April - June 2018 Meetings – 8pm, Fourth Monday of each month Rye Primary School Library - Visitors welcome

In This Issue:

Rye Historical Society Reports and Happenings, VALE: Robert (Bob) Easton, Matthew Flinders’ Cat “Trim”, The White Cliffs Store, an Update, “The Argus” Treasure Hunts at Rye in the 1950s, BOOK REVIEW: “Victoria and its Metropolis” (1888), Vol 2, The Back Page: Meetings, Events, Notices & Contacts.

Rye Historical Society

White Cliffs

The White Cliffs Store, Point Nepean Road, Rye. (image: Rye H S archive) Above the double doors, the sign reads: CONFECTIONERY AND MILK BAR; the sign above the single door is: GROCERIES FRUIT VEGETABLES. (see article, p 8)

2 President’s Report

This year’s activities are well under way, with a number of interesting projects and guest speakers having already been arranged for the year.

We were fortunate in having Mr Andrew Moon as a guest speaker at our February meeting.

Andrew described the work that he has been doing to locate the previously unknown graves of soldiers in World War 1. A fuller description of his detective skill is covered in the report on page 5.

Our first Street Stall for 2018 was held on 10th March under the Clock Tower in Napier Street. (report page 6). Sadly, there was little interest in the Rye Historical Society itself from the general public, with the main success being from the sales of cakes, biscuits, jams and native plants.

Two more street stalls are scheduled for 2018; on 5th May and 1st September. These are to start earlier, at 9am, and be located at our previous site between the Post Office and Imola Red Cafe for the better opportunity it is expected to afford in promoting our Society.

Considerable progress is being made in the revision of the now long out of print book: “Rye: A Book of Memories”, by Nell Arnold, published back in 1985. The editorial committee is to be congratulated on the work they have done so far towards developing a Second Edition and getting it into print. The original content (photos and text) will be retained, but the opportunity is being taken to add a few relevant photographs from our archive for completeness. The new edition will be in a larger format (B5) with text in a larger font, and with any added blocks of text to be clearly identifiable in the form of footnotes.

Members are advised that a compilation entitled “Biographical Notes, 1888”, has been added to the Society’s website. It expands on the summary article on pages 12-15 of this issue and contains the biographical notes of 42 individuals plus the comparative Wise’s Directory 1888 name entries of main towns from Balnarring to Sorrento in 1888, across today’s Mornington Peninsula Shire area.

MEMBERSHIP: While our numbers are holding, every endeavour should be made to increase our membership. The Committee would welcome advice on how we can encourage more involvement.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Tuesday morning archiving team for their ongoing work and members generally for attending our functions and events, and look forward to your continued support and good company.

John Bertacco

RYE H S Happenings 3

RHS COMMITTEE MEETING ONLY, @ 7pm, Monday 22nd January:

Refreshed after the Christmas - New Year break, the committee dealt with the usual finances, progress reports, etc, before concentrating on forward planning.

Striking a balance between raising our public profile and available personnel & merchandise, it was decided to limit street stalls during 2018, perhaps to three. While book sales in 2016 & 2017 raised valuable funds, uncertainty of obtaining adequate stock again this year, added to the many hours involved in setup, sales, disposal of unsold books, and final clean-up, led to a decision to not hold a book sale in 2018. The Sausage Sizzle opportunity kindly offered by Bunnings will definitely be taken up; the date to be confirmed after Easter. Several Guest Speakers have already been lined up for this year but Committee members were urged to be alert to seeking out additional likely speakers to fill the gaps.

The matter of Rye H S publicity was recently highlighted when a reporter from The Australian found Bernie W’s recollection of PM Harold Holt’s disappearance on our website, resulting in a front page article in that newspaper in December.

Kris B was happy to report that, as well as maintaining the Society’s Facebook page, she is presently looking at how best to add flags or links via Instagram.

Several worthwhile projects for 2018 were advanced; for each of which we would need to pursue sources of grant funds. The meeting closed at about 9pm.

