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CHEWTON CHATCHEWTON DOMAIN SOCIETY

(INCORPORATED)Reg. No. A0034364L

P.O. Box 85, Chewton, 3451.

Published on the 1st of each month Issue 207 May, 2016.

www.chewton.net

So the time has come for Brett and I to say farewell to the Chewton General Store. After 6 eventful years it is time for a change. We just wanted to thank the people of Chewton and all the surrounding towns for all your support and friendship over the past years. We have had many ups and many downs (who could forget the fire) but the most important thing has been how welcoming and supportive the community has been from day one. I will never forget the morning after the fire with Helen and Marie from the Domain Society on the phone offering the Town Hall as a temporary venue while we waited for the rebuild. That call plus the numerous offers of help and food certainly helped raise our spirits. I really could not think of a better place in the world to run a little shop.

As we hand the baton over to Janelle I am sure she will continue to provide Chewton with great coffee, great food and friendly faces. And I am sure she will continue to receive continued support from Chewton and surrounds. We all know if we don’t support the little shops then they disappear and it’s off to town for all for that loaf of bread or jar of honey.

So farewell Chewton, Fryerstown, Sutton Grange, Malmsbury, Elphinstone, Taradale, Metcalfe, Vaughan, Irishtown, Harcourt, Yapeen, Guildford, Maryborough, Newstead, oh and Castlemaine. It’s been a blast!

Chris Derzsy, Chewton General Store.

Shop changes handsChewton may not have a supermarket but it has a Super Shop!

A new chapter in Chewton’s historyYou are invited to afternoon tea to farewell

Chris and Brett formerly of the Chewton Shop......and to welcome new owner Janelle Ager

Sunday May 15th at 2 p.m. at the Chewton Town Hall

Please bring a plate to share and some memories of the last six years.

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An eventful six years...Way back in July 2010 the Chewton Chat reported...

A momentous month for businesses in Chewton with the General Store changing hands, and Rhone Mechanical Repairs moving to Yapeen. In saying welcome to Brett and Chris in the Chewton Shop the Chat must thank Bev for her support, assistance and service over recent years. The “shop” is integral to the Chat’s success and survival - it is by far the biggest distribution point, it is by far the biggest donation collector and hosts a Chewton Chat “box” where important contributions to the Chat are left each month. Thanks for the on-going support Bev! And we look forward to working with Brett and Chris in coming years.

Then in September 2010 Gloria Meltzer interviewed Chris in Know Your Neighbour and asked his impressions of Chewton.

‘Since we’ve taken over the general store one thing I’ve noticed about Chewton is the strength of this community. There is a real Chewton identity. I find fascinating the history that exists in Chewton. I can see that people definitely want to be separate from Castlemaine. It’s not a suburb of Castlemaine. Chewton is its own town, which I think is great, which is the way it should be. Castlemaine is just getting bigger and bigger and less what it was.’

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CHEWTON CHATCHEWTON DOMAIN SOCIETY (INCORPORATED)

Reg. No. A0034364LP.O. Box 85, Chewton, 3451.

Published on the 1st of each month Issue 149 July, 2011.

www.chewton.net

Chewton fired up

...and about the pool too! See page 4

Suddenly a momentous event in June 2011 struck! Chewton was shopless! The front page of the July Chewton Chat let some pictures tell the tale.

This was a preposterous situation that within months was redressed by community support. A pop-up shop before pop-up shops became trendy! The Chewton shop was in the town hall! The September 2011 Chewton Chat reported...

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CHEWTON CHATCHEWTON DOMAIN SOCIETY (INCORPORATED)

Reg. No. A0034364LP.O. Box 85, Chewton, 3451.

Published on the 1st of each month Issue 151 September, 2011.

www.chewton.net

It’s open! And welcome back!The Chewton General Store is back in

business! After the traumatic fire of June 10 the talk around town has been full of speculation about the future of “our shop”.

We have read of the Cubetta’s deter-mination to see the shop re-instated and about the determination of Chris and Brett to return. The Chewton Domain Society offered the use of the town hall as a tem-porary shop immediately after the fire, and now the offer has become a reality.

Among the many customers on the opening morning were CDS committee members Bruce Newman, Helen Mc-Geachin and Marie Jones who welcomed Chris and Brett to the town hall and pre-sented them with a Monster Meeting flag and a bottle of Chortles Edge wine. Hope-fully we’ll all be laughing from here on in!

The process behind the shop moving into the town hall has been an exercise of a community pulling together in an extraordinary way. First of all there were the permis-sions. Heritage Victoria approved the temporary arrange-ments and Mount Alexander Shire’s Planning Department expedited the planning permit. Other legal and insurance requirements were pursued and ratified.

Then there were the users of the very busy town hall to be accommodated. Castlemaine Goldfields Ltd. had a full day booking which was transferred to the Chew-ton Community Centre, the Castlemaine District Cricket Umpires Association transferred their regular meetings to the Chewton CFA meeting room, Chewton Pool Inc. have made other arrangements for their regular meetings, FO-MAD has found alternate accommodation for their AGM booking, the Book Club is being creative with their al-ternate arrangements as are the SKA Band, the Chewton Cemetery Trust and the CDS Management Committee. Golden Point Landcare and POHAG are going to take

“this really is a great example of what a com-munity can achieve by pulling together”

contd. on Page 2

Then in January 2012 there was a note from Chris signalling an end to this dramatic event...

To the people of Chewton and beyond... this is just a short note to thank everyone for all their support and offers of help over the past six months. Since that fateful day on June 10th we really have been overwhelmed by the care and generosity of this community. Our time in the town hall was a fantastic experience. Many thanks to the Chewton Domain Society for offering us the use of the hall and to the various groups who were able to find alternative meeting places.

Now that we are ‘home’ in the new/old shop we look forward to the next chapter in the life of the Chewton General Store. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Chris and Brett.

Six years and still smiling!

Photos apart from the keys

hand-overcourtesy of

Marion Williams.

on Sunday May 15th at 2 p.m. at the Chewton Town HallSay farewell...

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The army is in townThe work that this Green Army crew has been doing in Chewton and along Forest Creek is making a huge difference - and they bring fresh ideas and insights in how to deal with the prickly problems that they are faced with. Working in the Parks Victoria managed Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park they have been clearing weeds at Wattle Gully with Chewton Landcare and putting in the Forest Creek Track walking posts. These start at North Street and follow the creek up to Expedition Pass Reservoir as part of a Golden Point Landcare project. If they are getting the same buzz out of working in our community as we are getting from their support then we are all winners!

Chewton’s Biggest Morning Tea…it’s the end of April, time to put the May Chat out and that means that Chewton’s Biggest morning Tea is just around the corner.This year the BMT will be at the Chewton Town Hall at 10.00 am on Thursday, May 26th (put it in your diary). For a gold coin entry donation we will give you morning tea, beautiful singing from Julie Henchman and The Blenders and of course, there will be raffles to relieve you of your loose change - you never know what lovely thing you may take home As well, we will draw out the name of the winner of Diane Linton’s gorgeous blue and white quilt.

Everything at Chewton’s Biggest Morning Tea is donated and all the proceeds will contribute to Cancer Research.

Everyone, from the youngest Chewtonian to the oldest and their friends, will be welcome.

REGULAR TRADING HOURS

FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY 10am – 4.00 pm

A curry every day Laksa on Sundays and Mondays

Monk Dish on Friday & Saturday Vegetarian & Gluten Free selections

146 Duke Street, Castlemaine Telephone: 54 706 038

Your Host: Onn Ho

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CFA Update – May 2016

Does this all sound familiar?

Sound familiar? Not Chewton this time! Colbinabbin’s situation as outlined in the latest Waranga News (another great community newspaper!)

And if you want to read more...http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/3852057/

towns-pool-facing-threat/

Meanwhile, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has just completed an audit and released a report on Victoria’s aquatic recreation facilities. Tabled on the 23 March 2016, this audit assessed whether councils effectively identify community needs for recreational facilities and services, whether council planning decisions for aquatic recreation centres are soundly based and whether councils are maximising value from these facilities.

http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports_and_publications/latest_reports/2015-16/20160323-rec-facilities.aspx

The Auditor-General’s comments in part:These days, aquatic recreation centres (ARCs) provide a wide range of health and social wellbeing benefits to communities. ARCs have moved beyond the provision of basic swimming pools to incorporate multiple activities and facilities including spas, saunas, water play areas,

child care and fitness classes. This has increased the scope, size and investment for ARCs with some new centres costing more than $50 million to be constructed. At the same time there is a relatively high number of ageing council recreation facilities across the state.

Over the next four years the local government sector in Victoria is planning to spend approximately $933 million to deliver community and recreational facilities. Councils are generally dependent on grants for the development or refurbishment of ARCs. Of the facilities managed by audited councils, only a small number generate operating profits or cover operating costs. However, the cost of developing and maintaining ARCs needs to be balanced against the important social and health benefits they provide.

Nevertheless the significant state and local government investment in ARCs must be seen in light of the broader financial sustainability issues facing the local government sector, including uncertainty about future grant allocations and the introduction of rate capping. While the ARCs examined in this audit have generally been well planned and managed, and underpinned by business cases and feasibility studies, these show that most facilities will need to be subsidised by the councils.

Call outs to gas leaks, scrub fires and smoke alarms going off kept Chewton’s volunteers on their toes in what was a mostly quiet month for the brigade.

Members attended an incident at the Castlemaine BP, at the end of March, which involved a car leaking gas at the service station. Due to the nature of the incident, crews from Bendigo were also called to the event to assist local crews.

Lifting of fire restrictions in early April also resulted in Brigades across the State being called out to a number of out of control burn offs. Such incidents act as a timely reminder that everything is still very dry out there and things will still burn.

If you are planning to burn off you should ensure that it is not too windy and have water ready to put the fire out should it start to get away. Residents are also encouraged to call the Burn Off Notifications Line before burning off on their property. Calling up and registering your burn

will mean that local brigades are not unnecessarily called out to your house.

The Burn Off Notification Line

number is 1800 668 511

Sunday 10th of April also saw members from Chewton conduct the second round of Property Advice Visit Services (PAVS). Over the course of the morning volunteers door knocked in Steele and Henry Streets providing

useful information to residents to help them prepare their homes for fire.

PAVS is proving a useful community safety tool and Chewton CFA will be recommencing visits in the Chewton Area in September. The purpose of this is to start reinforcing messages in to the lead up to next fire season.Paige Mounsey, Chewton CFA Communications Officer.

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Noticing how dry things are? The various water authorities around us certainly are.

1. Coliban Water has forecast the 2016/17 rural season that opens on the 1st of July to open at a minimum allocation of 30 per cent if the dry conditions persist well into this year. This forecast figure is based on the latest assessment of water that is available for the next rural season when the 2016/17 year commences on 1 July.

2. Goulburn-Murray Water manages water storage, delivery and drainage systems involving 70% of Victoria’s stored water. They have just advised that due to low water levels in Cairn Curran Reservoir all vessels are now restricted to five knots to ensure the safety of people boating on the waterway. This speed restriction applies across all areas of the reservoir open to boating. Cairn Curran’s storage level has fallen below 196 metres AHD (13 per cent capacity). From July last year to March this year, just 2.2GL of water flowed into the reservoir compared to an average of 76.8GL.

On the 22nd of April our water supply’s 3 storages

It’s becoming a dry argument - and a very dry one! were:• Upper Coliban 36.1% full (this time last year it was

65.3% full)• Lauriston 67.4% full (this time last year it was 74.4%

full)• Malmsbury 22.3% full (this time last year it was 28.8%

full)This makes a current total of 42.6% full (62.4% full

this time last year).Further around the district there are similar stories:

• Cairn Curran at 11.44% (39.86% last year)• Laanecoorie 15.46 % (31.39% last year)• Tullaroop 21.67% (39.88% last year)• Newlyn Reservoir 15.07% (46.78% last year)• Hepburn Lagoon 11.72% (45.98% last year)• Lake Eppalock 22.39% (46.6% last year) and Coliban

Water has an 18% share of Eppalock’s water and inflows for Bendigo’s water supply. Coliban’s share at present is 36.5% - down from 65.4% this time last year.

