Making It Here

Making It Here centres on the lives of four mechanical engineers, Otto Schumacher, Alfred Harman, Albert Longoni and Fred David. Each contributed significantly to the development of manufacturing in Port Melbourne, including Fishermans Bend, during the first half of the 20th century. They grew up and learned their craft in America, Britain and Europe before achieving success in Australia. Two founded manufacturing businesses; the other two took existing firms in critical new directions.

Their stories are set against the early industrial history of the area and the changing social, economic and geopolitical environment. Their family background, formative years and educational experiences, are integral to these stories.

The matters covered and the issues raised around manufacturing and industrial heritage are universal. Themes traversing their stories hold lessons for education and industry policy today.

The Wandinong Story

Wandinong Sanctuary exists because of the generosity and public spirit of Mrs Janet Hooke (nee Billing) and her husband Mr Arthur Hooke. They established their home on the property when they were married in 1914, and lived there for almost 60 years, raising their family of six, and welcoming their 20 grandchildren, as well as children of the neighbourhood, to play in their patch of bush. In the 1960s they decided to give their land to the community, to be “maintained [for all time] … as a sanctuary for birds, wildflowers and native vegetation, and as a place of public resort and passive recreation.” This arrangement was formalised in two Deeds of Gift, which were activated in 1973 when the property was signed over.

This book, built on an earlier edition published in 1986 (ISBN 0 9588931 0 1), sets out the story of the property, the main objectives of the book being: (1) to make sure the original purposes expressed in the Deeds of Gift are kept clear and prominent, and (2) to make the history of the Sanctuary more readily available to neighbours and friends and the community at large. The historical content of this edition has been extended where relevant, and updated where necessary, especially in relation to the history of the Ronley Street section, including the history of the family plantation there. It also includes many previously unpublished photographs and documents from family archives, to give a more complete sense of the family which once called Wandinong home.

Creativity Released

William Walter Tyrrell Stanford was born in London, England, on a date unknown. He came to Australia as a ship’s boy on the Tory but ran away after arrival in Melbourne in December 1851. Three years later William had a physical encounter with the law when the local police magistrate ‘Bendigo Mac’ was bumped off his horse at the first Bendigo races. William continued to have a difficult time with the ‘law’ when the system failed him due to circumstantial evidence. In prison why behave when there is no trust in the system and no hope of release?

Persisting for over seventeen years,William expressed his talents and found his calling, eventually being released and pardoned. He became a respected citizen and finally found some happiness in marriage. The untimely death of his first wife was shattering, but re-energised his talents in producing a beautiful monument to her. After remarrying, the birth of a daughter was another high point. However, his own death in 1880, the death of his second wife in 1881, and daughter in 1885 ruled a line under his life.

But his legacy has lived on in an amazing story of hope, justice and perseverance. And a wonderful community treasure. In the pages that follow, William’s story is told through copyright free articles, largely from newspapers, Government records and other publications, and photos, some personal, but many from the State Library of Victoria.

The main body of the story is told through the newspaper stories she discovered, mostly in the order they were published. In just a few cases a supporting article is placed out of date order as its inclusion would have been illogical in the dated location. This means the reader needs to approach with patience, as the quality of the reproduction varies. The least clear are transcribed. The story lives through this contemporary reporting.

The author’s research into the life of William Stanford has led her to say: “I am proud to claim him as my Great-Great-Uncle and to tell his story.”

Transforming Lives

Transforming Lives springs from the life experiences of young men from rural Victoria, who arrived in Melbourne to stay at an Education Department hostel in Queens Road from the late 1950s onwards. It details the effects of those hostel experiences on their lives, on education in Victoria and on Australian history.

In an enlightened government policy in the 1950s, 60s and 70s young men and women were offered studentships that paid their university fees and gave them a salary to train as teachers. Those from the country were offered accommodation in single-sex teachers hostels. Alan Ramsay House, for male students, was the largest of these.

The studentships and the hostels gave students from less privileged backgrounds and rural origins, an opportunity to gain a tertiary education and a professional career that they would otherwise not have been able to afford.

The 44 contributors to this book all testify to the varied ways in which this opportunity did indeed transform lives—their own, and those of the students they engaged with in their teaching careers.

In addition, editor Marilyn Bowler contributed two chapters of her own giving an overview of Australian society and Victorian education 1945–2000, and also of the hostel life these young men experienced.

