Penshurst That I Knew So Long Ago

Penshurst That I Knew So Long Ago

by Mat Brown

1. Early Childhood Memories

There are living five generations of the Brown family today. My mother, who is almost 90, still hail and hearty in June l979, to the youngest, a boy called Matthew, who is a great grandson of my brother WH (Bill) Brown. "Matthew" is the family name of the first Browns that came to Penshurst Matthew Brown was a rate payer when the first Shire rate assessment was made in l863. It was listed as "half acre of land, wattle and daub hut occupied by Matthew Brown".

Davidson was the name of my mother's father. He was a coachman/gardener for Afflecks at Minjah Station and came with the Afflecks from Scotland, "late in the l9th century", so mother has told me. She is the last of the Davidsons' three girls and two boys. Maud Downes was mother's sister, married to Bill Downes (Dick's brother) and Jenny Downe's mother. He came to Penshurst. Both sons were lst world war veterans.

My grandparents (Tilly Bidmade) were all present at the opening of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in l865, my aunt told me.

I have often thought to record things that are long gone and happenings of lots of things that I remember. Norman Kinnealy and myself used to talk of things that we remembered, but he has now gone and I can't have him to help with this edition. His passing reminded me that soon no-one would be left of our generation to do as I intend to do, that is recall days of long ago. I have passed my 70th birthday and am happy to have been blessed to do so. God willing I shall write here things that I can remember.

My first memory is of seeing the Minister baptising my younger brother. He did so in the bedroom of the old Brown house that my brother still lives in, on the corner of Bell and Hutton Streets. The Minister's name was Parry as far as I can recall .

2. Travelling to Port Fairy

My uncle, the late WH Bidmade, was a teamster. He used to have a big wagon and eight draught horses, and used to cart wool to Port Fairy from JR Cross at "Gazette" and also from other stations. But most of the stations had their own teams, mostly bullock teams - Moyne Falls, Banemore, Devon Park, all three that I can remember with such wagons. They carted the wool on them to the old ship "Casino" at Port Fairy. It used to take two and a half days for the bullocks and two days for horse teams to go from Penshurst to Port Fairy. They used to camp, stop on the road when it became dark and feed the horses in feeders tied to the side of the wagons. Of course there were not any cars, so no need to leave the road. It was only a hand broken bluestone road and the hills were steep, and sometimes they used to have to help one another up the hills. But they always did, and got along alright.

I must now say how I know of the above things. Well, as a small boy of five years, my uncle took me with him on a trip (several to be exact), but the one I remember is when he bought me a trike - a small 3-wheeled iron-tyred bike, and I rode it all the way home from Port Fairy to Penshurst. It was in l9l4, and I can remember the storekeeper at Hawkesdale (Jim Stokes was his name) telling Bidmade and the late Joe Underwood about the First World War starting so it must have been in August l9l4. Jim Fitzgerald had the hotel at Kirkstall and used to train racehorses on the old racecourse opposite the Hotel, around that same time. The beer for his hotel came on the wagons from Port Fairy. Jim Madigan had the Hotel at Hawkesdale and the wagons also brought his beer, along with the groceries for Jim Stokes. I remember that beer was three pence a pint in l9l4 and was served in a pewter pot. I was given one full of lemonade in the Star of the West Hotel in Port Fairy in l9l4 and I dropped it on the floor when I went to drink from it. I got a fright as in the bottom (it was made of glass) was a big green bullfrog.

Some of the people at the wharf at Port Fairy were Major Kell who was the "Harbour Master", and Tom Artis who was the wharf foreman. He had the job of getting the wool off the wagons and into the hold of the old "Casino". The fare to Melbourne and return on the "Casino", which carried four passengers, was l5 shillings. My uncle went on it to Melbourne to get some parts for a wagon. Jim Bragge was another man I remember at Port Fairy, and a man who had a bike shop.

From Penshurst to Port Fairy there were few houses. Bill Waller's and the Kolor farms, and the Kolor school, were the only buildings other than the stations "South Kolor" and !Langulac", and three houses at Minhamite. Two were Nagorcka's and the other Quinlan's, Mick I think was the old feller. Paddy was a son, and a daughter became Mrs Dick Nelson. Then on to "Patrick's Day", and then to Dan O'Brien's. There were no other houses to Hawkesdale that I can recall, and as far as I remember there was only one house between Hawkesdale and Kirkstall, that of Dave Gow just at the corner, near the road to Woolsthorpe. Koala bears used to sit in the trees along the road and I brought one home with me to Penshurst from Kirkstall but was made let it go by my aunt, the late Tilly Bidmade (nee Brown).

The teamsters used to bring all the groceries for Penshurst, Dunkeld, and Glenthompson and also sometimes take goods from the" Casino", as far as Cavendish and Balmoral. To cart the goods mentioned, they had what they called a tilt, a cover made of hoops and a tarpaulin, which they put on the wagon after the wool was unloaded. I can remember them knocking up the bands on the whisky barrels and boring a hole with a gimlet to get the whisky out to make hot toddys I didn't know at the time what they were doing, but years after I remembered why it was done.

3. Postal Services in the 1920:s

Penshurst of the l920's was a much different place to today's Penshurst. We had first a daily train, passenger and goods, from Hamilton to Koroit and Warrnambool, and return. It used to leave about 8.30 in the morning and return at around 8.30 at night. Post Office used to be open, and the mail was given out each night. Hewitt was the Postmaster and Paddy Cox an assistant. Paddy always wore a bow tie. The paper shops also opened. John Collins and JG Chesswas were also open, and the streets were full of people and kids at this time of night to get papers and mail etc. The Post Office, those days, was open six days a week, from 9a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday. One wonders what Ken Clancy (l979) and his mate would say to this, as they consider now that they are overworked 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Saturdays.

4. Penshurst Shops

Best say something of the shops now. The grocer shops in l9l4 were as follows JJ Collin's (still there). Duncan McNee's was where Dennys Strachan's is today. He also had a drapery shop. JG Chesswas, Grocer and general store, also had a timber yard and used to build houses for people. "Dad" Adams and his son worked for him. It would be the best store of its kind in those days, with a staff of l2, including Ira Gunn, Ron Adamson, Peter Gannon, and Fox Croft (later manager at Millers in Hamilton). Mary Kinnealy went to work there in the office, when she left school.

Tim Madigan (died 27/10/1941) was also a grocer and draper. I worked for him, driving the delivery cart when I was l4 years old. Jack, Alma, and Eilleen Madigan all worked in the store in the l920's, and the two girls carried on the store after their father's death, until the late l970's. Madigan's store is just the same today as it was when I was a boy (l9l4). Something that is worth telling - Tim Madigan had one of the first wirelesses in Penshurst (Akwater Kent), a big three foot long by two foot high, three tuning dials and a big funnel speaker like on the old Edison gramophones. Back to the story; I was there working when the Melbourne Cup was first broadcast. Peter Stanton (died l/3/1952, aged 88) long gone to his rest, was outside the shop talking to Jim Madigan, and when it was time for the cup broadcast he asked Peter to come around to the side window in Bell Street and listen to the cup being run. Peter came around (I can still see him) sitting on an old black horse. He had on a big oilskin raincoat and dungaree trousers with patches on them, like the jeans of today, and an old black hat tied on with binder twine. Well we listened to the cup being run and then Tim Madigan leaned out the window and said: "There you are Peter," naming the cup winner. Peter hit the old horse with the reins and said: "Have mercy on him, Lord. He is out of his mind. We won't know what won the cup till we get the papers tomorrow." He didn't believe what he had heard. Shearfelt won the cup, so Cliff Ross has told me, in the year l924 or 25.