If you are noticing the big dry you aren’t alone!

Wesley HillCommunity Market

Every Saturday7.30am – 1.00pm

An old fashioned Country MarketOpposite the Albion Hotel

New stallholders always welcome.Call the Market Manager

0418 117 953

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Post Office Hill Action Group (POHAG)The program of weed control is a continuous activity. ‘Bushco’ (our contractor) has been active again applying herbicide to emerging gorse. Members have done a small amount of spot-spraying. To complement this, the “Green Army” will be toiling away for four days, collecting and removing scattered rubbish, cutting and painting young pines and cootamundra wattle. We recently walked through the area to familiarize their leader Peter Barrow and Asha Bannon, Landcare Facilitator from Connecting Country.

There have been responses already to our request for information about Post Office Hill for which we are thankful and look forward to receiving more.

We intend inviting photographers and any other interested persons to take photos of aspects of Post Office Hill which appeal to them, then enter the photographs in a photographic competition to be held later in the year. Some photos will also be selected to be included in a new series of brochures we hope to produce. To familiarize people with Old Post Office Hill two public walks will be conducted from 10am. on Sunday 1st of May then again from 10am. on Sunday 8th of May. The meeting point for these walks will be at the former tip site in Railway Street.

As has been written about before, illegal dumping of rubbish on post Office Hill is a problem. POHAG is thankful to T. and E. Bell Excavations for their generous offer to assist with removing several lots of accumulated rubbish. Ian O’Halloran.

Explore Old Post Office Hill... Two public walks

• 10am. on Sunday 1st of May • 10am. on Sunday 8th of May

Meet POHAG members at the former tip site in Railway Street.

The memory was jogged big time with a simple notice in the Herald-Sun.

OWEN. Doug. Passed away in Bendigo on March 31, 2016. A service to celebrate the life of Doug Owen will be held in the Chapel of Mount Alexander Funerals, 12 Campbell St, Castlemaine on WEDNESDAY (April 6, 2016) at 2.00 p. m. Privately cremated.

And the memories flood in. Doug the Castlemaine Theatre presence in the Chewton Community Centre. Doug

the writer and singer of the Monster Meeting song “Three Quid for the Privilege.” Doug the enthusiastic supporter of the Monster Meeting over many years. Doug the muso at the “Old Red Hill”. Doug on a stage. Doug entertaining.

Thanks a million for so many great memories Doug!

Vale Doug Owen

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Jack’s drama ends well! Fortunately!It was all over the news. A drama! Castlemaine man Philip Cocks was missing and had been the subject of a police search for a Sunday afternoon and evening. It quickly became obvious that the missing person was better known as Jack Cocks. He’d gone for a walk and when he didn’t return that afternoon an extensive police search was mounted.

The search resumed the next morning and Jack was found. He was found near Happy Valley Road, having fallen and not been able to get back up. The good news

that the 86 year-old had been found quickly spread.For a number of years Jack wrote historic articles

about Chewton for the Chewton Chat - under the pseudonym “The Batteryman.” He also wrote and produced two valuable publications Forest Creek’s Eureka Reef and Mt. Alexander Goldfield’s Specimen Hill which are in the Chewton Town Hall collection. Jack’s incredible Chewton background was captured by Gloria Meltzer when she interviewed him for the July 2008 Chewton Chat.

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My mother, a Scottish immigrant came to Australia as a 14 y.o. and courageously remained here alone as a 16 y.o. when her family returned to the U.K. She met my father whilst ballroom dancing in the Prahran Town Hall. They were married when she was 21 and I was born in the Queen Victoria Hospital in 1933. It was the middle of the Depression and they were both unemployed, jobs were very hard to find and often only lasted a short time. My father went looking for work and ended up cane cutting in Queensland, my sister Meg had arrived by then and I can remember travelling by boat to join him in Queensland. Upon his return to Melbourne he worked on the wharves.

My parents separated finally when I was 5 y.o. and Meg and I were fostered out to a number of different people until mother, my sister Meg and I were reunited. As a child I had a recurrent dream, and in the dream I was surrounded by water and the water kept on moving closer to me. I found that as long as I kept on moving I was safe, and I found that this was true in my waking life, for no matter how alone I was in different homes I was safe as long as I kept on walking.

When I was nine mother remarried and we went to live together again, and at 11 y.o. Mother convinced me that if I went to high school my parents would not be able to afford to educate me to a higher level at a High School and that I should go to the Tech to learn a trade so I started at Collingwood Tech and went there until I was 13 when I passed my Intermediate certificate. I hated the school especially Sheet Metal work, Turning and Fitting, Woodwork and Clay Modelling. These did not interest me at all as I already knew that I wanted to help people. I thought that chemists helped people so I went to Swinburne to do a diploma of Chemistry.

By the time I was 15 y.o I had become involved with the Fairfield Methodist Church youth group where I met one of my first mentors and supporters who encouraged me to follow my dreams. So when I was 20 y.o I decided to train for the Methodist Ministry and applied to attend Queens College - for 3 years I did an Arts degree and Theology. During the vacation period I took a vacation job at Sunbury Lunatic Asylum (as it was called) as a ward assistant and was absolutely horrified by the conditions, the current understanding of mental

illness and the harsh treatment of the patients which were then available. It was then that I decided I would do Medicine and Psychiatry.

Once more I had mentors and supporters who made this transition possible by providing scholarships and university fees for the first 3 years studying Medicine. I also made and have maintained many friendships from my college years. I met Maggie in 1955 in the Student Christian movement and as my practical partner in a Histology class - an unusual place for courtship. We used to go into the Anatomy Museum to wander about in our tea break looking at samples. Maggie was studying biochemistry and by the time we married in the Queens College Chapel in 1960 she was enrolled in a PhD.

Our first child Elizabeth was born in 1962 when I was in 5th year medicine and our baby went to work with Maggie for 6 months – for that era a most unusual arrangement. I used to take Liz to the shunting yards to look at trains when I had afternoons off. We managed on Maggie’s scholarship, my part time teaching at Swinburne Tech and summer work in the Mallee and Wimmera lumping bags of wheat. I did this for six years and became very fit. We had very little money but survived on a cheerful optimism and the generosity of Great Aunt Bessie who rented us a tiny flat for 3 pounds a week and meals with my mum when we ran out of money. We had three more children before deciding four was enough!

Upon graduation I did two years of residency at St Vincent’s Hospital followed by a posting as a psychiatric trainee at the new psychiatric clinic in Dandenong; I then did a year at St Nicholas Hospital for Profoundly Retarded Children; then Parkville Psychiatric Unit and Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital before relocating to

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New Zealand as Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Medical School in Auckland where we lived for 7 years returning to Royal Park as Superintendent in 1978. In 1983 I went into private practice, working from our home. Also I was very honoured to serve as Censor in Chief for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists for many years. I had completed my doctorate in Medicine and my Diploma of Psychological Medicine in 1969, and was invited to become a Knight of St John of Jerusalem of the Americas which I considered a real honour. St John’s was an ancient order committed to helping pilgrims and is still doing so 1000 years after its formation.

Maggie and I along with one or two others followed our research interests both in New Zealand and Australia, the focus of our interest being on naturally occurring hallucinogens such as LSD, DMT and more recently the shamanic ‘medicine’ called ayahuasca.

Whilst in NZ I had the first of 3 operations on my back which have had a big impact on my wellbeing. It was not until years later that I was diagnosed with an underlying muscular dystrophy. The recent discoveries of brain plasticity have given me new promise for reducing my pain medication and I am determined to maintain my ability to walk. So you may see me powering along Fryers Road on my daily walk to the Railway Bridge and back.

We bought 40 acres in Sandon 25 years ago and our son designed and build a beautiful house where the family spent weekends and we retired to about 8 years ago, planting a huge tiered garden and orchard.

We moved to Chewton 18 months ago into a school room house designed and built by our son which looks over the park and we delight in the kangaroos grazing. Being somewhat disabled I am often offered assistance by strangers and I am struck by how friendly people are in Chewton - we are greeted wherever we go and have made good friends in both Castlemaine and Chewton.

Gloria Meltzer.

Fancy having to print rubbish! But there’s no doubt rubbish and waste is a big issue in Mount Alexander Shire. And in and around Chewton! The Chewton Community Plan stressed this issue – with these priority actions listed…• Lobbying the Council to reduce tip fees for disposal

of whitegoods/appliances and to enforce high penalties and promote awareness of illegal rubbish dumping

• Arrange a hard rubbish collection day• Provide more or larger rubbish and recycling bins in

key public areas • Promoting activities and participation in weed control • Establish a Spring Clean Up Day • Reinvigoration of Chewton Landcare Group to

undertake education and promotion within the community and act in protection of local flora and fauna

• Work with land managers to restore Forest Creek and to identify and remove invasive species with a focus on improving the Forest Creek Track

• Promoting and developing environmental awareness by encouraging participation in outdoor activities such as planting days

Council now has a waste management plan out for public comment. We have until the 2nd of May to make comment! To move anything from an idea in our Community Plan to council action will need many, many responses.

Council’s approach to taking action to improve waste and resource recovery outcomes is listed as three ‘key areas of action’.

1. Increase community engagement and education2. Reduce waste and increase resource recovery3. Upgrade waste facilities

Withn those 3 “key areas of action” are 29 sub-points. Four of these are…

14. Consider tip vouchers to be given out with rates notices 15. Consider kerbside hard rubbish collection service 16. Consider a green waste collection service or other green collection options17. Track all illegal dumping to get the true cost figure and identify high use sites

Any thoughts on these - or the other 25 sub-points?

h t t p : / / w w w. m o u n t a l e x a n d e r. v i c . g o v. a u / f i l e s /Environment/Draft_Waste_and_Resource_Recovery_Action_Plan_%E2%80%93_29_February_2016.pdf

The period for comments closes

on May 2.Will you have

your say by then?

Printing rubbish...

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The weather has been topsy turvy in the last few weeks with an autumn feel and some very warm days. My garden is not recovering well but there are some blooms which is encouraging. The birds are around in good numbers and enjoying the water features provided for them. The small birds have a new place to play; a rusty old rendering pot which is broken but holds about a foot of water. The small birds flit in and out of the water and in and out of the roses and garden shrubs which are adjacent to it along the fence. Honey eaters, wrens and robins love this and there are ten or more playing in it on most mornings. Small birds seem to have more fun there and the larger birds seem to play in the upturned tank top which is about 9 inches deep with some stones for them to stand on. This is still much in use by the rosellas. This morning I looked out as the rosellas gathered and there were 9 or more gathered around bathing and playing and preening themselves, probably the result of a couple of successful hatchings in the last year or two. I love watching them and could spend hours but there are too many other things to do

The 2016 Antique Fair results are now finalised. There are bills, linked to the Antique Fair which take a couple of months to come through so it is understandable that the Trustees of the Burke and Wills Mechanics Institute Hall cannot produce them before now. They have advised that the net return from the 2016 Fair is $22,571 after paying $35,150 costs. These costs include fixed costs such as insurance, cleaning, hire of equipment, security, permits, advertising, donations to the Harcourt Football Club for manning the gates etc. and running costs such as food purchases for the catering. For many years now Tim and I have watched Pat and her family spend huge numbers of volunteer hours skilfully working through the year on plans and decisions for the next year’s Antique Fair. They involve careful planning with the Council, Police, CFA, Ambulance Victoria and the SES to ensure that the safety of everyone is taken care of during a high fire risk time of the year in our small country town. It is an extraordinary amount of work and skilled organisation which would cost many thousands of dollars if it were done professionally. They do it for love, to ensure that the old Fryerstown Burke and Wills Mechanics Institute Hall is maintained and preserved for future generations. Many of us who have been involved in a single celebration and events know how much it takes. The Antique Fair is

Fryerstown and Vaughanover several days, involves stallholders and visitors who come from all over Australia, and it is a much more major organisation than most would dream of tackling! The are also major costs running a large annual event over several days such as this which necessitates having significant financial reserves for the next year’s Fair.