Becoming Australian

Not all of Ireland's exports to Van Diemen’s Land were convicts. In the early decades of the pivotal nineteenth century when Hobart Town society was being melded together of many disparate peoples, the town would receive a group of highly talented musicians from Britain’s leading theatres and musical institutions. Many of them were highly trained by leading European masters and their musical successors.

Sophia Davis was one such musician. A trailblazer who came early to the colony from Ireland with her husband and small son, she would operate a musical business importing London's finest pianos and teaching the Lieutenant Governor’s family along with the families of the colony’s leading members. With her husband and son, both named James, she would become an early pioneer of the new Port Phillip District of Gippsland, importing the first piano and bringing Rossini's Italian Opera to the bush. Both Sophia’s and James’s lives were cut tragically short by illness, but their legacy continued through their only son James who went on to found a successful pastoral dynasty. James (Junior) is the author's great grandfather.

A former journalist, Kara Davis based her account of the lives of her ancestors James and Sophia Davis on letters recently discovered in an old suitcase found at the historic family homestead, Waverley, near Yarram, South Gippsland. Early pioneers of the Australian colonies who brought music and horticulture, digitised early newspapers help flesh out the world they left behind—that of the exclusive Italian Opera in early nineteenth century Dublin.

The story follows a perilous journey on the ship Lindsays to early Van Diemen’s Land where Hobart Town’s nascent musical world is emerging. As financial crisis grips the colony the family venture across the strait into the wild frontier of Gippsland, on the southern fringe of the Port Phillip District.

Being Elva

Being Elva stands as a real testament to the strong and resilient context a loving family can provide. Elva Dyer grew up surrounded by family—initially her parents and siblings, then, following her father’s death through illness before her fifth birthday, by an extended family in the home, and under the watchful care, of her mother and paternal grandfather.

In 1954 she married Tom Dyer, the commencement of a 62-year partnership. Together they raised four daughters, through homes in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. All of them have made strong and loving homes of their own.

Elva’s story will be enjoyed by all in her extended family, friends and most especially those who count themselves amongst her descendants—the Forewords by a cousin and her grandkids are proof of that.

Survived Gallipoli, Died in France

When the call for volunteers to join the Australian Armed Forces came, Ernie Gentle travelled to Brisbane and enlisted in the Queensland Forces on 1 March 1915 and was assigned to the 25th Battalion.

The 25th Battalion had three months in the trenches at Gallipoli. Ernie was one of the last six soldiers to leave Gallipoli.

The 25th Battalion returned to Egypt where they saw more active service. The Australian and New Zealand soldiers were combined to be sent to France to fight. Ernie was in the first group of soldiers to arrive in France.

Ernie Gentle’s diary is not very long because he only had seventeen months with the Army in Gallipoli and France, before his death in France, on 4 August 1916.

Julie Wilson felt it was important to record Ernie’s diary for her sisters and other relatives. She set out to find as much information as possible about the 25th Battalion from records and newspapers and many of these articles are interspersed in the reproduction and transcription of his diary entries.

This book is a tribute to the memory of one of the thousands of young men whose lives were lost in the trenches of the First World War.

Mining, Music and Myola

Ever wondered what life was like for those early settlers who ventured to Australia over a century ago, leaving their homelands and moving to the other side of the world?

Mining, Music and Myola tells the stories of three related families from England – Cartwright, Horobin and Balmforth – who settled in a coal mining area on the south coast of New South Wales in the early 1900s.

The stories of these families depict the hard and dangerous life of coal mining; the tumultuous time of two world wars and the 1929–30s depression. These families also enjoyed the social side of life participating in sports, particularly soccer, and making their own music, entertainment and fun.

This is a family history that aims to preserve for future generations, the stories of each of these families but it is also for those interested in the historic accounts of the lives of early settlers with a focus on the Coledale–Wombarra area and the development of the township of Myola on Jervis Bay.

Rags To Riches To Rags

John Curtain, aged nineteen, arrived in Australia with his family in 1854 as part of the massive Irish emigration due to the Great Potato Famine. Starting as a teamster, by dint of hard work and a lot of charm, John rose through the burgeoning society of 1870s and 1880s “Marvellous Melbourne”.