Others who had wireless sets in the early twenties were JJ Turell, John Collins and Lea Leslie. They were all the same make - Akwater Kent.

Another local who was well known in those days, was Jimmy Briggs. He had a store where Dalgety's is now - it was burnt down years ago. In Jimmy's shop you could buy almost anything you wished in clothes and shoes and general drapery. Norma Eales, later Mrs Jack Turrell, worked there for many years. If you bought a suit from Jimmy, and it did not fit, he would alter it for you; they only cost two pounds and ten shillings ($5). Shoes were real good Staffords for two pounds and five shillings. Jimmy had a good business because there were no cars to go away to buy clothes etc., not till Bill Evans started his bus service to Hamilton. I shall write of it later. Jimmy of course was a Je

5. Bakers and Bakers' Runs

Just reading back, I note Lea Leslie - Lea was a baker (he had a club foot), and had a shed at the back of the shop, behind the State Bank. The baker's shop was where the State Bank is today. Bread was baked in those times, starting at about 8 pm. The bread would be still hot when I came to deliver it in the morning. Yes, I drove the baker's cart for Lea Leslie in 1925. Tom Keilar was assistant baker at Leslie's. The price of bread then was six pence for a small loaf, and buns were eight buns for six pence. Lea Leslie also started a delivery run to the people out around Lake Linlithgow; Bill Edlich built a bakers cart on a model T Ford chassis, about a 1918-19 model. I learned to drive in this car - and still have a licence since 52 years. I can't remember the exact round, but it covered all the area starting at Mal Mibus' on Petschell's Lane and going out to the now Glenelg Highway at Mountajup and then coming back to Tabor via the lane that Ernst Uebergang lived on (later Paul Huf's). I can remember Ossie and Elsie Uebergang with bandages around their faces. Mrs Uebergang told us they had the mumps. Martin Harnath lived at Lake Linlithgow then. The house is still there, and the old first school and house was at the lake. In those days it used to take all day to "dash" around. Only once a week, and only on a Friday, before the bread round started in the 1920's the, old German people made their own bread; most houses had baker's ovens built in the yard of their homes. Perhaps some still remain. Lots of the names are still in the area, Huf, Mibus, Gellert, Rentsch, Burow, Kruger, Lehmans Linkes Uebergang, Bensch, and the Matuschka. Paul Matuschka was a well known local (who remembers Peter and Paul?). Adreas Burger Harnath was an old time identity; when he went to the Melbourne Show, he had a bag with his name on it, and he could not understand why people at the show knew him. They used to come by, shake his hand and say: "Hello Adrea. How are you?" When he came home, he told John Collins about it, and said that he could not understand how so many people in Melbourne could know him. Adrea Burger, who was a director at the Penshurst Butter factory, told JJ Collins the above at a board meeting.

To say more of the bakers, yes I remember Olle's old shop, "Butcher and Baker", at the corner of Martin and Watton streets, where Elsie Uebergang's house is now; the bake house remained there for years after the Olles were all gone. Then, the late Hughie" Lonie ran it for many years. Jackie Brown was the baker. He had a 1923 Douglas motor bike, two cylinder, 2 and 3/4 horse power, belt driven through a two speed gear box. Jack Ryan Snr. (not JGH Ryan) had a motor bike shop and garage (burnt down) at Cottrill's plumber shop, in the back space near Madigans grocer shop.

6. Learning to Ride a Motor Bike

Jack Ryan taught us all to ride motor bikes. He also had an old single cylinder Rover and also Leitch. It cost one shilling a ride, up to Bill Waller's (died 20/1/1938, aged 73) on the Kolor Road. He sold lots of motor bikes by teaching the boys to ride. Tom Keilar, Norm Kinnealy, Frank, Jack, and Tom Waller, "Snowy" Adamson, Dick Arthur, Max Keilar, and Frank Bunworth, are some of the ones I remember. Joe Ewing snr, Tom Carey, and Ned Kelly also had motor bikes. I shall write more of Joe Ewing later.

7. Butchers in Penshurst

Now to the Butchers. There are always two that I can remember; first the old FL Olle, at the Martin & Watton St corner, and later in Bell St. It was built about 1915, alhough I can not be sure. However, I can remember the old shop, with gum tree boughs decorating the verandah posts at X-mas time. "Ernie" Albert bought it when he came first to Penshurst, and pulled it down and rebuilt it in a different shape on the Hamilton Highway, which was then Caramut Road, near the junction of the Blackwood Road; it is still there today. The Butchers later in the Bell St shop (FL Olles) was first a son Ernie Olle. He built the house that Geoff Uebergang lives in now., and then still later Dan Buckley, who married Hanaha Olle, daughter of the first owner. Dan had a 1918 model T Ford deLuxe . Some of the staff were George Finlay and Geoff McDonald. George used to ride around on a big white horse to the houses to get the meat orders. Then, later he would come around again with a big wicker basket with the meat, still riding the horse.

George Finlay did all the slaughtering in the yards opposite the old Adam's houses on the Macarthur Road. Jean McClintock owns the paddock now; the houses belong to Tom McDonald, and to Mrs Farrell respectively. Geoff McDonald was the shop man, Dan Buckley the boss, also helped in the shop and with killing. They used to kill two bullocks a week. I was a butcher boy there, while the staff had holidays; one week each in those days. I used to deliver the orders and help to kill etc. The Uebergangs have had the business for years now. They started a butcher business with a horse delivery cart, Ossie Uebergang being the delivery boy. But I often go to the butcher shop to see Clarence Uebergang, who owns it. The machine that chops up the sausage meat is the same one that I used to clean for Dan Buckley more than half a century ago; Clarence told me it is the same machine.

Mat Cleary was another cart delivery butcher then. Jack Barrie used to drive a cart around selling the meat. The slaughter house used to be on the hill, opposite Mick Page's house on the Macarthur Road, and the brick butcher shop is still standing at the old O'Leary house owned by Silos Kern.

Another butcher was Harry Clark; his shop is now the Free Press office. His stone house still stands on the Hamilton Road, just over the rail line - owned now by R Schramm. Harry Clark was later joined by an old special friend of mine, Ross Ross, who was a grand old man (I shall write later of him), who carried on the business as Ross & Clark for many years in partnership with Arthur Clark, a son of the first owner. Their slaughter house was out on the Hamilton Highway, just near the junction of Rentsch's Road, in Jack Kinnealy's paddock - the windmill is still there. I was a butcher boy also for Ross, and he taught me to cut up chops, and to cut down a sheep etc. I also used to help him make the sausages.

There have been other butchers since, but the two above were the only ones in my boyhood and youth. During the years c:a 1914 to 1930, the Ross family home was where Wayne Carey now lives. Carey later lived in the old stone Commercial Hotel, (now Jack Sparks' house), and later still in the Bell St house where now Evan Kelly lives. I think that about covers the butchers. I should like to note here that all the above happened between my 14th and 15th years.

Ed.: We will eventually run out of our 10MB website allocation by Vicnet, i.e. pictures will have to include only an occasional "thumbnail" image. Changing domain name fully or in part is an alternative, but will lead to extra hyperlinks and hence delays.

