
The John Stanton
Bell Window
RHSV NEWS
President’s
Report
This past summer has been a terrible Pankjaj Sirwani, who had replaced Amy face-to-face contact in 2019 with more
one for all Australians, but especially Clay, while she was on maternity leave than one-hundred and fifty affiliated
those in the line of fire. Our great thanks in 2019. Amy has now decided not to societies and assisted more through
forever to the tireless firefighters and return, so we will soon be searching for phone and email contact. I recently
their supportive families. Our members a replacement. Other farewell news is met members of some Mallee societies
and member societies may have been that two councillors have stepped down at the launch at Ouyen of a book three
directly affected and our best wishes go due to health concerns, Alleyne Hockley colleagues and I wrote, Mallee Country.
to them. Chips Sowerwine has written in and Jim Dixon. We are saddened by the There, I was made more aware of the
this issue about the heritage implications loss of RHSV members John Murphy of challenges of maintaining their important
of these conflagrations. Leongatha HS, fifty-six year membership, collections, and of succession planning in
However, for the RHSV the year 2019 and former Victorian premier John Cain, remote historical societies, exacerbated
was positive. Our financial position sixteen year membership. by declining rural town populations.
ended strongly due to an increase In 2020 we aim to reaffirm one of our Our work connecting to local societies
in income, notably book and ticket strengths, our work for member societies. remains a vital part of our mission.
sales and donations, and a decrease in I have recently written to the presidents Richard Broome
expenditure due to careful management. and members of our 330 affiliates,
The final figures will reveal not a deficit reiterating how the RHSV assists with
for our operating budget as in 2018, their many challenges and our new
but a modest surplus in operating costs initiatives to assist them. We aim to create
for 2019. Our reserves and moneys set a scheme to allow most societies without
aside for future use continue to remain DGR tax status to funnel donations
very strong. These pleasing results are a for projects or equipment through the
tribute to our Executive Officer, Rosemary RHSV. We aim to make grants to regional
Cameron, our Treasurer Daniel Clements networks of historical societies, and to
and the Executive & Finance Committee. hold a regional conference that will feed
Our membership has grown somewhat, into a special rural issue of the VHJ. The
our current level of activity is more vibrant RHSV is keen to reintroduce excursions
with a new initiative among schools, to historical societies in 2020, a tradition
and the spirit of our many volunteers is dating back fifty years, which has lapsed
in the past decade. This will allow local
Australia
remarkable. We celebrated a new batch
of more than fifty members in 2019 and societies to display their treasures to
Emeritus Professor John Poynter’s 90th RHSV members.
birthday. Our new book Melbourne’s
Twenty Decades is soon to break even
I hope to visit societies in the city
and country as time permits, although
Day 2020
within two months of publication and
we welcome its strong financial and
with three-hundred and thirty member
societies it is a daunting task. The RHSV Honours List
reputational contribution to the RHSV. together with our History Victoria Support
We farewelled our administrative officer Group has in one way or another had
We were thrilled to see, in this year’s
Australia Day Honours, that six of our
own were awarded Orders of Australia.
History News We congratulate:
• Our President, Emeritus
History News is the bi-monthly newsletter of the RHSV
ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA INC. Professor Richard Broome AM
EDITOR Sharon Betridge sbetridge@outlook.com PRESIDENT Richard Broome
• Our Hon Secretary, Carole
DESIGN & ARTWORK Centreforce Pty Ltd 5975 8600 EXECUTIVE OFFICER Rosemary Cameron Woods OAM
MARKETING CO-ORDINATOR Jessica Scott ADMINISTRATION OFFICER
PRINTED BY Y First Class Mailing 9555 9997 Appointment pending • Our Victorian Historical Journal
Items for publication should be sent to the Editor COLLECTIONS MANAGER & VOLUNTEER co-editor, Dr Judy Smart AM
EMAIL sbetridge@outlook.com COORDINATOR Jillian HiscockHistory House
History News Copy closes 16th: March, May, July, September, • A member of our Foundation
November and January unless in consultation with the editor, Sharon committee, Emeritus Professor
Betridge. RHSV welcomes submission of articles for inclusion in History 239 A’Beckett Street Melbourne 3000
News. Publication and editing will be at the discretion of the editor and Office & Library Hours: Monday to Friday John Fitzgerald AM
the Publications Committee as directed by our Terms of Reference. 9am to 5pm
COVER Windows on History: The ‘John Stanton Bell Window’, Phone: 9326 9288 • Our next exhibition’s curator,
Gardenvale St Stephens Anglican Church, ‘Army in Our Region’, Website: www.historyvictoria.org.au
Email: office@historyvictoria.org.au Noel Jackling OAM
M. Napier Waller 1951
See page 8 ABN 36 520 675 471
Photo: Susan Kellett Registration No. A2529 • RHSV member, Peter Williams
PRINT POST APPROVED PP336663/00011 ISSN 1326-269 OAM
2 RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020
What’s
Attendance at any and all RHSV events
should be booked through our website:
RHSV NEWS
www.historyvictoria.org.au/rhsv-events/
On
All events are held at RHSV, 239 A’Beckett St, Melbourne
VIC 3000, unless otherwise stated.
Queries: office@historyvictoria.org.au or (03) 9326 9288
EXHIBITION: THE SWAMP VANISHES one ships containing nearly 5000 bounty workshops (three Saturdays over three months)
January to July 2020 migrants to the new settlement. A major which cover cataloguing and digitisation. This
Curator: Lenore Frost shipowner of London, Marshall instigated series of workshops is progressive, starting
reform of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and with basic concepts and building in complexity.
Before European settlers arrived in the Port
established Britain’s first emigration depot We have spaced the workshops so that
Phillip district, a large wetland that lay between
at Plymouth, but today his contributions to participants have time in which to put into
the Yarra River and the Moonee Ponds Creek
the ship-owning and merchant worlds of the practice their new skills before the next
sustained the indigenous people and the
nineteenth century have been largely forgotten. workshop. Participants need to bring their
cultural traditions of the Kulin nation. It was
known by the new settlers as Batman’s Swamp, own lap-top.
later West Melbourne Swamp. In less than LECTURE: WOMEN’S Some participants will want to book for the full
20 years that important wetland had been HISTORY MONTH series of 6 workshops and others will want to
despoiled by European settlers, who turned LECTURE choose those individual workshops that are
it into a receptacle for sewerage and rubbish. Tue 17 March 2020 most suitable for them. So, although the series
By the end of the nineteenth century significant Professor Lynette Russell is designed as a cohesive whole, the individual
engineering works had changed the very shape 5:15pm drinks, launch and workshops also work as stand-alone training
of the land. lecture at 6pm sessions.
