Such was life

This month the State Library’s “Our story : Such was life” is ‘The Mallee’

In Victoria’s north-west lies the Mallee; a dry, hot region featuring sand dunes, salt bushes, shrubs and a ‘strange dwarf gum tree, Eucalyptus Dumosa, usually called Mallee…The tough land and climate certainly made an impression on Dr. Neumayer, a surveyor who recounted his experiences in 1864, ‘I can readily imagine why most people speak of this part of the country with a certain dread for there is actually no grass and no water to be found’…Over the years the land has endured its share of rural disasters, namely plagues (rabbits, mice, grass hoppers), drought and dust storms. Today its 100,000 occupants mainly reside in major towns like Mildura, Swan Hill and Kerang, but the Mallee is also dotted with smaller towns with delicious names such as Patchewollock, Cowangie, Boinka, Underbool, Piangil, Walpeup and Manangatang…In 1995 the State Library received a collection of photographs from the Rural Water Corporation (State Rivers & Water Supply Commission) which span the late 19th century to 1980. The thousands of images document Victoria’s water use and include many from the Mallee and Wimmera, which feature in this post.

Unfortunately some of the records have little or no information attached, they were grouped together under titles like:  [Wimmera - Mallee District] [picture], or [Wimmera region] [picture] with Accession no(s) RWP/1855; RWP/1870; RWP/1884; RWP/1883;RWP/1906; RWP/1862; RWP/1873; RWP/1926; RWP/1895; RWP/1932; RWP/1881; RWP/1878; RWP/1871; RWP/1872; RWP/1896; RWP/1923; RWP/1860

And Summary Descriptions: Shows sand drift on a Mallee farm, crops on Mr. Black's property, sheep at drinking storage at Dumosa, crops near Murtoa, ploughing at Murtoa, Miss Lodwick in her father's vegetable garden at Timberoo, interior of wheat storage shed in Murtoa, abandoned homestead at Galah, horses drinking from bore-water trough, Consolidated State School at Murrayville, bowling green at Ouyen, sand and crops at Patchewollock.

For some, it is easy to positively identify - for example the 'ploughing at Murtoa' can only be the 'RWP 1870' as the Stick Shed is visible in the background.

Ploughing at Murtoa (RWP 1870)

Likewise 'interior of wheat storage shed in Murtoa' is 'RWP 1884' a great shot of inside the Stick Shed.

Interior of wheat storage shed in Murtoa (RWP 1884)

 

Sand drift on a Mallee farm (RWP 1906)

It gets trickier with descriptions like 'abandoned homestead at Galah'. This is possibly 'RWP 1883' if you consider the building to look abandoned or derelict. Galah was a siding on the way to Walpeup.

Possibly abandoned homestead at Galah, it is RWP 1883

Another photograph which could be 'crops near Murtoa' or 'crops on Mr. Black's property' is 'RWP 1855'.  Mr Black's property was at Timberoo - north of Patchewollck and south east of Walpeup, and south west of Ouyen. Looking at the health of the crop and the vegetation in the background, it looks more like the Wimmera, than a really good year in the Mallee.

RWP 1855

From another catalogue record comes this graphic photograph, likely to be - 'wind erosion and sand drift at Patchewollock' and the gentleman, one of the commissioners - McClelland, Greenwood, Stafford, McNab, Fitzgerald, Hall, Rogerson, Welch, Godkin or East. It was taken during Royal Commission on Water Supply in 1936.

RWP 589

The big palette

Compliments to the Yarriambiack Shire who are chasing dollars for 'the world's biggest art gallery'.

On the back of the phenomenal success of the Brim Silo Art project  (see the previous 'High art' post) the Shire is proposing a 'Silo Art Trail' - a 200km trail of landscape size silo art from Rupanyup in the south to Patchewollock in the north.

Sheep Hills silos (which would have looked the part in 'The dressmaker' film)

Yarriambiack Mayor Cr Ray Kingston wants to commission renowned artists to paint giant murals on silos along the length of the municipality at Rup, Sheep Hills, Rosebery, Lascelles and Patche.

Guido, Adnate & Rone 'Wall to Wall' in Benalla

Discussions are taking place with the local communities, Graincorp, Juddy Roller (who helped bring Guido Van Helten to Brim), and government. They are targeting high profile street artists for the project, so it would be great to see, say an Adnate piece decorating a silo wall.

Silos at Rosebery, across the road from the Desert Gallery & Cafe

WDA's new director Ralph Kenyon said that the project would tie the long narrow municipality together (Yarriambiack is over 7,000 square kms, but over 160kms long and under 70kms at its widest).

Lascelles provides a variety of canvases

 As Dean Lawson stated it is a master stroke for increasing growth & development via tourism in Yarriambiack, as visitors will want to tick off each location as they bag each 'peak', in the biggest regional art project in Australia's history.

