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Freestone Details of the Double Arched Portal Portico of the Former Saint George's Presbyterian Church - Chapel Street, St Kilda East by raaen99

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church, which stands on busy Chapel Street in St Kilda East, is a well known and loved local landmark, not least of all because of its strikingly tall (33.5 metre or 110 foot) banded bell tower which can be spotted from far away. In the Nineteenth Century when it was built, it would have been even more striking for its great height and domineering presence. Designed by architect Albert Purchas, the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is often referred to as his ecclesiastical tour-de-force, and it is most certainly one of his most dramatic and memorable churches.

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was constructed on a plot of land reserved in Chapel Street for the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1866. Initially services were held in a small hall whilst fundraising efforts advanced the erection of a church. The architect Albert Purchas was commissioned to design the church and the foundation stone for the western portion of the nave was finally laid in April 1877 by Sir James McCulloch. The first service was held in the church on the 1st of October 1877. The first clergyman of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was the Reverend John Laurence Rentoul (father to world renown and much loved Australian children's book illustrator Ida Rentoul Outhwaite). However, the swelling Presbyterian congregation of St Kilda and its surrounding districts quickly outgrew the initial Saint George's Presbyterian Church building, so Albert Purchas was obliged to re-design and enlarge the church to allow a doubling in capacity. Robert S. Ekins was the contractor and his tender was £3000.00. It is this imposing church building, reopened in 1880, that we see today. The "Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil" noted that the total length of the building was 118 feet and 6 inches (36 metres), by 40 foot (12 metres) wide and that the striking octagonal tower to the north-west was 110ft 6 in high. It perhaps reflected better the wealth and aspirations of the congregation.

The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is constructed on bluestone foundations and is built in an ornate polychromatic Gothic Revival style in the tradition of English designers like William Butterfield and John L. Pearson. Built of red brick building, it is decorated in contrasting cream bricks and Waurn Ponds freestone dressings. It features a slate roof with prominent roof vents, iron ridge cresting and fleche at the intersection of the nave and transepts. The front facade of the church is dominated by the slender, banded octagonal tower topped by a narrow spire. The entrance features a double arched portal portico. The facade also features a dominant triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window. The church, like its bluestone neighbour All Saints Church of England, is built to a T-shaped plan, with an aisleless nave, broad transepts and internal walls of cream brick, relieved with coloured brickwork. The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was one of the first major church design in Melbourne in which polychrome brickwork was lavishly employed both externally and internally.

The inside of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is equally as grand as the exterior, with ornamental Gothic Revival polychromatic brickwork, a lofty vaulted ceiling, deal and kauri pine joinery and pulpit and reredos of Keene's cement. The building originally contained a complete set of Victorian stained glass windows by well known and successful Melbourne manufacturers Ferguson and Urie, all of which remain intact today except for one of the non-figurative windows which was replaced by a memorial window to Samuel Lyons McKenzie, the congregation’s beloved minister, who served from 1930 to 1948, in 1949. The earliest of the Ferguson and Urie windows are non-figurative windows which feature the distinctive diaper pattern and floral motifs of Fergus and Urie's work, and are often argued to be amongst the finest of their non-figurative designs. The large triple window in the chancel was presented by Lady McCulloch in memory of the ‘loved and dead’. Another, in memory of John Kane Smyth, the Vice-Consul for the United States of America in Melbourne, has the American Stars and Stripes on the top ventilator above it. An organ by Thomas C. Lewis of London, one of the leading 19th century English organ builders, was installed in the south transept in 1882. It was designed to blend with its architectural setting, with pipework styled to avoid the obstruction of windows. The action of this organ was altered in 1935, but the pipework, and the original sound, have been retained.

Over the years many spiritual and social activities were instituted at Saint George’s, Presbyterian Church some of short duration such as the Ladies’ Reading Club which operated between 1888 and 1893. There were segregated Bible classes for young men and women, the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, formed in 1892, a cricket club and a floral guild. Guilds teaching physical culture for girls, boys and young men began in 1904. They were entirely financed by John Maclellan and the idea extended to other denominations throughout Victoria. John Maclellan died in 1936 and the guilds ceased at Saint George’s Presbyterian church through lack of funds although in 1977 the members of the girls’ guild were still holding bi-annual reunions and raising money for charity. Sadly, the Presbyterian congregations may have been large in the Nineteenth Century, but by St George's Presbyterian Church's 110th centenary, its doors had already closed during the week due to dwindling numbers and an ageing congregation as a result of the general decline in church attendances after the Second World War exacerbated by the changing nature of St Kilda and the decrease in numbers of residents living in the vicinity of the church. So it stood, forlorn and empty and seemingly nothing more than a relic of a glorious but bygone religious past. However in 1990, Saint Michael's Grammar School across the road leased the Victorian Heritage listed building during weekdays, and it was eventually sold to them in 2015. It now forms part of the school's performing-arts complex, and it has a wonderful new lease of life.

