The Great War was over and the people settled down to a time of prosperity. The population increased mainly from immegrants looking for a new life in Australia. Trade and commerce grew to meet the demands of new people. With more trade so more ships entered the river.
In 1920 soldiers returned form the war looked for new interests. The Yarra offered handy opportunity for recreation. From the beginning of the century the stretch of river between Dights Falls and Burke Road had already been a popular place of recreation These were the days of simple pleasures, people swam in swimming holes at sandbanks, picnicked on the river bank, rowed boats, paddled canoes, or just enjoyed Devonshire tea at the boat sheds. They came on foot or by tram, a few came by car, but the real way to enjoy the water was to travel on a steam boat. Hardings ran a steam boat service from Princes Bridge to Dights Falls. From here the passengers walked to John Berns boat shed where another boat took them to Rudder Grange, the Fairfield tea gardens or the willow Bank Cafe at Alphington . The boat left Melbourne at 10 am and returned at 4 pm. In the 1920’s water sport on the Yarra boomed, there were six to seven hundred canoes along this section of the River. The Fairfield boat sheds at Willow Dell and Rudder Grange became well known recreation places. In the late 1930’s Cooke died, Ellie carried on Rudder Grange for a short time but tea rooms were no longer being patronised. She sold to Carl Serak. Carl closed down the tea rooms and concentrated on boat building. Boats always needed repaird he also manufactured canoes with Alfred Howard. These were built by the traditioal method using a timber frame covered with canvas. During the 1950’s factory built fiberglass canoes came on the market. In 1964 Rudder Grange was sold to the boaed of Works, the house house was demolished and the remains of the river landing was eventually washed away. (Source: Aurther Howard, Personal communication)
Shortly upstream from Dights Falls there is a bend in the Yarra where the water was deep with a sandy beach in a clearing among the gum trees. During the summer months locals used to come here to swim. By 1914 this place, known as Deep Rock, had become popular. During the following years a swimming club built a dressing shed and the notorious John Wren who belongd to the club gave concrete for terraces and a safe pool for children and non-swimmers. 26
To raise money during the War, on March 23 1918, the Deep Rock Swimming Club held a fund raising carnival. The main feature of the day was to be a spectacular high dive. The club constructed a tower on the cliff top on the Kew side 100feet above the water. John Wren offered 100 pounds for anyone who would make the dive and it was reported that a noted Hawaiian swimmer would dive from the towe. A crowd of 5000 came to see a local swimmer seeing Alex Wicham dressed up with feathers make the couragous dive. Millars guide proclaimed it as the world’s highest dive. (Source: Footnote, W. J. Cox, Secretary Yarra Bend Trust , Kew Historical Society Newslette,
Sept 1992)
After the 1930’s depression a concrete dressing shed was built as an employment project. By the 1950’s the area had become silted up and pollution from the many new homes along the river made it unsuitable for swimming. The Deep Rock area was changed completely with the construction of the freeway. The concrete terraces and buildings were removed and later the area was planted with trees.
For people living in this area, the river was close, while a visit to a bayside beach, without a car, was a full day’s trip. On summer days the Yarra became alive with swimmers. At bends of the river, where sandbanks had formed, groups of bathers congregated. In the early days of the century clubs formed and over the years several swimming pools were constructed, at Fairfield, Alphington and Ivanhoe and swimming carnivals became popular. 27
The Templestowe School built a dam across Ruffeys Creek close to the Yarra. The scheme was not very successful as most of the time there was not enough water in the creek to fill the pool during hot weather. of course the pool was full during the winnter. Warrandyte had its swimming carnival on New Years Day. They held the carnival on the banks of the Yarra behind the Post Office where a diving board reached out over the stream. As well as diving contests a popular contest was the canoe bouncing race. The contestants stood on the rear of their canoe and propelled them by bouncing along. At times the four schools in the district held their swimming sports in the river here. Further up the river the Warburton people cleared out a pool near the town.
Bathers swam and dived into the river often with no thought for what lay below the dark water. The summer days were often marred by a report of tragedy. A swimmer would dive down into the cool water and become tangled among the branches of a gum tree hidden below the surface. People would read the news, shake their heads and say; “caught in a snag.” In 1924 the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works was given authority to look after the river within a 13 mile radius of Melbourne. That included the course of the Yarra to past Templestowe. In the next six years the Board removed over 24,000 snags from the Yarra.
