Archival film launch

The library has been involved in the creation of ‘The Farmer’s Cinematheque’ for some time, and now finally the film is born.

John and Relvy Teasdale were farmers in the Wimmera region of north-western Victoria. Over more than fifty years they created a rich and evocative filmic record of working and community life in their particular dry-land farming district of Rupanyup. For John and Relvy, farming and film-making were an inter-related devotional practice. 

Upon his death ten years ago, John Teasdale left a cupboard full of films that reveal and evoke a rich and nourishing terrain. Spanning five decades from the late 1930s to the late 1980s, the Teasdale films offer views into the psychological, social and economic complexities of a wondrous and sophisticated rural world that on the one hand seems to be disappearing but on the other continues to sustain, adapt and recreate itself. 'The Farmer's Cinematheque' exhumes the Teasdale films from the archive and explores their resonance in the context of a world rapidly changing but connected still to a profound legacy of ideas, desires and rituals.

Set against contemporary footage and embellished with story-telling from members of the Teasdale family and the Wimmera community, the film stimulates thinking about the power of memory and the nature of our attachment to particular country, drawing parallels between Indigenous and settler modes of country-keeping and providing elements of revelation and affirmation about rural life. A meditation on the power of country and also a demonstration, quite literally, of the power of film, Combining sequences from the archive with contemporary footage and voices 'The Farmer's Cinematheque' teases out important questions about our custodianship of places and communities in the context of a rapidly changing global environment. It is a lyrical film about the power of memory, the nature of our attachment to country and the ways in which communities strive to balance change and tradition.

‘The Farmer’s Cinematheque’ has its own website, where you can get a sneak peek at the film trailer. The film is a Reckless Eye Production, written and directed by Malcolm McKinnon and Ross Gibson, with cinematography by Ben Speth, produced by Annie Venables, and music by Chris Abrahams.

The world premiere will be at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival, on 19th October, and importantly its local screening is a free event on 1st November, in Natimuk, part of the Nati Frinj Biennale.

'Combine Nation' 2004 Space and Place

The Nati Frinj Festival is a bi-annual event with an eclectic mix of programs and performances (one of the most notable has been the pictures and lights projected onto the exterior walls of Natimuk’s railway grain silos).

Balmoral line again

I'm re-posting the Balmoral line, as I've come across some more information and taken some recent photos. This post does not replace the original one from November 2012, I've just swapped some photographs, added new ones of current views to compare against the old, and finally I'm including Natimuk itself (really on the Carpolac line) in reply to a Comment I had on Remlaw (see below).
The Balmoral line was a north-south running cross-country line that connected Hamilton, and ultimately Portland, with Horsham, via the junction at East Natimuk. The line from East Natimuk to Noradjuha officially (and finally) closed in 1986, with the Horsham to East Natimuk closing in October 1988. Noradjuha to Hamilton had been closed since July 1979.
Leaving Horsham the line to Natimuk passes Remlaw. I had an historic photo from Museum Victoria purporting to be a wheat bag stack at Remlaw in 1930.

Museum Victoria photograph

I've since had a Comment posted saying they believe the location is in fact Natimuk, not Remlaw, so I felt compelled to investigate, and now I too conclude that it is at Natimuk, facing west towards Carpolac.

Natimuk today - with the same peppercorn tree & gum tree on the horizon

Checking at Remlaw, the trees in that locality don't match, so well done that eagle-eyed follower, and thanks for your comment (I've contacted the Museum too).

Rows of sugar gums in front of the Remlaw silos

Before reaching Natimuk East, the line had to negotiate a crossing of the Wimmera River at Quantong (though the road bridge was called the Vectis Bridge in the early days). Below is a great photo by Bob Wilson of one of the last trains to cross the bridge in 1983. The timber trestle bridge was built in 1887, and is 133m long.

The road & rail bridges at Quantong (from 'Power to the rails' by John Scott)

Natimuk East was the former junction station, splitting the westward Carpolac line and the Hamilton cross-country branch line heading south via Balmoral. Not much trace of the platform remains, it is still an important grain receival point with large bunker storages. 

At Natimuk East, the Carpolac line ran in a curve from the left then down the centre of the photo, while the Balmoral line enters from the right, its platform mound is between the two groups of trees then it runs parallel to the Carpolac one past the silo, where they join and veer right towards Horsham at about the shadowed area.

The Natimuk East silo shed with the bunkers behind

From Natimuk East the line passed through Noradjuha to Jallumba. Jallumba opened in September 1912 and closed in 1979.