Where do the proceeds go? In addition to the regular maintenance of the Hall (close to $20,000 in 2015 for painting, brickwork etc.) the Trustees have, for some years been working to build sufficient funds for renewing and modernising the toilet facilities. This will include a modern septic system to fulfil today’s regulatory requirements. The estimate for this work is expected to be well in excess of $100,000. The cost of temporary additional toilet facilities required for the 2016 Fair have set the timing of this work back, so it may be 2020 before it can be done assuming the ongoing success of the Fair! Nevertheless this result is a major credit to Pat Cubeta and the team who do an amazing job every year in organising a Fair over three or four days which has a national reputation! Thank you Pat and your team, and good wishes for the 2017 Fair, the dates of which are already announced, stalls are booked and planning is well under way!

As I mentioned in my last Chat article we will be away for a few weeks and the editor and I have arranged to print Jeannie Lister’s article on the history of Vaughan which is very close to Fryerstown but has a distinct identity and history. The towns were joined by a single main road which was called by the locals ‘the Junction’. There is not a lot of shared history and common experiences between the two, so on to Jeannie’s very interesting article which was the basis for her presentation at the launch of Elaine Appleton’s video on Vaughan, Chewton and Fryerstown.

“Vaughan is very near and dear to my heart and is the sort of place that becomes really becomes part of your soul. While I only lived there for 12½ years, our close family association with Vaughan goes back roughly eighty-five years and my brother David still lives there.

As I see it, Vaughan has experienced four main phases, the indigenous period before the arrival of European settlers and gold seekers, the gold rush years, the Springs era, and the peaceful village it is today. This afternoon, I want to tell you about the town that disappeared.

In May 1840, William Campbell and Charles Macknight established the Strathloddon and the Bough

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Yards pastoral runs. The Strathloddon run encompassed Castlemaine, Chewton, Campbells Creek and Yapeen, and Bough Yards incorporated Vaughan, Tarilta, Fryerstown, Guildford and Glenluce areas. Campbell and Macknight employed a shepherd, Peter Fryer, who, with his wife Elizabeth, built a slab hut on an unnamed tributary of the Loddon River. Due to their residency, the creek became known as Fryer’s Creek. Things progressed quietly for a number of years, until the discovery of gold in Fryers Creek in October 1851. Over the next few years, the land and times changed beyond all imagining.

In the very early gold rush years Vaughan was called Fryers Creek in newspapers and official documents. As thousands of miners lived along the banks of the full length of the creek, various sections were named to clarify the location. The area around where Fryers Creek joined the Loddon River, became known as The Junction, as it was where the two waterways met. This created a certain amount of confusion, as German Gully, which was nearby, was also called The Junction, and messages and mail were being sent to the wrong location, which caused a lot of angst. As Vaughan was steadily growing into a substantial township, locals believed The Junction wasn’t a suitable name for their town. The name had to go. A meeting was held in the main street and the townspeople voted to name the town, Vaughan. Now, I’ve heard several versions of why it’s called Vaughan, but unfortunately can’t prove any of them.

The earliest official recognition of the name change that I’ve found, is in the ‘Minutes of Quarterly Meeting of

the Castlemaine Circuit’ of the Wesleyan Church. They record ‘collection takings’ in the 1856 September quarter from ‘The Junction’ and in the December 1856 quarter from ‘Vaughan’. This appears to narrow the time frame for the name change to the last three months of 1856.

The most enduring of the theories as to how Vaughan got its name - and I was told this nearly 50 years ago and then again a couple of years ago – so it’s a good time span for the same story – was by people who had spoken with the descendants of the Vaughan family. They say their ancestor, James Vaughan, and his family, settled at The Junction in 1855. While they were there, there was a serious epidemic and James, being a chemist, was able to save the lives of many children. In appreciation, the townspeople named the town Vaughan. The timing for this is right.

But then we have a miner, Joseph Vaughan, who’s no relation to James as far as I know. In November 1855, Joseph was killed when he was being let down a shaft and the windlass handle broke. He fell 72 feet to the bottom and died within minutes of being brought to the surface. He had no family, but was held in such high regard by the community, that a subscription was taken up and the money was given to the Coroner to cover his burial costs. The amount collected was way more than what was needed, so the community asked the Coroner to put the balance towards the relief and maintenance of two of the village children who had recently been orphaned. Again, the timing is right, so the name could also be for him.

“Place Names of Victoria” book by A E Martin states Vaughan was named after the Hon Crawford Vaughan, Premier of South Australia, however, as he wasn’t politically active till 1905, fifty years later, I think we can rule that out. Another version is that the name was given as a compliment to Charles Vaughan, a pastoralist and Member of the Legislative Council for the Western Province 1856-64. Les Blake’s “Place Names of Victoria” also cites this version. As Charles didn’t get into office

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until 1856, I think it’s unlikely. I believe Vaughan was named at a local level, not state.

Victoria had only become a colony in its own right five years before and the colonial government was snowed under with the gold rush chaos. It took them quite a while to catch up with the infrastructure the goldfields towns required. The proclamation of the townships of Vaughan, Fryerstown, Newstead and Harcourt didn’t occur until the 4th of March 1861.

By 1859, Vaughan had developed into a very busy town and Vaughan residents were desperate for the sort of basic infrastructure we now take for granted. They became proficient at sending off petitions, and some were even successful! That year, they petitioned the Colonial Government for a Post Office, a Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and a legally reserved Cemetery. They also asked for a grant for improvement to the roads, which were described as “execrable”, and a bridge over the Loddon River (and doesn’t that sound familiar!) and these were granted. Before the bridge over the river was built, there was a ferry that was pulled across the river using a rope. The petition stated that Vaughan was ‘one of the oldest settlements and has now a population around it of 14,000 people.’

Over the next twenty years a substantial town grew. It included a court house, school, police station and lock-up, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Churches, several hotels, many stores, a Bank of Victoria office, Post Office, the Ball and Welch drapery store, two bakeries, a concert hall, billiard hall, two boot makers, two butcher shops, a cordial factory, an undertaker, brewery, a timber mill, doctor, chemist, blacksmith’s shop, a steam crushing plant, a timber mill and a large Chinese settlement with its own shops, hotel and at least one Joss House. Whilst all nationalities were represented in Vaughan, the predominant long-term residents were Cornish and Chinese.

The area was fairly rich with alluvial gold, the largest piece found weighed 85 pounds. It was called the “Heron” nugget, after the popular Fryers Creek commissioner, but once the alluvial gold became harder to get, it was the beginning of the end really. There were some deep sinking mines, and later the bucket dredges and sluicers, but it never really recaptured those early heady days. As with many goldfield towns, once the alluvial gold had been mined, the main population drifted away and in 1887 Vaughan’s population was recorded as 200.

One question that puzzled and fascinated me as a

child, was how a town the size Vaughan had once been, had basically disappeared. There were only four original buildings and the ruins of a church. However, once I started researching, it soon became apparent. Fires, floods and government sanctioned destruction had almost wiped away all vestiges of the old town. We’ll start with the fires.

The Waterloo Hotel burned to the ground in 1865. It was a very large building, located on the corner of the road into New Year’s Flat and is where Jess and Al Stanley’s house now stands. Edhouse’s Brewery, built in 1856 and extended in 1864, was located on the opposite corner and there was nothing but the outline of the foundation left when I was a child.

In November 1874, a fire destroyed two European shops, the timber yard and all but one of the Chinese settlement buildings. The Mount Alexander Mail paints a vivid picture and we can only imagine what it must have been like to be there. The fire started at 2 in the morning… “A piano was brought with much labour, and not a little danger, from Richards’s place, and set down in the middle of the road, but the heat ignited it. About three or four tons of rice were dragged from the chief Chinese store, Ah Jack’s and put on the bridge leading across the stream to Tarilta but even at that distance it was only kept from smouldering by applying wet blankets. The Chinese from the first exhibited their belief in fatalism, by merely saving themselves, and standing outside in the road chattering and gesticulating. An attempt was made by the Europeans to save a little of their property, but the attempt was futile – each house, with the exception of one Chinese store, being of flimsy weatherboards; and so many were the apartments

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that no one could venture into them for the stench of burning oil, opium, and worse. To be brief, we may state that about fifteen places in all were utterly consumed, with their contents, and only seven chimneys and smouldering debris mark the spot where a very considerable portion of Vaughan stood. The scene witnessed on Richards’s site was deplorable. Ironmongery, pots, pans, crockery, empty spirit barrels, and grain, all in a state of consumption. In this store there was also kerosene in considerable quantity, as well as gunpowder, which “went off” at periods with appalling detonations. So fierce was the fire while it raged that the rocks on the adjacent hill are blackened, and all garden vegetation nearby by is destroyed … Gun Yeck, a Chinaman who had not very long since taken unto himself a wife, lost £43 in notes, and such was his suicidal desperation, that he wished to remain in the house, and had to be dragged out by the hair of his head by the humane Europeans.” (Dragged him out by the hair - sounds very humane to me!!!).

But Vaughan people are a resilient bunch. They rebuilt. Nine months later, in August 1875, another large fire consumed the newly rebuilt Richard’s store, described in the Mail as a large and superior building, used as an hotel, store, box shop, and dwelling-house. The new built portion of the Chinese camp only escaped being burnt by the cool thinking and acting of the town’s Police constable.”

More of Jeannie Lister’s article will be in the June Chat. Kay Thorne.

40 Lyttleton Street (P.O. Box 632) Castlemaine 3450Ph: (03) 5472 4622 Fax: (03) 5472 4315

Email: shop@castlemaineofficesupplies.com.auProps: Andrew & Sue Thomas

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Photos: Spurlings Butchers in Vaughan, circa 1860, ‘Township of Vaughan in 1868’,

photographer unknown and a celebration of Vaughan residents at the Springs in 1909.

ABC Open has a project called Pic of the Week that is on-going until the 30th of July. It asks the question…

What’s going on around you this week? We’re on the lookout for photos that give a national snapshot of Australia each week.

Submit your photo of the people, places and events you’ve come across this week and it could be featured by your local ABC and by ABC News.It’s a terrific way to share your photos. And Marion Williams shared a Fryerstown beauty early in April… which has featured on ABC Central Victoria’s Facebook page as well.

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Chewton’s Anzac Day A bigger crowd than usual gathered at the Chewton Soldiers’ Memorial Park gate for Bettie Exon to greet and begin the 2016 ceremony. A large contingent from the Chewton School community seemed to be present, and the number of school uniforms was impressive.

The guest speaker was again Pat Mudford who spoke from her research, and then a group of Chewton school poets presented their recent works. Mayor Christine Henderson addressed the gathering before wreaths from community groups and individuals were placed beneath the flagpole. St. John’s new priest, Rev Anne

Mckenna, then prepared the way for Riley Arnold and his trumpet. Yes, Riley had made yet another trip from Melbourne to play the Last Post and Reveille at Chewton’s Anzac ceremony.

Max stepped to the flagpole and, holding his breath, tried to get one more “hoist to full-mast” out of the ageing infrastructure. Five-eighths, three-quarters,

thirteen sixteenths - and a stall! The jangling became a tangling and that was it. Max was left holding the uncooperative ropes – perhaps he might bring a kite to fly the flag from next year!

And then came the Anzac biscuits! Obviously a favourite with attendees now, the Chewton children had little difficulty dispensing all of their carefully prepared traditional Anzac goodies.

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Anzac Poetry from Chewton School...

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Nurturing the whole child

in every child

Our term is in full swing with term 2 traditionally being the busiest of all. In week one I took our grade 6 children to GRIP leadership conference in Bendigo. This year the focus was on what skills we need to be a leader and that we are all leaders as we are all capable of making change. The key elements of good leadership were recognised as constant input and contribution, working with others and having strong core values. Our students came back with many ideas that they will be able to implement back in class. The issue they felt we needed to address was that some children annoy others’ games. They now need to make a plan, set some goals and make some changes so that everyone has someone to play with and everyone feels part of the games at recess and lunch so they will be less likely to annoy others.