A feature of the land which had sustained $10 / $20
Aboriginal people for millennia prior to Lynette Russell AM is a SEMINAR: STARTING FAMILY HISTORY
European settlement in 1835 became a Professor at the Monash Indigenous Studies
24 February 2020
refuge for the down-and-out during the 1930s Centre at Monash University. Professor Russell’s
depression. ‘Reclamation’ works continued, focus is on developing an anthropological Presenters: Jenny Redman (current President)
until the wetland is now represented by the approach to the story of the past. Her historical and David Down (immediate Past President)
Dynon Road Tidal Canal, parallel to Dynon interests are far ranging - across the eighteenth 1:30–3pm
Road, and a small Wildlife Reserve. to the twentieth centuries, from Aboriginal
Genealogical Society Victoria, level 6,
This exhibition traces how a significant wetland people in the maritime industry, to museums
85 Queen Street, Melbourne
vanished from sight. and museum collections, to the history of
anthropology itself. $5
For her research achievements, Professor The Genealogical Society of Victoria offers
BOOK LAUNCH AND RHSV members and friends an introduction to
Russell has held the positions of President
LECTURE: JOHN the resources and skills needed to immerse
and Vice President of the Australian Historical
MARSHALL AND yourself in family history.
Association and was elected Fellow to the Royal
BOUNTY MIGRATION
Historical Society in 2012 and Fellow to the For anyone contemplating researching their
TO PORT PHILLIP
Academy of Social Sciences of Australia in 2013. family this event is key. It is also of great interest
Tuesday 18 February 2020 for those undertaking more general research
5:15pm drinks, launch and GIPPSLAND as family research skills and resources can be
lecture at 6pm WORKSHOPS: used to create histories for any characters, not
SOPHIE SHILLING ON just your family. As we all know family research
Free event
CATALOGUING AND is more than births, deaths and marriages and
Emeritus Professor Graeme Davison AO, Chair good research skills and resources are needed
DIGITISATION
of the ‘History Council of Victoria’, will launch Dr to put flesh on bones. Topics to be covered:
Liz Rushen’s book, John Marshall: Shipowner, Saturday 15 February,
Saturday 21 March, • Introduction to the GSV
Lloyd’s reformer and emigration agent.
Saturday 18 April 2020 • Starting family history
After the launch, Dr Rushen will deliver a
9:30am – 12:30pm / • DNA
paper which explores the significant role
1:30pm – 4:30pm
John Marshall played in the white settlement • ending with Q&A.
of the Port Phillip District. When Port Phillip Federation University Gippsland Campus
was first opened up for settlement, Marshall Library, Northways Road, Churchill, VIC.
was Britain’s most active emigration agent: $30 / $45 each or $150/$225 for series of 6
in the three years 1839-1841, he sent twenty-
The RHSV is offering a series of 6 linked
History Month 1–31 October 2020
As a reflection of its success, History Week Some great resources are available to https://www.history.org.au/wp-content/
will, in 2020, become History Month for the help you plan an event with your local uploads/2018/12/Local-History-and-
whole of October each year. school and many of these ideas are also Schools-Curriculum-FAHS.pdf
Start planning your events now. The relevant for your local library. Your events https://www.htav.asn.au/curriculum/
website will be operational in March and don’t have to be complicated but it is a history-week
the earlier you upload your events, the great opportunity to interact with your local
more we can publicise them. community and to attract new members.
RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020 3
If Trees Talked:
RHSV NEWS
a River Red Gum
Guards your Journey
Aboriginal people believe that anything This is because the gardeners at Heide The Heide River Gum is however, no
with a form or a shape has a spirit of its regularly soak its root system and trim ordinary common-or-garden Scarred
own. You only have to stand in front of any dead wood. Marker Tree. It in fact marks the junction of
the massive five-hundred year old River The height of the scar on the south-east Songlines going in five different directions.
Red Gum at Heide Museum of Modern side is about four metres. The width of First leads west over the river ford near
Art in Bulleen, to know this is true. It was the original cut has been reduced by the the Heidelberg Bridge, then splits off to
obvious to the earliest settlers in this area bark slowly growing back over the scar. Songlines along today’s Greensborough
from the 1840’s that this was a special However, about half-way up, you can Road, Bell Street and Heidelberg Road.
tree, not just because it was scarred see by the way the tree branches grow Second leads south past Bolin-Bolin
by a canoe having been cut from it, but laterally, that its growth was interrupted. Billabong and on to meet the Doncaster
because local Aboriginal people also This was probably caused by a lightning Road-High Street Songline. Third heads
once congregated there. strike about 200 years ago. When this south-east along Manningham Road to
The land on which the tree stands was happens, the sap instantly boils and the Shoppingtown were it joins the Doncaster
eventually bought by artists John and tree explodes as if hit by a bomb. Road-Mitcham Road Songline. Fourth
Sunday Reed in 1934. They opened up heads east along the high floodline route
This is however no ordinary canoe tree. It
their home to like-minded artists such of Templestowe Road. Fifth follows the
is also a ‘Songline Marker Tree’. In other
as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy meandering northeast course along the
words, it is a silent sentinel that marks a
Hester, and this gave birth to the present south side of the Yarra from Melbourne
traditional Aboriginal travel route. These
day Museum of Modern Art ‘Heide’. This to Healesville.
routes are called ‘Songlines’ because just
stately tree stands in Heide’s upper car like the GPS in your car, Aboriginal people In October 2013 a special ceremony was
park at 7 Templestowe Road in Bulleen. composed songs recounting the various held at which Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Bill
Standing at the tree you can see that natural and man-made landmarks, so they Nicholson named the tree ‘Yingabeal’.
