Smeaton Presbyterian Church

a little bit about the Smeaton Presbyterian Church ...

we came across this Church on our way to Newstead a couple of weeks ago. It is situated just north of Smeaton on the Creswick-Newstead Rd.

The following information is from the website 'about Smeaton'.

The Smeaton Presbyterian church was built and opened in 1860. Messrs. J. Hepburn, W. McAlpine, W. Anderson, S. Moore, W. H. Clarke and W. Miller made up the building committee.

The estimated cost of the building was 1,200 pounds. After Captain Hepburn donated 5 acres of land and 150 pounds, the settlers and their employees willingly contributed the rest.

The church was built of locally made brick by local brick-makers, and carted by local volunteers.

Around 1890, the outside brickwork was given a coat of cement, which has improved with age. In 1938 the grey stained exterior was described as “not altogether displeasing”.

Captain Hepburn founded Smeaton in 1838, naming it after his hometown in Scotland, only three years after Melbourne was founded in 1835 a huge significance for Smeaton considering many towns settled afterwards are no longer in existence.

The small community of Smeaton has had many trials and tribulations in its long history, but as always the community has banded together and survived.

There is also a Facebook Page for "The friends of Smeaton", hit the LIKE button so you can keep up with the events that are happening in and around Smeaton!



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Costerfield - a goldmining settlement!

We have often traveled to Costerfield, an old gold mining area 100klms north of Melbourne. We love the area itself but one of the reasons I like it is that my great grandmother was born there and my great, great, great grandparents both died there.

map showing location of Costerfield, 100klms north of Melbourne.

Along the road, heading west from Nagambie to Heathcote you drive through the just about non-existent settlement of Costerfield. This area has a rich history of gold mining but few visible remains of those years still exist.  Costerfield is a delight for photographers and for those that like to explore the old ‘ghost towns’ of the past.

Costerfield’s antimony mines once employed 700 men, but they closed in 1925.  At one time local mining produced 92% of Victoria’s antimony, a metal that is used in munitions and that was a prized contributor to Britain’s wars until after the end of WW1.

The Costerfield Gold and Antimony Mining Precinct is historically and scientifically important for the mining of gold and antimony. The Costerfield ore is famous for its complexity and the role it played the development of ore processing technology in Victoria. The precinct is important for containing evidence of some of these technological developments. Some of the mining relics on the site, such as the foundations of the Chilean Mill, are extremely rare in Victoria.

The Costerfield Gold and Antimony Mining Precinct is archaeologically important for its potential to yield artifacts and evidence which will be able to provide significant information about the technological history of gold mining.

If you would like to read about the European Settlement of this area, then check out the website of the DEPI (Department of Environment and Primary Industries) HERE

My great grandmother, Mary Hannah Hudson EVANS was born at Costerfield on 14th September 1878.

Mary Hannah Hudson Evans - AKA "Nana Norman".

Her parents were: Thomas EVANS and Elizabeth Jane RICHARDS

Her grandparents were: Thomas RICHARDS and Grace GILBERT, who both died in the Costerfield area.

We have no idea where Mary actually resided in Costerfield, it could have even been in a tent. Her father (Thomas EVANS) disappeared sometime after 1880 and was never heard of again. Her mother -  Elizabeth - changed her name from Elizabeth EVANS back to Elizabeth HUDSON (her previous married name) in 1880 and continued to live in the area with all of her eleven children. By 1916 Elizabeth RICHARDS was residing in the Cue / Day Dawn area of outback Western Australia where she died in 1919.

Mary Hannah Hudson EVANS married James Arthur Edward NORMAN at Prahran in February 1898.

So my 'interest' with Costerfield is purely where some of my roots lie!

