Needs transcription from Original Scan Images DN2023-05-28B-02
176 ByWays DoncasterMirror
DONCASTER AND TEMPLESTOWE NEWS, Wednesday, October 30, 1991
YESTERYEAR
Joan's in the news
JOAN Webster, author of the Yesteryear series, has returned to Doncaster-Templestowe after a seven-year absence.
Her name was a household word in Doncaster, Templestowe and Box Hill for nearly 25 years and her historical knowledge and fascinating insight into the area gained her a wide and dedicated following.
She has also written under the names Joan Seppings and Joan Seppings Webster.
Diverse jobs
In almost 40 years of professional writing, Joan has been an investigative journalist, a columnist for two newspapers and a magazine, a news photographer, a publicist,
historian, published poet, lyricist, children's story writer, broadcaster and a television and theatrical writer.
Joan built her home in East Doncaster 30 years ago and established herself through community work and with her hard-hitting news stories and columns.
Some of her past columns include As I See It and Doncaster Diary, for Leader Newspapers (then Eastern Yarra News), and Highlights of the Week for the Doncaster Mirror and the Box Hill Standard.
In 1971, Joan won the Best News Story of the Year award for Leader Newspapers and was twice runner-up for the award for Standard Newspapers.
One of Joan's finest achievements is what has become known as the definitive book on fire safety, the internationally acclaimed Complete Australian Bushfire Book, first published in 1986.
For this work, she was nominated for the BP Pursuit of Excellence Award and, in March last year, was the first woman to be invited to speak on fire safety at the South African Fire Service Institute.
Last year, she was awarded the Australian Fire Protection Association's Community Service Award.
More recently, Joan has just finished collaborating with the former Victorian Attorney-General, Sir George Reid, on his memoirs, In and About Parliament.
Joan has two daughters, Katherine, who is an artist and author and Claire, a naturopathic student.
WRITER and journalist, Joan Webster, returns to the pages of The Doncaster-Templestowe News with a new column.
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18/9/91
Land to soothe an exile's soul
Welcome to our new regular feature Yesteryear, looking at the intriguing history of Doncaster-Templestowe. This week local historian JOAN WEBSTER reflects on the changing face of the district, focusing on the arrival of the Thiele family.
IF you stand on Doncaster Hill today you can see how the red weed of suburbia has crept over slopes once pink and white with orange blossom.
This once quiet rural hamlet, cradle of the Victorian fruit industry, has grown to a city with a population of 100,000.
The bulldozers that carved up Doncaster's history have left only bituminous scars bearing names such as Thiele St, Petty's Lane and Serpells Rd.
They are memorials to those who planted an empire in fruit and harvested it from an unwilling countryside.
Doncaster, a day's walk from Melbourne markets, has grown fruit continuous-ly since 1853 — 30 years ahead of other areas.
In 1853 there was no bridge across the Koonung Creek which divided the Parishes of Booroondara and Bulleen (cities of Balwyn and Doncaster-Templestowe).
At about the spot which is now the start of the freeway, Gottlieb Thiele somehow got his bullocks safely through carrying household goods, wheat and fruit seedlings. Gottlieb was helped by a Mr Kennedy, a squatter whose hut was nearby.
Carleton
The area was known as Kennedy's Crossing for years. Plans for laid for a township to be called Carleton on the site, but they never eventuated.
Phillipine Thiele murmured a relieved prayer that the dray had not slipped on the muddy banks. She was also grateful for the safe crossing of their two young children, Oswald and Adelaide.
The Thiele's had left civilisation five miles behind at the sprawling market garden village of Kew. They now stood on the edge of the vast forest of the Carleton Estate, the property of a land investor.
Ten acres of it was theirs. Gottlieb had paid £10 for it to a James Quirk. He hoped they had done the right thing.
It was a good country, a free country, where one could worship as one's soul dictated.
Five years earlier they had left their native village of Sarichen in Silesia to escape the religious regimentation of Prussia. Since that day the Thieles had been grateful for this freedom.
Gottlieb's original trade was as a military tailor. In Melbourne he became established as a fashionable maker of men's clothing in
Continued next page
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FRIEDENSRUHE, the pretty home eventually built by Gottlieb and Phillipine Thiele in 1853. (Photographs courtesy of Eric Collyer.)
