Memories Post 1940 of Red Hill Near Dromana Vic Aust

No,you haven't missed the reunion! It's on Sunday,March 22,not long now!

Sybil Cumming (nee Colliver)had already sent me Graeme Saunders' memoirs and today I received her terrific contribution. As I'm presently writing journals about Dromana and Mickleham,I thought I'd better get this journal started before any other sidetracks crop up.

For those without internet access,or who wish to see the photos and scanned newspaper articles that cannot be published here,I will be printing a booklet which I intend to finish before the end of April,and will consist of all the memoirs contributed. I will announce in a comment under this journal when they are available; you can then purchase your copy at the Dromana Historical Society museum in the old shire office for a donation of $2 (or more if you can afford it) to the society. If you intend going on a holiday near the end of April,get a friend to look for my announcement and pick up your copy or you might miss out. The museum will be re-opened after repainting by the time the book is ready, is at the top of Melway 159 F-G7 in the old Shire of Flinders Office,and will be open on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. People living more than a two hour drive from Dromana may contact me NOW to reserve a copy and organise postage.

MEMOIRS.

SYBIL CUMMING (NEE COLLIVER.)
Childhood Memories "“ Growing up in Red Hill
CONTRIBUTION 1 FROM Sybil Cumming (nee Colliver)

My mother was MAVIS EILEEN CLEINE, the second child, and only daughter of Karl and Myrtle Cleine. She was born in the Dromana Hospital in May 1925. Her father, my grandfather was the youngest of Charles (Chas) Cleine's 11 children, so during her childhood there were many cousins and second cousins living in the area. Here is a newspaper article (Frankston Standard, Thursday 2 November 1944, page 4) where my mother is mentioned when she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of one of her cousins, BERYL PROSSOR.
My mother was educated at the Red Hill State School and at Frankston High School. Her first job after leaving school was working as a shorthand typist in the Shire Office in Dromana, now the Dromana and District Historical Society Museum. The photo below of the ladies working in the Shire Office was taken sometime around 1944. Mavis Cleine is standing in the centre of the group.

When she was 19 years of age, relaxing after work having a drink in the Dromana pub, she met the love of her life, an older man from the city who was to become my father: CLIFFORD HAROLD COLLIVER was living in Black Rock and at that time was employed as a fitter and turner for the Victorian Railways. They were both avid tennis players.
My parents had a small wedding in Hampton in December 1944 and honeymooned in Cowes on Phillip Island, despite the Red Hill news column (see next page) printed on page 2 of the Frankston Standard on 7 December 1944, stating that my mother's new husband was called Clive and that they spent their honeymoon in Cairns.

For the first couple of years of their married life my parents lived with my grandparents in "˜Brooklet' on the corner of Mechanics Road and Redhill/Arthur's Seat Road. Here my father first learned about life as an apple orchardist, working with his parents-in-law and brother-in law, PHILIP SIDNEY CLEINE who lived next door. The front drawing room of "˜Brooklet' was converted into my parents' bedroom and later, after the birth of my brother, Ian, in October 1946 part of the front veranda was filled in to make a nursery.

My mother used to love dancing and for the first few years of her marriage managed to drag my father to the regular Saturday night dances in the local hall (Mechanics Hall). My brother used to be placed in his carry bassinet on the stage behind the piano.

I remember going along to those Saturday night dances myself as a child. The whole family was included. I used to love doing the barn dance with the grown-ups.

And later on I have a vague memory from the early 1960's of some dancing lessons. Who ran the classes? Was it Russell and Shirley Simpson? I do remember hours of patient coaching and practice and then the competition, where I nervously stepped my way through the Palmer Waltz with John McCallum.

Another memory I have of Mechanics Hall is the flower shows. My Uncle "˜Phip' Cleine usually won the blue ribbons for his glorious gladioli blooms and his dahlias were quite a sight. He grew them all down on the flat at "˜Brooklet' where the original homestead was built.

It must have been sometime in 1947 that my parents bought the house we called "˜Kia-Ora' and 15 acres of land on the corner of Beaulieu Road and Shoreham Road (now 3 Beaulieu Road). I remember the remains of another old house on the property, overtaken by Kentish cherry trees, near where my father built the tractor shed and later on a small hen house. In the late 50's my mother, Mavis planted an acorn near the foundations of that original house. A huge oak tree stands tall on that spot today. There was another little cottage on the property, facing onto Shoreham Road. It was rented out to another family (Tulloch) until the early 50's when it became the storage shed for all the apple cases. What a great cubby house that cottage made.

Some of the property already had established apple orchards, mainly Jonathons and Red Delicious, but over the next few years my father planted more including Granny Smiths, Golden Delicious and Gravensteins. He also built a dam on the Shoreham Road boundary, near our small pine plantation and a large packing shed near the old stable.
One of my father's best friends and mentor in those early days was AUBREY NOEL (A.C.B Noel), one of his mates from the Red Hill Tennis Team.

Red Hill Tennis Club 1947
Back Row: L-R: "Phip" Cleine, Jack Holmes, Aubrey Noel. Centre: May Wainwright
Front Row: L-R: Alice Prossor, Mavis Colliver, Cliff Colliver, Bill Craig, George Bloomfield.

Below is a photo circa 1948 with Aubrey Noel driving the tractor with my father Cliff Colliver (holding my brother Ian) and my grandmother, Myrtle Cleine (holding my sister Kay).

When it came time to pick the apples my father recruited friends, neighbours and relatives to help out.

Apple pickers L-R: Cliff Colliver, Gladys Bedford (a neighbour and wife of the Red Hill Cool Store Engineer, Jack Bedford), Harold Wilson and Ivan White (dairy farmers from Main Ridge).