a couple of hundred years ago, a four could find their way, even in unfamiliar The name is drawn from the Woiwurrung
metre length of bark was harvested territory. Just as when you travel overseas words ‘Yinga’ meaning sing and ‘Beal’
to make a canoe. The precise year this to another country you wouldn’t think to meaning River Red Gum. So together,
was done can’t be determined, the go without your passport, neither would it means the ‘River Red Gum Songline
month certainly can. In the ninth lunar Aboriginal people, and the song was in Marker Tree’ at Heide.
month, which occupies all of August, fact your passport to safe travel. Dr. Jim Poulter
the sap starts to rise in trees. This The longest known Songline stretches
means they give up their bark more 3,500 kilometres from Uluru to Byron
easily, so August is the Aboriginal Bark Bay. It was also celestially coded into the
Harvest Season. This also precedes constellation movements and would have
the Oc tober rains and the annual taken over four months to complete one
fl ooding along the Yarra Valley; so, way. The reason why such trips would be
this is when new canoes were needed. made is simple. People from Byron Bay
Harvesting bark in August also gave the wanted to see the Sacred Rock and the
tree the greatest chance of survival, so people from Uluru wanted to see the sea.
it could begin healing before the heat of Marker Trees come in four types: Scarred,
summer. These scars are almost always Ring, Arched or Spiral. Yingabeal is a good
on the south-east side, which was also a example of a Scarred Marker Tree. A Ring
deliberate strategy to ensure the tree’s Marker Tree is where two branches are
survival. Most of the heat of the day in tied or spliced so they fuse and leave a
summer is from the north and west, whilst hole like the eye of a needle. An Arched
the desiccating winds are from the south- Marker Tree is where two saplings are
west and north-west. It is after all, just fused to grow from two trunks into a single
common decency to protect the spirit of trunk. Such trees usually mark a birthing
the tree, especially when it has just given spot. A Spiral Marker Tree is a genetic
birth to the spirit of a canoe. freak where about one in every 20,000
Since the Upper Yarra Dam was built in trees grow with a spiral grain. These
1956, the Yarra rarely floods nowadays ‘corkscrew trees’ were only allowed to
and Red River Gums suffer from not grow on Songlines, and because they
having their feet wet each spring, but were useless for timber, settlers rarely cut ‘Yingabeal - Heide Scar Tree’ by Sonia
Hankova (2018) http://sonhank.com/
this tree is in obvious good health and them down, so they can often still be seen education/heide-sustainability-art-trail/
houses colonies of birds and bees. along our highways. indigenous-stories/yingabeal-heide-scar-tree/
4 RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020
Heritage Report:
RHSV NEWS
Bush Fires and Bush Heritage
The bush fires are a continuing national bushfires. Many will, like Marysville, want church has received a grant of $110,000:
tragedy. Our hearts are torn by the loss to call on people outside their area across https://www.grants.gov.au/?event=public.
of lives and property. Heritage too is the state and beyond. The RHSV stands GA.show&GAUUID=AEAE2A84-EDF5-
being lost and it too is irreplaceable. ready to help with state-wide calls. While 81A2-66F680A6F96B8C41.
Already we know that we have lost the particular artefacts may be lost forever, we Are there lessons to be learned from the
lovely Genoa Schoolhouse Museum, will make every effort to find new ones. new, more intense fire seasons regarding
‘Mallacoota and District Historical Society’, In the longer term, we need to reflect disaster management plans for local
and several important railway trestle on what can we do to protect heritage historical museums and their collections?
bridges in Gippsland. Another is the Stony buildings, archives and artefacts. The It will be tough because volunteers may
Creek Trestle Bridge. Built in 1916, it is or ‘Federation of Australian Historical be too busy defending their own homes
was the longest railway trestle bridge in Societies’, (FAHS), of which the RHSV as well as the society’s buildings and
Victoria at two-hundred and forty-seven is a member, collaborates with ‘Blue collections, but it is important to consider
metres. It was weakened structurally Shield Australia’ (BSA), part of the what steps can be taken if fire threatens.
before the fires and is unlikely to stand international Blue Shield, which works Do officers and members have an up to
much longer. By the time this article to protect the world’s cultural heritage date list of emergency contacts, from fire
appears, we will know of other tragic in the face of armed conflict or natural services to utilities?
losses. Updates are being provided by the disaster. Here in Australia, BSA offers What about archives and other records?
excellent Gippsland History Public Group advice on disaster preparedness plans They can be digitised and apps for
Facebook page: https://www.facebook. and resources. Their web site offers useful collection management offer some
com/groups/1755971574632862/ links for groups coping with losses after security of at least keeping track of
permalink/2682664761963534/. disaster as well as on prevention: https:// holdings, but is there a back-up and where
Such losses can include both built heritage blueshieldaustralia.org.au/resources/. is it stored? Societies may need to ensure
and collections amassed by local historical BSA also runs an annual ‘MayDay that there is back-up on the cloud and,
societies. The RHSV stands ready to Campaign’ promoting disaster planning perhaps a separate hard drive stored out
offer support and assistance to member and awareness amongst archives, libraries, of the local area. The RHSV would be
societies as they seek to rebuild and museums, heritage places, historical prepared to store these in our armoury if
restore. We will be doing our best to make societies and similar organisations. To societies desired.
sure that claims against RHSV insurance coincide with this campaign, the FAHS is In the face of the national tragedy we are
for historical societies are settled quickly preparing a project on time capsules to suffering, our work of safeguarding the
and fully. raise awareness of the need to protect past to inform the future is more important
If a collection, or part of a collection, is heritage. An announcement will be made than ever. The more a community has lost,
lost, it may be possible to build a new one at the start of February. the more important its past becomes.
through a public appeal for materials. In The bushfires remind us, however, that Let’s work together to continue helping
the 2009 Black Saturday bush fires, the what matters is what we do on the ground. people understand the stories of their
‘Marysville & District Historical Society’ Later in the year, once the immediate communities.
tragically lost all its collection. They put danger from bushfires has passed, Charles Sowerwine,
in a great effort to build up a new one. the RHSV will be seeking information
Since nearly all residents of Marysville Chair, Heritage Committee.