Bourke St, under the friendly patronage of Governor La Trobe.
However, in 1851 the gold rush caused a slump in the suit making business. Hoards of men deserted the town in search of riches in the gold fields.
Gottlieb also tried his luck in exchanging his scissors and needle for a pick and shovel at Bendigo, but without luck.
His success with gold had been as sparse as his knowledge of farming.
Unperturbed, he continued on his way to his parcel of land at Doncaster with the vague idea of growing wheat to take to the goldfields.
As Gottlieb paused for breath half way, at the steep hill that lay between him and his land, he saw Thomas Petty’s tent down by the creek.
ONE of Doncaster’s pioneering women, Phillipine Thiele.
LEADING Doncaster pioneer Gottlieb Thiele.
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YESTERYEAR
LAND TO SOOTHE AN EXILE'S SOUL
[BEGINNINGS]
by JOAN WEBSTER
Stand on Doncaster Hill today; look north to the mountains and south to the sea: the red weed of suburbia has crept over slopes once pink and white with orchard blossom.
This once quiet rural hamlet, cradle of the Victorian fruit industry, has dissolved with the effervescence of change into a city with a population of 100,000. The army of bulldozers carving up Doncaster's history with its hillsides leaves only bitumous scars bearing names such as Thiele St.,
Petty's Lane and Serpell's Rd as memorials to those who planted an empire in fruit and harvested it from an unwilling countryside. Doncaster, a DAY'S walk from the Melbourne markets, has grown fruit continuously since 1853 - 30 years ahead of other areas.
In 1853 there was no bridge across the Koonung Koonung Creek which divided the Parishes of Booroondara and Bulleen [cities of Baldwyn and Doncaster-Templestowe].
At about the spot which is now the start of the Freeway, Gottleib Thiele, helped by a squatter named Kennedy whose hut was nearby, somehow got his bullocks through safely with their load of household goods, wheat and fruit seedlings.
A township to be called Carleton was planned for this site but it never eventuated. Kennedy's Crossing, it was called, for years.
Phillipine Theile murmured a relieved prayer that the dray had not slipped on the muddy banks. Little Oswald and Adelaide were safe. Their cow trudged behind, unconcerned.
The Theiles had left civilisation five miles behind at the sprawling market garden village of Kew and now stood on the edge of the vast forest of the Carleton Estate, the property of a land investor. Ten acres of it was theirs.
Gottleib had paid 10 pounds for it to a James Quirk, and hoped they had done the right thing.
Still, it was a good country, a free country, where one could worship as one's soul dictated. In the five years since they had left their native village of Sarichen in Silesia to escape the religious regimentation of Prussia, the Thieles had been grateful for this freedom.
Gottleib had been a military tailor. In Melbourne he became established in Bourke St, as a fashionable maker of men's clothing, under the friendly patronage of Governor La Trobe. Then the 1851 gold rush caused a slump in the suit making business.
It had left the streets and houses of the town almost empty of men.
He had once exchanged scissors and needle for a pick and shovel at Bendigo, but his success with gold then was as sparse as was his knowledge of farming now, on his way to his parcel of land at Doncaster with the vague idea of growing wheat to take to the goldfields.
His doctor had urged him out of the cutting room. He mused now on the irony of it: anyone who could negotiate this stump-riddled track which led to the Anderson's Creek Diggings [Warrandyte] needed to be in the peak of health.
As Gottleib paused for breath half way up the steep hill which still lay between him and his land, he saw Thomas Petty's tent down by the creek.
Phillipine hoped this would mean a woman's company for her.
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YESTERYEAR
Those early leaders
THOMAS Petty was more suited to weaving a tent than to living in one.
He had been a partner with his brother, Robert, in a Bradford cotton mill in Yorkshire before a sea voyage — for the good of his eyesight — brought him to Australia.
During the next 100 years his sons and grandsons would become leaders of a new industry in a new land. For the hardworking Pet-ty’s , who were as straight as stringybarks under which he now camped, this was inevitable. Petty took little time to pitch his tent and set about earning a livelihood for home in preparation for the eventual arrival of his wife Jane and four small children who were still in England.