On the eastern side of Yarra Bend a thick wall with a deep ditch surrounded the Metropolitan Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1848 .28 The asylum was described by the Illustrated Australian News in 1868; “The prospect from the south bank (Studley Park) is perhaps the most attractive to be found in Melbourne. Seen in the distance the Asylum below, with its picturesque buildings, present the appearance of a village seen in early morning before the `little’ life has begun to show itself.”
The old Asylum buildings were cleared away in the 1920’s and the 500 acres of Yarra Bend became parkland. (Source: Frank Bryning, The Argus, 23 Dec 1933) Now football, cricket, hockey and soccer grounds and a golf course have made Yarra Bend an active area of recreation. On the south a suspension bridge, the Kane Bridge connects with Studley Park. Before the Kane Bridge was built rough steps led down to a ferry with a gas lamp at its foot. The ferryman laid a cable across the river tied to gum trees on the banks. He pulled his boat across with the cable. On the south bank is the boat shed built by Burn. Visitors came by Cable Tram along Johnston Street crossed to Studley Park on the Johnston Street Bridge and walked down the hill to the boat sheds. Here they enjoyed family outings, riverside walks with picnics on the river banks, hired a boat to row up the river or travelled by steam launch to Willow Dell and Rudder Grange at Fairfield or the River Bank Cafe at Alphington.
Councilor Kane was responsible for the building of the suspension footbridge in 1929. Five years later the great flood of 34 tore the cables on one side of the bridge. When the flood water subsided Kanes bridge was trailing side on along the river bed. It was rebuilt and again in 1989 required further repairs.
Boat sheds, where boats were built and Thames river boats could be hired
After the Great War service men, returned from the war, formed clubs usuing the appropriate name boomerang. At Rudder Grang a Boomerang Canoe Club formed. Since 1912 many people had been building their own canoes and needed a place on the river to store them. Cooke built a boat house for canoes on the river bank at his landing for canoes. The Boomerang Canoe Club folded after a few years but in 1924 enthusiasts formed the Fairfield canoe club at Willow Dell and purched land on the river, later building their own club rooms. (Source: Arthur Howard. Personal communication) The Melbourne Canoe Club was formed at Willow Dell during the 30’s later after the 39 - 40 war a new group of service men used Rudder Grange boat dhed for their canoes.
Cooke was always consious of the river for although the Yarra flowed peacefully under the dimpled surface like a living breathing creature, frequently the water rose in a wild rushing torrent and Cooke could only watch fearfully while the river climbed up the banks as it inundated his land. Floods were a part of life for the people who lived on the river.
In the 1920’s water sport on the Yarra boomed, there were six to seven hundred canoes along this section of the River. The Fairfield boat sheds at Willow Dell and Rudder Grange became well known recreation places. In the late 1930’s Cooke died, Ellie carried on Rudder Grange for a short time but tea rooms were no longer being patronised. She sold to Carl Serak. Carl closed down the tea rooms and concentrated on boat building. Boats always needed repaird he also manufactured canoes with Alfred Howard. These were built by the traditioal method using a timber frame covered with canvas. During the 1950’s factory built fiberglass canoes came on the market. In 1964 Rudder Grange was sold to the boaed of Works, the house house was demolished and the remains of the river landing was eventually washed away.
One man who remembered the Hawthorn Tea Gardens was Bill Jenkins.10 Fifty years later he told me the story of meeting his wife at a picnic on the Yarra. Bill took a picture from the wall. A photograph in a small frame showing a boy and a girl in the type of clothes worn in the 1920’s, The girl sleeves, in a white dress with flounced sleaves a wide brimmed picture hat, white stockings and black shoes. The boy wearing a striped blazer and straw boater. “That’s where I met my wife, at the Hawthorn Tea Gardens during our annual river picnic. “I saw Betty standing alone, leaning over the railing looking down at the river and asked her to come out on a boat. That’s how we met. I didn’t see her again till the picnic the next year.
My crowd had arrived first and I stood around waiting for the other ferry, anxiously hoping she would be coming. I still remember the sound of the ferry’s whistle echoing across the water as the boat swung around the bend, and then picking out Betty standing at the rail among the others. We stayed together all day. We even went for a swim, I showed off my over-arm, she also swam, doing a gentle breast stroke. We sat together for lunch, afterwards going for a stroll along the river bank. Once, when out of sight, we kissed, modestly leaning forward so our bodies wouldn’t touch. During the afternoon her mother took this picture with her Kodak postcard camera. That was a long time ago, now Betty has been dead for over twenty years.”