AUSTRALIA DAY LUNCHEON, RYE HOTEL from 11:30am, 26th January: The Australia Day Luncheon, organised by Rye & Nepean Historical Societies,

featured Mr Michael Headberry, Director (Vic) of the Saluting Monash Council (pictured at right standing between the Nepean and Rye Historical Societies’ Presidents, Clive Smith and John Bertacco) as the Guest Speaker. (pic, NE).

Following formalities and main course, Mr Headberry was introduced to speak on his sub-ject, entitled: The Jerilderie Proposition, viz:

“To posthumously promote General Sir John Monash to the rank of Field Marshal - this to be achieved as soon as possible, but, at the latest, by 11th November 2018”.

The timing of the proposal is to ensure that this posthumous promotion can be approved prior to the ceremonial opening, on Armistice Day, 2018, of the Sir John Monash Interpretive Centre, presently being established in France at Villers-Bretonneux. Mr Headberry covered John Monash’s family background, his education (which

included becoming fluent in French and German), his engineering and legal skills pre-WW1, and his service as an officer during his 30+ years in the Militia (CMF).

4 RYE H S Happenings

Under fire at Gallipoli, Colonel John Monash learnt quickly. This stood him in good stead after being sent to France, where all too often he endured what were plainly incompetent orders from above which resulted in the slaughter of staggering numbers of his own AIF men in a number of ill-conceived actions. As a tribute to his men, he had initiated ANZAC Day, on 25th April 1916, in

Egypt, ignoring the dismay of those who saw that as simply glorifying a defeat. His ability to plan successful attacks, with low casualties, elicited loyalty from

his men but suspicion and jealousy from certain superiors. Thankfully, King George V recognised Monash’s clear vision of the path to victory, and backed him over some “establishment names” (putting a few more noses out of joint!). Suspicions based on his Prussian Jewish ancestry, assertions of ‘unsuitability

for command’ and jealousy of his public popularity festered, particularly on the part of Prime Minister Billy Hughes. Hughes was aided in undermining Monash by newspaperman, Keith Murdoch, and the official war historian, C E W Bean, in what amounted to a perversion of the good old Aussie “tall poppy syndrome”. To be fair, all four agreed that uniting the five Australian Divisions under an

Australian commander was imperative, rather than continuing to have them fragmented and committed piecemeal at the whims of British commanders! The inevitable result of the relentless sniping is that the title of Roland Perry’s

biography: “MONASH - THE OUTSIDER WHO WON A WAR”, sums up Monash’s life after WW1. Lieutenant-General John Monash was awarded honours from Belgium, Britain, France and the USA, but recognition in Australia for his crucial contribution to victory was limited to: “You can keep your ceremonial sword!” PM Hughes ensured there was no official greeting or street parade for Monash

when he returned to Melbourne (on Boxing Day, 1919), having already lined up British General Birdwood to be his WW1 public speaker across the country. Monash and Birdwood were aboard the same ship as far as Fremantle, where Birdwood disembarked and was feted for weeks in the WA press. This exposure paid off later when PM Stanley Melbourne Bruce, an Empire Man down to his spats, made the then Lord Birdwood Australia’s first ever Field Marshal in 1925! While Sir John Monash was soon in great demand to speak at RSL clubs, the

army top brass lined up behind PM Billy Hughes to write him out of the picture. Back in mid-1919, Monash had sent a specialist team to Cologne, Germany, to

gather technical data for the fledgling SEC on how brown coal was being used in a power station. He submitted a comprehensive technical report in November. During 1920, sadly, his wife died and with no job and no army pension, he was

looking at engineering/management positions. His appointment as Chairman of the new SEC was confirmed in January 1921. Based on opening the Yallourn coal mine and building a power station “out in the sticks” in mid-Gippsland, perhaps his detractors took solace in hoping that would keep him out of the public eye.

Eleven years after WW1 ended, the government of James Scullin (elected on October 12th 1929) acted quickly to overcome entrenched opposition and partly correct a clear injustice related to military rank. Both John Monash and Harry Chauvel were formally elevated to become full Generals on Armistice Day, 1929.