Jallumba, the platform mound is on the left

The Jallumba Goods Shed 1989 (from When There were Stations)

Site of the Jallumba Goods Shed today - no trace

From Jallumba the line continued south passing Carchap. Though not a listed siding, Carchap boasted a school and pumping station as it was on the water channel from the Toolondo Reservoir (built 1952-53).

The Carchap bridge the school was on the right

This bridge is the only one I've found still existing (apart from the Fulham trestle) on the Balmoral line all the other bridges and culverts have been removed. From Carchap it was only a few miles to Toolondo.

The abandoned Toolondo yard, not even the Super works operate from there any more

With the rails removed at Jeffries it is now difficult to plot the line's course.

Jeffries in 1980 (VRS photo)

The overgrown track at Jeffries today

Further south was Kanagulk, due to wartime shortages the line did not extend to Kanagulk until the end of 1917, and strangely the Kanagulk station looks better today than it did back in 1980.

Kanagulk in 1980 (from Winkieg on Flickr)

Kanagulk today

Railways - Carpolac line

The Carpolac line was a line serving grain silos in Victoria’s Wimmera district. It branched off the Serviceton line at Horsham. The line from Horsham to East Natimuk opened in August 1887. The line from East Natimuk to Goroke opened in July 1894 and then to Carpolac in May 1927. The line from East Natimuk to Carpolac closed on 8 December 1986, although the last train on the branch ran in February of that year. The Carpolac line is now really marked by grain silos - both metal and concrete - at the station sites. A number of stations also have sheds for the supply of bulk super phosphate storage. In earlier years super arrived in rail trucks bagged.

Stack of wheat bags in a mouse guard at Remlaw, 1930 (Museum Victoria collection)

 Remlaw Siding

The Remlaw silos

 Vectis

Vectis with the platform mound to the left of the silos

Quantong
East Natimuk
Natimuk only the silos remain

The now demolished Natimuk station building (WTWS photo)

Arapiles

A length of rail-line at Arapiles still heads towards Mitre

 Mitre The railway arrived in 1894. Originally the station was named St Mary's, renamed Mitre Lake in 1904, then shortened to Mitre in 1920. 
Heavy rain over the Wimmera district in 1910 flooded the line west of Mitre where it ran on a low embankment through Mitre Swamp. Traffic to Goroke and beyond was suspended, and a new deviation around the northern side of the swamp was constructed. The old line through the swamp was dismantled and became part of the main road to Goroke. 
A large bulk head was built in 1951 and demolished in 1972, and an oat shed was erected in 1968. The grain silos, remains of the platform, and a short section of track can still be found at the site. 

Mitre wheat silos with the oat storage shed behind

 Duffholme was named after 'Lost in the bush' heroine Jane Duff. The railway siding close to the old sheepwash of Spring Hill pastoral station was changed from Nurcoung to Duffholme. It was a 'no-one in charge stopping place' for the rail motor.

Duffholme in 1971 (from "VR stations & stopping places")

Gymbowen The grain silos and platform mound are still evident at Gymbowen. Below the weekly 7am goods train from Carpolac arrivies at Gymbowen on its journey to Horsham.

Gymbowen in 1971 (from "VR stations & stopping places")

RMSP 70 beginning in 1937 and continuing until April 1965, there was a daily rail motor mail and passenger service between Horsham and Goroke. Stopping place number 70 was between Gymbowen and Goroke.

A steam loco at Goroke in 1967 (from "C.R.S.V.")

Goroke In July 1894 the line opened to Goroke. Passenger services ended in April 1965. There were still rails and signal masts existing in 1986, and the freight shed below was believed to be the former station building, now only the platform embankment and the silos remain.

Goroke freight shed in 1986 (WTWS photo)

 Mortat in 1989 and only the goods shed was left, this too is now gone and only the platform embankment and an iron storage shed is visible.

Mortat building and bins (WTWS photo)

This Wimmera grain line petered out when it reached the terminus at Carpolac in May 1927. Carpolac is still a grain receival point, the silos and the storage shed remain, and there are a number of grain bunkers on the site. The Carpolac line from East Natimuk closed on 8 December 1986, which gave it a life of just 59 years.