Bill had the photograph of their meeting at the Hawthorn Tea Gardens, framed and hung alongside his wedding photograph and other memories of his happy marriage. Bill had never been back to the tea gardens and had never been on the river again. Sometimes when he crossed a bridge over the Yarra and looked down, the sight of the strip of flat water between the banks gave him a pleasant feeling. Once when a friend said something deprecating about the dirty river, he said, “Its not that bad.” To have shown any appreciation of the Yarra would have been naive but when a visitor from Sydney talked about the river flowing upside down, he was annoyed and quickly responded `that Melbourne had improved the river with attractive lawns along the river banks at Alexander Avenue.’
When Betty died Bill Placed the urn with her ashes ona table and made a shrine to he memory. A white lace cloth covered the table and her favorite ornaments and articles were carefully arranged around the urn. on the wall hung pictures of Betty and their life together. Centered among them the photograph of Betty in a white dress with flounced sleaves and a wide brimmed picture hat with white stockings and black shoes. A reminder of the day they met at the Hawthorn Tea Rooms.
On the long stretch of the Yarra from the Johnston Street Bridge at Kew to Banksia Street Bridge at Heidelberg there was no road bridge till 1926 when three municipalities, Kew. Heidelberg and Camberwell, built a bridge at Burke Road. Forty years later the post war growth in those areas had created a great increase in road traffic. Another bridge for north bound traffic was placed alongside and at a higher level. In 1934 the flood covered the Burke road bridge so the new one was placed above the flood level and twelve years later the old bridge was demolished and replaced by a matching structure for south bound traffic.
During the boom years of the 1920s homes up on the hills above the river again became sought after. Houses with a garage for the car on the road and a jetty for the boat on the river were fashionable.
On Studley Park Road Raheen, the mansion built by Edward Latham in 1870 was purchased by the Roman Catholic church for the Catholic Archbishop, Dr. Daniel Mannix. Life at Raheen with its park like gatden that sweept down to the Yarra when it was the home of the eminent barrister Sir Heenry and Lady Wrixton, changed from the days of lavish receptions to an austere religious life. The ballroom once the asene of luxurious balls to a religious library.
Across the river opposite Templestowe, Captain Swanston disliked the long trip over the unmade road to Eltham Township. He found it easier to row across to Templestowe. To make the crossing easier he built a suspension bridge close to the junction of Ruffeys Creek. By the 1920’s Swanstons Bridge, one of the few private Bridges had deteriorated and in the 1934 flood it was washed away. (Source: Brien Mullens, Personal communication)
At Warrandyte the people looked on the bridge tat had been built in 1875 as a centre for the town. From about 1924 the preople celebrated New Years Eve on the bridge. They carried a piano from a nearby home to the bridge and during the evening the party got under way with singing and dancing. At midnight there was a loud explosion as a gold miner set off a stick of gelignite. (Source: Warrandyte Historical Society Newsletter, Apr 1988)
In 1929 Melbourne fell into the dispair of the world wide depression. Some enterprising men who had lost their jobs looked for gold in the old goldmining areas. A Warrandyte man, Tom Logan with his brothers and son, repeated a the method used in the 1860’s, they built a coffer dam in the Yarra and scraped silt from between the rocky crevices in the river bed where grains of gold had collected.
The Yarra flowing through the hills of Warrandyte attracted tourists and holiday makers to the hotels and guest houses in the area. There were two hotels in Yarra Street that overlooked the river, The Grand and the Warrandyte . At he island just passed the town Captain Selby renovateed the old building, that over seventy years before, had been Dawsons Homestead, and added simple huts lined with threeply walls to make a guest house.
On the bank of the Yarra at Warrandyte a scout group set up camp in 1923. They selected a delightful spot under the shade of trees where the boys looked out across the river. Wild water leapt in white spurts over rocks half hidden below the surface but in places the water flowed with an oily smooth surface dark, opaque, giving no indication of its hidden depths.
The scouts had come from their scout hall at Toorak. On Saturday afternoons the boys happily prepared for the great camp, cleaning and greasing the troop hand cart and painting dope on the tents and tent flaps to make them waterproof. They were going to walk all the way from Toorak to Warrandyte carrying the equipment and provisions in the hand cart. The camp was the idea of the Scout Master but he left the preparations to his Assistant Scout Master. Names in the group were informal. The boys called the Scout Master the “Boss” and his assistant, the Chief”, but there was nothing informal about the boss. During meetings he sat in his office only coming out to stand formally at attention to receive the parade, the Chief ran the meetings. When the great day came to leave for camp they lined up in the drive in front of the scout hall. The Boss was at the front ready to lead his boys, behind him came the patrol leaders, then the hand cart with two boys holding the handle at the front of the long shaft, other boys held ropes attached at each side of the cart. The Chief came at the rear to oversee the procession while a young boy, looking very small, walked at his side. At a signal from the Boss the troop moved out the gate on their way to Warrandyte and the Yarra. During the long walk the boys sang with great gusto their favourite songs such as; Poor old Noah had an ark, and covered it over with stringy bark,.
