stemmata - Neighbour Mackinnon

Neighbour Mackinnon

Neighbour MacKinnon

Over the years many people have supplied information about the HOPE family - some trivial, some comprehensive - but all of inestimable value in the process of establishing a picture, a profile of the early life of the family. Accounts range from neighbourly observations and the knowledge of life in any small community, whether the families are related to one another or not, to a lesson in Australian History. In some cases it has been a miracle that I have been put in contact with these people and my gratitude and appreciation is hereby expressed. I share with you some of these experiences.

One such example of receiving an 'odd' bit of information occurred when Hope O'Connor of Irymple, Victoria, sent me a cut-out from an article which appeared in a Camperdown newspaper 8 years earlier. The author was trying to locate as many poems surviving from the pioneering days of far Western Victoria as possible, with the intention of reproducing them in a book titled "Working Class Poetry". In his request he named some of the poets that he had heard about and one happened to be "... Hope from Dergholm". Hope O'Connor's mother, Freda Lochhead (grand-daughter of Richmond and Isabella Hope), had cut this out and kept it. Nothing was ever done about contacting the author, until it was handed over to me in 1985.

From this humble beginning, a wealth of information was to come my way, which probably would never have surfaced had not Freda kept this cut-out and had Hope thought to herself that it was of no value to anyone and thrown it away. I contacted the original author, Mr Peter Hay, and although his project was well and truly completed by this time, he forwarded some material that had been sent to him by a Mr Ian MacKinnon of Hamilton, Victoria. Ian's family had lived for many years as neighbours of the Hopes during their time in the Powers Creek district. Ian had replied to Peter Hay at the time of the article and mentioned to him that he had known of the Mr Hope in question.

Following are extracts of Ian MacKinnon's letter to Peter Hay:

"... There was another man in the Powers Creek-Dergholm area who wrote a vast amount of really beautiful poetry - but I doubt if any of it had political significance - more inclined to be philosophical. There were two brothers, one Richard Hope, I forget the first name of the other - the poet.

"They had been wealthy people, but lost everything in the 1890 Bank Crash. I remember my father telling how, as a schoolboy, he saw them trapping rabbits and wearing swallow-tail coats. As poor men, they had no other use for such flash clothes.

"I also remember him telling me how one cold day in front of the fireplace in the hut on their scrub block, one of them made this statement, which was impressive even to the ears of a boy. "Well Richard, I'm sixty today, and when a man is sixty, his time is very short."

"In 1898 a sister of my father died from typhoid fever, at the age of 12 years and by way of condolence this Hope made up a poem, part of which had these words:

"The river flows on to the deep blue sea

And the bird flies home to her nest

While time rolls on to eternity

With a movement that knows no rest.[1]

"Not long before he died, my father talked about the Hope's poetry - and wondered what became of it all; who got it?"

I contacted Mr Ian MacKinnon late in 1985 and we exchanged correspondence for some time. Ian explained to me that when his father was a young lad, they lived near the Hopes at Powers Creek, Victoria.

His father often spoke about those times, especially as the years rolled on. Ian went on to recall his father telling him how one cold winter's day, he was at the Hopes hut on their scrub block and one of them was standing in front of a blazing fire in the open fireplace and addressing the other brother in words which were, no doubt, also intended to impress the school-boy present. One of the Hope men[2] said, "Well Richard! I'm sixty today and when a man is sixty his time is very short." Ian went onto say that this incident served as a datum peg in time as his father, who was born 19 December 1889, was going to Tallengower School, a couple of miles across the Glenelg River from Hope's block. Give or take a year or two, it would be very close to the turn of the century. The four Hope brothers; David, Thomas, Richmond and William, with their respective families, lived together. David, who by this time was blind; and Thomas, were both bachelors.

Ian also added that the chief attraction which brought a young school boy to their hut was wax match boxes. A particular brand of wax matches was packaged in a small but solidly constructed container with an "on" and "off" lid. Anyone born since 1950 may not have seen wax matches but back last century they were the standard. Safety matches of the type we use today, had not been invented. Wax matches were a very convenient improvement on the older tinder box and flint. They were less than an inch long and the shaft part composed of strands of fibre like flax string impregnated with a wax; like that in a candle but harder. The shaft was round and somewhat thinner than present-day matches, which of course are wood and made square; these wax matches had heads which contained phosphorus and this rendered them dangerous as a fire risk if any were spilt about. Friction of any kind on the head could cause them to take fire. A rat nibbling a match head could "strike" the match and this was a danger particularly guarded against by not dropping un-struck matches or spilling the box and letting matches fall through cracks in the floor! Hence wax match boxes being well constructed. That is why the following invention was called "safety matches". The phosphorus was transferred to the striking surface of the match box and the match head no longer contained any phosphorus at all, so the match became safe, so far as fire was concerned.