Adnate in the Geelong B Power Station

Would have liked to have seen the Nullan silos get a guernsey, they have a wonderful symmetry as they rise from the plain, particularly good at dawn.

Nullan siding silos, near Minyip

 

For the love of books

Melbourne Rare Book Week – For the love of books

Melbourne Rare Book Week commenced in 2012 as a partnership between ANZAAB, the University of Melbourne and 8 other literary institutions. In 2015, over 44 free events were held at libraries, literary and historical societies and bookshops throughout Melbourne, attracting local, national and international visitors. Melbourne Rare Book Week is now well established in the City of Melbourne's event calendar. It is a major attraction for book collectors, librarians and all who have a love of words, print on paper and literary heritage.

Just some of the must-go-to events this year are:

“Preservation of photographs, books and paper-based items” presented by The Genealogical Society of Victoria with speaker - Debra Parry, a qualified conservator, will share her expert knowledge about the preservation of photographs, books and paper-based items. She is well qualified to discuss the topic, having worked as a conservator for the National Archives where she carried out a range of preservation and conservation treatments including the repair of documents, maps and plans, as well as photographs, albums, books and ledgers. She has also worked for Heritage Victoria and now manages her own business, Melbourne Conservation Services. There are 2 sessions available Thursday 14^th or Thursday 21^st, both at 12 noon to 1pm.

“Rare book discovery day” presented by Museum Victoria. Bring along your books, maps and prints to this Antiques Roadshow-style event for discussion and informal appraisals from a panel of leading antiquarian booksellers. On Saturday 16th July 10am – 1pm

And if you’re really quick, get down the street to attend “A walk on the mean streets” presented by the Melbourne Library Service. This walk will be hosted by Dr. Lucy Sussex, an expert on Australian detective fiction. It will visit some of the sites of Melbourne featured in the books of Fergus Hume, the author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. Lucy Sussex is the author of 'Blockbuster', which tells the stories of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab and of Fergus Hume, who lived in Melbourne from 1885 to 1888. Hume wrote three mysteries that were set in and around Melbourne, before he returned the UK in mid 1888, (to the London of Jack the Ripper!). The walk will be illustrated by readings of extracts from the three Australian works of Fergus Hume. The walk will start at Scots' Church at the corner of Collins Street and Russell Street at 1pm. and will end in George Street, East Melbourne at around 3.30pm. Saturday 16th July 1pm – 3:30pm.

“The Tyranny of distance – 50 years” presented by Monash University Library. Professor Geoffrey Blainey has been described as the "most prolific, wide-ranging, inventive, and, in the 1980s and 1990s, most controversial of Australia's living historians". It seems extraordinary that it is 50 years since the publication of his most well-known book The Tyranny of Distance by Sun Books in 1966. This was itself an important landmark in Australian publishing, as it was unusual at the time for a serious study of history to be first published as a local Australian paperback by a relatively new and unknown publishing house. This talk is presented by another distinguished Australian academic historian, Emeritus Professor Graeme Davison, who will share his knowledge of the career and impact of Professor Geoffrey Blainey in general and The Tyranny of Distance in particular. On Tuesday 19th July 3:30pm – 4:30pm.

All the events are free, but booking is essential. More events and further details are available at the website.

What nearly was

By chance, I happened to come across an entry in the Victorian Government Gazette referring to the Witchipool (Lake Buloke) Hospital,

And not just any hospital, this was for an infectious diseases hospital. 

The entry is for the 'site for a hospital or place for isolating persons suffering from small-pox, cholera, or other dangerous infectious or contagious disease'.
Why did the government of the day (in 1911) consider the need for a hospital? It was in 1900 that there was a major outbreak of bubonic plague in Sydney. It killed 103 people in 8 months and lead to the mass cleansing and demolition of slum housing in heavily populated areas like The Rocks. The Sydney event remains the most significant, but there were a further 12 major outbreaks eventuating in 1371 cases and 535 deaths in 27 locations, including Melbourne, around Australia between 1900 and 1925.

A street is hosed down in the mass cleansing in January 1900. State Library NSW

Witchipool is the name of the parish which encompasses Lake Buloke, Little Lake Buloke, part of the Donald township, west to Litchfield and north towards Massey. Witchipool is from the Aboriginal words for plant that grows on a hill. The farming district was originally named Litchfields.

 The Reservation of part of Allotment 12 temporarily set the land aside for the establishment of the hospital, but it never eventuated. The reservation was revoked in 1922.

It was a little concerning that they considered placing infectious patients between two water sources - the lake and the Richardson River. Typically for smallpox, if the patient survives the initial infection, they remain infectious for 3-4 weeks after the onset of the rash. Smallpox was declared globally eradicated in 1980.
Today, outbreaks of cholera still occasionally happen in northern Australia, and can be associated with algal blooms.

The area today

The 43 acre crescent-shaped site was situated away from centres of population, but still close to a railway and a highway. Would have made a wonderful abandoned building now.