In clear patch under tall gum trees the tents were pitched, the camp fire lit and the boys settled down to the routine of camp life. The next day one boy Joe, caused excitement when he produced a .22 rifle. The boys were torn between the excitement of seeing a gun and doubt about what the Boss will say when he saw it. Joe said it was to shoot a rabbit for tea, but he did not shoot a rabbit. There was consternation and disapproval when Joe shot a platypus. Perhaps shooting a platypus is the Australian equivalent of The Ancient Mariner shooting an Albatross.
The next day when the troop gathered for lunch, Joe was missing. There was a strict rule that when boys left camp they must be in a group of at least three. After questioning by the Chief it came out that there had been an argument and Joe had gone off in the canoe. During the talk the group swung round when a boy shouted, Look! The canoe came floating down the river riding high out of the water and looking very ominous - empty! The troop stood silently as they realised the implication of the empty canoe. Then the Chief took over, organising a rapid search. One of the boys who was a strong swimmer, jumped in and dived to the river bed. He continued to dive in searching the bed of the river and eventually found Joe caught in the branches of a submerged tree.
At the next scout meeting everyone spoke quietly. The Boss looked shattered and went into his office, he did not come out for the parade. The chief assembled the group and spoke about the tragedy. He told them that a river is a place for enjoyment with wonderful opportunities for recreation, swimming, boating and fishing but that a river also has the potential to be dangerous. He told us not to be afraid of a river but to treat it with respect. Be careful, and always follow the simple rules for safety. (Source: Personal experience)
In 1930 the councils of Kew and Heidelberg began to reconstruct the railway line as a road and they repaired the bridge constructing a two lane road across it. The old rail line became the Chandler Highway and the old railway bridge a road bridge. (Source: Lillian Moon, The Australian Municipal Journal 1984)
During the lively days of the 1920s when a post war boom attracted immegrants the population of Melbourne grew. In 1891 when the Board of Works was formed 49000 people had to be supplied with water but in the 20s there were ? . In 1920 the Board started to construct Melburne’s first water supply dam at Maroondah. Water flowed from Maroondah to Melbourne’s taps in 1927. Two years later work commenced to tap the Yarra at a site above the present Upper Yarra Dam with a weir across the river and an aquaduct to the Starvation Creek Basin. From there the water was piped to O’Shannassy aqueduct.
During dry years in the 1920s the Board of Works realised that water was being collected from the Yarra tribrutaries and run through aquducts and pipes to local resevoirs in the suburbs but large storage was needed to balance the dry and wet weather. They constructed the Silvan Reservoir to hold the increased flow that had been brought into the aquducts from the tributares of the Yarra at Upper Yarra and Coranderrk Creek. The Silvan Reservoir was completed in 1932 and was seen as a jewel in the bushland valley of the Dandenongs. (Source: Jim Viggars, Yarra River Conference 1991)
The forests beyond Warrandyte in the upper reaches of the Yarra and the foothills of the Baw Baws were becoming a tourist area for the more active bush walkers and there was a suggestion of marking the tracks with sign posts, but in the late thirties plans were being prepared by the Board of Works to construct the large Upper Yarra Dam. The forests beyond the dam would then become a water catchment area with restricted access.
The Baw Baw track from from McVeighs on the Upper Yarra to Walhalla with its picturesque scenery and challenging track attracted experienced bush walkers and sometimes inexperienced beginners. R.H.Croll walked this track in the 1920s with, other members of The Melbourne Walking Club. Croll described this walk in his book. “The Open Road in Victoria” published in 1928.
“Very few of the of the 50 miles between Walsh’s Creek (McVeigh’s) on the Ipper Yarra and the Railhead at Walhalla - which constitute the “Baw Baw Track” - are easy miles.” They walked along this winding bridle track up the Yarra Valley as it rose above the Yarra. “Higher and higher grow the hills , well clothed , particularly on the right bank, with tall timber and luxuriant shrubs. The slopes above the river look primaeval and untrodden.” The track had been made by miners searching the bush for gold last century. Just before the 15 mile post they found a T blazed on trees giving them a reminder of those days, it indicated the Tanjil.
