Great celebrations

Great Western are set to celebrate a grand date, as the school celebrates its 150th anniversary.
Great Western Primary School opened as a Common School in February 1867 in a new single-room brick building with a shingle roof on Lot 4, Section 7 of the town. 

80 pupils were crammed on long benches in the Common School

In 1872, the Education Act (1872) was introduced and Common Schools were re-titled State Schools, and Great Western became Great Western State School No. 860. The Act provided for free, compulsory and secular education for all Victorian children to 15 years. 

 A new single-room wooden school building fronting Stephenson Street was built, and opened in May 1881. 

The Church of England purchased the Common School building in 1883, and used it as a church, library, Sunday school and church hall. 
 An Infant room was added in 1923. At the centenary celebrations in August 1967 a pond, wall feature & obelisk were constructed on the south corner. In 1977 a 2 classroom unit was transported onto the site.
The celebrations commence on the 13th October, with a Dinner on 14th, and a parade of vehicles through the ages - from horse-drawn carts to vintage cars.
The School 150th Committee are looking to attract former students and teachers to the weekend and have started a Facebook page 

To visit or not to visit

Spencer Street Passenger Yard, 1884 (SLV)

I was looking for something totally different, when I came across the "Victorian Railways tourist's guide : containing accurate and full particulars of the watering places, scenery, shooting, fishing, sporting, hotel accommodation, etc. in Victoria ; also a new and complete railway map showing all the present and projected lines" edited by Joseph Pickersgill, published by Sands & McDougal in 1885, and available online via Trove at http:/​/​nla.gov.au/​nla.obj-268214772

It describes the towns and cities in Victoria at the time, and really was not that complementary about this area, especially as it was a 'tourist guide'.

 ARMSTRONGS,

Which is not famous for anything in particular, and about six miles further on is

GREAT WESTERN.

This important place lies in undulating country on the Concongella Creek, a tributary of the Wimmera River, and to the north of the Black Range, and is the centre of a magnificent wine-producing district. Here, amongst other smaller ones, is the justly celebrated Great Western vineyard (Best's), famous for its extensive cellarage, and above all for the excellence of the wines of all kinds produced there, which have taken prizes at most of the World's great Exhibitions. A visit to this place will amply repay the tourist's time if only to

"Sit 'neath the shade of the spreading vine,

And drain a deep draught of Great Western wine,"

From Great Western to

STAWELL,

Also known familiarly as Pleasant Creek and the Reefs, is about 8 miles, being 19 miles from Ararat, 76 miles from Ballaraat, and 176 miles from Melbourne. Stawell is a large and somewhat straggling place, the streets in the old part of the town in particular being narrow and tortuous. In fact, the top end of Main Street (the Collins Street of Stawell) is as crooked as a dog's hind leg.

One wonders whether the author got a sample of some Best's sparkling, as he/she is a bit scathing of everywhere else, and it continues -

GLENORCHY,

Eight miles north-west of Stawell, and on the line of railway, is a pastoral township of the smaller type. The native name is Djarrah, which means a job of work. It is only noticeable as being the starting-place for

BALMORAL,

A place of about equal calibre. The only reason for mentioning these out-of-the-way townships is that the road between them passes through Rose's Gap, a gloomy, precipitous gorge in the Grampians, well deserving a visit, whose native name, Barregowa - meaning Middle of the Mountain - sufficiently indicates its character.
Quitting Glenorchy, the train passes the little townships of LUBECK and MURTOA, and proceeds to the comparatively large town of

HORSHAM,

The most important and the liveliest place in this part of the country. It is the centre of a flat agricultural and pastoral district, some of the finest grazing land in the country being in the neighborhood. The botanical gardens, as in the cases of Koroit and Stawell, were laid out by Mr R.P. Whitworth under the supervision of Mr W.R. Guilfoyle. Horsham has two newspapers, the 'Times' and the 'Wimmera Star'. The town possesses no special attraction, except to those who wish to see pastoral country, and it is questionable whether it is worth coming so far to see so little. It may be remarked that it was in this part of the colony that the late Marcus Clarke gained his colonial experience.
The pastoral centres of Dimboola and Tarraginnie lie still further afield, but whether to visit them or not is purely a matter of choice. 

