MURCHISON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

2023 Heritage Open Days

The Greater Shepparton City Council Heritage Advisory Committee organised four Heritage Open Days in May that were enjoyed by lots of people and feedback has been very positive – most want the days to be extended so visiting more venues is possible. In the Murchison area events were well attended and the weather was kind.

The Irrigation Tour on the Friday was fully booked, and participants said they learnt a lot. The bus driver was extremely accommodating and willing to explore with us, even going the long way round back to Murchison from Channel Inlet Road to have a good view of Waranga Basin. The former St Patrick’s Church at Moorilim, now a private home, receives many compliments when it is open to the public and again, this was the case this year.

On the Saturday morning, Stepping Back in Time a guided walking tour lasting an hour and half, was attended by seven people and they all said it was good to hear details about the town’s notable buildings and heritage sites and the history behind them, learning many things that were not known before. It terminated with a welcome cuppa at the Heritage Centre. Showing of the new film about the local war-time camps in our area was screened at the Heritage Centre on both Friday and Saturday, and again feedback was complimentary. Viewers related that they were surprised by quite a few facts about this piece of our local history revealed in the film. The Heritage Centre and displays in the gallery were also on view for extended hours over two days.

Walk and Talk sessions at the cemetery on the Saturday also gave great insight into some very special historic graves. The story and facts behind the unique Ossario, quietly nestled in the southern corner of the cemetery always amazes visitors.

The outstanding stained-glass windows in Christ Church Anglican church were greatly admired, as the church was open for visitors both on the Friday and the Saturday.

Days Mill and Farm complex was part of the Heritage Open Days program and is always a great drawcard. On the Sunday, approximately 600 visitors attended. The grounds and buildings had been very well prepared by Parks Victoria Staff. Many people said they wanted to make a return visit and bring family and friends to enjoy it as well. Stalls and food outlets were greatly appreciated.

Approximately forty venues were open for visiting on these Heritage Open Days, and the hard-working volunteer committee along with council support staff, deserve congratulations for their time, effort, and skill in providing a well organised event. It is no small task to arrange all the details to ensure an event this large and diverse runs smoothly.

- Kay Ball, President.

Flavorite Glasshouse Tour

Successful glasshouse tour for charity

The Flavorite glasshouse tour held on April 14, jointly organised by the Rotary Club of Tatura and Flavorite was a great success, attracting over one hundred expressions of interest from far and wide, including Shepparton, Benalla, Cobram and Echuca. Initially we planned to cater for a group of twenty-five, but after the overwhelming demand Flavorite agreed to run a second group, to cater for a total of fifty participants. We have retained the names and email addresses of those who missed out and will give them first offers if we can organise another tour in the future. The interest especially surprised us because the Rotary Club also asked for a $20 per head donation. Due to the curiosity and generosity of the public we raised just over $1000, all of which will go to good causes, most likely in the local community.

Flavorite provided us with a comprehensive tour of the glasshouses led by John Murphy and Amy Boyington who are experts in the field of hydroponic horticultural production. Many of us were amazed to see the advanced level of technical expertise required to achieve optimum climatic conditions and control of pests and diseases. Some of the technology is still being developed by Flavorite. For example, hundreds of metres of sticky tape to control insects instead of using chemical insecticides. We also saw tomato plants 5 metres high loaded with fruit, while the old part of the stem from the same plant had been laid horizontally for 10 metres leading to the base of the plant. The total length of growth for the season was 15 metres.

We in Tatura are fortunate to have very significant food production and processing facilities such as Flavorite creating local wealth, jobs and food security for the nation. We thank the management and staff for collaborating with us to inform the community and raise funds for charity.

- Sam Lolicato, Rotary Club of Tatura.

Tatura Bowling Legend

Philip Galloway Pullar, a Tatura lawn bowler has Received GV Hall of Fame Legend Status.

Philip Pullar was a champion lawn bowler, winning Tatura's Club Championship eighteen times and the Goulburn Valley Bowling Association Champion of Champions six times. He has recently been recognised by the Goulburn Valley Murray Bowls Region as a Goulburn Valley Bowls Hall of Fame Legend.

Pullar born around 1891 and passed away in 1962 aged 71 and was known as ‘The Old Master’. He had a profound knowledge of the game of bowls and was at one time rated among the best bowlers in Australia, being adept at every shot. A generous counsellor, he assisted many players, particularly in the correction of faults. He was also a prominent footballer in the Goulburn Valley and excelled at golf. His father introduced him to bowls at the early age of eleven, and he soon showed great aptitude for the game.

His club championships were won in 1922, 1933, 1935-37, 1939-41, and 1943-52, the last ten in succession and a record that may never be equalled. Ill health then precluded him from championship bowls until his comeback in the 1960-61 season. Phil played his part in the administration of Tatura Bowling Club, being President in 1934 and 1945, as well as serving in various other capacities.

The Tatura Club Championship Pairs, now known as the P. G. Pullar Pairs, honours his memory as does this award of Goulburn Valley Hall of Fame Legend.