Childhood Memories "“ Growing up in Red Hill South
CONTRIBUTION 2 FROM Sybil Cumming (nee Colliver)

Although the house where I grew up is now 3 Beaulieu Road, Red Hill South, our mailing address from earliest memory was simply Shoreham Road, Red Hill South and we collected the mail from the Red Hill South Post Office, located next door to Pedley's grocery store on the corner of Point Leo Road and Shoreham Road. My sister recalls that the ALEX PEDLEY was one of the first postmasters there. A new building was constructed to house the new Post Office with, I think, a feed and grain store and petrol pump as well.
In the 1950's and 60's there were only three houses in Beaulieu Road. We couldn't see any of the neighbouring houses and it was thick bushland across the road. We spent many happy hours over there picking blackberries, maidenhair fern and wild violets. At the end of the road where the gravel road turned into a rough bush track lived JACK AND PHYLLIS KIRBY. They had two daughters, one was named Joy. We had the first house on the corner and in the middle further down on the same side of the road lived our nearest neighbours DICK AND MILLIE MAY. The May family had a dairy cow and grew sweet corn as well as apples. My brother, sister and I often played with their two girls, Lynette and Merle. A lasting memory was one exceptionally hot summer day when we all went swimming in their dam, the one frequented by their cow. As we walked home afterwards we started to smell something putrid. It was us! We had stirred up a lot of vile smelling mud as we cavorted in the water.
In those days Simpson Street connected with Shoreham Road. Our neighbours going up the hill on Simpson Street were CHARLIE AND IRIS CROWE and their children Tessa and Bruce. They lived next door to a beautiful old two storey house owned by the Red Hill Cool Store, on the corner of Simpson Street and Baynes Road. JACK AND GLADYS BEDFORD lived in that house with their only daughter Jean, as Jack was employed as the cool store engineer. The Bedfords became close friends with my family and we spent many a Christmas and New Year Eve enjoying their old English hospitality with singsongs around the piano. My "Auntie Glad" really knew how to pound that keyboard and she taught us many of the old war tunes. JEAN BEDFORD later gained some fame as an author. Two of her books Country Girl Again and Love Child depict life living in a country town very reminiscent of Red Hill in the early 60's.
Over the road from the Bedfords lived one of the Edwards families: Bob, his wife and their children Henry, Melva (dec'd) and Francis. BOB EDWARDS often worked on a block of land he owned further down the track at the end of Beaulieu Road. Nearly every day he used to drive his old (Ford) truck to work there. Many times we watched with amusement as he would drive backwards all the way down Simpson Street, across Shoreham Road and past our house, driving in reverse gear because the other gears on his truck didn't work! The other Edwards family that we knew were MATT AND HAZEL EDWARDS, and their kids were Donald, Keith and Elaine. They lived almost across the road from the Red Hill South Post Office. They were the first family in Red Hill South to buy a television set in 1956. Children from all over the district were invited into their lounge room each night at 6.00 pm to watch the Mickey Mouse Club. Matt Edwards owned and drove one of the semi-trailers that collected the packed apples from our area and drove them to the market in Melbourne each week. He would bring back fresh fruit and vegetables which BELLA EDWARDS used to sell in her shed/market stall.

Memories of Red Hill Consolidated School
When I first started school in 1955 it was Syd Hitchcock who drove the Shoreham bus past my house (on the corner of Beaulieu and Shoreham Roads) to the Consolidated School. An old wooden container that once housed a VW beetle was turned on its end to make a shelter for me, my brother and sister, and several of the neighbours' children. We had a normal looking bus (ex-Peninsula bus lines) but the kids from the Balnarring area got to ride in an articulated semi-trailer style of bus that was painted sky blue, if I remember correctly. The bus parking area was then at the front of the school beside the main assembly area outside the main office. The drivers parked the buses there all day and went off to their normal day jobs before returning for the afternoon shift.

In 1957 my Grade 2 teacher was Mrs A McKenzie. (See photo on next page.) The year before she was involved in the school bus crash. The bus driven by Syd Hitchcock with nine children from the Consolidated School on board had swerved to avoid a collision with an old model utility and plunged 40 feet off the bridge and into the creek at Shoreham.

1957 Grade 2
STANDING BACK ROW: Mrs A. McKenzie, John McCallum, _________ , _________ , _________ , Danny ? , _________ , _________ , _________ , Kenneth Williams, _________ , Shane Wright.
STANDING MIDDLE ROW: Ian Duffield, Peter Wilson, ________ , Wendy Higgins, Lorna Hemple, Pam Smith, Wendy Haddow, Barbara Mannix, Margaret Longmuir, Trevor Storer? Andrew Duncan.
SEATED MIDDLE ROW: Kay Francis, Judith Setter, Christina Dowling, Elaine Buxton, Rosemary Squires, Helen Duffield, Shirley Holden? Julie Sherwood, Lorraine Lester, Sybil Colliver, Joan Cotter, Maria Del Grosso, Susan Boyd.
FRONT ROW: _________ , _________ , Kevin ? Mervin Chambers, _________

GRAEME SAUNDERS.
BACK TO RED HILL REUNION
Reminiscences

CONTRIBUTION FROM Graeme Saunders.

I have some stories from the past:
"¢ I used to ride on the steam train that went to Red Hill South packing sheds and timber yards.
"¢ There was also a rail line from the Dromana Pier to Red Hill and it came up Eaton's cutting opposite the Red Hill Consolidated School.
"¢ The rails were made of timber and the rail trucks were pulled up the line by Bullock teams carting freight for Red Hill and Main Ridge.
"¢ The OT Jam factory had a dam on the side of the mountain opposite Main Creek Road, Main Ridge.