8. Penshurst During WW I

I went to work on the roads when 15 1/2 , nearly 55 years ago. I shall write of that and tell of the happenings, and how roads were made in those days - I have a host of names and memories to record. Peter John Archbold (died 27/9/1975, aged 86) has a special place in my memory that I shall write about, like Pan "Bungy" Hildebrandt, Jim "Pepper" Barker, William Thomas Brown, John Carroll, Billey Long (from Port Fairy) and many others whom I shall recall when I write of my life on the roads from 1924, unil I retired in 1975.

There p;

They lived in a house surrounded by hedges in Cox St, opposite to Jack Waller's house. Then, next door on each side, lived two of Penshurst's best remembered people, Topsy Wong and her mother. I do not remember AH Wong but do remember the Hydes, who were Mrs Wong's parents. Mrs Wong (nee Hyde) was Rachel Hyde (Topsy's mother). They, i.e. the Hydes. first owned Matt O'Leary's farm. Lee Hyde lived with Topsy Wong and her mother. On the other side lived Michael Lee, a former ganger on the Penshurst rail line gang. He finally left Penshurst after their parents' death, but two daughters, May (Mrs Earle) and Myrtle still live in Melbourne - I saw Myrtle two years ago, at a "Back to Penshurst" reunion. She had then been away from Penshurst for 63 years, she told me.

It seems I have rambled away from the subject, so back to 1914-15. The old cab from the Penshurst Hotel, was used to take the soldiers to the train en route for Ballarat, or the Broadmeadows army camps.

To complete the picture, the school children, the town band (Alf Downes and four brothers were in it), and the Mayor or President of the Council, all lined up, where the monument is now. With the band in front, they took off to the railway station. The band used to play "Colonel Bogey", and "God Save the King". as the train slowly steamed out of the station. The same thing was re-enacted when the war finished, but in the reverse, and with a big welcome home concert at the old Hall. George J Chesswas was one I remember, who took part in these welcomes and send-offs. I also remember Penshurst's first aeroplane; Harry Hawker about 1915-16 landing at the racecourse. School kids went to see it, and I saw it too. It was a little plane with oiled silk covering the wings, which had lots of wire laceing it together - the wire was part of he plane. I can still see the pilot with a cap and big goggles, like those used by motor bike riders at the time.

Ted Stevens was the Head Teacher at the School and Fanny Darwell the infant mistress when I started school in 1915. Fanny Darwell lived in the house where Mrs Fred Eales now lives. "Ted" Edward Bear a later head teacher at the State School also lived there, and Bobby Hitchen lived in the now School Master's House. While with Bobby, I had better tell of him. He had a tannery where the house of the Wolfs is now, and right along in front of Mrs Eales' house, it was part stone and had the tannery parts still there, as I first remember it. Tommy Bamford used to work for Bobby , as did Marg Buchanan who used to help Bobby milk the cows. Bobby had a farm as well as the tannery, and was the buyer of all rabbit skins, sheep skins, bullock hides etc. He used to cheat the kids - and I remember stories of how the kids used to put bits of stone etc. in the bundle to make them weigh more. I can still see him and still remember Marge galloping the old chestnut horse down Bell Street. I don't remember when he left Penshurst, but he was a councillor in the early 20:s.

9. The Railway Station

"Amby" Kelly had the hide and skin store after Bobby retired and went to Melbourne to live. Also, Frank Kelly worked there as a boy. The rail station used to be a busy place. Billy Lardner was the first station master. I can also remember lots of others there. Sealy was one, and we also had a porter, and in the busy wool season also another man in charge of the goods shed. On Boxing Day for the races, we used to have two special trains, and once I remember even three, one from Portland-Casterton, one from Ballarat, and one from Colac; it may have come all the way from Melbourne. Special porters and policemen used to come with the trains, and of course all the race horses had to travel by train. The jockeys, owners, trainers, handler and so forth, all walked from the station to the Racecourse. Yes, I missed the bookies. They also came on the train, and the late Harry Ewing used to be there with a two horse lorry to take their gear to the race course. He was the first carrier, if you should call him that, to operate from the rail station with parcels etc. He also ran a dray, a long kind of a buggy, to Caramut each day with the mail, and also took the footballers to Hamilton to play at the Calleys , St George, and other clubs that I have forgotten.

10. Football Players

I remember Doug Kinnealy (died 9/1/1961, aged 73), and "Hughie" Lewis , "Pung" Collins, and Mickey ("Wopper") Downs playing for Penshurst - and Ken Hyslop for Hamilton. Doug Kennedy always wore a cap while playing and had cut off dungaree trousers for "footy" shorts. Among later players was "Hec" Olle, who is still going as I write, 86 years old and still sprighty and fresh looking. Others were Charles Dean, Perc Radley, Perc Eales, Underwood, "Target" and Zulu Davies , "Butcher" Eales (Ken Eales is still going)), Norman McNee , Arthur Olle (Hec's brother). Arthur had a fruit shop (Michael Cameron's) after the first World War. Charles Dean used to come to the State School and teach us to play "footy". I played with the State School at Dunkeld, Macarthur, Hawkesdale, and at the Friendly Society park in Hamilton in the early 1920:s. There was a model T Ford at Hamilton High School (then only a small building which is still there).

A bus owned by Ron Capes' father, who had the garage - Penshurst Motors, used to take us to the football matches. I was 12 years old, so that was 58 years ago. Now some of the players; first the goal kicker Marshall "Wormy" Fairbairn, Lindsay "Putty" Grieg, Frank "Sammy" Hewitt, Bob and Jack French (twins) lived at Joe Page's farm in Warrnambool Road. George Drayton, Chester MacPherson, Bill "Buster" Fairbairn, and Bobby Mills (his father was the rail ganger; they lived at the crossing in Hamilton Road). His nickname was "Pussy" Mills. Others were Geoff Chesswas, Tom Waller, and Cliff Lucas (his father was a cream carter for the Butter Factory, and later butter maker). I saw him and members of his family, Charlie and Ossie, at a reunion recently. They have since passed on.

I had not seen Cliff Lucas since our school days, 58 years before. "Bunce" Walker, Lewis Brewers, and "Laddie" Davies also played schoolboy "footy". Ted Bear, Emerson Brown and Charlie Sypott had a lot to do with the football team. Charlie was our coach and went to the matches with us. Emerson was the Headteacher and a footy man.

Charlie Sypott married our 6th grade teacher, Ella Eales. She is still with us. She is an Eales; Bill "Boxer" Eales used to live in the house that Mrs H Mason owns today. I almost missed our greatest ever footballer, Bill "Fish" Eales. Bill was a forward pocket player at school and went on from there to be the best ever goal sneak. Two other footballers were Bernie Gannon ("Gutser") and Peter Fry were two other footballers for the Penshurst football club - he (Peter) is still with us and does not look his years (79). Also Frank Nicholson who was our barber and now lives in Hamilton, has a photo of the State School footy team taken in the early l920's.

11."Yorky" Cook

I must write of George Cook, Clem's father (died 30/9/1926). He used to live over the creek about where Otto Barstch's house is, but right close to the road. It was a big long rambling house, long gone. "Yorky" was a dealer and had ploughs, carts, buggies, wagons, steam engines, chaff cutters, and a house shifting wagon. You name it, "Yorky" had it. He was a small man with a goatee beard, and very much like his grandson, AB Cook is today. He owned Penshurst Motors Shop in l9l6, when it still was a shop, Tommy Aberline also had it for a long time and sold "vegies" and, on Saturday night, "savs" and rolls. Mrs Aberline was a a Downes ("Dollie" Downes), Richard's sister. "Yorky" also owned the shed that is now Cottrill's Shop. It had a loft in it and we used to walk past it to school. Bernie Cook used to get up on the loft with a bucket of water and tip it down on the kids as they walked past to school.