Tatura Club bowler Peter LeSueur, a member of the Hall of Fame Committee along with Brian Nisbet and John O'Donnell recognised the outstanding achievement of Phil Pullar and acknowledged a truly impressive record worthy of recognition as a GV Hall of Fame Legend.

- John Crilly

Probus

Tom Perry spoke of many things including the Tatura Men's Shed, it's history and how much it has changed over the years. Tom has done a lot for the community over a long period of time and continues to push for improvements for our town.

Kath De Angelis, who was the member behind the badge, spoke of her life beginning from when she was a child and about when she first came to Australia and how her life continued in our district. She was very interesting and informative.

Lindsay Royden James

My interest was piqued by the article titled ‘The Defence of Australia 1942’ in the May edition of the Bulletin. Coincidence is a strange thing and the article reminded me of the experiences of my father, Lindsay Royden James, during World War 2. He enlisted in January 1942 and after training in Queensland in December 1942, he was posted to Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea in the 235 Australian Light Anti-Aircraft Battery. Like many exservicemen, Lindsay spoke very little about his service during those years. However, in May 2002 an article in the Herald Sun about former Prime Minister Sir John Gorton’s lucky run as a pilot during the war, caught his attention. It reminded him that during his service in Milne Bay he recalled a Kitty Hawk failing in an attempt to take-off. Lindsay kept a diary during his time in Milne Bay, and in going back to the diary, he had noted that the Kitty Hawk flown by John Gorton had in fact crashed on that day March 8, 1943.

After Lindsay passed away in 2018 at the age of 95, his diary was passed on to me. Because of the reference to the crash involving the former Prime Minister, I thought the Australian War Memorial might be interested in the diary, and it is now part of the Memorial’s permanent collection. Fortunately, I kept a copy of all pages in the diary.

I mentioned coincidences earlier on. Mum and Dad both passed away in 2018 and as my sister and I went through all my parents’ memorabilia, to my surprise, there was an envelope dated 1945 addressed to my mother, post-marked Murchison, Victoria. Dad had written regularly to Mum during the war, but as they both used to make quite clear, at that time they were just friends, having worked together at a haberdashery store in Camperdown before the war. Doing some research, with the help of the Camperdown branch of the RSL, I found out that he had served as a guard at the Murchison Prisoner of War Group from October 4, 1945. In 2018 I had been living in Murchison for twelve years, and although Mum and Dad had visited us on a number of occasions, and we regularly visited them in Camperdown, not once did Dad say that he had been in Murchison back in 1945. As I said, he didn’t talk about the war, but if he did, it was invariably to complain about how much rice he had to eat in Milne Bay. He obstinately refused to eat rice for the rest of his life.

- Royden James

Murchison Heritage Centre

The Murchison Heritage Centre is now closed for the winter and will reopen mid-September.

During this time, our volunteer members will be making major alterations and improvements to our library and storeroom. As the number of books featuring local history, family history folders and organisation archives has grown over the years, we are needing more storage space. Installing new bookshelves in the library will enable us to provide more space to house our library books and allow us to re-organise storage of our family and organisation file folders. We also plan to install a compactus in the storeroom that will provide a more efficient way to store our catalogued artefacts and historical items. This will all take some time and effort and is ideal to undertake the project during our usual winter recess. We apologise if this closure will inconvenience anyone who may have been wanting to visit our Heritage Centre in the next few months. Any family history or general enquiries can still be answered by contacting us via email. Our email address is: murchison-historical-society@hotmail.com or by mail to: PO Box 98, Murchison, Victoria, 3610.

- Kay Ball, President

Large

Sacred Heart Tatura

Sacred Heart Grade 1/2 Melbourne Zoo Excursion

Grade 1/2 students had a fantastic time at the Melbourne Zoo excursion. The excursion linked in with our current Inquiry topic of “Why do I live here?”. Children explored habitats, life cycles, diets, and many other things about animals. They participated in a workshop called “Wild Labs” and played in a developmental play area with many hands-on toys and tools. Children will use these new wonderings and discoveries in many follow-on lessons and activities.

It was a fantastic day and a big congratulations to all the students for their excellent behaviour and the way they followed the school PBIS.

Mr Nilbett Grade 1/2 Teacher

QUIZ answers

1c – A pride of lions

2d – Uranus

3a – Blue and White

4a – Percussion *

5a – The Roman goddess Juno

6c – Hydrogen

7a – Elephant

8b – Africa

9b – Monarchy

10c – Wallaman Falls

* Due to the hammers hitting the strings Scoring.

0–2. Struggle Street. What a wonderful attitude to life you must have. I’m sure nothing much worries you or upsets you as you sail along on a wave of blissful ignorance. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing so perhaps you should have a T-shirt printed to warn others.

3-5. Bland Street. You’re just another face in the faceless crowd. Mediocre, unexceptional, average, beige, I think Bland Street says all we need to know about you. Unfortunately, Facebook is not a great source of actual knowledge otherwise you’d be genius level.