Carpolac in 1989, 3 years after its closure (WTWS photo)

Further information and photographs at

 Victorian Railway Stations and When there were Stations and Neville Gee's "VR stations and stopping places" and John Sargent's "Country railway stations Victoria" series

Railways - Balmoral line

The Balmoral line was a north-south running cross-country line that connected Hamilton, and ultimately Portland, with Horsham, via the junction at East Natimuk. The line from East Natimuk to Noradjuha officially (and finally) closed in 1986, with the Horsham to East Natimuk closing in October 1988. Noradjuha to Hamilton had been closed since July 1979. There was not much left along the line by this time.
The first part of the line was built from Horsham, reaching Noradjuha in 1887. From there it reached Toolondo in 1912 and Kanagulk in 1917 then Balmoral in 1919. A passenger service survived between Horsham and Balmoral until August 1951.
Natimuk East was the former junction station, splitting the westward Carpolac line and the Hamilton cross-country branch line heading south to Hamilton via Balmoral. Not much trace of the platform remains at East Natimuk but the grain silo is still in place. It is still an important grain receival point with large bunker storage.

The lonesome looking Natimuk East building (WTWS photo)

The short section south from Natimuk East to Noradjuha closed on 8 December 1986, not quite making the century - the line had reached Noradjuha in August 1887, only the silos and platform mound remains. 

Noradjuha (VRS photo)

Horsham bound goods train at Jallumba, 1971 (from "VR stations & stopping places")

 Jallumba is south of Noradjuha, and it opened in September 1912 and has been closed since 1979. In 1986 the goods shed was all that remained of this site. I searched for evidence of the shed in 2012, but there was only waist high phalaris and a few bulokes.

Jallumba shed in 1989, now gone (WTWS photo)

Toolondo the section to Toolondo was completed in September 1912. By 1987 the partly roofed goods shed, some rail and some signals were left, and in 2007 only the shed footings, platform mound and some small silos were in evidence. 

Toolondo freight yard in 1987 (WTWS photo)

Between Toolondo and Kanagulk was Jeffries which opened in December 1917

Tracks to nowhere at Jeffries in 1980 (VRS photo)

Kanagulk was located between Balmoral and Toolondo, and due to wartime shortages the line did not reach Kanagulk (the railway names for Fulham) until 17th December 1917. Photos of the rail bridge at Fulham.

Kanagulk in 1980 (VRS photo)

Further information and photographs at

 Victorian Railway Stations and When there were Stations and Neville Gee's "VR stations and stopping places"

Stations past & present

The thought for this post came from a series of events - Firstly being added as a Favourite and a Contact on Flickr, on investigation by a traindriver/railway buff who had uploaded a marvellous glass plate negative -

T125 from winkieg on Flickr

The original 1874 Beyer Peacock pattern "T" class, number 125 sporting it's "new" enlarged boiler, (1901-1906), and  tender.  The loco was scrapped in 1918. The Loco is shunting at the flour mill siding at Natimuk, which ran trailing from the down end of the yard, across Station St. and terminated near the corner of Schmidt St., taken around Natimuk in the early 1900's.

The Arapiles flour mill, then owned by Noske Brothers had been moved to the site near the railway station in 1906. In 1910 an explosion occurred which blew the engine to pieces (a new one came from Warrnambool). Then in January 1920 a combustion fire destroyed the mill, and eliminated one of the town's biggest employers. Spasmodic attempts were made to re-establish a mill, but failed.

And to this unusual night-time one of Serviceton still in operation -

Serviceton by Winkieg on Flickr

It's just after midnight at Serviceton. "New" X's, 53 & 47 have been detached from the down "jet" after their arrival from Melbourne and 960 takes the lead and readies for departure towards Adelaide. 12:21am on the 18th of March, 1978.

This in turn led me to a couple of railway related websites - 

• When there were Stations This site is about the way railways were – more or less after steam, but during the next phase of railway ‘development’ – the rationalisation. All over the country, branch lines closed, and the evidence of their existence obliterated. Some lines remain open, but the stations were razed. The signal cabins, the intricate  lattice signal masts and gantries, the staff… all gone. The photographs on the site, reflect how the stations looked in the late ’80s.

• Ross Thomson's Victorian Railway Stations Ross' photographs are from 1999 onwards.

Finally it lead to the idea of posts on the local rail lines, more on those in future posts. 

Local rail-lines

Further information and photographs at
 Victorian Railway Stations and When there were Stations and Neville Gee's "VR stations and stopping places"

Heritage on our home turf

A great new innovation is Vic Heritage’s iphone app.