An explanation concerning the swallow-tail coats that were mentioned in his letter to Peter Hay was also given by Ian. From about 1835 a swallow-tail coat was the most formal type of dress that could be worn. Like a Vice-Regal party of the Governor at some official reception or top ceremony. It was also worn when welcoming Royalty. The circle of people who owned and used formal dress of the kind in the middle of last century would be strictly limited.

Another recollection was of a family at Nareen, also in far Western Victoria, sending a message asking if one of the Hope girls was available as a domestic or maid. The message was remembered because the wage offered was so low, six shillings a week!

Ian went on to mention that Hope's block was not freehold land but was held under a 'Grazing Licence'. A Grazing Licence had a term of 20 years and once obtained the ground could be held for the 20 years, so long as the yearly fee was paid. Such fees were nominal; and would be about one pound a year for the 320 acres. It was extremely poor land composed of ferns and scrub, scarcely capable of carrying stock, other than rabbits. It provided a place to erect a hut and live close to a spring at the start of a small creek running down into the Glenelg River, about a mile away.

The "Ripon Regulations of 1831" had set a minimum land price of 5 shillings per acre, but they also stated that land could be leased at one pound per square mile (640 acres). Such land could be sold to others at the land auctions in Sydney and Melbourne and squatters would receive no compensation for any improvements they made to the land. The squatters complained when a grazing licence fee for holding land beyond the limits of location was proposed by Governor Bourke in 1836. This was to cost squatters not one pound as applied for leases within the limits, but ten pounds per year, and still they had no security of tenure - the land could be sold at auction to others at any time. One ten pound grazing licence could cover any amount of land."[3]

Altogether there were about 90 Land Acts[4] covering different aspects of land tenure, over the years most of these were eventually repealed. The grazing licence was phased out in the early years of the twentieth century. Such land reverted to the status of Crown Land and this is what happened in the case of Hope's scrub block. It was subsequently selected by the Ferguson family.

The Bank Crash of the 1890s

Another interesting recollection given by Ian's father, was about the Bank Crash of the 1890's. The Depression and was Australia wide and in some respects was to be far worse than the later Depression of 1929-1930. Victoria was more severely affected than other states and the sequence of events leading up to it went something like this:

The gold rushes of the 1850's and the deep reef mining of the 1860's injected a large amount of money into the economy and considerable prosperity was experienced by the general community. This continued through the 1870's and into the early 1880's. There was what came to be called "The Land Boom". At that time the market price of land in Melbourne and out in the country peaked at values which were not again realised (in a general sort of way) until after the Second World War.

Little imagination is needed to perceive the vast changes which swept over Melbourne in the 1880's. A decade before, Melbourne was still a raw, young city with empty spaces or humble structures dotted between the few important buildings of State, municipal, and financial activity. Then all at once there was an extraordinary efflorescence. On a time lapse camera, it would appear as if Melbourne sprang into being one of the great cities of the world almost overnight. Everywhere there was a flurry of construction, the establishment of large companies and important new industries, the building of extravagant mansions, the golden tentacles reaching out into adjacent fields and valleys. Powered trams appeared; suddenly - whole new suburbs sprang into being; suddenly - electric light flared in the streets ... Astonishing new applications of science; frightening new ideas of man's evolution from the jungle; colossal schemes of making fortunes from speculation; dangerous ideas of woman's place in the new society - all these things thrilled, alarmed and astonished our grandfathers and their fathers. It seemed that the huge effort which had been put into founding a new colony in the wilderness was now paying off, and that virtue was bringing its earthly reward.[5]

"Caution in spending was thrown to the winds; railways were built for political reasons, whether the lines were potentially profitable or not. Everywhere over-optimism led to over-expansion. Farms were bought and sheep and cattle were grazing in areas where the climate was risky and where costs were high. When the good seasons should end or prices should fall, there would be trouble"[6], but the boom continued to gather strength. In 1885 the harvest was prolific, the price of wool was high, the railways made a profit for the first time in the colony's history and optimism reigned supreme.

