Few towns in Victoria have bright memories of the early thirties and in this regard Warrandyte was certainly no exception, though, in some respects, it was a blessing in disguise. The roads were placed in a proper state of repair, possibly for the first time ever, funds were found for beautifying the Yarra and, in spite of the distressing times, public bodies were able to raise funds at an almost unbelievable figure. Big strides were made in developing and paying off the debt on the Mechanics Institute, a notable instance being the holding of a Court of Injustice in the main street during the Christmas Holidays of 1931-32.
Among those who took part were Messrs. A. Hobjoy (Judge), J. Russell and J. Sloan (Counsel for the Defence), F. Topping (Clerk of the Court) and H. Zock, J. Main, C. Schult and F. Teasdale (Constables). Both visitors and locals alike gave generously and the sum of £24. 9. 0 was raised.
The Annual Report of the hall for 1932 - 33 shows that the trustees had assets to the value of more than £2,000 and that £1,200 had been spent on improvements in the 5 years since it was erected; the sum of £491 was still outstanding to the bank. Mr. F. Topping retired from the office of secretary in July, 1933, after nearly 40 years' outstanding public service his place was taken by Mr. W. F. Betton who has since given similar service to Warrandyte.
After his retirement Mr. Topping was the recipient of a fine public banquet tendered to him at the hall, when Mr. Everard spoke feelingly of his straight forward character and Dr. Ethel Osborne presented him with a gold mounted pipe stand on behalf of the Warrandyte Womens' Auxiliary and a fountain pen on behalf of the Mechanics Institute Committee.
June 21st, 1934, witnessed the first of an unfortunate series of accidents that were to strike the district in the latter thirties, when two Warrandyte residents in Mr. W. Shea and Mr. W. Black were killed at Mr. W. Hussey's Quarry at South Warrandyte. The men were engaged in quarrying stone on a royalty basis for the Doncaster Council. Messrs. Hussey and Robinson were engaged on sharpening tools a short distance away when they heard a thunderous crash, hurrying to the scene they found that more than a hundred tons of stone had fallen completely burying Black and Shea, and partly covering Mr. J. Carrick of Templestowe. The alarm was given, and Cr. J. Colman and others were quickly on the scene and fought frantically to extricate the victims. Mr. Carrick showed considerable courage when he told his rescuers that he would be able to stick it out and to concentrate on helping the other two. Drs. W. H. Hewitt and J. J. Searby came from Ringwood, but it was some time before the victims could be released as further falls of rock made the rescue operations a dangerous job and another shot had to be put into the overburden.
Disaster struck again on November 30th, 1934, when practically the entire township was inundated by a huge flood. From midday Thursday, November 30th to midday Saturday rain fell incessantly. By 10 p.m. on the Saturday evening the river had risen to two feet above the scantling of the bridge, huge trees floated down stream and a mob of sheep and a horse and sulky are among the grim objects that were seen in the river that night. A huge hay stack struck the bridge dead centre and there were some anxious seconds when it looked as if it would carry away the bridge, but it finally disappeared beneath and the bridge came through it well. It was no ordinary flood, the Selby Boarding House was completely surrounded and Till's orchard was just a sea of water, but on the Sunday morning a spark of humour was added to the grim spectical when a wag posted a notice on the Presbyterian Church which was 7 ft. under water, stating that the next hymn would be "Shall We Gather at the River".
The heights of the great floods of 1863 and 1934 were compared at Heidelberg and it was believed that the former was the highest of the two though there was very little difference; however Edmund Finn in his "Chronicles of Early Melbourne" states that the Yarra's highest flood was in 1839, but it was too early for any definite facts to be obtained.
After more than 12 years of untiring efforts by the late Cr. Angela Booth and Warrandyte Riding Councillors, electricity was reticulated through Warrandyte in November and December 1935. The State Electricity Commission investigated the proposal as early as 1924. In 1926 a proposal was made to light Warrandyte, South Warrandyte and Wonga Park from a small hydro electric plant at the Pound Bend Tunnel, but investigations showed that the cost would be out of all proportion to the benefit derived. A more practical suggestion that Warrandyte alone could be lit from a tiny 25 h.p. plant developing 400 volts was made. It was estimated that the cost would be about £3,000 to £4,000 but the promoters were unable to raise the necessary £600 required by the S.E.C. before the scheme could proceed.
On November 13th, 1935, a memorial cairn was unveiled by Mr. W. H. Everard to the first discovery of gold in Victoria by Louis J. Michel and party at Warrandyte. The occasion was a really gala day for Warrandyte and many distinguished visitors came from the city; the playing of selections by the Warrandyte State School Fife Band was much appreciated and Mr. G. Stewart gave a demonstration of panning gold from the Creek bed. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Everard stated that the discovery of gold at Warrandyte had laid the foundation of an industry that was worth more than £354,000,000 to Victoria. Messrs. C. R. Long, of the Historical Society of Victoria, Julius Grant and Professor Osborne also spoke on the occasion. The Shire President, Cr. A. E. Ireland, moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Everard and the visitors.