St George's Presbyterian Church is sometimes hired out for performances, and I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to hear Handel's Messiah performed there in 2009. The ecclesiastical acoustics made the performance all the more magnificent. I remember as I sat on one of the original (hard) kauri pine pews, I looked around me and admired the stained glass and ornamental brickwork. I tried without success over several subsequent years to gain access to the church's interior, settling for photographs of the exterior instead, but it wasn't until 2018 that I was fortunate enough to gain entry to photograph the church's interior. The former St George's Presbyterian Church was opened up to the public for one Sunday morning only as part of Open House Melbourne in July 2018. It was a fantastic morning, and I am very grateful to the staff who manned the church for the day and watched bemused as I photographed the stained glass extensively and in such detail.

Albert Purchas, born in 1825 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a prominent Nineteenth Century architect who achieved great success for himself in Melbourne. Born to parents Robert Whittlesey Purchas and Marianne Guyon, he migrated to Australia in 1851 to establish himself in the then quickly expanding city of Melbourne, where he set up a small architect's firm in Little Collins Street. He also offered surveying services. His first major building was constructing the mansion "Berkeley Hall" in St Kilda on Princes Street in 1854. The house still exists today. Two years after migrating, Albert designed the layout of the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. It was the first "garden cemetery" in Victoria, and his curvilinear design is still in existence, unaltered, today. In 1854, Albert married Eliza Anne Sawyer (1825 - 1869) in St Kilda. The couple had ten children over their marriage, including a son, Robert, who followed in his father's footsteps as an architect. Albert's brother-in-law, Charles Sawyer joined him in the partnership of Purchas and Sawyer, which existed from 1856 until 1862 in Queens Street. The firm produced more than 140 houses, churches, offices and cemetery buildings including: the nave and transepts of Christ Church St Kilda between 1854 and 1857, "Glenara Homestead"in Bulla in 1857, the Melbourne Savings Bank on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street (now demolished) between 1857 and 1858, the Geelong branch of the Bank of Australasia in Malop Street between 1859 and 1860, and Beck's Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine in 1861. When the firm broke up, Albert returned to Little Collins Street, and the best known building he designed during this period was Saint. George's Presbyterian Church in St Kilda East between 1877 and 1880. The church's tall polychomatic brick bell tower is still a local landmark, even in the times of high rise architecture and development, and Saint, George's itself is said to be one of his most striking church designs. Socially, Albert was vice president of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects for many years, before becoming president in 1887. He was also an inventor and philanthropist. Albert died in 1909 at his home in Kew, a wealthy widower and much loved father.

Adelaide Darling Building by aquilareen

Built 1916 for the company, John Darling & Son, on site of Hugh Fraser’s former marble works, architect Eric McMichael, later used for various offices, vacant from 1997 until purchased 2013 by William Burton Leopardi Architects, renovated & re-opened 2016. John Darling had taken over R G Bowen’s Waymouth St grain stores in 1868, moving by 1876 to King William St. His son had joined the business in 1872 and the grain merchant & flour milling company was known as John Darling & Son. In 1888 the company transferred to Fraser’s premises in Franklin St.

“Cape Oats.— Prime Samples for Seed. John Darling, at R. G. Bowen's Grain Stores, Waymouth-street.” [Register 11 Apr 1865 advert]

“To Farmers and Others.— J. Darling begs to announce to the Farmers of South Australia that he has taken for a term those Large and Commodious Premises lately in the occupation of Mr. R. G. Bowen, and known as the Waymouth-street Wheat and Grain Stores, where he intends carrying on business as a General Produce Merchant. Wheat, Oats, and Barley Bought or Stored on the most reasonable terms. Bags lent for the convenience of farmers. John Darling.” [Register 12 Dec 1865 advert]

“Storage-room for 50,000 Bushels at the Waymouth-street Wheat and Grain Stores. John Darling.” [Register 12 Dec 1865 advert]

“Horsefeed, Barley and Oats (crushed and uncrushed), Chaff, Bran and Pollard. Waymouth-street Grain Stores. John Darling.” [Register 4 Jul 1866 advert]

“Wheat Market.— Millers’ Prices. . . Mr. John Darling has purchased wheat this day at 4s. 1d. per bushel for single drayloads.” [Register 7 Sep 1867]

“Wheat Market.— Miller’s Prices. . . Mr. John Darling has purchased wheat this day at 8s. 8d. per bushel for single dray loads.” [Register 21 Apr 1868]

“The tender of John Darling for the supply of bread to the establishments of the Colonial Government in Adelaide, including the labor prison Dry Creek, and excepting the Hospital, has been accepted at 2½d. and 3d. per 2-lb. loaf.” [Advertiser 19 Sep 1868]

