Wonga Park

Wonga Park State School

The depression of the early 1890s brought severe unemployment and destitution to many people in Melbourne. The government felt that these urban dwellers may have a better chance if they were settled on the land. 

In Wonga Park, a square mile next to the original Wonga Station was marked out, and this area was designated as a selection for a village settlement.  It had originally been part of the Warrandyte Parish survey of 1841. This scheme was rushed by so many keen to participate, that names had to be drawn out of a hat and finally eighteen people took up selection in the new settlement. 

By the 1892, these men and their families had installed themselves on the land and begun a life of farming and orcharding - so very different from their previous experiences. 

Mr. G. Launder, a practicing architect and builder of Melbourne, owned fifty-one acres of land in the area in 1894.  Mr. Launder was a staunch advocate of the Eight Hours Movement.  This had begun in 1856, initiated by stonemasons who had passed a resolution to work eight hours a day, six days a week. Consequently, the Eight Hour League was formed. 

Due to the influence of Mr. Launder, the housing settlement in East Warrandyte became known as Pioneer Village Settlement or the Croydon Eight Hour Settlement. 

During the early years, the area was allied to Croydon as this was the nearest railway station.  As residents settled into the selection, the need for a school became evident.  Again Mr. Launder came to the fore in urging for the opening of a school in the area.  The nearest school was Brushy Creek over four miles distant. 

There were twenty-eight children over five years old whose parents were permanent settlers.  A petition to the Education Department bore fruit the next year, 1895, when a site in Dudley Street was surveyed for the purpose of building a school.  An inspector's report notes that a portion of the land, two acres in size, was excised from Wilson's allotment.  The original owner was Mr. G. Pickup, one of the first settlers in the area. 

On the 31st, July 1895, the site was ratified in the Government Gazette and plans were made to clear the area, the cost being six pounds. The clearing costs had not been allowed for in the tender, and the residents could not afford to do it themselves.  It is unclear whether or not this was done, but after some disagreement on the siting of the building on the allotment, a portable building from S.S. No. 3113 Braybrook Junction was removed and placed on the site.  This school was known as Warrandyte East State School No. 3241. 

On the 6th. November 1895, with Ida Body as H.T. (Head Teacher), the school opened with an average attendance of sixteen.  The original school was closely surrounded by gum trees and the verandah floor had strips of bark from stringy bark gums laid along its length.  

Soon there was a movement to change the name of the school and the district inspector, Mr. Gamble, announced in 1898 that the name chosen was 'Wonga Park'. 

The old school was burned down in 1911 and a new one built in 1912. This was a wooden structure to accommodate forty-five pupils and cost 370 pounds.  The opening was a gala occasion for the district.  A children's sports day was organised in honour of the event and a cantata or short musical drama was held in the evening. 

An interesting sidelight on the problems encountered by the school committee is shown in an early report by the school caretaker in describing his work around the school: "I have attended to the out-offices and deposited it around my fruit trees" 

Gradually, the population of the district increased and a second classroom was added in 1951.  Since then other additions have been made and in 1962 the attendance was thirty-nine, with a staff of Head teacher and an assistant. Several attempts have been made to amalgamate the school with others, once with Yarra Road school on a site near the present Wonga Park cellars, and again in the early 1980s when a proposal to recite the building was discussed and abandoned. 

Wonga Park has survived the recent round of school closures and in 1995 the attendance of 171 students with nine permanent staff and some casual staff for special subjects. 

At present the school residence needs restoration and has put forward a proposal before the Heritage Restoration Committee for funding. 

The City of Manningham is proud to add the old school building to its interesting heritage. 

Source: Judith Leaney writing in 1995 09 DTHS Newsletter

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Wonga Park - Eight Hours Pioneer Settlement

Medieval guilds, the ancient forerunners of Trades Unions were the first associations to champion the cause of the artisan or tradesman. Australia was a very early entrant to the trade union movement, which grew from the world wide charter of workingmens1 rights to better working conditions and wages.

In the aftermath of the Gold Rush in Victoria, in the early 1850's, as people left their homes and businesses to chase after gold, a great deal of the stability which had gradually built up since the founding of Melbourne in 1835, was lost There was a general decline in wages and conditions of work for tradespeople in this period. The Eureka Stockade in 1854, emphasising the antipathy of miners to the established government, laid the foundations of movements to set working conditions, rales of pay and rights in general of the working classes.

This was a world trend and the Eight Hours system was part of a feeling for freedom and autonomy for the working man. James Stephens, a mason, founded the Eight Hours system in Victoria in 1856. Stonemasons as tradesmen took the initiative in setting up this movement which had the motto: 8 hours labour; 8 hours recreation; 8 hours rest and, as the insignia of the movement a banner of blue with a red border and white lettering, was first unfurled on April 21st 1856.

Eight Hour Day Banner Replica - Collections Victoria 

Builders had to be working outdoors in all weathers and the stonemasons felt that a 10 hour working day was too long for men in the blazing heat of summer. It was also felt that workmen need time for recreation and rest and from these axioms came the foundation of the charter of the Australian working man's rights.

The first trades involved were masons, bricklayers, plasterers, carpenters and joiners, and painters. Gradually new unions were established under the influence of the Eight Hours movement.