Mr. Julius Grant was a distinguished resident of Park Orchards for several years; he represented Warrandyte as Councillor of the Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe in 1937 - 1938, and was associated with the William Anderson as Lessee of the King's Theatre for some years. In 1934 together with Messrs. C. R. Long and J. R. Jennings - he received an invitation to the unveiling of the Adam Lindsay Gordon Memorial at Westminster Abbey, but was unable to accept.
Many difficulties were overcome in the establishing of the Warrandyte Baby Health Centre which was officially opened by Dr. Vera Scantlebury on the 31st May, 1938. Some people contended that there were not sufficient children in the district to warrant a centre, but the transport situation with Ringwood was not good and Warrandyte mothers were under a disadvantage. It took a considerable amount of agitation on the part of the Warrandyte Public Purposes Committee before it was brought to a successful conclusion. Among those present at the opening were the Mayor of Ringwood, Cr. A. T. Miles, The Doncaster Shire Health Officer, Dr. P. Commons, Dr. Mary Kent Hughes and Mrs. B. B. Schult, Secretary of the Warrandyte Baby Health Centre. The Centre was the 173rd opened in Victoria.
Friday January 13th, 1939, will long be remembered as a disastrous day, not only for Warrandyte, but for the whole of Victoria; on that day no fewer than 45 people lost their lives at the hand of the terrible bush fires which raged throughout the state - Warrandyte, Woods Point, Nayook West, and Noojee were razed to the ground and several other country towns suffered severely.
At Warrandyte no fewer than 168 houses were burnt to the ground in less than an hour; the fire commenced near a farm owned by a Mr. Hurst on the north bank of the Yarra near Eltham. The day was one of stifling heat, the official temperature in Melbourne rising to an all-time high of 114.1 degrees. The Eltham Fire Brigade was quickly on the scene under Mr. W. Allen and Constable McDonald; the fire did not have a great hold but the brigade was unfortunately hampered through the lack of water, the nearest fire plug being nearly ½ mile away at Mr. P. Leason's farm. The firemen ran out the full extent of their 1200 foot hose - which was all they possessed - only to find that it was still 300 feet short and without water they were powerless to stop the terrible holocaust.
The Eltham Brigade fought magnificently to save the home of Mr. Petre, the Swedish Consul, after the flames had licked the walls, but were unable to save the beautiful residences of Sir William Irvine, Mr. A. S. Austin and several fine properties along the Yarra. The fire soon jumped the river and is believed to have joined another fire burning on the south bank. It then swept on with relentless rapidity towards Warrandyte, the first warning the townspeople had was a huge pile of black smoke which rose over Melbourne Hill; they hardly had time to realize the significance of it when the red glow of the flames was seen. The alarm was given and the Warrandyte Fire Brigade assembled under Constable Birdesil but, realizing the hopelessness of attempting to stop the fire, they returned to try and protect their homes.
The experience of Mr. M. Isaac, the local school master, was typical of several Warrandyte families that day. Mr. Isaac was resting on his bed when a tradesman warned his wife of the approaching fire; they hastily began packing a few personal belongings when suddenly a cry was heard "Run for your lives". Rushing outside they saw the flames rushing straight at the house, with one or two hastily packed cases they groped their way through the smoke to their car. "I can't see to drive" exclaimed Mr. Isaac. "It doesn't matter whether you can see or not" said the family "just drive." The car was driven into the smoke and crashed into a horse-drawn vehicle. Mrs. Isaac thought she heard a horse whinnying in panic, but the car went on and presently emerged from the smoke. Mrs. Isaac, her daughter and grandchild took refuge in the river while Mr. Isaac went to join the fire fighters.
The fire raced around the slope of the hill behind the main street razing house after house as it went and meanwhile a second prong of the fire had jumped the river closer to the town. It burnt every house on the Pound Bend and swept up the gullies behind the river cliffs to the Kangaroo Ground Road and Artist Hill. It displayed wanton freakishness razing a brick house here and leaving a wooden house a few yards away. The wind appeared to be blowing in all directions at once, first from the north, then from the west, the south west and then from the north again.
The fire fighters were greatly hampered by the lack of water which was used to protect the post office - it was only saved after a desperate hour long fight. The fire by-passed the hotel, the main shopping block and the hall, but the people for the most part had to watch helplessly as the three churches and house after house disappeared in smoke as the heat was too great to attempt to fight the fire.