“the advent of Mr. John Darling, of Waymouth-street, so well and favorably known to most farmers of extensive holdings in the South, gives assurance of an active trade, which, we .trust, will result in mutual benefit to himself and his patrons. . . Mr. Darling having abundant storage in Adelaide, will be able daily to relieve the mill of the grist in large quantities, to make space for fresh consignments.” [Chronicle & Weekly Mail 26 Dec 1868]

“Mr. John Darling has sent to our office a specimen of pearl barley manufactured at the Imperial Mills, Hurtle-square. The quality appears to be excellent, and we understand that it can be produced at a lower price than that of the imported article.” [Register 7 Sep 1869]

“John Darling & Son having again taken possession of the Imperial Mills, Hurtle-Square, beg to announce that they are Purchasers of Wheat at highest market price, or will Store on their usual liberal terms. Bags Lent. Cash advanced. Also to Bakers and others they are prepared to supply the Trade with Flour, Bran, and Pollard of the best quality at moderate rates.” [Register 17 Dec 1874 advert]

“Messrs. John Darling & Son have chartered the Girvan to load a full cargo of wheat at Port Pirie for the United Kingdom.” [Adelaide Observer 25 Nov 1876]

“City Mission Hall. . . The generous offer of £500 by John Darling, Esq., M.P., encouraged the Committee to undertake the erection of a new Hall.” [Advertiser 2 Oct 1877]

“instructed by the Trustee in the Assigned Estate of Hugh Fraser to sell by auction. . . Thirty-Seven Years’ Lease of Part of Town Acre 210. . . on which is erected the Buildings known as ‘Fraser's Chambers’ and Fraser's Marble Works. Also 100 Shares in the Glen Osmond Quarry Company. 500 [shares] Metropolitan Brink Company.” [Advertiser 28 Aug 1886 advert]

“The firm of Messrs. John Darling and Son, whose offices have for many years been in King William-street, have purchased the freehold of the premises in Franklin street known as Fraser Chambers, where Mr. Hugh Fraser had his marbleworks. Messrs, Darling & Son have hitherto had two offices, one in the city and another at the Port, but owing to the difficulty which has been experienced in working the steamers and the separation of the affairs of the firm, the whole of the business has been concentrated in the new premises.” [Express & Telegraph 13 Sep 1887]

“Seed. Seed. Seed. Oats — Cape, Algerian, Grey, and Tartarians, Wheat. Purple Straw, Steinwedel, Dart's Imperial, Hay Seed, &c., Cape Barley. John Darling and Son, Franklin-street.” [Evening Journal 27 Apr 1898 advert]

“Owing to the death of Mr. John Darling a change in the management of the business of Messrs. John Darling & Son has taken place. All departments of trade in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Fremantle will, however, be carried on as heretofore, but under the management of the late Mr. John. Darling's trustees, who are Mrs. John Darling, Mr. Harold G. Darling, and Mr. W. J. Hill.” [Advertiser 17 Apr 1914]

“Messrs. John Darling & Son have accepted tenders for the rebuilding of their premises at the corner of Franklin and Bentham streets. The old building which was originally erected by Mr. Hugh Fraser, was used by that gentleman for a number of years in connection with his marble business. Mr. John Darling took possession in 1888, and the business of Messrs. John Darling & Son has been conducted there. The new building will consist of four storeys and a basement. It will be of brick and reinforced concrete. . . The interior is to be elaborately fitted, the main office being similar to an ordinary banking chamber. Every convenience will be provided for the staff, including luncheon and retiring rooms. [Advertiser 13 Jul 1916]

“Prevost's (now Messrs. Prevost, Selth, & Co.) at their new premises, Darling Buildings, Franklin Street.” [The Mail 6 Apr 1918]

“The twenty-ninth Convention of the Pastoralists' Federal Council of Australia commenced its sittings at Darling Buildings, Franklin-street, Adelaide.” [Advertiser 19 Apr 1918]

“Red Cross Information Bureau. Darling Buildings, Franklin Street. All who are anxious to seek news of sick, wounded, or missing men enlisted from this State are invited to call at or write to the above Office, and the Red Cross will endeavour to help them.” [Register 9 Jul 1918]

“Temporary Typiste Stenographer wanted at once . . . Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Darling Building, 28 Franklin Street.” [News 21 Apr 1928 advert]

“Learn at once by mail in spare time and qualify to meet today's requirements. Mechanical drawing, architectural drawing, building construction taught rapidly and practically. . . Learn Woolclassing. . . Practical bookkeeping. . . Special courses to help those who have missed part of their schooling. . . Howard Correspondence College, Note New Address — Darling Bldgs., 28-30 Franklin st.” [Advertiser 31 Jul 1937 advert]