RYE H S Happenings 5

The present “Jerilderie Proposition” aims to go further by finally assigning the substantive rank of Field Marshal to Sir John Monash, which would correctly reflect the military command he executed so effectively in the final year of the war and in the repatriation of his ca. 180,000 1st AIF men during 1919-20. (NE)

GENERAL MEETING, @ 8pm, Monday 26th February:

After secretary Pauline reported on recent RHS activities and flagged coming events, President John introduced the Guest Speaker, Mr Andrew Moon.

Andrew (pic at right, AE), originally from Korumburra, outlined the detective work behind the production of the 463 page illustrated hard cover book, “Far From Home - Our Fallen Heroes of Colman Park”, as a tribute to all the men whose names now appear on the Korumburra Cenotaph (WW1 and also WW2).

This book draws heavily on the remarkable body of AIF records, (including maps, particularly WW1) now digitised and accessible on-line, and includes photos and letters provided by families.

A Cenotaph is a memorial to “those who did not return”, whereas an Honour Roll, typically commissioned by a Shire Council to record all local enlistments, usually identifies those who did not return by placing a cross beside their names.

One ‘little problem’ is that some WW1 names on the Korumburra Cenotaph are of men who returned. Further inconsistencies were found when comparing historic Honour Rolls at local Schools and Halls etc.

On the Western Front, the final resting place of many men who died of wounds at a field hospital was documented as a plot in an adjacent graveyard.

However, it was far more common for those killed in action either to never be buried or to be buried in the field by their mates, who were sometimes able to get a photograph of the grave site, and its marker, to send home to family.

After WW1, a major effort was mounted to create War Graves Cemeteries, requiring the exhumation of the remains of hundreds of thousands of men to be re-interred. Uncertainty with original identification, compounded by paperwork errors or omissions, ensured many graves remain today as “Unknown Soldier”.

Andrew’s searching of the Australian military records has identified a total of 231 individuals, who originated from the Korumburra district, as having died on active service during, or immediately after, WW1 and WW2. This evidence has resulted in several WW1 names inadvertently omitted from the cenotaph being recently added. Currently, his dossier of facts pinpointing the grave site of his last WW1 “Unknown Soldier” is with the authorities pending formal acceptance.

Andrew’s detailed work is mind-boggling but he is now confident that graves of all Korumburra’s Cenotaph WW1 men have been located. Lest We Forget (NE).

6 RYE H S Happenings

STREET STALL, Saturday March 10th :

The first street stall for 2018 was on a long weekend; being set up under the clock tower. (pic at right, S Tyzack).

Having scored a lovely sunny day with a gentle breeze, the early slow start was a concern. Fortunately, by 11:30, trading had become quite busy, to yield a final figure of $278. Thanks to all the cooks and to all the workers on the day. (NE)

| STOP PRESS | Wendy Ellis, our champion marmalade and jam maker, has excelled again at Red Hill Show, with her 24 entries gaining 14x1st and 7x2nd prizes. Congratulations, Wendy.

GENERAL MEETING, @ 8pm, Monday 26th March:

After President John addressed the meeting to report on recent and upcoming events, he deftly changed hats to become: Guest Speaker - John Bertacco.

By the mid-1980s, John’s CV included years of surveying field work and in the Titles Office and his then position as Senior Lecturer in Surveying at RMIT. So it was hardly a surprise that he was one of about 20 Australians recruited to work in Thailand under an AusAid scheme to help the Thai government to establish titles to rural farm land. Barely 15% of Thailand (mainly urban areas) was then documented under a Torrens Title-like scheme, causing ongoing uncertainty of tenure or occupancy rights for the many thousands of small time rice farmers.

The foundation of this project was an accurate triangulation survey to mark a network of “trig points” across the country. However, the prospect of training up enough local Thai survey teams and then to send them out to do the time consuming ground survey down to rice paddy detail would take many decades.

This was before GPS and satellite imaging, but aerial photography scaled to the accurate triangulation framework offered an acceptable solution. A massive aerial photography effort was mounted with the final mosaic image accuracy enhanced by longitudinal image overlaps near 90% (usually 60%) and side-side overlaps near 70% (usually 30%). The aid package had also provided state of the art image viewing equipment which corrected each photo for camera tilt and altitude and, based on the trig points, adjusted them to exactly the same scale.

