This year a series of talks by members has been arranged. The first of these given by Mr. Clive Petty at the April meeting was a great success.
The subject "A Trip to Victoria Market while Melbourne Sleeps", was about the days of horse and cart when orchardists left home at the time when everyone else was going to bed or already asleep to make the long trip to market. Mr. Petty was only sixteen when he first started taking fruit to market. He had to face the long drive through the night in all weather to be ready at 4 a.m. to start bargaining with fruiterers from shops around Melbourne.
During the winter when nights were freezing cold the drivers would often get down from the wagons and walk up hills to keep warm. Back on the cart, they could always put their feet in the horseís feed bag where the chaff would keep them warm. The horse knew the way and soon the driver would doze off to sleep. Mr. Petty said that one night he woke up to find that he was heading back for home. Some wag had turned his horse around while he was asleep.
The growers rented stalls in the open sheds of the market. Here their carts were backed in and fruit sellers cam to buy cases of fruit. The orchardists had to have their wit about them. There was always someone ready to take them down with such tricks as counting out a wad of notes with one note folded over to count as two. On the trip home during the day when the sun was hot the location of horse troughs was most important. Some of these troughs still remain around the outer areas of Melbourne. The return trip was also an opportunity to bring home a load of manure.
Mr. Petty had taken a lot of trouble to prepare his talk and the exhibits dramatically produced were really interesting.
1974 05 DTHS Newsletter
Probably Clive Petty:
Clive George Whitten Petty 1907–1993
http://www.norburys.info/individual.php?pid=I71&ged=norburys
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