A wet day in East Doncaster. Lindsay White, age 11, with a sack on his head, rubber
boots on his feet and skipper the dog for company. He has just walked 2 km to the general store for the newspaper and mail and is preparing to do the return trip.
Lindsay was well known for his orchard innovations, here he is (extreme right) with father, Ollie (second from left) being interviewed on their orchard forT.V. in the late 1950’s.
Lindsay White catching yabbies in the dam at Donvale. The dog knows there is meat on the end of that line and is most interested. January 1940.
This cartoon arrived in Ollie White’s letter box several days after the fateful ‘Market Day’. How did the artist find out about the problems of this particular market day? There were no telephones in Donvale homes at the time but the bush telegraph was alive and well!
RECOLLECTIONS BY LINDSAY WHITE:
My name is Lindsay Gordon White, youngest child of Oliver and Rose White. I was born 20/4/27. I was brought up on an orchard in Springvale Road, Donvale, along with my two older brothers and sister.
We grew cherries, peaches, plums, pears and apples. The fruit was sold in the Queen Victoria fresh fruit market, Melbourne. We had a 1927 Chevrolet Truck that served us faithfully for 20 years. Transporting fruit to market, shopping, church
school picnics and all outings. We had three Clydesdale horses which were used for pulling the ploughs, carts, sprayer etc., plus a house cow for the supply of milk, cream and butter.
Pigs were also kept so they could eat the reject fruit and drink surplus skim milk.
Our nearest livestock market was Croydon where Dad would often go to buy a couple of sucker pigs. It was no trouble to put them in the pig sty but after several weeks of milk and reject fruit they grew quite large - moving them was a different story.
MARKET DAY
I remember one market day, our neighbours had some roosters to sell, "could you please take them to market ?". The roosters were put into the fruit cases in the back of the Chev. Truck. Now to get the pigs. Dad went to the pig sty armed with a chaff bag, (a large hessian bag). The idea was you snared the pig in the bag, tied the end of the bag and then everyone helped to carry the pig to the truck.
Well, on this day, not all went to plan. Pig 1 went straight through the bag, tearing the bottom out with its front trotters. Another bag. Pig 2, well caught and carried to the truck and let out of the bag. Now for Pig 1 again. Not so easy to get him in bag, after having tricked him once. Took some time. Success at last, open tail gate to put pig in truck, out comes the roosters, Pig 2 had broken the cases and released the roosters into an environment they were not familiar with. The dogs joined in to help. What a day !
Video Extract from Doncaster Orchard for Sale ABCTV 02-04-1959
Fruit tree orchard spraying machine with fan. Almost certainly Lindsay White:
RECOLLECTIONS BY LINDSAY WHITE:
When tractors took over from the horse around 1950, the shafts were removed and a single tow bar to the tractor added and operated by one man using a 120 ft hose with a double nozzle. We had 52 acres of orchard and it took two weeks to spray the property using this method.
Next was a three cylinder, high pressure pump 20 gallons per minute @ 600 P.S.I.. P.T.O. drive from the tractor with a 300 gallon cylinder shaped wooden vat. A platform on the back where two men each held a three or four head boom and drove past while directing the spray to the trees. This method was costly with manpower. We then mounted an eight nozzle boom on one side of the outfit dispensed with two men and drove past with the boom set. This was very costly with spray material.
In 1954, we purchased an airblast sprayer driven by a Holden motor with a similar, 3 cylinder high pressure pump used at 400psi with the assistance of a 28 inch fan creating 33,000 cubic ft of air per minute or approx. 110 M.P.H. wind directed behind the nozzles creating a misting effect being double sided it used about the same amount of spray material as the single sided high pressure sprayer. So from 1950, taking 2 weeks to spray the orchard, by 1954 it took 18 hours to achieve a complete spray and was a more efficient job.
Extracts from "Fruits of the Orchard - The Family of Henry White and Elizabeth Raney" https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1320774
White Family Pear Harvest
Video Extract from Doncaster Orchard for Sale ABCTV 02-04-1959
April 1959. 90 Old Warrandyte Road Donvale Vic 3111 Fruit tree orchard picking. Lindsay White's extended family picking the pear harvest. Men, woman, children, baby, dogs. Tea break. (Ollie White seated with back to camera). Tractor driven by Lin White c child. Manual tree picking pears. Voices.
Oliver White picking pears into bag. (LG White on bags). Male & female (Lin's wife's sister ?) tipping pears into trailer. Tractor returning pear trailer to shed (still exiting in 2018 at back of property). Stacking pear pallets.
90 Old Warrandyte Rd Oorchard was about 60 acres, and they sold out after the hail storms in the early 1960s. The 1962 fires came to the back of the property down by Mullum Ck.
