This blog provides information, stories, links and events relating to and promoting the history of the Wimmera district.
Any additional information, via Comments, is welcomed.



Wednesday, 30 March 2011

History with the Master



The lecture: "How to Write Books with Geoffrey Blainey" is to be held at Duneira on Saturday 30th April from 5-6pm, cost $25 ($20 - concession). Professor Geoffrey Blainey comes to Duneira to give a rare insight into the craft of writing. He is one of Australia’s most pre-eminent social and economic historians. Professor Blainey has published more than 32 books, including A Short History of the World, The tyranny of distance, Triumph of the Nomads, The rush that never ended, and A History of Victoria. His literary prizes include the 1988 Britannica Award, the world’s major award for the dissemination of knowledge. He is equally well-known as a social commentator whose penetrating and often provocative statements have stirred national debate. Professor Blainey was professor of Economic History at the University of Melbourne, Ernest Scott professor of History, and is now Professor Emeritus. He was also inaugural chancellor of the University of Ballarat, and in the early 1980s he was visiting professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University. Professor Blainey has now been writing about Australian history for more than 50 years. I saw him address the Family History Feast in August last year, and he is still a powerful speaker with a grasp of a vast array of subjects.

The 400 metre Main Drive lined with English elms & a carpet of bluebells and ivy


Duneira of Mount Macedon is a living reminder of Victoria's British heritage. It was purchased by Suetonius Henry Officer in 1872 (the same family that settled Mt Talbot station). The late-Victorian house is about 84 squares, with a large library and archive storage facility. Set in picturesque gardens, beyond the elms are groves of sycamore and oak. The sweeping drive passes towering firs, redwoods and cypresses that surround the large formal lawn.

Friday, 18 March 2011

Stick Shed photographs

A number of photographs (89 in fact) of the Murtoa Stick Shed taken by Heritage Victoria in 2009 are now available for viewing on Flickr.
The Marmalake/Murtoa Grain Store, originally the No.1 Murtoa Shed, is located within the Murtoa Grain Terminal, adjacent to the grain elevator tower and railway line.
The shed is 280m long, 60m wide and 19m high at the ridge, with a capacity of 3.4 million bushels. The hipped corrugated iron roof of the shed is supported on approximately 600 unmilled hardwood poles set in a concrete slab floor and braced with iron tie rods. These poles are the reason for use of the term "stick shed". With its vast gabled interior and long rows of poles the space has been likened to the nave of a cathedral. (Hence possibly Heritage Victoria's most widely recognised photograph of the cathedral-like expanse of the interior of the shed, below)

An elevator at one end took wheat from railway trucks to ridge level where it was distributed by conveyor (there are a couple of conveyor shots in the set) along the length of the shed, creating a huge single mound of grain. Braced internal timber bulkheads on either side took the lateral thrust of the wheat, and conveyors at ground level outside the bulkheads took wheat back to the elevator for transport elsewhere.
Wheat had been handled and stored in jute bags from the beginning of the Victorian wheat industry in the mid nineteenth century, but in the 20th century, storage and transport of loose grain in bulk was gaining popularity. In 1935 the Victorian Grain Elevators Board (GEB) planned a network of 160 concrete silos in country locations, connected by rail to the shipping terminal at Geelong. However, with the outbreak of the Second World War, and a worldwide glut of wheat, Australia had a massive surplus which it was unable to export. In 1941 the GEB proposed large temporary horizontal bulk storage sheds, and Murtoa was chosen as a suitable site for the first emergency storage.


Not as well known, this photograph of the building of the Stick Shed
The main contractor, Green Bros, commenced work on the No.1 Murtoa Shed in September 1941, deliveries of bulk wheat began in January 1942, and the store was full by June. Use of the No.1 shed and the larger No.2 shed, erected in 1942/43, continued for many years. The No.2 shed was demolished in 1975. The No. 1 store was also becoming increasingly expensive to maintain, and its use was phased out from 1989.
The Marmalake/Murtoa Grain Store is the earliest and only remaining of three large sheds of an unusually grand scale of the Australian rural vernacular corrugated-iron tradition built in Victoria during the early 1940s.
link to Heritage Victoria'a set of Stick Shed photos on Flickr for more information & photos check out Leigh Hammerton's Stick Shed site , and blog posts on the Stick Shed.

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Horsham Cemetery tours



The Library is conducting a Night time tour of the Horsham Cemetery on the 16th March, and then a Virtual Tour of the Cemetery on the 17th at the Horsham Library.
 The Night time tour is currently booked out, but there is still a chance to attend the Virtual tour in the Library, just contact the Horsham Branch on 5382 5707, or drop in to book a seat.
 There will be an afternoon tea following.

Friday, 4 March 2011

Living in the Treasury

The scullery
In this the third and final posting regarding the Old Treasuy building, we look at the Maynard family who actually lived in the building from 1916 to 1928, and the National Archives/Public Records Office Victoria who provide a number of displays in the building which is free to visit from 10am to 4pm on Wednesdays and Sundays.
LUX wood stove
 Maynard was the building's superintendent/caretaker, in charge of security and maintenance. His wife Emma prepared the Governor's morning & afternoon teas. John, Emma and their 8 children grew up in the Treasury. They lived downstairs in 5 rooms, which within the bluestone walls is cool in summer, but cold in winter (and believe me & in spring too). After the official business was conducted the children had the run of the building, however they were isolated from other families living alone on the top of the hill.
The Public Records Office has a number of permanent displays in different rooms - Indigenous Victorians - early interactions with the government, including the Peppers at Ebenezer; Early Melbourne - settlement by Batman & Fawkner, and the Burke & Wills expedition; Ned Kelly - original documents, extracts from "The story of the Kelly Gang" film and the Kelly family tree; Crime & criminals - gangsters Squizzy Taylor, and female prisoner mug shots;   Victorians at work & on holiday - posters and photographs from the 1930-1950s; Victorian buildings - a range of architectural plans of public buildings; and Victorian democracy -how the gold miners helped shape Victoria's government.
Strutt sketch of the Expedition on the march