"In 1886 it appeared to some of the associated banks that the land boom had reached its zenith and would now plunge downwards. The value of pastoral output ceased to expand, as droughts, rabbits and soil exhaustion reduced productivity and overseas prices collapsed. A sudden drop in wool from 12 and a quarter pence to 9 and a quarter pence a pound in 1886 made it hard for the grazier to carry the debt he had cheerfully incurred in easier circumstances; by 1889 banks and pastoral companies were holding many properties worth less than the sums advanced on them."[7]

In July and August 1890 a financial crash occurred in Argentina, which had been a centre of world speculation. In November Baring Brothers[8] failed in London and this in turn led to the rapid withdrawal of deposits from Australian financial institutions.[9]

From July 1891 and within 8 months, 20 major financial institutions had closed down. Of 23 Australian Banks operating at the beginning of 1890 some 15 had by 1893 closed their doors never to reopen, 13 of them on April and May of 1892. It was a disaster for people who were dealing with banks that went broke. With an average of 320 bankruptcies per year in Victoria, in 1890 there were 445 schedules filed, in 1891 there were 420; and in 1892 more than 500 schedules were filed.

Up to that time there were no Government bank notes, only gold sovereigns and silver coins. The various banks, however, issued their own notes or paper money. In previous prosperous times they had no difficulty honouring the notes they had printed, but when the Depression struck they were in trouble.

In the country districts the farmer and the squatter were hard hit by falls of up to fifty per cent in the price of their produce, especially since the high rates of interest charged by banks were not cut. The depression of land values brought further pressure on the mortgages.

"South Australia was the first to suffer. Her land laws, favourable climate and lack of gold had long made this colony 'the granary of the continent'. Her wheat harvest equalled that of all the other colonies put together, and her farmers had not been backward in technique. But in the good seasons they had been tempted beyond 'Goyder's Line', which marked the Surveyor General's opinion of the safe climatic boundary for wheat. The optimist had argued then that 'rain would follow the plough'; but it appeared that they had reasoned on unsound premises. From 1876 to 1904, not one crop reached 10 bushels to the acre; 18 crops were less than 6 bushels, including 5 successive years after 1881; for 5 successive years after 1896 yields were only 4. The 'plough had outpaced the rain clouds', the soil was over-farmed; and slowly but steadily the price of wheat fell from 5 shillings and 10 pence to 3 shillings and 8 pence. South Australia was comparatively lucky. The drought brought heavy losses and the Commercial Bank of South Australia failed; but though many investors lost heavily, at least the results were not as disastrous as the later more spectacular crash in the east which had five years longer to mature.

Melbourne speculators were the most exuberant. In the late eighties Victoria escaped, for a time, the worst of the drought"[10] , although history shows that the bank crash "brought the greatest suffering to Victoria, adding considerably to that already caused by the trade depression and unemployment. It certainly spelled the end of Melbourne's predominance as the financial centre of Australia, as her population drifted away and industry remained blighted."[11]

When the Depression came, it didn't seem to matter whether assets were cash, land or investment, all three were affected by the disaster. For instance there was William Willis who owned Nareen Station, he built the homestead where Malcolm Fraser (Prime Minister of Australia: 1975-1983) still lives. Willis went as thoroughly and completely broke that he was reduced to the status of swag man. A few years after the Depression, William Willis carried the swag through Nareen. In his heyday he had owned it and more!

The market price for primary products was also severely depressed. That was the time about which stories were told of graziers who sent their wool to London for sale by auction and found they had a bill to pay as the wool didn't pay for the cartage and handling costs.

The nightmare of unemployment was accentuated by epidemics of influenza, typhoid and measles, which swept the badly-drained slums and killed thousands. There was such an enormous rise in the number of typhoid cases that thirteen emergency tents had to be erected in the grounds of the Alfred Hospital to hold the patients.[12]

What lifted Australia out of that Depression was the discovery of gold at Coolgardie and a few months later, Kalgoorlie and its Golden Mile. After "the crash" the banking system was restructured and never again were banks permitted to print notes. At Federation, just a few years later the Commonwealth assumed that responsibility.