PHOTO. Opening of the Red Hill Railway Line on 2 December 1921.
(Karl Cleine is pictured to the right in the black hat.)

CONTRIBUTION FROM BEV LAURISSEN.
Part of Bev's letter,relating to the Darleys of the Survey,Fingal and Flinders has been posted as the last comment under the RED HILL POST 1940 journal. She must have spent hours on her contribution on Sunday night after the reunion. The letter was in my letterbox by noon today (Tuesday.)

Bev's comments refer to things that I wrote in the Red Hill post 1940 journal and come with page numbers but as page numbers cannot be seen on the journal,they would be meaningless unless you printed the journal, so the numbers are not included here. The comments follow in the order they would Relate to the named journal.

Mr Ratcliffe was the mailman,not the postmaster,for about ten years. He was the first to deliver mail and retired when he was 80. He drove a ute (which Bev thought was green but she said Ethel Bailey would know.)

Harry Amos was the headteacher at Red Hill from at least 1927. He was the secretary of the Red hill Agricultural and Horticultural Society.

Alice (deceased) and Norma Prossor,twin daughters of May (nee Holmes) and Norm Prossor became,respectively, Mrs Les Bright and Mrs Ken Edwards. Ken's parents were Reuben and Mavis Edwards. Reuben managed the I.F.M. packing shed.

G.Larissen was in the local V.D.F. (Volunteer Defence Corps?)

Dromana Football Club. Probably Elgar Pittock who had a garage at Red Hill. Elgar is not Graham's father.
(I saw Cr Pittock at the Australia Day festivities on the foreshore (26-1-2015)and he told me that Elgar lived in Dromana and drove to Red Hill every day to operate the garage. By the way, Graham is descended from the famed Sorrento fishing family,the Watsons, via the Stirlings, and my WATSONS AND STIRLINGS OF PORTSEA AND SORRENTO journal resulted from an interview with Graham's(aunt?) to whom he introduced me.)

DIDN'T TELL MUM? Ethel Bailey was not aware that her son was a member of Frankston Standard's* Children's Club when he was about five years old. Sneaky little Robert!
NEW MEMBERS WELCOMED The following new members enrolled during the week. They are welcomed as Club members.
A special welcome is extended to the new members from Red Hill South and from Langwarrin: We should get a lot of members from the outlying districts of the Peninsula: Robert Bailey, Red Hill South,Eric Jewell, Frankston (etc.)(*Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1939 - 1949)Thursday 26 June 1947,page 13.)

Red Hill joined with other Show Societies between 1939 and 1949.
(It is hard to find trove articles about Red Hill because you get millions of results of which one grain of sand per beach actually pertains to our Red Hill. However,I was able to establish that in 1940, while Frankston had a very successful show, Somerville's renowned and decades old show was cancelled. There were plenty of reports of the 1947 Red Hill Show; it was not run by a show committee but by the Red Hill and District Progress Association. I think I pointed out the reason in the annals section of the RED HILL POST 1940 journal. You will remember the article about the huge numbers of Fred Volk's footy team and other Red Hill residents enlisting. Due to the reduced number of men,the little ladies not, of course, being invited to fill the void due to a now-outmoded attitude, a central committee took responsibility for functions performed previously by several separate committees.)

Mr Milburn,who lived opposite the Co-Op Coolstore put sides on his truck and a tarp over it,and with apple cases as seats transported young people to events such as the Lang Lang Rodeo, Country Week basketball (netball)at Royal Park,and to pictures at Dromana as a reward for Red Hill South State School winning the "Big Shield" at the Athletics Sports at Rosebud.Red Hill South had miraculously beaten the BIG schools.

BEV'S PRONOUNCEMENT ABOUT PRONUNCIATION.
Can we do something to stop the in-comers pronouncing Purves (as the plural of Purve) instead of the pronunciation used by the family:Purv-ES?
(The Laurissens, Johnsons (later changed to Johnstones, such as Christie Johnstone of Flinders but not George Johnstone of Purves Rd who married Olive Cairns and is mentioned in Hec Hanson's MEMOIRS OF A STOCKMAN)and Wilsons (but not Gervais Wilson,ancestor of Peter Hemphill) all feature in the Sarah Wilson story. When Bobby Wilson's head was split open in 1902,it was his uncle, Mr Laurissen who wrote to the Mornington Standard commending those, such as Constable Edwards, who had got him to Dr Somers in Mornington. Bobby's father had married a Purves girl,hence Bev's concern that the surname should be pronounced correctly.

That the surname was pronounced as Bev claims is illustrated by a rate collector who had obvious HEARD the name but never seen it in writing and wrote PURVIS in his assessment of Greenhills in Purves Road. PURV-ESS.
The name's origin had nothing to do with STANDING ON THE CORNER WATCHING ALL THE GIRLS GO BY (hit song from "The Boyfriend")but an old French word similar to purveyor, a collector of taxes for the likes of William the Conqueror.)

END OF PAGE 1.
SHANDS RD.
When I was at school what is now known as Shands Rd was known as Miltary Rd. Before W.W.2,it was a rough track. The military constructed a new road, a decent bridge etc.I believe it was formally gazetted as Shands Rd later when lots of roads were given names.