Along the road up the hill from his camp were post and rail fences closing off cattle runs, and a few scat-tered bushworkers’ huts. In one of these huts, Don-caster’s first-born white child, 12-year-old Margaret Harbour, ran to gaze at the Theiles and their dray. Her father, William Har-bour (also spelled Harber, Harbour and Harbour), a ploughman, had been sen-tenced to seven years transporation in 1831 for stealing a fowl, and brought from England to Tasmania two years later on the sailing ship Lotus.
In 1840 he married Catherine Crafty in Launceston. The following year they moved to Doncaster’s stringy bark forest and Margaret had been born.
William made good. He bought land on the south side of the Koonung Creek. When he sold the property seven years later he donated part of it to be made into what is now Woodhouse Grove, Box Hill.
As Catherine Harbour stood in the doorway of her hut drying her hands on her apron, she shyly waved a welcome to the Thieles.
The map Gottleib Thiele had showed estates and boundaries, but directions were vague.
Oswald Thiele, a bright lad, helped his father plot the way. He would one day teach the boy whose name was given to Monash University and would see his own son become a professor and eventually knighted as Sir Edmund Teale.
ABOVE: The first church in Doncaster, the Lutheran, fostered a community spirit of mutual cooperation between the German and English pioneers. The Lutherans prayed there on Sunday mornings and their Church of England neighbors in the afternoons.
RIGHT: THOMAS Petty, a Doncaster pioneer in making tents.
bi-cultural heritage. The Thieles were the nucleus of a settlement called German-town by the English and Waldau by themselves, sited in roughly the square of roads now called Victoria St-Blackburn Rd-George St-Doncaster Rd.
With the building of their Lutheran church in 1858, the community spirit of mutual co-operation between the two cultures was to grow. The German Lutherans held their services in the morning and lent the pulpit and pews in the afternoon to their Church of England neighbors. They shared their festivals and their Christmas presents.
The next decade brought the first of Doncaster’s wealthy gentry, drawn by Doncaster’s magnificent views. The first of these was Alfred Hummel, a wealthy man of ideas and ideals, who donated land for the Athanaeum Hall and went on to build the district’s landmarks: its towers.
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YESTERYEAR
Doncaster and Templestowe News September 25 , 1991
YESTERYEAR
Towering pioneer
A LTHOUGH the combination of engineer and visionary is rare, Alfred Hummell was both.
One hundred years became modern monolithic like Shoppingtown, reared their concrete heads. Hummell built a big house on the south side of Doncaster Rd for his bride Jane Lawford.
Development has since destroyed what was one of the best view in Melbourne.
With a combination of hard work and commercial good sense, Mr Hummell opened up the area's breathtaking beauty and because of it, put Doncaster on the map, to see
if The hill had views to the Yarra Valley, the mountains and the bay where ships could be clearly seen. Mr Hummell was so inspired by the home's vantage point, he named it Bayview.
Hoping for a better all-round lookout, in 1865 Mr Hummell built a 30-metre tower beside Bayview, but it was blown down in a storm only a few months later.
He tried again with one further along the street near the Pickering house but, one morning, after a windy night, Mrs Pickering could not open her door — the tower had blown down again.
A wealthy Mr Hummell then imported Oregon beams, steel and English shipwrights to rebuild a third tower across the road. Mr Hummell went with this third city in 1878. Mr Hummell succeeded better than anyone could have imagined.
Tower St, one street east along Doncaster Rd from Shoppington corner, is named after this lookout.
According to the official history of Doncaster-Templestowe, the tower was 87 metres high, but a contemporary report claims only 61 metres.
Even so, this would make it twice the height of Shoppingtown's 10-story tower. Mr Hummell's ‘Beacon’sfield’ Tower was the tallest structure in Melbourne for many years.
Mr Hummell built not only a strong tower which was to become world renowned, but in 1881 constructed a large timber hotel with 39 rooms and stable accommodation for 20 horses a few hundred yards east of the corner.
There was a function room, picnic grounds with tracks for cycle and foot races and roller skating, all set in 5 ha of splendid gardens.