The Eight Hours Pioneers Association members were a powerful force in the late nineteenth century espousing the cause of the working man. This group was active in urging the Government of the day to open up tracts of land and make them available to the unemployed in the depression years of the 1890’s. These years were a period of severe unemployment and to help alleviate the problem a number of village settlements were established in Victoria. These were opportunities for working men to purchase land cheaply, set up settlements out of the city and by their own efforts build a future for themselves and their families. Efforts were made to introduce new products. Various herbs, unusual vegetables, even mulberry trees to grow silk were tried with varying degrees of success.

Google Map of Wonga Park 

One of the most successful of these settlements was at Wonga Park. A mile square section of land, part of a forest reserve, proclaimed after the Warrandyte Parish survey of 1841, was set aside for subdivision. Bounded by Hartley, Davis, Reserve, Toppings Rds and Launder Avenue, this area, although now divided into smaller blocks can still be clearly distinguished by the road boundaries. In 1893, the 640 acres were subdivided into farm allotments at a cost of one shilling per acre for 20 years. There was such a rush to secure land, that a ballot was held and 18 lucky applicants received grants of land. Suitable candidates for land grants were carefully selected using several criteria. They had to be over 18 years, be married and own no other land. Several of the new settlers were members of the Eight Hours Pioneer Memorial Association. Prominent among these, was Mr George Launder secretary of the Association, who also acted as secretary of the Settlement Committee. The official name was "The Croydon Eight Hour Pioneer Village Settlement."

8 hour day settlement

Most of these village settlements were on the poorest of land, generally unwanted by other farmers and graziers. The settlement at Wonga Park was no exception. The soil was naturally poor, large trees scanty, and most of the blocks were full of gullies and inaccessible ridges.

To make land clearing even more difficult, there was a great deal of scrubby undergrowth. The settlers struggled to prepare roads into their holdings before winter rains rendered them impassable.

These tasks were made more arduous by the fact that most of the new settlers were former city dwellers with little experience of farming or orcharding. The problems encountered by these determined pioneers had a positive side however. A friendly atmosphere of self help and assistance engendered a strong sense of community which is evident in Wonga Park even today.

The government, having released this land for development was not over generous in providing further financial assistance to build roads. The committee, headed by G Launder made regular submissions to the Government for help, but the result was generally poor, and well into the twentieth century, connecting roads within the settlement were just rough tracks.

After the opening up of the land, these settlers began bringing in material for houses. Many lived in tents or rough dwellings before they could commence their houses. This work had to be done at the same time as land clearing and the planting of crops and orchard trees.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Wonga Park was generally recognised as the name for the settlement, the grazing properties which had developed along the river, and the other allotments which were being sold in the district. By 1910, Wonga Park was first accepted as a district by the Municipal Directory of Melbourne.

Research by Christine Johnson and Carlotta Kellaway of Context P/L who conducted the Heritage Study of the Wonga Park area has indicated several features evocative of the original Eight Hours Settlement.

To accommodate the growing population of children, the first Wonga Park school was built in 1895, and named Warrandyte East SS no 3241. In 1898 as the name adopted by the district became the commonly used one, the name of the school too was changed to Wonga Park. The old school building was burned down in 1911 so the present school building was erected in 1912. This was built to the most popular school plan at that time. It was made of timber with a gabled roof, a brick chimney and fireplace.

Although some alterations have been made to the original building, it has been deemed significant, due to its associations with the Eight Hour Movement and as a community building from the early days of Wonga Park.

Within the road pattern of the Village Settlement scheme, there are a number of other features which remain from the 1890’s settlement.

The Heritage Study has identified several venerable trees as being of botanical importance and worthy of preservation. Tin* Red Box tree at 4 Dudley Rd has been estimated to be 300 years old and has fortunately survived several road realignments and is the largest Red Box in Wonga Park.

A large Ironbark also in Dudley Rd is of a similar age to the Red Box and is the only one of its kind in the Wonga Park district. 

Kellybrook Winery, on the site of the 1890's property thought to have belonged to William Martin, an Eight Hours pioneer, has an enormous spreading oak tree, obviously planted in the early days of the settlement.  lt is so huge that the heavy branches are supported by stout poles to prevent them sagging to the ground.

The Oaks

"The Oaks" a property including a house, tea rooms, and office has early associations with the Eight Hours Settlement. The first owner was a monumental mason and was lessee in 1893. This property is interesting, having been a tearoom for visitors who bought gum tips while on day trips from the inner suburbs.

Hartleys Cottage

Hartleys Cottage, built about 1920, was a later house built by Joseph, son of John Hartley, a bricklayer who was an original Eight Hours Settlement pioneer. This is a pretty double fronted timber framed cottage with decorative verandah in an attractive garden setting, in Hartley Rd, one of the original boundary roads of the Settlement.

Forest Gate Guest House

A touch of the romantic theater life lingers on in the house now known as "White Lodge". Once called "Forest Gate", this lovely old home, now much altered, belonged to Mrs Webb, a niece of George Launder, the prominent Eight Hours pioneer. She was part of the Melbourne theatre scene and many theatre people stayed in her guest house in Wonga Park. The large oak trees still on the property were grown from acorns which George Launder brought out from England.

It is very gratifying to have had identified such a significant feature as the Eight Hours Settlement in our city. This has achieved the stature of being declared of State Historical Significance as one of the remaining settlements still in an intact condition, which was associated with the important Eight Hours movement. It also speaks volumes for the tenacity and resourcefulness of our pioneers who took up the challenge of making a living from such difficult and inhospitable terrain.

Source: 1997 09 DTHS Newsletter