Page 54 - The Local Paper - Wednesday, September 13, 2017
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Local History ● From previous page Some members of the committee were Bonnie Byrne, Ray Curling and Lil Rowe. Gerald Tehan acted as guarantor for the committee who received a dollar-for-dollar government grant for the rebuilding. Many functions were held to raise funds and at that time funds from events such as Annual Easter Sports were donated to the hall rebuilding program. The new hall was opened on March 7, 1953. Recent years have seen the hall used for Red Cross meetings, Roycroft auctions, kindergarten, dance classes, aerobics, youth club, school concerts, dinner dances and functions. And whilst it may not have the same atmosphere as the old hall which reverberated to the music provided by Mrs Moore, it serves the community well. ■ Post Office. The Flowerdale Post Office opened in 181 and ran until 1974. It was run by the Blackman/ Cunningham families- Cathryn Blackman married Jim Cunningham. Their son George, who was born in Flowerdale in 1900, married Gladys Stafford in 1926. Gladys came to Flowerdale in 1923 to teach at Spring Valley School. After her marriage to George Cunningham she took over the Post Office and telephone exchange. This would have been a busy time because she ran the exchange as well as raising her four children, Mary, Cathryn, Carmel and Kevin. Being a manual exchange, and centrally located, calls from Yea to Broadford had to be put through by the Flowerdale exchange, and likewise calls from Petersons or Broadford back to Yea would have to be rung through. Each call had to be accounted for, and accounts and returns completed every month. Mail came from Yea and was delivered by horseback in the early years. It was sealed up with strong and sealing wax which had to be stamped by the Flowerdale stamp. The mail wasw sorted into pigeon holes for customers to collect. The Cunningham family remembers being awoken during electrical storms because the turbulence would drop the shutters and make the phones ring. Somone would have to get tp and re-set the shutters. Mrs Gladys Cunningham also remembered being called upon by a prison escapee one day. Although he didn’t hurt anyone, the family was extremely frightened and thankful after he left that the police caught him. Other memories include the regular visits to the area of the cream lorry driven by Mr Higginbotham to collect cream from local dairy farms and other people who milked a few cows. Also the rabbit buyer, Dave Mulholland, called regularly. The Flowerdale Exchange closed in 1970 with the advent of automatic telephone lines. The Post Office closed in 1974. ■ Hazeldene Store. The first store at Flowerdale was opened by Mrs Tree during the 1930s. Mrs Tree set up a shop in part of her house, selling items such as cigarettes, fish bait, sweets, etc. The house is situated at Hazeldene, over the bridge beside the existing shop. It is now a little pink cottage.
● Girls riding motorbikes and sidecars, camping site, Flowerdale, 1940 Prior to Mrs Tree setting up her weeks. Milk was also supplied from have included Defries, who bought shop, supplies were brought to Mrs Curling’s own house cows the shop from Curlings, Cochranes, Flowerdakle from Strath Creek by which she milked daily before open- Bennetts, Jake Jacobs, Foys, Linnells, and the Day family. Mr Frank Keyas, who made deliv- ing the shop. Additions included a stock feed eries to Flowerdale and Happy ValLater milk was supplied by the ley on Tuesdays. Rowes dairy. The dairy was opposite complex, petrol pumps and takeMrs Tree sold her shop to Lucy Mackrells house on the Strath Creek away food, and although all of these items were probably available to a and Norm Cooper who had two chil- Road. dren, one named Hazel whom the Mr Curling shopped twice lesser degree in days gone by, the property ‘Hazeldene’ was subse- weekly in Melbourne, phoning or- tourist industry and land development quently named after. ders through where possible, but in the area now sees a vastly inIn 1945 a new shop was built, with sometimes making as many as 26 creased flow of business. everyone in the district having a hand calls to pick up goods required by MEMORIES OF SCHOOL in building it. This is the Hazeldene the locals. Les Moore Store as we know it today. Items ranged from parts for tracRay and Joan Curling, with their tors or windmills, to houshold or sew- ■ I attended Flowerdale State children Sue and Mark, moved to ing requirements for wives and moth- School No 3098, then located at Hazeldene and purchased the store ers who could not get out to do their Break-O’-Day from 1925-1933 inclusive. in 1949, which was advertised in The own shopping. During that period I recall the folAge as a general store, 