The function room seated 200 people and was used for balls and parties and had a public dining hall and private parlors.
The towers hilltop picnic grounds and view enclosed visitors to walk from Kew to Doncaster. Others came in horse-drawn drays. Bookings for weekend excursions by train and tram from Melbourne could be made at Princes Bridge Station.
The tower stood for 35 years, until 1914 when it was pulled down.
The official reasoning so far was that it was unsafe. According to unofficial history, the tower was pulled down to prevent spies using the tower to signal enemy craft during World War I.
Although today’s Shoppingtown tower and the municipal offices both offer excellent views of Melbourne (on a clear day) you can still see the bay, the magnificent views have never again been made available to the people.
This is a unique part of Doncaster well worth preserving.
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Wednesday, October 16, 1991
YESTERYEAR
Large forests gave way to farms, homes
By Joan Webster
LONG before the bush gave early settlers a living, it had to give them a home.
To make way for human habitation, trees were felled their branches 'wattled' or woven together and the bark stripped for roofing. The same instruments that broke clay for the first wattle huts, turned the soil for the first plantings.
Much land was cleared by ringbarking and burning. After the bark of living trees was cut right around the trunk to interrupt the flow of sap, the trees were left to die.
After a year or so, entirely forests of dead, ringbarked trees were set alight on hot, windy days so that all the remaining vegetation was burned.
This was called a 'good clearing burn' and prepared the ground for ploughing and planting.
As the bush was slowly pushed back, the Doncaster settlers found they had also pushed back the shelter provided by large trees.
To compensate, they planted pine tree windbreaks which have since become an integral part of the local scenery.
At this early stage, the growers were not yet called orchardists: they were known instead as gardeners.
In the 1850s, less than 20 years after Melbourne's founding, practically the only fresh fruit obtainable were berries.
Areas of land that were under cultivation were generally very small and even in Richmond's established market gardens, two planted acres was regarded as a large, commercial concern.
The whole agricultural process was one of trial and error based on a slow realisation that Australian soils were different from those in Europe.
Doncaster gardeners became experimenters. First they tried vegetables to capitalise on a shortage, but the soil on Doncaster hillsides was too shallow for widespread, successful market gardens.
Struggling
They then turned to grapes, raspberries, strawberries and gooseberries which grew better in the soil. These quick-ripening fruits were 'early money' for the struggling settlers.
To make a living while waiting for harvest, men cut wood and carted it on bullock drays to Melbourne and Kew. Depending on the season, they made fourpence to one shilling-and-a-penny for a hundred weight.
By the time they returned, the children and women had chopped the next load.
Women threshed grain from their wheat patch and baked bread from their own flour. Once a week they set off on foot for Kew market with bundles of eggs, butter, cream and vegetables.
Sometimes, these regular trips to market did not turn out as planned. On a horse and dray trip to Melbourne market in 1868, Philippine Thiele had to make an emergency stop at the apothecary.
Gabriel's corner dispensary in Victoria St, Richmond, to give birth to her youngest child, Alfred.
THE Gardeners is an early illustration of settlers clearing the forest. It is taken from the Australian Sketcher 1880.
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LARGE FORESTS GAVE WAY TO FARMS, HOMES
[ THE GARDENERS']
[500 words]
by JOAN WEBSTER
Before the bush would give our pioneers a living, it had to make them a home.
Trees were felled, their trunks and branches 'wattled' [woven] together, and bark stripped for roofing. The same spades that broke clay for plaster daub for the first
walls, turned the soil for the first plantings.
Much land was cleared by ringbarking and burning. The bark of living trees was cut right around the trunk to cut off the sap flow and they were left a year to die and dry
out. Then these 'tragic, ringbarked forests, stark white against the moon', as Dorothea MacKellar has described them in her classic poem 'My Country', would be set alight on fiercely hot windy days, so that no native vegetation at all remained.
This was called 'a good clearing burn'. The area could then be ploughed and planted.
As the bush was slowly pushed back, the Doncaster settlers found they had also pushed back the shelter their plants needed from the hot winds. They planted as
windbreaks the pines which have become an integral part of the local scenery.
