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.



Sunday 28 October 2012

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.
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"

Saturday 13 October 2012

App for the Lost

 The National Trust's webpage begins with "Imagine if you could stand at the corner of Bourke and Exhibition Streets and see the Southern Cross Hotel as it was when the Beatles stayed there" then it goes on to tell you how you can view the hotel on 'Lost! 100 lost buildings of Melbourne' the Trust's iPhone app.
 In a period of mass destruction, from the 1950s to the early 1970s, historic buildings in Melbourne's CBD were being bulldozed at an appalling rate. At the time, such buildings were seen as useless relics, developers were going to erect better, more modern, utilitarian buildings in their place. But times change, and now we look back with regret at some of those decisions.
 Lost is a dynamic app that uses augmented reality to allow users a 3D understanding of some of Melbourne's most amazing lost and hidden heritage buildings. The interactive app enables users to "ghost" - visually overlay buildings from the past onto the present. At all 100 sites, the app superimposes images of demolished buildings over what is now at the location, by augmenting the iPhone's existing camera function. The app has links to Facebook and Twitter so users can upload their images, stories or comments about the sites.
 A history, photos and stories of these often long-demolished buildings is available. You can also view 80 'unlocked' buildings from any location - but uniquely, when you are within metres of a further 20 buildings you can access their 'locked' files.

The Fire Brigade Tower - then and now
 The app gives users an insight into buildings such as the Victorian tea-rooms in the Fitzroy Gardens, the Fish Markets and the Eastern Market (which was replaced by the Southern Cross Hotel).
The Fire Brigade Tower at the rear of 447 Little Bourke Street, built in 1882, was a 6-storey lookout tower of Melbourne's first fire station. It had an uninterrupted view of the whole of the city. The United Insurance Companies' fire brigade building was then used by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade until 1918.
In 1959 the National Trust selected it as one of Victoria's most significant buildings, despite this the unused building was demolished in 1961, to make way for a carpark for the London Assurance Company - what an improvement.
The Buck's Head Hotel development


The Buck's Head Hotel at 290 Little Lonsdale Street opened on 1st July 1848. The large building was built of brick and bluestone, it contained the bar, dining room, 4 sitting rooms, 6 guest bedrooms, and accommodation for the landlord and his family. The Hotel took up the corner of Sutherland Street (the narrow lane on the left) and Little Lonsdale Street.
After serving drinks for 103 years, the hotel lost its liquor licence and was auctioned in 1951. In 2011 the site was the subject of an archaeological dig, before construction began on a new multi-storey office tower.


The app includes eight buildings still standing, that the Trust deems under threat, including the Queen Victoria Market, the Celtic Club in Queen Street, the Le Louvre boutique, the art deco Palace Theatre in Bourke Street, and the Women's Venereal Disease Clinic.
The VD Clinic cowering beneath the towering Victoria University
 The Women's Venereal Disease Clinic, is one of the "Heritage at Risk" buildings. The former home of the clinic was constructed in 1919 at the rear of the Board of Health offices in response to the rapid increase in diagnoses following the end of the Great War. In 2011 the Melbourne City Council nominated the building for heritage protection, but the Planning Minister did not grant the request, and in April 2012 the Victoria University (the owner) proposed to demolish the clinic and neighbouring former tuberculosis clinic to erect a 32 storey high-rise.
Apparently not at risk - The Department of Forensic Medicine building, next-door to the Clinic
 The Southern Cross Hotel was opened, live on TV, by then Prime Minister Bob Menzies in August 1962. Situated on Exhibition Street between Bourke and Little Collins Streets, it replaced the grand but by then virtually unused Eastern Market. Built in the 'Featurist' style, the Southern Cross hosted Frank Sinatra, and the Beatles in 1964, as well as the Logies and Brownlow Medal count for years (before Crown was invented). The Hotel closed in 1995, a bid to have it listed by Heritage Victoria failed, and it was demolished in 2003 to make way for an office complex.
The Beatles at the Southern Cross from Picture Australia
 Currently the app is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, and Lost is free to download. Discover hidden and lost buildings you may not have been aware of at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lost!/id511203200?mt=8

Wednesday 3 October 2012

History funds

PROV's "Local History Grants Program" provides small grants to community organisations to support the cost of any project that preserves, records or publishes Victorian local history. The program is administered by Public Record Office Victoria.
A new trend appearing in local history has been the significant number of new audiences who have emerged in the digital/online realm, due to the widespread adoption of digital and mobile technologies and the growing availability of broadband internet service. Electronic publishing is also becoming an increasingly popular alternative to traditional printed books, as ePublications can be distributed over the internet and through electronic bookstores, and users can read the published content on a dedicated eBook reader, mobile device or computer. These grants are a means to allow more resources to enter the digital domain.
The Local History Grants Program supports 
  • the preparation and publishing of local history books, including ePublications 
  • Apps for mobile devices
  • the digitisation and publishing of records and documents
  • virtual exhibitions
  • the recording of oral histories
  • the preparation and display of exhibitions
  • the conservation and cataloguing of documents and objects
  • internet projects that provide local history information
  • training in local history skills
  • the design and production of interpretation panels or plagues on heritage sites or locations
  • heritage walks 
  • digital storytelling
 In digital stories people use film and audio to record and tell their own story in DVD and online projects.
 Applications for the 2012-2013 Round of grants is are now open, and applications close on 12th November 2012. Link to the Grants page.

Monday 1 October 2012

Horsham heritage study

Droylsen
Stage one of Horsham’s Heritage Study has been released all 167 pages of it.
Consultants Grieve Gillett were commissioned by the Horsham Rural City Council and Heritage Victoria to prepare a list of places of potential heritage significance.
The team met with residents and groups to identify places, and traveled throughout the municipality to locate and evaluate the suggested sites. There is also a history of the settlement of the area.
Horsham Memorial Swimming Pool
The list of over 500 potential places of local heritage value will be prioritised in Stage two, and the cultural heritage significance of these individual places and precincts will inform decisions on future heritage planning controls.
The Mechanics Institute building
A copy of the Study is available to view at the Horsham Branch of the Wimmera Regional Library, and at NC2 (the old Arapiles Shire building) and the Planning Department of Horsham Rural City.
Wesley Performing Arts Centre