Footscray Historical Society Newsletter

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Preserving and recording the past

Newsletter No. 147 January 2007

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NEWSLETTER : Footscray Historical Society Inc.

No. 147 January 2007
Registered Publication No. A0031834F

All correspondence: Secretary, PO Box 6371, Footscray West 3012
Newsletter Editor: Linda Longley
Society web address: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~foothist
Society email address: foothist@bigpond.com Ph: (03) 9689 3820

Reminder: Annual Membership for the year 2007 is now due. Please forward your payments to the Society immediately. Receipts for members who paid at the AGM will be enclosed with this newsletter.

FEBRUARY MEETING

The next Quarterly Meeting of the Society will be held at Ercildoune in Hyde Street at 2.00 pm on Sunday, February 18th. The arrangements for the speaker at this meeting have not yet been finalized. You can take it that it will be a surprise and well worthwhile coming..

NEWS FROM 'ERCILDOUNE'

Quarterly meetings for 2007 are as follows and, once again, except for the AGM, all meetings will be held at 2.00pm on Sundays at Ercildoune.
18th February
5th May
19th August
21st November - AGM

The last AGM was held on the 15th November and, after the usual business meeting, we were treated to a talk by Prof. Ian Rae on the Saltwater River as it was in the 1870s - its place in the life, work and recreation of the people of Footscray. Ian Rae is well equipped to talk about our river having grown up near it and, more recently, been involved in the study of the effects of industry in this area.
If you were not able to be present at the AGM, copies of the Annual Report of the society are available at Ercilcoune for you to collect.
On the day of the AGM the Government Gazette included the acceptance of the Heritage Overlay of the City of Maribyrnong . Representatives of the Executive Committee of the Footscray Historical Society, Inner West Branch of the National Trust and of the Living Museum of the West were involved in the work that preceded this announcement and we are gratified that the efforts over the years have borne fruit. Copies of the Report are available at Ercildoune and the Heritage Advisory Committee set up by the Council as recommended has commenced work with our continuing input.

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE by Catherine Reichert

Early last century the City of Footscray was referred to as the Birmingham of the South. Now the importance of industry here has been waning over the years and we are very aware of the need to conserve all we can of our industrial heritage. At the moment three sites in particular are in the forefront of our attention and are designated in part as heritage sites in the Maribyrnong Planning Scheme. The news is not all bad.
The owners of the Kinnears rope works in Ballarat Road have plans to incorporate into their development an industrial museum illustrating the rope-making industry including the conservation of the rope walk. There will also be space for Michael Isaachson's Printing Museum. This work is overseen by a committee which includes the president of the Footscray Historical Society.

Image taken from Social Effects of Municipal Rating, the relative merits of rating on unimproved land value or annual rental value, a study conducted in Footscray:

In West Footscray the Pacific Dunlop Rubber factory (formally Olymic Tyre and Rubber Co. Ltd) has been sold. The heritage protected buildings in Cross Street now exist in a very large vacant block where earth-moving equipment is fast clearing the ground for new buildings. The nature of the new buildings and the future use of the protected sites will be reported in due course.
The 'Sugar Works' only remains as a functioning industry employing local people. The refining of sugar at Yarraville began in 1873. This was an uncertain business in the early days and the business was acquired in 1874 by Victoria Sugar Co when their Port Melbourne plant was destroyed by fire. The uncertainty continued and the site closed for some time before re-opening as the Colonial Sugar Refining Co (CSR) in the late 1880s.

Over the following years CSR flourished and was an important employer of Yarraville people. In 1989 the sugar industry was deregulated and difficulties for CSR arose. Matters resolved when, in 1998, CSR, Mackay Sugar Co & E D & F Mann combined to form Sugar Australia Pty Ltd.
Since 1873, as need arose, the physical structure of buildings at the site has been changing. These changes were dictated by technology and variations in work practice. At the present time the need for updating is dictated by the need for state-of-the-art technology which will provide a product to meet Australian & New Zealand Food Standards, to facilitate work and to meet Occupational Health and Safety standards. The work includes the removal of hazardous materials (asbestos). The completed project will be the only refinery for Sugar Australia as the other refineries in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane have closed. Sections of the site are listed by Heritage Victoria and are included in the MCC Heritage Overlay and, therefore, discussions about the project have been taking place over a considerable time. Significant time and money has been expended in planning the proposed changes to conserve important heritage sites where possible and to ensure that new structures are sympathetic to existing structures. In addition the heritage architects employed by Sugar Australia have documented the site and prepared illustrated records of the whole plant. Copies of these records are to be lodged with the Footscray Historical Society in the near future. When these preparations have been made and the new works completed the refining of sugar will continue in Yarraville into the future employing local people and continuing to maintain a part of our industrial heritage as a living activity.