“Learn Diesel engineering at home in your spare time. What you study now affords security in future years. Write or call. Howard Correspondence College. . . Proficiency in bookkeeping and arithmetic leads to better jobs. Study now to ensure security in future years, inquire at Howard Correspondence College, Darling Bldgs., Franklin st.” [Advertiser 3 Jun 1952 advert]

JOHN DARLING – FATHER & SON

“DARLING.— On the 10th April, at his residence, ‘Thurloo’, Kensington-road, Norwood, John Darling, sen., aged 74 years.” [Advertiser 11 Apr 1905]

“Mr. Darling [father] will be remembered as one of the ablest business men South Australia had, and as the founder of the largest firm of wheat merchants in Australasia. He was born in Edinburgh in 1831, and was educated at the George Heriot School, a well known institution in the Scottish capital. For 13 years he was engaged in the type foundry of Marr & Co., in Edinburgh. In 1855 he came to South Australia, and at once interested himself in the producing industry, first in connection with the business of Messrs. Giles & Smith, grain and general merchants, of Adelaide, and afterwards in partnership with the late Mr. R. G. Bowen, whose business Mr. Darling eventually took over. Liberally endowed by nature with Scotch shrewdness and enterprise, Mr. Darling soon made himself one of the leading grain merchants and exporters of the province. Mr. John Darling, jun., became a partner of his father in 1872, and the firm was thereafter known as J. Darling & Son, millers, grain, and general merchants. . . member of the House of Assembly. . . Legislative Council. . . Commissioner of Public Works. . . left a widow and family of seven sons and one daughter, viz.—Messrs. John Darling, jun.; Robert Darling, of Geraldton, Western Australia; Charles A. Darling, manager of the firm's London house; George Darling, of Melbourne; James Darling, of Kilmone, Victoria; Frank Darling, of Melbourne; Joseph Darling, the international cricketer, who is now on his way to England, and Mrs. H. E. Hall, of Melbourne.” [Advertiser 11 Apr 1905]

“DARLING.—On the 27th March, at Melbourne, Victoria, John, the dearly beloved husband of Jessie Darling, of ‘Lynton’, Kent-terrace, Norwood, aged 62 years.” [Advertiser 30 Mar 1914]

“His father founded the firm in 1883. . . Mr. Darling [son] was for some years president of the Employers' Federation and president of the Chamber of Commerce, and had for seven years held the position of chairman, of directors of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company. . . Mr. Darling was born at Edinburgh on January 24, 1852. When he was 4 years of age his parents migrated to Australia and arrived at Adelaide. . . when the son reached the age of 20 years he was taken into partnership, thus forming the firm of John Darling & Son. . . eventually became a. director of (the Port Adelaide Dock Company. He was also a president of the Shipowners' Association of South Australia. In 1896 the deceased was elected to represent the East Torrens electorate in the State Parliament. . . The deceased has left a widow, three sons (Messrs. Harold, Leonard, and Norman Darling) and three daughters (Mrs. F. W. Young, wife of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Miss Grace, and Miss Gertrude Darling).” [Daily Herald 30 Mar 1914]

HUGH FRASER

“Mr. Hugh Fraser. . . with his four brothers, came to the colony in 1863, and at once went to Mintaro, where he worked in the slate quarries, and subsequently owned one himself. In 1867 be returned to Adelaide, and was appointed manager of the Delabole slate company. . . Subsequently he established himself in the city as a marble mason.” [Register 12 Nov 1900]

“It is sixteen years since Hugh Fraser disappeared from politics, in which he was a leading figure for seven years. He was a rugged, blunt, eloquent Scotchman, wily, obstinate, and pertinacious. His chief success in Parliament was to take his revenge on the press by imposing postage on newspapers.” [Port Pirie Recorder 14 Nov 1900]

“FRASER. —On the 10th November, at his residence, Chapel street, Kensington, Hugh Fraser, 63 years. Inverness papers please copy.” [Register 12 Nov 1900]

“Hugh Fraser, of the Delabole Slate Yard. . . has removed his Working Premises from Waymouth-street to the Corner of Bentham and Franklin Streets (next Duncan and Fraser's). . . A splendid assortment of best Italian Marble now in stock and to arrive. Gravestones carefully packed and forwarded to any part of the Colony. Tombs, Monuments, Iron Railings, always in Stock. Mintaro Flagging, Willunga Flagging, Roofing Slate. Marble and Slate Mantlepieces. . . Baths, Tanks, Sinks, &c. Air Bricks, Drain Piupes.” [Express & Telegraph 10 Feb 1876 advert]

“Hugh Fraser Has returned from Europe with an Immense Stock of New Goods. . . Mantlepieces in Italian, Pyreneese, Belgian, French, English and Irish marbles. . . Vases. . . Statuettes. . . in the Finest Parian, Alabaster, and Statuary marble. . . Fraser’s Marble Works, Franklin-street.” [Weekly Chronicle 7 Jun 1884 advert]

VILLE D'AMIENS by Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons

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This image depicts the VILLE D'AMIENS at the F&S buoy at Neutral Bay on Sunday 4 September 1932. Wilkinson captured the image from the 9.55am ferry from Mosman to Circular Quay.