(Very few roads had names for almost a century and a road making contract might state something like so many chains between Blakeley's and Jarman's (Ecclesall and Devonia.) My paper Balnarring parish map shows gravel reserves (gazetted in 1954) on part of G.Wilson's 66A at Melway 255 HJ1,where Shands Rd was extended to Shoreham Rd, that are shown as RESERVED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES on an earlier map,probably the online one. )

VILLAGE SETTLEMENT.
A lot of folk lore surrounds this.Several people were given permission to occupy their blocks but starved and left so (their crown leases were) cancelled.
(My Village Settlement Pioneers journal indicates that this was probably the case with Tassell and Marshall; Mrs Thiele would have left because of the death of her husband Charles in the accident on Eatons Cutting Rd.When I walked down Prossors Lane to Trevor Holmes'place, I couldn't help visualising the mammoth task that would have been involved in clearing a block before any food could be grown; no wonder some starved.

I wonder why 74 Balnarring hadn't been alienated before the 1890's depression. It wouldn't have been required as a timber reserve amidst such a forest of stately gums. Perhaps it had been put up to auction and no bids were made because of the clearing required.)

RED HILL SOUTH TENNIS CLUB 1940.
I can't remember any Red Hill South tennis club/team. Who were the names apart from Trewin and Rigby?
(The article about the 1940 finals was the only reference to the club that I could find.)

GERVAISE WILSON (Research by Bud Wilson sent to Michael Osborne (U.K.)
James Gibbon Wilson married Jane Ester Figgis in Dublin 1828. After James died Jane went to England with her 8 children and emigrated to Tasmania,moving to Victoria in 1868. Jane died at Queenscliff in 1902. Jane's second son,Alfred Benjamin Wilson,born in Dublin 1836,married Sarah Anne (Flora) Hunt in Tasmania (and obviously remained in Tasmania when Jane,and perhaps her younger children moved to Victoria.-itellya.)Alfred's family moved to Victoria in 1888/89 and started an apple orchard business in Red Hill and Main Ridge. Alfred died at Dromana in 1926.

His second son, Gervase Mason Wilson married Jane Graves in 190(8?)and continued his father's apple orchard business. He died in 1965. His grandson (presumably Peter Hemphill about whom I wrote in the original journal) still has the one remaining orchard. The brothers of Gervaise were Reginald James Wilson (b. Launceston 1881, died Vic.1970) and Raymond Figgis Wilson (b.1882 Launceston,died Vic.1979.)The latter(presumably)was firstly a farmer in Punty Lane,Shoreham, before becoming a fitter. His name is on the 1912 Electoral Roll.

R. J. Wilson's "Wyoming Orchard" was on Tucks Rd On the Flinders side of Shands Rd, I was told on the right side.He was a bachelor,rode amotor bike and was "a different religion".Was this Reginald James Wilson? It would be interesting to check the will of Alfred Benjamin Wilson or wife Sarah Ann (Flora.)

Bev has drawn a sketch showing Gervaise Wilson* at the north east corner of Tucks and Shands Rds with Esther and Bobby Wilson's "Fernbank" to the east across Stony Creek fronting Shoreham and Shand's Rds and the Laurissens to the north. R.J.Wilson's *"Wyoming" was shown at the south east corner of Shands and Tucks Rds.

* These properties and parish maps/rates.
In 1919/20 the rate collector's writing must have been terrible unless he actually wrote the wrong surname. I transcribed selected assessments near Red Hill in the parish of Balnarring,which did not include the Laurissen's farm whose location is described in GIVING DESTINY A HAND.
GERVAIS WATSON,FLINDERS,(OWNER A.H.GREEN,CAMPERDOWN)116 ACRES AND BUILDINGS,68 A and B,BALNARRING.
ROBERT WILSON,SHOREHAM, 88 ACRES AND BUILDINGS,67 A and B,BALNARRING.

Gervais Wilson was on the north east corner of Tucks and Shands as Bev stated. Crown allotments 68AB, granted to A.Allan and consisting of 116 acres 2 roods 30 perches is roughly indicated by Melway 190 G11-12. Fernbank, 67AB, did not actually front Shands Rd which heads south east to Shoreham Rd through G.Wilson's grant, 66A.
As 67AB totalled 107 acres 36 perches,the Laurissens probably had about 30 acres at the north end of 67A.

I did not record rate records in the parish of Flinders, across Shands Rd from Gervaise Wilson but R.J.Wilson was granted crown allotment 2C of 30 acres on 5-6-1941. This was part of 2B,granted to J.Bullock on 20-11-1869 and had to be a closer settlement or soldier settlement farm, either of which could be paid off on generous terms. This was probably Wyoming Orchard and makes it extremely likely that the grantee was Reginald James Wilson. R.J.Wilson's grant was near the south west corner of Shands and Tucks Rds, not the south east as shown on Bev's sketch map, and is indicated by 276 Tucks Rd/ Melway 255 F 2-3.The south east corner was Thomas Dowling's grant.

I think R.Ellis (Dick) was a brother of Esther, nee Ellis, Bobby Wilson's wife. Auntie Esther had her elderly blind mother living with her and (Esther's) son,Bobby, when I was a kid.

DOWLINGS.
Carol Holmes' mother was Elva Dowling and family research on property etc has been done.

I can remember Glenn Wills playing football for Red hill after the war-a big fair haired player. Dad was President of R.H.F.C. at this time and he always seemed busy talking with andvisiting boysfor the team.

I believe Phil Cleine and wife were the people who started Red Hill Gardening Club which is still going strong,not the A.and H. Society in 1922.