It was a difficult and hard time for all Australians. For our own family, it was a heart breaking time; to see all you have worked for and strived to achieve, just collapse. It is evident that the family stuck together and worked towards a single goal, to provide something for generations yet unborn. There may not be a lot of material things that have survived these past 130 years since the Hope family arrived in Australia, but I still remember my grandparents telling me how proud I should be of my pioneering fore-bears. I must admit that it didn't mean a lot to me at the time but as the years roll by and I learn more about Australia's history and read about the struggles and hardships, especially when compared to the twentieth century with its technology, I am reminded that I have indeed a rich heritage. As a bonus we have also been left a legacy of artistic talents that still run in the family; through the media and gifts of music, the written word, art and crafts.

William Hope's Poetry

Ian MacKinnon's father often spoke about the quantity of William Hope's poetry. He remembered that William always had a huge amount of material on hand, poems on a vast range of subjects. He wrote on just about everything which was current as a talking point in his time. Ian thought that William must have had all his poetry on file, or otherwise kept together as a collection of his works, for his own reference. That was why Ian's father was so sure someone must have come into possession of this extensive collection. After years of searching and endless letters, I have been able to only gather a few of William's poems. These are included in this book in their relevant place, according to the subject. Following is a list and a reference of where they are located:

Poems written by William Bryce Hope:

Mother - see "Thomas and Alice Hope leave for Australia"

Dorothy - see this section

In Memorium (Walter Edgar Minogue) - see under Edgar, then Minogue

Violet - see under "Robertson" section

The Soldier's Monument - see under William Bryce Hope

Annie - see under William Bryce Hope

There was no kinship between MacKinnons and Hopes although there was great friendship between the two families which was on the level of intellectual equality. Ian MacKinnon went on to mention, that as Hopes had seen better days, it would be reasonable to assume they had received a fairly good education. At that time the majority of people were illiterate. As was explained in a previous section, Alice Hope had taught her children to read and write from an early age, having had a father who was a school master.

MacKinnon's came out from the Isle of Skye and arrived before the mid 1850's. The mother was born in 1814 and married MacKinnon about 1835. There were three children from this marriage, Hughie (born 1837), Angus (born 1839) and Christina (born 1841). MacKinnon died and she married John Nicholson who was a school teacher by profession. He also died in an epidemic and there was one child from this marriage; Mary Nicholson (Junior). Mrs Nicholson (Senior) came out as a widow with the four children, the elder ones being teenagers.

Mail from Home

Angus MacKinnon's first job was carrying mailbags on horseback between Penola (South Australia) and Guichen Bay (now Robe, South Australia). At that time mail bags from the British Isles often came addressed to so-and-so "Guichen Bay District". The mailmen had to be able to read and also to know who was at the various Stations. Angus MacKinnon stayed on the mail route for some years, until after the change from pack-horses to coaches. He was at Penola when Adam Lindsay Gordon was stationed there as a Policeman and became a good friend of Gordon's.

A deep friendship developed between Angus MacKinnon and the owners of the various Stations he delivered mail to en route. He died 23 December 1918 and up until very nearly the finish he made regular visits back to the South East of South Australia to keep in touch with the friends of his youth. His elder brother Hughie, graduated from shepherd to builder and about 1863 MacKinnon's built the Naracoorte Hotel from bluestone - it is still in business.

In 1864 (before the main Land Act of 1865) they selected land along the Glenelg River, joining the block later occupied by William and Richmond Hope. This land was selected by the Mary Nicholson's (mother and daughter). The land actually joining that later occupied by the Hopes, was selected by William McDonald who had in 1863 married Christina MacKinnon. One of their sons was Jack McDonald, who was the father of Sir William McDonald, one time Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. In April 1865, Angus MacKinnon selected land at Nareen and during the land boom bought further land at Nareen for 6 pound ($12) an acre, which, during the latter Depression he was forced to sell at 3 pounds 15 shillings ($7.50) an acre. The Glenelg River country was taken over by Hughie MacKinnon who in the first stages of the Depression found himself going broke and was bought out by Angus MacKinnon who then had a considerable amount of land with both places. But the Depression got worse and the only one he could find a buyer for was Nareen. So at the end of December 1888 he returned to the river.