Saturday night was picture night when the Aberlines sold the "savs". "Yorky" Cook with Bob, his son, as engine driver (a Fowler seven horse power steam engine) shifted a lot of houses to the Soldier Settlement at Minhamite in the l920's. I shall name a few. Tom Adam's house came from where Clem Cook's house is now. A bootmaker named Tobbly lived in it. His shop was the present Chemist shop in Bell Street. I remember Meryl Tobbly. Another house, George Toogood's, came from where the Baby Health Centre now is and was Doug Kennedy's peoples' house. Brian Kennedy I can remember living there. Others came from several sites, one Mickey Lanes (he was a painter) was where Kay Carroll's (nee Fraser) is today. Another one, Sherlocks it used to be, was where Barry Pages house now is in Cox Street. Another one, Pat Davies lived in it for a time, was in the lane near "Hughie" Lewis' house. "Yorky" shifted them all to Minhamite, but I have forgotten exactly where they went to. The house transporter that he had, had solid wheels made from a red gum tree about three feet high, the wheels with a tyre iron band around them.

12. On the Other Side of the Creek

Dick Hustler put the tyres on for "Yorky". He was the blacksmith, and his shop was in front of Warren Lewis' house, which is the old Hustler house. At the start of this story I said "Yorky" Cook lived "over the creek." I had better say something of this as it had quite a lot of people there in days gone by, even a school. The school was up near Pat Trigger's house, and of course , like some of the houses, long gone. I shall name the houses that I knew in the 1920:s first - Jack Allen's, Bill Lucas' (gone), then Bob Smith's (still there) and as original till just lately. Bob always kept it painted while he was a bachelor.

Across the road was Bert Olle's and still there the old Ollie house, i.e the stone one alongside of Uebergang's house. Mrs. Jack Keilar lived in it. She was a "Spring", I think. Next to it on the right was a two-room one owned by Angus and Jack Cameron, and their sister, Kate, who also lived there at one time. Then Mrs Spring's - she was a Conway, Paddy's daughter. Then, over the road to Donald Buchanan, now Mrs. Bill O'Brien's then, of course, came "Yorky" Cooks (now Stan Beatt's). Then on to a hut of Jack Cook's - then to Peter Stanton's (died l/3/52 aged 88). His old stone house is still there. Bill Wright built it for him pre-war l9l4. Then down in the paddock behind, Val McKenna's (David Bignalls now). It was not always there but was shifted from Penshurst where Arthur Cook's sheds are now on Hamilton Road, by Tor Alberts in the early l930's. It was the homestead of the O'Brien family, Bill O'Brien, Leo's father and mother. "Springfield" was its name and it is long gone.

Back now to Cemetery Lane to Joe Walkers, which is still there. Then across the road to Rentsch's Lane where Tom Walker Snr. lived. Pat Trigger's wool shed is all that remains today of the old Walker farm. Then down to Paddy Conway. His house was in the paddock on the left hand side of the Cemetery Lane, just near the turnoff to the cemetery. Ossie Burger's paddocks, house long gone. Then to the last one, which was Jimmy Conway's and is Trigge'rs today. It has been altered a lot. Then back to the lane near the Hamilton Road, Bernie Cook's lane. He was married to Sarah Lewis, Dick Lewis' sister. The first house was Harry Johnstone's. It is now Bernie Cook's. Then across the road was the old McCloud's house, lived in by Archie Scott. He used to run in to the town every day. He was a bit off and had long hair and a beard. Then just around the corner was the last house, the McGuiness' and McCloud home. I think that they were sisters - it too is gone, shifted to Hamilton. Dave Patman lived in it, in the street near the Hamilton Tech school. Jim Burow shifted it. The gate posts at the Presbyterian Sunday School were erected by one of the family as a memorial to the McGuiness/McClouds.

13. Billiard and Snooker Rooms

No history of Penshurst would be complete without writing of the billiard rooms. They were the only places to go at night in the twenties and thirties. Snooker, pool and billiards was played each night till ll.30. Snooker was the main game and at both Cameron's and the Mechanics had full houses at a one shilling a game per player, the winner taking all but the two shillings that was charged for the table. HJ Olle "Dad" to us boys, was the caretaker at the Mechanics and almost 80 years old, a champion billiard player. It was a Members Club and most players had their own private cue, with a special case of their own to put them in. There were two tables at the Mechanics, one a beaut green donated by the Ritchie family. It was made of blackwood that came from their station property near Penshurst. I believe it is at present at the Catholic college, Monivae, Hamilton. I was told that Bill "Kaiser" Lewis bought it for two pounds when the new hall was built, and donated it to Monivae. Some of the players in those days were, Cecil Lewis, "Charcoal" Hustler, Mac McPhee, Ira Gunn, Geoff McDonald, Bob Chesswas, Norman Kinnealy, Ned Kelly, Hughie Lewis (a good player), Alec Chesswas, "Snowy" Adamson, Jack and FrankWaller, "Perc" Dean (Wishart's barman), Paddy Cox, "Merv" Clemens, Phil Underwood, Jack Turrell , "Laddie" Davies , and Lea "Teddy" Cameron.

"Teddy" a great and well known personality, had the other billiard salon, and also the hair dressing salon in Bell St. Dave and Martha McClintock had the fruit shop; both are still there today, but unused. Cameron's was the haunt of all the boys, and in those days, there was a Ball somewhere around, each week, and around the football season also a "dance and cards" every Saturday night at the old Hall. So, we used to line up at Cameron's with the blue shirt on, (less the collar - collars were separate from the shirts in those days) to get a haircut and shave before the dance. It cost nine pence for a haircut, and six pence for a shave. And often 15 to 20 people would have this performed on them by Cameron before going to the dance. While still waiting, you played snooker, and you had to drop the cue and run when Cameron yelled out your name. He reared a large family; they are still around, Ted living in "Barden's" old house, which "Teddy" bought, when he retired from the barbering business.

14. Dances

The dances in those days were the Show Ball, Boxing Night Ball, Odd Fellows', "Hiberman's" - all old farmers at that ball had a green sash round their shoulders. Jim Kearney, Tom and Mrs Noonan used to do the circular waltz beautifully. Peter Gardner from Caramut, also a champion waltzer, used to put egg shells on the heels of the lady's shoes in the finals of the Waltzing Competitions in those days, and if you broke the egg shell, you were out. Big crowds came to the dances, all by horse and buggy, or on horseback. Some of the ones I remember were the three Murphy girls from Banemore, but Francy is the only name I can remember. They used to ride on horses to the dances. Also, from further out, the Eales', Ken Butcher, and their sister Elsie, all on horseback also. They lived on the old Archy Simpson homestead, down near the Gazette woolshed (Phil Linke's now). Still further away came the Sharrocks family, Archie, Bill and his sisters in a double seater, back to back, in a buggy, two horses pulling it. They lived in a lane then, that is now the road to the Soldier Settlement at Gerrigerup.