RECOLLECTIONS OF YARRAVILLE by Margaret Cowan Stephens

I will start with my father Robert Buchan, born Bannockburn. Scotland 1887 who came to Australia in 1913, returned 1914 with 1st A.I.F to Egypt and then served with the 21st Battalion in France until end of war. In 1919 he met and married my mother Grace Macdonald of Stirling and they settled in 58 O'Farrell Street, Seddon. I was born September 1920. They had a single front house (cost $400 or 200 pounds) and I have a sister born February 1924. We both attended Powell Street State School. I then did 3 years at Williamstown High School. We played sports with school on Yarraville Football oval. I remember going to primary school with Fred Gabach who's father had a bakery or cake shop in Yarraville. Also crossing Stoney Creek on the way to High School and seeing boys who rode their bikes to school come over the foot bridge that crossed near the rail line between Yarraville and Spotswood. Yarraville station was where I went to travel to High School. I understand the gates etc. at Yarraville are no more but at least you could walk under the line and catch a train to School if running late.

This Shop, pictured in the 1950s outside Seddon Railway Station, used to be a thriving mixed business when train travel was more popular. It also housed a sub-branch of the Post Office.

Seddon was a lovely place to live despite the Polio epidemic and the depression. We attended the Congregational Church corner of Mackay and Gamon Streets. Also there was a Brethren church on the corner of O'Farrell and Williamstown Road. Shops along Gamon Street comprised a timber yard, a dispensary for medicines and Trimbles Hall where we had concerts and other events. In Somerville Road was St. Augustines church - church buildings and a big dance Hall. Further along were shops and near Williamstown Road end was a drill Hall. At the top of Hamilton Street was Tickells furniture factory. As teenagers we used to go with our parents to dances on Saturday nights at the Masonic Hall's both in Footscray and Yarraville. We made our debut at the Orama Ballroom Mayoral Ball in Footscray, with supper in the Victor behind the Orama. Often we would walk through to the cemetery in Geelong Road and to Yarraville or Footscray Gardens. St Georges Theatre was where we, for 6 pence went Saturday afternoons with all the local children and yelled a lot at scary serials. The Sun theatre came later and was our Saturday night event in later years with booked seats and got to by crossing over the rail yards.

When I started school (Powell Street) 1925 at 5 years of age they were putting down the tram tracks along Somerville Road to end at Williamstown Road. These tracks were to Footscray and then 2 lines - one to Ballarat Road and one to Russell Street. Trams had outside seating at one end with blinds that came down if needed. Later we got the new trams with closing doors. I also remember the cutting of Bunbury Street in Footscray where the goods line was put through way underground over the river to the container terminal area. For a while I worked at A.R.P. Crow, Builders in Berry Street Yarraville after being at Myers office in the city for 6 years. I remember Newport Rail Workshops, seeing the Melbourne Cup each year from Footscray Gardens and air planes from the Air Show in the late 1930s on Flemington Racecourse. And who could forget the abattoirs and skin stores in the river area at Kensington and the terrible smell they exuded. In 1943 I married the son of the Rev R.W. Stephens of St Andrews Presbyterian Church Footscray in Barkly Street. After living in Tennyson Street Seddon for a few years in a house bought for 500 pounds and sold last year for $569,000 we shifted to Mitcham in 1948 and I still live on the property we bought then. It is on a hill and has a lovely view of Dandenongs. One of my sons lives next door. We had 4 sons - have 13 grand children and 7 great grand children.

Thanks to Archie Cowan, our renowned local calendar artist for forwarding this delightful insight from Margaret Cowan and her early memories of growing up in Yarraville.