While at Nareen and for the seven years up until he sold, a Free-Presbyterian Minister stayed at Angus MacKinnon's place; no charge being made for board. This was the Reverend W R Buttrose, who had conducted a private school in Robe before coming to Nareen.

As you will have noted, Angus MacKinnon was closely acquainted with people of learning and intellect; Adam Lindsay Gordon, the Station owners with whom he established such a lasting friendship and the Rev. W R Buttrose. William Hope was obviously a man of education and it seems not only reasonable but also highly likely that there would be an intellectual bond besides the fact of being neighbours, about one mile apart. William Hope was so deeply moved at the death of young Dorothy MacKinnon, who was 11 years and 6 months, that he wrote a poem and presented it to the MacKinnon family shortly after Dorothy died of typhoid fever.

DOROTHY

This lovely bud, so young, so fair

Called hence by early doom

Just came to show how sweet a flower

In Paradise would bloom.

'Ere sin could harm or sorrow fade

Death came with friendly care

The opening bud to heaven conveyed

And bade it blossom there.

The river flows on to the deep blue sea

And the bird flies home to her nest

While time rolls on the eternity

With a movement that knows no rest.

Hopes lived about a mile west of MacKinnon's but not in line of sight because of land contours. The comradeship which existed between the early pioneers is something which, understandably, must be difficult for people of the current generation to comprehend. The set-up, both social and material, was so entirely different to what presently exists that it is a near impossible task to describe it. There was no television, radio or even telephone, it was after 1900 when telephones were connected to Casterton, 35 miles away. There were no cars and even for horse drawn vehicles the roads were in poor condition, not just unmade but winding tracks picking their way between the trees. Councils and a Road Board had been established in the mid-1860's but meagre funds were available and bridges over the many creeks had priority. Even of these, the more essential were not completed until after the turn of the century. The settlers travelled a lot with the horses but it was slow travel.

Stage Coaches

Stage Coaches made better time because as the name implies they travelled in stages. Stationed about every 15 miles apart on major lines were stables and a groom. A team of horses with the harness on, would be waiting ready when the coaches arrived. The horses which had done the last stage would be quickly removed from the coach by slipping the leather traces from the swingle-trees and unbuckling the shaft. The replacement team, already harnessed, would be hitched up to the coach which would be on its way again with fresh horses in 5 minutes or less. The used horses would be watered and fed and ready to be put in a coach travelling in the opposite direction.

An American coach, with its light body suspended on leather straps, introduced by the famous Cobb & Co., made travel more comfortable. This firm by 1879 harnessed 6,000 horses every day, travelling 28,000 miles a week. Roads often remained where Cobb & Co. blazed a trail. Nevertheless, they only helped with the transport of passengers and mail. Heavy goods were still dragged laboriously by slow and therefore expensive bullock teams.[13] For more than half a century in Australia, the name Cobb & Co. was almost synonymous with "inland travel".[14]

Even after the coming of the trains to the major country towns the only available means of transport and communication in outlying areas remained slow by present day standards. Newspapers would be several days old at best. The complete lack of electronic communication gave a meaning to distance which was, eventually, to disappear with the coming of the telephone and radio. Outlying districts were very much on their own in terms of isolation. Totally without motorised transport of any kind and equally lacking electric communication, settlers in outlying areas were thrown back on their own resources.

The material conditions of the time produced circumstances which literally dictated patterns in social behaviour. With the benefit of hindsight, we can look back and observe that the lifestyle of our forebears was inexorably governed by a commonplace determination which could be altered only by its slow envelopment in a tide of technological change occasioned by progress and brought about, principally, by the twin inventions of electronic communication and the internal combustion engine which brought with it the benefits of fast and efficient transport.

William Hope - the Entertainer and Entertainment

In those days poetry had a social significance as a form of entertainment and at that time the characteristics of entertainment were entirely different to what they are today. For instance, in our contemporary world, everyone is absolutely satiated with the sounds of music. But for people who have heard extremely little music in their entire lives, the response is entirely different.