327 acres plus Items such as sugar and flour were outbuildings. bought in bulk and had to be bagged lowing list of students as having attended for varying parts thereof Coopers had built a concrete up by the storekeepers. Irene Fogarty, Rose Fogarty, bridge across the creek (situated opMrs Curling also supplied meals posite the current store) for which in a little cafe type area in the shop, Jack Fogarty, Les Fogarty, Charlie Curlings paid £2000. this being a demand from passers- Fogarty, William Roycroft, Beres Morgan, Kath Byrne, Don An older bridge, considered to be by or campers. unsafe, which was situated further Everything was bought “on the Ashowrth (died 1945 whilst prisonerdownstream, and later demolished books” by the locals, there being very of-war in Malaya), Les Moore, Laurie Moore, Bessie Walters, Gwen by Ray Curling. little cash flow in those days. The concrete bridge was washed During holiday periods campers Walters, Teddy Walters, Frank away in the floods of 1955 or 1956. arrived in droves and camped along Gray, Mollie Cunningham, Kathy For the 327 acres, the Curlings the bank of the King Parrot, requir- Cunningham, Jackie Collins, Jack paid £5 per acre. ing everything imaginable from the Cox, Isobelle Cox. Apologies to anyRay and Joan Curling ran the shop, from hot water to sausages and one I may have forgotten. The main mode of travel for the shop for six years, selling every type chops, milk, bread, etc. of merchandise the locals required. The store was leased to Norm and majority of school children was on Items such as bread, meat, milk Jess Roberts from 1955 until 1969. horse back. I lived three miles from the school. and mail came from Broadford Since 1969 owners of the store
● Petersons Post Office, Flowerdale. 1967.
The younger children had to be assisted getting off their horses once having arrived at school. I remembered often being first to arrive at school and having to ride on to the nearest house, a distance of about 600 yards, where the Fogarty family lived and a member of that family would come to my rescue by lifting me off my horse. Further assistance was required unsaddling the horses and again of an afternoon when it came time to go home. Assistance from the older children was required to catch, bridle and saddle the horses again. During the winter months riding to and from school in heavy rainfall was a little unpleasant. Possibly more unpleasant was riding to school in the mornings when heavy white frosts were evident. Chilblains used to develop on the ears, fingers and toes. One unusual sight during the trip to or from school in those early days was the old swagman known as ‘Old Mary’ who used to walk the roads. When it came time for her to bed down for the night she would look for the nearest big hollow butted gum tree just off the roadside and there she would stay. An Indian hawker, ‘OLd Jet’ by name, travelled the roads with horse drawn wagon selling clothing, materials, and other associated bits and pieces to the farmers’ wives. WHEN THE S.E.C. CAME TO FLOWERDALE ■ Electricity in the form of power from the S.E.C. (State Electricity Commission) did not come to Flowerdale until as recently as 1964. Most people in the area had their own power plants well before this time and so it seems that the majority of the population were not really interested in outlaying large sums of money for a service that felt they already had. The S.E.C. developed a self-help scheme, whereby all property owners (either house or land owners) had to contribute towards getting the power to Flowerdale. This money was then deducted from their future power bills. A dance was held to celebrate the switching on of the lights at Flowerdale and Mrs Kathleen Byrne was asked to switch on the button. TRANSPORT THROUGH FLOWERDALE ■ During the 1930s, Rowland’s bus ran from the Kinglake West Store to Flowerdale, collecting passengers for a trip to Whittlesea or Melbourne. Intending passengers had to ring up and book a seat. If there were only a few bookings Mr Rowlands would use his car. During the War when there was petrol rationing, the bus service only ran to Whittlesea. A train to Melbourne could be caught at Whittlesea. Another bus service during the 1920s was from Mansfield was run by Mick Malouf, through Yea down to Lilydale, but occasionally this tok the route through Flowerdale. One of the drivers of this service was the now famous Reg Ansett, who later drove his own Studebaker through Flowerdale to a depot at the top end of Elizabeth St. Transport for stock was provided in the 1920s and 30s by two contractors, H. Meehan and H. Broome from Flowerdale to Newmarket sale yards. Frank Keays also provided transport early in the 1920s to Broadford Railway Styation, and later in the 1940s and 50s to Newmarket.