Frederick Wilkinson (1901 - 1975) migrated to Australia from England in 1911. While wokring various jobs in and around central Sydney, Wilkinson acquired a camera and began taking photographs of vessels and harbour scenes. Many of his images were used by commercial photographers for souvenir postcards.

The ANMM undertakes research and accepts public comments that enhance the information we hold about images in our collection. This record has been updated accordingly.

Photographer: Frederick Garner Wilkinson

Object no. 00041581

Art Nouveau Gable Detail of “Derrinook” – Corner of Gellibrand and Manifold Streets, Colac by raaen99

“Derrinook”, on the corner of Gellibrand and Manifold Streets in Colac, was originally built as a private hospital for Doctor William Henry Brown (1861 – 1926) in 1900.

Built in the Federation Queen Anne architectural style, “Derrinook” is, unusually for the style, built of timber. Federation Queen Anne architectural style, which was mostly a residential style which was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in England, but also encompassed some of the more stylised elements of Art Nouveau, which gave it a much more decorative look. Sprawling across a large block with two street frontages, “Derrinook” has a very complex roofline, a common trait of Federation Queen Anne buildings, aided by a large number of half timbered gables. The former private hospital also has some beautiful Art Nouveau stained glass windows. “Derrinook” has a number of “fish scale” pattern panels decorating its façade above the tall windows. “Fish scales” were very popular thanks to the worldwide craze for all things Japanese in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. “Derrinook” also features very sinewy Art Nouveau fretwork around its bay windows, along its verandahs and employed as decoration on the half timbered gables. This was also common amongst Federation Queen Anne buildings. However it is perhaps “Derrinook’s” many elaborate, tall chimneys capped with ceramic chimney pots where the prevailing, and then fashionable, Art Nouveau decorative style is most apparent. One of the first buildings in Colac to employ electric lighting, “Derrinook” was eventually superceded by the Colac Hospital as a place for medical treatment and recouperation. With the change in fortunes for so many during the Great Depression, “Derrinook” was converted into smaller self-contained flats in 1935 and remains private residences to this day.

Queen Anne style was most popular around the time of Federation. With complex roofline structures, ornamental towers of unusual proportions and undulating facades, many Queen Anne houses fell out of fashion at the beginning of the modern era, and were demolished.

Doctor William Henry Brown was born in Erinth in Kent in 1861 and was educated in both England and Germany. He studied medicine at University College in London. He migrated to Australia in 1885 and originally established a practice in the Victorian Gippsland town of Maffra. In 1891 he moved to Colac where he practiced as a partner with local Doctor T. Foster, before acquiring the practice entirely. Doctor Brown became very well known in Colac as a physician and surgeon, and recognition of his skills spread across the state and across the country. His work gained attention world-wide when he published pieces in various medical journals. With the growth of his renown and his practice, he established “Derrinook” in 1900. When the Great War commenced in 1914, Doctor Brown travelled to various country towns as a representative of the army and acted as a dynamic speaker at recruitment drives, attempting to raise community responsibility and patriotism. His wife Clara (1862 – 1939) also worked enthusiastically for the war effort including for the Red Cross Society. His son, Doctor Arthur Edward Brown (1889 – 1975) followed in his father’s footsteps as a medical practitioner and they two worked in partnership at “Derrinook” after the war. Doctor Brown retired to his beachside Sorrento residence “Kennagh” in 1921 where he continued to play tennis (as he had in Colac where he presided over the tennis club for a number of years as president), and also took up improvement of the local foreshore. He also became a member of the Flinders Shire Council in 1923. He died of heart disease in 1926.

Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac. The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray. A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains. The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches. The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name. The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it. Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city. Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people. Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets. Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).

Warning sign before heading bush along the Trans line by spelio

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All the precautions you need to take for the journey ahead!

Going Bush!

A description of the journey across..

with notes courtesy of research by..

denisbin

On the Indian Pacific train you depart Adelaide 6:40 pm reaching Port August at 11pm; then Tarcoola 4:20 am; the siding of Bates at 7:40am. We have a brief stop at the former township of Cook at 9:45 am. We should reach Forrest in Western Australia about 1:54 pm; Rawlinna at 2:26 pm and Kalgoorlie at 7:10 pm.

As a condition of entering the federation of Australia WA Premier Sir John Forrest insisted on a transcontinental rail link with the eastern states via Port Augusta. Work began in 1912 and was completed in 1917. Water for the steam engines was obtained from bores across the Nullarbor but the high salt content meant steam engines rusted out very quickly. Coal was shipped from NSW and transported across the Nullarbor to tiny rail sidings and left in stockpiles to fuel the steam furnaces. It was a costly and relatively slow way of crossing from SA to Perth. The journey involved several changes of gauges from Adelaide with the first at Terowie where the 5’3” rail gauge line ended. The 3’6” gauge from Terowie meandered north through Quorn and down through the Pichi Richi Pass to Port August. Here was another change of gauge to the new standard line across to Kalgoorlie.