Our grade 4-6 children attended the schools ANZAC day service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. This is the first time we have taken this excursion and we will now be adding it to our program as part of a 3 year cycle. Our attendance at the Chewton Memorial Park on the last school day before ANZAC day, and then the strong school representation on ANZAC day itself continued as usual.

We have just been funded for 2 years of the School’s Breakfast Club, commencing in term 3. I was delighted to be approached by the Chewton CWA ladies as possible supporters of this program. Breakfast will be on 2 morn-ings a week and although all the food will be supplied by foodbank, we still need volunteers to help with the serving and cleaning up afterwards. Benefits of a school breakfast program can include improved student engagement, atten-dance, social skills, learning outcomes and awareness of healthy eating habits.

One of the highlights of this year’s program is our bi annual 2 day bike ride. This year we will be riding from Heathcote to Bendigo with a stopover in Axedale. The plan is that the children will raise most of the funds them-selves. The children will be selling soap this year to help fund the ride so please keep an eye out for some school coloured soap packs in bike patterned wrappers and help support this valuable program.

Our inquiry units this term are science based. The P-3 children are learning about forces and movement while the 4-6 children are investigating innovations and technology, past, present and future. Children have already started designing their own models that can demonstrate different types of force required.

Term 2 marks the beginning of cubby building time. After initial cubby wars involving the stealing of the best sticks and the best building sites, construction has settled

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Dan takes centre stage at the GRIP Leadership Conference

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down with everyone finding a place to call their own. Please feel free to check out the buildings in the interpre-tive garden.

The winter vegetables have been planted and we have our winter lunch program sorted with soups and baked potatoes on the menu over the next few weeks. Our weather watchers have had some re-training and we hope to have our first weather report up and running by next month’s Chat. Rainfall readings are a little more accurate than some of the earlier measures, however there is still some room for improvement.

I hope you enjoy reading the ANZAC poems that are in this months Chat. Congratulations as always to Scott’s 4-6 class for their superb writing skills.

Julie Holden.

Volunteer neededThanks to the Chewton Domain Society the Chewton website (www.chewton.net) is being re-created by Green Graphics of Castlemaine.

The administration and updating of the site is going to be able to be administered and updated by anyone with some technical computer skills. A face to face training session on how to manage the site with some

phone/email support for the first 6 weeks post launch is also offered.This is an opportunity to upgrade your computer skills and

give your time and enthusiasm to the Chewton Community.

Please contact: John Ellis – johnellis@outlook.com.au Or Margot Ryan – margot@mtb.net.au

Checking the nightlife…The summer veggies are cleaned up and go onto the compost pile (top photo). The heap becomes an attraction for the locals that are short on food.

A trail camera was on this site for two nights to check what was around. A wallaby was first in on both nights – even before the house lights went off. Kangaroos arrived, and a fox looks to be a regular visitor too. It was interesting that the kangaroos didn’t seem awfully concerned about its presence either.

The times listed on the photos are twelve hours out due to a mistake made by the setter…

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The 2016 monthly concerts in St. John’s are underway. The first was in April and it was run to support the maintenance costs of the Chewton Pool. St. John’s is an ideal venue for these concerts and the performers obviously appreciate both the welcoming space and the very receptive audiences.

A welcome from the concert organizer Julie Henchman and the program was underway. Ange and the Doc kicked it off – two Chewton residents who apparently came across each other in St. John’s some five years ago. A more appropriate opener couldn’t be imagined. Songstress Meg Nightjar followed before a colourfully jacketed tapper (and dapper) David Watson shoed what can be done with nimble feet, and Baroquial brought the first half to a close. With two members missing, there was an apology from Baroquial – it left the audience guessing whether it was Baroq or Quial that were playing. But their performance was superb, showcasing their musical talents, their senses of humour and a wonderfully versatile hammer dulcimer.

Lots of socialising and chatter joined the afternoon sunshine to completely fill the historic little church. Tea, coffee and cakes were handed around as the performers were engaged in conversations.

A second half of the concert followed, and as Ange and the Doc completed their set they told the audience they were going around the corner to participate in another fundraiser at the Red Hill. Some people can’t do enough entertaining it seems – and looking around the Red Hill a few hours later some audience members can’t get enough entertainment either. But that’s another story. Meg and Baroquial returned and the first 2016 St. John’s concert wound down with the Chewton Pool representative Jackie Heath thanking everyone – Julie, performers and audience for their support. The friendliness of the pool as a gathering place was likened to the concert we’d just been privileged to attend – heart-warming sentiments indeed! And the concert raised $157.25 for the pool.

The concert program will continue at 2 pm on each third Sunday of each month. Maintenance of the goldfields church will be the fundraising cause for the coming concerts – it is a wonderful asset for the Chewton community and its need of maintenance is obvious. Watch for ads in the Chewton Chat and around the town.

The next concert is on Sunday the 15th of May.

And any willing performers forfuture concerts, please contact

Julie on 0497 231 209.

A concert-ed effort at St. John’s

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Poe try

Corner

WarLet bagpipes brayBright trumpets blastIn honour of great battles past.Let cymbals crash And snare drums rattle Bravely sending boys to battle.War weary bootsBesmirched with mudDrab camouflage to hide their blood.Across the fieldsTheir bodies lieEyes staring at a lifeless sky.What principle, What idea’s worthOne life cut short, beneath the earth?Your God or mine?Who’s wrong? Who’s right?Is superstition worth the fight?

David Watson March 2016.

St John’s Services in MayThere will be a service each Saturday night at 6pm at St. John’s throughout May.• Saturday 7th May. At this service we will be

acknowledging mothers. We will pray particularly for mothers displaced from their homes and those who are refugees.

• Saturday 14th May• Saturday 21st May• Saturday 28th May.

Everyone is welcome.Saturday, 7th May is World Labyrinth Day. Throughout the world people will walk a labyrinth and meditate for Peace.We will walk the Labyrinth at the Anglican Church on Agitation Hill, Castlemaine at 2pm. We will have afternoon tea afterwards. Everyone is welcome.

Any queries, phone the Anglican Office 54 721 137

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Logo designed

by Morgan

Williamson.

Real Estate GossipProperties for sale around Chewton are listed as follows:Bendigo Property Plus:• 40 Eureka Street, stone and weatherboard 4 bedroom,

3 bathroom family home with retreat and picturesque outbuildings located adjacent to the Diggings, 2000 sqm and 2 hectare leasehold, price range $470,000,00 - $485,000.00.

Cantwell Real Estate:• 1/40 Madigans Road, craftsman built off-grid on

14.5 acres in the Bushlands with space for 6 vehicles, $349,000.00;

• 11 Eureka Street, rear vacant level lot of 3030sqm with views across to the Bushlands. Township Zone with services available. Building covenant applied. $195,000.00;

• 50A Fryers Road, 1982sqm vacant site with panoramic views, located on the fringe of town, $129,000.00;

• 28 Albert Street, 2 elevated allotments with a total area of 1555sqm vacant site with north-eastern views to the Diggings Heritage Park, services available, $279,000.00;

• 41 Gallway Street, 2 bedroom mud brick with stone facing home in peaceful setting not far from the centre of town on 5.26 hectares of box iron bark trees. Trust for Nature protected adjoining Crown land. Well set up for off grid living with organic vegetable garden. Addi-tional Architecturally designed plans for an 8.5 energy rated dwelling by local Architect Geoff Crosby avail-able upon negotiation, $359,000.00;

• Lots 1 & 2 Archers Road, each lot measures 1600 – 1700 sqm, spectacular views and planning permits for a dwelling on each, $185,000.00 each lot;

• 562 Pyrenees Highway, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with multiple indoor and outdoor living areas. Multiple shedding on 2 hectares. $695,000.00;

• 1/72 Steele Street, north facing vacant allotment of ap-proximately 2234sqm. Backing onto state forest but with services available. $190,000.00;

• 225 Sparks Road, 58 hectares on the edge of the Bush-land for sale, reduced to $480,000.00.

Cassidy Real Estate• 97 Pyrenees Highway, 2 bedroom, 2 living areas and

plenty of period features. Large allotment of 1500sqm with workshops and room for several cars. For sale at $515,000.00.

Castlemaine Property Group• 27 Hoopers Road, individually designed house with 3

bedrooms and 2 bathrooms offering a flexible living/working plan. Set on 1 hectare with heritage features and improvements include a double carport, four 5,000 gallon water tanks, a water bore, watering system, fire sprinkler system, manageable grassed areas and exten-

sive stone work in addition to all modern comforts. Ex-pressions of interest invited by 20 May, indicative price $600,000 - $650,000.00;

• Lot 96 Pitman Street, secluded lot of 1960 sqm with access to all services, for sale at $149,000.00;

• 12 Old Settlers Road, substantial stone and timber home on 2.4 hectares of bushland. Offering 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms over 2 levels. This is comfortable off-grid living. For sale at $635,000.00;

• 23 Archers Road, light filled contemporary home de-signed around environmentally principles, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with professionally designed gardens and spectacular views, $740,000.00,

• 77 Pioneers Road, single bedroom log cabin set high in the Bushlands with views over Chewton and onto Castlemaine, $295,000.00.

Waller Realty Keogh Real Estate:• 14 Church Street, elevated 1050 sqm lot with northern

views to Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, services to front boundary, $149,500.00;

• 2/85 Main Road, 570sqm elevated lot with cleared area for a house, close to all facilities, with access to all ser-vices, $110.000.00;

• 173 Main Road, renovated 1800s miners cottage right in the middle of town, 2 bedrooms and terraced rear gardens, $329,000.00;

• 184 Goldspeck Road, 2 separate mudbrick homes, off grid and bursting with character. Located high in the bushlands, on over 2 hectares, with dam and bushlands. For sale at $410,000.00;

• 717 Pyrenees Highway, 3 bedroom double storey home on 3 acres on the rural edge of town, in ground solar heated pool, great outdoors areas and outbuildings, $565,000.00;

• 6 Baker Street, charming early goldrush miners hut sympathetically restored and extended, 3 bedrooms and a north facing verandah, located in the heart of town, $355,000.00;

• 16 Main Road, 1 acre of views over the Diggings Na-tional Heritage Park. With a sealed road frontage and the walking track into Castlemaine at rear. Connected to the reticulated sewerage system and with all other services available. For sale at $239,000.00.

For sale by owner• 734 Pyrenees Highway, large family home with 4 bed-

rooms, 2 bathrooms, an indoor pool and recreation room. Set on over 1 hectare of maintained grounds, for sale at $569,000.00. Lynne Williamson.

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“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.”

Kurt Vonnegut

what’s on? Phee Broadway Theatre, Castlemaine, Friday May 13RYAN COFFEY - Ramshackle raconteur and rock-comedy Lothario and his impressive beard in an hour of comedy with the help of his guitar and a loop pedal. Cost: $15/$20

Phee Broadway Theatre, Castlemaine, Saturday June 4MAMA ALTO: TORCH SONGS - “Mama Alto is an exceptionally talented singer, who makes the question as to whether it is a woman or a man singing obsolete. It is clearly an angel.” (The Conversation) Cost: $20/$25

Castlemaine Art GalleryLast chance to see Ben Quilty’s incredible exhibition After Afghanistan, before it returns to the Australian War Memorial. The exhibition closes on 17 April 2016.

Castlemaine Art GalleryBILL HENSON - April 30 - June 30

They Saw a Thylacine - review by Margot Ryan

At the Phee Broadway Theatre, on a simple stage set with 3 wooden chairs, two actors kept a large audience totally involved in the story of the last thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).

Sarah Hamilton plays Beatrice McCullough a fiercely independent woman, living in the bush, attempting to trap a thylacine to sell it to the zoo. Justine Campbell plays the real story of Alison Reid, daughter of the last curator of the Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania.

The actors are also the creators of the script, a passionate 60 minute flow of story-telling, at times lyrical and poetic. Alison took on men’s roles and with changed voice and facial expressions made the transformation utterly believable.

The period of the 1930’s depression was depicted clearly: men on the dole employed at the zoo with no interest in animal welfare; the men in charge ugly in their heartless attitude to all but money.