See Jean Edwards to confirm that Beaulieu Rd was named after Nash.(Subdivision Frederick and Elizabeth St too.)
(As pointed out in memories,Beaulieu Rd was known as Government road,being the boundary between J.McConnell's grants, 75A to the north and 75B to the south. In 1919 75 AB had been subdivided, with those assessed being James Smith of Shoreham (lot 4, 20 acres) Karl Cleine (lot 9,18 acres), Thomas John Simpson (lot 8, 20 acres and building),G.l.Taylor,Merbein (lot 10,20 acres), L.Tanell , almost certainly Tassell,of Footscray (lot 11,20 acres), F.R.Yeates,almost certainly Yates,of Buckley St, Essendon (probably the son of David Yates of the Racecourse Hotel at Keilor)(lots 1,2, 3,12, 135 acres). You might notice that lots 5,6 and 7 haven't been mentioned and that the rate collectors standard of care is not too hot. Therefore my transcription of the following is probably what he wrote.
Frederick Nash Snr,still on 74 FG of the Village Settlement, (lots 6 and 7 73AB,40 acres),
Mrs E.G.Nash (lot 5,20 acres,73 AB.)
These should have been 75AB. The Nashes had 60 acres, obviously adjoining. Yates'lot 12 must have consisted of 75 acres fronting Stony Creek. Was Frances St named after a member of the Nash family too?

JUST RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING FROM SYBIL SO I'LL SKIP TO BEV'S MEMORIES OF RED HILL'S SWAGGY.
When I have a moment I was thinking about writing a few lines from my memories of the Red Hill Swaggie "Old Jimmy" if you are interested.(I replied that it would be great to have two viewpoints and told her that I'd let her see Bev's now.

BEV'S MEMORIES OF RED HILL'S SWAGGY.
Jimmy Heffernan was the well-known swaggy seen walking along the road to (Melbourne?)He often camped out under the bridge over Pt Nepean Rd at Balcombe Creek. Alway carried his sugar bag (similar to the one carried by Charlie Johnstone in Petronella Wilson's "Giving Destiny a Hand.") The carry bag was a pre- back pack. Jimmy lived in a small one roomed bungalow on a beautiful bush block in Cherry Rd. This building is still in the front garden of Mark Koscic's house. The power was connected initially to the bungalow and now onto the house. I believe a nephew (maybe a priest)kept an eye on him and that Jimmy owned the property. I remember Dad telling me that the nephew said that Jimmy wasn't a pauper-just a way of life. No idea where he bought his food. Dad emptied his car ash tray in front of his place, (Itellya-this sounds like a vindictive act but I presume that Jimmy satisfied his nicotine craving with the butts)- and often a case of apples would fall off the trailer along the road for him.

We were never frightened of him. The only time he came to our place was just after Dad died. He came with a dirty white cup; Mum said asking "The Missus" for a cup of sugar. He got the sugar but also went off with a "flea in his ear" and didn't bother her again. Must check out if the hut had a fireplace.

SYBIL'S MEMORIES OF SWAGGY JIM.

FROM BARRY WRIGHT (EXCLUDING OVER 25 PHOTOS WHICH WILL BE IN THE BOOKLET.)
(N.B. FOOTNOTES POSTED AT THE END OF BARRY'S CONTRIBUTION.)
The following is an excerpt from the book "Wildwood "¦a little farm well-tilled" which is in the process of production by Barry Wright. The Chapter here describes the years when Max and Berta Wright lived at the house Sheltrenook situated on the Wildwood property.

As the world grappled with the Great Depression Max settled into the task of running the orchard under the watchful eye of Walter. Max clearly enjoyed the work, and no doubt he was very happy that his father's decision had found them in Red Hill. No doubt he was also happy that the building trade was behind him and he could devote his energies to his love of growing things. The new life and work on the little property at Red Hill working with his father presented many challenges for Max. And six years after the Wright family's arrival in Red Hill there was to be another major change in Maxwell's life.

In 1934 Maxwell married Berta Smith. Berta had come to Red Hill to take up an appointment as a second teacher at the local Red Hill School No. 1301 (now St. George's Church of England). Berta and Max build a new home, which they called Sheltrenook on the southern slope of the Wildwood property, about 400 metres south of the Wildwood house on Red Hill Road. The setting was against a backdrop of bush on the southern side, which had been logged earlier in the history of the property but still held a scattering of ancient messmate and peppermint gums (no doubt un-millable because of their size and senility) dominating the strong regrowth of quite sizeable trees. The new house, Sheltrenook, tucked on the southern slope between "The Bush" and the partially cleared paddock above it, was built by Max and his father from timber milled from messmate trees cut from the bush on the property with some of the flooring cut from local radiata pine. The timber was milled at Vic Holmes' steam sawmill, which was located nearby; about halfway between Wildwood and the Church of Christ on the south side of the Red Hill Road (a little to the west of the house now at 229 Arthurs Seat Road). Over the years Max and Berta improved and developed the simple house and the surrounding garden, planting a great variety of fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs.

Until the late 1940's there was no track or road down to the house. To get to the outside world we had to walk up the hill, across the paddock, past the "Little Gums" and then under the archway of the massive pine trees standing in a row on the brow of the hill. To the left was the stable, the cow bail and the "Red Shed" . And on the right the machinery shed, the well dug by Walter and the old house "Wildwood". From there a gravel drive ran down a northern slope and through a wooden gate to the "Top Road" (Arthurs Seat Road). On the left side of the driveway between the sheds and the road there were two weatherboard garages under the pine trees. One of these housed in the 1950s the little bull-nosed Morris tourer that belonged to Auntie Phyll. The other garage housed the grey 1924 Packard Six truck which sat in the oily gloom poised for a rolling start. The old Packard had started life as a stylish tourer but in the early nineteen forties had been modified by the addition of a wooden tray and sides so that it could cart fruit to the Red Hill Cooperative Cool Store at the railhead at Red Hill South. The Truck also served as the family "car".