Info from: Robert Latimer, Lorraine Rose. Facebook 2018
90 Old Warrandyte Road Donvale Vic 3111
Lindsay White 90 Old Warrandyte Rd, Donvale GoogleMaps 2018
In the early 1850's, it was found that a narrow strip of land had been left to the east of the Carlton Estate. This strip, 7 chains (140m) wide, stretched from Koonung Creek in the south to Foote Street in Templestowe. It was decided to divide the land into lots of 6 acres with an access road the full length of the east side.
The Pickering family came to Doncaster from England in 1849. Among their children was two years old Kate, who grew up to marry Max Schramm, and Charles, an eight year old boy. Charles and his family lived in Blackburn Road when he met Sarah Rose Knee from Deep Creek. At the age of twenty, Charles married Sarah and built a slab hut near the corner of Blackburn and Doncaster Roads. The hut stood on a site opposite the present Safeways. That is, it stood when Charles first built it. Then the walls were straight and trim with a neat bark roof but, later when Robinson lived in it, the slab walls tilted and the roof sagged. Robinson cut strong props from gum trees to hold up the walls, and, as the hut continued to droop, he cut more branches, often with leaves still on them, to support the walls and roof giving the building the appearance at a tree house.
Charles Pickering and his hut (from an oil painting)
In 1986, Ted Daws' white timber house in George Street, East Doncaster was demolished.
The story of the house and its land goes back to 1853 when George Street was just a narrow bush track through the stringy-bark forest. A group of Germans from Silesia had purchased, from the crown, a half square mile section between the present Victoria Street and Blackburn Road. Then the street was called German Lane by the English and Waldau Lane by the Germans.
Late in 1853, Gottfried Uebergang with his wife Caroline came to Waldau Lane and leased land from Johann Hilebrig, one of the group owning the area.
Gottfried built a wattle and daub hut to live in. He and his wife had come from Silesia in Germany where they had three children, but when they arrived at Doncaster the two boys had died, leaving only their three year old daughter Caroline. A son, Carl Heinrich, was born shortly after settling into their new home. Later the following year, Gottfried's wife Caroline died.
James Smith lived in Doncaster Road where the Eastern Golf Clubhouse now stands, Lawrence Smith lived in Elgar Road close to Doncaster Road. In 1854 James Smith and his wife Jane and their family arrived in Melbourne on the ship "Zebuland". The ship had been chartered to carry busses and the staff to operate them.
Lauriston - the home of Lawrence & Elizabeth Smith. Elgar Road, Doncaster (location ??)
In the early 1850s, many ships were arriving at Sandridge bringing people attracted by the gold rushes. Transport to the town was difficult so there was an opportunity for a bus service. James had come to manage a bus line from the wharfs at Sandridge (Port Melbourne) to Melbourne.
In 1853 a railway line to Port Melbourne was being built. The ship arrived in March 1854 but the railway opened a few months later ruining the prospects of the bus line. Most of the staff deserted to look for gold and. James resigned to opened a saddle shop in Collins Street. Soon after he sold this and went off to prospect for gold.
James was a skilled engineer, in Scotland he had worked at a large foundry, a quarter mile long, in Clyde. After learning pattern making he became a foreman. David Mitchell, the well known Melbourne contractor, hearing that he was a clever engineer and knew how to make bricks, employed him to start a brick works at Richmond. Smith worked for David Mitchell for forty years as his foreman. He worked at Burnley, Lilydale and on the construction of the Exhibition Building.
In 1858 James Smith purchased forty acres of land in Doncaster Road. David Mitchell owned land alongside him. Both their lands became the Eastern Golf Course, the Clubhouse being on Smith's land.
James and Jane Smith had eleven children, four in Scotland, the others in Melbourne and Doncaster. Four of these died as infants. The seventh child was Lawrence, born in Doncaster Road in 1860.
Lawrence was apprenticed to a plumber but during this time he had an accident. He was wearing new hob nailed boots and slipped off a cart. The wheel ran over it leaving him with a limp. Lawrence then learnt boot making at Kew also cutting men's hair in his spare time.
At the age of twenty eight Lawrence Smith married Elizabeth Witchell. They lived near the corner of Doncaster Road and Elgar Road.
During the 1890s they built a large brick house, "Lauriston" in Elgar Road. Their land reached to Doncaster Road where Lawrence had his bootmaking shop.
At the age of forty, Elizabeth persuaded Lawrence, who was a good artist, to become a drawing teacher. He took painting and drawing lessons to cultivate his art then leasing his shoemaking business rented two small rooms in Serpells corner store and opened his "Doncaster School of Art and Design".
Painting by LH Smith of Chimney at the Hislop House, Doncaster Rd
Painting by LH Smith of Doncaster Tower
Sketch by LH Smith of children
Lawrence also used to visit local schools to teach drawing to children at a penny a lesson. Many Doncaster people such as Mrs. Goodson and Miss Selina Serpell learnt painting from L.H.Smith.