Along the trail were two iron huts, constructed for walkers where they could spend a night dry and warm in this inhospitable bushland. The huts were well constructed with solid fireplace and concrete floor. A table with a form and boxes to sit on, , facilities for preparing and eating as meal and a broom to clean the hut before leaving. Here Falls Creek joins the Yarra and a mile and half up are six waterfalls.
Croll said that,
“The second stage of the journey opens badly with a determined zig-zag, - As you climb, the Yarra Valley recedes on your left flank; below on the right are glimpses of the Falls Creek. The timber is large, mountain ash in the main, mingled with fine samples of silvertop, and later woollybut. In the season long lashes of christmasn bush are flowering here. Some groves of beech through which the track winds, suggest a stage setting of Fairyland in their still beauty. The variety is endless, now a group of giant gums, now beech or wattle groves, now a young forest, here a marshy spot, there a sparkling stream with its snds aglitter with ‘new chum gold’, always and ever something to attract and hold the attention.“ The party walked on to Walhalla across the irregular but relativly level going of the uplands with its breathtaking views, then the descent into Walhalla. (Source: R. H. Croll - The Open Road in Victoria 1928; Dr. W.H. Green, personal communication.)
Up stream from the Banksia Street Bridge, cows grazed on the land that had been Ricardo’s farm. In 1930 it was a dairy farm, its pasture sloping gently down to the river. John and Sunday Reed purchased the land and restored the old farmhouse calling it “Heidi”. (Source:199 D.T. H.S. Newsletter, Nov 1979 p1)
John and his wife were keenly interested in the arts and they encouraged young contemporary artists. The Reeds had the means to do this in a practical way as John was a practising solicitor and, his wife Sunday, a member of a wealthy family. At Heidi they supported struggling artists, running a small dairy farm as a commune and provided them with canvases and paints. The Reeds introduced artists to galleries helping to exhibit the work of contemporary artists such as Sydney Nolan and Joy Hester. In this house looking down on the Yarra such paintings as The Kelly series and “The Bathers” were painted.
On the hills along the river at Templestowe orchardists took advantage the ready supply of river water for their fruit trees during the dry days of summer. In these years the largest orchard lay on the river llats ay Templestowe. Pettys Orchard lies in a beautiful area with apple trees sweeping over the hills in the magnificent scenic backdrop of the Yarra Valley.
Henry Petty planted this orchard in 1910. The Petty family was the largest fruit growing family in the Doncaster Templestowe district. During the depressed years of the early 1850’s Thomas Petty came to Doncaster from the industrial town of Bradford. His sons became leaders of fruit growing in Doncaster. One boy Tom became an extremely active and industrious man with an imaginative mind that could see possibilities. During his life he purchased many blocks of land where he developed a total of 39 different orchards. While working with fruit trees Tom and his brothers saw the possibilities of making improvement to methods of orcharding such as saving the labourious work of hand spraying with motor operated sprays and solving the problem of ploughing under the branches of fruit trees by the ingeneous “Petty Plough”.
Tom set up his sons on his orchards. One of the sons, Henry had his orchards close to the river and in 1911 he purchased the site of the present Pettys Orchard. Over the years Henry and his son Roy added more land to the property making over sixty hectares. (Source: Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society Records)
After the land boom days of the 1880s followed by the depression of the 1890s bridge building virtualy came to an end. After thr Great War, and the renewed activity during the boom of the 1920s the increased use of motor cars and the growth of outer suburbs, the need for bridges to over come the barrier of the Yarra was again being felt. During the 1920s and 30s twenty new bridges were built.
The Yarra Boulevard
Every new bridge came after a long and heated arguement.. Should local councils pay for it, they representing tthe people who would benifit from a bridge, but local councils did not have the funds for such a major expense. If the Board of Works were to increase its responsibility to include bridge building then the Board would have to increase rates. The Department of Public Works or the Railways Department could be given the responsibility, the work being funded by the State Government. When it came to making the decision , who will build both the Spencer Street Bridge and the damaged Hawthorn Bridge the government procrastinated for several years. The National Party objected to state funds going to metropolitan works and the Labour Party considered that the M.M.B.W. was undemocratic. (Source: Caroline Rasmussen, A Tale of Two Bridges, Victorian Historical Journal, June
1992 p33)
In 1927 the Labour Party came to power and passed legislation to have the Spencer Street Bridge built by the Railways Department
A steam ferry carried vechicals between the city at Spencer Street and Clarendon Street South Melbourne. The ferry was the first crossing place on the Yarra from the wharves at South Melbourne right through the docks and factories on the south and Williamstown and Footscray on the north.