Showcasing data from the Victorian Heritage database, it provides a definitive history of over 2,200 important significant and unusual places in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

It accesses a fully searchable online database containing information about Victorian Heritage Places and Precincts, including statements of significance, physical descriptions, historical information, builder, architectural style, photographs and a google-style map. You can choose to search via the normal search term, or much more fun is to search by places ‘nearby’ – you might think you know your local area, but may be surprised by what is included. It displays as either a List with thumbnail photos, or as a Map with the locations as pins.

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The classroom from the south

I was surprised to see “Pavilon Classroom - Natimuk” on the list. I had heard of the canvas sided schools, but was unaware one was at Natimuk (so was an ex-Natimuk teacher too).

The Natimuk Pavilion Classroom was constructed by the Victorian Public Works Department in 1914 as an open air classroom for school children at Natimuk Primary School. It consisted of a rectangular timber structure 20’ x 30’ with a gabled roof. 

The canvas side of the classroom

The room was intended to accommodate 48 children in dual seater desks. Three sides of the classroom are boarded with weatherboards to the height of three feet; above that height, adjustable canvas shutters were fitted right to the roofline. The back wall, on which the blackboard was mounted, was boarded from floor to ceiling. The room was built on sleeper plates for easy removal.

The remains of the canvas still adhere to the window frames

44 of these classrooms were constructed for Victorian schools between 1911 and 1914, but after World War I, the Education Department discontinued their construction. They were unpopular with teachers in winter weather. However they were used for additional accommodation in schools for many years.

Natimuk Primary School moved from Main Street to a site in Jory Street in 1961. The pavilion classroom was relocated by the Education Department to the Australian House Museum at Deakin University in 1988, because it was under threat. The building was returned to Natimuk in 2002 and is now located in the grounds of the present Natimuk Primary School in Jory Street.

Windows to the north, and canvas on the east

Open air classrooms were designed to provide a healthy environment for delicate children, and resulted from the hygiene movement in education at the beginning of the 20^th century. It was hoped that improvements in lighting and ventilation aimed at improving the child’s physical conditions would lead to better educational and health outcomes. The open air classroom reflected the preoccupation with the benefits of light and fresh air for the health and education of young children.

The ventilator near the ceiling could be slid closed, the one on the previous photo is closed

Medical opinion of the time favoured fresh air and a bracing environment for all, derived from the ideas behind the open air sanatoriums used for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. The spread of tuberculosis, known as the 'white plague’ was a constant concern, it was responsible for one death in nine in Victoria in 1902, and in 1904 was declared a notifiable disease.

This classroom is architecturally significant, as the only surviving, relatively intact and rare example of an open air classroom.

Going, going, gone

During this flood time, property is under threat, and one type of property is bridges. Here a few local bridges no longer there.

Natimuk Rail Bridge


The timber rail bridge over the Natimuk Creek on the western outskirts of Natimuk was built in 1894 to serve the grain producers to the west - Arapiles, Mitre, Duffholme, Gymbowen, Goroke, Mortat and Carpolac sidings (photos of the sidings are at Victorian Railway Stations). With the closure of the 'Carpolac rail-line' in 1986, the bridge's days were numbered. The Public Transport Corporation tendered for its removal in 1987, however parts of it were dismantled and stolen before the work could be completed. Horsham Rural City Council are now working with Bicycle Victoria to develop a Rail Trail to Mt Arapiles passing the site.

Glenorchy Bridge


This disused road bridge (one of many surrounding Glenorchy) over the Wimmera River, was closed at the beginning of 2008, and dismantled in 2009.
The Northern Grampians Shire Council saved some of the timbers to construct a picnic table & seats at the site.

Dairy Creek Bridge


The buttress remains of the road bridge over the Dairy Creek, now the lake-bed of the Lake Bellfield water storage, in the Grampians. The Dairy Creek settlement was abandoned and flooded when Lake Bellfield was created in 1969. The bridge and building foundations are only visible during low water, drought conditions.

Kanagulk Bridge


The partly demolished timber rail bridge over the Kanagulk flood-plain (Glenelg River) on the southern approach to the Fulham Bridge, on the Noradjuha to Balmoral line.

Bourke's Bridge


A colonial all timber bridge named after Mrs Margaret Bourke. It was built in 1889 and later largely destroyed by fire. Rather than rebuild it, it was bypassed by a new concrete road bridge just upstream. The bridges are on the Glenelg River near Chetwynd on the Edenhope-Casterton Road.