Lawrence Smith took an interest in the local community, he was secretary of the I.O.R. at Doncaster for nearly fifty years, was auditor for the Shire Council and won many trophies at the Doncaster Rifle Club.
In 1920 the Smiths left their home in Elgar Road and two years later Lawrence died at Kew.
Their home, "Lauriston" was purchased by Gerald Grover and his wife Dorothy Petty. The flagpole of Lawrence Smith's house now stands on the lawn at Schramms Cottage.
Irvine Green From information by Ken Smith, The late Phyllis Whitten and Sandra Will
The approach of our bicentennial year has prompted at least one family member around the country to ask two main questions: Where did the .......... family come from Where did the ..........family live ?
Although the bicentennial year was not the motivating force for my searches on the Beale family, it certainly has provided continuing impetus to find out more remote details, wherever they may be located.
Settlements grow by migration and through high birth rates. Lewis Beale was one of these migrants who departed his Lambeth, London, birthplace in 1867 and who came to the Bulleen/Templestowe areas to work as a woodcutter. Why this area you ask ? Probably the presence of an older half brother and his family in Bulleen meant an easier start to life in the colony.
Somehow, somewhere and at sometime, Lewis Beale met Lydia Eliza Hicks. (She was the fifth child of Thomas and Eliza Hicks who had arrived in December 1841, as bounty immigrants from Bristol, Gloucestershire.) Immediately following their June 1875 marriage at St. John's Church of England Heidelberg, Lewis and Lydia went to live in a rented home owned by John Chivers on Cemetery Road, where they paid rates of 1 pound 1/-.
Beale Family House
Lewis, I am told, took his dray load of timber into the areas near Kew, which were hungry for timber as a fuel source. Between 1877 and 1890, there were ten children born - five boys and five girls, see family tree below. Only one infant death occurred, that of Lydia in 1884, and this family was indeed fortunate. Sometime in 1879, Lewis and Lydia moved from John Chivers' land, but I cannot find evidence of their exact locations, until the 1890 Rate Book entry, which reveals they were renting land owned by John Smith - 69 acres in Newman's Road.
All nine children would have walked to Templestowe School No. 1395, where they all achieved their Standard of Education or Grade 6. It is interesting to read the school records (which are in desperate need of preservation) and to find that the children often commenced in pairs - the older waiting back a year.
The school and rate records give Lewis' occupation at varying times as woodcutter, labourer, farmer and gardener. Sadly on 2lst October 1892, Lewis was widowed by the death of Lydia. The older children, Thomas, Laura, Lewis and Benjamin went out to work and helped the family finances. Lydia's older sister, Elizabeth who had married James Smith (their home survives in Atkinson Street) is said to have helped the family and along with the many kind neighbours, the family survived the difficult years of the 1890's.
Sometime following Lydia's death, Lewis purchased 2 acres in Cemetery Read, (now Poote St.) which had been owned by James Eccleston. This land, included a house and garden, and was on the south west corner of Williamson's Rd. and Foote St. and a photo shows the home early this century.
In the 1890's depression, many young Templestowe/Doncaster men journeyed to Western Australia seeking employment. Three Beale boys went to the Bunbury/Collie areas, and for several years they worked as timber cutters for the railways. Benjamin was to spend much of his life here, Lewis (junior) returned and established his orchard in Serpell's Road Templestowe, where he propagated the 'Beale' peach. George returned to orcharding. Thomas had selected land at Mt. Fatigue, in South Gippsland. Lewis junior and Joe are the two Beale boys most photographed in sporting teams for Templestowe.
Lewis remained interested in his family and was able even in his later years to visit his son in Western Australia and to journey to South Gippsland.
On 14th October 1914, he died at the Melbourne Hospital and was buried at the Templestowe Cemetery.
Australia was at war and Joe his youngest son was granted leave to attend his father's funeral.
I have answered the two questions, how about you ?????? A plea - a copy of your family history to the Society's library, so we all can read about the growth and development of the Templestowe and Doncaster areas.
Coleen Boyer writing in 1987 09 DTHS Newsletter
Joseph Beale, a Templestowe lad, who enlisted during WW1, and is here shown in his uniform and holding a rifle with fixed bayonet. The photo was taken in October 1914 at Broadmeadows.