As a member of the audience you were swept along by the strength and character of the 2 women and their fight for the survival of the thylacine. At a time in our history when flora and fauna are losing species at a fast rate this play has particular relevance. An extraordinary, powerful play.

Go to www.pheebroadwaytheatre.com.au to see what treasures The Phee Broadway Theatre

has coming up for the rest of the year.

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Local artist at the Lorne Sculpture BiennalePhil Hall is an artist living and working in Chewton. He was recently invited to create an ephemeral artwork for Sculpturescape, a component of the Lorne Sculpture Biennale, one of Australia’s premier sculpture events featured in Lorne’s coastal environment.

Sculpturscape comprised the work of four artists or artist teams on display over all four weekends of the Lorne Sculpture Biennale, each creating a sculptural piece over two days. The audience witnessed real-time creativity and engaged with the process and the artists over the duration of the project. The works produced responded directly with the Lorne environment, utilising available sites such as water, sand, rocks and lawn along the trail.

Phil’s work Salt Journeys, was an interactive project taking place where the fresh river water meets salty sea water and was comprised of six elements based on the pyramidal form of the salt crystal. Three pieces were floated on the Erskine River near the bridge and were arranged to lead to the shore based artwork: two smaller

pieces which were frames only excavated into the sand and filled with salt, and then a much larger piece which was filled with the remainder of the 400 kilos of salt that Phil was given by a sponsor. Some of the pieces had internal LED lights which automatically started glowing as the sun went down. The largest piece became a salt meditation

space where people could walk into the sculpture, sit there and think their thoughts.

Phil was onsite for five days, making the works, talking to people and encouraging them to get involved. Kids built their own sand pyramids and decorated them with salt.

The salt metaphor went beyond the placement of the artwork at the meeting place of salt and fresh water: Phil is also referencing the environmentally concerning increase

in the salinity of our landscape caused by a number of factors: climate change, the dropping water table and over use of irrigation amongst them. He is also mindful of the historical importance of salt to humans for thousands of years, because all life has evolved to depend on it. Humans, like all life, need a supply of salt in order to simply survive. Salt’s ability to preserve food was a foundation of civilization. It helped to eliminate the dependence on the seasonal availability of food and it allowed travel over long distances. Difficult to obtain, salt became a highly valued trade item to the point of being considered by certain peoples a form

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of currency. Then there was the 240 mile Salt March undertaken by Gandhi in protest against the oppressive British salt tax. The history of salt is inextricably entwined with the history of humans. Many common expressions from all cultures refer to salt and its historical value: salt rubbed into their wounds, the salt of the earth, worth your weight in salt, etc. Phil took some of these words and inscribed them into the sand as a part of his artwork and filled them with salt.

Phil was not the only local artist represented at the Lorne Sculpture Biennale: many will remember Ben Laycock’s Fridgehenge at Arts Open 2015. Ben re-invented the work for Lorne and in his words: Fridgehenge is part of a time-honored tradition of henge making predating dates. Some of the very first henges were made of mud and straw, none of which have withstood the vicissitudes of time. Later henge makers, with an eye for posterity, built their henges of stone. Tourists from all corners of the globe are grateful for their foresight. In the present epoch – The Age of Consumerism - we make our henges with white goods in homage to Gina, The Goddess of Stuff.

David Waters is another local(ish) artist represented at Lorne with his oversized bronze koala covered in shells.

The curator the Lorne Sculpture Biennale since 2011, Julie Collins, also hails from Central Victoria.

For more information on this year’s Lorne Sculpture Biennale, visit their FaceBook page or go to http://lornesculpture.com/

Call for entries - 2016 Len Fox Painting AwardThe 2016 Len Fox Painting Award is a bi-annual $50,000 acquisitive award at the Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum. Initiated and funded by Len Fox (1905-2004), this prestigious award commemorates the life and work of his uncle, the influential and internationally recognized Australian born painter, Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915). Known for his plein air, impressionist style, Fox’s paintings are characterized by vibrantly coloured landscapes and scenes of everyday life.

The 2016 Len Fox Painting Award is an exciting opportunity for artists to interpret these qualities in a contemporary context.

Entries close: 2 September 2016Opening and announcement: 8 October 2016Go to the Gallery’s website to download the

application form - http://www.castlemainegallery.com/2016-len-fox-painting-award/

Missed an exhibition at the Castlemaine Art Gallery?Did you know that the Gallery’s website has archives of exhibitions going back over ten years? Ok, it’s not the same as being there, and sure, the exhibitions are not shown in their entirety, but it’s a good overview of what has been shown at our gallery over the years. Here are a couple of images by local artists in the Gallery’s archives.For more, go to: http://www.castlemainegallery.com/archives/

To make sure you don’t miss another exhibition in the Gallery, check out the upcoming calendar at http://www.castlemainegallery.com/

Buda Historic Home and GardenA property of national significance.

Home of the noted Gold and Silversmith ERNEST LEVINY and his family from 1863 to 1981, featuring authentic furnishings, arts and crafts collection, significant heritage garden and grounds.

Nursery selling drought-hardy plants, many propagated from the garden. Open hours Wed - Sat 12noon to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm. Groups by appointment.

42 Hunter Street, Castlemaine 3450, T/F: (03) 5472 1032 E: admin@budacastlemaine.org

Beverley Bloxham.

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Chewton Domain SocietyThe treasurer’s report showed a balance as at 8.4.2016 of $21,799.13 with accounts for payment of $4,484.41. This was principally the annual insurance premium of $3,590.00. A further $5,500 of the balance is already committed.

Glen Harrison reported that membership is the same at 171, and that the People and places Display between 21/3/2016 and 18/4/2016 had:

• 31 visitors (c/f 24 the previous month)• Door takings were $50.15 (c/f $22.00)• Donations – nil (c/f $45.00)• Sales – nil.

The Bachelor’s Retreat visitors’ book that is part of the People and Places collection is to be scanned so a digital copy can be included in the display.

The Castlemaine Jazz Festival has booked the CTH for the long weekend in June. Recent bookings and uses of the hall have been a Maree Edwards Local Government Forum, a Folk Music Concert and a Comedy Night. There

have been enquiries about the possibility of regular Yoga classes being conducted in the hall. There is a need to produce an ad/flyer that would promote the hall’s assets and some avenues to create one will be explored.

Margot Ryan reported on research and establishment of a new website to replace and update the old www.chewton.net site that had been established and maintained by the late Andrew Milton.

Green Graphics has been appointed to carry out this work, and volunteers for the on-going management of the site are to be sought.

There has been some interest in purchases of Monster Meeting flags that the CDS has sold out of. CDS also will need a new one for the flagpole on the corner of Pyrenees Highway and Golden Point Road by the end of 2016, so a further10 are to be ordered.

A thank you card is to be sent to Frank Benbow acknowledging his support to the maintenance of the Chewton Town Hall over the years.

The meeting closed at 8.05 p.m. The next CDS Management Committee meeting will be at the Chewton Town Hall at 7.15 pm on May 16th.

Seen any nesting boxes around? Ever wondered why they’re there? And who checks them out?

An invitation to accompany a Connecting Country crew in a monitoring exercise was too good to resist. A roadside meeting led to a briefing on procedure near a set of three boxes near Chewton. Connecting Country’s director Chris Timewell had the obligatory ladder as well as a hard hat and harness, a fluoro jacket, a camera, a GPS unit and a “score-sheet”. This was to be a training exercise as well as a monitoring one so each piece of equipment was introduced and it’s safe use explained.

Kitted up, Chris set the ladder up, explained the importance of looking for bee activity before climbing, put the camera in the pocket and ascended. Up beside the box, a knife was produced to prise the lit off the catch, and the lid lifted. No life inside, but evidence of a sugar glider nest was inside. The camera came out, the interior photographed and the lid was re-set. The findings were recorded, the box number checked and a note made to return to repair some lid damage to the box.

The same routine followed for the other two boxes, with the climbing shared between the other participants. The second box revealed a family of three sugar gliders in residence. This necessitated a lid closure, a camera readied for action and then several photos were taken before the lid was quickly closed to minimise the intrusion. Three boxes checked – two had evidence of sugar glider use and one actually had a family inside.

A short drive to the next three boxes followed. With exactly the same results – 2 showing remnants of sugar glider nests and one with a family inside. And three again! But one of the boxes was hard to locate. The GPS gave clues but there was nothing on the tree – it was on the ground with the nest remnants in it. Makes you wonder if the sugar gliders were in residence when it fell!

The nest boxes are a great way of seeing what is happening in an area. No brush-tailed phascogales in the six nesting boxes this time though!

And Connecting Country is advertising for property-owners to make contact if they’d be willing for their property to be part of a reptile and frog monitoring program in the shire. http://connectingcountry.org.au/news-events/page/2/

Nesting or not?

25

Have you seen Golden Point Reservoir - Expedition Pass Reservoir’s little cousin? Or had discussions about which reservoir is which?

Golden Point Landcare is conducting a walk through private and public land to check out the condition of Golden Point Reservoir.

Sunday May 22nd meet at the Havelock Reef Road/Golden Point Road intersection at 10 a.m. (Carparking

Golden Point Reservoir Walkon Golden Point Road south of the Terraces/Welsh street area).

The walk will come out at Dunstans Flat, back to Expedition Pass Res than along the Forest Creek Track to the Welsh Street bridge. There are some steep sections and the walk will take about 2 hours. BYO water etc.

For further details contact Jennifer on 0423 900 590. - or Marie on goldenpoint2@bigpond.com

STORAGE UNITS 6 x 3 — $160/mth 3 x 3 — $105/mth3 x 1.5 — $85/mth

OTHER STORAGEfor BOATS, CARAVANS,TRAILERS, INDUSTRIAL,

DOCUMENTS, etc

We stock all your packaging needs: boxes, bubble wraps, tape, etc.62 Sutton Rd, Maryborough (formally McPherson’s)

Office hours: 9 am to 1 pm weekdays

Ph. 5460-5667; AH Jai Baker: 0419 364 815

email: store@vaultselfstorage.com.au

Close to seventy people came along to the April FOBIF walk in the Yapeen and Guildford plateau area. The weather was sunny with a light breeze and walkers enjoyed the sensational views in all directions from Max Kay’s property.

Commentary on this historic and interesting geological area was given by Max, Julian Hollis and Maurie Dynon. Some highlights were the viewing of several Koori scar trees, gathering at ‘Strathloddon’ which was the 1840’s site of the first non indigenous settlement in the Castlemaine district, and Julian’s comments on the geological history of the area including the formation of the Guildford plateau. Maurie also gave a well-received talk on the work of the Guildford Landcare Group.

FOBIF would like to thank Max for helping to

Big, big turnout for April FOBIF walkorganise this walk on his property and all three leaders for sharing their knowledge.

Next FOBIF walkThe next walk is on the 15th of May at Cobblers Gully, Herons Reef.

This walk visits old mining sites and relics of the Castlemaine dry diggings. We follow the Goldfields Track from The Monk down Cobblers Gully then use tracks, water races and some cross-country to explore Herons Reef and then complete the circuit. 8–10 km. Enquiries: Lionel Jenkins & Barb Guerin 5472 1994.

26

Chewton’s Soldiers’ Memorial Park is a busy scene as a new soccer season gets well and truly under way. The home ground for Castlemaine FC is now a busy scene.

1/ The 10th of March heralded a new season and a new dawn for the Mainers as the Senior Men took to the field for their first game of the 2016 season and their first in the Metro North West League 7. After a couple of tough seasons plying their trade in Ballarat, a big 2 month pre-season saw an energised squad mixed with youth and experience take to the field at Chewton looking to set a marker for the season ahead. Their opponents were the unknown Mitchell Rangers and Castlemaine was keen to set the tempo from the whistle.

The final whistle saw a 5 - 0 scoreline, with Sunday Lam goaling twice, and Tristan Van Pagee-Anderson, Rainer Canobie-Harris and Jim Kourkoulakos with singles. It was then quickly back to the dressing rooms for a rousing rendition of the club song to cap off the season opener.