Heavy loss of life was only prevented by the residents taking refuge in the river, large numbers of personal belongings were also taken down to the river bank which was strewn with wirelesses, sewing machines and personal belongings. At the height of the fire a group of excited people under the hotel verandah were somewhat hysterically congratulating themselves that, although houses were blazing like torches only a few yards away, they were quite safe, when suddenly a cry was heard that the verandah was on fire. The outbreak was soon extinguished but a car narrowly escaped when sparks from across the river ignited a kapok mattress and it was thrown over the balcony to protect the building.
The fire continued to sweep on a four mile front towards South Warrandyte where again heavy loss of life was only averted by the residents taking refuge in Messrs. Coleman's and Reed's dams; the public hall, the school and the post office were razed in a few minutes. The courage of the Post Mistress was spoken highly of when she remained at her post receiving calls until the flames were at the very doorstep of the building. On another occasion two fire fighters disregarded warnings and dashed through flames to rescue two young children from a blazing house, and there were several other acts of heroism recorded that day and, in spite of the fact that they were exhausted after the strenuous day, 50 fire fighters from Warrandyte answered an urgent call for assistance from Queenstown at 11 p.m. that night.
As bad as the day was, however, the district was not by any means the worst hit in Victoria; the worst disaster was at Woods Point where 16 men lost their lives at Fitzpatrick's Sawmill and, at the time of the Warrandyte disaster, a special train was en route from Mansfield to Seymour with nearly 500 homeless people from Woods Point. It was natural that the authorities were concentrating on getting assistance to the worst hit districts first. The Melbourne people responded wonderfully to the urgent radio calls for assistance which were broadcast throughout the day; more than 1700 men offered their services as fire fighters at the emergency office at the Forestry Department and more than 50 truck loads of food and medical supplies left the Red Cross headquarters for the country centres.
The first organization to get through to Warrandyte with food and medical assistance was the Melbourne Gas Works Branch of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade who took up their post at the hall about 6 p.m. Some of those who had lost their homes were accommodated by more fortunate neighbours, but the majority were taken to Ringwood where they spent the night at the Church of England Parish Hall and the Rev. E. V. Carter was almost overwhelmed with offers of food and clothing for the victims from the Ringwood people. Both the Ringwood borough Council and the Shire of Lilydale opened appeals on their own on behalf of the victims. At Croydon Mr. H. C. Brown, proprietor of the Croydon Hotel, provided accommodation for several homeless families entirely free of charge, whilst on the Saturday Mr. W. Weber M.L.A. - in company with Cr. A. T. Miles - toured the fire stricken areas making arrangements for the distribution of blankets and other necessities. On the Sunday after the holocaust huge crowds of sightseers invaded the town, the cars being bumper to bumper for miles along the Ringwood and Melbourne Roads and there were several reports of pillaging though it appeared to be more in the line of souvenir hunting than proven dishonesty.
For some hours after the holocaust had passed it was thought that the district had fortunately escaped the terrible toll of human life which had been experienced in other parts of the state, but as the evening wore on it became evident that one of the town's oldest and best liked residents was missing in the person of Mr. Frederick Topping. The next morning his body was among the ruins of his home; fire fighters had gone to his house to try and assist him at the height of the fire but were unable to find him. Though not of substantial means, Mr. Topping was a generous man who had always gone out of his way to assist public bodies and work for the common good; to augment his pension he wrote as Warrandyte correspondent for the local press and both the Ringwood Mail and the Eltham Advertiser paid him very fine tributes. The Ringwood Mail stated :- "Fred Topping's name will be enscrolled in big letters in the annals of Warrandyte, he never spared himself but worked in the interests of the community. Those who knew him pause to pay tribute to the memory of a sportsman, a friend, a benefactor and a man." At the instigation of Mr. W. F. Betton, a fund was opened to erect a placque to his memory at the Mechanics Institute. It was unveiled by Mr. W. H. Everard on the 10th October, 1940.
Besides his public activities Mr. Topping was also a noted pioneer sportsman; he was a member of the well known Topping brothers who played cricket for Fitzroy in the eighties, and in the year 1892 had the honour to represent Victoria in that sport. He was also an uncle of George Topping, the famous Carlton footballer of the pre 14-18 war era.
At a meeting of the Ringwood District Cricket Association held the following week the Secretary, Mr. Edie, reported that no fewer than six matches had been abandoned on the Saturday and both the Warrandyte and South Warrandyte Clubs had been put out of action. "Their pavilions have been destroyed, their equipment lost and several of the players have lost their homes. It is unlikely that either club will be able to take any further participation in the association this season," he added. However though the South Warrandyte club was unable to reform, the Warrandyte senior team took the field against Kilsyth the following week as usual. A special committee was appointed by the R.D.C.A. to raise funds to replace Warrandyte's lost equipment but it was necessary as Lorre's Sporting Goods Depot in Swanston Street and the Palmer Sports Store in High Street, Malvern generously donated sufficient equipment for the club to carry on. Later in the year the Victorian Cricket Association donated £50 worth of equipment to the Warrandyte and South Warrandyte clubs. The Warrandyte club received a new set of matting and the South Warrandyte club a complete set of cricketing equipment. There were several comments by the local people over the V.C.A.'s nice gesture.