He became a publican, an owner and developer of many properties in Carlton, a Melbourne City Councillor for 16 years, a Member of Parliament for 6 years, a director of several companies, chairman of the Licensed Victuallers’ Brewing Co. and co-proprietor of the Melbourne .

He developed the Yarra Bank Distillery at what is now Southbank and finally sold it to finance his huge investment in a vineyard, cellars and distillery at Dookie in northern Victoria. He also borrowed heavily from the bank.

In the 1890s, drought, economic depression, a bank collapse and hard times for the wine industry brought many enterprises to ruin, including John Curtain’s Chateau Dookie, which was taken over by the bank.

His capital gone, John Curtain died an old age pensioner in 1905.

A descendant of John Curtain, Hazel (Cherie) Burton determined to tell the story of John Curtain’s life, based solidly on contemporary sources, particularly on newspaper reports of the time. Dialogue and thoughts are mainly re‑constructed, but considerable effort has been made to keep these factual and completely compatible with information known from family and written sources.

Hell’s Bells & Panther Tracks: the Rich Legacy of Helen Seager (1900–1981)

As a 13 year old, Helen Seager’s poetic entry in the Wattle Day Awards was deemed worthy of a special mention in The Advertiser on Saturday 6 September 1913. Subsequently, her adult writing career spanned around 50 years, from the 1920s to the early 1970s. A journalist was not necessarily a specialist in those times, and Helen’s work covered every aspect of daily life—tragedies, criminal trials, fashion, sporting events, theatre reviews, shipping arrivals, cookery, Dorothy Dix style answers to readers’ questions, and feature articles about famous visitors to Australia—a thorough grounding in her chosen career.

These entertaining personal recollections were written by Helen Seager in the 1970s as the basis for an autobiography, which she never managed to complete. Helen's daughter, Harriet Houghton, has assembled these recollections and poems and added a brief biography of Helen to give context to the work.

The title, Hell’s Bells and Panther Tracks, was one of Helen's favourite sayings, especially when she had her ‘wild up’, and the title also reflects the rather chaotic and sometimes dangerous situations she faced in her long career.

She worked for newspapers across South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. In 1950 The Argus in Melbourne sent her to Europe to report her impressions via her daily column ‘Good Morning Ma’am’.

Moore and Moore

In the 1850s four members of the Moore family set off from Ireland to seek their fortunes in far off Australia. Gold may have been the initial attraction but they soon discovered that it was better to supply diggers needs than to be one.

This book follows through the lives of these four people and their descendants. It is the result of many hours of painstaking research in many countries. Over 470 descendants from the original family have been identified and many of the present generations contributed to the information within these pages. Of particular interest are the 100 illustrations, some dating back to the 1860s, and 15 maps.

Originally published in 2002, this second edition includes some corrections and some reordering of chapters as well as some additional material not in the first edition.

Changing Fortunes

Port Melbourne was once a vibrant river delta composed of dunes, marshes and tea-tree thickets, rich in wildlife. The arrival of settlers disrupted established land use patterns, decimating the way of life of the traditional owners.

A large lagoon, that helped define this emerging suburb, was progressively filled in to create new land for subdivision. The modest, wooden cottages built on it contained the hopes and dreams of ordinary people who came here from many lands.

This book tells some of their stories. It features an eclectic range of women and men who either rented or owned property on or near the northern reaches of this former lagoon between the 1870s and the early 1950s. It shares their joys and sorrows, their struggles and successes, their friendships and family ties.

Port Melbourne has changed dramatically in the intervening seventy years and issues like climate change and reconciliation will shape its future.

Hope Lives On

It is in the very essence of families that as partners are introduced and new generations are born entire new heritage lines are added.

Published in 2006, They Came In Hope told the Evans and Criddle family histories—the heritage lines carried by Christopher and Caroline, the two children of Graham Evans and Anne Criddle.

Now in Hope Lives On Graham Evans details the new lines of family history carried with Louise Crook and Stephen Farago, that are part of the heritage of his three grandchildren, Astrid, Clara and Henry, who are the newest generation of this family.

Poet's Corner

From her early years growing up in rural Wales Joyce Suto has been writing poetry.

She continued and developed this talent during her long life in Australia.