Speaking of the season ahead, Mens’s Seniors’ coach Jim Kourkoulakos said, “We’re looking forward to playing in a league where we can be competitive, while also having the opportunity to advance up the divisions as our game develops.”

2/ The next weekend saw Castlemaine FC’s senior women travel to Melbourne’s Paisley Park to take on Altona East Phoenix SC and the senior men travelled to Arndell Park Reserve to play Truganina SC.

Victory for the women came in the form of a huge 10 - 0 win. Bridget Woods (5), Lyn West (2), Sarah McCoombe (1) and Rachel West (1) had scoreboard impact. Audrey Merton defended solidly in her first full game with the women and reliably sent the ball forward for teammates. Kate Forrest and Ruby Huzzey came into their own in the second half, picking off any crosses from the Altona strikers and were well supported in defence by Eve Merton and Edwina Reid both of whom looked fit and played the game out well. Cat Gaggin only had four touches in goals, but they were all vital in holding Altona

to a blank scorecard and her verbal support was excellent.The men had 3 changes from the previous week with

2 goal hero Sunday ‘Sunny’ Lam out with a swollen ankle and Kasper McCoy absent after playing U16s, this giving an opening for Tom McCarthy to make his senior debut from the bench. With about 10 minutes to play in the first half a wide attack from Angus Doyle set up a loose chance for Rainer Canobie-Harris to give the Mainers a deserved lead. This lifted Truganina, who releasing their fast left winger, drew first a solid double and only moments later a great near post save from Maine keeper Jules Whitcroft-McGalde ensuring the Maine went in 1 up at half-time. Castlemaine played much of their football in the second half pushing for a second goal but again were repeatedly thwarted by the Truganina keeper. With the Maine now in control of the game, but unable to find a second goal, Truganina launched a quick attack from a goal kick, the Maine centre backs were caught just out of position and unable to do anything to stop the Hornet’s striker smashing home a powerful shot high and wide to even up the scores. This didn’t alter the Castlemaine mindset but with Truganina looking to force the tempo of the game, both teams became a bit more direct in their play. From the bench it was clear though that Castlemaine was still playing the better football and that a goal might not be far away - and it finally came with a little under 15 minutes

A busy April at CSMP

27

Lighting the CampThe Castlemaine Magpies are now able to stage Bendigo Football Netball League night matches, thanks to an Andrews Labor Government grant. Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards visited Castlemaine Camp Reserve to watch Castlemaine take on Strathfieldsaye in the ANZAC Day clash, and switch on the new competition-standard lights made possible by an $80,000 Labor Government grant.

Grassroots footy night matches are a growing phenomenon. It means players get to play in front of bigger crowds, and clubs enjoy vital revenue boosts as fans flock through the gates.

The Labor Government’s investment also means Magpies players will be able to train longer into the night, and the club will be able to attract more members and grow. Castlemaine is already home to 350 budding footballers and netballers.

The new lights will provide new opportunities for the whole community, including local schools and other community groups. Better lighting paves the way for school fetes, night markets and other activities. “Grassroots clubs like the Magpies make our communities tick. That’s why we’re giving them the great facilities they deserve,” Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said.

The Country Football Netball Program is helping regional clubs continue to build new facilities, install lights and change rooms, and complete ground or court resurfacing. Regional Victoria is home to some of our biggest football and netball clubs – and our biggest stars – and they deserve equal facilities.

The Camp Reserve project was funded in partnership with the Mount Alexander Shire Council and the community. According to Minister for Sport, John Eren, “We’re the sporting state, and we want it to remain that way. We’re supporting communities all over the state to make sure we do.” Taken fom a Press Release.

to play. Truganina failed to clear their lines and Rainer combined with Alex Larm scoring a well-deserved goal. With the game ticking away, the tempo was rising and the game became increasingly end to end. Unfortunately for the Maine, the Hornets would provide a final sting in the tail. Uncertainty at the back allowed Truganina’s striker to effectively steal in for a near open goal, levelling the scores with the game ending 2-2.

3/ Last Sunday saw the women lose 0 - 3. After the previous week’s goal-fest this felt like a bit of a come down, but Castlemaine FC was playing a very well drilled team who are top of the table. The women put up a really good showing and were unlucky to not be on the score sheet themselves.

The men got home with a 2 - 1 victory, continuing their unbeaten start to the season. The whole team put in a big effort to get back to their winning ways after the previous week’s draw. With chances at both ends across the 90 minutes of play, it’s fair to say the result could have gone either way, but it was Castlemaine’s goalkeeper Jules who secured the 3 points with some inspired stops late in the game after the Maine had made their second half pressure count to find the all important second goal.

Both teams head to Kyneton on the 8th of May for their next games and a local derby double bill. May looks like being another busy month at the CSMP.

Thanks to Castlemaine FC scribes Trudy Woods and Tony Cormack for providing the content for this report.

ADVERTISEMENT

Authorised by M Edwards, 8 Panton Street, Golden Square.This material has been produced by Maree Edwards MP using her Parliament’s Electorate Office & Communications budget.

Listening Post held in Castlemaine last Friday of the Month 10am to 2pm.Please phone for appointment.

8 Panton Street, Golden Square VIC 3555P: 5444 4125

@mareeedwardsmp mareeedwardsmp

www.mareeedwards.com.au

28

A second life sized wooden sculpture depicting Frances White was unveiled by her son Keith White at 151 Main Rd, Chewton. More than 60 people attended.

This second sculpture is one in a series of sculptures that will be placed along the main road to bring the fascinating stories and rich history of Chewton’s past to life.

An article in the Castlemaine Mail in 1948 detailed Frances White’s lucky escape.

Tuesday, June 8, 1948 - Castlemaine Mail Chewton Woman’s Fortunate Escape When

Backyard Caved In Mrs Frances White, of 153 Main Rd, Chewton, had

a miraculous escape from death last week when part of the back yard of her home, which is over an old disused gold mine shaft, suddenly caved in and left her hanging precariously at the edge of a hole 80ft deep and eight feet in diameter.

Mrs White had been talking to her son near the back fence and had turned to retrace her steps into the house when her foot sank into what she thought was an old post hole. Looking down suddenly she saw the earth breaking away and called to her son. At the same time she grabbed at a branch of a tree growing near the edge and was able to save herself from falling. Looking over her shoulder as she clung to the branch she could see the earth slipping away from where she was standing and leaving a deep yawning cavity.

According to reports from old residents of the area the hole is one of many along the underground drive from the old Francis Ormond gold mine.

This Incident occurred next door at 153 Main Rd‘Francis Ormond Mine Managers House’

Keith’s words at the unveiling were:I am very grateful, as are all my family, to Richard for

coming up with the idea of creating a sculpture depicting my mother’s narrow escape from death in 1948. I am so pleased with all the detail Richard has carved into the sculpture and the likeness of my mother which he has been

able to carve from a very small 1948 photo. In 1948 I had just started my apprenticeship at Harry

Dawe’s garage (across the road where Mo’s Antiques and Richard’s sculpture of a gold miner are now). Mid afternoon I was told to go home as my mother had had a narrow escape when a mine shaft had opened up under her feet. This hole was 8 feet in diameter and 80 feet deep. Within the few minutes it took me to get home the ladies from nearby had Mum settled and cups of tea were on the go. It was very fortunate that Mum had no injuries and was soon back to her normal self.

At that time Chewton was a busy town with a police station, railway station, two garages (Symes’ and Dawe’s), two grocery stores (Shreck’s with a newsagency and Minihan’s with a bakery), George Archer’s butcher shop, Harold Archer barber, a taxi service owned by Jack Ducrow, locally owned Scoles’ bus service, three working gold mines (the Nimrod, Argus Hill and Wattle Gully) and a State Government Battery on Specimen Hill. There was also the local football, cricket, tennis and cycling clubs and a swimming hole – so there was plenty to join in for the people of Chewton.

I would like to thank Richard and Karen for their dedication and research which has resulted in this great sculpture – now a permanent part of Chewton’s history. Also, thank you to everyone who has come along today to join in this special occasion with me and my family.

Richard and Karen Yates.

Sculpture number two

Agriculture Victoria congratulates the Yea community for the excellent results from the 2014-2015 gorse control program. Last season’s program ended with 95 properties being inspected, 38 Direction Notices being issued and all land owners conducting gorse control works on their properties. The Yea gorse infestation was of particular concern, as it is a relatively isolated infestation with the potential to spread along waterways into clean areas of the catchment.”

Gorse or ‘Furze’ (Ulex europaeus) is an invasive weed that can impact heavily on agricultural production and environmental values. It is a dense and spiny bush that can grow up to three metres tall with bright yellow pea-like

flowers. It generally has two peak flowering periods, one between March and May and another between July and October, but it can flower at almost any time of the year.

If necessary, Agriculture Victoria Biosecurity officers will use enforcement powers to support the Yea community’s efforts to control this invasive weed as all land owners have a legal responsibility to manage declared noxious weeds such as gorse on their property.

For more information about gorse and other weed management, visit the Agriculture Victoria website at www.agriculture.vic.gov.au/weeds or call the Customer Service Centre on 136 186.

From Northern Ag News 14 April 2016

Promising results with gorse program at Yea

29

The Star, Ballarat - January, 1958 (edited)INQUEST.

On Monday afternoon the coroner, Dr Glendinning held an inquest at Golden Point, on Hermann Bregenzer, a German, who met his death through falling down a shaft, situated on the old Post Office Hill.

The following evidence was produced: Alexander Dawson, deposed - Witness was a mate with the deceased in claim No. 1 south, Old Post Office Hill. This morning about eight o’clock, witness was in the act of lowering deceased down the shaft. When he was about thirty feet down, he called out to witness to hold on; in a few seconds afterwards there was a jerk came upon the windlass handle. Witness then twice called out to the deceased, but got no answer. The windlass was then shaken, and the weight seemed to go away from it altogether. He listened, in order to hear anything that might take place, but could hear nothing. He looked down the shaft and called out to the deceased, but got no reply. The shaft was 120 feet deep. Witness ran to the other holes, a man was pulled up, and one named Louis Behrens was lowered down the shaft where the deceased was. He called out for another man to come down. Mr Behrens called out that Bregenzer was dead. About ten minutes after, witness hauled up the deceased, who was then quite dead. The deceased stood in the bucket, with one foot in and the other out. The bucket he believed was all right on the rope hook when the deceased was lowered down the shaft.

Louis Behrens deposed - He knew the deceased. The last witness called upon him to go down the shaft where the deceased was this morning, about eight o’clock. He was lowered down by Dawson and his mates. He saw the body of the deceased in a sitting posture, with his head between his legs and the bucket on his head. The bucket was made of hide. He tried to lift the deceased so as to put him in the sling, and he then saw the injury the deceased had received on the left forearm. Witness then fell down, and the deceased was put into the sling by Gunter and another man who were down the shaft.

The witness Dawson here stated that he believed that one of the hooks was only attached to a piece of cord and not to the lug, and consequently the bucket slued and came away from the rope altogether.

The jury returned the following verdict, “That the death of the deceased took place on the 11th inst, and

was caused by the fracture of his skull by his accidentally falling down his shaft about ninety feet deep.”

Before the inquest was held we proceeded to view the body of the deceased, which was that of a young man about twenty seven years of age. The head presented a frightful appearance, the skull being fractured and the neck broken. The left arm was most dreadfully torn, the flesh and actually the sinews having been torn away by one of the hooks. The deceased was the brother of a Mr Bregenzer, in the employment of Government in the Road Board Department. He has been telegraphed to, and being only nine miles from Geelong, viz., at Mount Moriac, is expected in Ballarat time enough to attend the funeral.

POHAG (Post Office Hill Action Group) would welcome any information relating to Post Office Hill (or Old Post Office Hill) that would be helpful with this fascinating project. Forward material or links to the Chewton Chat.Photo is a 2015 shot of the some of the remains of some

Post Office Hill mine infrastructure.