The Koornong School was opened at North Warrandyte by Mr. J. C. Neild M.A. Dip. Ed. in 1939. It represented somewhat of a departure from the conventional methods of teaching. Mr. Neild had travelled widely through Europe and the United States studying the latest trends in education. He placed greater emphasis on the practical side of school work and the locality proved ideal for his purpose. The students themselves erected a small boarding cottage, a stone dining room, an art studio and a swimming pool on the Yarra, all of which were designed to fit in with the lovely bush atmosphere of the district. The school got into financial difficulties in the early post war years and had to be closed in spite of some laudable efforts on the part of the Sun newspaper and others to keep it going.
The declaration of war in September, 1939, saw the Warrandyte people play a similar role to that which they had played in the first world war in entertaining convalescent soldiers etc., though it was not on such a large scale. Large sums were raised for the Red Cross, the Patriotic and Prisoner of War Appeals, a notable instance being the raising of £105 by three South Warrandyte girls - Misses L. Haslam, Nancy Milne and Dorothy Smith in an Autumn Girl contest in 1941.
The Warrandyte Fire Brigade took over Air Raid Precaution responsibilities and organized first aid classes for residents in the hall. Arrangements were made to pool the services of the local brigades in the event of an emergency. The Warrandyte people suffered inconvenience during the war years, as they were placed on greater reliance with their bus service and the shortage of fuel caused the venue to be transferred from the city to Box Hill.
The welcome home tendered to the returning servicemen of Warrandyte by the Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe was held at the hall on March 30th, 1946. Nearly 500 guests were officially received on behalf of the Council by Cr. Nankivell. Presentations were made and certificates presented to next-of-kin of the fallen, viz: Mrs. Flanagan wife of W. Flanagan R.A.A.F., Mrs. McAuley, mother of W. McAuley A.I.F., Mrs. M. McCallum, mother of T. McCallum A.I.F., Mrs. Salagari, mother of S. J. Salagari and Mrs. Wakeham, wife of V. Wakeham A.I.F.
The courage of a local Warrandyte youth, 17 year old Walter Walsh, was warmly commended by the Sydney press when he dived fully clothed from the deck of the Curl Curl in Sydney Harbour to rescue a drowning woman in April, 1946. He had a hazardous swim of more than 150 yards on a dark night to reach her and was completely exhausted when he succeeded in regaining the deck of the ferry.
A suggestion that South Warrandyte should be renamed was discussed by 80 residents at a public meeting in the local hall on April 27th, 1947. The chair was occupied by Cr. Tribolet and Mr. Stewart moved and seconded by Mr. Dwight that, in the interests of the public and private convenience and of the social and material advancement of the area, it was desirable that the district should be given a name. The motion met with a mixed reception, however, and after some discussion Messrs. K. Hardy and J. Jones moved an amendment that the proposed renaming of the district be abandoned and that the postal facilities be not interfered with; the amendment being carried by a substantial majority.
The name South Warrandyte had a rather interesting beginning, as it was first given to the locality now known as Croydon; it was transferred to its present site after the opening of the Lilydale railway in 1882.
Since the year 1946 the population of Warrandyte has more than doubled and, in common with other sections of the Shire, a considerable difference of opinion exists among local residents as to how far material progress should be allowed to encroach on the rural character of the district, but there is little doubt that the problem will be settled to the satisfaction of all concerned and the picturesque hills will go on attracting many thousands of visitors for many years to come.
Our survey of more than 100 years of community life in Warrandyte is nearly completed, the past decade has been an era of transition and considerable progress has been made. A magnificent new concrete bridge costing nearly £75,000 was officially opened on December 8th, 1955; an automatic telephone service was introduced in September, 1957, and plans are well under way for the establishing of a local water trust. This was achieved after many years of persistent agitation and much credit is due to Cr. Withers for his untiring efforts in this regard. The proposal was investigated by the M.M.B.W. as far back as 1946, but the cost of bringing the water from the nearest mains at Croydon was estimated at more than £158,000 and the matter has been allowed to drag on from year to year over since.
In conclusion I might say that, though the progress of Warrandyte is assured and doubtless many improvements will be made in the not far distant future, still it is equally certain that, in common with other towns throughout Australia, we owe much to the enterprise of the pioneers.
Source: We believe from handwritten notes in records that the following text is an unpublished manuscript in 2 volumes (Ch1-11 and Ch12-21) written by Louis Radnor Cranfield (1927- 14 Oct 1992) F.R.HIST.S. (Fellow of the Royal Historical Society). Find a Grave Record. National Library of Australia Record.
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