Recently we spent a very enjoyable day wandering around the area as you can see by a few of the images of Costerfield as follows:

The Nagambie-Heathcoate Road as you enter Costerfield area.

image of the Old Costerfield Post Office in 1993

images of an old house in Costerfield - January 2014

images of an old house in Costerfield - January 2014

The above three images are of an old farmhouse in Costerfield, images taken in January 2014

The old images of around Costerfield - courtesy of The State Library of Victoria

the above images of a Costerfield family and the Costerfield State School courtesy of Museum Victoria

old images of around Costerfield - courtesy of Museum Victoria

Not much is written of Costerfield itself, though a book was published a few years ago on "The Pioneers of Costerfield" and some material can be found on the web of the gold mining era.

The settlements of Costerfield and Graytown worked closely together and all persons that died in Costerfield were either buried at Heathcote Cemetery or at Graytown Cemetery. Graytown was previously known as Spring Creek. 

Costerfield and Graytown are beautiful area's to explore, so do take the time to have a look around the area when possible.

Sturt Street Walking Trail in Ballarat

Sturt Street, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.Sturt Street is Ballarat's main thoroughfare and much of its original architecture remains, with prime corner sites reserved for churches and public buildings.

Some of the buildings of note include the impressive Town Hall (1859), the Ballarat Mechanics Institute (1859) and the old Post Office Building (1864).

The street is also lined with historic monuments and statues.

Boer War Memorial

This poignant memorial commemorates the soldiers who took part in the Boer War in South Africa between 1899 and 1902. The construction of the bronze statue was approved in 1900 and the foundation stone laid a year later. The statue was relocated to the present site and unveiled by Governor General Baron Northcote in November 1906.

There is a booklet available through Ballarat Regional Tourism titled "Ballarat Heritage Walking Trails" and in this booklet is a section on the Sturt Street Statue Walking Trail. It is well worth getting hold of a copy.  Most of the information written here about each of the monuments or statues came directly from that booklet.

special thanks to Phillip Hunting who brought the history to life as he acted out the accounts of a 15th Brigade soldier in front of the Pompey Elliot Statue as part of the Military History Tour of Ballarat held by the "Friends of the Shrine of Remembrance" last week.

One the monuments and memorials along Sturt Street recognises a senior First World War leader who commanded the 7th Battalion at Gallipoli and the 15th Brigade at the Western Front.

Harold 'Pompey' Elliott attended Ballarat College (now Ballarat and Clarendon College) from 1885 and shortly after began military service.

Former Australian Defence Force General Peter Cosgrove helped unveil the statue created by artist Louis Laumen in May 2011.

Sir Albert Coates

This memorial tells the tale of Sir Albert Coates and provides an excellent example of contemporary statuary and commemorates Albert Coates, a doctor who was a Prisoner of War of the Japanese during World War Two.

He became a prisoner of the Japanese and in May 1942 was sent to Burma. Conditions were deplorable, the treatment brutal, and the death rate enormous. In 1944 he became responsible for a major prisoners’ hospital in Thailand.

After the war Coates returned to Melbourne and resumed his distinguished medical career. In 1953 he was made a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and in 1955 received a knighthood.

Peter Lalor
The hero of Eureka

In Sturt Street, between St Andrew's Kirk and St Patrick's Cathedral stands an impressive monument, fashioned in pink granite and bronze. The figure of Peter Lalor is mounted high in the air looking to the east to the diggings where the stockade was located. If he could open his eyes today he would see the huge mast and flag above the Eureka Interpretive Centre. He is dressed in his Speaker's wig and parliamentary robes which cover the stump of his missing arm.

The bronze relief tablets mounted around the base tell the Eureka story.

The south and north panels depict tableaus of Peter Lalor's life, a battle scene in the Eureka Stockade with the Eureka flag flying above and as a member of Parliament.

The western tablet is a memorial to the men (named) who were killed while fighting at The Eureka Stockade, December 3rd, 1854.

Memorial to Australian forces involved in these conflicts:
* Korean War 1950-53
* The Malayan Emergency 1950-60
* Borneo Uprising 1962-64
* Vietnam War 1962-72

A walk along Sturt Street is a great way to get a sense of the story of Ballarat with many good food or coffee shops along the way.

Sturt Street was named after a Police Magistrate who was the brother of explorer Charles Sturt.