At this early stage, the growers were not yet called orchardists. They were known as gardeners. In the 1850s, less than 20 years since Melbourne's founding,
practically the only fresh fruit its people could obtain were berries.
Areas of land that had been worked were very small, and even in the established market gardens of Richmond two planted acres was accepted as a large commercial
concern. The whole agricultural process was one of trial and error and a dawning
knowledge that Australian soils were different from those known in Europe.
Doncaster's gardeners became experimenters. They tried vegetables to capitalize on of a shortage, but the soil on Doncaster hillsides was found to be too
shallow. Grapes, raspberries, strawberries and gooseberries took to it more favourably, and these quick-ripening soft fruits were 'early money', as the struggling
settlers used to say.
To make a living while waiting for harvest, men cut wood and carted it on bullock drays to Melbourne and Kew. Depending on the season, they made fourpence,
to one shilling-and-a-penny for a hundredweight. By the time they returned, their wives and children had chopped the next load. Women threshed grain from their wheat patch and baked bread from their own flour.
Once a week they set off on foot for Kew, market with bundles of eggs, butter,
cream and vegetables. Sometimes, hastened on by the rigours of these expeditions, an unexpected bundle would be added to the tiny population.
On a horse and dray trip to Melbourne market in 1868, Phillipine Thiele had to stop off at the Apothecary Gabriel's corner dispensary, Victoria St(1), Richmond, to bear her youngest, Alfred.
(1) near Hoddie St end of Victoria St
Correct Manuscript [published version has inacuracies due to editorial changes] JKW
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30/10/91
YESTERYEAR
Names are enough to make a cat jump
by Joan Webster
MUCH of Doncaster-Temple-stowe's history is contained in the myriad of streets, crescents and roads named after leading settlers or events from the past.
The tale of Cat Jump Rd linking Old Warrandye and Springvale roads is a case in point.
In 1886, a group of residents concerned about road hazards applied to have a road built west of the Warrandyte and Springvale roads intersection.
While discussing the likelihood of the government agreeing to build the road, one resident observed, "It depends which way the cat jumps."
Another version of the tale is that Jack Hanley, the roads foreman of the day, said the road would be too short as a "cat could jump from one end to the other."
Regardless of which version is correct, the name stuck and came to denote the name of the new road.
Some councillors considered the name undignified and prepared an objection when the matter came before council.
However, the shire secretary put the item last on the agenda and the matter was never dealt with.
Until very recently, the intersection of Old Warrandyte and Mitcham roads was known as starvation corner, apparently because a couple, unable to excite out a living from the poor soil there, had starved to death.
Many streets in the municipality bear the names of pioneering families.
The 1880 shire voter's role contained only 100 names and many of these names now appear on street signs.
Andersons's Creek Rd, D'Arcy St, Aumann Court, Bulleen St, Clancy's Lane, Clay St, Knees Rd, Serpells Rd, Thiele St, Whittens Lane, Williamson's Rd, Wilson St and Zander Ave are just a few.
Anderson's Creek Rd in East Doncaster was named after James Anderson who overlanded cattle from New South Wales in 1838 and established a property near the present city of Warrandyte which, for many years, bore the name, Anderson's Creek.
Log School Rd, Doncaster, was named after a small log cabin in which Ann and Robins Wilson conducted a school.
Westfield corner atop Doncaster hill has had many names over the years.
It was first called Tully's corner, after Thomas Tully whose land was adjacent.
From 1890 for the next 40 years, it was known as Serpell's Corner.
Richard Serpell built a two-story brick storehouse intended to capitalise on custom brought up by the Box Hill - Doncaster tram, which he helped to finance just a year earlier. The store stood for almost 80 years.
The last name was White's Corner, named after the shopkeeper who leased the Serpell property from 1930.
Changes to street names over the years have obscured other important parts of our history.
Williamson's Rd was once called Ferguson's Rd, named after the school master who lived and taught in a building on Serpells Rd in 1855.
Many street names were changed during World War I when the descendants of German settlers wanted to prove their allegiance to the British Crown.
Led by Mr Fred Zerbe, they presented a petition to the council proposing to rename all the streets with German origin names.