Floods in the 1920s damaged the Hawthorn Bridge. Richmond and Hawthorn Councils carried out minor repairs and traffic was allowed to cross at reduced speed. Trams were not allowed across the bridge. Hawthorn Bridge was a major crossing place, linking Bridge Road Richmond with Burwood Road and Church Road Hawthorn. The bridge has replace a timber structure in 1861 and in 1890 had been widened and strenthend to take the horse trams that linked with the cable route along Bridge Road. When the local councils refused to carry out major reconstruction the government closed the bridge in 1925. Three days later the government was forced to open it again.
Five years of public discussion and heated arguement and took place. Should the old bridge be rebuilt, or a new bridge realigned with Bridge Road and who was to build the bridge. Plans were proposed to make a major artery through Richmond, across a wider bridge to Hawthorn, carrying traffic to the eastern suburbs. Eventually in 1930, despite disappointment form those who wanted the new large bridge and official objections, the Board of Works when t ahead strenghtening the old bridge. (Source: (Source: Caroline Rasmussen, A Tale of Two Bridges, Victorian Historical Journal, Jun 1992 p42) The renovated Hawthorn bridge continues to carry traffic on a major route from the city to the eastern suburbs. It is the oldest bridge on the Yarra.
During the years between the wars new as well as at Spencer Street and Hawthorn bridges were built along the full lenght of the Yarra. At South Yarra the old foot bridge connecting Punt Road with Hoddle street was replaced with the concrete Hoddle Bridge in 1938. Past the Cremorne Railway Brige another concrete bridge connected the two Streets both with ecclesiastic names, Church Street and Chapel Street in 1923. It took the plsce of the 68 year old iron prefabicated structure. The architects Desbrowe-Annear and T.R.Ashworth with engineer John Albert Laing were the designers and Sir John Monash with Reinforced Concrete and Monier Pipe Construction Company carried out the construction. (Source: Dacre Smythe, The Bridges of the Yarra, 1979)
During the depression of 1930 the government planned the Yarra Boulevard as scheme to give employement to the many unemployed in Melbourne. The Boulevard ran along the right bank of the river to Grange Road and then along the left bank. The chocholate manufacturer Sir MacPherson MacRobertson donated a bridge to connect the two ends of the Boulevard at Grange Road.
From Johnson Street, Kew to Banksia Street, Heidelberg there was no crosssing place on the Yarra until in 1926 the Burke Road Bridge was opened. A footbridge, Kanes Brdge connected Studley Park with arra Bend Park in 1929. Named after a Councillor it was a suspension bridge. At Templestowe close to the location of the toll bridge of the 1850s Captain Swanston constructed another suspension bridge in the early 1920s. It gave access from his farm in Greensborough to the township of Templestowe across the river. The floods in the 1920s damaged it and the 1934 flood washed it away. (Source: Brien Mullens, Private communication) At Warrandyte Pearson on whose farm was on the Eltham side of the river built another private suspension bridge across the river to Pound Bend. At each flood it was damaged and rebuilt. The last time he made a wider platform for the raod and could drive his T model Ford across his bridge. This was also washed away in the 1934 flood. (Source: The Late Bruce Bence, Warrandyte Historical Society) At the end of Henley Road a private bridge, built by David Mitchell, connects to Olivers farm. It was badly damaged in the 1934 flood and rebuilt. (Source: Lilydale Historical Society)
From Healesville to Warburton, more than ten bridges were built during these years.
Early one misty autumn morning during the depression years, a fisherman staying at Warrandyte waded out into the Yarra above the township. His business in Melbourne was in serious financial trouble and had decided to have a break while deciding whether to give up and lose everything or try to fight a seemingly losing struggle.
As he stood in the river he felt isolated from the world, for the mist rose up from the water masking out the world, he was alone in the peace and silence of morning. Gradually he felt the presence of someone looking at him. He looked round at the riverbank and through the mist saw a boy sitting on a log. The boy seemed unreal; he was thin, his sad eyes appearing too large for his gaunt features. He called out a greeting to the boy who immediately ran off between the trees but then looked back from behind the trunk of a gum tree.
Later he waded back to the bank and sat on a log to eat the sandwiches the guest house had given him for breakfast. The boy looked from behind the tree again his eyes gazing at the sandwiches. He offered the boy a sandwich but quickly the head vanished, so he laid a sandwich on the log, later he saw it had gone.