from all member societies as to what
were affected, only 25 buildings remained they have done and what they want
after the fire, new items had to come from to do to preserve their buildings and
ex-residents and family members living collections. Are there any fire prevention
outside the district as well as tourists measures that can be put in place?
who had spent time in the town. The The installation of rooftop sprinklers,
Society reached these people through for example, may be considered. What
mainstream media, automobile clubs other possibilities should be considered?
and seniors’ magazines. The State and Would member societies like the RHSV
National Libraries and the Public Record to campaign actively for Commonwealth
Office Victoria all searched out information support for such safety precautions? The
to help. The RHSV helped by providing bushfires are as big a threat as terrorism,
digital copies of records. Thanks to their bigger perhaps in the bush. As reported
efforts and this widespread support, the in The Age, 18 March last year, the
Marysville Society built a new collection Commonwealth allocated $55 million in
that helps them continue to tell the story community grants for security upgrades at
of their community. mosques, churches, synagogues, temples Stony Creek Trestle Bridge, Nowa
This could be an example for local and religious schools after the Christchurch Nowa, Vic., October 2019, now partially
destroyed by fire.
historical societies affected by the current terrorist attack; the Prime Minister’s own Photo by Peter Hiscock, RHSV.
RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020 5
RHSV
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A Hall of Fame:
Left: Town Hall, Coburg,
Vic., Rose Stereograph Co.
[c1920-1954]
State Library Victoria
The Coburg Taj Mahal Right: M. Moore,
photographer, November
2019
Coburg has an Interwar Town Hall, and Cooper’. Its dome was believed to competition in April 1931 and for regular
with a spacious Bell Street landscaped have been inspired by Lutyen’s Viceroy’s community singing to uplift the spirits
setback, dominated by two English oaks house in New Delhi of the 1920s. of residents “doing it tough” in the
(c1922) and the unique ‘Lutyensesque’ Its 1922 plans show a large hall and depression years. This was the reason
false concrete dome above its central smaller eastern banquet hall, Municipal for the suspension of the annual Mayoral
front entrance. Locally nicknamed the Offices on its western side, with the and debutante Balls from 1931 until 1936.
‘Taj Mahal,’ it was built to celebrate the council chamber and councillors’ rooms During the later World War II years, to
proclamation of Coburg as a city in 1922, above and a small library in its south cheer up its citizens and after in 1946-
completed and opened in 1923 and so east corner, until 1983, with a second 8, to increase pride in their northern
has celebrated its 96th birthday in 2019. committee room above. There was a working-class municipality, the Coburg
However, this was not the first hall front ex-serviceman’s room for a club, Council organised annual Arts Festivals,
located on the one-hundred and thirty- which dates from 1918, with separate believed to be the first in Melbourne.
two hectare Pentridge Village Reserve: entrance and adjacent office. The RSL The Town Hall was the main venue for
first surveyed by Robert Hoddle in erected a cenotaph in 1924 outside and concerts, plays, operas, recitals, musical
1837. Today’s hall replaced a wooden it remained in front of the Town Hall until comedies, art exhibitions, lectures and
hall, built in 1869 and extended in 1909, 1956. The complex was enlarged in 1928 talent quests. It had also been the venue
which originally served as a drill hall for with a larger northern supper or concert for a meeting to form the first Victorian
the Pentridge Volunteer Rifle Corps until hall, library space, foyer, lounges and suburban National Theatre branch in
their disbandment after 1875. It became main hall balcony able to accommodate 1945, which continued until the early
the Coburg Shire public hall following a an additional four hundred people. These 1960s. Coburg and later Pascoe Vale
municipal area name change in March alterations are believed to have included Rotary clubs organized more limited
1870 to differentiate the area’s settlers its Art Deco décor. revivals of the festivals with an art, craft
from the prison stockade. When Coburg In the 1920s and 1930s, the popular and historical display in mid 1976, mayor
was proclaimed a Borough in January Coburg Horticultural Society held twice art exhibitions in 1988, 1989 and 1990;
1905 and a Town in September 1912, this yearly floral displays and competitions the 1988 exhibition was opened by the
structure remained the municipal hall. in the Town Hall. In 1929 the Council MP for Wills, Robert J Hawke.
The new double storey purpose-built rented out the Town Hall for the showing After World War II, there were Saturday
Town Hall also replaced a bluestone of silent movies twice weekly and in night Town Hall dances, annual local
and wooden courtroom and municipal June 1930 bought equipment to allow primary schools’ balls, annual church
office building, which opened in 1867 ‘talkies’ to be shown. The Council used boys and girls’ gymnasium club displays
and was extended in 1876, and two Bell the money to pay back the building loan and recitals and award nights for pupils
Street cottages. and buy vegetables for the unemployed of some local music and elocution
The 1922 complex was designed by and struggling families during the teachers. Between the 1950s and 1980s,
prominent local architect Charles Robert 1930s economic depression. The Town it was a place of mass public inoculations
Heath (1867-1948) and built by ‘Cockram Hall was used for a marathon dance administered by the Council’s health staff.
6 RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020
RHSV NEWS
Before a school hall was constructed at
History Victoria
the municipality’s first High school,
Coburg High, the Town Hall opposite
was used for speech nights, ‘scripture’,
Monday school assemblies, movie
events, stage productions, concerts,
‘Education Week’ display nights and
Support Group
the annual ANZAC and Remembrance This is a very short article, as I have had to resign due to ill health.
Day services. Newlands High also used I would like to express my sincere appreciation for all the best
the Town Hall for assemblies before wishes and kind thoughts I have received in recent weeks.
their hall was built. From 1979 until I have been a member of HVSG since its inauguration in 2004.
Council amalgamations, it provided a During that period, I have had the privilege to work with many
venue for annual Christmas concerts dedicated, experienced and knowledgeable people. I would
and lunches for Coburg Seniors. The now like to say my personal thanks to those members, and all
hall was the home of the Coburg RSL historical societies I have had the pleasure to work with, and
dinner dance and 1990s commercial wish everyone all the best for the future.
choral performances and provided May 2020 be a rewarding and fulfilling year for all.
space required for large local secondary
Alleyne Hockley
school graduation ceremonies in the
2000s.