At Kalgoorlie a further change of gauge occurred back to 3’6” the main gauge used in WA. The first train to cross from Sydney to Perth without a change of gauge was in 1970. The first air-conditioned train to cross to Perth from Port Pirie was in 1951. The original trip from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie took 42 hours but was later reduced to 29 hours by 1936 when the new direct line from Adelaide to Port Pirie opened. Today we travel the same section in 19 hours from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie.

Nullarbor.

This flat limestone plain is the largest area of karst landscape, with numerous subsurface caves, in the world. It stretches 1,200 kms from near Ceduna to near Norseman in WA. On it southern border high limestone cliffs face the Great Australian Bight; to the north the limestone plain becomes the Great Victoria Desert, a typical sandy desert. Nullarbor comes for the Latin “nullus” meaning not any and “arbor” meaning trees- hence no trees. However, this does not mean the Nullarbor lacks vegetation (or interest). Around 800 species of plants including saltbush and blue bush grow across the Nullarbor or its edges. Wildlife is plentiful but water is not. Somehow Edward John Eyre and his overseer John Baxter, managed to cross the inhospitable landscape with the help of his Aboriginal friend Wylie in 1841. The pair was saved by a French whaling ship on the coast near Esperance. After receiving food and water Eyre and Wylie continued overland to Albany to complete the crossing from Streaky Bay.

Eyre was award the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in London for this incredible journey. After the journey Eyre took up land in SA and became Protector of Aborigines near Blanchetown (Moorundie).

The Characters of the Crossing.

The stations/sidings which you will probably not even see as they whizz by include a list of many of Australian

Prime Ministers and the eccentric Daisy Bates. In order, after Tarcoola which we pass through during the night, the sidings are: Barton; Bates; Ooldea; Watson; Fisher and Cook where we stop for a short time. Beyond Cook where the line is straight for a very long distance the sidings are: Denman; Hughes; Forrest (which has the major airport); Rawlinna, Chifley; Curtin and finally Kalgoorlie.

Barton. Sir Edmund Barton, 1829-1920, was an Australian born NSW scholar and politician. A staunch federalist he became the first Australian Prime Minister in 1901. He was the driving fore behind the writing of the Australian Constitution. He pushed for the White Australia Policy and got an act to repatriate Kanaka workers from Queensland. He resigned in 1903 to become a judge of the High Court of Australia.

Bates. Daisy Bates, 1863-1951, was an eccentric Irishwoman who migrated to Australia in 1884. She married in 1885 but seldom lived with her husband. After a five year trip to England she returned to Australia and took up living with remote Aboriginal communities, firstly in the Kimberlies and then at Ooldea in SA. She lived at Yalata or Ooldea from 1915 to 1934. She favoured segregation of full blood Aboriginal people, maintained they practised cannibalism and was unpopular with academic anthropologists but she had many articles written in newspapers to popularise her ideas and her work. She died at Prospect and was buried in North Road Anglican cemetery.

Ooldea. Ooldea has been an Aboriginal camping place for aeons as it has permanent water. Ernest Giles the explorer was the first white person to discover the water here in 1875. Ooldea became the rail siding for the Maralinga nuclear testing site and it was the home of Daisy Bates for many years.

Watson. John Christian Watson, 1867 -1941, was the third Prime Minister but served for only four months in 1904. He was Australia’s first Labor Prime Minister and he favoured protective tariffs. He retired from federal politics in 1910. He was known for his “Viking style” beard!

Fisher. Andrew Fisher, 1862-1928, was Prime Minister three times, 1908-9; 1910-13; and 1914-15. He was a founding Labor politician. Whilst PM he oversaw the establishment of the Australian Navy, the founding of the Commonwealth Bank, the founding of Canberra and the splitting of the Northern Territory from SA. He was also PM when a start was made on the Transcontinental rail line from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie in 1912. Not surprisingly the first few rail sidings across the Nullarbor are named after Labor Prime Ministers, except for Barton, our first Prime Minister. The conservative/national/free trade Prime Minsters generally have sidings in WA towards Kalgoorlie!

Cook. This station and tiny township was not named after Captain James Cook but Prime Minister Sir Joseph Cook, 1860-1947. Cook was the sixth PM in 1913-14. He began as a Labor politician but in the federal sphere switched away from protectionism to free trade. He served as a Liberal free trade Prime Minister. Cook agreed to the British request for troops to support them in World War One in France and Turkey.