These high resolution photos to scale were used by government officials in adjudication meetings with adjoining land holders to agree on plot boundaries. Plot corners were then marked on the photo using a needle and those points formed the basis of the final title document issued to the land owner/occupier.

Question time after John’s “Power Point” talk lasted nearly as long again, with particular interest in general life and society in Thailand in the mid-1980’s. (NE)

VALE and Matthew Flinders’ cat, “Trim”. 7

VALE Robert (Bob) Easton

Bob, together with his wife Judy Stokes were original members of the Rye Historical Society. With Judy having lived and attended school here she has much to give, and Bob supported her in everything she did. Bob, talented in many sports, was also a fine builder, mainly in Bendigo.

Unfortunately, some time ago Bob showed the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease which ultimately robbed him of his ability to speak and move but he accepted this illness without complaint.

A large gathering attended his funeral in Rosebud and our sympathy is ex-tended to Judy after these last months of tending to him every day in Ti Tree Lodge. We miss this quiet man with a special sense of humour, a passionate Essendon supporter who went about quietly helping and assisting others.

Pauline E Powell

Matthew Flinders’ cat TRIM. During February, an Australian company was reported in our local newspapers

as starting a big engineering job over in London. A major factor in this project is the need for sensitive handling of the remains in burials in an old cemetery on the construction site. The area is on record as the location of Matthew Flinders’ original grave, but it seems that an earlier relocation of graves, for construction works back in the late 1800s, included Mathew Flinders’ remains. However, if their new location was recorded at the time, sadly that information is now lost.

Purely by coincidence, in recent weeks the following lines, penned by Captain Matthew Flinders as a tribute to his much travelled cat, Trim (SA statue pic, right), were found:

“To the memory of Trim, the best and most illustrious of

his race, the most affectionate of friends, faithful of serv-

ants, and best of creatures. He made the tour of the globe,

and a voyage to Australia, which he circumnavigated, and

was ever the delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers.

Returning to Europe in 1803, he was shipwrecked in the Great Equinoxial Ocean.

This danger escaped, he sought refuge and assistance at the Isle of France,

where he was made prisoner, contrary to the laws of Justice, of Humanity, and of

French National Faith; and where alas! he terminated his useful career, by an

untimely death, being devoured by the Catophagi of that island.

Many a time have I beheld his little merriments with delight, and his superior

intelligence with surprise: Never will his like be seen again!

Trim was born in the Southern Indian Ocean, in the year 1799, and perished as

above at the Isle of France in 1804.

Peace be to his shade, and Honour to his memory.”

By John Bertacco

Since Linda Berndt’s article on the White Cliffs store appeared in ’White Cliffs’ back in 2010, some undated photos of this store have been added to the Society archive, so it seemed to be worth revisiting the subject. [1]

The cover photo shows the front of the store, while the photo at right shows the signage out beside Point Nepean Rd.

The advert at left (The Age , 21-10-1950) has been the only one found by an exhaustive ‘trove’ search.

Extracts from the section on this general store in Nell Arnold’s book are repro-duced below. (attributed to Mr Don Johnson, who was operating it in 1985; Ref [2])

“The White Cliffs Store. Just how the White Cliffs Store took on its present form would seem to this day to be

shrouded in mystery. Of all the people who visit the store in these times, many are mid-dle aged and have told me that they remember the store years ago when they them-selves were children. It was built before World War 2. Some have said how they remem-ber it as it was originally with the shop being half its present size and the front windows and door being supported by from what is now a beam in the centre of the shop. This beam measures 12 inches by 4 inches and extends the whole width of the shop. It seems likely that this was the case as the wall of the shop ends exactly level with the beam and the new shop extension is now butted up to join that wall. . . . .