Back in the 1890's the picture theatres hadn't started and the cylinder gramophone which had reaped a fortune for Edison in America did not become widely available in Australia until about 1910. Concerts for the bush folk were few and far between and because it was a scarce commodity, entertainment was a luxury. Anyone who could provide entertainment by way of singing songs or playing some portable instrument like a violin or concertina was welcomed with great appreciation. The reciting of poetry was very much in the same category as was anyone who could talk well and use interesting phraseology to recall past experiences or tell enthralling tales on any subject. Of an evening there was nowhere to go except some neighbour's place. "Sports Days" at towns might be held but there was no regular organised, local sport like football, tennis of golf. Sports events were either annual or infrequent and certainly not in the winter because of flooded creeks and boggy roads. It was in this time of Australia's history that William Hope was very much sought after within his community. William not only had a love for writing and reciting poetry, but could also read,-write and talk German fluently. In the musical realm, he taught himself the coronet and cornet and was actively involved as a singer, actor and musician with the Good Templar Lodge.[15]

William Hope was a well known local identity in the Naracoorte-Apsley district and according to the Narracoorte Herald at the time of his death, he was a "prominent in the social scene". and the writer claimed that "had William followed his literary proclivity up, he would have attained prominence as he had considerable poetic talent, a number of these occasionally found daylight in the press such was his standing in the community."[16]

The material conditions which so effectively controlled the lifestyle was on the very brink of change, but it hadn't yet happened and produced a deep-seated camaraderie among the bush folk of a particular locality.

Ian MacKinnon also recalled his father saying that Hopes had two properties in the district. The one known by Ian's father was a pioneer type hut which was used mainly in the rabbit-trapping season. Their second or principal residence at Powers Creek was near the Glenelg River.

The Gold Rush

Ian MacKinnon went on to describe another aspect of life in the early days about how the Gold Rush in central Victoria actually helped the people of Western Victoria and the South-East of South Australia.[17] There is the Chinese connection with the area. Many tens of thousands of Chinese passed through the area on their way to the gold fields of Victoria. Ballarat and especially Daylesford.

After the first flush of easily found surface gold had been worked over it became harder and harder to find. As gold became more difficult to come by the number of poor miners increased and so also did the rawness of their tempers. Race riots with the Chinese broke out and reached such proportions that the Government of the day sought to exclude Chinese from landing at Victorian ports.

But ship's captains merely carried Chinese passengers on to the first port in South Australia, Guichen Bay (now Robe). From there the Chinese walked and pushed their wheel-barrows overland to the Victorian Gold fields. From Guichen Bay they made their way to Penola. Some went via Naracoorte (then known as Mosquito Plains, then Kincraig and finally Naracoorte). A few went to Sandford ... an hotel and crossing of the Glenelg River where Casterton now stands but at that time Casterton was out at the Hummocks (near Wando Vale) where there was a brick Courthouse.

However, vast numbers of Chinese took a more direct route. From Penola they sneaked across the border to Bogalara Station. At that time there were no surveyed roads, but tracks between the sheep stations. In this area it was these tracks which were followed by the Chinese. From Bogalara Station they went to Tallengower Station, up on a rise from the Glenelg River and not far from where Power's Creek flows into the Glenelg River. Then onto Chetwynd Station, across to Koolomurt Station south east to Wando Dale Station and then Coleraine where they were on the main road to Ballarat.

Sometimes groups of these Chinese tarried to do contract work for Station owners along the way. They built the Chetwynd Station homestead from local materials (mud bricks). This large building was still in reasonable repair until bulldozed by the Soldier Settlement Commission a few years after W.W.II. Out from Chetwynd they also built a huge embankment across a gully to dam a freshwater creek. The chief purpose being to put improvements on some very rich land and stop Free Selectors from getting it. Valued at 2,000 pounds in 1863 when MacKinnon's managed to get Freehold land directly opposite this huge earthworks. Built by hand using shovels and wheelbarrows it still stands today. By similar method Chinese also built the Muntham Dam just out of Casterton. Some Chinese also stayed on as gardeners at the stations and never, ever got to the gold fields. They were very long lived and at Kadnook Station and Koolomurt Station were still working the gardens well into this century (approx. time of W.W.I)."