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NAME'S ARE ENOUGH TO MAKE A CAT JUMP
[THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE]
Correct Manuscript [published version has inaccuracies due to editorial changes]
by JOAN WEBSTER
The street where you live may have been names merely to satisfy a sub-divider's whim, or it may point back to the beginnings of the community.
The tale of Cat Jump Road, which links Old Warrandyte and Springvale Roads, East Doncaster, reads like a shaggy dog story. In 1886 some residents applied to have a road created west of the sharp angle of the Warrandyte-Springvale Rds intersection, to avoid a hazardous half-mile up a steep hill.
During council discussion of the chances of the proposal one man is reported to have said: 'It all depends which way the cat jumps'. Another version f the tale is that Jack Hanley, the roads foreman of the day said the road would be too short, as a cat could jump from one end to the other. Which ever it was, the joke stuck and became the name of the new road.
Some councillors considered the name to be undignified and prepared to object when the proclamation came before council. However, the Shire secretary put the item last on the agenda, so the question was never dealt with and the name remained.
Until the late 1980s, the intersection of nearby Old Warrandyte and Mitcham Rds was always known as Starvation Corner A settler couple who could not make a living from the poor soil there was reputed to have died of starvation.
Many Doncaster-Templestowe streets are the names of pioneering families.
The 1880 Voters' Roll for the Shire contained only 100 names. To that 'old hundred', and others before them, the following streets bear witness: Anderson's Creek Rd, D'Arcy St. Aumann Crt, Bullen1 St, Clancy's Lane.
Denhert and Firth Sts, Franklin rd, Fromhold Drive, Ireland Ave, Knees rd, Lawford St, Lyons and Mays Rds, Petty's Lane, Reynolds and Serpell's Rds, Thiele St, Whitten's Lane, Williamson's Rd, Wilson St and Zander Ave.
Anderson's Creek Rd East Doncaster was named after James Anderson, who in 1938 overlanded cattle from north of the Murray2 River and squatted with them by a stream near the present Warrandyte, which for many years was called 'Anderson's Creek'.
Log School Rd, Doncaster was named for a small log cabin in which the Misses Ann and Robina Wilson conducted a school.
Westfield corner, atop Doncaster Hill, has had many names. It was first Tulley's corner, after Thomas Tulley whose land was adjacent. Then it became Lauer's corner when Mr A. Lauer built his bakery there and kept a toll gate on the south west corner.
For 40 years from 1890 it was Serpell's corner. Richard Serpell built a two-storied brick store, an emporium, intended to capitalise on custom brought up to it by the Box Hill-Doncaster tram, which he had helped finance he previous year. Its last known name was White's corner, after the shopkeeper who leased it from 1930.
Some street names have changed over the years, losing their old associations. Williamson's was once Ferguson'd Rd, named for the master of a school, who in 1835 lived and taught at what is now the corner of Williamson's and Serpell's Rd.
In 1916 Victoria St acquired its name from what had been Bismark St; King was changed from Wilhelm St, and George St acknowledged the reigning British king instead of being known as Waldau or German Lane.
This was during World War 1, when the descendants of German settlers wanted to prove their allegiance to the British Crown. Led by Mr Fred Zerbe, they presented a petition to Council, asking it to rename all German-origin street names.
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Nov 6, 1991
YESTERYEAR
Smithies helped build our city
By JOAN WEBSTER
BEHIND our modern motor service stations lies a rich history of village blacksmiths.
Blacksmiths operated their forges and shed horses on the same sites which are now occupied by modern service stations.
Attracting the passing traffic was the name of the game then, as it is now. So both the smithies and their modern counterparts favored corner sites.
All main intersections along Doncaster Rd had a smithy.
A traditional smithy car link on the south-west corner of the intersection of Doncaster and Williamson roads has recently passed into his-tory.
A new commercial building has replaced the Chequered Flag Motors, which was the original site of Charles Hillman and David Laurie's forge.
The forge was later moved to a site slightly west of Beaconsfield St, which was until recently Bob Jane's car sales.
Travelling east along Doncaster Rd, you can see the site where Hislop the blacksmith pumped his bellows into the fire and fixed horseshoes in his smithy shop on the corner of Doncaster Rd and Wetherby St.