The Saturday night footy dances began with Moyle Breton starting a jazz band, a good one. Bessie Olle (Hec's sister) played the piano, Moyle Breton tenor, and also saxophone. Jim Noonan senior alto sax, and Geoff McDonald the drums. Belle Gunn later played the piano for the band. It was quite ordinary for two hundred (seems impossible today but is true) to turn up for the Saturday night dances lots of times. A hundred would play cards. Great, the old timers some of them were. Annie Hudgson Clarrie's mother, but Toot Kelly, Ned's mother, Hanah Lambert, Mrs Whitehead ("Edie" Olle's mother) were the backbone of all the dances and prepared such wonderful suppers for the balls. Sometimes the suppers ran to four sittings, and, yes there was always plenty to eat. The doorkeepers and the ticket box men were a great combination, JJ Collins in the ticket box, and at the door, one on each side. Ben Gannon and Mick Page - you only had to look like you had had a drink to be refused admittance, and if you put a foot wrong, Page and Gannon would throw you out; I mean if you did some thing they did not approve of. The bands at the old time balls were mostly violins, five sometimes. Matt O'Leary, Jack Adams, Bill Kellar (died 28/8/1951), Dick Murrrihy, and "Honey" Ross, or Perc Dean were on the piano. Both could only "vamp" on the piano. Matt O'Leary used to mark time with his foot so hard that the dust used to rise up of the stage floor, and if you went outside while the Lancers was on, you could see a cloud of dust coming out of the small windows up at the top of the Hall. The used to do the old sets and sometimes go on until three or four in the morning. Dave Page and Ester were the best "Maxina" couple I have ever seen dance anywhere in my 55 years as a ballroom dancer, and Tom and Mrs Noonan the most graceful couple to ever take the floor for a circular waltz. That I think is a credit as I have danced all my life, and at big ballrooms in Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, and most towns in the Western District. But they were the best ever in my opinion. Tom and Mrs Noonan were in their 70:s as I write about them from 1926 I had my first dance, if you could call it dance, with Elsie McGregor, now Mrs Gus Hildebrandt of Hamilton, at St Patrick's Ball in Penshurst in 1924. I also danced with her sister Linda , but I did not go very well, until when I went to Leggett's Ballroom in Melbourne in 1926 and had lessons from Phil Leggett. I recently went there in 1974 and met both him and Hal Kennedy, who used to play in a band. Leggett's are now closed., but Hal still runs dances at St Kilda and Collingwood town halls on Saturday nights. He is now a promotor, and 73 years old. I think being taught is a good thing, as it makes you aware of what it is all about, and once taught, you never forget. I often watch now at the balls I sometimes go to, and you see almost everyone dancing a different style - their own, I suppose.

15. The "Blue Birds" Jazz Band

We also had another jazz band, "The Blue Birds". I was close to this band and went to all the dances in the district, where they played. It was a big band with the following players: Adelene Collins - banjo, Bill Edlich - trumpet, Dick Downes - sax and clarinet, Jack Ryan - also sax, Alf Downes - cornet, and Ernie Edlich was the drummer. This band was going from the late 1920:s, and in the 1930:s, when there came a a new modern dance era, with Quick step, foxtrot, and one-step. They played beautifully and had lots of engagements around the district, Willaura, Coleraine, Portland, and Dunkeld. They also played at the opening night of the present Chatsworth Hall, every Wednesday night at the old St Joseph's School in Martin St, and every second Saturday night at the old Hall. "Bretons" played alternative Saturday nights. Some of the girls that danced in those days were Nora Baulch, Belle Gunn, Ann and Ethel Murrihy, Edith Lambert, Connie Lamberton, Phyl and Adele Collins, Jean Malcolm, Doris Waller, Esther McDonald, Nell Hayes (Catholic school teacher), Heather Waller, Jean Kennedy, her other sisters (three in all). Edit and Sheila Whitehead, Connie Lonie , Isobel Beer (school teacher), Elsie and Linda MacGregor, Esther McDonald, Audrey Ewing, Jean and Ann Nicholson, Ada, Dorrie, Ena, Dorrie and Ada Ross, Maisie Sutton, (she was then Maise Collins from Purdeet), and "Possie" Milligan. I danced with Possie at the New Year Ball 1978-79, to celebrate 55 years since I first danced with her. She was thrilled, and we drank champagne. Others were Mary Kelly, Ruth Albert (Mrs Fred Cottrill), Una Albert (Mrs Bill Eales), Marg Fairbairn (Mrs Joe O'Brien), "Girlie" O'Brien (Mrs G Wishart), Coral Waller, Doris Shepard, Ella Carmichael (she used to work at Lonie's baker shop and is a cousin of the Collins'), June and Lois Underwood, three or four of Ted Cameron's daughters, whose names I can not remember, but Mrs Edlich is one of them, and Mrs Ross Nicholson another. Also, Irene Ross (Neil Ross ), and her sisters whose names I can not remember, Marion and Mary Cleary, and Verna Hutchison (little, tiny and beautiful - I saw her just recently in Melbourne, and she still looks nice). There were also many others whose names I seem to have forgotten, although the above are a fair example of the crowd of those days. Of course they are only of my generation, and there were a lot of older ones that I have forgotten. I have one beaut memory of my dancing days, and that is of the set of Lancers we danced at the Back to Penshurst in 1960; Jack & Adele Ryan, Phyllis Collins, Mat Brown, Thora Baulch, Jack Kruger, Jean & Jack Kennedy, I think made up the set. It was a great success as old time dancing had not at that time had a come back. We had to do it twice - so much fun really. Jack Wallace of Hamilton was the MC, dressed up in a clown's suit, with a red Bell Hopper hat.

16. Boxing Night Ball Dinner Suit

Another memory I have, is coming home from Melbourne for Xmas 1927, and going to the Boxing Night Ball in a dinner suit - you had to have one in Melbourne to be allowed into dances in those days. I brought a city girl with me. She had a black velvet bare back evening dress - Rita Patterson was her name. When the band started to play, we got up and danced straight away - no one took the floor till the first encore of the music. They stood and watched us dance, and clapped us. I was embarrassed, but I was used to Melbourne, where you just stood on the ballroom floor. You still do, and when the music starts, just ask the girl near you to dance. People I mean. But it started the Bow-tie dinner at Penshurst, and most of the boys got bow ties and dinner suits. Howard Bull, Jack Kruger and Harold Sutton to name a few, all had bow ties when I next came to a ball in Penshurst. What beautiful times they were. It is my only regret of old age that I can not dance so much today. But yes I still love it and last week I went to the Senior Citizen's. dance and did a square dance with a lovely little girl from Melbourne, Jim McClure's granddaughter. I told her who I was and how old I was but I don't think she believed me. Her name is McGregor (Cedric's daughter) but I do not know her first name. While on the dancing, Jack Ryan and myself were present at the opening of the Minhamite Hall in l928 and we were also present at its 50 year anniversary just recently.

In the days that are gone Bachelors and Spinsters Balls were all the go. Penshurst used to have them and I also went to them at Hamilton, Portland, Port Fairy and Warrnambool, and Casterton-Coleraine. They are only memories today. No-one will go to a dance today unless it has grog and cabaret - yes, they are okay, I like them and you can sit and enjoy a drink and a meal, but it is a social affair only today - the dance part of the old days is missing. But, yes it may return. Recently in Melbourne I went to a ball (not modern), and I was surprised at the younger ones that were present and were able to Quick Step, and so forth. Hamilton High School in their Hall, is teaching many young girls - there are still good ballroom dancers. It has been going for ten years now, and is very popular.