. . . In 1941 the owner [of the “Maori Farm” block] was a Mr Thomas Cunliffe. He sold the property to a Mr and Mrs Wyatt who, I have been told, built the original shop onto the existing house. This took place between the years 1944-45. The property was sold again in 1946 and had outright owners up until the year 1969. From then on, and now, the shop-keeper only leases the business.

It is interesting to note that from the year 1944 until 1984 there have been a total of eleven storekeepers at White Cliffs with most only staying for a term of three years.

Down through the years the shop has served and been supported well by the local com-munity and even, at one stage, reached a point of fame by way of a Ken Maynard car-toon in the Post magazine. Bill and Betty Liddy were the store keepers at the time and Ken one of their favorite customers. Ken drew a cartoon of the White Cliffs Store show-ing Betty doing all the work while Bill took the dog for a walk.

During the early days of the store the back garden doubled as a camping ground for holiday makers. Toilets and hot and cold showers were installed and also holiday cha-lets. Today there are only two of these remaining and they are now in bad repair. One can only imagine how small and quaint, yet frantically busy, this little store must have been during the summer holidays of yesterday. Queue upon queue of campers waiting to be served, sometimes ten deep and out the door awaiting their turn at the counter.

By contrast the winter months served only a handful of permanent locals and peace and quiet meant what it said. Today the store is busy winter and summer and the whole area has grown with still more to come. Let us hope that even in this changing world there will always be a place for the White Cliffs Store. (and others like it).”

8 THE WHITE CLIFFS STORE, RYE - AN UPDATE

Photographs of events such as the opening of a building or a Centenary can be dated reliably. Sadly, many old photos have nothing written on the back and the image itself offers no clues to confidently assign a date.

It was hoped that the headline sheet visible in the cover photo might offer a clue. Viewing the rather blurry photographic print through a magnifying glass (see also the enhanced image at right) suggests that it probably reads: 23 DAY ORDEAL IN CUTTER.

Hopes of a date for this photo faded after an exhaustive “Trove” search of NSW, Victorian & Tasmanian papers (1940-1960) failed to find anything remotely close to that headline.

While The Argus ran the news item at right in 1954, and that newsworthy event offers tantalising similarities, it is hardly conclusive.

So where does that leave us with dating the photo? One possibly is that it is more recent than the late 1950’s, ie, not yet digitised.

Ah, well, (to quote Ned), such is life! (NE)

The Argus, 20th January 1954.

Four men and woman in 24-day ordeal

GALE BLOWS CUTTER FROM N.Z. TO SYDNEY.

Sydney, Tuesday: Four men and a wom-an who left New Zealand on December 26, in the 33ft cutter Gesture for Lord Howe Island, today arrived in Sydney after 24 terrifying days at sea. When they reached port they had only a few days rations and 50 gallons of water aboard…….

THE WHITE CLIFFS STORE, RYE - AN UPDATE 9

At Right: Aerial photo showing the White Cliffs area in 1951. [3]

Point Nepean Rd, Dundas St, Melbourne Rd, Maori St, Elgan Ave and Recreation Rd are all clearly visible as made roads.

Marvin Ave and View Rd would have been surveyed, but were yet to become made roads.

The approximate location of the White Cliffs Store has been marked in with a white arrow.

DATING THE COVER PHOTO

References: 1. “White Cliffs” Oct-Dec 2010, Linda Berndt (Rye Historical Society) 2. “Book of Memories”, Nell Arnold, 1985. 3. Composite image SORRENTO 867B3, based on RAAF aerial photography 1950/51.

In early Melbourne, The Argus was established in 1846, followed by The Age in 1854, but both were pre-dated by that most resilient Melbourne news sheet, the Port Phillip Herald. The Port Phillip Herald had been established in 1840, barely 5 years after John Batman boasted a great coup in “acquiring” the site of a new city from its indigenous inhabitants. It was renamed the Melbourne Morning Herald in 1849. In early 1855, it became the Melbourne Herald, but later that year it changed name again, to The Herald. As The Herald, it survived a risky transition period in 1869 to become a successful and iconic evening daily.