A Caltex service station replaced it until it, too, was demolished.
After Hislop, the blacksmiths on this corner were Mr Lowe, Mr Curt Hillman, Hillman's widow and then Mr Sleeth.
On the south-west corner of Doncaster and Blackburn roads, opposite the Methodist Church, the Ampol service station stands on the site formerly occupied by the farrier J. Sell.
In Templestowe, former smithy sites include 2 Union St which was built by a blacksmith called Caulder.
Later it was let to Dan Harvey and later still, the smithy Crampton. It is now an Ampol service station.
On the corner of An-derson and James streets, William Hunter worked a forge in 1878, which later became Sylvester Mullens.
Older people would no doubt remember how as children they warmed their hands at the forge fire on the way to school.
A local blacksmith was versatile. He not only shoed horses, but was an adept bonesetter and manipulator.
William Hunter of Templestowe is credited with being a veterinary surgeon. However, his version of veterinary surgery was very limited.
His variety of tongs (long handled pincers for grasping hot metal) often doubled to pull teeth.
The blacksmiths made and mended anything made of iron: they shod horses, sharpened picks and tools and made nails by cutting a measured length of square rod which was hammered into shape in a jig.
Many jobs were similar to those needed for cars today. Blacksmiths did "wheel-alignments" when a wagon wheel broke. Spare parts were kept at forges for ploughs, cultivators and other horse-drawn vehicles just as service stations today keep them for cars.
There were smith-coach body builders, such as Mullens, with painters and signwriters for new vehicles and smash repairs.
Around 1927, Mullens installed the district's first petrol pump. Until then, the few car owners bought petrol in four gallon tins from the grocer.
Some of Doncaster-Templestowe's blacksmiths serviced the district's first cars while still servicing horses.
TOP: Hillman Bros General Blacksmiths was situated on the south-east corner of the Doncaster Rd, Victoria St intersection. It is now a Caltex service station.
Above: William Hunter's 1878 forge, which became Sylvester Mullen's, was on the corner of Anderson and James streets, Templestowe.
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YESTERYEAR
SMITHIES HELPED BUILD OUR CITY
[BLACKSMITHS ON SERVICE STATION SITES]
[500 words]
By JOAN WEBSTER
Beneath our spreading motor service stations many a village smithy stands - metaphorically speaking.
Blacksmiths operated their forges and shod horses on the same sites as motor mechanics now service cars. Catching the passing traffic was the name of the game then as it is now, so both smithies and service stations often chose corner sites. All main intersections along Doncaster Rd had a smithy.
A traditional smithy-car link on the south-west of Doncaster-Williamsons Rds corner has just been broken. A new commercial building has replaced the Chequered Flag Motors which was the original site of Charles Hillman and David Laurie's forge.
The forge was moved later to a site slightly west of Beaconsfield St, which until recently was Bob Jane's car sales.
Travelling east along Doncaster memory-lane, visualise on the north-east corner of Doncaster Rd-Victoria St opposite the Doncaster Inn Hotel, Hislop the blacksmith, pumping his bellows into the fire and examining a horse's hoof .
A Caltex service station was there until demolished not long ago. After Hislop, the blacksmiths using this corner were: Lowe, Curt Hillman, Hillman's widow and then Sleeth.
On the south west corner of Doncaster and Blackburn Rds, opposite the Methodist [Uniting] church, R.G.L. Automotive's [Ampol] site was that of the farrier J. Sell.
In Templestowe former smithy sites are: 2 Union St [extension of Thompson's Rd] near the corner of Foote St. This was built by a blacksmith named Caulder, let to Dan Harvey and later the smithy Crampton. It is now an Ampol service station.
On the corner of Anderson and James Sts William Hunter worked a forge in 1878 which later became Sylvester Mullens'.
Older people remember how they warmed their hands at the forge fire on their way to school.
A local blacksmith was versatile. He did not only shoe horses: one who specialised in shoeing was a farrier. Just as barbers were the forerunners of surgeons, so were blacksmiths the forerunners of chiropractors, being adept bonesetters and manipulators.