Every morning he came to the river to fish and the boy watched and soon he came and sat on the log and hungrily ate a sandwich. They sat in companionable silence. The man asked in the township about the boy and was told that a family lived in an old house in the bush near there. The father occasionally found an odd job but no one ever met the family. If anyone called at the house they ran off into the bush and none of them came near the township. He returned from his break refreshed and with the understanding that others were far worse off than himself. Now he was ready to continue the fight to save his business. (Source: Personal communication)
The Victoria Street bridge was strengthened to carry electric trams, then in 1934, fifty years after it was opened Victoria Bridge was rebuilt. The early bridge builders planned them straight across the river to give the shortest span. That often gave a bend at each approach to the bridge. That was the case at Victoria Street. The new bridge was built in line with the road eliminating the sharp bends on the Richmond side. On the east a high hill had to be excavated for the approach, the earth taken from there was carted to to the west where it formed an approach viaduct. (Source: Lilian Moon, The Australian Municipal Journal, Aug 1984 p53)
On the hill on the north east side is Rockingham, once the home of John Herbert Syme, who was manager of The Age Newspaper, from 1900 till his death in 1939.16 The Red Cross Society purchased his house and land at the beginning of world2 war two and used the main area of the land as a rehabilitation centre for wounded soldiers. (Source: Personal communication, the Late Monica Sterk)
Larkin Aircraft Company Coode Island
Sport that had been held in abeyance during the war revived but soon rowing and regattas were revived. The Head of the River, rowed over a one mile course, between the six Public Schools grew into one of Melbourne’s major events. Each year heats selected the crews for the final race on the Saturday. On the day the people of Melbourne crowded the river bank cheering and shouting the name of the school they were supporting, while excited boys from the schools linked arms and, with great gusto, sung their school rowing song. The race started between Andersons Street Bridge and the foot bridge at Punt Road. Crowds lined the parapet of the bridge to watch the start then as the boats passed under the bridge they rushed across the raadway to the the opposite parapet. Some followed the race in cars along Batman Avenue but during the twenties the road became crowded and dangerous so Batman Avenue was closed for the afternoon.
The “Boat Race” became a main sporting event in Melbourne . People of all types and interests wore the coloured ribbons of their favourite crews and on the day of the race coloured streamers waved from cars, red and gold for Scotch, dark blue for Melbourne Grammer, purple for Wesley and light blue for the two Gelong schools. As the race finished colours of the winning crew were hauled to the top of the flag pole above the judges box then from the roof of the Herald building in Flinders Street an observer watched for the flag and hurried down to the editorial office where the front page of that night’s paper was quickly made up to tell Melbourne the winner of the “Head Of The River”.
At the first race in 1878, the crews rowed in gigs with fixed seats ten years later they used outrigger fours with sliding seats then in 1901 the schools rowed in racing eights. Xavier joined the competition in 1906 and two years later Geelong. (Source: The Victorian Oarsman’s Grammar Newsletter. Mar 1995; Apr 1926) With four schools at Melbourne and two at Geelong the race was held on the Barwon River at Geelong every four years. Scotch College and Xavoir had their own boat shed on the Yarra at Hawthorn and Kew while Wesley College boat shed was at Albert Park Lake. The week of the race these schools moved thier boats to sheds at Princes bridge. Melbourne Grammer built a boat shed on Albert Park Lake in the 1880s but rented space in Banks rowing Club for their eight oar boats. In 1920 a site on the Yarra alongside the other sheds at Princes Bridge became available. The school built a large boat shed with a tower on the side and a balcony on the front. < >
After the boat race the crew would come out on the balcony to receive the cheers of the school boys shouting and singing the school boating song below. It was remenicent of the Royal Family making a Royal appearence on the balcony of Buckingham terrace.
In the early 1930s Dr. Darling arrived to become Head Master of Geelong Grammer. He saw all the excitement and the public hype. Dr. Darling was horified at the disruption to the school work and the effect to the boys in crews who were being treated as heroes. After dicussions with the other Head Master changes were made. The Head of the River race was held on Fridays to cut down on public interest. A suggestion was made that every year the race be held on the Barwon River at Geelong, but this was not to happen till the 1950s when the Yarra was partly blocked during the building of the Swan Street Bridge.
The style of rowing went through a change during the 1930s. Rowing in racing gigs had developed when the seats were fixed. In the 1890s Steve Fairbairn, the expert on rowing, advocated the use of sliding seats. (Source: Australia in World Rowing, Steve Fairbairn p20) A style had developed during the years when fixed seats were being used and most clubs continued with the same style. To obtain a long stroke the body leant foreward at the start of the stroke and leant back at the end. Both when leaning foreward or back the body is weak. The sliding seat gave a longer stroke and Fairbairn urged a different style keeping the body more upright and use the full power of the legs.
