W.O.F. 2017

This year's 'Women on Farms Gathering' is again in the region, and will be held at Harrow in the West Wimmera Shire.
The event will run for 3 days - Friday 24th to Sunday 26th March, with a variety of events, workshops, bus tours, and entertainment.

Details are on the  West Wimmera Women on Farms Gathering 2017 website, with a program list and registration form.

Once again the Library will be conducting three workshops - 
'Place-names of the Wimmera': explore the history of the Wimmera and Southern Mallee region at 'Place-names of the Wimmera', a presentation showing how explorers and surveyors named specific places – localities & towns, parishes & counties, and lakes & streams, hills & mountains across the region. It includes Aboriginal and historic etymology of some of the place names.
'Delve into your Family History : using electronic tools': learn how libraries can assist in researching local & family history using online resources such as TROVE, Find My Past, Ancestry, and PROV.
'Country Schools': a photographic journey around the Wimmera,showcasing the many and varied schools which have existed over the years.These schools also represented centres of communities often serving as churches, halls, polling booths and dance venues. Many of the now vanished schools were small one-teacher rural schools which existed for short periods of time opening, moving and closing as school-age populations waxed and waned with farming fortunes.

The presentations will be held in the Harrow Library at the Harrow Hall.
To book go to the registration page of the WOF website (registrations close on 3rd March). 

Back to the ABC

The 1868 photograph of Johnny Mullagh, which was lost when the Harrow Hall burned down

Yes everyone will be watching the Harrow episode of the ABC's 'Back Roads' tonight at 8pm.
This week is the final episode of Season 2. Heather Ewart visits Harrow, a creative community that took to heart the mantra "reinvent or perish" and found unique ways to bring new people and fresh ideas into the town.
Stories include the Aboriginal cricketers, the Beaut Blokes weekends, Stretch Penrose's paintings, and Neil Grigg's millinery, to name a few.
And then there is this cute little back-story.

If you miss the episode, the repeat program is on Sunday 5th February at 1:30pm.

School sports

With the Olympic Games over for another 4 years, maybe it's time to check out some local sport -

'Weekly Times' article and photos of the Sports Day held at Balmoral, in 1936.

THE representatives of ten schools in the Balmoral and Harrow districts met at Balmoral on April 17 to compete for the Glenelg Schools' Sports Association Shield, when Balmoral experienced its first win in seven years, their students bringing success by winning the relay flag race in the growing dusk.

The Harrow competitors

Students from Balmoral, Harrow, Kongbool Kanagulk. Pigeon Ponds, Telangatuk East, Vasey, Gringegalgona, Yulong and Urangara schools participated in the meeting, which attracted visitors from all parts of the district. The right to hold the shield for the next 12 months could not be determined until the final event on a full afternoon's programme was completed.

The Telangatuk East Team

Yulong, with an enrolment of 15 scholars, staged a fine performance in pushing the winning school so closely, the ultimate points scored by the schools being as under: —Balmoral (scr.), 68 points- Yulong (34), 61; Vasey (34), 47; Kongbool (33), 47; Telangatuk East (10) 45; Gringegalgona (42), 42; Harrow (8) 39; Urangara (32) 36; Kanagulk (23) 36; Pigeon Ponds (18) 30. It appears there was some form of handicapping, which leveled the playing-field amongst the the bigger (Harrow & Balmoral) and smaller (Urangara & Yulong) schools.

 Chidren from the smaller schools, Urangara, Gringegalonga, Kanagulk, Vasey, Kongbool, Pigeon Ponds and Yulong.

Apart from the wonderful running and skipping of the girls, among whom the Yulong girls were outstanding, the Dempsey brothers (Balmoral) showed unexpected pace, Dave Dempsey winning the Under 9, 10, and 11 events in run-away fashion, and Jack Dempsey gaining sprint honors in the Under 12 events, and Evan Rees (Telangatuk East) took the Under 13 high jump at 4ft 3in., and gained several points for his school on the flat.

Starring Mullagh

The 'Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll' is coming to the Horsham Library.
The Honour Roll recognises the many and varied contributions of Aboriginal people to the identity of Victoria.
One of the first Honour Roll inductees was a Wotjobaluk man - Johnny Mullagh (Unaarrimin), his athletic feats made him one of Australia's first international cricketing stars.
Johnny Mullagh was born in 1841 on Mullagh Pastoral Station (between present day Wombelano and Harrow). He worked on both Mullagh and Pine Hills stations as a shearer and as a groom. But it was as a member of the all-Aboriginal Cricket team for which he has been remembered.

A station cricket match at Mt Talbot

Station owners and workers played cricket against neighbouring stations. Thomas Hamilton of Bringalbert started teaching the rudiments of cricket to the Aborigines on the Station in 1864, likewise Edgars on Pine Hills. The Haymans of Lake Wallace formed a cricket club including Aboriginals. In 1865, station cricket was so popular a match was organised between the Europeans and Aborigines. Played near the Bringalbert woolshed, the Aboriginals out scored the Europeans.

Johnny Mullagh and other station Aborigines formed an All-Aboriginal team, coached in Edenhope by Thomas Wentworth Wills (of Australian football fame, the Wills family held Lexington, La Rose & Mokepille stations) and managed by William Hayman.
Englishman Charles Lawrence organised a tour of England for the team in 1868. Led by Mullagh, who batted, bowled and kept wicket, they beat English teams of vastly more experience. 
The team also provided displays of traditional skills - boomerang & spear throwing, and shield parrying. They also successfully participated in ball throwing and running backwards events.
 