17. Old Cars and Motor Bikes

I will now tell a little bit of the old cars and motor bikes of my boyhood. The first and oldest was Dr Cross' (JR Cross' father) from Gazette. It was a buggy really, with rubber tyres like the old buggies had, but with a single cylinder engine. Behind the seat the axle of the buggy, a round one, went right through from side to side and had a flat belt pulley on it which was connected to the engine. It had flanges on them and to start and stop it (it didn't have gears) you pulled a handle in the front which pulled a jockey pulley down and tightened the belt. Ruge Multi Motor bikes had the same idea, only they had a sort of Vee belt, to make them go. Jack Cross had one of them. It only went about four miles an hour; you could run and still keep up with it. Of course roads were rough and it only had springs like a buggy. I can still see Dr Cross. He used to wear a cap, goggles, dust coat, strong black boots and leggings, plus a scarf and gloves. And the noise it made, pop, pop, pop, used to frighten all the horses, especially at the post office. He never stopped the engine when he came to town. I think the name of it was De Dion something similar.

Another beauty, a Buick this time, was Ernst Uebergang's. It had a high back seat with a hood cover fixed on wood with long leather straps tied to the front of the car, and had springs like a buggy back and front but joined together with a leather strap as shown above. Dr Sweetnam had a Hupmobile of the same vintage, with big brass headlights, and the gears outside on the right hand side. David Grieg had a model T Ford, l9l4-l9l5. Kelly Mirtschin had it later and used it as a truck.

Another "beaut" was Father Murphy's Bean, the first car I had seen with steel spoke wheels. It was painted dark green and a single seater. Father used to leave it with Jack Ryan at his shop in Martin Street all the week and only drive it to Hawkesdale to say Mass on Sundays. "Gaffy" Windsor also had a single seater Buick Sports model with wire wheels. He was the Manager of the National Bank. They had two girls Edna and Audrey. "Doddy" Kelly (died l8/11/30, aged 67) had another ancient one, a Dodge single seater, a funny little car something like its owner as the name suggests. He also had later a 4-cylinder Buick, the only one of its kind I ever saw. Jack Ryan Senior had it for years but I do not remember what happened to it.

As for the motor bikes, the oldest was Dr Sweetnam's Douglas, the pre-war one, perhaps the 1910-11 model. He used to put his legs over it, and push, and away it went. A little bag was strapped to the carrier. I myself had one like it, later, in 1924. Herman Burow also had another very old bike I had never heard of, a James two cylinder. Jim Burow still has it. Rheinhold "Poppy" Linke of Willowbrook had a Humber two-seater. You had to be seen with it, holding up the exhaust valve till you got up pace, then drop the exhaust handle and hop on quick, as it was direct driven from the crank shaft by a Vee belt pully. It took off like a Bondi tram once it fired. The two speed part was a lever that only gave it half compression to start; you shifted a little handle on the tank when you got aboard. It reached top speed, about 20 miles per hour, with a Bowden cable control to the carby. If you went through water, it would stop, as the Vee belts just spun around when wet. I will tell you more of my experiences when I write of the work on the roads in the 1920:s to 1940:s.

18. Shops, Street Lights and Businesses

I wrote of some of the shops in Penshurst in the 1914-20 period, but I had missed some when I read that edition. One well known man was Matty Barden, a "bootmaker". Yes, he would measure your foot and hand make boots for you. His first shop was in Watton St, close to the Catholic church. It was a long narrow place. Later, he shifted to a site in Bell St, near Jack Ryan's new house; Vin Smith repaired boots there at a later date. I think that Matty Barden used to be the lighter of the old street lamps. I remember a Chinaman lighting them in 1915, and Jack Kineally taking the ladder off him, slipping it down over the Chinaman's head, running him round and round, singing out loud "Home rule for Ireland, you yellow bastard". This took place at the lamp post near the Post Office in Bell St.

Bill Edlich was a lamp lighter later, but I do not remember any others. Billy Dorney had a barber's shop in the old Brigg's building, close to the right a- way to Penshurst Hotel. He was a dapper man and drove a Jinker and a high stepping pony.

In later years Ted Cameron had a barber's shop "someplace". Also, Dick Hutchison had the barber shop in the old shop near Madigan's in Bell St in the war years, 1914-18. Then, Cameron took it over. "Brushie" Archbold owned and ran the front part for a while, as did the Chinaman Charlie Ginn, who was the first one in 1914 and ran it for a while as a fruit shop.

Tom Hill's garage (now Penshurst Motors) was not his first, as he started business in Madigan's shop in Martin St. Jack Turrell's printers shop was along side the garage.

Peter and Bill Keilar and George Dunbar built Penshurst Motor garage for Tom Hill in early 1920. "Yorky" Cook lifted up the roof trusses by a tripod three legged thing with a double block pulley and rope tied to the axle of a dray loaded with sand. "Prince" and one other horse were in the shafts of the dray, in chains and loading harness, in front. After it was built, Jack Waller Snr put down the asphalt tarred floor. Joe King and Fred Bamford were his laborers. The floor is still there.

The Tobins owned the Prince of Wales Hotel when I first remember it. "Diny" Tom as they called him, had a billiard room facing Watton St. You played for drinks. There was no charge for the table. Joe Tilley is another of Penshurst's "old brigade". He had the Penshurst Hotel, and also a farm down the racecourse lane. Abilene at one time was the shire valuer. I went to his farm "Aringa" at Port Fairy, to work with my uncle, the late W Bidmeade, who was a friend of Joe Tilley. We also went to the school at Sand Hills on the coast, just near "Aringa". Bidmeade waited at Joe Tilley's farm for "the Casino" to come in. The reason was the rough sea; "the Casino" just could not get into the river at Port Fairy.

Bobby Ritchie I remember best at Penshurst Hotel. "Windy" Hustler (died 6/3/1953) used to drive the cab to the station for Ritchie. "Windy" was an old jockey, well known around the racing parts of Victoria. His wife lived at the Senior's Flats in Penshurst until just recently. She then shifted to WA to her daughter's home. Old age was the reason, as she was well into her 80:s. Yes, Pearson's Boarding House was where Cliff Ross' house now is. I do remember Pearson and his wife. They both lived to a great age. Pearson, "Baldey" was his nickname, was blind for the last few years of his life. His daughter was married to Ted Cameron, and they lived with them at the boarding house for years. Ted Cameron was a greyhound dog man and used to be out early with his dogs on Caramut Rd. Sometimes he used to have eight or nine dogs. He used to ride a push bike and won lots of coursing classics, including the Waterloo cup.

If I remember rightly, Tom "Stonkey" Walker was the local undertaker who lived in the house where Bill Collins now lives. I can still see him, early at the funerals moleskin trousers, hobnailed boots, a long tailed "banger", and a top hat. He had a black horse, and a white one to pull the hearse. The hearse was kept in a shed at Jack Sparks' house for a long time, but I do not know what happened to it.