The founder of The Argus adopted the Latin name of the 100-eyed, all-seeing god of ancient Greek mythology, appropriate for an investigative publication! The Argus soon developed a reputation as a newspaper of record, flourishing for over 100 years as a daily morning paper in direct competition with The Age and, later, the Sun News-Pictorial, after that paper was established in 1922.

At Right: The distinctive mast head, pre-1949.

Rye Treasure Hunt promo articles: Below: 5th Jan 1954; Opposite: 3rd Jan 1955.

10 The Argus Treasure Hunts at Rye, 1954 & 1955.

These days, digitised copies of The Argus are easily accessible via the NLA “Trove” application, providing an invaluable resource for historians, and which from time to time include mentions of happenings in and near Rye.

In 1954, The Argus held Treasure Hunts at Queenscliff, Portsea, Sorrento, Rye, Rosebud and 18 other bayside locations from Dromana to South Melbourne as well as at Torquay, Lorne, Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Portland. The next year saw Rye included again, as the 3rd of January 1955 item below shows.

After The Argus was bought in 1949 by the London based Daily Mirror group, a modernised masthead, as pictured below, was adopted.

It was hoped that UK capital and

expertise would restore profits, and in 1952, The Argus became the first daily paper in the world to routinely print photos in colour, but growing competition for advertising revenue was steadily eroding its profitability.

By 1955, the Herald and Sun had jointly formed the HSV7 TV network and The Argus had invested capital in the consortium which formed rival TV station GTV9.

Despite technical innovations, cost cutting and popular promotions such as Christmas Holiday Treasure Hunts, The Argus could not escape from its financial difficulties and publication ceased in early 1957. Ironically, the company shell was bought by the Herald & Weekly Times Group (HWT) in a deal under which at least some staff were re-employed by the HWT and publication of selected special features would be continued. (NE)

The Argus Treasure Hunts at Rye, 1954 & 1955. 11

12 BOOK REVIEW: “Victoria and its Metropolis” (1888) Vol 2

Pictured at right is a copy, now 130 years old, of the 4.2kg tome, “Victoria and its Metropolis, Past and Present, Volume 2”, published in 1888. [ 1 ]

Attributed to Alexander Sullivan MA and Robert Ellery, et al, this 824 page work describes the State of Victoria as it was in 1887/88, and it appears that it is yet to be “digitised and put up on the internet”.

Its companion work, “Victoria and its Metropolis, Past and Present, Volume 1”, presents a detailed history of the State of Victoria up to the mid-1880’s.

Initial chapters of Volume 2 deal with State Surveys and Engineering Works, being followed by chapters which look at the 21 non-metropolitan Districts of the State.

There is a fold-out colour map at p28, which shows all 39 Victorian counties. A portion of that state map, centred on Mornington, is reproduced below.

ABOVE: In 1888, the District of Mornington was bordered by MELBOURNE city and the counties of EVELYN (Upper Yarra) and BULN BULN (part of Gippsland).

BOOK REVIEW: “Victoria and its Metropolis” (1888) Vol 2 13

Pages 29 - 440 comprise chapters on the 21 Districts of Victoria. Each chapter commences with an overview of local geology and notable features and towns, with some illustrations, and concludes with multiple pages of biographical notes of various individuals residing in named towns (refer to examples, next page).

The rest of the book deals mainly with the Metropolitan area, plus chapters on flora, fauna, medicine, finance and a 17 page index of the 7500 biographies.

“The Mornington District” is headed by the engravings of Sorrento and Ocean Amphitheatre, as reproduced below, and occupies pages 388-401. However, Portsea, Red Hill, Rosebud and Rye are only mentioned in a paragraph within the District description, which, in contrast with the other 20 Districts across the state, occupies barely two pages and offers disappointingly little substance.

The final paragraph of the Mornington District description reads as:

“A characteristic feature of this district is the number of its pleasant and well frequented watering-places, which are well supplied with hotel and boarding-house accommodation for visitors, with bathing conveniences, and with sailing or rowing boats for pleasure or fishing excursions. Thither flock, during the heats of summer, the well-to-do citizens of Melbourne in search of the ‘dolce far niente’, or to inhale renewed vigour, whether on the breeze-blown downs of Phillip Island, in the quietude of Frankston and Schnapper Point, the wide-stretching sands of Dromana, or the famous “back beach” of Sorrento or Portsea”.