The Town Hall building and offices were
threatened with demolition but saved by
resident protests from the late 1960s.
There was an office extension opened
in early 1983 and a redevelopment after
the formation of Moreland City Council
in 1998. When the elected Council A talented
was suspended in 1994, and State
Government appointed Commissioners & energetic
volunteer
administered the new City of Moreland,
an amalgamation of the former Cities of
Coburg, Brunswick and the southern
section of Broadmeadows, community
advisory panel members successfully
argued for the retention of the centrally
located Coburg Hall with its large Socials’ is included in this edition of
capacity for a larger population. History News.
Since 1996, every City of Moreland Ashley is always prepared to go
annual Mayoral ceremonial meeting the extra mile with his research. For
has been held at the Coburg Public example, when doing the Kong Meng
Hall. The Town Hall is still used for article, Ashley travelled to South
other special Moreland Council civic Ashley Smith has been with us as a Melbourne to take a photograph of the
occasions: the 2016 celebration of life volunteer since about 2016. In this house Kong Meng lived in.
for Moreland’s first Mayor, Mike Hill, the picture, Ashley is standing next to the At the time of writing he is migrating
return of democratically elected local ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. This was a the catalogue records of photographs
government milestone celebrations, small exhibition he curated about the of people into our main database
annual Moreland Council award nights, history of Victorian Football League and at the same time researching the
regular Blackburn orations featuring come Australian Football League using subjects to add more information
prominent guest speakers, citizenship material from our collection and a few
To all these tasks he brings knowledge
ceremonies and ethnic community pieces he negotiated the loan from the
he gained when he did his Masters of
lunches and dances. The Theatre Organ Ephemera Society of Victoria.
Professional Writing and Masters of
Society of Australia installed a Christie The RHSV collection is being enriched Cultural Studies at Deakin University.
Theatre Pipe Organ under its stage in by Ashley through his manuscript Ashley is also able to use these skills
2000. In this user pays era, it is hired out accessioning and descriptions, in volunteer work he has done with
for weekend markets and other events. reference enquiry research, research the National Trust and at the Southern
Our Town Hall remains an important for the RHSV Olympic Games Sherbrooke Historical Society.
civic and community focus, not only for exhibition and writing articles for the
Jillian Hiscock
Coburg but now for the whole Moreland RHSV website. George Coppin and
the Cremorne Gardens, the life of Kong RHSV, Collections Manager and
municipality. Volunteer Coordinator
Meng and Victorian social life are the
Marilyn Moore, topics of some of Ashley’s research
Coburg Historical Society and writing. His article, ‘Smoke Night
RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020 7
RHSV NEWS
Windows on History:
The ‘John Stanton Bell
Window’, St Stephen’s
Anglican Church, John Stanton Bell, c1939. Warriors’ Chapel,
St Stephen’s, Gardenvale.
Kellett, Susan Elizabeth Mary, RN
Gardenvale ‘Australia’s Martial Madonna: the army
nurse’s commemoration in stained glass
windows (1919-1951)’
Stained glass is traditionally associated donated two of the chapel’s six stained charges past a body slung over four
with biblical figures rather than military glass windows. strands of barbed wire and into battle at
commemoration. During World War St Stephen’s was designed by Melbourne Bullecourt in May 1917. Waller based this
I (WWI), memorial windows donated ecclesiastical architect Louis Williams, scene on his own terrible experience.
in memory of lost soldier-sons found who remained in touch with the parish The explosion shown behind him drove
acceptance in churches across the nation after the church was completed in 1929. a round into the artist’s right shoulder
and then, from the 1920s, images of His preference for professional artists over and ultimately cost him his arm several
Australian servicemen began appearing commercial companies for the design days later. Waller subsequently taught
in commemorative glass. These windows and production of stained glass in his himself to paint again using his left hand.
fulfilled the same purpose as a public churches led to the recommendation of He was exhibiting within 12 months
war memorial: a place for individuals, Napier or Christian Waller when a patron of his repatriation with some of his
families or congregations to gather to could afford the couple’s higher fees. works entering the collections of State
mourn their loss and reflect upon the Waller, a graduate of the National Gallery and National Galleries. Waller’s heroic
memory of the fallen. This religious Art School, Melbourne, and a veteran return to artistic competency rapidly
tradition continued after World War II of WWI, specialised in murals, stained became part of his defining and enduring
(WWII) and, at St Stephen’s Anglican glass and mosaic. Major commissions in narrative. However, it barely addresses
Church, Gardenvale, the ‘John Stanton Melbourne and interstate had earned him the considerable impact the trauma
Bell Window’ appears as one of six a reputation as one of the county’s leading stamped on his personal life. His was
windows that depicted secular themes architectural artists. Waller was in the final a struggle that continued to play out in
in its commemorative Warriors’ Chapel. stages of completing the windows for countless homes across Australia as
Showing service personnel from both the Hall of Memory, the Australian War servicemen, nurses and, in latter wars,
World Wars, this window’s representation Memorial, Canberra, when he accepted servicewomen, transitioned back to
of loss remains as meaningful today as the Gardenvale commission in early 1950. civilian life while haunted by memories
when Melbourne artist, M. Napier Waller, of their service.