Down a mine on Old Post Office Hill

19 June 1943VICTORIA: BODY IN SHAFT.

A body discovered yesterday at the bottom of a deep mineshaft in the bush at Chewton, Victoria, was that of William Richard O’Rielly, 41, insurance agent, of Forest Street, Castlemaine. He disappeared on June 1 while out fox-hunting alone. It is assumed that he blundered into the shaft in the dusk while returning to his car and that he was killed in the fall. His broken gun indicated that.

30

Mount Alexander Mail - 1 May 1916CHEWTON.The grand entertainment given by the Chewton Variety Entertainers in The Red Hill Hall on the 19th April, in aid of Mr Scott, a worn-out miner, was a great success, the hall being crowded to its utmost capacity. The first half of the programme was a minstrel show, the jokes and comic songs being very amusing. The second half was presided over by the Mayor (Cr. G. Cribbes), in which sentimental songs, comic songs, and duets, were rendered. The last item, entitled The Swing Song, in which the whole company took part, and the limelight effect looked very well. Great credit is due to the pianist (Miss M. Treasure) who worked so hard during the whole of the practices. The Mayor, in a few words to the audience, said that the concert was one of the best held in that hall for some time, and the organisers were to be congratulated on the way they had worked to make everything a success. A dance was engaged in after the concert, which ended everything very successfully. The Chewton Citizens Brass Band, under Bandmaster Richards, played selections outside the hall, which added greatly to the evening’s entertainment. The function resulted in a net profit of £20.

Mount Alexander Mail - 31 May 1916SHIRE AMALGAMATION METCALFE AND CHEWTON. QUESTION OF RETIREMENT OF COUNCILLORS.From to-day onward, the Shire of Chewton will be amalgamated with the Shire of Metcalfe as a separate riding, and its nine Councillors will take their seats at the Metcalfe Council table until August next, when the annual municipal elections take place. As the result of the amalgamation, all the Councillors of the Metcalfe Shire will be required to face the electors in August. Chewton and the other ridings will then each return three Councillors. The normal order of retirement of Councillors for that shire will be upset as a consequence. The custom is that one Councillor for each riding shall retire at the expiry of his term of three years. In this instance, however, one Councillor will be required to retire the end of a term of one year, another two years, and the third after three years. Some doubts exist with regard to the method to be adopted of deciding the seniority in this case, but it may be assumed that the Councillor who tops the poll will remain the full term, and the other two will retire in accordance with their position on the poll.

It was also stated at yesterday’s meeting of the Metcalfe Council, that the technical description of the riding boundaries had been prepared in the seventies, and a number of changes had taken place necessitating a revision. The revised plan of the boundaries was received from the Public Works Department.

Chewton - 100 years agoFrom the Age 23 Jan 1937

Chewton.TO THE EDITOR OF THE AGE.Sir, — Dear old Chewton! My recollections of the old spot date back to the latter half of the sixties, when the family arrived from the Western district. The scarred hills and unsightly mullock heaps and general ruggedness of it all, with people ceaselessly toiling amidst the clang of the machines, noise and dust — all this was a great shock, especially to mother. Distinctly I recall the uncanny appearance of pigmy men rushing in and out of a hole or tunnel in Argus Hill with trucks of dirt and tipping them over. My first adventure in learning was at a dame school conducted by a very amiable lady, Mrs. Teague, the wife of a man whom we all knew later on as Captain Teague, a Cornish miner, who became a sort of mining magnate. He had large interests in the Wattle Gully Group. Also, it transpired that he had two sons, doctors, in the city. In those days the mining industry furnished employment for thousands of miners, especially “the Gully.”

Later I was introduced to a big, ill-favored building of one room, where taught one Flanagan, whom I cannot recall. I liked the prospect so little that I went in backwards! That old building was opposite the present post office, and continued in use for some years under Mr. and Mrs. Tate (related to the former Director of Education). Later It was closed, and we were all transferred to the new school, 1054, on the Wattle Gully Road. It is long since gone, and a modern building is now in use near the Independent Church. Mr. Tate, who taught at 1054 until his death, was a cultured Englishman, cold and aloof. He was a conscientious and able teacher, though severe. The staff about this time included Miss Rose Boyle, first lady assistant, with juniors Ogilvie, Smith and Dlxon-Wray, and later Jack McSwiney. After Mr. Tate’s death, Mr. Jas. Anderson took charge pending the appointment of Mr. Bartlett, a large Dundreary whiskered man, from the city - pompous and anxious to return to more congenial climes, but Mr. Anderson was a dynamo, also from the city - full of pep, and extremely thorough and conscientious. The school progressed by leaps and bounds. He taught a class in extra subjects - Latin, algebra, Euclid, bookkeeping — which I and some others attended. He also introduced the Mulhauser system of writing, which became quite a characteristic of the school. On promotion he left for the city, but later he returned and married Miss Glover. A more central school was conducted by Mr. W. Hardy. It was well attended and successful.

Are there any of the old veterans alive who participated in the great battle, 1054 v. Hardy’s? How we trained, drilled, prepared swords (wooden), javelins and spears for the great day. The casus belli I know not.

The scholars I remember were the Barkers, Jack, BilI and Alice; the Callenders (three families), all Bobs, Alecs, Sams and Archies; Lowes, Adam and George (afterwards the railways auditor); Jones, Jack and Mary Ann; the Cook and Dennis families, Wolfe, Peter, Mick, Lucy and Mary; Tom Miners, Geo, Dick (later secretary of Public Works), Dates,

and Chewton in 1937?

31

Martin, Skewes, Woolcock, Hughes, Lambs, Junipers, Skewes, Tom and Jack; Buckmans, Brookes, Lockes, Watsons, Wray; Dixon, Chas., Fred and Fanny; Bill and Fred Coy, Morrisons, Orchards, Mussett, Joynes, Major Geo. Eddy, who led the first Australian contingent in the Boer War. He was a versatile fellow, and a great chum of mine.

Yours, &c., P. J. WOLFE. East Melbourne.Note: casus belli: an event or action that justifies or allegedly justifies a war or conflict

From FacebookA message left on chewton.net Facebook...

Hi, just wondered if you had any pics of Chewton footy boys. Elaine Appleton got me 4 copies of what they have in the town hall and I thought maybe someone just had any different ones. Fred lost all of his. Billy Halson took one of him having a kick as he held the record there for the longest left foot distance kicker.

Nancy Pitts.If anyone has a copy of a photo that may be of

interest to Nancy, either post it directly on chewton.net Facebook or let the Chewton Chat know.

12 mph equals 19.3121 kph...Chewton’s 19 kph speed limit!

Bendigo Advertiser 13 December 1912

We need friendly people with an appreciation of Chewton’s history, who are prepared to give 3 hours one Saturday or Sunday each month. Please ring Allan Dry 54723385 if you would like to be part of the team.

TOWN HALL EXHIBITION ROSTERSATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS (& most Public Holidays) 1pm to 4pm SCHOOL HOLIDAYS WEEKDAYS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

MaySunday 1 GlenSaturday 7 Elaine Sunday 8 Frank Saturday 14 Rose Sunday 15 Ken McKSaturday 21 MarionSunday 22 IreneSaturday 28 AllanSunday 29 Elaine

Not everything’s potty at Mo’s Antiques

Current advertising rates are:These costs are based on A4 page layout, 2 columns

of 90cm width:• Column centimetre $2.50 (equates to $10 a business card

sized ad or $20 a double b/c sized ad.)• Half Page (app. 240 square cm) $100 • Full page (App. 480 square cm.) $200

N.B. Most ads carried by the Chat fall in the business card or double business card sizes, and sizes for regular ads dovaryslightly frommonth tomonth tofit thesurroundinglayout.If you know anyone who might consider advertising for 6 months or a year let’s know so it can be followed up.

Advertising in the Chat

Liveat the

Red Hill

32

Sometimes timing is everything. Often the Chewton Community BBQ is either a week early or a week late. In April, it was definitely a week late, with the optional theme of “Easter”, clearly people had moved on. There was a smattering of bunny ears but no full Easter bunny suits or anything else on similar scale. Although, at one point, Gerald’s bunny ears slipped down under his chin making him look more like Santa.

The gathering was small at the start, with a disproportionate number of “boys” telling stories about being “victims of circumstance” when last getting into a spot of bother with the authorities. As the numbers increased, so did the gender-balance along with the quality and sophistication of the conversation. With an extra hour to enjoy the evening, thanks to the end of daylight saving, we were treated to a sing-a-long with the wonderful Marianne Hoyne who brought along her guitar – thanks Marianne it was a great time.

For the May BBQ, there is no optional theme apart from the usual relaxed time centring around food, drink and conversation. If you haven’t been, or haven’t been for a while this will be the perfect time to come along.

Text and photos courtesy of Rob Palmer...

Chewton’s community BBQ - the MoBQ

Five Flags Hotel

155 Main RdCampbells Creek

54721010

* Open 7 days for Lunch and Dinner

* Monday to Friday $15.00 lunch menu available

*Sunday Roast

*Warm cosy fires

*Tab and Keno

*Drive through bottleshop

Coffee, Teas, Milk, Newspapers, Magazines, Fresh Bread, Soft Drinks, Groceries, DVDs and more...

You name it we’ve probably got it. At your convenience...

Sprout bread now availableWednesdays, Fridays and weekends!

Hours 7:30 - 5:30 Mon-Fri 8:00 - 4:00 Sat-Sun

...it’s your store Chewton!

Next MoBQSaturday 7th May

6 p.m.

BBQ in Ellery Park

BYO everything

Aren’t we lucky in Chewton?

The Prime Minister of Australiahad to go to China...

...but China comes to Mo’s Antiques!

33

Autumn is for most, a sign it’s time to start hunkering down for cooler weather, but for the organisers of the Castlemaine Jazz Festival it’s the signal to step up preparations for 2016’s Castlemaine Jazz Festival.

Taking place again over the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, this year’s Castlemaine Jazz Festival will see over 340 musicians perform in a kaleidoscope of combinations. There will also be eight big bands for the listening pleasure of thousands of local and visiting music fans.

Castlemaine business owner Linda Carpenter is a founding member of the Castlemaine Jazz Festival organising committee and says the festival, now in its third year, continues to go from strength to strength. “We’ve been able to successfully launch and now develop this unique musician-driven festival featuring performers you’d happily travel to see in any jazz festival across the world,” Linda said. “Volunteering is a wonderful way to contribute, to intimately experience the festival up close; to meet and enjoy the company of like-minded people. A welcoming environment in which performers and audience can participate without need for airs and graces remains central to our vision.”

The festival offers a range of volunteer roles including front-of-house, back stage, administration and promotion, with shifts programmed to allow volunteers

to enjoy the events taking place around them. “We’ve had great feedback from our volunteers that it has been a unique way in which to experience this wonderful event,” Linda said.

Volunteers accepted for the festival will receive passes to Festival events and will be invited to a special follow up event for volunteers. To register your interest in volunteering please send an email to

Castlemainejazzfestival@gmail.com indicating any skills and experience you may have

with events and festivals. Linda Carpenter.Taken from a Press Release.

Autumn heralds the Castlemaine Jazz Festival’s return

Three years ago, Cathouse Players performed our first Chewton show, at the Senior Cits. Hall, supported by the wonderful Dot Pollard.

And now, now, this wonderful mystery thriller is set to be reprised - not at that lovely little venue, but in Kyneton, where, since 2014, we’ve been permanently based. We all have fond memories of our 3 productions at Chewton - “Trap”, then “Blithe Spirit” then “Deathtrap” and of the locals’ enthusiastic support for our small company. So with that in mind, and with the possible thought that some of your citizens might want to see the play again, or for some who missed out, this e-mail is to let you know the dates and venue, and also that some of the cast members have returned; some new faces included in the cast of 7, including one of Chewton’s sons - Michael-Gillies Smith, appearing as Daniel - rehearsals have been such fun with him, and he’s going to be fab!

Dates are as follows: Opening Night, Friday June 17, Saturday June 18 (both at 8pm) Sunday June 19, Matinee at 2pm, Friday June 24, Saturday June 25 - both at 8pm.