The Queen Alexandra Bandstand
in the background and in the foreground,
the back of the statue of
Harold 'Pompey' Elliot

The Alexandra Bandstand is a typical and well resolved example of creative bandstand design; its polygonal form surmounted by a "Moorish" onion dome is representative of bandstands of this period. The bandstand has particularly fine wrought iron detailing incorporating musical motifs and is an important and exotic element of the streetscape of Sturt Street.

Built in 1908 during the heyday of the band movement, it is now one of the few remaining examples of bandstands in Victoria. It serves as a tangible reminder of a highly popular form of entertainment, prominent on the community agenda for many years. The construction of the bandstand and its survival until now also reflects the prominence of music in Ballarat's cultural and civic identity.

There are many more statue's and monuments to discover as you wander along Sturt Street in Ballarat. The above is just a small sample of what you will see!


Ballarat Regional Tourism
43 Lydiard St, Ballarat.

website
facebook page


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The Historic Tintaldra Store!

The recent fires in NE Victoria (Australia) had me thinking about the area's of Corryong, Walwa, Khancoban and Tintaldra where we visited just last month.

Last week there was a large bushfire around the Tintaldra area and just this past weekend another one around Corryong and Colac Colac where we were actually camping.

Once you have been to these area's, it makes you realise how vulnerable these small communities are to the elements of nature.

One such building that I feared might disappear if the fire took hold was the Tintaldra General Store. A delightful historic timber and slab store with a craft shop and museum.  Not only famous for their pioneer meal of Jumbuck stew, billy tea and damper, but also 86 year old Bette Walton - owner & operator of the store!

This building is on the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number - H0777

Statement of Significance:

The Tintaldra General Store and Former Bakery is a largely intact building, built in 1864 and extended in 1928. The original section was built of timber by Edwin Jephcott for Sydney Grandison Watson, and has operated continuously as a store since then. The property has represented the social and commercial centre of the surrounding district for 125 years. In summary, the Tintaldra General Store and Former Bakery is of architectural and historical significance for the following reasons:

(1) the Tintaldra General Store is largely intact and an evocative example of early rural vernacular building design.

(2) it has been in continuous use as a general store in the same building with few alterations since it was first opened in 1864, representing the social and commercial centre of the surrounding district for 125 years.

 

The Museum Section has a 150 year old organ as well as other artifacts of the era including a wood-fired bakery. But to take a peek inside is truly a delight, I am not going to go into great detail as it might spoil some of the surprise!

Maybe the following images will give you a few clue's:

Upon the wall in the store there is even a photo of old Jack Riley (AKA the Man from Snowy River) as seen below:

to read of The Legend of Jack Riley click HERE


After our concern with the recent bush fires in the area am happy to report that the CFA (Country Fire Authority) have it all under control. Lets hope and pray it stays that way.

The following URL's maybe of interest:

• Stop by for a cuppa!
• Tintaldra Store
• Tintaldra - by the rivers edge
• The Legend of Jack Riley
• Tintaldra - wikipedia

stop by for a cuppa!

If you are ever in the area of NE Victoria and in particular at Tintaldra, then do stop by for tea and scones at the General Store.

tea & scones served in an enamel mug and served on an enamel plate!

The Tintaldra General Store, built in 1864, is the oldest commercial shop front business in the Upper Murray. The building has been classified by the National Trust as a fine example of the pioneer construction techniques using local timber utilised during this period of Australian history .
Built of natural materials available in the area at the time (such as River Red Gum and Stringy Bark) the store is a living history taking visitors back in time.

Once you enter the store be prepared to step back in time, but after a wander around do ask for tea and scones to be served "out the back" if the weather permits!

no better view than here!

who wouldn't enjoy sitting here having a cuppa?

 
Be rest assured, 86 year old Bette Walton - owner & operator of the store - will take good care of you!

if you are unsure where this delightful place is located, here is a map:

Further blog posts will be uploaded over the next few days on our visit to NE Victoria.