Poisoning of rabbits

Another interesting tale passed on to me by Ian was about rabbits ... "Poisoning of rabbits first took place at Kadnook Station - close to Power's Creek. At first rabbits were protected. There were rabbits at Harrow at the time when MacKinnon's selected ground along the Glenelg River in 1863 and about that time a man was fined thirty shillings in the Court at Harrow for killing a rabbit. But by the mid 1880's they were in plague proportions. It was about that time when the J. Tonks & Sons and the "Bunyip" rabbit traps made their appearance. A traveller was demonstrating the new invention and old Bourke (after whom Bourke's Crossing, later Bourke's Bridge was named). A simple Irishman he did not understand mechanical contrivances very well. When the traveller had set the trap and put it down on the ground old Bourke wanted to let the traveller know he understood how the device worked, exclaiming "And that is where the little bunny puts his paw" he jabbed two fingers down on to the tongue of a Bunyip rabbit trap! The big Bunyip rabbit trap had such a strong spring it took a strong man to set the trap!

Anyway, in the mid 1880's rabbits were devastating the Chinaman's garden at Kadnook Station. Carrots were being eaten out of the ground. J. T. Edgar, the owner of Kadnook got the idea of putting some strychnine on carrots while they were still in the ground. Next morning there were several rabbits dead around the carrots he had put strychnine on. He than got the idea of taking carrots to places where rabbits were thickest and cutting slices off the carrots. He quickly found that because of strychnine being so bitter in taste it was best to put strychnine on only some of the slices - this was the forerunner of free-feeding. Actually, it was some time before a standard method was developed i.e., making a trail by scratching a shallow furrow, maybe miles long, and feeding unpoisoned carrots or apples, cut into small cubes, along its length for several nights followed by a poison night when a much smaller quantity of strychnine treated carrots or apples were fed to the rabbits. This way many thousands of rabbits could be poisoned in a night and they all died either on or within a couple of feet of the trail.

About 1889 the first Rabbit Inspectors were appointed - a complete turn around in 25 years from when rabbits were protected. It was at this time the Government made available rabbit proof wire netting to farmers with nothing to pay for the first 6 years. Some funny stories about that, too.

Captain Foster Fyans

There is also some colourful history involved in the early settlement of the area. Possibly the only part of Australia which was regularly patrolled by mounted cavalry over several years. From 1840 to 1846 Captain Foster Fyans and seventeen mounted troopers regularly patrolled the area Portland (the Base Barracks) to Harrow and across to the South Australian border and a little east of Hamilton - or The Grange as it was then called. Captain Foster Fyans was the law over this area at that time. He rode a horse called Peter, and in his Memoirs stated that Peter carried him thirty five thousand miles on the patrols between 1840 and 1846 Peter, the horse, lived until 1858 and died at Geelong. At that time Harrow was an important Depot for the Cavalry and second only to Portland in the patrol area. Probably Victoria's second oldest town (Inland town, that is) it was first settled shortly after Major Mitchell passed through the area in 1836.

And talking of Captain Foster Fyans - he lived a long and colourful life - as adventurous as anything the best novelists or motion picture makers could dream up in their wildest imagination. As a young man he joined the British Army and fought through the Peninsular War, Waterloo, and stayed two years with the occupation forces. Then the British Army in India for 15 years. At one place was stationed 500 men, 37 Officers and all the women and children died of cholera in a period of five weeks, but Captain Fyans came through in good health.

Another time he was given command of one thousand troops and ordered to quell a rebellion in Burma. It was tough going and the rebels better equipped than expected, eventually he was ordered to retreat. Of the original 1000 men only 146 grounded their muskets in the Royal Square in Calcutta. But Captain Foster Fyans had come through unscathed.

Shortly after this he was appointed Captain of The Guard on Norfolk Island ... arguably the most notorious, the most brutal Penal Settlement ever operated by the British anywhere in the world. Things were getting a little out of hand at the time he arrived, but very quickly established Law and Order in no uncertain manner. He was then ordered to establish a Penal Settlement at Moreton Bay (later to become Brisbane). After it was successfully established he was ordered to the new fledgling town of Melbourne as a Magistrate. He was the virtual founder of Geelong and 20 years later was Geelong's first Mayor. Fyansford is called after him. From Melbourne/Geelong he was ordered to Portland to act both as a travelling Magistrate and Army Officer commanding the patrolling Cavalry. He was the first man to travel overland from Geelong to Portland.

Power's Creek was in the area patrolled and he and his mounted troopers would certainly pay regular visits to stations like Bogalara and Tallengower. Captain Foster Fyans lived until 1870 the latter years in retirement at Geelong. He used to make furniture with cabinet-maker precision, purely as a hobby, 75 years after his death, in late 1945, a writing desk he had made was sold at auction for seven pounds ($14). Quite by accident the purchaser discovered a secret compartment containing diamonds worth four thousand pounds, at 1945 values.