Joe Beale was born at Templestowe on 1 September 1887, the eighth child of Lewis Beale and Lydia his wife [nee Hicks]. DP1283
Bower, Coleen. 2008, Joseph Beale : his World War I experiences from a collection of postcards and letters to and from Templestowe, 1914-1919 / by Coleen Bower [Coleen Bower] Blackburn, Vic
https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4761290. Revised edition published 2015
Scores - Warrandyte Cricket Club vs Templestowe. Box Hill Reporter 7Jan 1910
Club Legend, Joe Beale, taking a lazy 13 wickets for the match including 8/22 in the second innings!! It's performances like these and his time serving his country in World War 1 as to why Templestowe Cricket Club Champion Award is named after Joe.
p60 Standing in the top row from left to right are Tom Cashen, Jim Cashen, Bert Chivers, Alf Chivers, Gilbert Smith and Joe Beale. Seated in the middle row are Leo Fitzsimons, Mick Cashen, the umpire Walter Bilson, Ted Sheahan, and Lew Beale. In the front are Jim Sheahan and Jim Hodgson.
Joe and Lew Beale were the sons of Lewis Beale who came to Templestowe in 1875. Joe had an orchard in Porter Street right next to the recreation reserve. Lew's property was on the north west corner of Church and Serpens Roads. Joe's and Lew's maternal grandfather Tom Hicks, settled in Temple-stowe in 1841 and the first local school was held in his barn in the 1850's.
In 1854, John James became the first Pound Keeper in Bulleen. Five years later, David Bell was appointed Pound Keeper. He leased land between Union Street and the Yarra where the Pound was located. The Templestowe Township was surveyed in 1852 and blocks offered for sale during the next years. David Bell purchased his lease and built the Upper Yarra Hotel opposite the end or Parker Street. John James also bought land (in Parker Street) during the land sales. In 1857, the Pound was re-located at the corner of Ruffy and Foote Streets where it remained until recently when it was moved to the Council Depot at the end of Blackburn Road. The old Pound site is now the "Services Park".
The word "pound" had its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until claimed by their owners. Some shelters even have sick tropical animals.
Impounded at Bulleen, Upper Yarra (Now Templestowe)
1 red spotted steer, tip off near horn; 1 red steer, some white along the back, both apparently broken, branded Y C 2 off rump 1 blue steer, speckled face, large upright horns, branded T w off shoulder, W off rump. 1 red bullock, speckled face, hoop horned, I C N D near ribs, F near ribs and rump. 1 red steer, branded J H near rump, near ribs near shoulder, white tail and hind feet, large white heart on forehead. If not claimed on or before the first day of February, 1848, they will be sold at the Pound.
JOHN JAMES, Poundkeeper. Bulleen, 10th January, 1848. 7s 6d
Source: 1848 'Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney, 1st January, 1848. PUBLIC MONEY.', The Melbourne Argus (Vic. : 1846 - 1848), 14 January, p. 1. , viewed 04 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4762994
Port Phillip Government Gazette
Published by authority. Bulleen Pound.
NOTICE is hereby given, that at a Court of Petty Sessions, holden at Melbourne for the County of Bourke, on Tuesday, the 15th instant. The Justices of Peace assembled at said sessions approved of a Public Pound being immediately established in the Township reserve of the Parish of Bulleen, upper south Yarra ; and MR. JOHN JAMES was duly appointed poundkeeper, at the above pound, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of Council, 4th William, IV No. 3, Section No.2 . By order of the Justices, W. R. BEECHER, Clerk to Bench.
Source: ????
Warrandyte Pound and Poundkeeper
NOTICE is hereby given that in accordance with the second section of the Act of Council 4th William IV., No. 3 the Justices in Petty Sessions assembled have established a Public Pound at the Reserve on the Township of Warrandyte, in the County of Evelyn, and that the said Justices have appointed Mr. John JAMES, to be the Keeper of the said Public Pound. (By Order) EDWARD BATHURST, Clerk of the Bench. Police Office, Warringal, 1st June, 1854.
Doncaster East Post Office Building moved to Laburnum PS
The Doncaster east Post Office was moved in ??? to Janet St, Blackburn into the grounds of Laburnum PS (Laburnum PS was opened in 1964). GoogleMaps Feb2017 https://goo.gl/maps/xMzSN9r1W1A2
Doncaster Post Offices - History
Doncaster PO 17/5/1860.
Doncaster Business Centre DC 23/5/1994; closed 30/8/1996.
Doncaster Central PO 6/11/1967; renamed Doncaster Heights PO 2/9/1968.
Doncaster Delivery Centre Renamed from Bulleen Delivery Centre DC c.-/9/1993; closed 16/4/1999.
Doncaster East (1) PO 8/8/1887; renamed Doncaster East Delivery Centre DC 22/7/1990.
Doncaster East Post Office 1969 - premierpostal.com 5032720
Doncaster East (2) Replaced Tunstall Square PO 23/7/1990; closed c.-/4/2011.
Doncaster East (3) LPO 16/7/2012.
Doncaster East Delivery Centre Renamed from Doncaster East DC 23/7/1990; replaced by Templestowe Delivery Centre 16/4/1999.
Doncaster Heights Renamed from Doncaster Central PO 2/9/1968; LPO 18/10/1993.