ADDITION TO THE COLLECTION

A recent addition to the collection is a fascinating booklet published in 1945, titled Social effects of municipal rating, the relative merits of rating on unimproved land value or annual rental value, a study conducted in Footscray. It contains a wealth of information on values and ownership of properties in various streets but particularly commercial properties. "The aim of the study was to find what the economic effects would be of a change in the rating system from the annual rental value basis to the unimproved capital value basis" and was undertaken between October 1944 and August 1945 for the Footscray City Council by a group called the Land Value Research Group.

The book will aid historical research as there are many graphs and sets of data comparing streets and industries - such as a map of Yarraville showing vacant land and underutilized land in 1945. It also uses photographs to compare houses and industries in Anderson, Gamon, Barkly, Nicholson, Buckley, Victoria, Hotham, Bena, Hansen, Edgar, Hyde, Stephen, and Castlemaine Street, Somerville, Bayview and Ballarat Road, Coral Avenue and Pentland Parade. Industrial images include J. Taylor & Sons, Gibbins Farm Implements, Victor Leggo & Farmers Ltd., F.C.Hills Timberyard, Mitchell & Co. Pty. Ltd., Imperial Chemical Industries (Nobel), Goldsborough Mort Ltd., Victoria Woollen Co. Pty. Ltd., Warren & Brown Pty. Ltd., Olympic Tyre & Rubber Pty. Ltd., Southern Can Co. (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., Creamoata Mills Ltd., Purvis Glover Pty. Ltd./ Burley Mills Pty. Ltd.. Photographs also include the fire Station in Droop Street, Trocadero Theatre, Y.W.C.A. Residential, and Gordon Street.

A section on Wembly Park Estate makes for interesting reading - "This is an area of land bounded by Geelong Road, Roberts Street, Francis Street, Richards Street, in the Kingsville Ward. It contains 576 allotments of land. It forms portion of the land in the Angliss interests which was subdivided and of which a large part was sold to individuals many years ago. In this whole block there are only 9 houses, 7 being in Roberts Street. This block was drawn to the attention of the Land Values Research Group by the sub Finance Committee of the Council for special study. It was required to know whether the increased rates on this vacant land would be unreasonable or beyond the capacity of the owners. ……….A dissection of ownership of holdings in this area has been made from the municipal voters' roll for all the streets (other than the four bounding streets which extend beyond this area). The results of this dissection are given in detail in Table No. 4 of the Appendix. Reference to this Table shows that there is not a single genuine intending home builder among all these holders. There is only one Footscray resident in the list, and this a speculator to the extent of three lots. With the exception of two other holders, all are located in country towns in Victoria and N.S.W. These owners can have no intention of settling in Footscray and have obviously been induced to buy land in this city as a speculation by unscrupulous land salesmen. The conclusion seems inescapable that this whole block has not been built upon, purely because the lots have been bought by speculators who wish to re sell at a profit to genuine home buyers. The net result here of subdivision, is that of disposal from a large scale speculator to small scale speculators. The increase in rates on these lots cannot possibly do anything but benefit Footscray residents, since they fall almost exclusively upon absentees."

Some of the images in this book are not available elsewhere and members of the Society are reminded again of the value of old photographs. If you have any, particularly of houses and streetscapes in Maribyrnong, please contact us.

Reference: Social Effects of Municipal Rating, the relative merits of rating on unimproved land value or annual rental value, a study conducted in Footscray: (Report on social effects of municipal rating, a study conducted in Footscray [cover title]), The Land Value Research Group, 1945.

AN ITEM FROM THE FOOTSCRAY PRESS OF 1884

Mr. W.J. Youell, the late town clerk of Footscray wrote to the local council on Monday: I have to direct your serious attention to the melancholy fact that Hotham, Hobbs and the adjacent streets are now, and have been for months past, converted into cattle and poultry yards. Every day there are about 20 cows and calves, 4 very lean bakers' horses, 20 goats, 15 sheep, half a dozen goslings and say, one dozen ducks roaming about the streets. To vary matters, Henry Stone, the butcher, runs a mob of 5 to 600 sheep also about the place. Mr Youell concluded: With the present management, Footscray will be a foul, stinking, loathsome hole with very heavy expenditure and nothing to be seen for the 7,000 pound gross revenue raised annually but starving cows and horses and stink-pots and paunch-stewing establishments, facetiously called industries.
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