Teddy Noah's shop was the one next to the Chemist's shop. Teddy was a tailor and Florrie Waller worked for him for years. He used to live in the old police station, near where John Condon's house is, only on this, i.e. the Watton St end of the block. Myrtle and Ivy are two girls I remember, but like some others from Penshurst, they just seemed to disappear, as I have never heard of any of them, since they left in the 1920:s. My uncle had a suit and overcoat that Teddy made. I should have kept them, but I was young when he died and did not realise the importance of such things. William Henry Bidmeade, my uncle by marriage, was a teamster as I have already stated at the start of this story. But before he had known team and wagon, he worked for a man by the name of Henry Leifield of Port Fairy. He told me that he carted the slates for the Court House roof at Penshurst, and also the slates for the Kolor Homestead.

Another piece of long ago that I have not mentioned before was the old library at the Hall. Katie Olle, a spinster, was in charge of it as I remember. It had a lot of books but really old and out of date, but it also had all the daily and local papers and lots of magazines. Quite a lot of people used to go there to read the district papers etc. Another memory is of the card players who used to play poker and nap at the round table in the corner of the Mechanics billiard room. There was always a good fire there in the winter. It was really a good place for the card players. Some of those I remember were John J Collins (died 5/8/60, aged 78), Tim Madigan, Ross Loss, Lyall Eales, Ben Gannon, "Honey" Ross, and Percy Dean from Wishart's Pub. They used to call John Collins ("Federal Buildings") when they were betting on the hands of poker - Tim Madigan used to say "I raise you two shillings Federal Buildings". That, I believe, was the name of his shop in Bell Street.

19. The Pictures

I could go on and on but it would take a long time to finish so I shall write first of the most important in my belief - the days of the silent pictures were something special in Penshurst. The travelling shows I first remember, were in the early twenties, Jack Madigan and Jack Turrell had the pictures and started showing them every week. I remember that many people used to reserve the same chair (seat) for the whole year. George Letts used to be the camera operator. He was a porter at the railway station. The first ones he showed had gas light to throw the image on the screen, and the film camera was turned by hand. Sometimes whoever was turning it would tire and the picture would slow down (like today's replays that the old TV shows of the cricket do.)

But I shall not talk more of the pictures but tell of the first jazz band to play at Penshurst - yes, at the pictures. It was called "Coopers Band." He was a bank clerk National bank and played the drums - Honey Ross or Perc Dean - the piano, Merv Clemens (bank clerk), Paddy Cox (postal clerk) both played violins. Sometimes Paddy would also play a trumpet. The signature tune was "There's a track winding back to an old fashioned shack on the road to Gundagai," I think the name of the song was "Yarrawonga". I can not remember this band playing other than that of which I write, but it may also have played at dances. I was too young to go to them (before Cooper). BC "Kitty" Kelly and my old friend Adeline Collins (nee Ryan who died on l0/5/1976), used to play the piano at the back of the curtain. During a period of the twenties they turned the big old stage into a "dress circle" and the heads, Ned Twomey, Stan Hutton, Grieg, "Gaffy" Windsor, numerous others, e.g. postmasters, and station masters, used to come in dinner suits. Davy Grieg used to have a long tailed banger. So did Bill. The old stage was twice the present depth. Schooling (Shire Engineer) and a very old and good friend of mine, "the Hoops", and those in the main hall, used to smoke and make lots of noise - to the discomfort of the dress circle. They used to put on the screen a notice that smoking was not allowed by the Hall Committee, but to no effect.

So one night the pictures stopped and they put a light on. Davy Grief (from the picture machine) started to "roast" the boys in the Hall and told them he would have the policeman Constable Showbridge, put them out (more of him later). Before Davy Grief could finish, the mob had pelted him with tomatoes and oranges. He was a sitting shot, as all else was in darkness. I do not think anything was ever done about it ,as I am sure that no policeman in those days could control a crowd like the one the picture "lot" was made up of.

They had a serial for the kids those days, called "King of the Circus." It ran for months at a time, the one picture. It was a good way to get the kids along, and was only one shilling for the kids and two shillings for adults in the times of the silent pictures, c:a 1914-30.

20. Hoodlums Constable Shoebridge Called Them

I have just written of the policeman and his ability to keep order. Bill Shoebridge, or "Bonnie" as he was known to young and old, was our policeman for many years. I went to school with his son, Ted, and also with some of his daughters, Muriel, Ivy, Myrtle (Mrs Tom Hill), and Dorothy.I think there were others. I will write of the evening at the Post Office, all waiting for the cab to arrive with the mail. The young bloods were kicking a "footy" in Martin Street near and around the present site of the monument so it must have been l9l8-l9 as the monument was built there in l920. They made much noise and frightened some of the horses that were in the street. After a while Shoebridge came out of the Police Station. He went over to them and told them to stop kicking the "footy". They gathered around him and next Percy Radley, our great footy player, grabbed "Bonnie's" shiny helmet, passed it quickly to "Zulu" Davies, who kicked it down the street - and they continued to play footy with the "shiny hat" for football. The policeman could do nothing as he had no way, other than a horse, of getting help from Hamilton - so he went back inside and after they had finished their game they threw the helmet over into the front garden of the police station.

Just a few of the names that I remember, Pat Davies, "Tubber" Davies, Percy Radley (one of Penshurst's great footballers, so were all the Davies brothers) Pope Tom Page, Jack "Rory" Page, Ken Eales, Michael Micky Carey, Billy "Mulga" Bamford, Billy Bunworth (Mrs. Jack Ewing's brother), Butch Eales, Percy Eales, Zulu Davies - 6 ft. tall, l4 stone, very dark skin hence the nickname. Tubber Davies, Joe "Coon" Collins, Brusher Walsh. There are others but nearly 60 years have passed and "Darkie" Barden was also a mate of the above.

I cannot remember all that happened, since I was l0 years old at that time. Wonder what Les Hyde would think of what I have just written. But today, I doubt if it could be done and got away with. But I still believe that those I have written of had a lot more guts than today's supposed 'hoodlums'. That is what the policeman called them in those days but more later, of much the same things. They brawled at the "footy" at Dunkeld, long after the above, in the thirties and four policemen there had no control of them. Frank Waller, Jack Waller and several others got on to the ground and fought for 20 minutes. Frank's car was wrecked, he had a "Chev 6" tourer and someone climbed on the hood to get a better look at the brawl and flattened the hood down to seat level. Norman Kinnealy was there with a l924 Pontiac tourer with a black cloth hood and side curtains. Penshurst and Dunkeld have always been rival "footy" enemies. Years ago, when I was only 20, we used to put a red and black Penshurst footy sweater up on a pole on the front of the old Foden Steam engine when we towed the crushing plant along the main street of Dunkeld.

21. The Fruit Shops

"Joke" Chris Baulch opened one in Jimmy Briggs' building in Watton Street. All he had in the shop the first night were bottles of soft drink, and six large "jars", like big fruit preserving bottles, with different sorts of lollies in them, together with some chocolate blocks and some "job and cig:s". This was in the days of Turrell and Madigan's pictures. "Joke" was a good business man and with the help of Elsie (nee Waller) his wife soon had a good shop. He also rented the shop next door and started a "cafe", which was extra good and popular as all the picture fans used to make it to the shop for supper, consisting of six pies with sauce. He had an old gramophone and the young bloods gave it the works. "Moonlight & Roses", and "Don't Bring Lulu" were two of the tunes that I remember.

Other early fruit shops that I remember were Miss Limpsey's, two sisters in l9l6-18. (the present Mick & Cameron Shop) sold "Castles" cigarettes for three pence a packet. Big coloured round "orange ball" lollies were 6 for a penny. In 1918.