Denman. Sir Thomas Denman, 1874-1954, was a British military man. He was appointed as Governor General of Australia in 1911. He conducted the founding ceremony for the establishment of Canberra in 1913. Denman interfered in federal politics and supported the PM who wanted complete Australian control and autonomy for the Australian Navy. Denman publically supported this. He was recalled to England in May 1914. Throughout the 1920s he supported Australia’s point of view in debates in the British House of Lords.

Hughes. William (Billy) Hughes was the first long surviving Australian Prime Minister as he was in power from 1915-1923. This record was not beaten until 1957 by Sir Robert Menzies. Billy Hughes lived from 1862- 1952. Hughes’ other record, being the longest serving member of parliament has not yet been surpassed. He was a politician for almost 52 years! Hughes served in earlier Labor ministries but split the Labor Party in 1917 by proposing conscription for the World War One war effort. He was expelled from the Labor Party! But he won the next election in alliance with the National Party. In 1923 he had insufficient parliamentarians to form government but he remained in parliament as a member of the United Australia Party which later became the Liberal Party. He died whilst still a parliamentarian aged 90 years.

Deakin. This siding is right on the WA/SA border. Alfred Deakin, 1856-1919, served as Prime Minister three times in the first few years of federation from 1903-4; 1905-8; and 1909-10. Alfred Deakin was a protectionists and finally Liberal in parliament. He was a great leader in the federation moment, a former Victorian Premier and is credited with starting the nation building process for Australia when he was Prime Minister. He was a scholar and a lawyer.

Reid. Sir George Reid, 1845-1918, was Prime Minister in 1904-5. He was a devout exponent of free trade and a Liberal but the other Liberal Alfred Deakin would not support him and his free trade policies. He went on to be leader of the Opposition against the Labor governments that followed him.

Forrest. Sir John Forest, 1847-1918, the first Baron Forrest of Bunbury, was an explorer, surveyor and politician extraordinaire. He was born at Bunbury in WA and became the founding Premier of WA when partial self-government was granted by Britain in 1890. Forrest led the explorers who did the first west to east crossing of the Nullarbor from Perth to Adelaide in 1870.

He was the first Western Australian knighted in 1891. He served as Premier of WA from 1890 to 1901 during the decade when the population exploded with the gold discoveries at Kalgoorlie. He acted for the establishment of a water pipeline to Kalgoorlie; he unilaterally rejected Britain’s control of WA Aboriginal Affairs and summarily ended it; he took government control of the Great Southern Railway to Albany; he repealed a section of the state Constitution which stated 1% of all tax royalties must be spent on Aboriginal people. From 1901 to his death in 1918 he was a member of the federal parliament aligned with non-Labor politicians. Although he supported federation he fought hard for rights for WA including the building of a transcontinental railway from Port Augusta.

Forrest’s reluctance to join federation until concessions were promised for WA led politicians and others in the goldfields to propose a new state called Auralia to enter the federation, even if the rest of WA did not. The capital of that state would have been Kalgoorlie. Once Forrest finally committed WA to join the federation this proposal for a separate state of Auralia was dropped.

The Forrest siding or settlement with only a couple for residents is known for its airport. It has the largest runway outside of a capital city in case it is needed for emergency or military use. Light aircraft use the airport as a refuelling stop across the Nullarbor.

Rawlinna. This siding is named after the local sheep station, the largest in the world, with an historical homestead. Up to 80,000 sheep have been shorn in one year on Rawlinna Station.

Chifley. Joseph Benedict Chifley, 1885-1951, was a Labor Prime Minister for Australia after the Second World War from 1945- 1949. Ben Chifley introduced the Snowy Mountains irrigation scheme and founded the Australian National University in Canberra. He was no longer PM in 1951 but still a parliamentarian when he died in office in Canberra. He lost the 1949 elections on his proposal to nationalise the banks of Australia.

Curtin. John Curtin, 1884-1945 was the Labor Prime Minister for Australia during most of World War Two from 1941-45. He died in office in July 1945 just six weeks before the end of the War. His great contribution was to reject British proposals for the deployment of Australian troops to protect their interests and to put them under the command of General Douglas MacArthur from America who used our troops in South East Asia and New Guinea to protect Australia from invasion by the Japanese.

Kalgoorlie.

Gold was discovered here by Patrick Hannan and the city emerged overnight in 1893. The finds were so rich that it is still known as the richest mile on the planet. Thousands swarmed to the gold fields but deep shaft mining meant casual prospectors were soon just mine employees and most left the goldfields. By 1898 the town had a population of around 2,000 but only 500 were women. Once a railway line from Perth reached the town the population grew. The water pipeline reached the city in 1903 offering coastal amenities to outback residents! It was this small population of about 5,000 in 1900 that were in favour of joining the federation of Australia and creating a new state called Auralia. The port for this new colony would have been Esperance. The mine continued giving its riches to the mining companies. When it began in 1893 gold worth £421,000 was produced in WA. By 1900 the value of gold found in WA was worth £6,000,000! And the boom still continues in WA with nickel, oil, gas and iron and Kalgoorlie has the largest open cut mine in the world.