Like a public war memorial, the ‘John
conceived it nearly seventy years ago. For many thousands of returned
Stanton Bell Window’ privileged sacrifice
John Stanton Bell was 22 years old when as death on a distant battlefield. The servicemen, the loss that service inflicted
he was killed during the battle of Tarakan upper half of the Window shows ‘a Papuan went unrecognised and was broadly
in May 1945. His father Tom, a veteran of supporting a wounded Australian in New omitted from Australia’s commemorative
the Gallipoli campaign, channelled his Guinea’. The artist used John Bell as the tradition. By using his experience on the
grief into creating a fitting memorial for model for this panel. He is shown with Western Front to inform his art, Waller
his only child. With the vicar’s support, his hand over his heart in a final gesture quietly nuanced sacrifice to acknowledge
Bell worked tirelessly to transform existing of patriotism as a “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel” a population of service personnel that is
space within St Stephen’s into a Warriors’ lowers him to the ground. John’s parents only today emerging within the nation’s
Chapel. He financed the carved panelling would have taken comfort from their son’s commemorative agenda: those physically,
separating the chapel from the main body flawless appearance and the illusion that, medically and/or emotionally wounded
of the church; paid for the vellum book in his final moments, their son did not die by their service. Warfare has evolved
of remembrance and its illumination with alone. Until her own death two decades considerably in the seven decades
the names of those from the parish who later, Agnes Bell sat in the pew beside since Waller conceived and painted the
served in both conflicts; carved unit colour John’s window taking solace in the light ‘John Stanton Bell Window’: his message
patches onto the ends of the chapel’s his window shed upon her. remains just as relevant.
pews and involved himself in all aspects LEST WE FORGET
In the lower half of the window, with face
of the furnishing and fit-out. Bell even
set in grim determination, an artilleryman Dr Susan E M Kellett
grew white gladiolus for its altar and
8 RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020
RHSV NEWS
140 Years: Congratulations
and Celebrations
We congratulate the Castlemaine The Old Telegraph Station at 208 Barker
Pioneers & Old Residents’ Association, Street, Castlemaine is their home. It was
(P&ORA), which will celebrate 140 years built in 1856 and opened officially on 1
of collecting, preserving, protecting January 1857. The building, and the land
and promoting Castlemaine’s historic it stands on, was granted to the P&ORA
memorabilia in March 2020. on 22 December 1893.
The P&ORA held its first meeting Their celebrations will take the form of
on 17 March 1880 following some a special meeting on the 19 March and
informal meetings amongst like-minded a four day Historical Exhibition in the
gentlemen who were keen to form an Castlemaine Town Hall: Thursday 19
organisation to support one another March-Sunday 22 March, 10am-4pm,
in times of need and to enhance the gold coin entry.
society they lived in. ‘Transport’ is the theme of the exhibition:
One of the early rules states ‘that the from when Major Mitchell first passed
organisation will collect, store, preserve through the Castlemaine area, 29
and promote the area’s local history’. September 1836, up until the present
The P&ORA is not a Historical Society as day. The exhibition will cover some
such, but they do own a lot of historical of the sailing ships that brought the
‘stuff ’ as past members were reluctant early settlers to our shores. It will also Main: The Old Telegraph Station, built
in 1856 and opened officially on 1
to throw anything out. include the journey from Melbourne and January 1857, has been the home of the
Until the late 1980s the P&ORA was Geelong to the Mount Alexander gold ‘Castlemaine Pioneers & Old Residents’
orientated toward helping to improve fields; some on foot pushing a wheel Association’ since 1893
their society. These days their members barrow, others walking beside a horse Above: Castlemaine Association of
or bullock drawn wagon, while a few Pioneers and Old Residents, Records of
are spending time sorting, digitising, the Castlemaine Pioneers, Castlemaine,
cataloguing and storing their collection travelled in style in a stage coach. Graffiti, 1996. Available from Castlemaine
in an eff ort to establish a legacy for and Old Residents Association.
future generations.
RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020 9
RHSV NEWS
‘Metropolitan Liedertafel, Melbourne’
Smoke Night
(1875). The Illustrated Adelaide News
(p. 13) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-
article224358398
Socials
A common social event up until the mid- mens’ gatherings were early, but informal, It should be noted that the lack of women
twentieth century, was the smoke night. versions of the smoke night. at these events may also relate to the
Also known as the ‘smoke social’, these The exact timing of when smoke nights gender roles and the patriarchal norms of
events were essentially get-togethers run became more formal affairs is not clear, the time, women’s roles were in domestic
by organisations where everyone could but it is likely that the earliest examples duties. Often, at social events, women
smoke at their leisure, as well as sit down were known as ‘Gentlemen’s Nights’. were reduced to catering, with a 1913
to a formal dinner. These events also In 1875 The Illustrated Adelaide News Herald article on the Church of England
reflect a time when Australia’s smoking reported on an event that is evidence of Men’s Society reporting that ‘ladies’ were
culture was very different to today. the ‘great increase in the cultivation of credited for supplying refreshments.
Like the smoke that perhaps permeated music in Melbourne’ with a performance However, sometimes there would be rare
the air of these nights, the origins of such by the Melbourne Liedertafel, a choral exceptions when a smoke night would
events are hazy. In Victorian-era England, group. An engraving accompanying the be held to honour a woman. An article
smoking was seen as a gentleman’s habit; text shows an all-male audience, many from The Malvern Standard in 1908
in Australia it had become associated with smoking pipes and sharing drinks as a reports a Smoke Night that celebrated
masculine identity. At that time smoking pianist and the choir on stage provide the homecoming for a Mrs Freemantle,
was a behaviour not encouraged among entertainment. An article in The Weekly the proprietress of the Adelaide Hotel
women in polite society. Robin Walker, in Times on November 13th 1880 reports in Windsor, who had just returned from
Under Fire: A History of Tobacco Smoking the Liedertafel running a gentlemen- a trip to Western Australia. Whilst the
in Australia, highlights that this separation only event at Melbourne’s Athenaeum article does imply a reinforcement of
of the sexes was common smoking theatre, at one-point disapproving of the patriarchal norms, with the men doing the
etiquette, as men were encouraged to not rendition of a Lizst composition as ‘hardly toasting and no indication that Freemantle
‘insult a lady’ by smoking in her presence. a selection for a “Smoke night”’. made a speech, it does at least show
that women, or at least those respected
One of the earliest forms of social During the twentieth century slowly
in the community, could be allowed to
gatherings, that allowed men to smoke women joined the ranks of the smokers.
participate.
away from female eyes, were gentlemen’s By 1950, 70% of adult men and 30% of
clubs such as the Melbourne Club. This women were smoking in Australia. But, On the surface, many of these events
club provided the men of elite society ‘smoke events’ continued to be male- appear to offer little variation. Along with
the opportunity to relax away from home. dominated events. For example, a 1939 smoking and a dinner, key members of
As explained in an Age article of 1855, social event at the then newly built hall the organisation would provide speeches
these men could congregate to ‘moisten in Pyalong was a meeting of sixty men. A on organisation activities, provide toasts
and smoke their clay’: the ‘clay’ referring 1952 photo of a Meter Shop smoke night and be treated to musical performances.
to the clay pipes that were smoked at reinforces this sentiment, with no women However, the purpose would vary
that time. It might be inferred that these in sight. depending on who was hosting the event.