Bill "Brusher" Archbold had the shop at the billiard room and, of course, Tom Aberline (l9l4-15) the fruit and vegies shop where Penshurst Motors garage is today. Next door, in the old Gannon house, we also had a "lolly" shop. I think the people's name was McKenzie, and Norman Kinnealy as a schoolboy, turned the old churn that made the first ice cream that I can remember. Of course "Joke" Chris Baulch, built the present fruit shop (Birmasconi). It was and was built by Jim Davies. But times were not good, though he kept adding to the shop. The result is as it is today. Another shop in Bells Street was "Dad" Adams' Carpenter's shop, where Jack Chesswas' shop is now. "Dad" lived out Macarthur Rd in a house that is Tom McDonald's now.

22. Houses and Pubs

One more place I must write of was the house of Mrs Hayles. She was well known and was a "midwife" nurse. The house was on the corner of Bell and Burchett streets, opposite to "Rose Cottage","Ettie" Down's place. Harry Basham's (policeman) father also lived there, when he was a Methodist minister at Penshurst. He, the minister was a single man. Also one of Penshurst's best known ladies lived in the same house for a long time. "Granny" Cook (Clem's mother), Jack and Alma McDonald also resided there in the 1950:s. Bell St also has another very old building, the Victoria Hotel, closed during World War I. Dave and Tom Walsh, and the one I best remember, Paddy Grove, lived in it when it closed. It used to be open till 11.30 at night then. Ted and Tom Barden come to my mind as I write the above. They were twins, Matty Barden, the bootmaker's sons. Both had a lame leg and used to hop, and both worked at the hotels, i.e. "The Prince" and Penshurst Hotel. Penshurst Hotel had a beaut veranda around the frontage towards Bell and Martin streets, with iron lattice railing, about 3 feet high. It was a favorite "sit out" place for guests during the Summer weather.

Charlie Gin also had a fruit shop at the billiard room in Bell St, and also a horse and carriage cart in 1915. Another hotel was "The Commercial" - I think, and there was also a boarding house, Mrs Wilkinson's, which is now Jack and Ivy Sparks' house, but I can remember it as a boarding house. "Mag" Grogan owned it as the pub above.

23. Picnic at the Lake and "Oldtimers" in the 1920:s

To change the scene, I remember going to a picnic at Lake Linlithgow in a covered wagon. It had four draught horses to pull it. It was the same wagon that WH Bidmade used to go to Port Fairy. I know this my writing rambles all over the place, but I have no written records of what I now write, only my memory. Some of the oldtimers that I knew from 1914 onwards were Jack "Bunty" Cook, a wood carter, big Bill Cook (also a wood carter), "Wheeye" Gunn (Ira and Bell's father), and Dick Hustler (died 13/10/1946, aged 84), a blacksmith. The shop is gone, but the house (now Warren Lewis') is still there. Others were Tommy and Albert White; both had bullock teams. Alf Humm was a blacksmith for the Edlich brothers. The old shop is still there, on Hamilton Rd. Jack "Captain" Kinnealy, an old road contractor, lived where G O'Meara's house is now. I also remember his father Tim Kineally, and his mother - she was called "Big Mum" in 1914. Alf "Bushy" Edlich, lived in what is now Bill Bore's house and later built one where Fred Schramm now lives. "Yorky" Cook lived "over the creek", but more of him later on. Jim Kearney (died 18/10/1928, aged 65), lived at Myrtle Pye's present house and was a council road repairer. Bert "Bowls" Olle (Betty Menzel's father) was also a road man; Bill "Pig Eye" Olle, Kinnealy, was the road foreman. Tommy Ley, was a road patrol man. Patrick Kineally (died 23/6/1958, aged 87) was the first patrol man on the Caramut Rd at about 1927, while Bert Olle was the first patrol man on the Hamilton Rd in 1927. Joe "Coon" Collins' old house was supposed to have been the coach stopping place in the 1850:s but was pulled down in 1978. Joe was also a road man.

Willy of Cobb St is his son. Jack "Killarney" Lewis, his "Mother's boy", as he used to say when he was "full", i.e. drunk, was also a road worker. Mick Carey of Cox St., a shearer, had a small paddock of potatoes at the other end of his house. When asked how many "spuds" he got, from the paddock, he said: "Four bags , a butt, and a bucket full, and a few at the other end that I didn't pick up". Annie Carey his wife (and Jack's mother), was also an old friend, and grandmother of Peter at the Free Press Office. The above joke about the "spuds" was a favorite my pal, Norman Kinnealy.

Angus McGregor worked at Banemore Station. Harry Johnston from over the creek, worked at "Gazette" (Cross'; Dulcie Watson's father). Bobby Mills and Mick Lee were rail gangers. Peter Keilar was a carpenter and a builder; his old house is still in Bell St - Harry Behncke now lives there. Peter Keilar (died in 1957) built Lyall Eales' house, when Lyall and Mary were married. Bill Keilar (died in 1957) was a carpenter. "Smokey" McLean lives in his old house. Harry Down (died 30/10/1939, aged 89 Hetty's father worked at "The Gums" for the Ross family, and later became a "woodcarter". He was very deaf. Bill "Boxer" Eales (died in 1945, aged 87), Mrs Turrell's father, lived in a house where Mrs Howard Mason now lives. Joe Smith was the cream carter for the Penshurst factory, and "giver" of lands and money to help build the hospital, the Senior Citizen Club, the Darby and Joan flats in Cox St of Rouse. His old house still stands, and Phil Underwood lives in it at present. Wilfred "Bonjey" Henry Barker, an old road man, used to do shire grading with an old grader drawn by six horses. Joe King and Billy Jacobi drove the horses for him. He (presumably Harry Barker) later had a Fargo tip truck, and as an old man in 1940, used to shovel scoria at the Council pit, which Bill "Bonyee" Jacobi, Harry, Bill, and myself put in the road cutting at the pit in 1941 and did acc the drilling of holes by hand, and also the blasting etc. He (? Harry Barker) is in his 70:s when I write of him.

24. Penshurst Shows in the 1920:s

"Ted Day's Show" it was called so long ago. "Ted" Edward Day (died 4/6/1951) was show president for many years, but I do not know for how long, but it was in the horse and buggy era, maybe in the late 1920:s. It was a show which in those times had all cattle on show, including "cattle to fat". The old yard used to be along Lewis Rd, near "Hughie's" house. Joe "Holy" Underwood Snr (Stan's father) and his wife, had some Jersey cows, and also a good bull, and won a lot of prizes with them, although nearly all the farmers did take an interest and brought along their cows, sheep, and horses. Don Ley was a "chook man", and there was always a big crowd to look at the different sorts of hens etc. Hen pens were along Caramut Rd, starting near the gate with concrete posts and were three to four tiers high. Dogs also had a place in this area. Dairy cows had special pens along the side street, at the back of the present toilet block. There were even more horses at the show in bygone days than at today's shows, and certainly there were more side shows, sometimes two, yes two merry-go-rounds, and, yes, always a boxing tent. "Jimmy Sharman" came several times with a good boxing show. There were "tons" of side shows, e.g. , "Hoop-La", throwing darts, and many one man or one woman stalls, selling balloons and lots things for the kids. The afternoon tea was always in a large tent. There was much available for lunch, as most of the farmers would have lunch at the show. Of course most people went to the Show in the morning, to see the judging of sheep, cattle, hens etc.

Friday, 20 November 2009