Members of the Melbourne Grammer School crews went to complete their course at Cambridge University. They returned to Melbourne at the end of the twenties bringing with them the Fairbairn style. The coach of Melbourne was then Walter Ricketts, he adopted this style and also built up a winning attitude with slogans on the walls of their dressing room.” When you are tired and feel you can’ row any harder, remember the other crew feel just the same.” (Source: personal recollections) His crew won the head of the river for four years running.
By 1934 Melbourne was recovering from the great depression then, with the excitement of preparing for the Centenary Celebrations of Victoria, the depression was forgotten. Many sporting events were planned but the event that attracted most people was Henley on The Yarra. A large enthusiastic crowd flocked to the banks of the Yarra and poured into the special enclosures.
Prince Henry, the duke of Glouster came to Melbourne as part of the Centenary Celebrations. At Henley, escorted by Sir George Fairbairn he boarded a motor launch at the steps of Princes Bridge and was taken on an inspection tour of the decorated house-boats moored along the river banks and during the during the race for the grand Challenge Cup followed the race.
The Scottish Pipe Band helped keep the the gala atmosphere of the day alive with their stirring tunes and a series of attractive entertainments took place between the races. There was a parade of Mounted Police the then the line of decorated canoes in which parasole sporting canoe girls wearing wide straw hats reclined among masses of billowing satin their escorts paddling past the judges. After this the judges selected the Miss Henley Girl contest then the presentations and speeches by the City Fathers. (Source: Australia in World Rowing, Alan N. Jacobsen, p31)
During the rowing events a crew from Port Melbourne beat Williamstown in a race for Naval Cutters and in the main event of the day, the Senior Eights Race for the Grand Challenge Cup, both a crew from London and another from New Zealand took part. The London crew won by four lengths. The rowing sports writer of the Sun said they had won in a time that was thought to be impossible and this proved the value of the Fauirbairn style. (Source: The Sun, Nov 10)
At the beginning of December 1934, the worst storm in living history battered Victoria. From Thursday morning until Friday night incessant rain fell with violent gales of sixty-three miles an hour flattened farms, stripped orchards, swamped pastures and shattered buildings. The Yarra rose in the worst flood sine 1863 as its tributaries poured water into the already flooded river. Southerly winds pushed water up the bay and into the Yarra preventing the escape of the flood waters. By Sunday a huge inland sea covered areas of Kew, Ivanhoe, Heidelberg, Eltham, Bulleen and Balwyn.
Warrandyte was cut off as water cover bridges. At Bulleen four market gardeners climbed onto the roof of their house to escape the flood and when the water rose higher neighbours rescued two of the men with a boat but the other two were washed away. Chipperfield, who lived in a boat shed on the bank of the Yarra at North Balwyn, was thankful for hving taken the precaution of tying a ladder to the upper window of his house ready to escape in a boat.
At Kanes Bridge the water tore away the supports on one end of the bridge and it swung round to stay along side the south bank. Then a large house floating down the river jammed against the battered bridge. Workmen opened up a hole in the roof then with ropes hauled out furniture from the house. A man driving along a road next to Diamond creek became trapped by the flood. He tied his car to a telegraph pole, and refused to leave the car. When the car was swept away, he tried to reach dry land by climbing along the telegraph wires. Onlookers joined hands and tried to reach him but he too was swallowed by the flood.
On Saturday night, a man returning from Melbourne tried to drive across Bourke Road bridge although it was under water. As the river rose, he climbed onto the roof where he had to stay all night, soaking wet in the cold wind. In the morning, a man rode out on a horse and tied a rope to the car then towed the car to dry land with the man still on the roof. Mr. Jones, Minister for Public Works stated that, “It was a foolhardy thing to do for there were many warning signs. The only good to come out of this is now we know that the bridge is still there.”
At Richmond the electric cable under the river was broken cutting off power to Suburbs on the south.. A line fired over the river by rocket was used to drag a new cable overhead to connect to the southern suburbs again.
The storm caused widespread damage to almost the whole of Victoria. Just when the centenary celebrations of Victoria had revived the country after the depression the storm had brought misery to so many whose farms and crops were destroyed, and their houses flooded. (Source: The Argus and Sun News Pictorial, Dec 2-5, 1934; personal experience.)
Source: Tales of the Yarra River - Irvine Heber Green. Unpublished Manuscript.
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