14 BOOK REVIEW: “Victoria and its Metropolis” (1888) Vol 2

BALNARRING: BUCKLEY, John COLE, G W OSWIN John TEASDALE, James

DROMANA: ALLISON, William DIMOND, James EDWARDS, William GRIFFITHS, Jonah QUINTON, James SHAW, Benjamin D TOWNSEND, John WATKIN, Richard WILSON, Henry W

FLINDERS: CLAYTON, Archibald KENNEDY, James SEGRAVE, William

HASTINGS: FLEMYNG, John B, JP HALL, Capt. James INGAMELLS, Josiah PATTERSON, William L PROSSER, Henry

MORNINGTON: BALCOME, Alexander B BRIDGE, Richard B FLETCHER, John GILLETT, Francis A, JP IRVINE, William M JENNER, Hon. Caleb J MARTIN, W C SHOTTON, Richard, JP WALKER James WORRELL, Joseph E

PORTSEA: No entries

ROSEBUD: No entries

RYE: No entries

SHOREHAM: BEDELL, John BROWN, William CALLANAN, Edmund J NOWLAN, Peter RILEY, Edmund

SOMERVILLE: GOMIN, Henry JONES, Alfred JP SCOTT, Alexander SHEPHERD, William H THORNELL, Henry THORNELL, John (Jr)

SORRENTO: No entries

The example below is included as it relates to recent Telegraph articles in “White Cliffs”.

Segrave, William, Flinders, was born in Surrey, England. In the old country he was involved in electric telegraph work, being for some time night officer in charge of the West Central office in the Strand, London, and was previously at the office in Westminster, and was engaged on special occa-sions at the House of Commons, transmitting speeches made in Parliament to the great centres of population. For a period he had charge of the pneumatic tubes at Telegraph-street central station for the transmission of telegrams. Mr Segrave also had a good deal of telegraphic experience at the Coal Exchange, the Corn Exchange, the Stock Exchange, and other important branch offices in London. He came to Australia with the expedition from England to lay the submarine telegraph cable between Tasmania and Victoria in 1869, and has been in charge of the Victorian terminus of the cable ever since its landing, and is now local superintendent of both land and cable depart-ments, and is also postmaster. Mr Segrave is an Associate of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians of the United Kingdom. He was married in 1873 to Miss A. Foy, and has a family.

The Mornington District description lists 18 “principal landowners”, including Mr John Barker (4828 acres at Flinders), Mr William Blair (4462 acres near Rye), and the Hon Sir William Clark MLC (4096 ac. [Jamiesons Special Survey] Dromana).

Of that 18, only Mr John Cleeland, Newhaven, and Mr Alexander Paterson JP, Clyde, offered biographical notes. The majority of the 165 biographical notes (over 12 pages) related to Hallam - Pakenham - Frankston - Cranbourne. The 42 from localities within today’s Mornington Peninsula Shire are listed below.

BOOK REVIEW: “Victoria and its Metropolis” (1888) Vol 2 15

In an effort to put the genesis of this notable two-volume publication in context, searching through old newspapers, accessed via “Trove”, has proved revealing.

Queen Victoria’s 50th Anniversary occurred during 1887, and Australia’s Centenary was to be celebrated in 1888. A Melbourne publishing company, McCarron Bird, engaged a noted academic and historian of the time, Alexander Sullivan MA, to write a detailed formal history of Victoria for Volume 1 and supervise preparation of an overview of the State of Victoria in 1887/88 for Volume 2. This major work to be financed by a business plan which relied on seeking out and signing up citizens willing to draft a formulaic biographical note to be included in Volume 2, apparently in return for agreeing to pay for a set of the two volumes once they were published.