6-7. Above Average (sort of). I wouldn’t get carried away with any over the top celebrations. Just stand in the street and look at the passing cavalcade of life. That’s who you’re slightly better than. Still, you do deserve a pat on the back for rising above the riff-raff.

8-9. Smarty Pants. Well done! You obviously paid attention at school and have been reading widely ever since. Those people with a score less than yours will no doubt whine that you had a couple of lucky guesses. The correct term should be educated guesses.

10. Genius. All ten correct? Really? You should either buy a Tattslotto ticket while your luck is still in or you really are a certified genius. If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be out saving the world?

Sacred Heart Church Tatura

Minister: Rev Fr John Paul Pasala

Worship Services: Weekends

Saturday 6pm (1st & 3rd of the month)

Sunday 10.30am

Weekdays

Wednesday 9.15am

Friday 9.15am

Reconciliation:

1st Saturday of the month at 11.30am

Contact:

Ph. 5824 1049

Email: Tatura@cdos.org.au www.sacredheartparishtatura.com.au

Generations Church Tatura

Senior Pastor: Ps Jeremy Burr

10am Service

03 58243240

295 Dhurringile Rd www.generations.org.au

All Saints Tatura

Anglican Church

Minister: Rev. Tracey Wolsley

Family Worship Service

Including Little Saints Children’s Program

Sundays at 9.30am

Contact 0423 267 405 www.allsaintstatura.org.au

Tatura Fire Brigade

Tatura Fire Brigade recently held its bi-annual elections. Both the Operational Brigade Members and the Auxiliary (Non-Operational members) will have a change in leadership as of July 1.

Auxiliary welcomed new members to its leadership with L. Taylor-Brown, N. Freemantle and L. Maher taking on President, Vice President and Secretary. S. Witham has wonderfully agreed to remain treasurer. The Operational Brigade also welcomes new members to leadership positions. We welcome P. Bevan to Captain, A. Brown, A. Andrus, M. Lambert and D. Hamilton to 1st – 4th Lieutenant's positions.

N. Freemantle, G. Maher, P. Fiddes, W. Stockdale, S. Witham, A. Tyson along with P. Slender, have accepted nominations to remain in their positions.

All the brigade members sincerely thank all the outgoing position members for their time, service and dedication they have shown over the last few years.

On July 15, the Tatura community will get a chance to meet the new leadership at a display to be held at Stuart Mock Place. The CFA Mobile Education Unit will be in attendance from 9am-1pm. Come down and meet the leadership members, have a chat about winter home fire safety, including how to make your home escape plan and learn about the new recommendations for smoke detectors.

- Nadine Freemantle

Tatura Uniting Church

“Olive & Vine”

115 Hogan Street, Tatura

Minister: Brian Spencer 0400 274 482

Service 9.30am every Sunday.

July 2 Rev B Spencer

Zoom from Colbinabbin

July 9 Rev B Spencer, Communion

Zoom from Murchison

July 16 Gereldine Leonard

Zoom from Rushworth

July 23 Rev B Spencer

Tatura

July 30 Rev B Spencer Colbinabbin

Cluster Service/Communion

See Waranga Uniting Churches

Web site for Zoom links

Tatura Presbyterian Church Minister: Kalpan Vasa Worship Services

Tatura 10:30 am

Rushworth 9:00 am.

Weekly Bible study and Fellowship Groups

Contact 0477 241 042

Tatura Bowls Club

Annual Bowls Tournament

Tatura's annual bowls tournament in aid of the Tatura Hospital and Parkvilla Aged Care Facility, through the bowls event and numerous raffles, raised $2750 with the Tatura Bowls Club rounding off the donation contribution amount to $3000. Tatura fundraiser organisers Jenny Johnson and John Crilly representing the Bowls Club, were most appreciative of the generous raffle sponsorships from business establishments which greatly aided the significant amount raised through raffle ticket sales. Gratitude was also extended to the community and persons who willingly purchased raffle tickets for this worthwhile cause.

Bernadette Wardle, Director of Nursing at the Tatura Hospital and Parkville Aged Care Facility gratefully accepted the donation and said that it would go towards funding for new barbecue facilities for the residents, patients, and their families. It will create a wonderful social experience for our residents and families.

Tatura Outdoor Bowls Event: Social Bowls, Single entries from 12.30pm each Wednesday. $5 green fees. Entries close at 11.30am. Register names by either entry on club noticeboard, phone Club 58241746 or advise President Keith Smith 0418266205.

The Tatura Club's Secretary position has been filled with member Paul Nowland accepting the role.

Tatura Indoor Carpet Bowls: A six team Goulburn Valley pennant competition will be played from Monday, June 19, alternating between Tatura and Shepparton Park Club venues. Tatura practice and social bowls will be held on Fridays from 1pm. New members welcome. Enquiries can be made to Freda 0419009059.

- John Crilly