Foster Fyans family shifted to New Zealand. In 1965 they donated to the State Library in Melbourne 500 pages of memoirs written in Foster Fyans own handwriting. That is why so much is now known about him.

The Ghost Tree

There is the funny side of past history too. Depp Edgar who lived at Power's Creek had the nickname "Bushfire" no Fire Restrictions in those early days, and Depp thought a bit of "burning off" in the summer brought friends together who hadn't seen each other for months, evidently his method of organising a sort of social get together. At Tallengower Station a housekeeper was said to have been murdered and a ghost haunted the area down to the Glenelg River. One moonlight night Depp Edgar was riding home from Chetwynd, where he had been imbibing at the famous and somewhat notorious Chetwynd Hotel. As he was crossing the Glenelg River at Gray's Crossing just below the old Tallengower homestead. he was coming up the bank out of the river when a ghost appeared and waved both white arms above its head at him. In those days many settlers carried revolvers. Depp whipped his revolver out and fired six shots at the ghost which came even closer to him as he moved out of the river. He was certain some of the bullets had hit the ghost, but they had no effect at all. His hair stood straight on end as he galloped flat out for Power's Creek. Next day when completely sober he was still shaken by the experience. He rode back in daylight to see if anyone was dead or wounded in the area. He discovered a dead tree with forked limbs about ten feet above ground. The dead wood was bleached white by the weather and in the moonlight had looked a silvery grey. On inspection he found bullet Marks on the trunk of the tree, and ever after claimed all six bullets had hit the tree.

Another time Depp was trotting along in the gig and teaching the children hymns. "Jesus loves me, this I know, etc." A local wag rode up real close behind the sulky and yelled "Good job he does, no one else does".

Pom-Pom

Edgar Gleeson's grandfather, who lived at Power's Creek had the nickname "Pom Pom". On occasion he did a bit of school teaching - in the area before State Schools. One day he was driving his wagon along the scrub track between Power's Creek and Bogalara Station when he met another wagon coming the other way. The cleared track was bendy and very narrow with scrub trees thick on each side. No hope of passing each other. One of them would have to unload and the wagon be dragged backwards to some place where the trees were far enough apart for a wagon to be dragged off the road while the other passed on its way.

The situation had the makings of a confrontation from the moment they sighted each other. The other wagon was driven by Billy Harrison of Chetwynd, and although they had heard of each other they had never actually met before.

Said Billy Harrison "I think I know you. You must be Pom Pom." As a sort of school teacher old Wyniatt wasn't going to be beaten at turning a few expressive words "Yes" replied Pom Pom. "And I think I know you, too, You are Dirty Bill from Black Lubra's Flat."

As he got older Pom Pom was inclined to get a little absent minded. One day Angus MacKinnon was coming back from Casterton when he met Pom Pom just south of Brimboal. Pom Pom was walking along the road reading a book. The situation looked a bit strange and as Angus MacKinnon stopped to say good-day, he asked "Where are you going?" Replied Pom Pom, "I'm taking this load of wattle-bark to Casterton and when I sell it there will be enough to buy flour, sugar, tea, etc., to last us for six months." Said Angus "Where's the wattle-bark?" It was only then that Pom Pom looked around in great surprise to discover that the bullocks had stopped under a shade some two miles back. He had been so interested reading the book he hadn't noticed that the bullocks had stopped.

Incidentally, Power's Creek is named after an early settler. He was drowned fording the Glenelg River at Bourke's Crossing, now called Bourke's Bridge, five miles from Power's Creek. His body was never found.

In the early days of settlement of the Power's Creek area, most of the commerce was with Penola and Guichen Bay in South Australia."

[1] "Dorothy"

[2] Thomas Hope (Junior)

[3] Australia and her Northern Neighbours by DE & PM Edgar

[4] Centenary Victorian Year Book 1973

[5] The Land Boomers by Michael Cannon

[6] The Story of Australia by AGL Shaw

[7] Australia and her Northern Neighbours by DE & PM Edgar

[8] English Bankers in South America

[9] A Short History of Australia by Manning Clark

[10] The story of Australia by AGL Shaw

[11] The story of Australia by AGL Shaw