But relations on the gold fields have not always been cordial. Kalgoorlie is known for the 1934 Race Riots as mobs against Greek, Italian and Slavic mobs rioted, attacked and burned Greek and Slavic owned properties. Extra police were sent from Perth to quell the riots. The riot broke out on a Saturday night, a traditional night for drinking and violence. Foreign owned hotels were burned and residences lived in by foreigners had their windows smashed in both Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. This was and still is the Wild West! Unlike the eastern states WA has always had more land than people and even into the 1970s virgin farmland was being granted or sold to new comers for little money. One of the last large cereal farming areas developed, which would have been in the state of Auralia, was at Esperance in the 1970s.

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Window Detail of the Former National Bank of Australia - Murray Street, Colac by raaen99

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The earliest National Bank of Australia in Colac established its premises in the town's main thoroughfare at 28 Murray Street in a two storey brick building erected in 1865 to a design by the architect, Leonard Terry. In 1886 the Leonard Terry bank was demolished to make way for the present two storey stucco and brick building which was completed in August 1887.

Designed by self-trained local Colac architect Alexander Hamilton (1825 - 1901), the current National Bank of Australia building is a good example of transitional boom Classicism architecture. Builders Taylor and Ellis of Ballarat erected the bank at a cost of £3,500.00. The building, which stands detached and complete like the nearby Colac Shire Hall has an iron palisade fence. The design, with rusticated ground floor facade, Corinthian porch, unusual enframed windows and pronounced parapet entablature, is illustrative of trends in bank architecture in the mid 1880s in Victoria and is one of Mr. Hamilton's most significant and scholarly works.

The bank has seen many uses over the years, and was at one stage in its life a gentleman's club for wealthy local landowners to socialise in. Today the National Bank of Australia has moved to more modern premises in Colac, but the building houses professional suites as befits a building which such a fine architectural pedigree.

Alexander Hamilton was born in Moffat, Scotland, but migrated to Australia in 1852. Originally based in Melbourne, he went to the Western District town of Mortlake before moving in 1871 to Colac where he was amongst other professions a millwright, builder and an architect. Alexander Hamilton really concentrated on his profession as an architect when he arrived in Colac and made his name in the area as a number of older homesteads and buildings in the district were built under his instruction and supervision. These include "Illewarra House" which was built for for John Calvert in 1873, "Tarndwarncoort" for Alexander Dennis in 1877 and "Talindert" for James Manifold in 1890. Mr. Hamilton also designed the Presbyterian manse in Colac in 1883 and the Bank of Australasia in Beeac in 1888.

Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac. The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray. A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains. The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches. The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name. The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it. Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city. Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people. Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets. Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).

"Lislea House" - Corner Bromfield and Corangamite Streets, Colac by raaen99

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Built in 1892 on the rise of a hill in the prominent location of the corner of Bromfield and Corangamite Streets in Colac, stands the grand two-storey red brick residence, "Lislea House".

"Lislea House" was built for Doctor Wynne, a local practitioner, for his use as a stylish residence and surgery. "Lislea House" has been constructed in the popular Federation Queen Anne style, which was mostly a residential style established in the 1890s which was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in England, but also encompassed some of the more stylised elements of Art Nouveau, which gave it an more decorative look. "Lislea House" has a very complex roofline, which is typical of the Federation Queen Anne architectural movement, as is the steeply pitched roof, ornate wooden fretwork that graces the return verandah and the exaggerated height of the chimneys.

Queen Anne style was most popular around the time of Federation. With complex roofline structures, ornamental towers of unusual proportions and undulating facades, many Queen Anne houses fell out of fashion at the beginning of the modern era, and were demolished.

Doctor Wynne was a prominent and popular figure in the Colac community. Born in Armagh, the county town of County Armagh in Northern Ireland in 1857, Doctor Wynne studied medicine at Dublin University. He migrated to Australia after gaining his degree and took over the Colac practice of Doctor Porter in the late 1880s. He was interested in public affairs and in the forwarding and improvement of Colac; becoming a patron of many establishments in the town including, the Colac Fire Brigade and the Colac Free Library. He even established a local newspaper the "Daily News". He was one of the original shareholders of the Colac Dairying Company, the Colac dairy farmers' co-operative. Doctor Wynne enjoyed horse racing and he and his wife entertained at their fine house often. Doctor Wynne died at "Lislea House" in 1915 as a result of complications. caused by a weak heart.

The descendants of Doctor Wynne no longer live in "Lislea House", and after some years of neglect, it has been restored internally and externally to its original splendor, as well as having had some modern day comforts added. It now serves as self contained apartments which take advantage of the house's location so close to the town's centre.