10 RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020RHSV
SOCIETIES
NEWS
‘Smoke night and supper invitation - ‘Centenary smoke night’ [A program with
American Fleet visit.’ (1938) separate invitation to a centenary Smoke
RHSV collection Night hosted by The Old Melburnians of
Melbourne Church of England Grammar
School on June 27th 1958] RHSV collection
For some, it was a celebratory event. In Australia, records a Smoke Social that was songs such as ‘Waltzing Matilda’.
1897 the Fitzroy City Press recorded how held by their organisation at Camberwell Attitudes toward smoking have changed
such an event was put on in the aftermath of in 1919. Sometimes such events were to and smoke nights are a thing of the past.
the local elections, which congratulated the bring up issues dear to the community. The Links between smoking’s adverse impact
successful candidates and ‘the unsuccessful Pyalong example shows the participants on health began in the 1930s. So, rather
one told to hope for better results next time’. discussing the Hall itself and whether the than being a social activity, today smoking
Sports clubs would run smoke nights to government should allocate money to the at most social events is considered
celebrate recent success, as was the case local highway. anti-social. The activity is restricted by
for the Camperdown football club in 1914, The RHSV collection includes a range of legislation in public areas, there are
with various people toasting the players smoke night invitations. One, dated 1938, bans on tobacco advertising and in our
and members that won them the ‘shield’ promotes the 20th anniversary of the schools we teach young people about the
that year. 8th Battalion; it reviewed activities of the detrimental effects of smoking.
Sometimes smoke nights recognized a previous year and elected office bearers Ashley Smith
massive milestone or reunion. Other times for the year ahead. Another is evidence
the events were organised to introduce of a ‘Smoke Social’ run by the Melbourne
new or promoted staff. The Australian Grammar School in 1958, to celebrate its
Natives Association magazine, Advance 100th anniversary, where attendees sang
Enhance your next book with an Index
Book Fair by Terri Mackenzie
Our second-hand history book fair is
planned for November and we happily
collect donations of history books
Professional Back of Book Indexer
throughout the year. Please contact the Member of Australian and New Zealand
RHSV office if you’d like your surplus Society of Indexers
history books collected. (History is Honorary Victorian Historical Journal Indexer
interpreted very broadly and is global terrianne@bigpond.com
– not just Victoria.)
terrianne@bigpond.com
RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020 11Books Received
SOCIETIES
By John Schauble
BOOKS
Toward the Municipal Mapping of C.R. Long, M.A. : Victorian educationist Avenue of Memories. Phil Roberts,
Traditional Aboriginal Land Use. Jim 1860 - 1944. Geoff W. Pryor, Australian Arch of Victory – Avenue of Honour
Poulter, Red Hen, Melbourne, 2019, pp. Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2019, Committee, Ballarat, 2018, pp. 1-254, ISBN
1-12, ISBN 9780949196347. pp. 1-236, ISBN 9781925801941. 9780980284492.
In this short paper, Jim Poulter sets out to In a sense, C.R. Long lived and worked in It is no surprise that when many
map the land use by Aboriginal people the shadow of his better-known superior, Victorians think of an “avenue of honour”
in the Manningham municipality along a Frank Tait. Both were, however, extremely remembering those who served in World
section of the Yarra River, using patterns influential in the shaping of the Victorian War 1, they think of this one. One of
described before European occupation. public education system in the late 19th the longest such avenues in the world,
The paper points to the use of land and early 20th centuries. Rather than Ballarat’s grand tribute is pre-eminent
for what would now be described as rivals, they were collaborators and as in Victoria. It commemorates the 3,801
permaculture farming, centred around young men even shared a home. Long local volunteers who enlisted. This is a
seed production, myrnong plantings in was a teacher, educational lecturer, fascinating story, not in least as the whole
the gullies and fostering habitat to suit school inspector and later headed up project was itself largely overseen by
animals, birds and fish used for food. the Victorian Education Department’s volunteers and because of the unique
publications section. It was in that role contribution made by one local company
that his most influential contribution was over the life of the project. The deleterious
made. In 1896 he started and for 30 years impacts of time followed by a resurgence
edited the School Paper. Long later of interest and renewal add to this rich
commissioned the Victorian Readers, local history. It is a thorough piece of
which many readers may also recall. He research, beautifully presented and
was also a foundation councilor of the illustrated. Avenue of Memories is also
RHSV in 1909 and an early editor of the winner of the 2019 Victorian Premier’s
Victorian Historical Magazine. History Award.
Mirka & Georges. Lesley Harding and Mallee Country. Richard Broome, Charles “My Country All Gone The White
Kendrah Morgan, Miegunyah Press, Fahey, Andrea Gaynor and Katie Holmes, Men Have Stolen It”: the invasion of
Carlton, 2018, Australian Scholarly Monash University Publishing, Clayton, Wadawurrung Country 1800-1870. Fred
Publishing, Melbourne, 2019, pp. i-230, 2020, pp. i-415, ISBN 9781925523126. Cahir, Australian History Matters, Ballarat,
ISBN 9780522873300. Mirka and Not many Victorians think about ‘mallee 2019, pp. i-348, ISBN 9780646801780
Georges Mora embodied the brave new country’ or appreciate that there are The country of the Wadawurrung people
world that post-World War II Australia significant tracts of it in South Australia extends through central Victoria including
would become, if at first slowly. They and Western Australia. Defined as a the districts of Ballarat and Geelong.