William Hunter of Templestowe is credited with being a veterinary surgeon. 'Veterinary', no doubt, he was. But surgery at that time, even for humans, was very limited.
Having a variety of tongs [long handled pincers for grasping hot metal], blacksmiths also doubled as dentists and pulled teeth. [No-one had anaesthetics to give at that time].
The blacksmith made and mended anything made of iron: shod horses, sharpened picks and tools and made nails by cutting a measured length of square rod which he hammered into shape in an implement called a jig.
Many jobs were similar to those needed for cars. Blacksmiths did 'wheel-alignments' when a wagon wheel broke, by reshaping its misaligned metal rim. Spare parts were kept at forges for ploughs, cultivators and other horse-drawn vehicles just as service stations keep them for cars.
There were smithy coach builders, such as Mullens, with painters and signwriters for new vehicles and 'smash repairs'.
Around 1927 Mullens put in the first petrol pump in the district. Until then, the few car owners bought petrol in four-gallon tins from the grocer. Some of Templestowe's blacksmiths serviced the district's first cars whilst still servicing horses.
188 ByWays DoncasterMirror
YESTERYEAR
Nellie: tomboy of the orchards
AS A child in the 1860s, Dame Nellie Melba stole rides on the woodcarts rumbling out from Doncaster.
Helen (Nellie) Mitchell and her parents arrived in Doncaster in 1858 after living in Richmond where Nellie was born.
In 1858, a 36 ha parcel of land near the Eastern Golf Links was subdivided into three smaller lots. It was here that the family settled.
The spot where David Mitchell built his farm cottage is now marked by a beautiful Bunya Bunya pine. The tree, called Bon-Yi Bon-Yi by the aborigines, is a native pine now confined to moist regions such as the Bunya Mountains of south-east Queensland.
It was introduced to Melbourne and to Doncaster, by Baron von Meuller, the designer of Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens.
The tree, which is all that is left of Nellie Mitchell-Melba’s childhood home, is situated about 100m east of the golf club house. Nearby stands the heritage listed building which was the stables of the original mansion built by eminent Melbourne surgeon Sir Thomas Fitzgerald.
A notorious tomboy, Nellie often climbed on the Bunya pine. She also loved to run behind the horses and carts lumbering down the big hill and to hitch a ride on them as they came back up.
Sound travelled far in the crisp, clear air of what city dwellers called ‘the highlands’. Settlers clearing their blocks or ploughing their land often heard the young Nellie singing and marvelled at what they called the ‘voice of an angel’.
They were not alone recognising her talent. Nellie Mitchell had made her public debut at the age of six.
In 1869, aged eight, she appeared in a concert in the Richmond Town Hall. A reporter for the Richmond Advertiser wrote of this performance: “Little Miss Mitchell, a young lady of the precocious age of 10 years, was the gem of links with her Doncaster friends.
As a schoolgirl at the Presbyterian Ladies College she spent many holidays with her former neighbors, the William-sons, after whom William-sons’s Rd is named.
JOAN WEBSTER
DAME Nellie Melba spent some of her childhood in Don-caster.
The Mitchell’s Doncaster house had an organ on which hymns were played each Sunday for the Presbyterian church service. One Sunday after the service, Nellie’s mother asked her to play for the congregation. But instead of playing the expected religious tunes, the precocious Nellie burst into a lively polka.
Mitchell was an unsuccessful candidate in 1862 for the Templestowe Roads Board (the precursor to the municipal council). A well known builder by trade, he became a gold mining entrepreneur and was noted for blasting the tunnel in the Yarra River at Pound Bend, Warrandyte.
When the family later moved to Lilydale to live in the famous Coombe Cottage, Nellie kept her
189 ByWays DoncasterMirror
A LAND sale taking place on Doncaster Hill about 1888.
HEIGHTS OF DONCASTER
DONCASTER
On Saturday, 14th JANUARY 1888,
55 SPLENDID ALLOTMENTS 55
SQUIRE ASPINALL
This valuable Property is located right in the centre of Doncaster Township, and on the main Doncaster Road.
between the Tower and Dr. Fitzgerald’s magnificent residences. A Post and Telegraph Delivery throughout the Township.
A LAND sale handbill of 1888.
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