Individual poems have appeared in a range of journals and other publications over a number of years. She published Curly: A Collection of Poems in 2003 and 2007. In 2011 she journeyed down a broader road with her memoir, Horsehair Worms and a Shark—but it, too, included a substantial anthology of her poetry.

Now at the grand age of 96 she brings her life’s work together in Poet's Corner. This book is dedicated to the late John Reid and named in honour of his ABC radio program, Poet’s Corner, in which Joyce Suto was an enthusiastic participant and contributor from its commencement in 1985.

With Love From Clare

Clare Stranger’s life could have turned out very differently after her father’s death when she was just three years old. However, with her family taken in and cared for by her father’s father she was raised in a strong extended family and went on to raise a loving family of her own with Michael, her husband of 62 years.

With Love From CLARE is her tribute to them all.

The Colour of Prayer

The Colour of Prayer comprises some 39 icons, each accompanied by explanatory notes and a contemplative prayer, shared by an author who has become an expert in the field.

The book is the culmination of 35 years of work in the field of iconography. Rob Gallacher’s interest in icons was sparked when attending Bossey, the Institute of the World Council of Churches in Switzerland in 1969–70. In 1985 he began painting icons under the guidance of Bishop John Bayton, and in 1995 he began to teach. Soon there were three schools with a total of 50 participants. Rob has travelled widely in pursuit of his interest, and undertaken courses at the monastery of Valamo in Finland, and in England under Aidan Hart.

“All the icons depicted in this book are photographed from icons I have painted myself.  They represent a wide variety of cultures, periods and styles.  I see this book as something of an anthology of iconography.”

Busch's Weir

In 2016 Heathmont History Group was commissioned to research and write a report for Melbourne Water on “The European History of the Dandenong Creek from Bayswater Road to Boronia Road”. It soon became obvious that a unique feature of this stretch of the Creek was that at one location it had been privately dammed for commercial recreational use with a weir built by Hermann Busch in the 1930s (and blown up by the Dandenong Valley Authority in the 1960s). Melbourne Water encouraged the group to research further. This book is the result.

The context for Busch’s weir was the Waldheim Farm Guest House, built and run by Hermann and Dorothea Busch. "Poppa” Busch was eccentric, gifted and creative. His paintings were displayed in art shows as well as in the Guest House and his works created a delightful garden setting. However perhaps the best illustration of his talents was that, on the Dandenong Creek more than 200 metres down from the Guest House, he built a weir for the recreational use of guests. This audacious act was and still is the only privately built weir on any of Melbourne’s network of creeks.

Busch’s Weir was unique, audacious and brilliant.

Flinders Island Secret

Ian McKellar has researched extensively the history of Australia’s World War Two radar stations.

Flinders Island Secret is his fifth book in a series recording the history of these little-known coastal defence installations. Although 1RS existed for only a few months in 1943 and was never operational, its story still has a place in the overall history, and gives life to the otherwise mysterious relics of its existence that can still be found on Flinders Island.

Two Armstrong Uncles

Some 17 years apart in age, brothers Arthur and Jack were casualties of Australia’s involvement in the World Wars of the first half of the 20th century—Arthur in France in the First, Jack in Singapore in the Second.

Heather Mathew never had the opportunity to know these two uncles, her mother’s brothers, but she has sought, by publishing their letters, to bring their short, distant lives into focus.

Two Armstrong Uncles comprises the surviving letters—74 in all—that were so treasured by their sister Etta in a "small, worn, cardboard box tied carefully with string" and numerous associated images together with a biography of each of them written by the author "to place the uncles into the family, to endeavour to make them live" and "to offer context to each collection".

The Right Amount of Crazy

The Territory is the frontier of Australia and Alice Springs is the uncrowned capital of the Outback, made a reality by the pioneering characters dedicated to its survival.

It is a place of adventure and the unusual, and it’s fortunate that individuals and governments have seen the purpose in supporting settlement, education and development in such a remote location.

Nevertheless it does take more than “a little bit of crazy” to settle there, survive and make things happen: it takes ‘The Right Amount Of Crazy’.

This history of St Philip’s College and Griffiths House is a story about people dedicated to providing education for Outback children. It is a book about pioneering, determination, risk taking and characters such as Rev Harry Griffiths, Rev Dr Fred McKay and Chris Tudor playing on a remote stage, who indeed generated ‘The Right Amount of Crazy’—for without this and without them it would never have happened.