Steam train passing through farm land c1890-1900 (SLV)

So what were the chances of getting a special excursion train to visit the Wimmera in the 1880s, based on this guide?

Trees in remembrance

In Australia, commemorative trees have been planted in public spaces since the late nineteenth century. Arbor Days were held regularly in most Victorian State Schools during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and numerous trees were planted in parks in Melbourne and throughout Victoria to mark the visits of important and famous people.

This tradition of commemorative planting was continued in 1901 when at the end of the Boer War trees were often planted for each soldier of the district who was killed in South Africa. These plantings, however, rarely consisted of more than two or three trees in each town.

During and after the First World War venues of honour consisting of trees lining significant streets became a popular form of commemoration. They represented a new egalitarian approach to the commemoration of soldiers where rank was not a consideration: each tree symbolises a person.

Booroopki “towering evergreens would stand aloft in their dignity”

Booroopki's memorial

Avenues of honour are a uniquely Australian phenomenon. Australians, and in particular Victorians, embraced the idea of planting them more enthusiastically than any other country in the world. The Eurack Avenue of Honour (near Cressy) is the earliest known avenue of honour to be planted in Victoria and dates from 1916.

By the time of the Second World War avenues of honour had declined in popularity as a means of commemoration. Today it is estimated that over 300 avenues of honour have been planted in Victoria to commemorate service personnel since 1901.

The Avenues of Honour 1915-2015 Project is a national initiative which aims to commemorate the memory of every individual who has fallen in the service of Australia with a tree.

 

With community support, the project will document, preserve and reinstate the original Avenues of Honour where possible, and establish new Avenues of Honour by the centenary of Anzac in 2015. More than 102,000 Australians have died in the service of their country during various conflicts.

The first stage of the project is capturing information about existing and lost Avenues of Honour and the people commemorated by them. 

TreeNet's home-page

TREENET, a national not-for-profit organisation based in Adelaide, has established a database of all known avenues and is collecting other information to build a comprehensive national record. 

The wayside stop at the Booroopki Avenue

Local Avenues include:
TheBooroopki Avenue of Honour was planted with thirty-five Eucalyptus and Pine trees in memory of those who fought in the First World War. The Avenue was opened on 29th August 1918 at a ceremony that began with the national anthem and featured an address by Mr C.D. Block. Three trees were given prominence as those dedicated to three deceased servicemen: Pte. J.R. Gardner, C.F. Patching and P. Brennan. It is great that such a small community like Booroopki has a wonderful ongoing relationship with their war memorial. Services are still held there on Anzac Day, and Daryl Crabtree & Daryl Povey have compiled a short family history on each soldier at Booroopki World War I

The Dimboola Avenue of Honour, along Ellerman and Muller Streets, was planted in 1949 to commemorate the First and Second World Wars. The avenue comprises of Sugar Gum trees (Eucalyptus cladocalyx) and Southern Mahogany trees (Eucalyptus botryoides). The Dimboola Memorial High School is also in Ellerman Street.

The Donald Avenue of Honour known as the Memorial Crescent, was planted in 1995 to commemorate the Second World War. The Crescent was planted with eighteen sugar gum trees planted in a double row along Byrne Street . Under each tree was a white wooden cross with the name of a local servicemen. The Crescent was an Australia Remembers project for the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Great Western's avenue on the Western Highway

The Great Western Avenue of Honour was planted in 1935 to commemorate the First World War. It is located on the Western Highway between Stawell and Ararat. The avenue is comprised of Desert Ash trees (Fraxinus angustifolia) and Plane trees (Platanus).

The Hopetoun Avenue of Honour, along Warracknabeal Road south of the town, comprised 70 Sugar Gums planted to commemorate the First World War. Today there are only a few gums remaining.

Roberts Avenue, Horsham

The Horsham Boer War Avenue of Honour was planted in 1902 to commemorate the Boer War. It was originally planted with 80 English Oak trees (Quercus robur) along Roberts Avenue, between Darlot and McPherson Streets. Now only the section between Urquhart and McPherson Streets remains. A plaque on Roberts Avenue records the dedication in 1902.

Information on war memorials in Victoria is in the Victorian War Heritage Inventory