Previous blog posts are:

• The drive from Ballan to Corryong 
• our visit to the Colac Colac Caravan Park
• our visit to Corryong
• an early morning walk
• a short drive to Khancoban
• Tintaldra - by the rivers edge
• The historic Tintaldra General Store

I appreciate the helpful advice that I have found to be available on the following websites:

• The Tintaldra Store
• Old Tallangatta
• Colac Colac Caravan Park
• Tallangatta (Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Mitta Mitta River (DPI)
• Lake Hume (Wikipedia)
• Huon Reserve Rest Area (Caravan.com)
• Explore Australia
• Corryong (discover the Murray site)
• Tintaldra (discover the Murray site)
• Wikipedia
• Snowy Mountains - Khancoban
• TyndallBoy Blog
• Tintaldra (UpperMurray Business Directory)

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Tintaldra - indigenous for 'young man by the water'

Tintaldra was first settled in 1837 as a cattle run and is now just a beautiful place to escape to.

This part of the Upper Murray is ideal for fishing and canoeing as the river provides excellent trout and Murray cod fishing.  Centrally located, Tintaldra is just 24km from Corryong or 150 klms east of Albury/Wodonga. Wherever you are staying in the Upper Murray, Tintaldra is close enough to travel to for a few hours and it’s so beautiful that you’ll want to stay for longer!

A hand-hauled punt was established across the river around 1864 by Christian Vogel from Tumbarumba. Vogel, a blacksmith, carpenter, and dentist, built a house for his family. Tintaldra experienced a boom period in its early days for a few simple reasons: the punt service was the only one on the Upper Murray and thus drew much traffic to the new town; it was on the main north-south route; being at the border it had a customs house to collect duties on interstate goods until 1901.  In 1892 a bridge replaced the punt service across the Murray.

Beside the bridge is a lovely picnic area, so grab a picnic, pick your spot and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The park has several story boards which tell more about the area's pioneer history and there is also a granite block with a plaque dedicated to Christy and Elizabeth Vogel, the early pioneers in the village.

 



Further blog posts will be uploaded over the next few days on our visit to NE Victoria.

Previous blog posts are:

The drive from Ballan to Corryong 

our visit to the Colac Colac Caravan Park

our visit to Corryong

an early morning walk
 
a short drive to Khancoban



I appreciate the helpful advice that I have found to be available on the following websites:


Old Tallangatta

Colac Colac Caravan Park

Tallangatta (Sydney Morning Herald)

The Mitta Mitta River (DPI)

Lake Hume (Wikipedia)

Huon Reserve Rest Area (Caravan.com)

Explore Australia

Corryong (discover the Murray site)

Tintaldra (discover the Murray site)

Wikipedia
 
Snowy Mountains - Khancoban

TyndallBoy Blog

Tintaldra (UpperMurray Business Directory)









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Springtime at Springbank!

above:  the plants above are growing at St Michaels School in Springbank.

   ST MICHAEL’S SPRINGBANK

The first Catholic church (a wooden structure) was erected at Springbank in 1865 at a cost of four hundred pounds. In 1888 when Archbishop Carr visited the parish, he emphasized that the church should be replaced by a brick or stone structure.  On July 17th 1898 a meeting was convened to make arrangements for a new church, and less than two years later the contractors started work on the new brick building.

On 25th March 1900 Rev Father Cusack celebrated Mass in the old church, after which the congregation of over 1000 persons went in procession to witness Archbishop Carr lay the foundation stone for the new church.

On December 15th 1900 Rev. Dean Phelan of Melbourne blessed and opened the new church, although it was not quite completed at this time. The cost of the building was two thousand five hundred pounds and T A Payne was the architect.

Sixty one years passed before another generation of Springbank people finished their church. On 8th May 1961 Bishop A F Fox blessed the sanctuary and sacristy to complete St. Michael’s Church.

In December 2000 the Springbank community were joined by Bishop Peter Connors, past parishioners and other members of the Gordon parish to celebrate their centenary.

St Michael's of Springbank belongs to the
Catholic Diocese of Ballarat.

St. Michael's - Springbank Rd, Springbank