A photograph of Johnny Mullagh, the original hung in the Harrow Hall for many years until it was burnt down in the 1970s.
 

Mullagh's headstone, Harrow Cemetery

When the team returned to Australia, Mullagh played for the Victorian state side, and the Melbourne Cricket Club for a season, before returning to play for Harrow until his death in 1891. His bat and stumps were buried with him on the crest of the Harrow Cemetery hill.
Rising above racial taunts, Mullagh deliberately hit a catch rather than play in the face of discrimination. He is still remembered in Harrow with a stone memorial, the annual cricket match, and the Cricket Centre named after him.

The Aboriginal Honour Roll will be launched in the Horsham Library on 4th June at 11am, and will be on display in the Library until the 11th.

What's on the For Sale sign?

Historic property Kout Narin is for sale. An interesting aspect is the variant spellings of Kout Narin, from - Koot Narin, Koot Nareen, Kout Norien, Court Nahring, and the homestead area as Second Kout Narin.

The homestead in 1980, from the National Trust

Kout Narin on the banks of the Glenelg River near Harrow was originally taken up in 1840 by Thomas Norris as a 400,000 acre pastoral run. This was one of the largest of the early pastoral holdings in the colony at Port Phillip.

Edward Willis & Charles Lambert Swanston (Charles’ father and Edward’s father-in-law was Captain Charles Swanston a colonial merchant and banker after whom Swanston Street in Melbourne was named) acquired Kout Narin station in October 1846 as ‘The Glenelg River Grazing Company’. Later in April 1848 they subdivided it into Kout Narin and Kadnook. (Kadnook was subdivided into Kadnook and Buckle Kupple in August 1857, then Kadnook further broken up into Kadnook and Tallangour in August 1864, Tallangour was divided into Tallangour and Lake Paddock in April 1874.) Kout Narin was further subdivided in September 1852 into Chetwynd and Pigeon Ponds (Moree) and again in September 1859 divided into Chetwynd, Mooree (or Pigeon Ponds), Koolomurt and Wellat(t). Willis and Swanston retained a part known as Koolomurt in 1859. Swanston kept Mooree in 1859. At Koolomurt, Willis formed one of the finest merino studs in Victoria. 

The Woolshed above Salt Creek, 1974 from SLV

Second Kout Narin was part of the original Rickett’s Run or Longlands. It was first occupied in April 1840 as ‘The Glenelg Sheep Establishment’. Thomas Rickett occupied it from 1843. Ricketts Run was broken up into Clunie, Longlands and Second Kout Narin. Second Kout Narin was on the right bank of the Glenelg. A two-room slab house with a shingle roof was erected in 1846.

The original slab cottage in 1980, from the National Trust

 In 1855 Richard Brown Broughton leased Kout Narin Station from Thomas Hamilton, where he subsequently erected the woolshed and the colonial homestead, integrating the early stone house of c1848. Broughton got the freehold for the Second Kout Narin property in June 1863. He changed the name from Kout Narin to Kout Norien.

From the curving driveway towards the rectangular house with a shallow flight of steps leading up to verandah, past garden beds, taken by an unknown photographer some time during the 1960s, copyright is undetermined, from SLV

 The early colonial style rectangular plan homestead of brick and stone with distinctive roof form, glazed verandah and colonial regency details was built in 1855 with the second storey portion added at a later date. The stone was quarried on the property. The homestead was placed on the Victorian Heritage Register in 1959, and the outbuildings added in 1980.

The stone-rubble stables with latticed openings, 1980 from the National Trust

The stone-rubble cookhouse, 1980 from the National Trust

Enclosed homestead verandah

   
The associated outbuildings, slab hut and slab woolshed, form an important pastoral station group, and are examples of early vernacular construction methods.

The following set of photographs was taken by John Collins in the 1970s, and are from the J.T. Collins Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria.

The homestead

The homestead showing the quoins around the doors

The timber slab woolshed and its split picket sheep yards with the pickets wired together. Although dilapidated the woolshed is still in use.

The stone-rubble cookhouse and adjacent meat-house

Kout Narin is to be auctioned on Friday 12th September in Hamilton and is expected to reach $1.3-1.5 million.

Water, water, everywhere

Our region is in flood for the third time in 5 months. Currently the Warracknabeal Library is closed due to the flooding there, resulting from the 77mm of rain there on Monday 10th. The Library's carpet had just recovered from a soaking in the storms back in December, when water piled up against the doors. This time though the amount of water was larger, and the damage more extensive.

The December storms and resulting river & creek levels saw Horsham, Harrow and Warracknabeal towns all on flood alert.

Burnt Creek at Horsham on 11th December, taken from the footbridge near Latus Drive, after Williams Road was reopened to traffic.

Melanie's photo of the SES & townspeople sandbagging the Harrow Hall & Library (the library is in the section below the satellite dish) as the Glenelg River encroaches on the town on 9th December.

Wimmera River near the highway bridge in Horsham on 9th September.
3 months earlier it was a similar situation in Horsham, as flood waters slowly spread towards Horsham from the headwaters of the Wimmera River, inundating crops along the way.
The pathway below the Horsham Weir on the 12th September 2010, at this stage the water was receding, it had been a good 6 feet higher at the flood peak.



For some great photos, check out the "Victorian floods" group Facebook page, like this aerial shot of the Barnes Boulevard extension.






The flooding downstream of the weir on 12th September, with the gum trees still showing the effects of the Remlaw - Black Saturday fire 7th February 2009. - A country of extremes!

But all this pales in significance to some of our past floods -







Black & white Horsham photos from "Horsham in focus".