A reviewer in “The Leader” of 15th December 1888 lavished praise on Volume 1 but was less enthusiastic about Volume 2, being particularly affronted by the inclu-sion of so many ‘unknown’ individuals, observing: “These memoirs number about 7000 and appear to have been written, for the most part, by the persons whose ca-reer they record; so that the information furnished is in a great many instances of no interest whatever to anybody but the author of it, while the space occupied bears no proportion to the importance or the insignificance of the subject of the biography”.

During 1889, a number of court cases were initiated by McCarron Bird to recover monies owed. Evidence was given that “canvassers” had been engaged to roam far and wide across the state, building lists of “subscribers” along with their summary biographies. The common thread in the court cases was that a signature attesting to the accuracy of a biography was later applied to raise an invoice for the amount of £6 6s (6 Guineas). The publisher, McCarron Bird, generally lost these actions and following one case, a canvasser was sentenced to 2 years hard labour for perjury!

Applying ‘measuringworth’ to £6 6s in 1888 shows a drop in value to ca. £5 12s in 1901. Applying the RBA inflation tracker from 1901 estimates the present-day value of £5 12s as about $820 - definitely worth chasing! While a figure of 7000 is quoted above, a page-by-page calculation by the writer puts the total closer to 7500. So, even if 500 reneged, the publisher’s cash pool would have equated to about $5.7m.

Finally, despite its alleged shortcoming of wasting page space on so many ‘unknown individuals’, Volume 2 provides present-day historians with an intriguing record of that era. The “Cyclopedia of Victoria, 1903” included ca. 1500 Victorian biographies, followed three years later by the first ever attempt at a nation-wide ‘Who’s Who’ in “John’s Notable Australians, 1906” with ca. 8200 biographies.

———————————————————————— [1] The writer recently gained access to Volumes 1 and 2 of Victoria and its Metropolis,

Past and Present, which have been passed down via descendants of the family of his Scottish great-grandfather, George Glen Auchterlonie (1844-1930). G G Auchterlonie had selected and started clearing a block of virgin forest on good red soil at Narracan in Gippsland in 1873 and his biographical note appears in Volume 2 on p 368.

Researched and written by Noel Erbs.

Meetings, Guest Speakers and Events.

23rd April: General Meeting @ 8:00pm. Guest speaker: David Johnson: “Shanties, Sisal and Skills”.

25th April: ANZAC DAY. Dawn Service at Rye RSL ; March from Pier 12:15pm.

27th April: Rye RSL Happy Hour , 5 - 6pm. Meal afterwards optional

5th May: Street Stall, from 9am, sited beside Post Office, Rye.

25th May: Rye RSL Happy Hour , 5 - 6pm. Meal afterwards optional

28th May: General Meeting @ 8.00pm. Guest speaker: Alan Woollard, on the topic: “A brief insight into a five month long motor cycle adventure around North America, covering 39,000km”.

18th June: Committee Meeting only, @ later time, 7:00pm.

25th June: General Meeting (Winter, Daytime), St Andrews Hall @ 2:00pm. In relation to our recording of Rye and district history, members

and visitors are invited to either give a short talk on a local history item of personal interest, OR pose questions which might prompt research. A bit like the “Bring a Treasure” evening of last August.

29th June: Rye RSL Happy Hour , 5 - 6pm. Meal afterwards optional ________________________________________________________________

Home Page. http://ryehistoricalsociety.weebly.com/index.html

Several years of past issues of our newsletter may now be viewed in colour on the Society’s website. Google ‘Rye Historical Society’. Members may like to send our newsletter on to friends or review past editions. Go to our site and then click on ‘Newsletters’ then click on the ‘Download File’ icon. ________________________________________________________________

The Rye Historical Society Inc., PO Box 65, Rye 3941 http://ryehistoricalsociety.weebly.com index.html

Museum: “The Old Schoolhouse”, Collingwood St, Rye

President: John Bertacco Vice-President: Lynne Woollard

Secretary: Pauline Powell Hon. Treasurer: Danny Jennings

Editorial Committee: Bernie Woiwod, John Bertacco, Noel Erbs

Reports on RHS activities (w/photos if possible) and contributed articles for the next issue of “White Cliffs always welcome. Copy deadline 25th June.

THE BACK PAGE, for April - June 2018