brought with them from Europe a level semi-arid zone in which mallee eucalypts Fred Cahir’s study of the interaction
of energy that had been absent from predominate, in Victoria this accounts between the Wadawurrung and the
the culinary and artistic landscape. Their for a large chunk of the north west of the white strangers who dispossessed them
response to the Holocaust they had state, spilling over into NSW and SA. This between 1800 and 1870 is both thorough
escaped was to embrace with joie de comprehensive environmental, social and compelling. This was a part of Victoria
vivre the very blank canvas of 1950s and political history traces the story of which endured overwhelming invasion on
Melbourne offered. Their names became the mallee country from Deep Time to a scale and at a speed not seen elsewhere
synonymous with good food through the present. The story is a quintessential in Victoria beyond the immediate district
their cafes and restaurants, fine art tale of transition from natural to cultural of Melbourne – first through journeymen,
through Mirka’s own paintings and their landscape. Managed for 50,000 years then squatters and their shepherds
championship of modern art and culture by the Aboriginal people, the fragile soils and finally the gold rushes and their
as they became a focus of the creative of the mallee country were transformed accompanying hordes. Cahir uses the
avante-garde. This is both a history of utterly in the hundred years following accounts of settlers, other journal keepers
family and a cultural history of a city, into European settlement. The irreversible and official sources to enrich his account,
which are delightfully woven the recipes change wrought in Victoria by closer which is at once scholarly and accessible.
and illustrations that defined the Moras’ agricultural settlement in the Mallee
lives together. during the first half of the 20th century
defines it still.
12 RHSV NEWS FEBRUARY 2020Authors, publishers and Historical Please note: these books listed are not
Societies are invited to contribute necessarily offered to the bookshop
books to the RHSV for the library by authors, please check the shop
and for consideration for inclusion in catalogue.
BOOKS
Books Received.
From Municipality to City : chairmen & Ebb and Flow. James Mulcahy, Toorloo Swanston. Eleanor Robin, Australian
mayors of Kew 1861-1994. Kew Historical Arm Primary School, Lake Tyers Beach, Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne,
Society, Kew Historical Society Inc., Kew, 2018, pp. 1-147, ISBN 9780646985688. 2018, pp. i-284, ISBN 9781925588897.
2019, pp. 1-110, ISBN 9780646809359. To mark its centenary, the school that Captain Charles Swanston is a largely
This is a collaborative history which details has become Toorloo Arm Primary School forgotten figure in Victoria’s history,
the chairmen and mayors of the Kew No.3968 has published a fine account recalled only in the major Melbourne
municipality from 1861 until it became part of its history. Written by retired principal thoroughfare that bears his name. As a
of the City of Boroondara in 1994. Some of James Mulcahy, with an enthusiastic team prominent Van Diemen’s Land banker
these leaders, such as Sir Stanley Argyle, behind him, it traces the story of education and sometime member of the Legislative
went on to greater things: in his case a in the area which had its origins in Rural Council, he was a leading member of
Premier of Victoria. Marie Dalley became School No.11 at the Lake Tyers Aboriginal colonial society. A brave soldier and
first female mayor of the city in 1954. There Mission in 1870. Other schools opened, audacious entrepreneur he promoted
were many other civic leaders drawn and closed. Lake Tyers Road State School the land grab by squatters in the nascent
from the commercial and legal world. came into being in 1918, sharing its first Port Phillip District. Swanston was a risk
While a small number gained broader teacher with the Aboriginal station school. taker who would ultimately face financial
prominence, detailing pen portraits of the Like so many rural schools, it became ruin with the collapse of the Derwent Bank
lives of the remainder to match the rich a centre of community, surviving and and die mysteriously at sea en route to
pictorial record held by the Kew Historical prospering into a new century. At the California. His ignominious end meant
Society proved more challenging. This heart of the story is growing inclusivity: of he was effectively blotted out of colonial
is an important local record, with context Aboriginal community members and later history, and his story became a salutary
provided to the story of the municipality post-war European immigrants. lesson in speculative greed. Eleanor
and a foreword from Don Garden, past Robin’s worthwhile study is a kinder
RHSV President and past Kew Historical detailed re-evaluation.
Society Vice President.
The Shelf Life of Zora Cross. Cathy You Daughters of Freedom: the Best We Forget. Peter Cochrane, Text
Perkins, Monash University Publishing, Australians who won the vote and Publishing, Melbourne, 2018, pp.1-264,
C l a y t o n , 2 0 1 9, p p . i - 2 8 5 , I S B N inspired the world. Clare Wright, Text ISBN 9781925603750.
9781925835533. Publishing, Melbourne, 2018, pp. i-553, Amid the flurry of histories marking the
This biography of Zora Cross recalls ISBN 9781925603934. end of World War 1 there are some more
an Australian poet and writer now Clare Wright is an accomplished historian, thoughtful exploratory works. Peter
largely forgotten but who in her day best-known for the award winning The Cochrane, who previously disassembled
both scandalised and delighted. Cross Forgotten Rebels of Eureka. This latest the mythology of Simpson and his donkey,
is credited as being the first Australian book tells the story of Australia’s suffrage looks at the war through the prism of the
woman poet to celebrate sexual passion. campaigners and the way they shaped white Australia policy. The conventional
Her best-known work, Songs of Love an infant nation’s leading role in winning view of the rally of the Empire to protect
and Life, was something of a sensation the vote for white women. Australian the interests of Britain is displaced by
when it was published in 1917. She went women were the first in the world to an argument that focusses on the fear
onto journalism, wrote novels, produced not merely vote but also be allowed to of abandonment in the face of teeming
an early study of Australian literature and sit in parliament: New Zealand women Asian hordes and the loss of racial
much more poetry, particularly in the 1910s won the vote in 1893 but not the right to purity. Certainly, fear of invasion was a
and 20s. She corresponded extensively election. The story focuses on the roles preoccupation in the newly federated
with other writers and publishers. Cathy of five women: Vida Goldstein, Dora nation; Cochrane explores this obsession
Perkins’s delightfully written work elevates Montefiore, Muriel Matters, Nellie Martel in the context of ‘buying’ security in
Zora Cross to a more deserved position and Dora Meeson-Coates. Of them, to the Pacific through engagement in a
in our literary past. date perhaps only Vida Goldstein and European conflict.
more recently, courtesy of a biography by
Robert Wainwright, Muriel Matters have
punctuated the public consciousness.
Engagingly written, this is a fine study of
near universal suffrage.
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