It wasn't until the late 1940s that electricity was connected to the house at Sheltrenook. Prior to this, lighting was by candles and kerosene lamps. Cooking was done on a wood stove. Cold water was piped from the water tank to the kitchen and to the bathroom and "back porch", which served as a laundry. There was no hot water supply. Water for the kitchen and for baths was heated in a slender metal tank that nestled beside the firebox of the stove. At the top of this tank there was a screw cap where cold water could be added and a large brass tap at the bottom to draw off the heated water.

The sitting room was heated by an open fire. Both kitchen and sitting room fireplaces and chimneys were fashioned out of galvanised "tin" sheet, in an all-in-one traditional square chimney and fireplace unit held together with rivets. The kitchen stove and sitting room fire were set respectively on concrete hearths. The hearth in the sitting room was edged with a removable piece of fine Tasmanian fiddleback blackwood, constructed by Walter in a shallow "U" shape and lined with galvanised iron to protect it from the heat.

The exterior cladding of the house was vertical six-inch by one-inch hardwood boards with two-inch by one-inch cover strips nailed over the joints between the vertical boards. Up until the mid-1950s inside the house there was no internal lining of the walls. The back of the exterior boards was covered with sisalkraft . This was tacked to the boards concealing the raw boards and studs. The ceilings were very low and were made of hoop-pine plywood nailed to the bearers. In some places decorative newspaper "wallpaper" was pasted onto the sisalkraft.

The bathroom was spartan, sporting a naked galvanised iron bath painted in latter days a sort of industrial green. Cold water was laid on but there was no shower and the hand basin was just that "“ a grey enamel basin. The water supply was always a problem, especially during summer when the galvanised iron tanks became seriously depleted. I have summertime memories of Dad anxiously rapping the tanks with his bare knuckles to determine the water level and memories of the once-a-week bath night being monitored by Dad thrusting a wooden ruler into the barely wet bottom of the tin bath and pronouncing the permissible level. "Four inches" sticks in my mind. Not much water and not much quality, especially when on the patch of land just to the north of the house Dad maintained a highly productive vegetable garden, using environmentally-friendly growing techniques including companion planting, composting, mulching, and "no dig" techniques many years before these "new age" strategies were embraced with religious zeal by the wave of pale city dwellers who began to gradually seep into the city-near farmland, buoyed by the burgeoning affluence of the nineteen sixties.

The apple orchard at "Wildwood" was small, just ten acres (4 hectares) with about 1000 apple trees. The predominant variety was Jonathans. Other varieties included Granny Smith, Rome Beauty, Red Delicious, Yates, Rokewood, Stewart's Seedling, Golden Delicious, Gravenstein and a number of other varieties some of which were produced on single trees or single branch grafts in the other main-crop trees. These varieties bearing exotic names included Alfriston, Pomme de Neige, Winesap, Hoover, Irish Peach, Red Astrachan, Democrat, Winter Majetin, Five Crown or London Pippin, Northern Spy, Sturmer, Rymer, Newman and Twenty Ounce. In addition there were a small number of pear trees "“ Beurre Bosc, Williams Bon Chretien, Josephine, Winter Nelis, Winter Cole and Packham's Triumph and there was also a patch of lemon trees along Blakely's Line on the western side of the Young Orchard.

This minimal fruit farm consistently produced crops well in excess of the State average per acre. In 1951 the Department of Agriculture Orchard Supervisor, Duncan Brown, in an article in the local newspaper, the "Peninsula Post", wrote a glowing report on the little orchard and the professionalism and skill of Max.

A little farm well tilled
By D.D.B.
At Red Hill there is a picturesque little orchard of ten acres divided into sections by tall sheltering pines. Each tree is cared for individually and the orchard is so productive that up to 5000 cases had been picked in an "on" year and about 2000 cases in an "off" year. This profitable little orchard is owned by Mr Max Wright to whom fruit growing is as much a hobby as a profession.

The success of this small establishment speaks for itself. It stresses the desirability of owning a comparatively small property and looking after it intelligently and efficiently.Many apple properties twice, or even three times its size, produce less through the owner's inability to do the right thing at the right time, or to attend to essential detail.

Mr Wright has made a study of fruit growing since 1928 and has the ability, the knowledge and the time to attend to detail. He has he also learned to be particularly observant in an anticipatory matter. He realises that all phases of orchard management are so correlated and interrelated that neglect of one will nullify the effects of others. Everything is done on time, and done thoroughly and efficiently.

An ardent believer in soil fertility Mr Wright sows legume crops each year and applies as much bulk as he possibly can. This, with an average of 5lbs. blood and bone, constitutes the trees' manurial program. It is not considered sufficient, however, and heavier applications will be applied in future.

Careful diary
Work on the orchard is made more interesting, constructive and lucrative by various tests and trials put down by Mr Wright. He keeps a meticulous diary of these observations, but even without its aid could conduct a visitor to any tree and tell what the trial has been, or is being conducted. Very often the results point the way to the more extensive use, or discontinuance, of the trial under way.

Among his various experiments is one of sod culture. Three years ago about 16 trees were put down under clover and rye grass which is cut at regular intervals. So far neither trees nor fruits have suffered with the trial, and the test is encouraging and worth carrying on.

Long pruning of Romes is another trial. These trees are some of the largest in the district with the fruits borne at the end of the laterals. The trees bear exceptionally well and the fruit, hanging well out, colours better. This method is different from the accepted hard pruning of this variety. Mr Wright does not claim any advantage over the other method of pruning, but just explains that there may be exceptions to rule...

... There is an old tale about nasturtiums cleaning up woolly aphis. Mr Wright ridiculed, but tried it, by sowing some nasturtium seed below one Granny Smith apple tree always susceptible to and pitted with the aphis. He purposely refrained from spraying that tree and the nasturtiums grew strongly up it. The woolly aphis almost disappeared. This can be vouched for by the writer, but no explanation can be given.