The venue: The Kyneton Masonic Centre in Yaldwyn Street West - spacious, warm and inviting, but sadly with no stage, proscenium arch, curtains or ‘wings’ - once again, our ingenious blokes do pop-up theatre, quite a challenge.

Our publicity campaign starts on May 2, and online bookings open from May 2nd : www.trybooking.com/LDGU. For phone bookings and cash sales, please phone Lynn on 0407 610 656.

Trap for a lonely man...

Specialising in Brick, Stone, Granite and Slate

www.marcushoustonbricklaying.com

34

FIELD NATSVISITORS ARE WELCOME AT CLUB

MEETINGS AND EXCURSIONS

Fri May 13: Meeting.Speaker Carol Hall

“New England and beyond - an ice age legacy”

Ordinary membership: Single $30, Family $40, Pensioner or student: Single $25, Family $30. Subscription includes postage of the monthly

newsletter, Castlemaine Naturalist.

General meetings - (second Friday of each month, except January) are held in the Uniting Church (UCA) Hall (enter from Lyttleton St.) at 7.30 pm. Field Trips - (Saturday following the general meeting) leave from the car park opposite Castle Motel, Duke Street at 1.30pm sharp unless stated otherwise. BYO afternoon tea. Outdoor excursions are likely to be cancelled in extreme weather conditions. There are NO excursions on total fire ban days.

CASTLEMAINE FIELD NATURALISTS,PO BOX 324, CASTLEMAINE 3450http://castlemainefnc.wordpress.com/

Vocal Nosh! A good sing & good food in convivial company

Sunday 1st May at 6pmAt Newstead Community Centre

Led this month by the jovial Jane Thompson and James Rigby

Theme: Indigenous Songs• 6:00 - 7:00pm Vocal entrée - warm up and easy stuff• 7:00 - 7:30pm Food - Hearty soup, crusty bread, fresh fruit• 7:30 - 8:30 pm Musical main course - delicious harmonies

Songs in the folk style, mostly a cappellaNo prior musical experience necessary. No need to read music.

Singing for the pleasure of it.Whole session including food $15, concession $12,

children $5, first hour only $5.Bookings by email: faywhite.music@westnet.com.au

or phone Fay 5461 5471

The historic market building in Castlemaine will once again come alive with texture and colour. There will be hand spun yarns, headwear, homewares plus more. All will be for sale.

Textiles workers send their items in from all over Aust to create this exciting event. This year we will be offering recycled items”, this old thing to this new thing,” showing how to make up a special something from discarded items.

Spinning lessons, knitting and crochet will also be demonstrated. If you are stuck on a problem with your creation bring it along and see if we can help you. there will be some broomstick, or giant knitting being made as well.

Headwear will be from $20 and made from mostly natural fibres. Also a fashion section which will provide some surprises.

Open May 27 - 29th 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. each day.

The Beanie Affair - 2016

Cactus WarriorsTheCactusWarriorsmonthlyfielddaywill beonagain on Sunday 29th, 10 am to 12.30. As usual, we will start with a talk and a demo, then go out and kill cactus. Equipment will be provided for the morning as well as a BBQ lunch at midday. All you need to bring is a hat and walking shoes.

Thevenuehasn’tbeenfinalised,butitwillbeannounced on our website www.cactuswarriors.org closer to the date, or you can ring Ian Grenda on 0412 015 807.

This Chat began with the Green Army - and it finishes with it!They have now installed 3 picnic tables along Forest Creek Track

on the way to the res. This one is at Chinamans Point.

35

Advertisers in this Chewton ChatAppletown, Party Hire P 19Baker Earthmoving P 8Ben Ross, All building work P 26Blues music, jam sessions P 35Bold Café P 3Buda Historic Home and Garden P 23Cameron Stewart, Podiatrist P 20Castlemaine Mini-Diggers P 27CastlemaineOfficeSupplies P13CAE Performance Products P 21Chewton Garage P 10Chewton General Store P 32Chewton Playgroup P 19Chewton Pool fundraiser P 5Chewton Service Station P 14Collector’s Cafe P 9Come Clean Window Cleaning P 16Computers in the Shire, Computer/Web support P 10Conrad Constructions, Builder P 17Doug Drury, Carpenter and Handyman P 22Elphinstone Firewood P 16EzyDig P 12Five Flags Hotel P 32GoldfieldsConcreting P6GoldfieldsElectronics P21Hire a Hearse P 5Lisa Chesters, Federal M.P. P22Luca Ruiz Massage P33Marcus Houston, Bricklayer and Stonework P 33Maree Edwards, State M.P. P 27Merlarue, Etching Presses P 17Mo’s Antiques P Various!Newstead Natives, Native Nursery P 25Printz Plumbing P 13Ray Fowler, Master Painter P 29Red Hill Hotel P 3Robin Haylett, Gardens P 11Soldier and Scholar, 2nd Hand Books P 17Surtierra Alpaca Stud P 3Thompson Family Funerals P 11Tim’s Gardening Services P 14Vault Self-Storage P 25Waylaines Tiling P 29Wesley Hill Market P 5Wildlife Rescue P 17

Paper used in producing the Chewton Chats is donated by Ewen and Linda MacDonald of Moroolbark Excavations

Chewton Town HallThe Chewton Town Hall offers a beautifully restored space

available for a variety of events and uses. (Because of the age of the building universal access is limited)

To discuss what you might need, what we can offer and the costs of hiring all or part of the hall...

contact Bettie on 5472 3892 or goldenpoint2@bigpond.com

Chewton Chat• 2007 - Winner - best editorial comment• 2008 - Finalist - best hard news reporting• 2009 - Finalist - best history article• 2010 - Special mention - best community reporting• 2011 - Finalist - best editorial comment• 2012 - Winner - best editorial comment• 2013 - Winner - best news feature story • 2013 - Finalist - best editorial comment• 2014 - Winner - best history article• 2015 - Finalist - best editorial comment

Published by the Chewton Domain Societyand produced on a voluntary non-profit basis

P.O. Box 85, Chewton 3451goldenpoint2@bigpond.com or 5472 2892

A CDS subcommittee of John Ellis (Ed.),Bettie Exon, Gloria Meltzer, Debbie Hall, Phil Hall and Glen Harrison is responsible for the publication. Many volunteers help with production and circulation. It is circulated on the first of each month, necessitating a deadline of about the 22nd of the month before. Material can be left at the Chewton General Store, with any of the sub-committee members, sent by e-mail goldenpoint2@bigpond.com or by contacting 5472 2892.

Contributions of ideas, news items, articles, and letters are always welcome; as are advertisements that help meet monthly production costs. Circulation is via the Chewton General Store, Chewton Pet Supplies, Chewton Post Office, Chewton Service Station, Red Hill Hotel, Castle Automotive Enterprises and Tourist Information Board, as well as the Bold Cafe, Castlemaine Library, Market Building, CHIRP, CIC, Castlemaine Copy Centre, Castlemaine Office Supplies and Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum. Mt. Alexander Hospital Residential receives monthly copies too. Whilst copies are free, there are donation tins at many collection points and donations can be mailed to the CDS address below. Subscriptions for mailed copies can be arranged. Circulation is now 700. A full colour Chewton Chat can also be downloaded each month from www.issuu.com - as can some earlier issues. Email subscriptions are also available.

The Chewton Chat wishes to advise that the views or remarks expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of the editor, the management team or the Chewton Domain Society and no endorsement of service is implied by the listing of advertisers, sponsors or contributors.

Are you interested in

BOPPING THE BLUES?

You are invited to a monthly Jam Session at Elphinstone

This is a non-professional, informal get-together

of people who want to make some noise and have some fun!

If you are into Blues, R’n’B and Rock music and sing or play an instrument

you are welcome!

For more information: Email: patrickcox53@gmail.com

36

“The 2015–16 El Niño is maintaining its gradual decline. The Pacific indicators are headed towards a more normal temperature distribution, but the still active Indian dipole is likely to reduce the rain in the top end. But, for us in south-eastern Australia, more normal autumn and winter rainfall is likely to resume in coming months”. So said the Bureau of Meteorology a month ago. And, it is happening as we write.

This month the Bureau says “While the 2015-2016 El Niño remains at weak to moderate levels, recent changes in the tropical Pacific Ocean and atmosphere, combined with current climate model outlooks, suggest the likelihood of La Niña forming in 2016 has increased to around 50%. As a result, the Bureau has moved to La Niña WATCH”. So how about that. La Niña is the opposite of El Niño, and usually brings rain to south-eastern Australia in our autumn and winter months. Which seems to mean that following a summer of not enough rain, we can now expect to get a bucket load. I think we probably expected that anyway!!!

Whilst temperatures are starting to feel autumnal, rain is still pretty scarce. As I write I have recorded just 12.5 millimetres for the “Chat month”. This monthly total takes us to 120 millimetres for the first four months of 2016. A more usual total for April is something between 20 and 30 millimetres, though as little as 10 has been noted in past years. This time last year we had

Autumn is just arrivingrecorded only 85 millimetres for the first four months, so it’s looking better already. Tanks nicely full again.

Temperatures are decidedly on the downturn towards our winter chill. Just to provide general autumn confusion, the April average daytime temperature was 20.5 degrees celsius, in contrast with the March average of 19.5 degrees C. Nevertheless, at no time in April did I record a high of 30 degrees, our highest temperature for the month being only 27 degrees C. The mode too, was only 20 degrees, which compares with a March mode of 35 degrees C. It has been something of an inconsistent thirty days, with weeks of low to mid twenties, followed by weeks of mid to low teen temperatures. A lot of clear skies however, with lots of opportunity to be out and about.

The night-time temperatures held up quite well for the first week of the month, but then took a dive into single digit values. The middle two weeks saw largely single digit overnight temperatures, until the last week of the month that produced temperatures in the low twenties. This is reflected in the fall of the average overnight temperature from 17 degrees C in March, to barely 10 degrees C in April. The month’s overnight temperature mode fell from 11 degrees C, to just 7 degrees C. Finally, the highest overnight temperature recorded was 18 degrees C, a fall from 26 degrees the previous month.

John Leavesley.

BOOST FOR BENDIGO AND REGION IN STATE BUDGET - EDWARDSMember for Bendigo West Maree Edwards MP has welcomed the Andrews Labor Government’s commitment to

Bendigo in today’s State Budget which included (drum roll!) $90,000 for a Chewton Primary School upgrade…

Calendar of EventsMay 1st Old Post Office Hill walk, 10 a.m., meet at old tip site in Railway Street (see page 6).May 1st Vocal Nosh, 6 p.m., Newstead Community centre (see page 34).May 2nd Comments close on council’s waste management plan (see page 9).May 7th Service, 6 p.m., St. John’s Anglican Church, Chewton (see page 19).May 7th Chewton Community BBQ (MoBQ), 6 p.m., Ellery Park (see page 32).May 8th Old Post Office Hill walk, 10 a.m., meet at old tip site in Railway Street (see page 6).May 10th MAS Council meeting, 7.30 p.m., Castlemaine Civic Centre.May 14th Service, 6 p.m., St. John’s Anglican Church, Chewton (see page 19).May 15th FOBIF Walk to Cobblers Gully (Herons Reef), 9.30 a.m., (see page 25).May 15th Farewell to Chris and Brett, 2 p.m., Chewton Town Hall (bring a plate and see page 1).May 15th Acoustic Concert at St. John’s, 2 p.m., St. John’s Chewton (see page 18).May 16th Chewton Domain Society Man. Comm. Mtg., 7.15 p.m., Chewton Town Hall.May 21st Service, 6 p.m., St. John’s Anglican Church, Chewton (see page 19).May 22nd Walk to Golden Point Reservoir, 10 a.m., Golden Point Landcare (see page 25).May 22nd The long, lazy lunch, 12 noon, Chewton Pool fundraiser at Bress (see page 5).May 24th MAS Council meeting, 7.30 p.m., Castlemaine Civic Centre.May 26th Chewton’s Biggest Morning Tea, 10 a.m., Chewton Town Hall (see page 3).May 28th Service, 6 p.m., St. John’s Anglican Church, Chewton (see page 19).

And in late breaking news...