During these years the ownership of the Wildwood property remained in Walter's hands with Max in partnership working the orchard. In 1955 Walter Wright died in his ninetieth year after a long and full life. He was active to the end. In his own words he had had "a splendid innings" and he believed he had lived in "The Golden Age". The ownership of Wildwood passed to Max, and he continued to fine-tune the production of apples from the little orchard.

BARRY'S FOOTNOTES.
1.The "Red Shed" was an addition to the original stables that were constructed before the arrival of the Wright family. Walter constructed the Red Shed from timber, which he split from messmate trees on the property. The roof was corrugated iron and most of the walls were clad with flattened 44gallon tar drums painted with red lead "“ a mixture of red lead (lead tetroxide) and linseed oil. Red Lead was a common (and highly toxic) anti-corrosive and primer paint in common use until relatively recently.

2. "Sisalkraft", which is still available, was a heavy duty building paper which had a layer of bitumen sandwiched between heavy brown paper. Threads of sisal were imbedded in the bitumen layer to provide strength and resist tearing. In most cases the sisalkraft at "Sheltrenook" provided an effective draft barrier.
3. The orchard was planted on a 20 feet by 20 feet grid giving 108 trees to the acre. This spacing was typical of orchards planted in Southern Victoria in the first half of the twentieth century.

4. These words: "A little farm well tilled, A little barn well filled. A little wife well willed "¦" are from the comic opera "The Soldier's Return" by James Hook, 1805 - which in turn were no doubt derived from lines in Grete Herbal by Peter Treveris, London (1526) "˜A little house well fill'd, a little land well till'd, a little barn well fill'd, and a little wife well will'd, are great riches".

5. "cases" here refers to the wooden boxes into which apples were put into in the orchard for transport and for storage and, before the advent of cardboard cartons, was the container in which apples were packed for selling in the local wholesale, interstate and export markets. The standard "case" used in southern Victorian orchards was known as a "dump" or a "dump case" and had a capacity of one bushel or about 40 pounds of apples (18.2 kilograms). The dump case is not to be confused with the kero case, which was also used for transporting and storing fruit but not for marketing. A kero case held about 50 pounds of apples (about 23kg).

6. The Peninsula Post, Wednesday April 8, 1953

FROM HENRY (BEN) EDWARDS.
I was born in Dromana Bush Nursing Hospital on 5/10/1942 and lived at the corner of Baynes and Beaulieu Rd (now Simpson St) for 23 years.

Shoreham Rd was a gravel road from Pt Leo Rd intersection to Hastings-FlindersRd at Shoreham. Pt Leo Rdwasalso a gravel track. The bitumen road into Red Hill stopped about fifty metres past this intersection on Shoreham Rd as did the electricity supply. The phone lines also stopped at this point.

Most of our supplies came from Dromana (bread, groceries, meat, ice, clothing etc) were all delivered twice a week, order on delivery and get the next delivery. We also got visits every couple of months from hawkers selling a variety of items ranging from medicines,ointments, footwear,clothing, pots and pans and also a tinker who repaired boots,saucepans,sharpened knives and could repair almost anything on the spot.

Our milk, eggs,poultry, fruit and vegetables were all home grown, if you did not have one or the other your neighbour did, so we would swap. Later years when the general store had a better range of supplies, these deliveries slowly disappeared.

We always had a neighbourhood bonfire on Guy Fawkes night,we wouldspend monthscollecting burnable material for the fire. It used to be a big night with lots of fireworks and the occasional stick of gelignite to add an extra bang.

My first year of school was at Red Hill South state school which was at the top of the hill on Pr Leo Rd. The rest of my schooling was at the Red Hill Consolidated School.

For entertainment we had to findsomething to do ourselves whether it wasclimbing trees, riding our bikes, fishing in Stony Creek, trapping or ferreting for rabbits or maybe tea leafing Mrs May's fruit and vegie garden. Corn,peas,tomatoes, plums,nectarines etc always tasted better when you got away with pinching them. Mum often wondered why we weren't hungry sometimes but I think she knew what we had been up to,especially if we had been into the strawberries, raspberries or cherries,the stains on our clothing gave us away.

Until 1952 the train used to come to Red Hill every Monday and we looked forward to holiday Mondays. It meant we could go down to the station and watch the steam train come in. We would help the crew unload the goods they had brought in and load any to go out, we were probably more nuisance than help. After this it was all aboard the engine and back down to the turntable to turn the engine around for its return journey. They would position the engine on the turntable and then let us turn it around. Imagine being allowed to do that nowadays.

As we got older our lifestyle changed, movies were shown in the Red Hill Hall on Wednesday nights, dances on Saturday nights. We were now old enough to have a shotgun,so we spent a lot of time hunting rabbits and foxes, mainly at night with a spotlight. We were never refused entry to a property to hunt,the owners were glad to see us.

The Red Hill Show was another thing,we looked forward to volunteering to help at the show as soon as we were old enough. The Fire Brigade was another way of helping the community aswell as entertaining ourselves,joining up as soon as we turned sixteen and competing in demonstrations in various parts of the state. About this time motor cars came into our lives and we could go further afield forour entertainment, a complete change of lifestyle.

I loved Red Hill the way it was back in the 50's and 60's but that's life, you can't stop progress if that's what you call it. I will always call Red Hill my home.

SADLY SOME PEOPLE COULD NOT ATTEND THE BACK TO BUT THEY PROVIDED VALUABLE INFORMATION.

HOWARD CLEINE.
I am the fifth of seven children of Philip and (Sylvia) Marjorie Cleine (nee Wright) and still reside and work locally. The info re the reunion has been passed on to other family members.

Cousin Sybil (nee Colliver) mentioned in the tennis memoir was indeed Philip's Niece, her mother being Mavis (Cleine) and I have not seen Sybil for many years.

I do have some important Red Hill Tennis memorabilia which I would be pleased to put in the right hands for the club.

Sadly I have a previous engagement planned and will be away the weekend of March 22nd but I'm sure plenty of interest will be created by this event.

To me, CLEINE'S corner was always the intersection of Mechanics Road and Arthurs Seat Road where Karl and Myrtle Cleine's Property "Brooklet" (still standing and named Brooklet Farm) was, and with the entrance to what was once the orchard's packing shed and the original Cleine home further down the hill, leaving the road there in a northerly direction from the corner. On the other side of the entrance drive is part of what was in my youth Rowland's orchard next to where Shirley Coolstore (Holland's) once stood.

Interestingly in my real estate endeavors I have three Red Hill properties on the market once owned by relatives. Two were once owned by the Colliver family, one in Beaulieu Road that I was last in in the 1960's, the other a home they built when retiring from orcharding on Red Hill Road.
The other property is a lovely cottage built for Mrs Berta Wright (my aunt on Mother's side) on Arthurs Seat Road. Haven't I seen some changes in the district in sixty plus years????

HILARY MILLER. I am Hilary (nee Cleine), fourth child of Marj and Phip, about whom you have heard from brother Howard and sister Diana. Clearly we were all blessed, or possibly cursed with our parents' great love of both reading and writing. I've spent a couple of unplanned hours reading all your history. Marj was a prolific writer and among other things wrote the local news columns for various local papers for many, many years. Phip was partly instrumental in getting the Red Hill Library established. Prior to that little building near the Red Hill Show Grounds being built, we were piled into the back of the truck for the trip to the Rosebud library. We would read all the way home.
The names Mr and Mrs D. Ponter were mentioned somewhere. This was Dermot (Ted) and Janet, I think, who ran the Red Hill Store next to Pittock's Garage in the 1950's. They had 3 children, Jean, John and Graeme. Ted loved helping himself to the lollies whenever a child purchased some.
I spent many happy years playing with my cousins Ian, Kay and Sybil Colliver when they came to visit Grandma (Myrtle) on Saturday mornings. We roamed through the property "Brooklet" with no thought of the wilderness it must have been when Charlie and Elizabeth (McIlroy) Cleine built their home down the hill near the old well. Dad's father Karl, one of eleven children I believe, told Dad that he remembered aboriginal people still living along the creeks in those days.

FROM PHONE CONVERSATION WITH GRAEME SAUNDERS AND INSERTED IN NEAR-FINISHED BOOKLET ON PAGES INDICATED.

SPACE FILLER - GRAEME SAUNDERS. (PAGE 19.) Relics of the rails used to ensure that heavily laden bullock drays did not destroy the tracks over Arthurs Seat could still be seen after the consolidated school opened. The rails went straight up the hill from the pier and then veered to the right. There were wide grooves on the timber in which the dray wheels ran.
From Graeme's description, the railway followed today's Pier St and veered right into today's Jetty Rd, crossing Boundary Rd into Hillview Quarry Rd (the start of Bryan's Cutting track which ran through the Town Common adjoining the east boundary of Gracefield.) To emerge from the south end of Eaton's Cutting road while maintaining a reasonable straight line with a reasonable gradient, the railway must have cut south east through Robert Caldwell's "Dromana Hill" (later "Fairy Vineyard, more recently the quarry south of Jackson Way) and passing the north side of the future O.T. dam, linked up with Eaton's Cutting road near Holmes Rd. DO ANY REMAINS OF THE RAILWAY STILL EXIST???

SPACE FILLER "“ GRAEME SAUNDERS.(PAGE 21.) Graeme Saunders lived at the bottom of Callanans Rd. He and his mates used to have a ride home from school on the open railway trucks as shown on page 17. It only took a couple of boys to push one to get it going and the downward gradient towards Merricks did the rest. They'd just apply the brake when they reached each of the boy's houses. There was a cutting along the line and timber used to be loaded into the trucks from its top. They tried their little trick with a truck heavily laden with timber but they couldn't stop it and jumped for their lives. Apparently the truck crossed the road near Merricks Station at breakneck speed and rolled when reaching a curve soon after, providing the Misses Cole with a welcome delivery of firewood.
Graeme told me the turntable was on the Merricks side of the Red Hill Station and that it could be turned by hand by a couple of boys. While unsuccessfully trying to locate the turntable on the Balnarring parish map, I noticed land (c/a89C) that had been granted to A.C.B.Noel on 15-1-1932. It had frontages of 734 metres to the south side of Pt Leo Rd and 339 metres to the east side of Baynes Rd. Consisting of 49 acres 3 roods 37 perches, it had been purchased by the crown under the Closer Settlement Act, having been part of Joseph Simpson's* grant. (*See DROMANA PIONEER PATHWAY.)

SPACE FILLER "“ GRAEME SAUNDERS. (Page 39.)
Graeme told me that blind Mr Rudduck (Bullfrog) was the commissioner for scouts in the area and at the opening of the Guide hall at Rosebud he was presented to Prince Phillip and Lord Baden Powell. Trove has proved that Ernie Rudduck was indeed Commissioner for Mornington Peninsula County for over a decade until at least 1949, but no proof of the opening or Ernie's blindness has been found. Colin McLear confirms that Ernie was known as Bullfrog but doesn't mention any blindness. I wonder if Ernie and Graeme's father were doing a Wong/Peatey type leg-pull on little Graeme, who was amazed that a blind man was game to drive Mr Saunders' car.

TO BE CONTINUED.